River of Lights

Tonight we went to River of Lights at our local Botanic Gardens. We went with my awesome photographer friend, Cindy. So, as we were trying to move through the crowd and keep our 6 kids and two husbands all together, she was yelling pointers to me. (Although, I think her husband and my husband would argue that they were trying to keep us with our families and not distracted by photographing the lights.) And, yes, my camera was on manual the whole time. Here are some of my favorites.


C has been anxiously awaiting this outing. He saw the dinosaur during the day a month ago and couldn't wait to go back and see it all lit up.


I love that the kids are all roaring at the dinosaur.


Here's the yellow submarine reflecting in the water. I think this was a one of the new light sculptures this year.



I realize now that I have only one picture of all three of my kids and it's not a very good one. (That's why I didn't post it.) B is giving me the "c'mon mom" look. I was having too much fun trying to figure out the right settings on my camera to take pictures of my kids. ;)

I think that today I'm grateful for Christmas lights. There's nothing like colorful lights to help me get into the spirit of Christmas. Only 2 more days!

Jesse Tree Update

Here's a little update on how our Jesse Tree is going. We took some branches from our backyard to make the "tree." I decided to buy the e-book by Ann Voskamp called The Glorious Coming. It is very beautifully written, but it honestly hasn't worked very well for our family. We have ended up using the scripture references for each day and skipped the rest. Each day has the scripture for the day and a personal reflection on that particular passage. And again, it's very beautifully done, it just does not seem to work for our small kids. The book came with printable ornaments that I love! We just printed them out on card stock, punched a hole in them and used some ribbon to hang them. It's been such a meaningful experience to sit together as a family each night and watch the story of the Bible unfold. I definitely want to keep this as a Christmas tradition for our family, but I think I'll tweak it a bit next year. I think I'll look at some other sources for the Bible reading list, since they do seem to vary a little and decide what I feel is the best progression through the different Bible stories. I really love the artwork for these ornaments but I would like to make our own at some point. And, it might be nice to tie it in to our advent calendar somehow too. It's been feeling a bit much to have the advent stockings and the Jesse Tree every day in December.

*****

Today I'm grateful that we unearthed our iced tea maker. ;) I forgot that we bought a box of caffeinated tea and it's helping with the caffeine issue. However, since I've turned the thermostat waaayyy down, we probably should be drinking hot tea.

Not Feeling Grateful

I've been feeling a bit like this snowman...pathetic. I mean, come on, my boys are barefoot. (They really shouldn't have been. It was still pretty cold even though the snow was melting.) There is so much to be grateful for each day. I have amazing people around me. Yesterday, we had a great time laughing with all of our (the kids and my) friends at playgroup. We were given some great hand-me-downs for C and A. The kids played for hours while the mamas chatted and laughed. Totally fun and normal. Today both of my neighbors offered help. One took me to coffee since I told her I was trying to give up caffeine because water was a heck of a lot cheaper to drink. She took pity on me and got me a latte. The other neighbor has insisted on buying the kids some Christmas presents and made me promise to tell them they're from Santa. We don't need any Christmas gifts for the kids. We were already planning on trying to keep it small this year. We even decided against the big present we had thought we might get for them (think cool gaming system). We wanted them to have a part in earning the money to buy it. But this incredible neighbor would not take "no" for an answer. Really, can I have better people around me? I am so incredibly blessed. And yet I'm struggling with being hopeful. I'm frustrated that I don't seem to have real skills to jump back into the job market. I have skills and experience but it's been 8 years since I really did anything. I would rather stay home and homeschool my kids. I feel like that's the calling on my life right now. And yet, I hate to sit by and watch my husband bear all the burden of our financial security. Maybe I just hate not having any control? That's probably most of it. Or maybe I'm just grumpy from trying to cut back on the caffeine. ;) These posts are really helping me look for the good in each day though. That's something to be grateful for...

Grateful for the Faith of Others

I was so touched yesterday by something that happened. I needed to withdraw A from her gymnastics class. It was an expense that we needed to cut out of our budget at the moment. I'm not sure why this was so hard, but it was. I started crying when I told them why we needed to stop coming. The lady who is at the front desk (I'm embarrassed that I don't even know her name) immediately grabbed my hand and started praying for my family. It was so genuine and so heartfelt. That act meant so much to me.

It made me wonder if I would ever do that for someone else. Probably not. I'd be too afraid I'd offend them - I mean what if they weren't a Christian. Then I started thinking that if she hadn't been a Christian but offered a different kind of blessing, I think I would have been equally as touched. Because it wasn't about what she was praying, it was about the heart behind it - the faith that she was offering to me.

Grateful for the Joy of Children

I'm grateful for the joy I see in my kids. This was actually from yesterday morning. We finally had some snow here. The kids were soooo excited! They got up early to be sure not to miss it. Snow doesn't stay on the ground for very long in New Mexico. These photos were taken before breakfast, around 7:30 a.m. The boys, especially C, were so afraid they were going to miss out on having a big snowball fight. Here's C throwing a snowball...


...at his big brother!


And here's B getting him back with a bucket filled with snow.


I guess his big brother got him good. I just love this picture. This is my guy that I have such a hard time getting a picture of. He hates it when I get out the camera. I feel like I really captured the joy he was feeling. And seeing him joyful helps me to be joyful.

Grateful for Friends

Today I'm grateful for friends. We really have incredible friends. As soon as my dear friend Cindy found out about what was going on she invited us over for dinner. She, her husband and kids gave us an escape tonight that we really needed. Her husband made us a yummy dinner and then the four adults laughed at ourselves while we played 80's and 90's Trivial Pursuit. I promise that I will never forget "Ben Stein" again! And Ferris Bueller's Day Off is one of my favorite movies. I can't believe I didn't get that one!

Anyone. Anyone. Anyone. That still makes me laugh. Cindy even got me my very favorite - Baskin Robbins Jamoca Almond Fudge Ice Cream Cake. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You guys really did get our minds off of everything tonight!

I have other friends who've let me cry on the phone to them and have prayed for me. Others who have offered help and support. I'm just overwhelmed. Even people I haven't met in real life but only know through online groups have offered hugs, prayers and support. And here's the thing, I hate asking. I hate it. I want to be the one offering support especially since a lot of these people supported me through the last 2 years. I feel like a broken record. But, I'm choosing to be grateful and I really am grateful for all my friends who have such big hearts.

Heavy Heart

It's really amazing how quickly life can change in mere minutes. If someone had asked me this morning before 9 am how my life was going, I would have answered, "Great!" After 9 am I'd have to answer, "Tough." My husband was laid off this morning due to financial cutbacks at the company he was working for. And I'm scared. Financial stress is something I don't handle well at all and we seem to have our share of it. Lots of it is from the consequences of our own mistakes. But, some of it lately seems to be really bad luck. Our last 3 years have been real struggles. First a lay off, then a company that had no money (and still owes him back pay), now another lay off. I'm ready for this to end.

How can I choose joy and gratitude this Christmas? I have to for my kids' sake.

Here it goes. I'm going to post everyday something I'm grateful for starting today.

Today I'm grateful for the gorgeous snow that so rarely falls in the desert.