We have been working our tails off crossing Turkey Trot stuff off the list before they arrive so we won't be all stressed out the whole time they're visiting. A little stress is inevitable though, that thing is a lot of work! But pretty dang rewarding too. I am using "we" liberally because Dave is mostly the one working his tail off...he is the "chairman" of this whole Turkey Trot hoopla again this year (I am making up that title...maybe I should call him the head-honcho instead...). He has a lot of big work things going on at the same time and has been in China a couple times this last month. I'm so grateful for him.
Remember to sign up for the Turkey Trot and join us if you are local and available. It's gonna be grand. (website is HERE)
I'm trying to wrap up some house things I've meant to do for ages.
I just replanted a large cactus to go in our living room. And man, that was a work-out in and of itself!
It went from this:
To this:
Now let's just hope it stays alive.
I'm also in the process of doing a collage wall to finally fill one of our blank walls. Here are "process" pictures:
Grace got into HEFY. And to me that feels like an incredible feat. Because I tell you, we sure tried to get Max and Elle in there but it fills up like nobody's business. Since she did her "junior year internship" thing a year early, she gets to do her service trip this summer.
We encouraged her to go alone with no one else she knows and she totally agreed and is so excited. She's going to go to the Dominican Republic this summer and she's going to learn so much. Now the fund-raising begins...
Speaking of fund-raising, Lucy has written a book.
The other day we took a little lunch date to read through and edit it.
She is pretty excited about it and wants to print some copies to sell to help raise money for BBS at the Turkey Trot. I know people have mentioned companies that we could use to print something like that but I can't remember or find them. If anyone knows a great place to print out a book (I'd just take pictures of each page so we'd have digital copies to print out), let me know. To be honest, it may be too late for this year, but I'd love to look into options so if anyone has any ideas send them our way!
Grace is full-on into student council right now and she's loving it.
Especially since the whole student council is hitting Disneyland right about now (some student council convention there) Yeah, I think I'd like that too :) So excited for her.
I love how one little change in life (deciding to be involved in student council for Grace and lucking out that she got in last minute) can change so many things to "good" in life. And also how it can go the opposite direction sometimes too.
Man there's sure a lot to learn in life.
When we did our "Thankful Tree" last Monday (back HERE), we did mini trees to send to our big kids:
My personal favorite part was that Lucy took it upon herself to let Elle know, in a big way, that those are "POM" leaves coming out of the trunk:
Because she is, after all, in Hawaii.
We sent notes and a treat to Max's mission President and his wife too. Why do I adore so much how Lucy writes notes?
(We switched up the thankful turkey thing we sent to them last year...back HERE.)
So grateful for that man and his wife who have taken Max under their wing for the last year and a half (he had a different mission president before that). It's so strange to think that they have had so much more personal contact and counseling and feeding and nurturing than we have for so long. It is getting weird to think of him coming home. Seems so close yet so far. (January 31st is the date.) In some ways it cannot come soon enough, and in others I know he wishes he could stay. Things will be so different for him when he gets home, and it will be such a crazy adjustment. I'm trying to gear myself up to help. It's so interesting to be a missionary mother, writing letters every week to your son who is changing and growing and learning so many things you don't understand. Especially when that son of yours is one who doesn't express himself and his thoughts overly well.
Mostly I'm just so incredibly grateful that he loves that mission so much. And that he has had this experience of a lifetime that will change the trajectory of so many things in his life.
This thing made a grand entrance into our home last Friday:
Dave and I looked at it with big smiles to match Lucy's, so grateful that she is finally ok with taking on the white cane thing. But inside both our hearts were breaking.
Claire had four soccer games this last weekend and also volleyball tryouts.
It will take a whole blog post to outline all the sports things that girl has kept us hopping with lately.
Wow.
I'm tired even thinking about it and I'm not even playing the dang sports.
I think it's so interesting how early kids start out in sports around here. Is that just this generation or is that always how it's been? Or maybe it's our area. Everyone seems to narrow down to one sport so early and put their whole life into it and Claire is just trying to figure them all out.
They finally replanted our winter grass here:
That's not the best picture to show it...it's actually supposed to be a video of Bo stopping obediently on the corner before we give her the "ok" to cross the street, (and she does it so obediently!) but I forgot to hit "record" and it just took a pic. instead.
Which makes me think about that old grass. It has to be scalped down to the bones every single fall and replanted with "winter grass" here in the desert.
And every year I think it is just so crazy that we do that!
This girl is causing some havoc in our back yard:
Grace is full-on into student council right now and she's loving it.
I love how one little change in life (deciding to be involved in student council for Grace and lucking out that she got in last minute) can change so many things to "good" in life. And also how it can go the opposite direction sometimes too.
Man there's sure a lot to learn in life.
When we did our "Thankful Tree" last Monday (back HERE), we did mini trees to send to our big kids:
We sent notes and a treat to Max's mission President and his wife too. Why do I adore so much how Lucy writes notes?
So grateful for that man and his wife who have taken Max under their wing for the last year and a half (he had a different mission president before that). It's so strange to think that they have had so much more personal contact and counseling and feeding and nurturing than we have for so long. It is getting weird to think of him coming home. Seems so close yet so far. (January 31st is the date.) In some ways it cannot come soon enough, and in others I know he wishes he could stay. Things will be so different for him when he gets home, and it will be such a crazy adjustment. I'm trying to gear myself up to help. It's so interesting to be a missionary mother, writing letters every week to your son who is changing and growing and learning so many things you don't understand. Especially when that son of yours is one who doesn't express himself and his thoughts overly well.
Mostly I'm just so incredibly grateful that he loves that mission so much. And that he has had this experience of a lifetime that will change the trajectory of so many things in his life.
This thing made a grand entrance into our home last Friday:
Claire had four soccer games this last weekend and also volleyball tryouts.
Wow.
I'm tired even thinking about it and I'm not even playing the dang sports.
I think it's so interesting how early kids start out in sports around here. Is that just this generation or is that always how it's been? Or maybe it's our area. Everyone seems to narrow down to one sport so early and put their whole life into it and Claire is just trying to figure them all out.
They finally replanted our winter grass here:
Which makes me think about that old grass. It has to be scalped down to the bones every single fall and replanted with "winter grass" here in the desert.
And every year I think it is just so crazy that we do that!
This girl is causing some havoc in our back yard:
She has discovered watering tubes underground...not such good news.
I'm still thinking about technology so much (post back HERE). How to curb it, how to use it in a positive way, and how to help my whole family do the same. Maybe I will always be in this stage because it will always continue to change. I have so many thoughts going through my head about it and we've tried some new things that work and are putting us on the right track. My friend sent me this quote that I thought was kind of interesting that kind of relates to how technology makes us see the world...especially girls:
There seems to be a superstition among many thousands of our young who hold hands and smooch in the drive-ins that marriage is a cottage surrounded by perpetual hollyhocks, to which a perpetually young and handsome husband comes home to a perpetually young and ravishing wife.
Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just ordinary people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. . . .
Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."
--Jenkin Lloyd JonesAnyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just ordinary people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. . . .
Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."
I asked my girls what they thought of that quote because I thought it was pretty true. Sometimes social media makes kids (and adults) think the world is so perfect for everyone else because they mostly only see the perfect parts. Those "perpetually young and handsome husbands" coming home to their "perpetually young and ravishing wives" (as symbols of so many other "perfect" things on there). A couple of my girls thought it was pretty depressing though. And I think that's true too. Life doesn't have to be "normal." We can make it exciting and our own kind of "perfect." As long as we realize our "perfect" may look vastly different from someone else's and that we're ok with that.
Hmmmm...just some things I've been thinking lately.