I know it’s 2012. I don’t have any major resolutions for this year. As Edie said so beautifully in her Resolution post, this 2011-2012 year is proving to be a rooting year.

….some years are for roots and foundations.   Those are the years that you have new babies or you move or start new jobs or your house burns down.  Those years are hard to measure in terms of resolution progress.  But they’re no less important.  In fact, the rooting years are probably the most important of all.   But they’re usually the ones that you’re glad to have behind you. –Edie Wadsworth

So many big things have happened/are happening and it’s sometimes hard to wrap my head around it all and figure out exactly what I’m supposed to be doing. While I am extremely grateful for all that is happening, and all the ways we have been blessed, I’m also a little shell shocked.  So I’m plugging along, waiting for our series of big changes to be completed, resolved to keep doing what needs to be done in the moment.

I do know that my family can always benefit from more love and affection from me. Believe it or not, sometimes it’s hard to give. Sometimes it’s exhausting to answer every question, sympathize with every boo boo and be patient with every spill or potty accident. So, more love? Yes.

How about more contentment? Nancy challenged me with this one. She’s good. Although, if I’m still being honest, and I think I am…this is one area that I seem to have a constant struggle. It may not be the same issue every time, but it originates with contentment, or lack thereof.

Our contentment does not lie in our circumstances, for if it did, we would only be able to be content when everything is going exactly as we like, which isn’t very often. Contentment is found in Christ, who will never leave us or forsake us. Contentment is found in submitting to God’s purposes and plans in our lives, even (or especially) when we don’t understand. Contentment is a way of exercising our faith. –Nancy Wilson

As if that wasn’t enough on the subject, Amy also posted a great quote from Sally Clarkson on the same thing. Good stuff.

These may seem like piddly goals or vague ambitions, but I see so many specific ways I can implement these two things this year. I think doing so will benefit my whole family. “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” So, it’s sort of up to me (with His help, of course).

This is the first year we are going to enjoy a BIG Christmas tree. The old one that we have used for the past 11 years is now upstairs as “the kids’ tree.” Along with it, went lots of our ornaments, so the big one has been looking pretty sparse for several days now. Since we are actually living in the biggest gift we could receive this year, there isn’t a huge decorating budget. That hasn’t stopped us though, don’t you worry. We took to the woods and cabinets and dirty corners of the garage and have come up with some simply lovely decor that will be with us from here on out, I’m sure.

First up? Pinecones! We happened to know where there would be a HUGE stash of pinecones just waiting to be had. One problem: it’s not our yard anymore. So, we asked our new neighbor for permission to scavenge our old yard. His response? “Sure! Mi casa es su casa!” What a swell fella. We took more than enough, but they were all closed up, wet and cold. No problem, thanks to the Google. We just popped them in the oven on 250 degrees and waited for them to open up to us. The house smelled heavenly for a bit and they are now even more beautiful than before. Here they are, from start to finish.

I also found some sort of lacy white thread from a box that my grandmother had given me. We had a nice cozy snow day where the kids played outside a lot and I had the time to whip up a simple crochet chain to drape on the branches as well. I love it when a plan comes together…for free. I would love to have time to make some of these birds and nestle them in the branches. And this will be our topper this year. I’m seeing a theme developing, aren’t you?

Here’s one more little touch that I’m pretty proud of, inspired by this picture. I found a dirty old box in the garage that had been long since neglected. With a little rinse and some more of our pinecones and candles, it’s useful and pretty once again! I saw two more pinecone related projects that really interested me…maybe next year. This pinecone garland and also this one.  Maybe a combination of the two?

I hope you’re finding ways to make things cozy in your home as well!

Today is St. Nicholas Day!  If you’re familiar with the legends about him, you will know that St. Nicholas was a firecracker of a guy who was persecuted for his faith, but also humble and generous. He was a giver, which would explain why we have the Santa Claus that we have today.

You can read so much about St. Nicholas here. It’s all very fascinating. But perhaps the most well known story about him is this one (excerpt taken from the same source):

One story tells of a poor man with three daughters. In those days a young woman’s father had to offer prospective husbands something of value—a dowry. The larger the dowry, the better the chance that a young woman would find a good husband. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry. This poor man’s daughters, without dowries were therefore destined to be sold into slavery. Mysteriously, on three different occasions, a bag of gold appeared in their home-providing the needed dowries. The bags of gold, tossed through an open window, are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry. This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from St. Nicholas. Sometimes the story is told with gold balls instead of bags of gold. That is why three gold balls, sometimes represented as oranges, are one of the symbols for St. Nicholas. And so St. Nicholas is a gift-giver.

We have developed the tradition of hanging our stockings on this day, and since most of his giving was done in secret,  we like to secretly slip tiny tokens and treats of love into our stockings all throughout the Advent season and enjoy opening them on Christmas Day, when the real party begins.

Here is a sweet little tutorial for carving little Santas out of twigs. I know a certain 6 year old boy that will be nuts about this. And these are the St. Nicholas crafts we did last year.

Happy St. Nicholas Day to you!

It’s time for another post. (Remember that when the blogging isn’t happening around here, the “doing” is.) We’re “doing” life and preparing our hearts and home for the big celebration of Christ’s first coming. It’s a BIG deal, you know.

This morning, I read the book, Song of the Stars, to my kids at breakfast. I had a hard time not crying. Seriously. (Now, I’m not saying it isn’t because we happen to be expecting a baby of our own. I know my hormones are out of whack, but I’m pretty sure I would have cried even if I wasn’t as big as a house right now.)

I was transported back to my childhood as I beheld what looked like a vintage Little Golden Book. The illustrations are just so charming. But the similarities stop there, as this book is no ordinary “Farmer Jones” tale. No, it’s full of a secret excitement. The wonder of that special night so long ago as seen by the natural world is just beautiful. It may have seemed like just an ordinary night to the people of the world, but God’s creation might certainly have sensed that something was different…something was about to change. Okay, everything was about to change. And finally, in my adult years, and with the help of my children, I am able to see the wonder of it all.

Sally Lloyd-Jones, you’ve done it again. Thank you! We just happen to be using The Jesus Storybook Bible during our nightly Advent time, and Song of the Stars is most definitely a book for our Christmas stash of stories. As we prepare our hearts during this Advent season, the excitement builds.

I hope you’re feeling it too!

If you ever wonder why I often post about the calling of motherhood being sacred and the mundane of life being beautiful, it’s because I struggle to hang on to those truths and need constant reminding. I’m assuming that I’m not alone in this.

As women, we are bombarded with messages about loving ourselves and deserving the best in life. We are encouraged to pamper ourselves and insist on “me time.” And while those things are important and helpful at times, they are not what we are here for. When we chose motherhood, we chose sacrifice, service. So, the little things we do each day that get overlooked and may seem insignificant are, in fact, essential to the well being of these lives we’ve been charged with. Truth is, we have been given one of the best things in life and it is to be treasured.

I loved this post from Edie about these very things…so well stated.

But what about all those ordinary days?  Where is God then?

He always chooses the ordinary things to do his greatest work.

He chose bread to feed us. Water to wash us.  A baby to save us.

He is no despiser of the small days .

It is in them that we see the key to life.

Not in falling in love but in loving everyday,  with clean socks and warm soup.

I’m still enjoying the phenomenon that is Pinterest these days. It really does help me to organize my plans.  I prepared three of my pinned recipes last week and I think I can call all of them a success.

Herb Roasted Chicken with Lemon and Sage

Autumn Chopped Salad

Crock Pot Mushrooms and Wild Rice (Sorry, no picture–just take my word for it.)

Something’s up with Pinterest right now and most of my pinned recipes are not showing up on my boards. I’m sure they’ll get it worked out. (Please, please get it worked out!)

What recipes have you tried and loved lately?

Our friends Josh and Sarah are presently in Africa, gathering their baby boy to bring him home. When I heard their news on Tuesday, I cried (Surprised? Ha!). It’s been such a long journey, but boy when it happened, it happened QUICKLY. I thought since you have been a part of this since way back when, you’d like to know that they are finally coming home with their son. This boy will be home for Thanksgiving.  Praise the Lord!

Look at this beautiful ornament I saw on Pinterest via Etsy. Here is a link to the shop where you can find it.

One of the most encouraging mothering books that I’ve read to date now has a website devoted to it! Hip, hip hooray for Loving the Little Years!

It has been influences like this book that persuade me not to stress about moments like these, but to enjoy them. (My kids have been really creative with “instruction” paper these days…I can’t convince them that it’s actually construction paper.)

Along the same lines, I read this recently from Nancy Wilson, as she summarized some things Spurgeon wrote about home. Give it a read…it’s nice and short, but very uplifting.

“Home, too, is the place of our truest and purest happiness.”

If you haven’t seen this yet, just watch and be amazed. It almost makes me want to cry. (Okay, maybe it has made me cry once or twice. But I’m pregnant, so that’s not saying much. I cry about a lot of things these days. Sue me.) If you love birds, this is up your alley. Even if you’re not a bird enthusiast, it’s still breathtaking. The little giggle at the end is just how I would have reacted if I were there…that is, if I wasn’t already crying.

HT: Doug Wilson

More info about murmuration…

Speaking of birds, our musician buddy and fellow ornithologist Eric Peters needs your support in creating his newest album, Birds of Relocation. We’ve heard bits and pieces of some of his new stuff and can’t wait to hear what comes of this project. Let’s make it happen! Only 4 more days…

One more thing. I found a link, via Pinterest for a bird book that I decided we must have. It’s available for free download to Kindle and other mediums through Project Gutenberg.

So, there you have it: a Monday post from me. Don’t call it a comeback…

I’m seeing lots of thankful people around “the Facebook” these days. I think that’s so nice. I love what gratitude does for my own heart and it makes me happy to see that other people are finding the same kind of joy this month. I’ve always got plenty to be thankful for–we all do, correct? But this year, I’m so grateful to be settling into our new home…even more so, now that we have been able to get a couple of rooms painted and things are starting to look fresh once again.

I’m also thankful for all the little fun things I’m finding to spruce the place up that aren’t costing me much at all. (Buying a house has kind of limited the decorating budget for a while.) It’s amazing what you can find in the garage of an old house!  Here are the school room curtains, that were making me so happy last week. In a previous life, they were just a flat twin sheet that I picked up at Goodwill for pittance. They need to be pressed, but are still giving us privacy in a much prettier way than the garbage bags were. And the school table? Also minimal cost involved and this was retrieved from the garage.

I totally ignored this lamp for quite a while because well, it’s not exactly my taste and I thought it was an oil lamp for an undisclosed period of time. (That is until I looked at it.) And how practical are oil lamps unless you are having a power outage, hmm? Anyway, when I realized it was an actual lamp that you plug in, I cleaned it up and had the kids fill up the inside with all sorts of things that represent us at this stage in life: army men, screws, yarn, crayons, dollhouse odds and ends, Lego blocks…etc. Then I had the kids put their mark on the lamp shade with watercolors and poof! A lamp for our school room now sits proudly on display.

I’m not sure if it’s the time of year or all these little improvements, but we are finally really moving with our schoolwork and finding a rhythm at home, which feels absolutely wonderful. So there’s another thing I’m truly thankful for. I hope you are enjoying the fall season and finding things all around you for which to be grateful. I’ll check back in shortly but for now, I have a rhythm to get into this morning! There are hungry kids who are anxious to start their schoolwork. I really shouldn’t keep them waiting…