simply grateful

I wrote this in mid-December and realized I never put it up.  Sorry for the delay.   You may have read recently about the 11 million dollar Christmas tree in an Abu Dhabi hotel.  The 40 foot tree is adorned with diamonds, pearls, emeralds and sapphires (181 pieces in total) provided by one of the hotel’s gemstone boutiques.  Only days after announcing the tree, the hotel expressed embarrassment over its “attempts to overload the tradition” in a way that does not “fall in line with the professional standards” of the hotel.  A posh hotel apologized for its extravagance! Perhaps my recent trip to Zambia has made me a little more sensitive to our extravagance as Americans both physically and spiritually during this Christmas season.  We fill our closets full of clothes that we will deem unfashionable in a few years.  We joke about wearing our pants with the “elastic waste band” so we can overstuff ourselves at Christmas dinner.  We buy our kids toys...

Our week has been a good one.  We are trying some new things with our little homeschool/preschool endeavors.  You might remember that I posted this entry about the kind of tot school things we were doing last year.  As the kids get older, I have been working to adapt it just a bit.  I wanted to share what we are up to in order to encourage other moms who are "space challenged" and do not have a room to designate as their homeschool room.  Obviously, this is a work in progress. I will be tweeking things as I go. Early in the morning, David has started doing a "God and me" time with Makayla.  I will write a whole other entry on this soon. After David leaves for work, we go to the computer to http://www.starfall.com/  to do the calendar and to do the alphabet page for the letter of the week we are on.  Then we move to the fridge for our calendar time.  The kids sing the verse for the week. ( http://www.totallytots.blogspot.com/ ) ...

Little Makayla always watches when Daddy gets ready to go on a trip.  She waits until the very last moment... it is excruciating.  She is such a Daddy's girl and she always cries when he leaves. But, thankfully, David does not go often and she is also learning about things that are important. The ski retreat went great!  Thank all of you who were praying.  The youth had a great time and several have talked about how much they learned.  David Russell was the retreat speaker and it sounds like he did a terrific job.  We had a quiet and fun weekend with no sickness here at home.  God is so good! If you want to see a VERY cool video about the retreat, click here .

How quickly time flies! Our little Karissa is now 2...and she is such a delight!  She is vivacious and a risk taker.  So far, she does not show any fear except with strangers.  She is a climber and a tough little cookie.  She is quick to laugh and loves music and singing. Of course, she is still very TWO!  Her siblings adore her and she them.  They are all so sweet with one another and it warms my heart. She enjoyed partying on her special day... Even Doogan got into the mood...for a bit. :)  She is very into Dora and LOVED her cake.  Purple seems to be her favorite color right now...but maybe it is just the only color name she knows? heehee The big kids liked the party blowers and had fun trying to bump them into each other. Did I mention she likes Dora? Here she is with her Grammie and PopPop. She had lots of help opening her presents... and she got VERY excited over her Dora phone... What a joyful addition Karissa has been to our family! ...

We may be busy, but we sure have fun! loving the scarves... peek a boo!