home, graduation, Christmas, etc

Well we are home from Scotland. We arrived home a week ago and have been busy recovering from jet lag, unpacking (kind of), and busily preparing for Christmas. The other highlight was Dan's graduation a short 36 hours after arriving home. It was awesome to see him walk across that stage. It will be even more awesome when he finishes his final assignments and turns them in January 15th!

So, because its Christmas Eve and things are crazy, I'll leave you with a couple shots of him in his cap and gown!!

Christmas Pictures!!

We shot our Christmas card picture this past weekend- out in the snow. That was definitely a first for us! :) Here are some of our rejects..and no, I’m not going to reveal the final pick. You’ll just have to watch your mailbox. And watch it really close to Christmas, as they won’t get mailed till we’re home in a week. Hee hee.

My sneaky sister in law, I didn’t know she was shooting this one of me and Jayden! He doesn’t look very happy. :)

We got a great one that I am quite excited about. Thanks so much, Andrea, for shooting them for us!! :)

Out at the Beach

Let’s rewind a bit, back to early November. Cause I forgot to post these pics. Whoops. :) We headed out to the beach one day with Oma and Opa while they were here. This was in the time period not only known as B.T.S. (Before the Snow) but also B.T.B.C. (Before the Bitter Cold).
Beautiful place we live, eh? Well, place we live for one more week. Its true, we leave one week from tomorrow. Hard to believe. Its gone so quickly and so slowly all at once. We are so excited for home, but also so sad to say goodbye to friends here…and of course to Sam, Andrea, and the kids. Gut wrenching would be an appropriate word for how hard it will be to bid this time with them farewell. To say its been precious would be an understatement. A large understatement.

A Trip to the Farm

There’s a farm nearby our house here that sells carrots, potatoes, eggs, and parsnip. All fresh from their farm. And for dirt cheap!!

We took a walk out that way with the boys one day recently, before the snow came (in the time period known as B.T.S.- BEFORE THE SNOW).

The carrots are HUGE and we actually just ate our last one tonight from this trip. YUM.

SNOW!!!!

We’ve been having some serious now here. Jayden’s been off school all week, buses have been sketchy, and we’ve generally been stuck inside quite a bit. Today we took the boys out to play when the snow had stopped falling for a bit. :)

check it out.

Our house is above the “Something Different” place.

Here’s our driveway, which for us is more of a walkway. Since we don’t have a car here and all and, sadly, the bus won’t pull all the way in there to drop us off!! :)

And a couple artsy shots from the park.

Hopefully the snow will be calming down tomorrow!!!

Thankful…

I am a day late writing my “Thankful” post for this year. But, I figure “Black Friday” is just dawning in Los Angeles (although according to Facebook, WAY too many of you are already awake and shopping!) so I’m good to go.

Wow, what a year. Went back and read my post from last year. While what I am thankful for has not changed much, I have definitely added some new ones, and am also experiencing a new depth of thankfulness for others.

So here we go…

I am thankful for my God, my Savior, whose faithfulness continues to astound me to no end. I did not want come to Scotland. Didn’t want to fly across the ocean with two toddlers, didn’t want to leave home and the familiar. I really didn’t want to come here, get pregnant, lose the baby, hemorrhage, end up in the hospital, and become “profoundly anemic.” But His faithfulness has met me in the darkest moments, even already growing an appreciation in my heart for all He is doing through it and teaching us because of it. Amazing.

I am thankful for my husband. Deeply, truly thankful. We just celebrated six years of marriage this past week. Every year we ask each other two questions- 1. What is one we have done well in our marriage this past year? and 2. What is one thing I can do to love you better in this coming year? Honestly, in years past, this conversation has turned into a fight, where hurts and disappointments have reared their ugly heads. This year, though, it was a sweet, thoughtful conversation about how we’re growing and learning in our marriage. Our pastor at home is known to say, “Marriage…it is truly a mystery.” He’s right. It really is. It is not what I thought I was signing up for. It is different, but as we remain committed to pressing in and being in it for the long haul, it is SO MUCH MORE.

I am thankful for my two sons. I could write a whole book here about how their little lives have changed mine, how I can’t remember sometimes what is was like to NOT be their mommy, how their voices and laughs can brighten up any day, how much I see God’s faithfulness in their lives….I could go on and on. It will suffice to say I am thankful for the opportunity to be their mommy and for every second I spend with them, even if some of them totally exhaust me!

I am thankful for my family. So thankful. I will have to break this one into subcategories:

-I am thankful for my parents (my Mom and Dad and Dan’s as well). They have all supported us SO much on this journey of Dan’s schooling (that is so gloriously close to finishing!!). I cannot even begin to express how they helped us- with their time, their money, their energy, etc. My heart is filled to the brim with gratefulness for their practical outpouring of love to our little family!!

-I am thankful for my brothers, my sisters-in law, my brother-in-law, and Stephanie (she has her own category, of just being STEPHANIE!). I am so blessed to have sibling type people who are wonderful and amazing. I am particularly thankful this year for Sam and Andrea and the blessing of living near them for this time in Scotland. I cannot even begin to express how much I love walking around the corner and running into Sam, or stopping in to see Andrea at the coffee shop she works at. I love sharing meals, lives, child care duty..I love it all!!!

(this pic of them just makes me laugh!!)

-I am thankful for friends, new and old. I seriously am SO blessed by such amazing people in my life!!! I’ll just post a few.

(Hannah is wearing my sweatshirt in this one, a common Hannah thing to do. She is ALWAYS cold. Love ya, Han!!)

(I’m including the one above cause I’m blessed by my friendship with Steph, even though she’s a sibling-type, and my mom, even though she’s…well, my mom!!)

(I realized doing this there are people I just don’t have pictures of! Time to take some once we’re home!)

-And, last but not leas t, I am thankful for Scotland and everything we have experienced here- for the new friends, for the beautiful scenery, for the time as a little family, for a wonderful church to attend.  But also I’m thankful for the opportunity to go home soon, and squeeze everyone so tight.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend everyone!!!