the opening of gifts!

the first thing river saw was this melissa and doug play kitchen my parents got him. though, this present was not merely opened. john spent two and a half hours putting it together on christmas eve after river went to bed. i quite conveniently became very sleepy and had to go to bed myself. all this tedious work was worth it though (or perhaps you should ask john). this thing will last him for years!

yes, we gave our child a (very dull) pocket knife to cut open his present. in my defense, inuit children were given knives to cut whale blubber. same thing, right?

this boy loves MUSIC! thank goodness. i don't know what i'd do if he didn't. ;) 

a very intense jam session with daddy.

after he opened two other musical toys from family members, he set them out and turned each on, and then began playing his little triangle. already putting together an awesome rock band. totally melted my heart.

he was very excited about this super-huge dog some friends gave him. he yelled, "RUFF! RUFF!" sort of like, "whoa, guys. this is one big ruff-ruff."

by this time, he was a pro. i got this, mom.

after we opened gifts, river stole a chocolate from john. as in just walked up and picked one out of the box and popped a bite in his mouth, as if he eats chocolates all the time. it's funny how kids just know what sweets are. he walked off saying, "yum num num" and flashed a quick grin for a picture. silly boy.

we had a sweet christmas. it was simple and chill (and merry and bright), and river played with his new toys for hours. i hope every one of you had a very merry christmas!

a blessed christmas

we are so lucky to be surrounded by so many amazing friends and family. i feel like i'm living in one of those sappy christmas movies. if it weren't for the people we are so stinking blessed to have in our lives, this tree would have nothing underneath it. and literally, this morning we weren't sure how we were going to pay our rent in a few days, and by the time we finished opening christmas cards, we had enough for rent plus $20 extra. i'm at the point now where i don't know what to say. i don't know how to thank people enough for taking care of us, for being the church to us. it is a humbling experience, and lord knows i can't wait for the day it's our turn to be the church in this way.

i am overwhelmed by the love of god, and this christmas the beauty and magnitude of his gift of jesus has been very real to me, more so than any christmas in the past. becoming a parent has given me a new glimpse of the love he has for us. i think the strongest, fiercest love on earth is the love a parent has for their child. he loves us enough to have given us his son. if words can even begin to explain how beautiful this is, he has also chosen this love as an example of his love for us, by calling us his children. just thinking about it, not even fully grasping it just makes me want to weep. and i am so undeserving of everything i have. and he has done so much. despite my grumbling and complaining and lack of faith in him.

one of my favorite names for god is jehovah jireh -- my provider. how he proves it over and over.

i know life can get hard and sometimes it is so painful that you feel your heart in your throat and you feel like you are about to spill over. it was never promised to us that this life will be easy or comfortable. that is why i am glad i have christ in my life. i am so thankful i have that security in him. that when i don't have control of things going on in my life, i know he is in control.


praise him who reigns.

merry christmas eve!

this is what our house looked like two weeks ago:

ripping up all the carpet and scraping the tile off of the entire house and laying new tile down has turned out to be a bigger job than expected. tomorrow is christmas and the house is still not finished. but... i'm totally okay with it. it feels right being here. and that's a good feeling. the first morning i woke up in our new house, it was so nice to wake up to the chilly air and get a cup of hot cocoa and sit on my ugly couch and stare out this huge window. knowing we no longer lived in that apartment complex, in that area of town -- everything felt so fresh and new. we have closed another chapter of our lives and have opened a brand-new one. and right before the new year! i love beginnings. it feels good. it feels really good.

i felt like a nomad for a little while when we were between staying at our friends' ben and erin's home. we were all over the place. seriously, we were spending $10 a day in gas just driving the three miles between houses. poor river -- naptimes were done on makeshift beds and between car rides. but we managed, and finally, we are here. and it's almost done. john took a break for christmas, which was wonderful, because i missed him! he has been working so much on this house the last few weeks, so i really needed him to pause and enjoy the holiday with us. it has been enjoyable. mind you, the entire ordeal has been stress-packed and cuh-razy, but like i said before -- it just feels right, being here. and it has been the best christmas gift.

we finally did it. last week, amidst the chaos of have our house still being "under construction," we put up our christmas tree. it is quite lovely and it's been cloudy the past few days, so the lights have been on pretty much non-stop. it will be interesting to see what our electricity bill will be next month.

river loves the ornaments. it's been tricky trying to discourage him not to take them off and yell, "BALL!" as he throws them across the room... without laughing.

this boy loves putting things around his neck. ribbons, necklaces, cell phone chargers. i never quite understood how a kid could strangle themselves with a mini-blind cord before river came along. let's just say all mini-blind cords are out of reach in this house.

today our friend james brought us san antonio holiday food -- tamales! and if you know river, you know he's not crazy about food. he'd rather nurse all day long. but this kid loves texmex!

guess what else has been an awesome christmas gift?!? our friend's mom gave this to us. as in, totally free. we were spending about $50 at the laundromat every month when we lived in the apartment complex, and now that we've moved to a house, the closest one is two miles away. she really has no idea how amazing this gift is.

a very merry christmas to everyone!!

incomplete thoughts on television and christmas

i am so excited for christmas. this christmas will be a very simple one. i wasn't even sure if we'd have a christmas tree until a friend of mine said her boyfriend's parents were getting rid of theirs -- score! we are closer to being officially moved into our house. there is so much change going on that it making the holidays even more scrumptious. i cannot wait until the tiling is done on the house so that we can begin the process of unpacking and making the house our new home. i cannot wait to settle down and start baking and decorating and making christmassy crafts. the christmas spirit snatched me early this year. i was listening to christmas music before halloween had even taken place. i normally do not allow christmas music to reach my ears until after thanksgiving, but this year i didn't fight it. i was singing white christmas while getting river dressed in his pumpkin costume for trick-or-treating. ;)

god is really taking care of us. i have no idea how we've been able to float on these last few months. it's been tough. we've been late paying bills for the first time in my bill-paying years (being a grown-up is hard!), and my spoiled self was discouraged because i didn't even know if we'd have a tree to decorate. but we are surrounded by family who is amazing and people who love us, and i am holding onto the fact that this is just a desert season for us. things will get better. they will.

speaking of that, just a side note here. i was hanging nearly our entire diaper collection on the line the other day (because i didn't wash diapers for like, five days. gross. i know.) and i was counting all the diapers we've actually had to pay money for, and all the diapers that have been given to us or that we've traded for, or that we've won, and man -- god has really blessed us in the diaper department. yes, we pay about $16 on washing the diapers at the laundromat every month, but other than that, we have spent less than $100 on diapers for river and i can't imagine the money we would have spent if we were using disposables. i am thankful for this simple, simple way of spending less and wasting less.

so anyway, until we can move into our house, we have been staying at our dear friends ben and erin's home. i think we are going on five days here. they have been so generous and kind to put up with us for so long. and i don't want to say any names, but a particular teething 16-month-old has not been the happiest, easiest house guest. it is amazing what this kid finds to get into! if he's not taking ornaments off the tree, he's sticking his leg in the trash can or pulling on the window blinds or trying to ride the dog like a horse or stealing nearly-empty dr. pepper cans and victoriously waving them around wildly as i'm chasing him, causing dr. pepper to splash all over the carpet. sigh.

quite the most enjoyable thing about this week has been, i will admit, being able to relax in front of cable television. oh. man. i've just been watching HGTV every day. okay, maybe i watched twenty minutes of a lady gaga documentary last night. we haven't had a TV for a few months, and before that all we really watched anyway was netflix. but we got rid of netflix, too. so it is nice to chill out in front of the tube. i even thought for a moment that i would like to get cable someday, but then i thought about how nice it has been not being bombarded by ads in my home every day. i am happy river isn't attached to a cartoon character (not that i think anything is wrong with that. of course it's adorable when kids love a certain character. my sister would say "pooh bear" in her sleep when she was a baby. no joke.) and i like the idea of him growing up not being exposed to commercials telling him he needs this and that. last year i was watching HGTV (best channel ever) with my little sister, who was eight at the time, and she kept making comments throughout the show, "i want that. that's not fair. ugh, that's so cool! why can't we have a house like that! that's not fair!" and i didn't like it. i mean, i don't blame her. i want a house like that, too (haha) but that's when something as innocent as watching a design show can influence greed and a lack of appreciation for what we already have, which really leads to over-consumption, waste and selfishness.

last christmas was wonderful. everyone got a lot of stuff. but besides that, it was spent with family and we had good food and hello, SNOW! i'm truly happy this christmas will be a simple one. it will be our first christmas with just the three of us. we can start our own traditions. we've been talking about what church service we will go to (we love a lot of churches in this city :) and what we will do on christmas morning. i am encouraged this year to make do with what we have, and be creative and think of ways to "spread the cheer" without spending a lot of money. i love christmas. i love christmas shopping, i love watching people open gifts i've picked for them, i absolutely, shamelessly love the santa clause tradition, and i love the over-all cheer that christmas brings. it really is a magical time.
 

 

my family celebrates advent, and this is a tradition john and i have decided we will celebrate at home as well, starting next year. one more thing to point to the true "reason for the season." :)

 everyone loves the faces of the little ones on christmas morning!

the aftermath of christmas morning 2009. hehehe.

boxes, everywhere

an unexpected hiatus.

we've been so busy the past two weeks.
sweeping, mopping, painting, tiling, grouting, caulking.
packing, bagging, moving, organizing, tossing.

i'll be back soon!