stomach ache

T.R.I.P.E
it's what makes New Year's Day extra special...i'm told.
it's what is currently stinking, um, i mean, cooking up in my kitchen as i type this.
as we enjoyed our last few hours of 2013, my sweet, dear, loving (mexican!) husband decided to run to the store and buy all that one would need to make menudo. (no, not the 80's boy band, the traditional mexican cow stomach soup!) doesn't it look like a dirty dish rag!! i told the kids it was cow intestine...apparently it is actually cow stomach. oh. my bad.

the recipe says it needs to cook for 8 hours! as i type this, it is 8:15pm, and the guy is still cutting tripe!  so, let's be generous and say he gets it to boiling by 9pm...yup, that's right! my worst nightmare! (second only to being covered in ants!) we get to wake up to the smell of simmering cow stomach, people!!!! (bonus: while i was typing this up, the massive pot of cow parts boiled over onto my less-than-awesome glass stovetop range, filling the kitchen with the smell of burning stomach-fat-water-stuff!! sooooo gross!!!

to be fair, i have tried this delicacy before, so i feel justified in my little rant. :)
and, lest i forget how incredibly awesome my guy is, i should add that he promised to make me a stomach-less menudo as well...(he says he will just put chicken in mine! LOL!)

on that happy note...here's my ending to this amazingly full 2013 with more of our thankfuls and some holiday photos... #220 christmas decorations, complete with our very first mantel! :)

#221 making lemonaide from our life's lemons!

#222 making christmas cookies for our neighborhood

 some of us broke and then ate more than we gave away. :)

#223 christmas morning: enjoying fun gifts from thoughtful friends and family;

 and warm chai with gooey monkey bread!

#224 santa's tiny little helpers

#225 (a family first!) watching the next generation take over the christmas cookie making!

emma, selah and elia did a yummy job!

 #226 cousins learning to sew...Gram was the teacher! A precious memory for me!

#227 when my six year old entertains herself for hours while i unpack from a long trip :)

                and these...our last photos of 2013...four priceless faces and four tender hearts!

oursweetmess!

speed of life

 ready? here's what and where we have been up to over the past month....

 science creations that were more fun to do than to clean up (who knew water and flour can turn into clothes ruining cement!?)

 playing in the setting sun, soaking in each warm moment

naming our thankfuls in nor cal...enjoying

 endlessly good times with family! (i am a lame foto taker...that tractor is filled with my four and their precious Papa!)

 roller skating around the house on a rainy homeschool day!

 enjoying an unexpectedly long stay in LA with treasured friends!

 phew!

eucharisteo

He won't let me get past this theme in my life...

He has been etching these truths into my heart over the past two years as i have wrestled with the verse, "The joy of the LORD is my strength"

then these, today...

• You will have the free gift of complete forgiveness of all your sins extending into forever (Romans 6:23).
• You will never have to merit your justification by keeping the law (Galatians 2:16).
• You will have all your real needs provided while on earth (Philippians 4:19).
• You will receive all the grace you need at all times so that you will abound in every good work God has for you (2 Corinthians 9:8).
• God will complete the good work he began in you (Philippians 1:6).
• You will be raised from the dead and never, ever die again (1 Corinthians 15:52–53).
• That means someday soon you will see Jesus, be with him (2 Corinthians 5:8), and be like him (1 John 3:2).
• In that day you will know for the first time full, unpolluted joy (Psalm 16:11).
• You will be completely free from all corruption (Romans 8:21).
• You will have God forever (1 Peter 3:18) as your exceeding joy (Psalm 43:4).

you can read the whole post at: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/how-can-we-give-thanks-in-all-circumstances

because He just loves us this much.

birthday-ed

what does it look like to have two birthdays just three days apart in one crazy family?!
for starters, it means baking two different desserts in one day, because the attempt to celebrate each birthday on different days just completely failed!

every year i tell myself that next year i will plan better, prepare more and make both kids feel like their day is totally about them! then every year i blow it and end up celebrating both birthdays on the same day, one feeling like his is late, the other feeling like her's is "borrowed". :)

 agh! alas...here we are...late november, and i am doubling up once again! HA!

 Praise God these little ones are so forgiving!

 my head can't even wrap itself around how they are suddenly 8 and 6!?!

precious and fleeting are these mothering moments...and filled with endless (albeit wild!) joy!!

(pray that my little miss sunshine here doesn't one day completely disdain the fact that i always forget to take her headgear off for pics!!)

characters!

 

 halloween transformed my sweet four into

 super heros, flowers, furry monsters and...well...

i have no idea who samuel is...but i am told he is from star wars, episode ??? :0

            selah's was my favorite for sure! she came up with the idea and designed it herself!

                                                           the sweetest sully ever! :)

month two

8 weeks.

that's how long we have been at this new way of learning. well, actually 9 weeks, cuz there are 5 weeks in october, but hey, who's counting, right?!

we are starting to (perhaps) hit our stride. :)

i finally feel like i am no longer drowning.

the slowed pace is catching up to us, and it feels so nice!

we have enjoyed early morning treks, field trips on trains to get yummy "dairy fresh" milkshakes, pumpkin patches and hay rides, biking to the park, cooking together, cleaning house together and grocery shopping "family style" (not for the faint of heart!).

we are also starting to hear better...listening more clearly, to each other and to His voice...

during our 6 years in LA we gathered tons of community, love, support...family! we were rooted, invested, planted and blooming!

here in fresno, i feel completely uprooted...my soul feels bare and vulnerable, especially as the cooler weather settles in. i'm realizing that Our Great Gardener is busy pruning us back, preparing us to bear even more fruit for Him. but the process is painful, slow, lonely. being transplanted into a new climate, different soil, odd surroundings...it often feels like we may just whither up and die.

the central valley has so many trees that change colors with the seasons, an artistic object lesson for my spirit. watching the leaves willingly give up all the sunlight they have soaked in over the year, yielding to the changing temperatures, falling quietly to the ground, it reminds me how our lives, too, are seasonal.

there must be this giving up, falling into Him, an accepting of His wise pruning, if we are ever to bear more fruit. so much trust is required to allow our fragile souls to be planted again, and again, in strange new soil. there really isn't much else for one to do, but to trust. the watering, the sunlight, the pruning, it all comes from Him.

just to trust...and turn upwards to Him...if we are ever to bloom again.