Happy Friday and Merry Christmas!
Is your shopping done?
Are you ready for family and friends?
Have you decorated the tree and baked the cookies?
If those questions stress you out. That's ok.
Let's change it to questions that really matter.
Did you tell your loved ones how much you love them?
Ask yourself what was truly important this time of year?
Have you sat a little one on your lap and told them about baby Jesus?
Have you read your Bible or praised God today?
That's better! I've been doing my best to unplug for the worldy things this year, and plug into more Jesus and family. Quiet time reading with the littlest ones, reading our bibles, family dinners, lunches with Dad at work, discussing what really matters.
I'm doing my best to focus less on the things that distract us from the most important things.
That's why I have been here a little less. I would like to be here more, but this is a season of preteens, toddlers and ages in between. I should be watching them, because they are watching me!
1. Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
Christmas is quickly approaching. The excitement is mounting and the debate has begun once again. Do you count down to Christmas Eve OR Christmas Day??
I personally have always counted down to Christmas Eve, because our holiday festivities start on Christmas Eve.
We have a slightly split household on this. So the countdown calendar is a source of daily discussion.
It has now become a thing. If you say how many days it is until Christmas you have to specify if it is Eve or Day.
So, I ask the readers. What do you count down to?
Let me know in the comments!
So we can settle this debate once and for all. Or start the discussion at your house for years to come!
2. Just a little bit of coffee...
This was our last week of school before our break. Actually if I am being 100% honest, we were supposed to work through next week. However, we were all starting to show sign of burn-out. It was time to call a break.
Want to know a couple signs of burn-out.
People eyes start to glaze over and stay that way for most of the day
People get antsy...kids and Moms
School gets "too hard" (Insert whiny voices)
My afternoon cup of coffee starts to look like this
And the kids start to leave my subtle hints, like this.
Yep, definitely time for a break.
Dustin and I went on a date over the weekend. We visited a local place we had been talking about for a while. We have been living in our town for about 3 years now, and we have started to explore the little parts of town that not everyone knows about.(We also like to support local businesses like our own. :) ) The little restaurants and small town shops. This town is filled with so much history, and they have gone to great lengths to maintain the structures, feel and the stories.
We finally visited the Green Tree Restaurant, mainly because I friend of ours shared an article about them sourcing locally grown grass-fed beef. We had been having a steak craving, and figured it was a good place to fix it.
The food was good! We got the last two NY strip steaks of the night. The service was friendly and competent. Plus the restaurant was very clean. The best part, was the history! You can read about it here. The short story is that the restaurant was opened in that exact same building as the Green Tree Tavern is the year 1800, three years before our state was actually a state! They reopened it in 2015 as the Green Tree Restaurant.
I love history and I'm a sucker for a story like that. Pretty sure it is one of my top three favorite old places to eat in our new town. One of the other ones is The Madison, it is housed in the original Post Office building!
If you live local, or ever happen to find yourself traveling through our little piece of the world, you should make sure you try these places!
4. Holiday Bloopers
We finally took real family pictures..with coordinating clothes and both parents(Not each of us taking turns and photo shopping it in later)...for the first time since we had 2 kids!
We had already scheduled the day and then it snowed and was 20 some degrees. We were not to be deterred. At least I wasn't going to be. We planned for this, showered and everyone had recent hair cuts. THIS WAS HAPPENING!
Thankfully we have an amazing and caring neighbor and I have a kind and loving husband who tends to go along with my crazy whims.
We managed to get some good shots, but most of them are on lock down until after Christmas. Grandparent presents and what not. ;)
I am willing to share a picture with you that has made me smile and giggle every time I look at it. It is our family in a true moment of life. I'm pretty sure the blooper pics are the best.
5. Christmas Program!
Our homeschool co-op put together an absolutely wonderful Christmas Program. There was an expressive signing performance, bell choir and the older kids have put together a show choir. Have I mentioned how amazing the women at co-op are? I'm forever amazed at the talents and organized skills that come together. You put these women in a room together and things get done. I'm pretty sure they could solve world hunger and create world peace, if our Moms meeting lasted longer than half an hour each week!
My MIL even pulled me aside and asked if this was all 'just' homeschool families and 'Wow, they get a lot done!" Yep, they sure do. They take their job as education facilitators very seriously.
The program was amazing and entertaining and Anna only screamed, cried and threw herself in the floor four times. Two year olds are such a fun filled crowd. I'm calling it a win!
6. Addison
Someone had a birthday at the beginning of the month. Can't believe she is 7. She picked a gold and hot pink themed cake and decorated it herself. (With a little help from Emma and myself.)
She received this shirt for her birthday. It pretty much sums up our Addison. She whirls, twirls and always glitters. She is such a blessing to our lives and our world wouldn't be the same without her in it. She told me she wants to be an "Animal Dr at the zoo" when she grows up, but also...a mom and to adopt.
Sounds like a good plan to me!
7. 4 Years!
We purchased our 'tiny' cottage in the woods on December 10th 2013. It was one of our first big huge steps toward the debt free life we live now. It was scary and I'm pretty sure we were not entirely prepared for all the level of repairs that the house would require. I knew Dustin could totally handle anything this house threw at us, but I am definitely positive that we didn't see some of it coming.
You can read more about how we found this house here.
This house has changed a lot over the last four years. We have changed as well. The kids are growing, our lives and views on things have changed so much. I struggle to even remember where we came from or even who we were before starting this journey. The old life seems so foreign to us now. We try to sit and recall a time when credit was a part of our lives, before the tiny house project, before we learned to downsize and live small, before we really truly asked God what he wanted for our lives.
We can't do it.
Will we always call this house our home? I'm not sure. Forever and always are very solid and sustaining words. We are here because God placed us here. No one can say He won't move us again.
It is funny how life can seem so mess, scary and disorganized when you are in the thick of it, but when you come out the other side of situations...you see how His divining grace was leading you through it the whole time. We were the ones not fully trusting in His will and grace.
 |
| 2013 |
 |
| 2016 after porch completion |
Blessings!
~Lyndsay
No comments:
Post a Comment