a settled place

I will confess that sometimes I sit down to write after I've already sorted through something... conclusions drawn, things figured out. And that can give the impression that I have things together. I don't. I feel a push tonight, from the Spirit I think, to write a little bit here, maybe if for no other reason than to acknowledge that I'm down and Satan would like to keep me there. As we've found ourselves in the middle of holiday plans and somewhat of a "Christmas break" schedule, our routine has become chaotic at best and many things have gone unattended to - leaving much space for behavior problems, potty-training regression, and me feeling a little hopeless and a lot worn out. I have to consciously and intentionally remind myself that the only thing keeping me from looking upward and outward again is Satan, who delights in my failures and uses them to push me further away from God. And of course there's pride, if I can't acknowledge that ther...

Lots of life happening around here right now - good things, most of them - just a lot of them! :) We've been slacking a bit lately in daily routine, mostly because no matter how we structure our days it seems like there's still not quite time to get everything done before Christmas. But then Addie has been around this week and I'm feeling SO much more on top of things. We kicked off the holiday season with Thanksgiving and the Leman Christmas. These pictures do an excellent job of representing what that day was like for each of our kiddos. Ivory - creative, social, and enthusiastic, LOVED participating in the Charlotte's Web skit and decorating a bag for a Christmas meal, among many other things. Titus, on the other hand, shrinks away from crowds and I found him late afternoon on the floor under a chair contentedly eating his snack... We had some good mother-son bonding time when I took him out on the trail one frigid morning to be a little model for me. He did gr...

I had a goal to post one picture representing thankfulness on Instagram/Facebook every day in November. I did not achieve that goal. Here's the thing: the first few days were easy. I didn't have to look very far to seek out my blessings. But as the month wore on, it became harder to come up with something original, and the excitement wore off, and I forgot to take pictures, etc. The lesson I walked away with is that thankfulness takes work. It does not come naturally to us, especially when we're going through hard things. And its going to seem repetitive and not very glamorous, but it's still very necessary... to keep in touch with God, to be in relationship with Him in a way that constantly reminds us of the good He is placing in our lives... the good things, and the refining things, which are also good.