josh and i were laying in bed the other night and he said how remarkable this Christmas season for us has been....we have loved it. it has been so special to be not-divided...to be in our home here...for us not to be 'taking time off building' to hang out etc....josh has been so very present...and we have all just enjoyed eachother so much!
we have kept the fire burning for weeks inside...and i have cooked more batches of cornbread than i can count and cooked up easy pots of beans....and we have just enjoyed chatting and laughing and watching kids play.
my dad and sandra came down Christmas eve which was such a surprise and such a treat....they were here to watch the kids open their presents....it was a special morning for sure....and then josh's parents and brother came into town for a few days and it too was just perfect....we all had lots of catching up to do and playing and just being together.....then my friend kim came down for a couple days...how we all adore her! the kids had a blast and only held it together when she left bc jack knew his birthday was around the corner! and then his bday! sweet friends....he was surrounded by fun and a bonfire and cake....the kids ran around and chased the sheep and played hide and seek and war...we ate hotdogs and venison and beans....and then today my dear friend marybeth came with her family ...whose kids i adore and seeing them so much bigger was wonderful and nostalgic at the same time. i remember sitting on a couch with our first babies (jack and mabry) 7 years ago and now there are 6 between us! so so SO good to see them all....
we are blessed with people in our life. not even in comparison to anything else are the people we get to share this life with....friends and family alike. with a joyful and humble heart i thank you Jesus for the love we share in!
and now it is almost new years day! amazing.
i am looking forward to 2014...even if i always get strangely sad as a year closes....i know that time marches on ever so swiftly...and to experience it of course i am grateful....for there is only one other option ;) but it is something you cannot be told in your youth...how fast the seasons of life fly by. i pray that this coming year is rich with good quality time with family and friends...health and an ever increasing desire for the things of Jesus.
we are going on our own little family adventure of not grocery shopping this year....i have stocked up on some stuff like loo rolls and toothpaste...but even those things i am sure we will quickly run out of...so it will be interesting to learn all sorts of resourceful things this year! i think if i could hope to gain something from this plan it would be to appreciate what we have...to not waste...to temper our priviledge to always get just what we want when we want it (the 'what am i in the mood for food shopping i SO often do) .... and to seek out local food sources...milk, meat, veggies.... and to have form some new habits in the kids and in us...to not snack so much but to sit down and eat our meals together (i feel like picky choosy eating can come from not being hungry...somehow in our culture we rarely let ourselves get hungry...we just snack all day...which isn't bad but good things happen around a happy meal table...conversation!) and on a health level i dont' want to feed my family or myself with all the preservatives in processed foods. those chemicals are there to help food NOT break down so what happens when we eat all that stuff!
we will buy locally from farms....but try very hard to not shop at stores....i did buy a LOT of coffee for josh (i had to be real) and maybe stashed a few chocolate here and there and here and there and over here and over there ;)
surely i will be a blogging about it...so will keep you posted!
