Christmas in Cali

Like most people :) Christmas has been on our minds a lot lately. 

When it's this time of year and you are married to this guy: http://www.break.com/video/ugc/traever-jolliest-sweater-of-all-237969 there is always Christmas music and candles wafting through the house, which I do love, but this year it's definitely been a little odd with the sounds and smells of Christmas when it feels so warm. The other day I went to get the mail, as I pulled Christmas cards from the mailbox I found a couple of fresh lemons on the curb that had rolled down the street. And over the past few weeks as Traever studied hard for finals the kids and I enjoyed the warm weather- bike rides, Adalai picked flowers, we went on a few strolls in the neighborhood, and a trip to the Safari Park and all the while I tried to wrap my mind around the fact that it is Christmas time. The closest that we have gotten to snow was a gentle rain that resulted in a rainbow right behind our house.  I guess this is what Christmas in California looks like.

Traever hit the books hard this month but still welcomed some study breaks with the kids

One day this was about the only thing we could do to keep Thatch happy and after he had his turn the girls wanted theirs.

I guess it didn't disappoint.  Even now, when the kids see him with his robe they ask to be wrapped in it.

Traever and his study buddy (the nursery doubles as his office).

Praise God for 1 semester down! By His grace Traever made it through finals and he did so so well. Of the 3 grades he's gotten so far all have been A's! (he still has 2 more grades to get) Meantime Thatch learned to crawl. Here's some pics of our man on the move.

He darts for the fridge whenever the door swings open. 

And another favorite thing of his... escaping diaper changes. He's gotten pretty successful at getting out of my grip.

Even with all of the sunshine and rainbows :), our hearts and minds are back in central IL. There is something about being in a warm and cozy home when it's freezing cold outside and more then that there is nothing that can take the place of spending time with the ones you love.

 There are many things that we wish we could have been back for this year:  making Traever's family watch "It's a Wonderful Life" on Thanksgiving night, decorating Christmas cookies with my mom, sister, and nieces, going to Bethany Baptist's "A Community Christmas" program, reuniting the jolly octet: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=206389936199&set=vb.607141199&type=3&theater , and of course all of the gatherings with family and friends to celebrate Christmas.

Even though we weren't home to enjoy those things we've tried our best to continue some of those traditions here.

We still watched "It's a Wonderful Life" and Traever did his best to persuade Adalai that it was the best movie ever and to persuade me to name our next daughter (if we have another) Zuzu.

The girls and I had fun making Christmas cookies and delivering them to our neighbors.

Adalai pulled out her little rolling pin :) to help with the sugar cookies.

Some friends of ours had a Gingerbread man party complete with a giant cardboard gingerbread house that they got to decorate. Fun!

Adalai enjoyed decorating hers...

...while Rem enjoyed eating hers.

 

We've gotten to watch Christmas movies by the light of the Christmas tree :). If you are looking for kid friendly ones to watch we've enjoyed watching Mickey Mouse's Christmas Carol and the old fashioned "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". 

For a few years now I've gotten a big stack of Christmas books from the library for Adalai to read at Christmas time. Last year I did a better job of reading one to her every day in December, but even if we don't get to it she enjoys looking through them.

We were blessed to get to go the Nutcracker this year to see her friend and classmate perform!

And since we left all of our Christmas stuff back in IL (thinking that we would be back for Christmas) we ended up making all of our Christmas decorations. Adalai was second first in command on this front.

The girls have enjoyed making cards to send to their friends and family.

And all of these things would be empty and void if we didn't know the meaning and the true joy of the season. So we've been celebrating Christmas by remembering how it all began. When a limitless God made Himself so so very small to save us. We didn't do anything good to compel His coming... in fact we did something very bad, we rebelled against Him and yet out of His love and goodness He chose to enter our world to come to our rescue. I overheard a mom yesterday at the grocery store sternly threaten her son, "Remember what I've said, if you don't behave then Santa is not coming". I'm so thankful that I can tell my kids that the best gift has come and doesn't depend upon them behaving but upon a faithful loving God. Love this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiSTHmFshRM

Since we left all of our Christmas stuff back in storage in IL we made up our advent activities this year and because I waited too long I decided to just use the Jesus Storybook Bible (a book we had on hand), I found some printables on pinterest and made an ornament for each story we read. Adalai has loved this and it's been such a good reminder to all of us that so many stories of the Bible point to Jesus, our rescuer, our hope.

And Rem has been enjoying the advent calendar that we made this year (based off of the Noel Piper Advent Calendar). A friend of mine suggested the calendar and although it took some effort to pull it together I think it was worth it.

We've had a lot of fun celebrating Joy of the season. We will miss our friends and family back in the midwest but are so thankful for the many many ways that God has blessed us here! We love and pray that you all have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Thankful

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me,

bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits,

who forgives all your iniquity,

who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit,

who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

who satisfies you with good

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

 Psalm 103:1-5

We started a new November tradition this year- the "Thankful Tree" and I have to say we are loving it! Remembering the Lord's blessings from best friends to balloons has been a great way to start each day. Most mornings Adalai has multiple things she wants to write down and I am reminded just how kind the Lord has been to us.
Below are a handful of ways the Lord has been good to us. I know these are very "ordinary" things to be thankful for... at least in our circles... but they are anything but "common" and I know our cross country move has accentuated just how special and dear to my heart each one of these blessings are.  



So, I will try to keep it brief but this post could have easily been 10 or more posts! So, just think of it as 5 posts/updates within 1. :)

1- God and the gift of His grace 

As I continue in faith, by God's grace, I have come to a greater love of Him and a greater awareness of His grace. It's something that I hope that I never get over and that the hearing of it will always soften my heart, give me great joy, and stir my heart to thankfulness and worship. I love Psalm 103 (above) God is the forgiver of my iniquity the redeemer of my life, and then Psalm 103 goes on to say: 

He does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

As a father shows compassion to his children,

so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

For he knows our frame;

he remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:10-14, ESV)

So so thankful for the Lord's compassion and grace!

2- Traever

It's hard to believe that it will be 9 years tomorrow since we said "I do"! And it has gotten better and better each year... the beginning years were actually quite painful. However because of that darker time in our lives I think the grace and loving kindness of the Lord, who brought us out of that place, is all the more obvious... and for that we are both so thankful!!! So, I'm thankful for the work that God has done in our marriage and the work that He continues to do!

I am so blessed to be married to an amazing man who loves the Lord, loves the word of God, loves the Church, loves the gospel, loves me, and our children. And I find him quite lovable too. Late the other night (like 12:30am) he was studying and I was preparing finger paint for a play date the following day when the bottle of paint that I was squeezing exploded all over the kitchen into a massive mess- on the blinds, on the floor, on the fridge, on the counter, on the walls, on my purse, etc. he came to my rescue and gave up an hour of precious study or sleeping time to help me with the clean up and of course made me laugh (mainly at myself) through it all.

3- The Munchkins

There's nothing quite like scooping up one of these little ones in your arms. Recently I've gotten to have some sweet time with these 3 little squirts. 

We spent sometime at the park by our place last week trying to get a pic worthy of a Christmas card. Thatch had a horrible time, he was either shoving leaves in his mouth or having a melt down but the girls had a genuinely good time. I left with zero pics of them all smiling but a lot of pictures that captured what life looks like right now including a lot of sweet and a lot of silly moments. Thankful to be a mom to these 3.

Even his grumpy faces are somehow a bit cute.

Once he was in my lap he was fine... total momma's boy.

4- Family

The older that I get the more I realize how good God has been to Traever and I in placing us in the families that He did. Thankful for parents who love us and love the Lord. And there are few things in this world that compare to the love between sibs... I can not imagine life without them! So so thankful for the gift of brothers and sisters.

Speaking of family :) my parents recently came to visit!! It was their first time visiting us since our move and so we tried to hit up a few of the local attractions. The first day we went to the San Diego Zoo and of course the kids loved it.

And no visit here would be complete without some beach and pool time. 

Having Mamaw and Papaw here felt like a mini vacation.

The last night my parents were here we got to eat at the restaurant on the end of this pier and watch the sun go down.

It was so good to see them! They spoiled me with so much help and the kids loved their time exploring San Diego, swimming, playing games and watching movies with the Grandparents!

5- Friends

We are so thankful for the friends that God has given us! They are like family to us and our kids- our best buds, babysitters and each other's burden bearers who make life just better in about every way.

These 2 have been known to celebrate their friend-iversary. I think they are 10 years strong now.

The posse kids- Always a crazy good time.

Livie is the 1st thing Adalai wrote on the Thankful Tree, and the 2nd thing she wrote was "sleepovers with Livie" and the 3rd "riding roller coasters with Livie" so... Liverbugs definitely holds a special spot in her heart.

We miss our friends back "home" but we are so glad that friendships are forming here! It was exciting to me that a few of Adalai's new friends from PreK also made their way onto the Thankful Tree. I'm so thankful for the people that God has provided for us to walk with during the coming years here in CA.

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!