things we must discuss.

the small folk had a two hour delay tuesday morning, presumably due to outdoor freezingness. at 7am, when their trusty bus normally rounds our street, it was 4 degrees out. come 9am, 'twas a balmy 6 degrees. i have to think that perhaps the two degree gain wasn't quite worth surrendering a couple hours of education, but that could just be me.

windowpane visual:


kitchen counter visual:


that leftovers shot is actually from last week, when we made this cheesy bread plus loaded nachos, except i replaced their schmancy bean concoction with plain ol' black beans and went crazy with the romaine and lighter on the chips. the kids declared it a winner, although we still had negative feedback in the onion category. (the fresh onions were a little intense, but had we scaled back to a scant fourth cup i think it would've been just the right amount of bite.)



pull-up status: as you've hopefully forgotten about, one of my intentions for this grand year is to do attempt more pull ups. toward that end, we have this pull up bar in the doorway to the kitchen, and i've made this wretched agreement with myself that every time i walk under that thing i have to do a couple (cheater) pull-ups. (at this point in the game, i have to push off a little from the floor or there is no finagling up there.)

the added bonus to this arrangement is that i am discovering all sorts of muscles that i hadn't met before. like those guys lurking under my ribs--who knew they were even a thing? i thought it was mainly skeletal territory there, but apparently we have muscles all over the place, and most of my upper body ones are now quietly whimpering.

also, one of my favorite things about winter is speed skating around the house in socks, namely the part where you get to slide to a dramatic stop. it occurs to me that one of these days i am liable to grossly miscalculate and wind up on the floor, so if i ever tell you i have twisted my ankle 'on the treadmill,' we shall all know what truly went down.



there are many other things we should probably discuss, like my eyebrow situation and also why i'm hoping for more snow, but talking fluff is mostly my way of skirting the real issues. so for my fellow adoptive parents who pop in for an update on the little dude: it's the same stuff upcycled into new and improved shenanigans. should things begin to progress, i promise you i will post here. until then: you're not alone.

you've got us, and we've got you, and best of all we all have Him, and at the end of the day that's all we're really asking for, right? some decent, unflinching company in the middle of the crazy.

family.

it's a week into january and oddly enough, i am still relishing the concept of snow. two afternoons back as i hiked away in my treadmill corner, clumps of winter began to tumble down in fits and swirls and i surprised myself by thinking ooh! snow! and wishing i was not a sweaty mess so i could've run out to quick photograph the stuff.

but as we all well know, frozen sweat = ick, so i just admired the snowscape from the perspiry innards of my room.





i suspect that by february 1st we shall no longer be speaking, winter and i, but for right now it's all the wonder of cold skin and frosted trees and cinnamon oatmeal and tea.

meanwhile, i am having a big ol' sale in my etsy shop because guess what? my lori&landon friends and my ashley&jon friends are both adopting, so all proceeds from this month's sales will help them become families to some gorgeous kiddos.

such a beautiful word, family.

l&l are in the final stretch of adopting a little guy from uganda, and j&a have just gotten in their home study paperwork to adopt from the democratic republic of congo.

it's a joy, looking around our living room during small group nights, seeing how everyone has somehow wandered into The Kid Stage. pretty much the whole group is adopting or fostering or expecting, and it expands my insides to think of so many kiddos who will grow up loved and tall and secure in the tenderness of our Father.



but back to the sale: 20% off everything in the shop. coupon code: FAMILY. let's bring these guys home.

ALSO. my imaginary friend joy (actually, she is very much alive and real and making a glorious dent in this world)(but that's what we call internet friends 'round these parts) is working to adopt pie, the little gal her family has been foster parenting since birth. she's dreamed up a nifty little one-for-one effort to cover the legal fees involved, and it would be smashingly awesome if you'd consider giving a dollar.

have a beautiful, snow-crusted monday, my friends! y'all are my favorite kind of wonderful.

behold.

i wasn't planning on resolutions or a word of the year, because like lovelyn said, my aim in any arena boils down to simply this: love well.

but i spent the first of january with some hopeful specifics circling my brain, so i figured i'd write this stuff down in a non-losable place before i can't remember that i wished for anything bigger than wrangling dinner onto the table tonight.





this year, i'm shooting for more: hydration, giving, marinating in scripture (via lectio divina), mileage walked/run, writing, paying attention in life, leafy greens, phone calls, historical fiction, prayer, beans&rice, sun, letters by postal mail, reading to my kids, speaking kindness with honesty, singing, tea.

less: sweets, online window shopping, lectures that render everyone under twelve magically hard-of-hearing, cynicism, coffee.

i'll give a hearty go at: functional kiswahili, pull ups, learning chess so i can lose to my son, books on kindle. (this last item calls for some backstory: i'm the sort of person who can wax sentimental about the smell of ink and glue, the feel of coated paper, the heft of a book in your hands. i despise e-readers. however. i recently discovered that excess baggage to other continents chimes in at $280 per bag, so i decided to get to know a kindle.)







as far as words go, i juggled around a couple possibilities for this year's pick, but kept coming back to behold. consider, study, see. to hold.

as in: behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (john 1.29).

or: behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God (1 john 3.1).

if i fear anything, it's losing sight of God in the middle of doing His thing, and i figure if i can just behold Him, see even a sliver of His worth and His love, my heart will remain where it most belongs: puddled at His feet.

i will care for the needs and feelings of others, but i exist solely for the delight of Christ. the dismissal or disapproval of the people around me can hollow me out, it's true, but at the end of the day it's just me quiet before my King. and i rise and fall for His pleasure, my blood surging for the sight of Him alone.



what are you hoping for this year?