It's Beginning to Look a 'Little' Like Christmas

Inside our house at least...outside, it kind of looks like a reprise of Noah's flood. No, seriously, things are flooding. Our Lower City Park is now the Lower City Lake.

But hey, does that really matter when you have a bunch of fun Christmas projects to work on between all the Christmas presents you're making? On the present front, I thankfully only have three more that involve sewing...once those are done, I can go to town making little things for stocking stuffers and whatnot.

Anyway, the other day I spent ALL day making Christmas decorations. Here's some photos.

Our stockings hung...in the hallway...since we don't have a fire place or mantle.

A very small portion of our nativity, with a twine tree that took me HOURS to wrap.

My very first live garland, wrapped with fake wooden cranberries...LOVE!

Decor in the bank of windows in our living room...our Willow Tree family, Nathan's Charlie Brown Christmas book, a couple other things, and the vase with ornaments (more about that later).

The Advent Tree my mom got for the boys, to go with with the calendar below.

The Advent Calendar my mom made for the boys. Each pocket holds a mini ornament to put on the mini tree.

Bank of windows in our dining room.

A mini twine tree, with a star from Joann's and a fake cranberry wreath from Goodwill.

The stars from our Nativity Scene. I actually love these so much that they stay there year-round.

Dollar tree decor: hurricane vase hot glued to a short candle stick holder, and filled with two tubes of ornaments. Gotta love it!

Christmas-i-fied cupcake tower...I laid down small branches from the garland and then a bunch of glass ornaments from our stash of ornaments.

The grown-up version of the paper show flake. I've made 3 of these small ones and one big one while laying in bed sick. Still not sure where I'm putting them.

Felt rose wreath...grape vine wreath from Joann's, white roses made of rolled felt. Also VERY time consuming but I L.O.V.E it.

Ornament vases including ornaments: $6. Felt Rose Wreath: $4.40. Twine Trees: $7.90. Live garland: $6. Total: $24.30. You would pay that much for one of these things if you were to buy the finished product in the store. I'm very happy with how everything turned out, and how clean and simple our decorations are this year. No clutter, no cheesey stuff. Only thing missing is the tree...which we have agreed not to put up until the 22nd so Nathan doesn't have to fight to keep the boys from tearing it apart. I'm so excited to get it put up though!

In other news, I ran my very first 5k on December 5th! It was the Jingle Bell Run in Portland, and I accompanied a couple from our small group, Chris & Niki. We had an absolute blast! I ran with Niki for the first mile or so, until I was ready to set my own pace, and then took off on my own. I managed to run the entire thing, no breaks, in only 31:24.9...which beat my personal record by over 2 minutes! That's just barely over a 10 minute mile. Not bad, if I may say so myself!

Chris, myself, and Niki in our church parking lot...we forgot to take pictures before and after the race while in Portland, so we faked it!

My very first race number...I'm very proud!

I think I'll be signing up for two more races this spring: the Shamrock 8k in March (duh) and the Bridge to Brews 10k in April. (8k = 4.98 miles, 10k = 6.2 miles). The Bridge to Brews starts and ends at Widmer Brewery, with an after party complete with beer tasting at the finish line. Right up our alley, no? Chris and Niki are planning on running the Shamrock with me, and I may be able to convince them to do Bridge to Brews also.

I was going to sign up for the Oregon Wine Country Half Marathon (13 miles) that goes between Stoller Vineyard outside of Lafayette, through Lafayette, and all the way up to Carlton, where they have a wine and music party at the finish line. (In case you didn't know, Lafayette and Carlton are only a few miles outside of Mac). There's just one problem...registration costs $95!!!! For EARLY registration! Not exactly in our price range, but how cool would it be to say that I've done a half marathon? So I'm still debating...I have until September to decide. Anyone feel like donating to the cause? Ha ha ha!

As for the boys...they're two. Definitely two. Undoubtably two. They still have their moments that make you melt, but oh man...they've been a trial lately. It doesn't help that I've been sick for the past three days and poor Nathan has been a single parent. Due to their determination to get into anything and everything, Nathan rearranged our living room a bit and put the couch under the large window...which has become their new favorite perch.

Asher left, Levi right.

Ok, I think that's all for now. I'm going to go lay on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket, until the boys wake up from their nap. Blast these stupid colds!

Family Pictures!

I'm so so so excited!

A gal from our church was kind enough to do family photos for us at a moment's notice, and she did a GREAT job of keeping two toddlers entertained long enough to get some fun photos before losing the light. So here ya go!

FUN!

We've had so much fun in the past week, it should almost be illegal!

The Beav's game was an absolute blast...and it didn't hurt that we won. In fact, we kept Cal from crossing the 50 yard line for the entire first half of the game and kept them from scoring until literally the last minute. The rain also held off except for about 10 minutes during half time. My parents parked their camper and utility trailer in a lot next to the rugby field, which is about 3 blocks from the football field. The trailer (complete with wall-to-wall carpet, coleman lantern, coleman heater, camp chairs, and twinkle lights) made a great place to tailgate both before and after the game, and then turned into Nathan and my hotel room for the night. Unfortunately, we forgot to take pictures of the set up, but we made some great new friends. It was definitely a night for the record books.

Nathan and my parents before the game, missing the beer...that rain gear is so sexy!

Me with Benny Beaver!

Nathan and his Dad.

Nathan and I.

We got back into town in enough time to take the boys to the Trick or Treat insanity on our main street here in Mac. It was...really crazy. They blocked off all of 3rd Street and the business owners gave handed out candy. Unfortunately, the entire thing turned into one really slow moving conga line up and down the street, with only 1 in 4 businesses giving out candy. So you would shuffle for about 5 minutes and then get a piece of candy, lather, rinse, repeat. Needless to say, with two toddlers, the level of entertainment wasn't quite high enough. We lasted about 20 minutes. Thankfully, we had a ton of fun trick or treating in the neighborhood later on in the evening with some of our neighbors, and the boys were ADORABLE in their monkey costumes.

They were a little confused about the idea of walking up to a stranger's door and asking for candy, but quickly caught on...after the 3rd house, Levi was running up to the door and holding up his bag. And let me tell you, they were NOT happy to get taken out of their costumes. They loved those things...in fact, they've taken up permanent residence in our living room.

I headed back to work for three days, and then today we decided to take advantage of one of the last rainless days (seriously, it's been 70 degrees here for the past three days...isn't it November?!) to take the boys to the beach. They haven't been there since last summer, when they didn't really understand what was going on. Today, despite a ton of fog, there was no wind and it was fairly warm out. We took some beach toys and the boys had a great time digging in the sand, filling buckets, dumping out the buckets, refilling the buckets, etc. Afterwards, we went to the Pelican Brewery and had one of the least stressful toddler-accompanied dinners we've had in a long time. A lot of it had to do with our waitress being AMAZING and putting in the boys' food order right away, so they had a constant flow of food to keep them occupied. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and evening with my beautiful family. Here's some pics (Asher's in the blue jacket, Levi in black).

Wait...

...it's Fall.

It's been over a month since I've blogged.

I apologize. Thing is, I tried being on Weight Watchers staff and just got too busy. If I wanted to spend any time sewing, something I absolutely love doing, something had to give. So spending time on the computer was it. The good news is that I decided to stop doing Weight Watchers staff...it was a lot bigger of a time commitment than I thought it was going to be, always in the evening between dinner and bedtime, meaning I was missing out on a lot of time with the boys. I felt guilty about that, and about leaving Nathan to do the single parent thing for even more time.

Now everyone can stop dropping thinly-veiled hints about posting on the blog, ha ha ha!

So, let's see if I can recap the past month.

• The boys turned 2 years old on September 21st. TWO! We have two 2 year olds. Please be praying for us. We had a fun little birthday on their birthday with my parents, then a big party the next Saturday with the whole family and several friends. It was a ton of fun.
• I got asked to make a purse for a fundraiser auction for the local children's shelter here in Mac. Ended up finding and falling in love with the fabric and pattern designer Amy Butler. It was a very time-consuming project, but also very satisfying to make something for such a great cause!
• Locked my keys in the car outside the Dutch Bros only 3 blocks from work...on my way to work...on the morning of the first frost of the season...while wearing stiletto heels. I had to wait outside for 30 minutes until the tow company showed up. Thank goodness for wool jackets, understanding coworkers, and AAA.
• Went to the Jimmy Buffett concert at the Rose Garden with my parents. What a blast!!! We ate at the Alexis (Greek restaurant in downtown Portland that my parents have been going to since they opened 30 years ago) before the concert, then went to the Horsebrass Pub afterwards...didn't get home until almost 2 am. Thank goodness we found an amazing college student babysitter, who is use to staying up that late on a school night!
• The boys have learned how to say uh oh, bye bye, night night, and many other things. They're also learning how to take directions. I can usually ask them to bring me something, and they'll go grab it and bring it to me. It's a very cool thing to watch your kids grow and learn.
• We've found the boys' Achilles heel...the OPB cartoon called Caillou. Nothing special about it, but it hypnotizes them. The other afternoon, Asher was throwing a full blown tantrum. Screaming, crying, kicking of feet, the works. Nothing I did made it better. I even took him upstairs with me, thinking he just wanted to get away from his brother for a bit. No dice. Turned on Caillou, and he immediately laid down on the end of the bed. And he stayed that way, not a peep out of him, for a good half an hour. I was even able to doze on the bed with him. Thank you Canada for writing such a soothing show.
• I turned 27. Yeesh. I'm only 3 years away from being 30. You know, as old as my husband is now. And that's OLD! Ha ha ha, love you honey! We had a small party at my parents house, just them, us, and our friend Andy who was bach'ing it while his wife and daughter were in Arizona.
• While Dad was at chukar camp (before you ask, chukar is a game bird), Mom offered to watch the boys while Nathan and I had a date night. We decided to head into Portland to the Melting Pot, an amazing fondue restaurant. Spendy, but amazing. It was the most romantic outing we've had in a long while. Afterwards, we curled up in bed with wine and a movie. It was a lovely night, and I FINALLY got to wear my sexy black 'victory' dress. The only picture we got was with my iPhone in the dimly-lit restaurant...it didn't turn out very good, so I'm not going to share it with you. Sorry!
• We think that Asher is going to be left handed. We were flipping back and forth between a baseball game and a football game on tv. Asher was constantly imitating whichever sport was on. During football, he was throwing our stuffed football with his left hand and then falling down like he had been tackled. During baseball, he was swinging this rattle thing...left handed. We've never shown him how to swing a baseball bat. Awesome! His mommy, grandpa, and great grandpa are all left handed, so it runs in the family.
• This coming Saturday, Nathan's mom is watching the boys while we head to the Oregon State homecoming game with Nathan's dad and my parents. We're getting to spend the night down in Corvallis, so bring on the tailgating!!! Because of the game, I'm taking Saturday and Sunday off...so I'm getting a four day weekend. YES!
• The boys are going to be monkeys for Halloween. McMinnville does a great trick or treat thing on 3rd Street (our main street) where all the business along the street start giving out candy starting at 2:30. Sure beats knocking on peoples' doors these days.

Ok, I think those are the highlights. I'll finish up with a couple of photos and I'll try not be to be as remiss in posting from now on.

The boys climbing the wall at the best park in town...no one is ever there! (Levi top, Asher bottom)

The boys love going down the BIG slides! (Asher) They're pretty fearless.

Two years old! (Asher left, Levi right)

My sewing center with my new organization shelves (gift from mom and dad)!

Asher sitting on Levi's lap because they were afraid of the vacuum.

Levi tried taking his shirt off and it got stuck. Goofy guy.

The purse I made for the children's shelter auction.

Another bag I made for myself from the Amy Butler pattern book I got for my birthday. Much more complex than it looks!

All that being said...

Have a wonderful Fall! Welcome the rain, the frost, the fog, the beautiful leaves. It's a magical time of year.

What's Your Ministry?

As Christians, we're called to reach out to those around us. To love...not just those who are easy and convenient to love, but to love everyone. To share the wealth, both literally and figuratively.

In our small group, we just started reading "Outlive Your Life", a Max Lucado book about reaching out to those less fortunate and really living out the New Testament. Tonight we read the first chapter, which consisted of about four pages and yet managed to make me squirm by quoting all these numbers about poverty, starvation, death due to preventable diseases, and orphans. Now, I'm not saying any of those numbers came as a surprise. Far from it. But they made me squirm because of how overwhelming it all seems. I feel like I'm a single raindrop in a vast desert.

However, if I'm being 100% honest with myself (and with you), I'd have to admit that it really makes me uncomfortable because I'm just not one of the people called to international missions, and that makes me feel like a bad person. Maybe it's the profession I'm in; every day I am reminded of just how broken our own community is. How can I cry out for a country half way around the world, when my neighbor is crying out for help? Thankfully, I know that God has ignited a fire in those with a gift and passion for international ministry. I just know I'm not one of them.

So...what now? You really can't escape the fact that God calls each of us to our own 'ministry' according to our gifts. It's all well and good for me to say that my calling is in our own backyard, but tonight I was convicted...I can't let this be an excuse to sit back and let my life pass by day by day, living for myself.

See, I know what my ministry is. It's pretty simple, pretty cut and dry. One way or another, it's teenagers. My heart breaks for them, even the ones that make me want to rip my hair out each time our officers contact them YET AGAIN. I miss being involved in Young Life so much, and I had to admit to myself tonight that I've been throwing roadblocks up in my own way for about a year now.

Ok, I have to give myself a bit of a break...my schedule for the past year hasn't exactly helped. I worked almost every single Monday.

But the biggest hurdle has been that I'm wanting another group of leaders like my Baker co-leaders. They were family, and they were safe. Comfortable. The leaders here in Mac are...young. As in, college age. Single. Childless. I went to a couple of clubs and leader meetings as my schedule permitted and felt like an outsider. It's hard to get excited about 9 pm leader meetings when you have children and work at 7 am. I'm also not good about making idle chit chat with people I've never met. It's something I hate about myself, but there it is. So I quit putting in the effort to go to the meetings and to club.

What a cop-out, right? Being involved in Young Life isn't about making me feel good. It's about showing kids the love of Jesus. Yeesh Lindy, get over yourself. As Nathan told me tonight, "The needs of the kids don't change, no matter who your co-leaders are." Reality check.

So, there's some re-prioritization going on here. Stay tuned.

Oh, and I'm in an editing frenzy. Tonight was more of Dani and Tyrell's wedding photos. The next couple of days will be finishing those up and then attacking photos of the boys' birthday and bday party. Thank goodness I don't have to work for the next two days!

And the boys' big birthday party is Friday evening! So excited!

How Many Years In the Making?

Dani, my best friend from college, got married on Sunday. I was in the wedding party, plus she and Tyrell were kind enough to let Nathan and I play photographer with our new lenses. Here's just a little sneak peek.

Oh and hey look! It's me...being a cheezmo.

That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by!