Tis the Season...

Well, the Christmas season is here and along with all the joy and goodwill toward men, comes the spending of money at a frantic pace. Isaac's list is constantly evolving and being added to on a daily basis. He has been told he gets three gifts from mom and dad (like Jesus did) but that does not seem to matter to him. The concept of "three gifts" in a preschooler's mind is more like 20 or 30 apparently. I have done my best to keep his little eyes off of the toy mailers that get sent to us on a practically daily basis, but to no avail. He just seems to intuitively know what he wants (and wants...and wants...and wants). There's presents for grandmas and grandpas and sisters and brothers and nieces and nephews...and, as I am doing all of this wonderful Christmas shopping my eyes are ALWAYS drawn to those wonderful things I would LOVE to have for myself. The retailers seem to know this in advance, and they bring out the big guns during this shopping season. It never fails. I will be searching endlessly for a particular item in July, but of course I am NEVER able to find anything remotely close to what I want. Fast forward to November, when funds are tight and there is not a single cent extra to spend on myself, I will always find about 150 things I totally love.
Just in time for all of this unabashed spending, every major appliance/electronic item in our household has chosen this particular week to breathe its last breath. My hairdryer. Our vacuum. Our portable DVD player. If someone could explain this phenomenon to me, I would appreciate it greatly. I guess no time is a "good" time to have rather expensive items cease to work. All this being said, I hope everyone, including myself, takes some time during this busy season to reflect on what Christmas is really about, and it's certainly not that pink MP3 player I would love to have (Hint Hint Dave...).

A few of my favorite things...

I was thinking about Oprah's famous "favorite things" show the other day and my mind started wandering...what are my favorite things? Here are a few (in random order):

-Clinique dramatically different moisturizer
-Stride Rite baby shoes
-$1 scrapbooking items (at dollar stores, craft stores or online)
-cheap, matted frames that I can spray paint black or white (I have even been known to spray paint the mats!)
-Magic Eraser
-Children's Place pajamas
-My DVR
-Diet Mountain Dew in the bottle
-Mulled Cider candles at Walmart
-Hand sanitizer
-My Fuji s700 camera
-Baby Einstein DVD's
-"Tough and Tender" all purpose cleaner from Melaluca
-My Cricut
-Paul Mitchell "Freeze and Shine" hairspray
-white or black spray paint...a poor decorator's best friend!
-My Swiffer sweeper vac and wet jet
-Clorox wipes
-Portable DVD player (which recently broke **sigh**)

If you have a minute, email me or leave a comment about some of your "favorite things." I'd love to hear from you!

I'm in one of those moods tonight that is hard to put into words. I guess I'm a little reflective, introspective and sad...all rolled into one. Probably not a great time to be blogging, but I press on...
Lately it just seems like there have been so many truly hurting people I have heard about. Sometimes I wonder how God does it- how can he see all of our pain at once and not have it devastate him. I know he is God, and his thoughts and ways are so much further above ours. But still, I know he loves us, and how it must break his heart to see our deep pain.
Just today an acquaintance of mine lost her husband--he was told two weeks ago he had cancer and had only a few months to live (he had just went to the doctor for some pain he had been having that weekend). This weekend he came down with pneumonia and was ushered into heaven this morning. They have three children 13 years and under. It breaks my heart. And there are others I know now who have dearly loved ones going through devastating illnesses. And I know they would give just about anything to make it all go away. And I think so often of the children in the world who are being abused, or little ones who have no one fighting for them. It breaks my heart. God sees it all, and it must break his too. But He knows the final chapter. He knows that death truly has no sting, and that he wins, no matter what.
I have heard it said that you become more sure of yourself in your thirties- that you finally really figure out who you are. I don't feel that way at all. In fact, I am much less sure of the answers than I was even just a year or two ago. Sometimes I am completely confused by this life and even my Christian walk. There are many things I am certain of, but there are just as many that I am not.
Even though I have all of these questions now, and I am more aware of my faults than I have possibly ever been, I keep thinking maybe its all part of His plan to make me more like Him. I hope so.

Isaac keeps telling me I am mean lately, and I am taking that to mean I am doing my job of disciplining him well. Tonight I got after him for something and later on, Dave went in his room to talk to him about it and he said, "Mama is mean. I am not even going to talk to her anymore. When I need to tell her I like her, I will write it on a piece of paper. When I need to tell her I love her, I will write it on a piece of paper."

Click to enlarge

Here are some recent scrapbook pages that I have completed. The first two layouts chronicle Graham's month by month development his first year of life. I am not sure if you will be able to read the journaling, but its fun to see through pictures how much he has changed. The other layouts are for Graham's first taste of solid food and a couple from Isaac's scrapbook.

Happy Halloween!