hello monday

joining lisa leonard, for "hello monday."
(she's hosting a give-away today. go check it out!)


hello to reading exodus.

to God allowing the Israelite people to suffer slavery under Pharaoh, so that they would desire deliverance, and see the I-AM-Present God.

  thank you God, for allowing me to experience hardship, so that i will

"NEED THEE EVERY HOUR," 

will see you bring me out of my captivity, 

and have intimacy with You, the I-AM-Present God.

hello to racing to get the last two pieces of this bread.

apple cinnamon crunch bread from the great harvest bread company. 

crazy good.

hello laundry day.

so glad i have 3 big helpers to help me tackle it.

hello lesson planning.  i'm sorry i neglected you last week.

really sorry. 

hello to setting up an etsy shop.

details coming soon.

hello pretty flowers from michael for my pretty vase on our pretty new table.

 don't be surprised if i procrastinate a bit  lot of what i should do today 

 to gaze at your beauty. 

hello mailing out the last of the ground hog's day cards.

good bye to mailing out cards during Christmas forever!

What are you saying hello to this week?

insta

joining jeanette for another week of insta-friday, 

with pix from my week and the janphotoaday challenge
(see side bar for details) 



 it's been an exciting week here because emilie got braces!
(we're easily excited)

for 2 days pre-braces i gave the go ahead to munch on all the 

"forbidden" treats she'll have to forgo for the next 26 months.

by wednesday morning when it was time to get her braces on 

she was doped up on sugar 

and raring to go! 

you never know what kind of response you're going to get with a tweenage girl
(okay, any aged girl) regarding matters of change to appearance.
i was relieved by emilie's skipping and declaration after seeing her adorable brace-face,
"i look so cute!"

i told her she's cuter with them, if that's even possible.    


now on to the janphotoaday challenge.

reflection
these photos were taken on a date a few years ago when our van broke down
and we were waiting for the tow-truck.
good date.

shoes
roller-skates.  laundry is fun when i'm on spin-cycle too!

something old
after an ortho appointment this week the kids and i went to antique stores
(counts for history in home schooling, right?!)
these corning ware dishes remind me of the play dishes i had when i was little.  

guilty pleasure
mr. bubbles and candlelight
&
because one guilty pleasure is NOT enough~
emergency chocolate in my closet
(note to self: milky way bag is almost empty.
replace soon or suffer the chocolateless consequences!)

something you made
wrapped canvas' (with michael).

color
suitcases and red bench
(while antique shopping, i was on the hunt for more suitcases)

tell me, 

what is something old you treasure or a

guilty pleasure you'd rather not live without?

Rooted

during the fall noah took a mosaic art class.
he had the freedom to create anything he wanted.

this week he brought home his finished masterpiece.
a small tree on a grassy hillside with deep roots.

when asked what inspired his work his response was "nothing, i just made it."

i told him it reminded me of a scripture~

"Remember that it is not you who supports the root, 

but the root that supports you."  
Romans 11:8

to which noah replied, "and the tree doesn't even know it- that all that root is there supporting it." 

sigh.  lately i have been that tree; unaware of all that Root supporting me. 

but God...
in his goodness gave me a boy, who "just made" a piece of art, and used it speak truth into my life...
my Deeply Rooted life.  

insta-friday eventually

joining jeanette for some belated insta-friday on sunday, 

with pix from the janphotoaday challenge
(see side bar for details)

 in your bag

pleated poppy clutch FILLED with "i heart bob" key chain, gloves, mini-bags,

shout wipes, guitar pick, old school flip-phone, 

i-pod, and ALWAYS my lipstick. 

something you're reading
on my own- Daily Message
with friends- Devotional Classics
as a family- Jesus Calling
to my kids- A Wrinkle In Time

happiness
braided emilie's hair to get waves and the tweenager LOVED IT!
AND josie's awesome outfit and personality
&
tea cups n' saucers given to me by michael's grandmothers

morning
taking my boy to algebra carpool
at brrr o'clock

water
lake around the block

something you bought
2 nights at a motel for a young homeless couple
with a 12 day old baby
(not what i planned on buying that evening)

sweet
dark chocolate sea salt rocky road with lavender nib shared with friends

&
s'more egg rolls shared with other friends

someone you love
visited someone i love here this week- my dad.


hugs,

insta-photoaday!

joining jeanette for some  insta-friday, 

with pix from the photo a day challenge
(see side bar for details)

you
"praise is who i am, praise is what i do"

breakfast

breakfast for the lactarded

letter box
made w/ love for ME by my m.i.l., cindy

something you wore
bottle cap
(got this in portland with kristen)

something you adore

tweenager playing the piano

makes you smile
josie being fabulous in 4 tutus

favorite
noah's big brown eyes. melt.

your sky

daily routine
lesson planning

childhood
sisters playing together.  love.
&

little people

where you sleep
bed, and note by my bedside

close up

flowers at MOPS 

(where i am the youngest mentor mom in MOPS history. i love it!)

photography is worship. 

causing me to LOOK for the lovely in my good life, 

to capture it in a snap-shot,

to SEE my generous God, 

and celebrate the many gifts He has given me.

and i need it!

  i need anything that will cause me to take my eyes off myself and place them back on Him.

Rewind

its beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

yeah, i know, Christmas was so last year, but indulge me a little {okay, a lot}

as i rewind 

and ponder a bit of what i treasured about Christmas, 2011.

this Christmas looked a lot like this

Michael painted the kitchen, repainted the kitchen, then painted the kitchen again! because "third times a charm."  after painting was kinda done he installed granite tile counters, grouted, added bead board, appliances, and more.
with the kitchen make-over we knew Christmas wasn't going to get the attention we so enjoy giving to It.  Christmas was okay with that and came anyway.

because we were kitchenless the kids and i went to mama holly's to bake our Christmas goodies. 

mama holly, who had a nasty cold, was so happy to have us there!
as she taught emilie to knit she said,
"i'm so glad you don't have a kitchen, i think you should make it a tradition that
you bake here every year."
mama holly gives me generous love and the gift of home.
i don't know what i'd do without her.

we'd like to thank Home Depot for not only selling us paint {a lot of paint}, but also our Christmas tree. 

the kids woke our Christmas morning to the usual birthday breakfast party for Jesus. no balloons or streamers this year, BUT we did surprise the kids by setting the table with the Christmas dishes that had been buried in a box in the garage
{up to that point we'd been enjoying all our fine crock-pot meals on paper products}.
i'll have to share about all our birthday traditions sometime, but for now, just one, and that is to pick junk cereals to accompany the meal.
so this year while standing in the cereal isle before Jesus' birthday i asked the fam, "what cereal would Jesus choose?" the kids shouted a few of their favorites, before my witty husband, michael, chimed in with what we quickly realized was the correct cereal choice for the Savior,
"LIFE!"
it was funny!
i guess you had to be there.

something that really blessed me this Christmas was that noah, emilie and josie decided to go in together and buy gifts for each other with their own $.
they were as THRILLED to give as they were to receive.
my children are coolawesome!! 

even rudolph thinks so!

another thing that knocked my mommy Christmas socks off was how
intentional my children were about the advent season.
i usually have thoughtful activities planned for the entire advent season, but with the move and the chaos i had to embrace that Jesus would come {advent= coming, expecting} without my assistance.
still, i was a bit saddened to be missing the opportunities to create memories for my children. 
BUT something extraordinary occurred, my children created the memories for themselves by recycling many of the memories we'd made together past Christmases!
I LOVE MY KIDS!
this was hands down my favorite gift this Christmas {that and the kitchen}.

for the first time in our 15 yrs of marriage we didn't send out Christmas cards
{be on the lookout for our Ground Hog's Day card on Feb 2}.
i figured we'd have to throw in the towel on creating and giving
our favorite kind of gifts- thoughtful and personally made.
but michael and i pulled a couple late nighters and created a few that we couldn't wait to give! 
a personalized crossword puzzle for his crossword-puzzle-loving-grandmother was one favorite,
and a few canvas wraps we designed were the others. 

maybe a new business in the near future
{to pay for all the painting that still needs to be done}?

a few other highlights were:
cheney cousin Christmas night at our house.
17 of us in matching scarves, whipped up by my m.i.l. cindy,
to wear to Christmas eve service.
the cousins unwrapping the first gift, baby Jesus, from under the Christmas tree, followed by gramps reading the story of Jesus' birth to them from Luke.
uncle jack's tender heart and encouragement. 
michael's grandma opening her canvas wrap of Psalm 23, and saying
"Psalm 23 is my favorite"
{we knew}.

Christmas day at my uncle and aunts, joseph & mary
{really.  joseph gabriel, born Christmas day, and maria gloria)
my cousin ava {2yrs} jumped into my lap!  she likes "prima"
{cousin in portuguese, and her name for me}.
sitting with my 5 aunts, i teared up and said, "i love my aunts." to which one teared up 
and then another.
my aunts have been a source of joy to me through the years.
seeing my grandmother, josefina, surrounded by her daughters, grandchildren, great-grandchildren {with another on the way}, i asked {in portuguese}, "is your heart full?"
and she lit up and replied {in portugeuse, of course}, "oh yes, very full, it is coming out of my chest!"
my nephews both calling me "favorite tia denise." love. 
a fun Christmas double-date with my sister and bro-in-law.

all these, the treasures i don't want to forget from Christmas, 2011.

thanks for indulging me.
you can fast forward back to January, 2012 now!