I suppose you could say I made some good friends at Horn Creek camp back in my high school days. The PCA youth leadership camp doesn’t even meet in the Sangre de Christo mountain range any longer, but that location will forever hold precious memories for me. I get a bit nostalgic just writing about it—and could go on and on—but for now, suffice to say that amazing, lifelong friendships were formed during those one-week sessions over four years of attendance.

Charity, Haley, Bryonie, Autumn and I now get together over Labor Day for a weekend of talking, eating, drinking, reading and general laziness. It’s awesome. I love these women. And Isaac, the newest addition to our girls’ weekend (though he’ll only to get enjoy this once).

You asked for photos, so enjoy!

I’m back in town, settled back into my comfortable daily existence of kid cuddles, husband hugs and dog-petting. It’s a good life for sure.

But a weekend away with the girls at the lake? It was priceless. And very otherly. And that is exactly what the doctor ordered.

We’ve enjoyed an Easter full of family, food and good church services.

Someday soon, I hope, I’ll feel like writing here again. In the meantime, I’ll post photos. : )

We’ve been singing God With Us in church quite a bit recently and I’ve been struck by the chorus in particular:

All that is within me cries
For You alone be glorified:
Emmanuel, God with us.

Perhaps it’s the longer notes of the word Emmanuel or maybe it’s simply a well-written song in general, but it gets to me. Like lump-in-the-throat gets to me, every single time.

Emmanuel. God with us! All year long we sing this song and all year long it rings absolutely, positively true. It’s not a song meant only for the Advent season, but it applies so perfectly at this time of year. God is not a distant figure, a Creator who has stepped back from his creation. He sent his Son to earth to redeem his beloved people from the distance sin had caused. And so we celebrate, with gratitude, the birth of Jesus Christ.

This amazing God, loving and righteous, is with us. Emmanuel.

On Monday, Livia wanted to bake gingerbread men. We didn’t do it.

On Tuesday, Livia wanted to bake gingerbread men. Knowing she wouldn’t like the spicy cookies, we convinced her we’d make sugar cookies in little gingerbread men shapes. But still, we didn’t do it.

On Wednesday—that would be today—Livia wanted to bake sugar cookie gingerbread men, but got distracted by Bolt on Netflix online. I pulled out the ingredients, took a few photos for the December Photo Project, actually made the dough, and that was it.

Will all Livia’s cookie wishes be fulfilled on Thursday? Stay tuned. It doesn’t get more exciting than this, folks.

**You are very welcome to join the DPP at any point! We’ll continue updating our participants list through the weekend.

Our children’s zoo opens it’s doors for two weekends in the winter. I never want to go because, let’s face it, who likes to walk around in the winter winds of Nebraska when you don’t have to? But Thanksgiving weekend here was amazing weather-wise, so off we went. I like this shot of Livia and my niece Madeleine because they were entirely engrossed in a completely empty turtle exhibit. Muddy leaves were all that covered the concrete basin, but they found it quite interesting. We had a fun afternoon together, complete with vanilla ice cream cones and a walk with Shiloh through the park. The girls were really sweet to one another—not one squabble over a toy. Praise God for cousins!

It’s the last day of November, peeps. Stretch those fingers, squint those eyes, do a few laps around the yard to wake up your brain in preparation for the December Photo Project! Twenty-five days straight of photography fun in one of the most beautiful seasons of the year. Our list of participants is growing and I get more excited each time someone signs up. Grab a badge and join the challenge of the 2009 DPP!

We enjoyed a really relaxing and delicious day yesterday as we celebrated Thanksgiving with both sets of parents. There is something quite decadent about two turkey dinners in one day, I must say. What I really felt was the wealth of riches God has given us: our parents (now grandparents to Livia) that have raised us faithfully and loved us unconditionally over the years. We are incredibly blessed by our families.

As much as we enjoyed our folks, we did miss our siblings. So Bean, Adam, Kris and Andrew? Can’t wait to see you at Christmas!

Pictured above are a few of the side dishes we ate at the Lawton dinner. There was the sweet potato souffle and bourbon cranberries from Needs More Butter sitting next to The Pioneer Woman’s corn/wild rice dish. We ate our fair share of green bean casserole and stuffing, and of course, the star of every Thanksgiving meal, turkey. Liv and I ate turkey sandwiches tonight and I can’t imagine a better way to eat leftovers than slapping them between mayo-coated slices of bread. Mmm, mmm good.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, what is left of 2009? A lot! The December Photo Project starts shortly (make sure you sign up—it’s fun!), then we have the national holiday known as My Birthday, and finally Christmas. Jesus’ Birthday. Somewhat of a larger event than mine, I suppose. ; )

We met up with the Weeks and Kirk families last night to enjoy the Lincoln Children’s Zoo Annual fundraiser, Boo at the Zoo. Livia chose to dress up as Tinker Bell for the second year running, which was fine by me. Halloween in Nebraska is almost always a cold-weather event, so my Tink is dressed in a green sweats. I think that will become my yearly challenge—how can I dress my little trick-or-treater warmly?! As you can see, I dressed up too. I love becoming someone different for one night.

Happy birthday, dear Livia! Happy birthday to you! May you always love small creatures, chocolate, your parents and Jesus (not in that order). We love you dearly, big five year old.

Hard to believe you were this small at one time. I’ve been getting teary today thinking of how blessed I am to be your mom. God gave us a huge task when he called us to be a family—He is good and has sustained us through the last five years of you!

We’ll love you forever and ever, Livia Raine. Happy birthday.

Love,
Mommy