Step 1: Find the park in question. This usually involves Mommy driving around previously unknown neighborhoods in Lincoln, Nebraska, saying things like, “No, we’re not lost. I’m sure that park is here somewhere. Let’s drive around the block again.”

Step 2: Let child loose in park. Eagle eyes, with the help of given clue, will eventually spot the post.

Step 3: Take rubbing of aforementioned post. This part gets a little tricky when Mommy tries to take pictures at the same time.

Step 4 (opt): Since camera is present, make child stand by post. Smile in amusement when four year old holds up the rubbing to complete the perfectly posed moment. Wonder when she learned to pose like this.

Step 5: Take advantage of God’s creation and the beautiful weather and climb a tree. Notice powdered sugar still caked around child’s lips. Be overwhelmed with Mommy Love for this little face, powdered sugar and all.

Step 6: Take advantage of the man-made playground and put imaginations to work. Socks should be removed in order to climb up slides from the ground.

Step 7: Rinse and repeat a bazillion times in the different parks of Lincoln, Nebraska.

Yesterday we had gorgeous 60 degree weather—perfect weather to take the kids to the park. And just so everyone knows, that second kid pictured actually belongs to Renae. (Simon tends to show up here from time to time simply because of our close proximity as neighbors and dear friends.)

Once again our family is participating in the Lincoln Safari, whose motto is “Healthy Families Play Outside!” The Safari is something of an introduction to our hometown as it has us visiting parks and various locations we’ve never seen before. Yesterday I took my decidedly unhealthy child to two neighborhood parks in north Lincoln. The second park involved quite a walk and I questioned my sanity—and wondered whether I could haul my 45 lb child back to the car if she was totally pooped out. But our imaginations helped us out as we became great adventurers and braved a raging river (an empty culvert) and explored some magic trees (evergreen). Liv never protested the walk and we had a great afternoon outside.

Today was a good day. We played inside. We played outside. We walked down the block with Joie, Simon & Renae.

The wee one is in bed and now it’s time to watch tv and cuddle with my husband.

Goodnight, mouse. Goodnight, house.

I couldn’t help but post two photos today. The first was an easy pick… I like the way the snapshot is framed and I like the all the bright clothing colors in the white snow. The second photo? Well, I couldn’t pass up posting it here. It is so very Livia. Not one to spare a moment for great drama, Liv is caught here in the moment before letting out a shriek to wake the dead. She got, are you ready for this?, SNOW on her FACE. COLD snow. VERY COLD snow. Yes yes, she had been playing in 7 degree weather for close to 20 minutes and nope, that totally wasn’t any issue. But the COLDNESS of the snow on her FACE caused great anguish, now heard by all residents within one square mile, and that ended our play outside.

Fine with me. I wasn’t thrilled with the cold either.

Sometimes it’s not the best photo you post. It’s the one that captures a memory you don’t want to forget.

My daughter at age four. Her determined jaw and curling tendrils of hair. The fact that she’s snipping cubes of paper even though we started cutting strips for paper chains. Her still-chubby fingers learning to twist the paper just so, then wrap small pieces of sticky tape around them. Her sweetness in crafting with mom, and wanting songs for bedtime, even though it meant going to bed right away rather than staying up late for more play.

Sometimes a photo is so much more than a picture.

I am a poor representative for the Jesse Tree, but I’ll tell you what I know. The Jesse Tree is a way to count down to Christmas Day with your family, a method of accounting for the larger story that lead to the birth of God as a human baby. I’ve been reading New Way to Be Human by Charlie Peacock and, as result, have thought quite a bit about the larger Story that exists. In the author’s words:

It doesn’t matter whether I’m confused and unsure… a novice spiritual traveler, or someone with a heart full of certainties. If I’m serious about following Jesus as his student, I should know the Story he was sure of. Following means stepping into his controlling, explanatory Story.

Luke’s gospel tells the Story of Jesus and the two disciples on Emmaus Road. Luke 24:27 says, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” Jesus told stories in the context of the larger Story he and his Jewish contemporaries already knew—The Book of Beginnings, the Law, the Prophets, the Wisdom Books, and Songs.

Jesus knew the Story he had stepped into. His follower Matthew knew too. Matthew started his gospel account with, “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham” (1:1). It’s an account of the genesis of Messiah Jesus, his beginnings, his origins. Matthew 1:17 says, “Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from Christ to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to Christ.”

Why begin with genealogy? Matthew’s message is: “Get this first. You won’t fully understand what I’m about to tell you unless you have the right starting place. If you really want to understand Jesus, you have to know the Story in which he’s participating (and is in fact the climax of). If you know this, you will know better how to participate, and you’ll be less likely to find yourself inside the wrong story or in an insufficient one.”

Peacock’s book had made quite an impact on me so far. It’s encouraging me to learn more about this family I’ve been adopted into (Romans 11:17) and to relish the rich history of God’s people. I like the Jesse Tree because it acknowledges, to quote Sally Lloyd-Jones’s excellent Jesus Storybook Bible, that “every story whispers his name.”

Full disclosure is called for here. The holidays do not generate crafty feelings within me, which means there is no way I would’ve created a Jesse Tree this year on my own. The other members of the Mom-to-Mom leadership team graciously undertook the HUGE project of creating 30 Jesse Trees for Zion, Grace and Redeemer moms this year. So this cool Jesse Tree banner was a gift—and I am grateful! We’ve enjoyed reading verses that correspond to little ornaments each day, then hanging the small symbols on the felt tree. If you want more info on Jesse Trees, I recommend Googling it.

When real life and Kung Fu Panda play meet:

Jeremy: Do you need to go potty, Shifu?

Shifu-Livia: I might. But my kung-fu bladder’s not full.

Me: And you were reading your Bible this morning because why?

Liv: I want Winnie to stop biting me.

Me: How was reading the Bible going to solve that issue?

Livia: God gonna speak to that dog.

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The conversation above came after Jeremy found Liv in bed reading her little pink Bible. She had gotten sick in the night and this morning I told her to stay in bed until I had brought her a drink. While I was downstairs, Liv was reading her Bible to figure out right and wrong. She said that the next time Winnie is sick, Livia will read the Bible to her—apparently to teach the wee dog that biting is wrong. My favorite line, though, is “God gonna speak to that dog.” Love. it.

I realize that I’ve been burning the candle at both ends recently, running back and forth between various responsibilities without much pause for reflection or rejuvenation. I was beginning to treat every activity as an obligation… not a great way to live and definitely not a way to enjoy life! On the heels of the realization comes some small stomach virus that has Liv laid up in bed and me kept at home on a sunny and cold Friday. And you know what? I’m thoroughly enjoying the day. My calendar is cleared, we’ve got groceries in the cupboards, and I have an excuse to go slow.

Most enjoyable of all was thirty minutes of reading Little House in the Big Woods to my daughter. Livia laughed at the story of Pa playing Mad Dog with his daughters, and urged me to keep reading the chapter on Christmas. I love connecting her to a series of books that has brought me so much pleasure over the years.

The sweetest sound in the world is hearing your child go to the bathroom all by herself. No “Mom, I need to potty!” or anything. Praise Jesus, my child is potty-trained.

I knew Liv was playing with water this morning, I just didn’t care. That is, I didn’t care until I heard about five water sloshes in a row. Then I turned my attention to my four year old and began walking toward the noise.

Me: What did you do in here, Livia? Spray a hose around the dining room?

Liv: No. [pause] I was feeding and baptizing my babies.

And that, my friends, was the end of water play at the Tredways on a Wednesday morning. Good thing all our baby dolls have now received the sign and seal of the new covenant.