Thoughts without pictures

So I realized today its been a long time since I had the urge to check my University of Tennessee email account. I went today to see if I could still log on, I couldnt. Sometimes we get so use to doing something it seems wierd to stop, even if its time (ie. graduating). I havent gotten my diploma in the mail yet, which is the catalyst to check to see if perhaps someone had emailed about it.
Somethings become a part of your life for a season and you cant imagine life without it or a certain job or something. And then things change and you cant remember life with those things.
I told Mojo today that recently I've missed working. I miss meetings and deadlines and feeling important. Sounds silly doesnt it? I liked the structure of my day, The commute to gather my thoughts. Now my commute is from my bedroom to Maggie's and my thoughts dont quite gather until about 2pm.

Things to think on during this Advent Season. These things have been on my heart. As the quietness before the birth sets in, Ask Jesus to bring with him redemption of these things:
*Current Ebola virus outbreak in Uganda. World Harvest Missionaries are there, some have evacuated, some doctors have stayed.
*Some of you might remember that I did research this past summer on PTSD in child soldiers, specifically from the LRA (Lord's REsistance Army). Well, now there is Village of Hope-a semi-new village funded by African Leadership that serves women who were abducted by the LRA in Uganda and now have children (from bring raped by soldiers). This village will create job skills and create a new home from them and their children. (You can donate online at www.africanleadership.org)
*Joseph Peabody who will start treatment at St. Jude's at the end of the month.

On cheerier note (i'm listening to Pete Yorn who doesnt facilitate cheeriness), Maggie had her 15month check up the other day...she weighed in at close to 23lbs and is 30 inches! Way to go Mags!!!

Joseph

Please pray for an old friend who's 3 year old son has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. He just went through brain surgery. You can read more at
www.prayforjoseph.blogspot.com
He will start radiation in 2-3 weeks when he heals from his brain surgery. Please join with me in asking our Father to heal Joseph.

Christmas, Christmas...Time for Cheer

It's a very blustery day today in Nashville. Makes me wish we had a fireplace that wasnt over a 100 years old and still worked. But nonetheless, we are gearing up for Christmas. Which means of course, we broke out the Christmas records. I've already listened to the Joan Biaz Noel record about 25 times. It's beautiful and I look forward to December 1st when I can put it on. Maggie was a big help this year as you can see...



But most of the time she did this...

(video isnt showing up...i'll work on it)

We've had fun making the house a bit warmer and brighter. I found an delicious recipe for cranberry scones on Martha Stewart. I love finding new recipes that dont call for alot of ingredients but end up being amazing. Banana bread with chocolate chips is one of those and now cranberry scones, although it took me a minute to figure out how to knead the dough without crushing the berries. Oh Martha. Here are some more of the house. The tree and a close up of a favorite ornament.



Our living room mantle and a Christmas Welcome.



Cranberry French doors and our bedroom mantle. Our own private christmas cheer.



And we cant forget my favorite Christmas decoration. The yummiest blanket around. I;ve been wrapped in it for about 5 days straight!


Now I'm off to wrap myself in that blanket and have a cup of hot tea, a scone and listen to Handel's Messiah while Maggie is napping. Mmmmm, Christmas time is delightful isnt? Come drop by and have a scone and hot tea with me anytime.

Love Actually Is....All Around.

"Whenever I get gloomy about the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrowe Aiport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed - but I don't see that. Seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified, or newsworthy - but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."

(it's time to break out Love Actually)

Thanksgiving in Sunny California

Actually, it was a bit colder in California than we are use to but Maggie got to spend with lots of family. It was a good time with yummy home cooked food and of course, lots of In and Out burger. We didnt get any pictures of Maggie's new playmate...Cosmo, Aunt Nikki's new puppy!

Mama and "Mama?"

Try as she might, Maggie just cant say her name yet. But oh she tries. Whenever she sees her picture or herself in a mirror she says, Mama? and I point to myself and say Mama and then point to her and say Maggie. and then she'll say Mama? She really believes she is saying Maggie.
My wordsmith can say:
Mama
Dada
More
Night night
Bye bye
Hi!
Doggie
Cat
Woof Woof
Uh-Oh!
What's That? (kinda)
More please (but it sounds more like more cheese)
Nose (she points to your nose but is more like Noooo)
Oh, and of course No! (which she is using more frequently....)
GENIUS ALERT**** After completing this entry, Mojo and I were talking and I ended a sentence with "alot of books." Maggie looked at her daddy and said, "books!" Mojo and I looked at each other and said, Maggie did you say books? And since then all afternoon, she repeats and says perfectly, Books! Books! Books!

Dog+Baby+Timer=Bad Family Photos

So a few weeks ago during beautiful weather, we decided to go take some fall family photos. We took a walk on a trail in Shelby Bottoms where we could let Harriet run free and take some good photos. Well, it was a great idea, but alas, not one good shot. Maggie of course had no idea where to look and Harriet was just too excited to sit still. It was a fun day nonetheless....

Harriet..

So Harriet's new retreat is Maggie's Crib. She did that when Maggie was tiny but since we lowered the crib, she stopped for a while. well, the recent thunder has caused her to somehow figure out how to get under that tiny space. its pretty cute.

updating: St. Louis

So I never wrote about our fun trip to St. Louis in the beginning of November. I LOVE that city. It is so beautiful in fall, all the streets are lined with beautiful trees...all the houses are beautiful. The financial district is filled with yummy bakeries...and best of all, everything is Free! The zoo, the museums...its great! I am a lover of zoos and we went for a short time while we were there. Maggie was AMAZED at all the animals. Her eyes looked like they were gonna come out of her head. And she said "woof woof" at every animal she saw. And the sweet thing is, when we were back at the car, she was talking a mile a minute and every once in a while would say woof woof. And we knew she was saying, "Guys, did you see that Rhino? and did you take a look at the hippos? they are amazing!"
didnt take many photos..but here are some of maggie looking at the animals and of the beautiful Forest Park and Art Musuem.

Pigtails

Supertone by birth. Fan by choice.

Our little Pumpkin

A look back...

She was so tiny. Just two months old. Already had stolen our hearts. Last year a pea, this year a pumpkin.
Just as a side note, she is a brillant little pumpkin. When I say, Where is Mommy's Nose? she touches mine and
says Noooooossssssseeeeee. Little smart pumpkin.

Inbetween books

I'm in a book funk. I get like this after I read a few great books in a row and then dont know what to read next. I stand every night staring at our walls and walls and walls of books and few like I have "nothing" to read. (wait, i do that with my closet to!) We have plenty of books that I havent read but sometimes there just isnt that One that you are looking for. Thats when I head to my inbetween books. These are books that I read a few times a year and are my go-to books when I am in a book depression, until some great work of prose pulls me out. My old faithful in the past was Cs. Lewis' Great Divorce. It's such a wonderful little book that it keeps me occupied and entertained until I can find something I really want to read. Plus, I think it has so many layers (like all of his books) that each time you read it, you read it differently.
The past two winters another standby has been Girl Meets God, by Lauren Winter. I love to read that book during the Advent Season because of the literagy she throws in and the mixing between the Jewish holidays and the Christian Advent season. Plus. its a book I can read one chapter if I want and get something out of it.
One book that I find that I go to often, which is actually pretty depressing is, Kolyma Tales. It is a book of short stories so that is probably why I read it 3 or 4 times a year. But its also historical fiction, which is my all time favorite type of book. Here's what Wikipedia says about Kolyma Tales and the author:
"Varlam Shalamov was born in 1907 and was arrested for an unknown crime in 1929 while he was a student at Moscow University. He was sentenced to 3 years in a former monastery in Solovki which had been converted into a concentration camp. He was arrested again in 1937 and sentenced to 5 years in Kolyma, northwestern Siberia. His sentence was extended in 1942 until the end of the war and then in 1943 he had to serve another 10 years. In total, Shalamov spent around 17 years in the camps. He began to write Kolyma tales after he was released but it was not to be published in the Soviet Union until after his death in 1982. Instead he published five collections of poetry, although it didn't bring him much success.

The complete set of Kolyma Tales is based on two areas: personal experiences and fictional accounts of stories heard. He attempted to mix fact and fiction, which leads to the book being something of a historical novel. The style used is similar to Checkov's, in which a story is told objectively and leaves the readers to make their own interpretations. Often brutal and shocking, the matter-of-fact style makes them appear more hard-hitting than using a sensationalist style. The stories are based around the life of the prisoners (political or professional) in the camp and their relations with the officials. We find accounts of prisoners who have become totally dispassionate, insane under the barbaric conditions, unemotionally murderous and suicidal. Despite being written about imprisonment under the Stalinist regime, Shalamov didn't make a single mention of Stalin in the book."

I guess I find this book draw me again and again, is its still so hard to believe people went through what he went through in these camps in Russia. I mean, its like 50 below degrees and the men had to carry huge lumber across the fields and mine for coal. He was so close to death so many many times and he writes with such coldness and like Wikipedia says, "objectivity" it makes it hard to really comprehend.

Well, this post wasnt suppose to be this indepth regarding Kolyma Tales... What are your inbetween books? I need some new ones.

Another fun day at the park

update

Just a quick update since I havent posted in a few weeks:
* We are celebrating the fall weather by planting mums and getting a new pretty doormat
*Already had lots of family picnics, although the flies are still out, which isnt too fun
*Going to the Dyer Observatory this weekend for a night of music and stars
*Maggie's new cute thing is giving her stuff animal Pinkie a drink out of her sippy cup
*We started using cloth diapers
*Mojo is facilitating a forum on apologetics at Portland Brew tonight 7pm...tonight's topic is the existence of God, you should go if you are in town
*I really like Sarah Jessica Parker's line of clothing, Bitten
*Our closets are overflowing with the summer/fall switch
*Maggie likes anything she isnt suppose to (pens, pencils, cups)
*I made zucchini bread last night and today's dinner is homemade chicken noodle and hot cider...can you tell i am ready for cold weather?
*Harriet is shedding less so she is back in my good graces.
*Mojo mopped three times for me this week!!! I have a good husband. I've been in a clean floor frenzing lately.

Leaving you with another picture sweet family photo

Family

www.inarastudios.com

First Year Photos

Go here to see some photos of us that were taken by a good friend and great photographer, Marcia. I cant wait to see the rest of them! My favorite is the one with Pinkie, one of her favorite stuff animals that she sleeps with. You can tell on Pinkie's nose where she gives her kisses, which are more like bites:) More to come...

The Park

So Mags and I had our first mother daughter picnic last Saturday. We were celebrating the wonderful weather and trying to figure out what to do since football season has started. And i think picnics will do perfectly. I "packed" her lunch which consisted of turkey, a slice of cheese and a piece of bread. It was almost like a sandwich. Then I picked up pork, cabbage and white bean soup from Marche. With Perrier and Hot green tea it couldnt have been a better day. We plopped right now in the middle of the geese. Maggie loved to watch them and they got super close as I think they were expecting some bread too. Despite having to call the police because of a domestic dispute, and despite the Daytona Beach-esque car bass and the amazingly loud ice cream truck, the day was beautiful. You just cant beat East Nashville.

my beautiful girl

Maggie's Party

Maggie's party was so very fun. Her sweet tiny friends came over and they played and giggled and sometimes just stared at each other. Here is a little glimpse:

Birthday Favors



Playing with Friends





Enjoying all the spoils




Family Photos:





Beautiful Birthday Girl, with two growing teeth!!!