Chug, Chug, Chugging Along

I realize elementary school music programs only matter to parents and grandparents, but they read this blog so here you go...

Cory was so proud he had a line to say at the program tonight.  He was the only one that didn't get a costume, but his line was more narration and the other kids were representing the lines of the character they wore.

The theme was something to do with the railroad and historical songs chants and songs that the slaves would have sung.  There was Harriett Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, a peg leg Joe, and a conductor.

I know the blanked out faces look weird, but I wanted to show the background (and of course my kid will always be standing in the back row!) and they were all too cute!

He also had a part where he played the xylophone, but I missed it as one little sister had to go to the bathroom and I'd already made her wait for him to say his lines!

Then little sisters stole my camera focus by helping put away all the folding chairs.

Yes, the chairs were pretty much as big as they were, but they did a really good job either carrying or dragging the chairs over to the rack for us to put them up.

Book: Robin

Robin

In 1877 the Wenghold sisters inherited an overwhelming debt with their father’s passing. An uncle they’ve never met offers a solution—come help on his Kansas cattle ranch. The oldest sister, Robin, agrees to go.

Ty Morgan has suffered through a year of misery after being jilted by the town beauty a few months before their wedding. But a tornado whirls an unexpected breath of hope into his heart when he rescues Robin, his neighbor’s newly arrived niece, and a small boy who was orphaned by the storm.

Robin’s crippled leg prevents her from being a real help to Uncle John, but she seems to be exactly who Ty needs to heal his broken heart. Until his former fiancée returns and a mysterious, elusive stranger casts worry over the entire community.

A woman determined to honor her obligations, a man entangled in a long ago-made commitment, an orphaned child in need of security . . . Can God guide these three souls to peace and fulfillment together?

***

Well, I'm still working on the book from last week so I haven't gotten to this one yet. ;) Review will be coming post haste though now that I'm making time to read more!

***

If you would like to read the first chapter of Robin, go HERE.

Julane Hiebert is first of all a child of God. She is also a wife to Bob, mother to two living sons, Kip and Rob, two daughters in heaven, two wonderful daughters-in-law, Becky and Tami, and grandmother to six perfectly wonderful grands, as well as an additional three ‘other grands’. She lives with her husband in a wee cottage by a small lake nestled in the beautiful Flint Hills of Kansas.

Though encouraged by many to pen the story of raising two daughters with an incurable disease, she has chosen to incorporate the lessons learned into the lives of her not-too-perfect characters. Her passion is to present the promises and hope found in God’s Word in down-to-earth, everyday experiences through her stories.

Julane loves reading, decorating, junking, antiques, and chocolate! No particular order, but one would be safe to insert chocolate between all other interests.

Book: Pharaoh's Daughter

Pharaoh's Daughter

“Fear is the most fertile ground for faith.” “You will be called Anippe, daughter of the Nile. Do you like it?” Without waiting for a reply, she pulls me into her squishy, round tummy for a hug.
I’m trying not to cry. Pharaoh’s daughters don’t cry.
When we make our way down the tiled hall, I try to stop at ummi Kiya’s chamber. I know her spirit has flown yet I long for one more moment. Amenia pushes me past so I keep walking and don’t look back.
Like the waters of the Nile, I will flow.

Anippe has grown up in the shadows of Egypt’s good god Pharaoh, aware that Anubis, god of the afterlife, may take her or her siblings at any moment. She watched him snatch her mother and infant brother during childbirth, a moment which awakens in her a terrible dread of ever bearing a child. Now she is to be become the bride of Sebak, a kind but quick-tempered Captain of Pharaoh Tut’s army. In order to provide Sebak the heir he deserves and yet protect herself from the underworld gods, Anippe must launch a series of deceptions, even involving the Hebrew midwives—women ordered by Tut to drown the sons of their own people in the Nile.

When she finds a baby floating in a basket on the great river, Anippe believes Egypt’s gods have answered her pleas, entrenching her more deeply in deception and placing her and her son Mehy, whom handmaiden Miriam calls Moses, in mortal danger.

As bloodshed and savage politics shift the balance of power in Egypt, the gods reveal their fickle natures and Anippe wonders if her son, a boy of Hebrew blood, could one day become king. Or does the god of her Hebrew servants, the one they call El Shaddai, have a different plan—for them all?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Pharaoh's Daughter, go HERE.

***

I really love reading historical fiction about Bible characters, especially if they are supporting characters to a story.  We really only have a few verses about the Pharoah's daughter that raised Moses as her son.  Imagining what life might have been like can help me think about Bible stories in a new light.  And this one really intrigued me when I read the description.  Unfortunately it's still next on my TBR pile.

***

Mesu Andrews’ deep understanding of and love for God’s Word brings the biblical world alive for her readers. She and her husband, Roy, enjoyed fourteen years of pastoral ministry before moving to the Pacific Northwest, where Roy now serves as Academic Dean at Multnomah Biblical Seminary. Mesu writes full-time, snuggled in her recliner beside a cozy fire on rainy Northwest days. The Andrews’ enjoy visiting their two married daughters and a growing tribe of grandkids. Mesu loves movies, football, waterfalls, and travel.

Biblical fiction is her favorite genre to read and write. Her first novel, Love Amid the Ashes (Revell, 2011), tells the story of Job and won the 2012 ECPA Book of the Year for a Debut Author.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday: Spring!

I sent my good camera in to be repaired over Christmas and got it back a month ago, but never got around to putting it back together. I always regret that. I adore the photos it takes when it's in good working condition.

On a day when it's 50 degrees outside and your little girls have been begging to blow bubbles, you blow bubbles.

Sometimes at each other!

And when you have random giant bamboo sticks in your yard (from a coworker!) they apparently become your broomstick! Thanks Princess Sophia...

We won't talk about the dog poop that apparently has been accumulating in our yard all winter and was found by all 4 pairs of shoes... No, we don't have a dog.

I've been saying we won't be hiking on February 20th this year like we did last year, but if this weather keeps up it won't be far off.  You can't see there are still a few piles of snow in our yard (unheard of for this time of year), but it was so nice to be outside, I even pulled a few weeds.

Book: Soul's Prisoner

Soul's Prisoner

She'll fight for her future...but can she escape her past?
Chicago, Winter, 1891
Rachel is in danger. She's seen too much.
She creeps along the cement walls through the dank underbelly of the asylum. She'd never planned to leave her quiet farm life, never thought she'd find a place in the city, never imagined she'd be in the kind of danger that would have her cowering in Dunning's cold, labyrinthine basement.

Jenny has finally found her place. After a childhood of abuse, she has friends, a real job, and her only wish is to give her adopted son the kind of life she never had.

A life of stability, without the risk and uncertainty of a father.
But when Jeremy, Rachel's brother, stumbles into their warehouse, asking for help to find his missing sister, Jenny's carefully constructed life begins to crumble.

***

This is the second book in a series and I have a feeling you really should read them in order (find a description of book one here).  I'm actually only a few chapters into the first one and I am hooked into this portrait of life in Chicago in the late 1800's.  It's so far removed from the way things move and hum today, yet humanity really hasn't changed all that much.

This is the first of Cara's books that I have started although I now have 2 more in my pile.  I think the covers and the kind of dark feeling threw me off, but the stories themselves, while dealing with dark things, are not dark, they are just real.  I'm so glad to have "met" a new author.

***

If you would like to read the first chapter of Soul's Prisoner, go HERE.

From Cara Luecht: I never planned to be a writer. In fact, it took me a while to finish college. But I did, and here I am. And I now I can’t imagine not being a writer. By day, I am an English Instructor for a local college, mother to four amazing children, and wife to an eternally patient and supportive husband. In the evening, when I can squirrel away some quiet time, I read and write historical fiction. I have a B.A. in English Lit. from UW Whitewater and an M.F.A in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, NJ. If you have a question for me, or if you are local and would like me to stop by your book club or writer’s group, please drop me a line via the “Ask the Author” tab. I always love the opportunity to meet with others who share my love of books.

Conference Adventures

One of the adventures associated with my new position as a water district commissioner is to attend workshops to be a better commission! Since this one started at 9am Saturday morning we all went to have fun.

The hotels in Seattle are pretty much fancier than anywhere else we stay, even if it's not the fanciest hotel there, Courtyard by Marriott.  Towel animals!

Fireplace in the lobby while waiting for our pizza.  The cuteness of the newly short hair on these two is just killing me!

When you are the first one up on a Saturday morning you get to snuggle with Daddy and read cool books on Oceans.

And then all my family got to swim in the hotel pool while I went to learn about the ethics of being a commissioner (which is pretty much summed up in the golden rule and also, don't be stupid), the proper role of commissioners, and what things count as public records (pretty much anything in written form, eek!).  It was pretty funny being one of the youngest ones in the room by probably 15 years.  There were 2 or 3 other people who looked my age and the rest were probably well over 50!  I was pleasantly surprised to see a good mix of genders though.

After my brain was completely fried with legalese we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  Most of my family has been, but I had never been to a Cheesecake Factory in my entire life given that I don't really care for cheesecake.  The food was pretty good and I was actually blown away by the cheesecake.  Dangerously good!  I had the turtle cheesecake and we also had the mango key lime one. 

First bite ever

We took the dessert back to our hotel because the restaurant was so loud and the kids were done.  It disappeared in a hurry split between 5 people, but I don't think we would have wanted more. (Cory had to have his own gluten free ice cream sundae)
Then we watched The Good Dinosaur.  A very weird movie, and a bit too scary for my little ones.

My college roommate, Wendy, met us for dinner and came back to watch the movie with us.  I don't get to see her often enough.  We had lots of adventures living together for a year in college and a year after college.  So funny to think I've known her for half my life now.

Then we went swimming again on Sunday morning and headed back home in gorgeous weather.  The passes were a bit sketchy on Friday on the way over, but at least by the evening they were better.

It's kind of fun to have a "staycation" as people call it, but a bit spendy for this crew if we didn't already have another reason to go.  Adventures all the way around!

Toys, Clutter, and Mental Space

Do you ever look around at all the toys cluttering your house and wonder why your kids are still asking you for ideas on what to play with?  I've been chatting with some friends and feel like even though we are on the very conservative end of toy ownership we still have WAY more toys in our homes than we did as kids.  The good old days, right?

I'm also on a de-cluttering binge with as much free time as I can find lately.  Did you know clutter has been researched and found to have detrimental affects on your psychological well being?  It's more pronounced for women, which might explain a few things.

So, since I still love to get fun things for my kids now and then, and because Christmas was last month and "birthday month" is March around here there is much toy organizing to be had.

As my kids grow it's fairly easy to say goodbye and garage sale, consign, or donate toys that no longer match their developmental levels.  The trick is to know your kids!  Will they wail and not allow any toys to leave their room?  If so, consider a toy purge while they are visiting friends.  I find that since we pass on our outgrown clothes to younger cousins my kids understand that it's okay to get rid of outgrown toys too.

Consider asking your kids what they would like to do with their toys, whether to donate directly or sell and save up for new toys or experiences knowing that the used toys won't bring much.  I would also recommend that they donate some of the proceeds if possible.  But you know what's right foryour own family, these are just some ideas to help you get started!

Now, if your kids like collectible toys like Legos I don't recommend getting rid of them, they are SO creative, but honestly, after my kids build their newest set it gets taken apart and becomes part of the giant pile we have on a sheet in the middle of the floor.  They do NOT need more Legos for free play!
 
I know I enjoy building things and I know some of the fun in getting a new Lego set is following the directions and seeing the creation come alive.  But you then don't want to just leave it all put together forever and it adds to your giant disorganized Lego collection.

Would you consider renting Lego sets?  Pley* makes it super easy with their monthly subscription service!

For $20 to $25 a month (depending on how long you want to commit for) you pick out the sets you want and they are shipped to your door!  Play, return, get a new set.  There's no limit, other than shipping time, on how many sets you can get in a month.  And there's no fee for a few lost pieces either.  Pley understands that we are families and sometimes the dog eats one or it gets lost forever in the black hole under the couch!  They also sanitize each set between customers.

What do you think? Would this cut down on clutter in your house AND keep your kids entertained?

PS. Pley offers many other toys besides Legos!  They're taking a survey to see which new categories customers would like to rent.


*This is a sponsored post and there are affiliate links where I will make a small percentage if you sign up.  All opinions are my own.

Wordless Wednesday: At Grandma's House

Fun times were had at Grandma and Grandpa's house after Christmas when Aunt Priscilla and Uncle Dan came for the day.  Always great to suck another family member in to playing games!

Of course there was an excuse for a tea party!

Tea Collection Three Day Super Sale

This is a great sale!  Rock bottom prices for the Argentina and Bolivia destination line by Tea Collection.  And they're doing things a little bit differently this time.  It's a three day super sale and all prices will be as marked.  No having to go to your cart and put in a code to know what the sale price is.  I love it!

There are still a ton of great options left and the separates will be less than $15, some as low as $7.  You can't buy this quality and design for that price in your regular retail stores.

Many styles will sell out so don't wait too long!  Sale ends on 1/14/16.


*This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated a small amount if you make a purchase after clicking on one of my links.

One Word: Joy

There are so many tangents related to this topic running around in my head I'm not sure I can get them all out coherently, so please bear with me!

Christmas hangings we found in both the girls' names this year

Last year I picked the word Hope, and reading back through that post, in light of the year, I didn't know how much I would need that word to face some of the things that happened.  Especially the suicides.  I didn't even remember I'd written about that until I read my post last night.  To have that word running around in my head though, it really helped.  And finally just in the last couple months of last year I've really started to feel like things can change.

I'm not huge into following the trends, and obviously I'm about 10 days late with this one, but I've been thinking about it since Christmas, just not had time to put my thoughts on paper until now.  Since I did Hope last year I thought, well, the obvious choice would be Joy for this year, but that's kind of cliche!  So I cast about for another word and instead in a million little ways I've gotten confirmation that this should be my word for 2016.

There is Joy, and then there is Choosing Joy, which was the post from (in)courage that came between Christmas and New Year.  And this is where I've been feeling led to camp out this year.  In the choice. (and this post, which actually came up this morning and prompted me to finally write!)

So many choices in life and often I feel like I make the wrong ones, especially when it comes to my attitude.  I've had a copy of Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts for a few years and while I love what she has to say, my Type A, black and white brain just can't handle very much of her poetic style at a time!  But the meaning behind all the words I still need.  So one of my goals for this year is to get through that book.  And I know that it's also choosing three things each day to be thankful for so I'm starting that now, even before the book.

I am the total realist, even pessimist, to my husband's optimist.  There's nothing wrong with being a realist, but sometimes it can get you down, and the people around you too.  So I'm hoping that by trying to see the good in things and be thankful I simply won't be so overwhelmed all the time.

Besides, you know, it's one of the fruits of the Spirit!

I'll leave you with this picture my friend Jenny put up on Facebook just this morning, one final note of confirmation (and the song now running around in my head!).

Did you choose a word for this year? 

Christmas Snapshots

In an attempt to get back to blogging regularly here are some snapshots from our Christmas holidays.  My good camera is still in the shop sadly, but we make do like in the old days!

We made the kids all close their eyes and walk out of their room while there was a blanket over the pile of presents. Yes, this year it was actually a pile.  I have one picture right before this and the flash reflected off Hope's eyes.  Peeking!

New sleeping bags for the girls, although the hit present, which has not been put down since, was a set of Anna and Elsa dolls, about Barbie size.

Many new Legos for the boys of course!  Cory got the Minecraft Lego box.  Minecraft is big in our house these days now that a version of it came out for the Wii.

Then it was off to Nana and Papa's house for Christmas lunch.

Very intently opening their presents...

They love these sweaters, but when I asked for a picture I just got ridiculous poses! (and you can see Anna and Elsa)

Noah wanted this Power Ranger toy he saw in the store one time when we were buying a birthday party present.  This one was the hit for him, along with the giant stuffed Olaf I got from Costco.  Both of them went to Grandma and Grandpa's house with us after Christmas.

More Legos for Cory... do you sense a theme?

Noah's toy had little plastic guns that shot these red darts.  I heard cackling and walked back in to find Noah and Papa having a fight.

Too cute!

And then the day after Christmas we loaded it up and went off to Oregon for a week.

Christmas again! (see Olaf peeking over Noah's shoulder?)

I promise other people got gifts as well, but it's just way too much fun to catch kids expressions.

Grandma did a LOT of sewing for Christmas this year...

We had fun picking out all the fabric at Thanksgiving.

Coordinating aprons for the girls from the 5 Minutes for Mom pattern.

And pajama pants for ALL the boys!

All the teeth and eyes on these little monsters glow in the dark.  It is the best thing ever!

And, we have one more family Christmas on Saturday since my brother and I didn't coordinate very well this year and we were out of town for opposite weeks of Christmas break.  Whoops!  Ah well, I think it's way more fun and almost easier for the kids to get presents at different times and really enjoy them!

I hope you all had a good Christmas!  Only one puking incident and staying one extra day in Oregon due to the weather here.  There have definitely been worse years!