Gingerbread House (Christmas Traditions)

We were about 5 minutes from leaving to see the Keizer Christmas lights. This is one of those traditions that has become a significant one in our family. There is great anticipation for the day we head out. It is through a neighborhood (one I wished we lived in just for this season...that's the Griswald in me coming out again) where you drive along and look at all the Christmas lights up on homes. The road winds back and forth with the occasional snowpoliceman pointing us in the right direction and keeping us on track.

Because it is not just a major deal in our family but so many others, the drive is very slow and takes a good portion of the evening. We put the seats down in the back and the kids play and drink their perfectly made hot chocolate with candy cane sticks as stirrers. We ooh and ahh at all the new additions. We claim different homes as our favorite. We have Christmas music blasting through the radio. Windows rolled down with the heat turned up.

BUT...Jeanne-Ann was talking to a friend as we were getting ready and she mentioned that she didn't think it started till next weekend. I immediately googled it and found she was right. Karston's shoulders dropped, as did his face. It was a major disappointment. Thankfully we had planned out our calendar for which traditions we would be doing when before we head to the East Coast for the holidays. I called an audible and decided to do the gingerbread houses. We had 2 this year and said we would make it a competition. Boys vs. Girls.

Serious concentration faces folks!

We opened up the packages, kneaded the bags of frosting so they would come out easily and cut open all the different bags of candy. We were ready and armed with all we needed to make amazing gingerbread homes. We called "no copying" and set ourselves on task. It was so much fun. We laughed and ate plenty of the toppings. I knew when it was too much when my stomach made a few comments about how much junk I was feeding it. There was a moment when I was looking for our frosting and was coming up empty. Karston had left to the bathroom and I thought maybe he wasn't feeling good and forgot he had it in his hands. He did not forget. As you can see below he wanted to play Santa Claus. He likes putting stuff on his face. It's kind of a thing he does. We all had a good laugh.

A house. A tree. A pathway. (a beard) All a perfect combo. And we had 2 sets.

So to instagram we went to allow impartial judges choose which they liked best. The votes are still being tallied and perhaps I will let you know in tomorrows post. Feel free to leave a comment below as to which you think is the winner. I won't tell you whose is whose. (whose is a funny looking word).

Which is your favorite?

First World Problems

There are many things that make me think about my time in Ethiopia. It may be seeing an Ethiopian woman who works at the airport in Denver or running into a former student who is from Ethiopia at church or it may be the smell of bread baking. Often it is when I see someone who is homeless and hungry. I saw a lot of people like that while we lives there for our two months.

Lots of difficulty. Lots of tragedy.

We saw lots of people sleeping on the ground.

Having seen all of that you would think I would not complain when it comes to the little things that frustrate me in life. Recently a phrase that has gained a fair amount of popularity, especially on twitter, is "first world problems." Essentially it is when someone complains about something seemingly trivial that someone in a 3rd world or developing nation would never even consider an issue.

It becomes comical at how easily we can complain about the dumbest things.

I spoke at a youth group north of Seattle recently and one of the things they did in the beginning of the meeting was give students an opportunity to gripe about their "first world problems." It made me laugh as we all shared our ridiculous complaints when you put it in the light of "real" problems others have around the world.

Wiktionary defines it as "a frustration or complaint only experienced by privileged individuals in wealthy countries."

Jamie Kennedy, in his movie Malibu's Most Wanted, plays a guy who grew up in Malibu and acted as if he grew up in Compton on the streets. At the local coffee shop he complained about the difficulties of growing up in the Bu. Like how sometimes his latte is lukewarm. #firstworldproblems

I went to the store to look at the new Call of Duty for the Wii. It said Wii U on the package. I asked the guy about it and he told me they do not make it for the Wii. I said, "You mean I am now forced to buy the Wii U if I want the new Call of Duty Black Ops 2?" He replied, "Well sir, it is a 6 year old platform." DON'T CALL ME SIR! And that's stupid. #firstworldproblems

I do not like coffee (except for when it was made over a fire in Ethiopia daily at the coffee ceremonies) but I love going to Starbucks. I typically drink the Refreshe Tea. It's a decent drink, but I go there more for conversations with people. What I love, besides the cake pops, is their salted caramel hot chocolate with soy (lactard here).  What makes this drink is the sea salt they put on top! It is an amazing mix of sweet and salty. When the season starts to wind down they begin to run out of the salt. They always tell me they can make it without the salt, but I tell them it's not worth it and then leave. #firstworldproblems

Starbucks round 2. I LOVE the Green Machine Naked juice. They now sell Evolution green something or other and it is DISGUSTING!!! Seriously, it has over 5 sticks of celery in it. I would rather get celery sticks and my own made peanut butter and enjoy that. Hey Starbucks, get rid of those awful Evolution drinks (yes, even your employees hate them) and bring back the Naked Juice. #firstworldproblems

They are now doing "winter finales" on TV and I have to wait till January for a new episode of Parenthood. #firstworldproblems

I have seen several of these online, or ones like it.

I went and visited my parents and they didn't know their wifi password. #firstworldproblems

The person I wanted for president didn't get elected. I am moving to Canada. They may change my ability to get the doctor I wanted. #firstworldproblems

There is nothing to drink at home except a virtually unlimited supply of fresh drinking water. #firstworldproblems

It's crazy how much we complain about the most ridiculous things.

What is a first world problem you deal with?

Christmas Tree Hunt

Perhaps one of my favorite moments in any Christmas movie is when the Griswalds are walking through the snow in search of the perfect Christmas tree. Clark's daughter is shivering and has turned purple from the cold and they have hiked forever in the deep snow. Suddenly, they look up and lights shine down from Heaven and angels sing the Hallelujah chorus. The perfect tree. That is what I imagine every time we go looking for our tree.

Usually we go to a tree farm and begin the hunt, saw in hand, and I wait. Then I get frustrated because everyone has an opinion and it's usually different than mine. I don't understand how the rest of my family doesn't see the light shining or hear the angels singing. It's as if they are so consumed with finding their own perfect tree they completely miss all the music and lights. I like my tree full and thick. Jeanne-Ann likes space between the branches. We usually end up somewhere in the middle. Then we head home for decoration time. Hot chocolate and candy canes are very much a part of our tradition.

This year is a little different. We are not going to be home for Christmas so we decided to get a small tree and pick it up at the B&S Market. I would rather have waited till December 15/16 to pick up a tree that would support Matt & Kristina Smith's adoption by getting a tree then, but we leave right after that. So, I am stuck with getting it here. At least it went to support Keizer Youth Basketball Association. Unfortunately, there were no small trees. It was pretty tall.

We found a pretty great tree and took it home to be decorated. Below is a time lapse of us decorating. We had to leave the lower part of the tree undecorated of any breakable ornaments because we have 2 little rascals who like to pick up things and play with them all the time.




Excited for a few friends who are joining me on this 31 day blogging challenge.
Bex Mann
Lisa Tran To
Joel To
Jeff & Kara Brown
Amanda Banker

31 Days of Blogging

I am now embarking on a literary adventure. This is my 3rd year where I have take a one-month-blog-every-day "challenge" with my dear friend Bex. I love blogging and I think this 31 day challenge is something I need to do once a year for several reasons:

1) It gets me writing and I really enjoy that.
2) It challenges and stretches me.
3) It gets my creative juices flowing. They say if you want to be a better writer you just need to write.

I will be writing about things that have been happening in my life (Christmas season is full of activity and travel. It should be easy to write about). I will be looking at other creative ideas to write about as well. Each day will lead itself as to what I write about. Perhaps there will be some things that you are challenged by and perhaps there will be things that inspire you. I hope both are true.

So off I go, onto the writing challenge.

Do you want to join me? Want to take part in this awesome blogging challenge? I would love it if you let me know and I will mention it in one of my posts and point people towards your blog as well.

Here we go bloggys!

Orphan Sunday

Which of these children are orphans?

If you guessed none, then you are right! They are all my children. Today is Orphan Sunday. You can click here to read more from the official website.
Isaiah 1:17 (in the Bible) says, "Defend the cause of orphans." Not everyone needs to adopt, but we surely can all defend the cause of orphans, can't we? Whether it's giving towards an adoption fund in your church or helping to build an orphanage or actually adopting a child who has no family that can take care of them. What is your heart saying to you today? Is God moving in you to make some sort of decision to "bring justice to fatherless" as it says in the English Standard Version of the Bible?

Ask God what it is He wants you to do today?

Here are the links to some of my friends who are adopting. You could very easily do something today by supporting their process. Search around to see specific ways you can support them.
Jeff and Kara Brown
 Matt and Kristina Smith

Staff Fun

The other day our staff took half a day to have some fun. We met up at Word of Mouth Bistro (my favorite restaurant in Salem) for lunch. Quick note about why this is my favorite. They make a creme brulee french toast that is out of this world. I seriously have had a dream about this meal. They also have an amazing hot chocolate that they load with whip cream, marshmallows, chocolate chips, chocolate sauce and caramel. YUM!

We then headed over to Willamette Valley Fruit Company for some fun. We peeked into the room where they make the pies and then walked outside where we ran into Jeff Roth. He is the guy who came up with the dream of this whole place. A place where families can come and have fun. It isn't just this time of year. We came in the summer with our kids to pick strawberries. That was a great family memory.

Anyhow, Jeff walked us over to the "fun zone." When we were first there we were the only ones there. That opened it up for some extra fun. We played on the slides and jumped on the zip line. Then it was time for a ride in the little train trolley. This is absolutely designed for kids but it can carry adults as well. The guy decided to have some fun with us and drive a little crazy. Not too crazy but enough that we could not stop laughing. Each turn and stop we could feel a little bit of pain on our knees and elbows.

We also got to shoot the corn cannon. The object was to hit a pumpkin sitting on top of hay bales about 100 feet away. If you had one you get a free ice cream. Guess who hit one. Yep, I did! I did a happy dance and then it was time to hit the corn maze.

The girls went first and John and I decided to take a different route. We try to raise them to the very top. We only slightly got lost. Near the end of the whole time inside of there it started to sprinkle a bit but besides that we were pretty much rain free. The cool part was that we ended up seeing a double rainbow in the distance! I love when I am reminded of God's promises!

We headed inside for some amazing pie and of course my ice cream. It was a great day with our staff, our bellies were full, and we made some awesome memories together. I love this team that I get to serve with. God has blessed me greatly!

I have Two 2 Year Olds

In September and October we celebrated Nyah and Haakon's birthdays respectively. They are 18 days apart in age. For some its obvious but to most people who ask us in the store they follow that up with "Are they twins?" I always want to answer yes and say that Haak was just not ready to come out and needed another 18 days of incubation.But I don't. People just don't know what to say and often don't think about the questions they ask. I don't mind the questions at all, I just laugh because of some of the things said.

Anyhow, we sure did have fun getting together with friends and partying with our littles. The amount of sugar that was consumed by each of them was incredible. At each party they got their own little cakes, while everyone else enjoyed cupcakes. Haak was hilarious after the sugar set in. He is a pretty active one as it is and after he had his cake he was so would up! He could not go to sleep for the longest time. We laughed quite a bit as he was laying in bed and kicking his legs and squirming around. We ended up letting him sit up with us for a while and run off some of his energy.

Sunglasses!!!

She loves her glasses, purse and Minnie!

You can't go wrong with Thomas!

Sugar coma to come soon.

I realize at this age they don't fully get the concept of gifts, but I seemed to remember that the boxes and wrapping paper were more fun for the olders (Kynzi and Karston are the olders and Haakon and Nyah are the littles...just in case that slipped past you), but perhaps my memory just isn't all that super (usually the case). They were ecstatic with their gifts. At Nyah's birthday party she got a stroller and a shopping cart with a bunch of play food. That meant there was something to push around for both of them to play with. They were all over the tennis court and we thought about setting them up for a race, but just enjoyed the pure fun moment that they were having.

It's hard for me to remember that they have not always had us as their family. They are just our kids and that is that. Reality is that this was not always the case. It reminds me, when I think of this truth, that there are so many others out there that don't have families. They don't have someone to celebrate their birthdays with their own cakes and a bunch of fun gifts. My heart grieves that reality. I often allow the tears to flow when I am reminded that this would be the case for Haak and Nyah had God not placed them into our lives.

Jeanne-Ann and I have the exact, perfect children for our family. It is amazing. Each of them is so different, while sharing common traits, and I can't imagine life without a single one of them. So as much as this is a post about birthday parties and celebration, I guess it is also a post about how thankful I am to God for how He has shaped our family. To think, 3 years ago I thought we were completely done having children. I thought 2 was our magic number. Even the olders talk about how they can't imagine life without the littles. That makes my heart scream for joy!

Thank you Lord for Kynzi.
Thank you Lord for Karston.
Thank you Lord for Nyah.
Thank you Lord for Kaakon.

I am blessed.