{this moment}

series Inspired by SouleMama

Merry Christmas

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

What a lovely day to celebrate, The Birthday of Jesus.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

praying for a miracle

¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

¹⁹ The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights. -Habakkuk 3:16-19

In an ICU room full of (paper) angels taped to the walls and amazing women wearing yellow paper robes the nurse suggested Patrick was surrounded by his earthly angles dressed in yellow. I was blessed to be in the presence of those mighty women who rallied around their husband/son/brother. In the midst of receiving bad news yesterday, these women held onto their faith, and claimed His goodness; they Rejoice in the Lord.

Patrick is a friend from a while back whose life story has touched my life story in many ways. He has also touched so many others. People are praying from near and far for a Christmas miracle of Healing. Join me in praying for him.

"Heal Patrick now O God, this Christmas, we beseech you. Do not let him be taken from us, for that would break our hearts. Please help his doctors to find how to heal him, or heal him directly. Have mercy O God, and allow Patrick to know the joy of loving his wife and raising his daughter for many many years to come."

Getting ready for Christmas

Thankfully, P has had lots of time with her grandparents between Thanksgiving and Christmas! She was able to experience many traditions that might not have gotten done without the help of her grandparents.

At Oma and Opa's she got to experience the cutting of a tree (from the front yard) and all the men-folk hauling it in to the living room. This was done in true Griswold fashion. Surely, something she will never forget and probably something she will never see again.

Then with Gigi and Papa, P got to make sugar cookies and a gingerbread house. Both things I planned to do, but didn't know if I would get around to it. The cookies are LONG gone by now, but the gingerbread house sits on the mantle tempting all little ones who come to visit.

We are feeling ready for Christmas around here. And we are looking forward to our quaint little Christmas with our family of 3 before we grow to a family of 4.

Highlighting {handmade}

Today is P's last day of school before Christmas so they are having a bit of a party. The teacher instructed us to send them in red. I was going through her closet looking for red and found the perfect dress, a little on the fancy side, but perfect for Christmas!

This dress was made by my grandmother (probably about 50 years ago) for her daughter, my Aunt Ann. My parents salvaged it a few years ago as they cleaned out some of the closets at my grandparent's old house. It is a beautiful dress that apparently lost its buttons over the years. I didn't notice that detail until I had P completely excited to wear it so we safety pinned the back, tied the sash, and kept her hair down. Perfect!

aack, 10 Days

It's beginning to feel like Christmas, you know that rushed, frantic, how am I going to get everything done feeling? Yup, that is what I am feeling. And it is working double time, since just a month after Christmas we should be welcoming another baby; Baby Brother.

Luckily, we have already had 2 Christmas celebrations so most of the shopping is done. But what to get our special 3.5 year old daughter? And what to get the Mister? All I have space in my brain for is all the cute little gifts I want to buy baby brother. Somehow that is easier, especially since he doesn't really get Christmas gifts and he isn't here yet.

I try to slow down a bit when I think of all that needs to be done and remember really none of it NEEDS to be done. I try to rest in the season of Advent; of waiting. How do you wait in the rush?

Here is one way to take a few minutes each day to meditate on art and music.

Baking this Season

This morning while drinking my eggnog fueled coffee and eating eggs with arugula and feta (yum!) I drooled over the front page of the Washington Post Food Section....EXTRA YUM!

Image via the Washington Post

The pictures are tantalizing and the ingredients sound oh, so, delicious! Salty Chocolate Nutella Thumbprints, yes! Cheesecake Pecan Bars, uh-huh! Lime Thai Basil Shortbread with Passion Fruit Glaze; sure, I will try one!

And a nod to the upstart bakers; Whisked. I look forward to tracking these ladies through the city (they sell at Farmers Markets and this month at the Downtown Holiday Market) to try some of their creations!

Thank you, Food Section, for getting the creative baking juices flowing!

baby bump day

Friends, we made it through 1 whole month together! Thanks for joining me (whoever you are!?), I hope you enjoyed it. Now, I am taking a bow, and exiting stage right. We will continue to post here and there, maybe keeping up the baby bump day and highlight life here on S Street. (just don't look for a post everyday.) Cheers!

Christmas Cards

December is almost here (huge sigh of relief that my month of blogging is almost up). And with December comes lots of Christmas preparations. One of my favorite being Christmas Cards! We already have the perfect picture thanks to Danielle Hill, now we have to make the perfect card. This year I will be outsourcing to one of the lovely print houses, but here are some of our past creations:

2006

2007- didn't quite make it out before Jan. 1

2008

2009

2010 (well it was in the New Year so, 2011)

Christmas Card 2011, coming your way soon via USPS. Cheers!

Mini

The mini-photo shoots by Whit and Whimsy happened, they were quite successful, and lots of fun!

We ended up scheduling 4 of the 8 shoots, which, in the end we figured was about all we could handle. This pregnant lady was in need of a nap after 2 in a row; I over estimated my energy level!

Here are my favorites from each Family. (oh, yes, one had to cancel due to Croup)

It is hard to pick just one favorite from each shoot, there were so many cute ones! And each family was a joy to work with.

again, thankful

Tonight, I am thankful to be home. Mostly, thankful to be out of the car. We all did OK, but the time we spent going 5 mph on the Pennsylvania Turnpike was a real bummer. It seems getting back to DC is never easy; weather it is from the North, South, East, or West. We will be hearing traveling horror stories for the next week, it is always fun to hear how long it took someone to get back to our City especially when those stories include potty breaks in the woods!

Anyone drive home from Richmond today? How long was that drive?

More Gratitude

6 years ago, we were united before God, our family, and our friends.
I am full of Gratitude for that day and every day since.

Black Friday

What does Black Friday do to our spirits? This morning, already in the news, is a story of a woman attacking people with Pepper Spray to get her goods. Stories like this make me wonder what our consumer driven society is doing to our morals, or rather my HOPE that humans will be decent to other humans.

This article in the LA Times, however suggests that spending is good for the soul, and "our demonization of consumer culture....[is] self-defeating, particularly in an economic downturn."

What do you say? Did you go, and was it worth your time and lack of sleep to get 'the deal'?

Giving Thanks

I am most Thankful for this little one growing in my belly and his big sister. And my sweet Mister. This little family of 3 turning 4 is the best thing in my life. I am so happy that these are the people I have been given.

and I am thankful for this feast!

I am also so Thankful that my belly is not yet bigger than the turkey!

Last week P came home with a "Thanksgiving Tree" and each of the leaves had something listed on it she is thankful for, here is her list.

• Soft Blankie
• Baby Brother
• Momma
• Daddy
• Glue (yes, without glue that project couldn't have been completed!)

It is a good practice to think about what it is we are grateful for. I loved reading this post today about being grateful; An Attitude of Gratitude. And I always find it inspiring to read what others are grateful for; Rockstar Gratitude.

I am also Thankful for the all the People in my life, I do indeed have a life full of people I love and my heart is full of thanks today for you all!

baby bump day

After a long ride in the car, we made it to our Thanksgiving destination!

I am thankful for:

• An early start, so traffic was light
• A child who napped in the car (this seldom happens!)
• A momma who got to nap in the car
  
• Rest stops on the Toll Road (for all those pit stops)
• Sunshine!! We started off in Rain and ended in Sunshine; lovely.
• Homemade Chili when we arrived.
  

Preparations

This week feels both short and long. The two days before traveling have been jam-packed with errands, laundry, packing, and work. With all the prep, I do hope this Thanksgiving and on into Advent we can focus more on the Light....the light of being Thankful and the Light of Jesus coming.

For the Wee One

These Sweet prints by Sarah Jane are just the thing for our sweet little boy's room. Maybe once all the stuff currently occupying the soon-to-be-nursery has found a new home, I will get these prints ordered and on the wall. Until then, I will just dream of how lovely they will look on the wall!

I love my Dad

I Love my Mom

Turkey

This weekend we had our first Turkey of the week, oh, my, it was tasty! There were 2 Fried Turkeys and one smoked Turkey; all excellent.

We gathered for the Breaking of the Bread.

And spent time in Good Fellowship!

And all the People said, Amen!

Daddy - Daughter

The mister and P have been spending a lot of Saturday Mornings together, which has been such great time for me to get a little extra sleep. I think these Saturday outings will be even more handy in the third Trimester and right after this little baby comes to the world.

Today, I invited myself to their early morning breakfast, which we somehow managed to push back to about 8:30 (rather than 7). P didn't seem to mind, but she certainly wanted to sit by Daddy while at Capital City Diner.

Daddy and Daughter share the Super Happy Fat Boy Breakfast, P eats the pancake and the Mister eats everything else. It seems to work quit nicely! I ordered my own eggs and bacon. (I am trying to keep up my egg intake per the Bradley Method!)

It is a lovely little Diner not too far from us. The service is great! And the customers are friendly, today we chatted with a few other folk, and waved at another family; mom, dad, and little one. It is a great tradition and hopefully a great memory P will have with her Dad.

Finding Joy

When I pulled out Joy of Cooking this morning to find a basic coffee cake recipe, I was reminded that I should find Joy in cooking. I do enjoy cooking, it normally is a basic creative outlet for me. But when I tasked myself with making coffee cake before leaving the house at 10:30 with a toddler underfoot, I wasn't feeling so full of Joy.

I tried to recall some scripture with the word Joy to adjust my attitude, these were the ones that came to mind.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds... James 1:2 (not that I was facing a huge trial, just a verse that comes to mind)

Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our LORD: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10

Shortly after this exercise, P found something to entertain herself with; play dough, and I happily created Sour Cream Coffee Cake with a Crumble Top. It was tasty, and a Joy to share with friends at bible study this morning.