New Year

"The Christmas candle burns hot tonight, giving its brilliant light, because Christmas goes on forever. Because we have Jesus with us - the greatest Gift of unfailing, unbeatable, unstoppable love that we can keep unwrapping all our days." ~ from Unwrapping the Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp

Since I did not send out Christmas cards this year but to a few relatives, I will share a picture of our card and wish you all a bloggy Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

     For those of you we do not have the pleasure of keeping in regular touch with: we are doing well. Josh is working from home now, traveling only occasionally and enjoying his remote team of coworkers. Noa (6) is working through her 1st grade year and enjoying her homeschool curriculum. Even more, she is enjoying her weekly homeschool co-op class (taught at a charter school campus), coming home with science projects, artwork, and proud compositions. She is learning much and progressing rapidly through the Barton reading program, and beginning to read books by herself (a great source of joy!). 

     Emmett (1 1/2) is growing up big, eating more than his next oldest sister, and learning to talk. He is currently tiptoeing around the house on his new toddler scooter whilst holding his new favorite train ("chee-chee!").

     Bryn (3), joins Noa in swim and gymnastics classes, and seems to gather the most joy from simply being able to do what her big sister does. She does break the mold, however, when it comes to her fashion sense. Princess dresses, tights, Mommy's earrings, and purses are always on hand. I don't expect to buy her many ordinary clothes this year...

     We have no pets (unless rocks count), a weekly movie night featuring Little House on the Prairie, a penchant for pour-over coffee, and another bedtime story completed - (narrated by Josh) the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. Other than that, life is stable, chaos at a minimum, and appreciation is abundant. 

We wish each of you a joyous 2015, filled with patient endurance of dark nights and faithful expectation of the peaceful dawn.

With love - Josh, Mandi, Noa, Bryn, and Emmett

God's Tears

"God's love for you made Him weep over all our sadness and sin, and His heart filled with ache and spilled like a flood. And God offered everyone a gift, a rescue, a massive wooden ark - an ark much like a cradle on water - and He whispered, "Come to the ark."

God sees our tears now. And the hurt flooding our world right now. And He offers everyone the greatest gift - a rescue, a wooden cradle, a wooden cross - and He whispers, "Come to Jesus." Noah and his family were saved by the ark. You and the whole family on this earth are saved by Jesus alone."  Day 4 of Advent with "Unwrapping the Greatest Gift" by Ann Voskamp

God is Looking For You

     "At one wooden tree in the Garden of Eden, we fell for the lie that God didn't love us, and we fell away from God and got lost. And at one wooden cross near the Garden of Gethsemane, God found us and stretched out His arms and proved forever and always and no matter what that He loves us with and unconditional, unbeatable, unfailing, unwrappable love.
     Sometimes you can almost feel it: when you fall, He comes and unwraps that lying, stealing snake from your feet and wraps His arms around you - and you unwrap the very greatest gift: a love that never, ever lets you go." - Day 3 of Advent with "Unwrapping the Greatest Gift" by Ann Voskamp

Trying this year to complete an Advent activity by sharing a devotional each day and giving the girls a paper ornament to color and pin upon our twiggy Jesse tree. Our hope is that this Christmas season sets a stage for our living out the rest of this year (and every year) with a faith that anchors our hearts in the midst of the storm. Our hope is that our children will know who their God is and know His immeasurable love for them. Our hope is that our children recognize that love in the people that pick them up when they fall, call themselves their family, and long with them for a peaceful eternity. Will you join me in hoping? 

Labor Day Fo-Pize

PaPa and Grandma Hughes flew in for a surprise visit this Labor Day. Or, as Bryn might say, "Fo-Pize!!!!"

Even though we did not see any balloons lift off, we had fun at the annual hot air Balloon Classic festival. The winds picked up just enough to convince the balloon pilots that it was safer to stay on the ground and show off their baskets...


Here's the gang. We were still light on our feet at this point. We were also still under the impression that hot-air balloons would be filling the sky soon. :(

As we stood by admiring a hot air balloon basket and its accoutrements, one of the operators surprised the crowd with a blast of fire. We were, like, 10 feet away... I was already taking pictures of Noa when the fire blasted us off our feet, practically, so I caught her mid-delight.

Then I turned around and realized that Brinny had also been knocked off her feet, literally. Ok, not really literally. There may have been a bit of drama involved in her moment.

Emmett was not so impressed. I opted to not take pictures of his "moment".

Wrapping Up Summer 2014

This year we enjoyed an amazing, lovely, rainy afternoon, lazy pool-lounging, adventure-having summer. Bryn turned into a thespian, Noa decided she was Rapunzel incarnate, and Emmett learned how to "run" by pumping his arms really fast while he scurries after his sisters. Bryn has a new haircut because she simply cannot control herself around her sister's school scissors.

Oh, yeah, and I climbed a 14,000 ft. mountain. Bragging rights, people. Bragging rights.