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House Tour, Part One

Sep 25th, 2008 by

This is long overdue…

Here’s a brief tour of the unpacked parts of our house!  (Well, mostly unpacked)

diningroom1

Dining room, obviously…with enough room to put our table all the way out and seat 12!

diningroom2

livingroom1

See the boxes sitting around in the living room?  Yeah, we need to buy a couple shelves for this enormous room.  Also, like the uncomfortable dining room chairs?  We’re thinking of getting real chairs, but then we’re wondering if we should get a real couch, and should we try to match them?  And is that important right now?  Oh, and the bare walls….I bought all the stuff I need to frame my maps, but I can’t buy time without a little 19 month-old helper.  Maybe our artwork will get up this weekend…

livingroom2

Tommy’s own special play area, with his brand-new table set from Ikea!  Eventually this end of the room will look very kid-friendly…

Tommysroom1

Tommy’s room is now about four times as big as his last one.  When we think that 14 months ago, all he had was a wall of our tiny bedroom, we laugh…

Tommysroom2

Tommysroom3

I am extremely fond of the numerous hooks for hats and such.  So far, Tommy is so obsessed with his trucks that he hasn’t noticed how cool this is.

 Well, I’d like to show you more, but really….the rest of the house is still chaotic.  Oh, I should have gotten the kitchen.  Thanks to the Teagues, that was the first room to find order.  Well, that will have to wait for next time!

Posted in Homemaking | 3 Comments »

Apples

Sep 20th, 2008 by

What has Tommy been doing with his new tooth?  Why, eating apples, of course!  I really should have guessed he was teething the other day when he climbed up onto the table to get to the fruit bowl, select an apple, and start munching.  I thought it was cute the first day…yesterday he climbed up twice, having learned to bite off the peel with the sticker and leave it neatly on Mommy’s placemat.  Two apples a day when a boy’s never really had apples whole before….makes for an interesting next day for Mommy.  Clearly we needed to move the fruit bowl, but we didn’t want to discourage his love of apples.  So this morning we took him down to the Lincoln Square Apple Festival to pick out some apples of his own.  Here he is munching away on a Macintosh (not as good as the Galas in the fruit bowl) on his way to Ikea to buy a cool new rug for his room (check out Derek’s facebook album for a full acount).:

apple

Posted in Tommy | 3 Comments »

Tooth #7, FINALLY!

Sep 19th, 2008 by

Two nights ago, Tommy was up several times in the night, screaming.  He’s been doing that a lot lately, and his naps have been super short, too.  I’ve been attributing everything to teething since April (when tooth #6 came in), but Derek has been skeptical.  Today, while tickling Tommy upside down, I noticed a little gleam back in his mouth.  Sure enough, his right upper first molar has FINALLY broken through!!!!  We were starting to wonder if our son had been destined to go through life with only six teeth.

 No pictures, because molars are really hard to get in a shot, and because our camera batteries have been dead ever since the Palin Rally.  But we finally uncovered the battery charger in a new box last night, and more pictures will be appearing soon!

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Goodbye, Manderly

Sep 12th, 2008 by

manderlyhouse

Our last evening as a family at our Manderly Drive house.  We loved it there!

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Operation Appreciation, Part One

Sep 11th, 2008 by

We’re coming to the end of our five glorious weeks of freedom.  Derek starts his new job on Monday, and Tommy and I will have a huge adjustment not having Daddy around 24-7.  Even though this past month has been Derek’s “last hurrah” before the unending grind of firm life, he has done such a good job driving us all over the country, participating in the moving process, hanging mini-blinds (a particularly selfless act), getting up at 6 am with Tommy so that I can sleep in for one more week, and generally being a great dad and husband.  Thanks, Dear!

So I’ve been inspired by Derek’s acts of service and by rereading For Women Only.  I want to challenge myself and my married girlfriends to excel in showing appreciation and love to our hardworking husbands.  I know that we all show love to them by keeping food in the pantry and putting meals on the table, taking care of the kiddos, keeping up on laundry (well, most of the time), and doing standard wifely things.  But can we spend a week brainstorming and sharing ideas for how to go beyond the basics every once in awhile?  I’m calling it Operation Appreciation, and I’m especially calling on Anna, Bethany, Emily, Janet, Kelli, and Kat to blog in the next week or so about your favorite way(s) to honor your husband.  I’ve been inspired by all of you in the past, and here’s my chance to gather a bunch of good ideas in one place.  (To the rest of my married girlfriends–leaving comments here, sending me emails, or telling me that you have a blog and sending me the address would be great, too!)  In a week or two, I’ll gather up all the ideas here for all of us to see. 

I’ll start us off:

1) My friend Kristin has challenged me that the most important room in the house to keep clean is our bedroom, because that communicates to Derek that our relationship is my top priority (after God, of course).  Making the bed every day, keeping laundry off the floor, and moving unfinished projects to other areas are all ways that I try to do this.  Of course, many of us naturally tend towards tidying up the public areas of the house first because we want to present a clean front for guests.  Obviously a welcoming home is good, but so is a welcoming bedroom!  (Full disclosure:  Right now, our bed is made, but there are random miniblind parts, curtains, valance rods, laundry baskets, batteries, bills, and other moving-related stuff hanging out in our bedroom.  Clearly this is a work in progress for me!)

2) I try to make sure that I have chocolate chip cookie ingredients on hand at all times.  When Derek’s worn out or feeling down, I’ve found that a fresh batch of cookies works wonders.  I pretty much pick up a bag of chocolate chips every time I go to Aldi, just in case he comes home from work and asks for dessert.  In fact, composing this blog post in my head earlier today inspired me to whip up a batch of cookies tonight! 

I’m looking forward to reading everyone else’s ideas…

Posted in Proverbs 31 | 1 Comment »

Raising Missions-Minded Kids

Sep 10th, 2008 by

Okay, so I really do have a whole list of things to catch up blogging on, but I just couldn’t help sharing this article on raising missions-minded kids that my mom sent me today.  Fellow parents, please take the time to read it!  To me, this is right on.  It starts,

Some of the coolest people I’ve ever met told me about their retirement plan: “We hope that our kids (they had six at the time) will live in different places all around the world. We’ll spend our retirement visiting them, spending some weeks with one, then moving on to the next.”

What a challenge!  Derek and I can definitely identify with this couple.  We hope to have six kids, and we would be thrilled if they all became missionaries.  Even if they’re called to different things, we’re planning to have all our kids learn a useful language, graduate a year early (the joys of homeschooling!), and take a mission year between high school and college where they go spend a year with missionaries and explore the possibility that God is calling them to the field.  We would also love to do a family mission year, like one family we know, where we all take off to a foreign country for a year, possibly with Derek (and me, depending on the kids’ ages) teaching at a MK school to give the seasoned teachers a well-deserved furlough.  Since Derek’s legal work doesn’t really lend itself to full-time foreign missions, this would be a small way to contribute to the work of the Great Commission.  But a lot of that is far in the future, so I love Shane Bennett’s suggestions for how to work (right now, at home) on raising global kids who have a passion for the world, not just their own backyard.  It’s scary, but isn’t that what we parents ultimately want for our kids–to be used by God in a big way?!?

Posted in Family, Homeschooling | Comments Off

quick update

Sep 8th, 2008 by

For those of you who wondered if we moved then fell off the planet, we’re still here.  My mom is staying ’til tomorrow, so we’re desperately trying to get up blinds, valences, and pictures so that this place starts feeling like home.  We’ve run to Target, Walmart, Home Depot, Linens and Things, and Bed, Bath and Beyond more times that I’d care to count.  Tommy is having trouble sleeping, so we’d appreciate prayer for his adjustment.  Pictures and a video tour will come in the next week or so–we still have a lot of boxes to unpack!

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Blogging from Chicago

Sep 4th, 2008 by

We’re here!  After a relatively uneventful week of moving, we’re in our new home, unpacking and figuring our way around town.  Tommy likes the new house okay, but he’s still getting used to his huge new room.  We’ve already met more neighbors here than we ever knew in Brentwood–they’ve been coming over to introduce themselves.  Katie and Matt live to our right, with Juliet (Tommy’s age).  Katie stays home, too!  Lily and Jack are on the other side with their 4 month-old.  Stojan and Melaina (our landlord’s cousins) are beyond them.  Across the street is Fred, his dog (Tommy is a big fan), his two elementary aged girls (whose names I don’t remember), and a wife we’ve waved to but haven’t met.  So far we’ve found two Dominicks (Safeway grocery stores), the Home Depot, a Target, two Starbucks, Aldi (!), and have directions to the nearest Trader Joes (unfortunately not within walking distance like in Brentwood).  So we’re doing well!  Katie came over yesterday to sign us onto their internet, so we’re back in communication with the world.  We’re getting our own internet and a new landline number next week, so stay tuned for more details…

Posted in Musings | 2 Comments »

Six Weddings

Aug 30th, 2008 by

[composed over the course of the summer] 

This year, we’ve attended six very different weddings.  Here’s a quick look back…

#1–Bride was Em’s high school/church friend.  Most memorable moment–getting the invitation and reading that the couple were not accepting gifts for their wedding.  Guests were encouraged to donate to the homeless ministry that they work with in Kansas City, MO.  Considering that Derek and I would have had a totally empty apartment if not for the generosity of our friends and family, I was really blown away by the humility and generosity of this couple.  No fancy bridesmaid dresses or suits here–other than the bride’s dress (possibly a family heirloom), the matron of honor, best man, and family members wore nice clothing that was probably not new.  And they threw a fun reception with a great buffet and live music in the teen coffeehouse where they also work with their church.  They have their priorities right.  No one could leave that wedding without a great deal of respect for their missions-minded lifestyle.

#2–Bride was Em’s friend from Shepherdsfield (the common-purse Christian community where Katie lives).  This was our first chance to observe a Shepherdsfield wedding.  They are orthodox Evangelical Christians, but since they live, work, and worship together, they have many unique traditions in their marriage ceremony.  Most memorable moment–the amazing food.  Think our reception (which they helped with) plus tons more food.  I have so many friends there that there’s always someone to talk to.

#3–Groom was Derek’s friend from high school.  Most unique aspect of this wedding–because the couple are from different faith backgrounds, they decided to get married at Greenfield Village (the Henry Ford Museum).  God’s name was not mentioned in the ceremony.  She wore a traditional American white dress, but after the Big Band background music while we ate in the Ford Museum (wandering through the exhibits between courses!), the DJ started pulling out Arabic pop music.  Every Arabic guest–from 2 to 80–was out on the dance floor dancing it up!

#4–Another Shepherdsfield wedding, so both families are Em’s good friends.  This one was so special.  The bride had lost her father early, and her first husband rejected the faith and his family just after their third child was born.  Most memorable moment–because the men of Shepherdsfield had stepped in to support and protect this single mom and her kids, she asked them all to give her away.  All the men lined up on both sides of the aisle, then Levi stepped forward to lead her to the front, signifying that he is taking on that responsibility.  It gives me goosebumps just remembering it–what a beautiful picture of how the Church should work to protect widows and orphans.

#5–Groom was Em’s cousin.  This wedding was perfect for this easy-going, casual couple.  Tattoos (including the bride’s) outnumbered super-fancy jewelry, and the groom and his attendants wore untucked short sleeved shirts.  Most memorable moment–the flower dog and ring bearer dog!  Adam and Penni love their pets, so they wanted them to be part of the big day.  A more formal affair wouldn’t have fit the happy couple and their friends–everything was held outside at our Grandpa’s house, and the wedding party took a quick trip to their special hangout for a couple quick drinks before the reception started.

#6–Groom was Derek’s cousin.  This was your standard Detroit Catholic wedding–ceremony followed by reception with standard hall fare.  Three notable items–the color scheme (hot pink and red), the number of attendants (10 groomsmen, 8 bridesmaids, a junior groomsman, junior bridesmaid, and flower girl), and the worst wedding cake ever.  When all 8 people at the table agree on it, you know the cake is bad.

You know, each wedding was just right for the couple in question, but I’m of course partial to all the little details of our own!  I encourage Mariel and whoever else is planning a wedding in the near future (if anyone else is, you really should tell me, because I don’t know about it yet) to do things not because they’re expected, but because they are special to you!

Posted in Family, Friends | Comments Off

Bookending with the Carruthers

Aug 29th, 2008 by

We spent our last night as St Louis residents hanging out with Seth and Leann.  It’s appropriate, because we started this year with them, too.  As soon as I found out we were moving to Missouri, I got so excited about living close to my childhood best friend!  We stayed with the Carruthers when we came in to do house shopping, and Seth was here when we moved in to help Derek put together furniture while Leann took me to Walmart for those first night necessities.  We fell into a fun tradition of Monday night walking dates (where Leann and I explored all over my neighborhood), dinner and Catan nights, and celebrations (Tommy’s birthday, Seth’s senior recital, a murder mystery).  We’ve cooked for each other in times of loss and screwy health diets.  They’ve been a huge part of our lives this year, so it was natural to bookend our St Louis residence with them.  Seth and Leann, we love you, and we hope to see you in Chicago very soon!

Posted in Friends | 1 Comment »

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