This was his first school photo.

New Year’s day is one of my favorite days of year. I love looking back, I love looking ahead. I love to feel like I have a fresh clean slate to work with. For 2013 I had 13 goals and I accomplished most of them even if they were only partial success.

1. I did get the kids on a schedule (I kind of have to with school and all).
2. I did learn more signs and become more comfortable with signing in general.
3. I have been very active with the kids
4. I donated my hair to locks of love

*

5. We did move to Ohio
6. I visited Texas, but unfortunately not Michigan.
7. I did three video shoots with my brother
8. I worked on expanding my geographic knowledge and Z learned the 50 states!
9. We didn’t manage to have a date night once a month, but we came pretty close.
10. We never had our family portrait updated, but we have a decent one of the 5 of us from Easter.
11. I organized and pulled off some awesome birthday parties

As far as the ones that never made the cut this year

1. We DID NOT eat vitamins and veggies everyday. I regret it, and I still want to work on this.
2.  I never managed to have alone time once a month (surprise surprise)

This year I had in my mind that instead of a lengthy list of specific tasks to accomplish I would pick out  few things to focus on. This list is not exhaustive and my core values are still my priority, but these are things I feel like could use a lot more attention.

1. Blogging
So maybe this won’t be the year that I launch a completely new word press site, but I really want to challenge myself more when it comes to writing, coding, and photography.

2. Reading
This may sound contradictory to the last focus, but I want to be on the computer less and reading an actual published book more. I feel like I have been overloaded with articles from Facebook and Pinterest. Some are great and some are just a big fat argument waiting to happen, even if it’s just me venting to my husband. I am kicking off this new year with a Facebook fast and a long list of books I want to read or reread.

3. Cleaning
When I started working in October I kind of fell off the Fly Lady wagon. To be honest it was more like the entire wagon rolled into a ditch and isn’t even recognizable anymore. I’ve said before, but I’ll say it again mostly to remind myself. My tiny home doesn’t leave much wiggle room for clutter or uncleanliness. If a really tall man gains 10 pounds you would never even notice it, but if a short woman does she needs to go shopping because her clothes don’t fit anymore. My apartment is a very petite woman. This year I want to finish some of the decor projects that were left incomplete from 2013 and I want to try and get back into my flylady routine. A clean apartment changes the way my family feels and interacts with each other. I’m on it.

So that’s it. Clean, Read, Blog, Repeat. Happy 2014 everybody!

* That first photo is my “before” picture and I was doing my best to look disheveled (pretty good right?) And the after picture was immediately after I had my hair cut and I hated how limp it was. I printed out several pictures for the stylist and aparantley chunky layers doesn’t mean anything to her. I reluctantly went after my hair with some scissors and chopped it up on my own later. Why did I spend $50? 

 Now we just need J and Ezie.

 Now we just need J to get off his phone! LOL.

Let’s see… I shared about Thanksgiving, and the snow, and today I wanted to talk about the rest of the Christmas festivities that took place before we left for Texas because there were plenty, and I don’t want to let the memories slip away.

First off we went to the Holiday Junction at Union Terminal twice for free (thanks to Duke Energy discounts). The train displays were amazing and the kids got to ride on a mini train through a scenic “snowy mountain”.

 The kids had all kinds of fun things going on at their schools. SJ was in a Christmas program which I will have to share more about that later because it was such a special milestone in her hearing loss journey. I didn’t take many photos because it was more of a video camera night, but I love this shot of her turned around because she rarely lets me keep her hair down. She’s in the red dress.

All the kiddie stuff was definitely memorable. Christmas wouldn’t be even half as fun without the littles. However we did get to enjoy some grown up time too for the annual church Christmas banquet. It felt like prom all over again and I mean that in a good way. The inspiration for my ensemble was glitz, glitter and GOLD. Even my fingernails and eye shadow was sparkly.

I wish I had better pictures, but sometimes it’s just about being there in the moment and that’s what I did for the holidays this year. And there is still more to come! I LOVE the holidays.

It’s been a snowy December here in Ohio and I love it! We are about to be in the homeland of Texas where we will more than likely NOT be experiencing a white Christmas, but I don’t mind because I am beyond excited to get to visit for the next couple weeks. Before we go I would like to leave you with some of my favorite pics of the winter wonderland we’ve experienced so far this season.

And here’s one of Z walking to the bus stop.

 They have called two days off of school for snow so far this year. The rest of the time you suck it up. He’ll have stories for his grandchildren right?

Good thing Ezie is walking full time now. It’s no fun crawling in the snow!

I have blogged twice this month. That must be a record breaking low. I definitely have plans to get back into the swing of things, but in the mean time the least I can do is post a few photos from Thanksgiving (which was also our Christmas) with my side of the family.

I have been way behind on blogging for a lot of different reasons, including tons of Holiday festivities. One of the things I have really been wanting to share is about the advent project I’ve been doing with the kids. I started writing this post 2 weeks ago before we started advent! This is like my 4th attempt, we’ll see if I actually get it posted this time. Here goes,

This is our first year to try Truth In The Tinsel.

 If you haven’t heard of it, it is an awesome devotion/advent/Christmas-craft-activity that teaches kids the story of Jesus birth. Not just a little snapshot for the Sunday before Christmas, but a daily devotion that really digs into the Biblical account of Christ’s birth in a way that little ones can grasp.

I was a bit apprehensive at first. I had the same feeling I did when I started the 31 day series because it’s something that I committed to at the last minute with little or no preparation. But we are about half way through now and so far it has been GREAT!

Each day Z will find “a clue” in his Bible. I just taped a CD envelope on the inside cover of his Bible. It’s perfect because the envelope has a clear window on the front so he can see the clue right away.

Then we look up a passage in scripture and pick out where the clue is found in the Bible. Z loves this part, and since he is now learning to read it’s the perfect opportunity for him to learn how to find references in the Bible.

Then we talk about it and make an ornament to go along with the lesson for the day.

Here are some the first 10  days as seen through my iPhone.

Many of these are modified from the books version for time sake or lack of materials  (I made notations in red for those participating), but that’s all part of the fun. I’ve enjoyed seeing all the Facebook posts showing variations and personalization of the same craft.

If you haven’t checked out Truth in the Tinsel or seen it floating around on Pinterest you should take a peak. It’s not too late to implement one of the modified schedules or pick and choose for yourself what and how you want to do it, and of course there is always next year, and the year after that.  Not to name drop, but I happen to know Amanda White (author, creator, blogger extraordinaire) personally from when I lived in Atlanta, and she is the real deal. With that said, this is not a promotional post, I did not get paid, no freebies. She doesn’t even know I am writing this, so it’s all totally unbiased and true.

I can’t wait to work on the rest of Truth in the Tinsel and I am already taking notes on what I can do next year. Not only have I loved teaching my kids about the story of Christ’s arrival, but I am learning a lot too. Hooray for Advent!

I wanted to update all of my readers on how the Keith family is doing. In case you haven’t seen my last post our dear pastor lost his granddaughter on Thanksgiving day. We are close with their whole family and our children play in the nursery together at least once a week. Although we are still mourning the loss of this precious 18 month old baby we will be celebrating her life tomorrow at her funeral.

The family is doing as well as could be expected. The other two girls have been tested and are completely healthy. As far as I know the cause of death is unknown. The autopsy showed nothing wrong with PK. She went down for a nap and despite her mother knowing CPR and a pulse being detected she still did not make it. God had a plan in mind for her and she is now walking on streets of gold.

On Sunday pastor spoke about crisis at Christmas (the message was already planned). During communion the elders came up behind the pastor and lifted up his arms and prayed for him.

It was a beautiful moment. Pastor also thanked everyone for the outpouring of love and sympathy and then he read this letter from my dad.

“When we lost Zeb, there was such outpouring from the body of Christ. We will never forget it. One letter in particular touched me more than any other. Not because of the eloquent words, but because of the sincerity and the fact that such wisdom could come from a 16 year old young man. I hear the heart of a pastor in it. It has endeared me to not only him, but your whole family.

It was written in his own hand writing on a simple piece of paper ripped from a spiral bound notebook, but we have cherished it and kept it all these years. Hopefully the words will bring as much comfort to you as they did to me in this time. Our hearts ache.”

Here is an excerpt from that letter written by PK’s dad 22 years ago, before he was a husband, before he was a dad, before he lost a child. 

“I just want you to know that you have a church family that’s backing you up all the way and what you go through we all go through also. WE feel your pain, and we sympathize with you. I know that you all are strong enough to make it through this tough time, for you do not go through it alone. I love every one of you as if a family member, and when you need help call me.” 

There was a lot more to it than that, but this is the part that I could now say right back to his family in the midst of this valley without changing a single word. 

I know the funeral is going to be tough. It brings back a lot of memories for me since Zeb’s funeral was at the same church with many of the same people. A couple nights ago as I was putting Zion to bed I held his hand and laid there in the dark with tears rolling down my cheeks. Zeb was just a little older than Zion when he passed away. This isn’t something I think about a lot, but like the letter said what one goes through we all go through. Our brother and sister in Christ lost their child, and I am hurting for them. 

PK’s mom is the nursery coordinator (among so many other things that she does around the church). She has been spending the past several months figuring out a way to do a complete overhaul to the sorely outdated facility. She was the one that decided that in lieu of flowers, donation could be made in PK’s honor to renovate the nursery. PK loved the nursery and to have it dedicated to her and have her memory cherished and appreciated by all her friends and the future of the church body sounds like the best idea ever! 

I know I am going on and on, but as you can tell this has touched me deeply. Pastor said that when PK’s older sister (who is 6) asked about if PK was coming home from the hospital he told her “You know how sometimes you fall asleep downstairs and then you wake up the next day in your bed and you didn’t even realize that anything had happened? Well that is what happened with your sister.” She fell asleep at home and woke up in her heavenly home for all eternity and one day we will all be reunited singing praises to our God who is still on His throne. 

I had a Thanksgiving post planned. It was going to be about heritage. I am so thankful for my heritage and it’s been on my heart lately since recently Ezie was dedicated in the same church and by the same pastor where I was dedicated as a baby. 

Our church is even called Heritage Fellowship so heritage is of great importance to us.

The reason I did not get this post published is because on Thanksgiving day before we sat down to eat dinner tragedy struck and we had been informed that our pastor’s granddaughter who is 18 months old suddenly, and completely unexpectedly, stopped breathing. She still had a pulse so we, along with all those connected to this family from all around the world, began to pray. Unfortunately later that evening we read this update from the pastor (I put the initials of his granddaughter instead of her name).

Today, I am thankful that my son and his wife know the Lord. It is in times like this we are very grateful that they have family and friends who love them. Thankful for the support system they have, a support system of people of faith who will be praying for them as they are passing through the valley of Baca (the valley of weeping).


Earth has no sorrows, that Heaven cannot heal. God gave them beautiful little twin girls. Today the Lord who does all things right, chose to take PK home earlier than the rest of us. We are thankful for the blessing she has been, the joy she has given us, and the place in our hearts that she will always have. Thank you Lord for the privilege we had to love this special God given baby. We thank you because we know that you make all things work together for good.

Since then both of their other daughters were admitted to the hospital. I have no information on what type of illness this is (if that is even what it is). I do know that their oldest daughter who is Z’s age (6) has been discharged and this is the latest update about PK’s twin.

PL is still in Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati. They will finish their testing today, late last night they were planning on a spinal tap this morning. 

My heart has been broken over all this. Pastor and his family were there for us when we lost my little brother 22 years ago. In fact my dad even pulled out a letter of sympathy that he had saved, which was written by Pastor’s son (the twins father who is shown standing beside pastor in the photo above). 

When we moved here almost two years ago our Pastor’s daughter-in-law (the twins mother) was pregnant with the twins while I was pregnant with Ezie. We had plenty in common just from motherhood and pregnancy, but we bonded more when SJ was diagnosed because she happens to work for an ENT. In fact she “moved mountains” to get us an appointment with one of the best ENTs in the nation and then she got the appointment date moved up so that we could see him sooner. He is the Doctor that we go to today and I am so grateful that we had this connection. My friend also recently wrote a letter on SJ’s behalf to an association that gives scholarships to children with hearing loss. The letter brought me to tears, and I was so grateful for her friendship and how she has been there for me in the midst of such a difficult time.

 I had no idea what she would have to go through though. I can’t even imagine being in their shoes on Thanksgiving day. As a church we are all mourning this loss. I worked in the nursery for the Friday night service and knowing that PK is gone is very difficult to process. This is a little shot of her and Ezie hanging out in the nursery a few weeks ago. 

I know all of you mothers and friends reading this can imagine the blanket of sorrow that is covering the church right now as we grieve the loss of this precious little life. PLEASE pray for the Keith family this Holiday season. This is a hard enough thing to go through without it happening on Thanksgiving day. This family has walked through some difficult times with us, and now we are ready to walk along side them, and just be there for comfort and support knowing that, as pastor said, God makes all things work together for good. 

When I think about what the seasons feel like here in middle America I feel like it’s mostly winter and summer with little slivers of transition that we call spring and fall. I know all about the solstice, yeah, yeah. But summer this year, although very mild, lingered into October

On a school field trip to the pumpkin patch in October. Feeling totally comfortable in shorts and a tank top! 

and as Halloween drew nearer I wasn’t sure if we were going to see much with the fall foliage this year, but it did happen,

I could have an entire album of photos of the trees with how gorgeous it was this year, but I’ll just have to hold onto my mental snapshots because I was way too busy to venture out with my camera. 

just in time before the first snow in mid November.

So the postcard-worthy autumn lasted barely a month, but I still enjoyed every bit of it.

When the leaves started falling and Z asked if we could make a big pile to play in I told him we didn’t have a rake. We actually don’t even have a yard, but the next day as we made our way to the bus and rustled through the crunchy brown layers on the ground he said “mom, I know you said we don’t have a rake, but could we just play in the leaves?” How could I refuse? We found a patch of grass where autumn leaves abound and those three had the time of their lives. I am so glad we stopped to enjoy this season, however brief it is.