Christmas Preparations and Milestones

We are getting ready for Christmas here at our house.  It is such a wonderful thing to have a decorated house this year.  Last year, we were in the process of moving to Harrisonburg (and actually, Monday the 17th will mark exactly one year since we moved!).  Since we moved in the week before Christmas, there was no point in going to all the trouble to decorate and get a tree.  So I'm especially glad that we have lots of decorations up this time.  We got our tree on Black Friday this year, which is definitely the earliest we've ever gone tree shopping, but I was so eager to decorate =).  Of course, as always, we got a tree that is too large for our living room and we had to cut some off the top, but it still looks good haha.

One thing I really appreciated doing this year was putting the ornaments on the tree.  I literally haven't seen these ornaments in two years (because of skipping the decorating thing last year), so it was really fun to pull out all of our Christmas boxes and go through all of the ornaments.  The thing I love about our tree is that we have some unique (maybe crazy and tacky) ornaments and every single one has a story behind it.  

This is an ornament I received as a gift from my Sunday School teacher in middle school (my first Christmas as a Christian).  It has always been very special to me.

Our Disney World honeymoon Christmas ornament!

Piper's first Christmas ornament.  Ellie has a similar one from 2010.

Our Chick-fil-A Christmas ornament from the Wards Road location in Lynchburg (our very favorite Chick-fil-A...and I'm realizing it's kinda sad that we have a favorite haha).

A vintage elf, given to us by my mom.  We have two others that are also cute in a creepy sort of way =)

Our Smoky Mountains ornament

Ellie's favorite ornament, a gingerbread house that lights up when you connect it to the Christmas lights on the tree.

Gotta represent our doggie!

We have also done some Christmas events this year, which we haven't really done in years past.  We went to Dynamic Aviation's Christmas dinner party this year which was a lot of fun.  It was held at and catered by JMU, so it was kinda fancy and formal but still fun for the girls.  There were tons of kids there and the girls enjoyed receiving gifts from Dynamic.

Helping the girls open their gifts

Piper was enamored with her very own baby doll

Ellie also got a baby doll, complete with feeding accessories.  This girl loves to be a little mommy.

Last Friday, we went to the Harrisonburg Christmas parade (our first Christmas parade since we've been married, I think!).  I wasn't sure how it was going to go...my fear was that the girls would be scared because of all the people and the loud music, but they actually had a great time.  Ellie sat on Billy's shoulders and got candy (Billy and I got coupons for free Chocolate Peppermint milkshakes from Chick-fil-A!) and Piper rode in the baby carrier (strapped to me).  The weather was perfect....it was cool, but not cold, and the girls especially enjoyed the marching bands.  Every time a drumline passed us, Piper would kick her feet and bounce and Ellie would yell, "Drums!"  I definitely overdressed the girls, thinking it would be colder, so we shed the hats and gloves pretty quickly.  I got a couple pictures of the girls before we left for the parade...

Piper is not happy about wearing a hat...

Ellie is so ready to get out of the house

Lastly, I wanted to update a little on milestones.  Piper is growing and changing constantly.  Within the last month or so she's started feeding herself snacks (a great Christmas gift for me, because it gives me a chance to get a couple things done and she's content to snack away!).  She is also crawling (in her own special way) and is getting into things, including getting trapped under chairs and the Christmas tree.  Pretty soon we'll be doing the baby gate thing again.  She is really enjoying playing with her baby toys, which I keep in a separate box for her.  That way, I can just set her on the floor with her box and she's good to go.  It was also one of Ellie's favorite things to do when she was a baby, and would often keep her busy for a long time.

Piper having a frozen banana...not her favorite (I think because of the temperature...she likes regular, room temp bananas just fine haha).

Snacking away!

Ellie is growing into a little lady.  She is very much the girly-girl and loves shoes, purses, dressing up, and being a little mommy.  We've also noticed that she's very musical and loves to sing.  She sings along to the radio, and also has her personal favorite songs which include "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," the ABC song, and "Jesus Loves Me."  Just the other day she was playing with the little toy piano, making music and singing "Jesus Loves Me" at the same time.  She is very observant and likes to repeat words and phrases that she hears from other people.  We're struggling a little with sharing with Piper right now (she says "That's mine!" a lot, which is kind of a no-no in this house).  However, she's also very loving toward Piper and likes to tickle and talk to her.

This one loves peanut butter =)

Wearing Mommy's scarf

"Driving" the car while Billy and I clean it out

I love this picture, because someday she'll be 16 and she'll really be driving away =(

Anyway, I don't know if I'll get around to blogging again before Christmas, but Merry Christmas from us!

Eight Years

Eight years ago today, Billy and I started dating (officially).  I feel like, on one hand, it was just yesterday, and on the other I feel like we've been together a lifetime.  Funny how that works, right?

The past eight years have been a whirlwind....the time has seriously flown by.  Back in 2004 (so long ago haha) we were in our junior year of high school, and now we're married and have two kids.  We've experienced so many life changes together, which is truly a blessing (although it gets a little overwhelming when I think about it too much).  We graduated high school, went off to college, got married, went through multiple family dramas, job loss, had two "unplanned" pregnancies, one traumatic birth and hospitalization, moved to a new city...all of those experiences we did together.  We've made dreams together, and seen some of those come to fruition while others have been set aside for something else.

We've also changed a lot.  When we started dating, Billy was what I would describe as a goofy-class clown type.  He was always cracking jokes, making people laugh, and was very extroverted and self-confident.  He could make friends with anyone, and was also pretty involved in high school sports.  Me, on the other hand...definitely a shy, introverted nerd.  I had VERY few friends outside of my classes, and even those were mostly through church youth group.  I rarely talked to people I didn't know and never did anything spontaneous, and I was very self-conscious of everything I did.  Basically, back then we were opposites.  I'm still kind of surprised that we ended up together.  Anyway, I would say our personalities have really blended now.  Billy is more reserved than he used to be, and I'm more outgoing.  I have become less nerdy (especially since I'm not in school anymore!) and Billy is the studious one now.  I would also say that Billy has helped me overcome some of my shy tendencies.  Because of his encouragement, I am now more outspoken and less of a people pleaser (although I still really struggle with that).  He has helped me become more assertive and confident, when before I was VERY passive and lacked self confidence.  Obviously a lot of prayer went into those things, too, but Billy really helped motivate me to work past those issues and I think I'm a better person for it.

I am so grateful that eight years ago I had a momentary burst of spontaneity and showed Billy that I was interested in him.  I had just gotten out of another relationship, and one Saturday night I just decided to go to the movie theater...by myself.  Who does that?  I probably seemed kinda lame going alone, but I had an ulterior motive, because Billy just happened to work at the movie theater.  So I went, on the off chance that he was working (which he was!) and got in his line at the concession stand (even though I didn't need to buy any food, since I snuck in some juice and cookies from my Nana's house haha).  Anyway, I talked to him for a few minutes (which was out of character for me anyway, since I was so shy) and went on to my movie.  After the movie was over, I saw Billy as I was leaving and hollered bye to him and walked out.  Billy says that he knew I was interested in him because I made the effort to say goodbye to him on my way out.  How random is that?  And a couple weeks after that (and after we had our first couple of dates) we decided to be together.  And the rest is history...

My BHAG

So I finally have a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal).  For years it was always to finish college and get a teaching job, and then we were blessed with Ellie and my future plans kinda changed.  The past two years as a mom have been wonderful and challenging, stretching me outside of my comfort zone and making me grow.  However, the whole time I've been a mom, I've put goal-setting aside.  As a student, I was always very product-driven, motivated by getting good grades and being a good student/teacher.  But there's really no grade system for motherhood, or homemaking for that matter.  So I've kind of become an unmotivated, passive person in the past two years.  Sounds depressing, right?  

Billy has asked me on and off for the past couple of years what my goals are and I never have an answer.  Obviously I want to be a good wife and mom and do well with what God has given me for this season of my life.  But specific goals?  I can never come up with anything.  

This past weekend we went to Busch Gardens and had a day of fun for just the two of us.  It was so good to get away for a day and be "Billy and Kristen."  Sometimes I get so caught up in being "Mommy" and being an adult that I forget about just being me, the girl my husband fell in love with at 16.  Anyway, while we were in line for one of the Haunted Houses for Howl-O-Scream, I saw a guy with a Tough Mudder t-shirt on and just offhandedly asked Billy if he would ever do one.  Then we got to talking about it and thought it would be so cool to complete a Tough Mudder race.  We decided it would be really cool to do that as a couple someday, but that it would take a lot of hard work and training from both of us to be ready.

On Sunday, Billy started looking into the Tough Mudder events for next year and they just happen to have one in Denver the weekend of our anniversary.  So one of the places we really would love to visit on our anniversary?  It sort of feels like it's meant to happen. =)

We haven't signed up for it yet since that would be a huge commitment for us to make without ever having run a race of any kind before.  So we signed up for A Hero's Run, which is a local 5K mudder race on November 3rd.  Definitely not as hard core as the Tough Mudder, but still a huge challenge for us and a good way to gauge whether it's realistic for us to do a Tough Mudder in the future.

So...neither have us have ever run a race.  I don't even like running all that much.  And neither of us is ready for a race of any kind today.  But we decided to just go for it.  So that's my BHAG.  I'm going to run a 5K mud race one month from tomorrow.  

I'm excited about it, but also kinda wondering if I'm crazy for committing to it when I have no experience and I doubt I can even run a mile without stopping...yep, after admitting that I think I'm definitely crazy.

However, I'm trying to look at it this way....I'm not in it to win it, I'm in it to finish.  I don't care at all about my time or who I beat, I'm really just interested in seeing myself finish a race, especially a race with obstacles and other challenges, which is something I NEVER planned on doing in my life.  So I'm committing to training and working out at least 5 days a week to get ready for it.  I don't really have a specific plan at this point except that I obviously need to start doing some running and I really need to work on my upper body strength.  I can definitely do the 30 Day Shred DVD here at home which will help with my strength, but the running thing might be a bit more challenging.  I don't have a jogging stroller or a gym membership, so I don't foresee myself being able to run with the girls during the day, so that kind of limits me to early mornings or evenings when Billy gets home.  But I will make it work, somehow, because I'm actually really excited about doing this and it's high-time for me to have a huge goal and actually accomplish it.

So that's where I am right now...I would love some suggestions from people who are more fit than me, haha.  Or maybe some encouragement that I can do this?  =)

Homemade Applesauce

So I know this isn't exactly a new idea, and most people probably know how to do this, but I thought I'd share anyway!  I first tried making homemade applesauce last fall and it was a big hit with Ellie.  Back then, she ate oatmeal and applesauce for breakfast pretty much every day, so when apple-picking season came around we got a bunch of apples and I tried out this "recipe."  We haven't gone apple picking yet this year, but we had some apples in the fridge that were looking a little sad and I don't think anyone wanted to eat them in that state, so I made applesauce.  It really doesn't get much easier than this!

First, wash and peel the apples.  I have one of these handy dandy apple peeler-corer-slicer gadgets that makes this task so much easier.

Peeling the apples...

An apple slinky!  Not really...but it does look cute.

Shelley really appreciates when I make applesauce because she gets the cores.  Look at that vicious beast.

Throw your apple rings in the Crock Pot.  Since this was only about 6 small apples and it only filled the Crock Pot halfway, I added about 1/2 cup of water.  You could also add cinnamon, but I didn't this time since I'm intending for this applesauce to be eaten by Piper.  It's definitely yummy with cinnamon, though.

 Cover and cook on low for a few hours until the apples are soft.

In the past I've used a potato masher to mash the apples into a chunky sauce, but since this is for Piper I dumped it in the blender and pureed it on low.

 Lovely, smooth applesauce.

I filled an ice cube tray with the applesauce so that I would have easy baby food portions in the freezer. You can also dump the applesauce in an airtight container or ziplock bag to freeze.  Once my applesauce cubes are frozen, I plan on just throwing them in a freezer bag and pulling out a cube as needed.

And that's it!  Super easy.  My little muncher is getting so big, she had 1/4 of a mashed banana today for lunch and gobbled it up.  I plan on trying to stock up a little on baby food now that she's starting to get into solids.  I think this week I'll try to buy some sweet potatoes so I can make that into a puree.  I'm looking for the most cost effective options to feed my baby, so I'll probably do a combination of homemade baby food from produce that's in season as well as baby food jars that are on sale.  Has anyone out there had a lot of success with making homemade baby food?  I'd love to know more about how other people do it!

Now that I Know, What Do I Do?

I'll just start this post by getting this off my chest: I am tired of the way I am currently living my life.  Please know that this has nothing to do with my family or my status as a stay-at-home mom.  I LOVE this season of life as a wife and mother and wouldn't change that for anything.  Yes, it's hard, and no, it's certainly not perfect, but that part of my life is awesome and not what I'm talking about here.  I guess I'm referring to the eternal significance of what I'm doing right now.  I know I can be doing more for the kingdom of God, but I just don't know where to start.

I feel like that first paragraph doesn't make a lot of sense, so let me back up.  Lately, I've been reading some pretty amazing books (which is probably why I haven't updated this blog lately!) that have really challenged me to step outside of my zone of comfort.  I first read Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan.  If you haven't read this book, you seriously need to get on that.  This book really made me wake up and realize that my life isn't supposed to be about comfort and what makes me happy.  I think sometimes it's so easy for Christians (including me!) to think that God desires for all of our needs and wants to be met and that He wants us to live perfect, happy little lives.  We think that God is going to give us "the American dream": a nice house, a car, a spouse, a couple of kids, a good job, and that everything is going to be all neat and tidy because God wants the best for us. This book, however, challenged me to think that maybe God's best for me isn't necessarily what I think is best.  Because in my mind, "the best" would be all the nice little comfortable things mentioned above.  But read this: James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  Another passage that really changed my mind was John 21.  Jesus asks Peter, "Do you love me?" three separate times, and every time Peter says yes.  Jesus' response?  Feed and take care of my sheep.  So if I really want to live out God's best, I need to be taking care of other people, not myself.  That is so contradictory to my nature...I want to take care of myself and my family first.  But God tells me to put others' needs above my own.  There is so much more about this book that really made me think, but I think this is the core of it.  I want to take care of the poor and needy, and I feel like God is asking me to do that right now.

Another book I read recently is Mary Beth Chapman's Choosing to SEE: A Journey of Struggle and Hope.  If you're familiar with the Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman, this is his wife's story of losing their 5-year-old daughter they adopted from China.  Definitely a heart-wrenching story and it really made me want to cherish my precious children more.  Actually, one night I stayed up really late reading (it was like 2 am) and I got out of bed and snuck into Ellie's room and just laid my hand on her little head and prayed over her while she slept.  This book didn't have the same sort of mind-blowing and radical ideas as Crazy Love, but it still challenged my ideas about adoption and child sponsorship.  This family adopted three daughters from China and began a non-profit organization that helps orphans overseas as well as provides some monetary support to families who are trying to adopt.

I'm currently reading Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption by Katie Davis.  This is the story of a girl who moves from her luxury and comfort in the U.S. to Uganda after graduating high school.  She intends to just work as a Kindergarten teacher in an orphanage for a year, but ends up adopting 14 orphaned girls and creates a non-profit organization to help Ugandan children have the resources needed to go to school.  Her book is full of what she's learning from the Lord and how her life is completely different from what she imagined it would be.  I've only read about a third of the book, but it is really affecting me spiritually.  I just read this from her book today:

"The truth is that the 143 million orphaned children and the 11 million who starve to death or die from preventable diseases and the 8.5 million who work as child slaves, prostitutes, or under other horrific conditions and the 2.3 million who live with HIV add up to 164.8 million needy children.  And though at first glance that looks like a big number, 2.1 billion people on this earth proclaim to be Christians.  

The truth is that if only 8% of the Christians would care for one more child, there would not be any statistics left. 

This is the Truth.  I have the freedom to believe it.  The freedom, the opportunity to do something about it.  The truth is that He loves these children just as much as He loves me and now that I know, I am responsible."

That seriously hit me hard.  What am I doing with my life if I'm not helping the poor and needy of this world?  Sure, I make excuses....I'm a busy mom, I have two little ones of my own to care for, we don't have a lot of money, we're trying to pay off our school loans, etc.  But I don't think God would ask me to do something if it wasn't possible.  So what am I supposed to do, now that I know?

I've been praying over this a lot recently.  I don't think I'm any closer to finding an answer, but I do feel like I'm becoming more spiritually aware of the condition of this world, and with that I am more and more dissatisfied with what I'm doing.  I keep asking God to give me an opportunity to do something.  My mind goes from one extreme to another.  Is God asking us to move across the country to an unchurched city?  Is He asking us to move overseas and become missionaries?  Is He wanting us to stay in Harrisonburg and find the needs in our own city?  Is God telling me to start sponsoring a child in a third world country?  I really don't know yet.  What I do know is that I don't want to live this comfortable, easy life for my own pleasure and then get to heaven and God ask, "So what did you do in My name?"  I'm not saying there's anything wrong with material comfort, but when that becomes my goal in life I know I'm not pleasing God.

So all of that to say, I have a zillion questions and very few answers.  But will you pray with me about what we, as Christians, can do?  

Ellie: Two-Year Update

So Ellie is now two!  I wanted to make note of some things about her...things that I would like to remember someday when my memory is a little foggy (and to also serve as a reminder when Piper gets to be this age!).

• Stats: 26 pounds 1 ounce (50th percentile), 35 inches tall (75th percentile)
• Favorite foods: strawberries, yogurt, cheese, chicken, tomatoes, hot dogs, pancakes, omelets
• Favorite movies: anything with Elmo, ABC videos, and 101 Dalmatians
• Favorite things to do: Ellie can read books all day long; also loves to take care of her babies, play with her tea set, go to the library, watch movies, color, sing songs, and play with her purse full of pretend makeup, sunglasses, and cell phone
• Favorite games: Itsy Bitsy Spider, Pat-a-Cake, "I'm gonna get you" (where her daddy chases her through the house), list all the animals and their noises, point to the parts of the body
• Favorite books: The Big Night Night Book, Chicka Chicka ABC, The Foot Book, Once Upon a Potty
• Things she's good at: repeating words and phrases, being gentle with her sister, cleaning up after herself, helping with laundry and unloading the dishwasher
• Things she's not so good at: she gets very frustrated when she doesn't get her way, especially when it comes to watching movies; also gets frustrated when she can't figure something out; saying goodbye is usually hard, too
• Funny things she says: "Oh honey" (sounds like "oh hawnee"), "Gosh!," "Pee pot" (her way of saying "teapot"), "Awesome!," "Deedledeedledee" (we're not sure what this means, but she says it A LOT), "Piper...she's asleep....ssshhh" with her finger on her lips

Ellie, you are totally energetic and full of life.  You are a little bashful around people at first, but usually warm up pretty quickly.  You're rarely afraid of anything and you love to be outside playing in the leaves and rocks.  You are a girly girl and love flowers, wearing dresses, being a "mommy," and trying on shoes.  If I could pick a sport for you, I think you'll either be a little gymnast (you love to climb and have Daddy toss, flip, and throw you) or a soccer player (you love to run!).  Most people say you look like me, but you still look like your daddy, too.  You are growing into such a precious little lady and we are so proud of you!  We are praying hard for your future...that you would know Jesus and walk in His ways, as well as make wise choices down the road--your Daddy is particularly concerned about your future husband, but that's a long time from now! =)  There are so many things we hope for you and want to do with you in the days ahead.  Just know that your Mommy and Daddy love you more than anything and that we always want the best for you.

Ellie: Two Years in Pictures

I wanted to do a post with pictures of Ellie showing her little life and how much has changed in two years.  It is so hard for me to narrow down to my few favorite pictures, so I've included a ton in this post.  I can't believe how much my girl has changed and grown!  Hope you enjoy =)