Here's the Dealio...

Matt loves the Bears. He used his B-day bucks to buy himself this gem:



This was us, happily gorging at The Green Chile for Matt's birthday, & before Lent started.


But mostly Matt was jazzed about his hat.

And sadly, my gift could not compare.

February Haps

This is our Christmas tree...present day! What nuclear farm did this grow on? So fresh still & we got the tree for $20! I think that is the least amount we have ever paid for a Christas tree.

I entered this photo of Aden into the Vineyard Boise's art exihibit, Abundant Joy, and it got in! So validating for me. It will hang in their Art Gallery until April.

Miss Anderson & Aden. She was Aden's student teacher for the first half of the school year. Aden really bonded with her. I thank the Lord daily that Aden has had such a postitve Kindergarten experience.

I know spring is almost here because many friends have just had their babies. I am longing for that season again. This pic is Matt & I, just weeks before Parker made his entrance. What a crazy mix of hope-filled dreams & sleepless nights. Pregnancy face is not good look for me though.

Well, that's it, a pretty slow time for us. I am ready for the green grass & spring flowers again. I think we will continue hibernating until then.

29

That's right, this will be Matt's last year in his twenties. He has promised to live it up.

Happy Birthday My Love!

Giddy

Almost Valentine's Day & I am feeling it! Between pink & red goodies & Matt's birthday on the 15th, my inner Martha has been in full swing. Here are some of the Happy Heart Day treats I've put together.



Also, Parker's hair, straight out of the very grown up salon I took him to. Stylish, I think. He was mostly jazzed about the complimentary Pepsi part of the ordeal.

2C

Do not depend on the hope of results. When you are doing the sort of work you have taken on, essentially an apostolic work, you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself.

–Thomas Merton, in a letter to Jim Forest dated February 21, 1966, reproduced in The Hidden Ground of Love: Letters by Thomas Merton (W. Shannon ed. 1993).

I spent grades 5-12 residing in the North End of Boise. Admittedly, that formed a bit of snobbery in me. It is a hippie-ish snobbery, I am sure there is a better term, but it is snobbery none-the-less. I always thought of Nampa as the ghetto. Funny, now, we make a life here. This Nampa sunrise reminds me of the error I make in judging. That the judgments we make eventually come back to condemn us and what a loving God that, "He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."...and the snobs.

Super Sunday

I bet you can guess who Kaleb was cheering on in yesterday's game. We had a fun afternoon of junk food & talking smack. Well done, New Orleans. And, take heart Kaleb, I am sure the Colts will be back next year, it is kind of their thing.

Love is in the Air

This song has been on in our car & in our hearts for the last week. Man, God is good.

The picture doesn't relate, it just makes me laugh. Collin chasing "those bad guys."

He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy

When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
I realize just how beautiful you are
And how great your affections are for me

And oh, how He loves us so
Oh, how He loves us
How He loves us so

Yeah He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves

We are His portion, and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking

So Heaven meets Earth like a sloppy, wet kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way

He love us
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves

Birthday Boy

Pictures from 2 weeks of celebrating. We are pooped!

I promise I have a point.

I have not tweezed my eyebrows for a week now. It is totally gross & I am going insane. I am going to get them dealt with but, I wanted to grow it all out so the professional can see what she is dealing with. In the mean time, Matt has been very honest about how much he prefers me with 2 eyebrows.

We went to a pine wood derby race with our neighbors last night. Mostly, I was there because of this little guy:

Have I mentioned, I WANT ONE?!!


So yes, it was fantastic & the boy's cars did much better this year. Matt is stoked about next year, already planning.

Now, to the real reason for the post. Because of the aforementioned uni-brow, I have been super self -conscious in public. There was this woman at the race, Laurel, who twice told me to my face how strikingly beautiful I was. TWICE! Uni-brow & all. Take that, conventional standards of beauty!

So, Oprah has said that all women should have a wife. I agree & I call dibs on Laurel!

Fun, Fun, Fun... 'til Daddy Takes the T-Bird Away

A sweet friend agreed to let me borrow her very nice camera last weekend. Man, did I have fun. Here are some I am proud of: