(And All My) Work Be Praise

With no lengthy introduction needed: 21 things I’m grateful for on this Thanksgiving Day of 2021. My tribe.   1. Our pediatrician, who is affirming and supportive of ME. (Hey, I see him six times a year at minimum, which is more than a lot of my friends. It adds up.) 2. Two sets of Jesus-loving parents/in-laws, so I need not fear an explosive holiday dinner (even if we don’t agree on politics).  3. The privilege of purchasing and preparing a gigantic meal, with no concern for the cost in money or time—and, the growing awareness of how much a privilege that truly is.  4. My husband, who is so, so gracious when I am so, so irritable.  5. All of my kids’ fine arts teachers, who handle our varying presentations of perfectionism with patience and care.  6. Facebook (yes, really), for the community I get in groups of like-minded people. (Note that “like-minded” does not mean we all agree all the time.) 7. Levi and Silas and their friendship, currently being forged str...

We've done a variety of things in November to keep a running gratitude list leading up to Thanksgiving. Take note that not a single thing here is Pinterest-worthy in any way. I'm a firm believer that a roll of butcher paper and a box of markers, maybe a cookie cutter and some scissors if time allows, is more than sufficient to accomplish discipleship. 2012 tree  (when I had a 3-year-old, 2-year-old, and five-month-old) 2013 leaves  (when the new toddler would've ripped anything off the walls) 2014 chart  (when Sid the Science Kid was all the rage in my house) In November 2015, we were packing up our house to move to Minnesota. There was no time for projects. In November 2016, Calvin was a month old and I was absolutely swimming in new-baby-hood. There was no mental capacity for projects. 2017:  The Thanksgiving Alphabet. This was the year we put "baby" on the list right before I found out I'd miscarried. Some holidays carry sadness, you know? 2018: I couldn...

Walk through Holy Week in Duplo and LEGO scenes, created mostly by my nine-year-old, with a little help from his big brother and some specific requests from me. Palm Sunday Jesus cleanses the temple. The Last Supper The Garden of Gethsemane: Jesus prays while Peter, James, and John sleep. Jesus sees Peter in the courtyard as the rooster crows. The soldiers cast lots for Jesus' garments. Soldiers guard the tomb. Mary gazes into the empty tomb. Thomas meets Jesus: "My Lord and my God!"

Since we're all stuck at home instead of celebrating Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday physically with the body of Christ, I thought I'd do a recap of the various Holy Week activities our family has done in the past. Most are geared towards young children, but I've found it's easy enough to include the older ones by having them read an appropriate passage of Scripture, play "stage manager" to a skit, help lead a hymn, or simply talk in more detail about what was happening and why. (As an added bonus, those of you who didn't know my big kids as preschoolers get to see old pics!) *Palm Sunday Easy-peasy "palm" branches. I saw one on Pinterest this week that was multiple hands overlapped to make a big branch, which looked fun and we might attempt on Saturday! Naturally, if you're going to make palm branches, you might as well have a parade and shout "hosanna." I have it on good authority that dads make great donkeys. ;)...

See past years here: 2015 , 2013 , 2012 I can't even begin to describe the ripple of excitement that went through me when I got the text message from my college BFF Jenny saying that they might be willing to make the trip up here to do our mostly-annual New Year's Eve celebration. She has a carseat-hating two-year-old, so I really thought it was out of the question, and we were in no position to travel there with a three-month-old. But when you've been best friends for almost half your lives (we'll hit that milestone in 2019), what's a few hours of screaming toddler?! This year boasted eight kids under eight years old: two sevens, one six, two fours, two twos (though Toby was just days away from his third birthday), and baby Calvin. We let Caleb (their seven-year-old) have Toby's bed so that he and Levi could share a room, and that alone was worth the trip. It was a "first sleepover" for both of them, and we couldn't hardly stand hearing th...