Advent Days 9, 10, 11, and 12: Glory, Revealed, Voice, Might

Glory:

magnificence or great beauty

We love going to the movie theatre and for obvious reasons have not been in many, many months.  So on Wednesday night we used gift cards from last Christmas and rented our own AMC theatre for a viewing of ELF. It was glorious and for an hour and a half things felt pretty ordinary in the very best way possible!

Revealed :

 

I love snowmen so when I received an email about a snowman pretzel deal I couldn't pass it up.  I have entirely fallen off my clean eating dairy and gluten free lifestyle and gah can my gut and head tell.  I'll deal with that soon enough but for now I"m finding bits of joy revealed in silly little things like snowman shaped carbs.

                                                                                Voice:

Lucy is writing like crazy!  Stories, poems, non-fiction books.  She's using her voice!

Might:

From the New York Times 

 "I have long thought that when it comes to being a parent in the pandemic, it might be the hardest for parents of teenagers. Parents of little ones can meet most of our children’s social needs, and our kids still kind of want to be around us. Not so for parents of teens. I recall with poignant shame what a complete nightmare I was at 16 when I was told, for various sensible reasons, that I could not hang out with my idiot friends. I can only imagine the epic battles that would have ensued had there been a pandemic raging, keeping me from hotboxed station wagons.

So in fairness to teens in 2020, this is a particularly difficult time to be young. “Pandemic conditions are at cross currents with normal adolescent development,” said Lisa Damour, Ph.D, a clinical psychologist and the author of The New York Times’ Adolescence column. The most powerful forces driving development for middle and high schoolers are increased independence over time, along with being with one’s peers, Dr. Damour said, and the virus curtails both of those things." 

Yep, it's hard.  All of it.  Being a teenager is its own kind of tricky but in the middle of a pandemic.  OH!  It's really, really hard.  Nobody wants to work on a hobby or keep exercising or log into school.  We don't even feel like getting dressed.  But we do.  It takes might and faith and belief that we will all be ok.  And sometimes we make fruit Christmas trees on a gloomy afternoon and that is enough to make us smile.

Advent Days 6, 7, 8: Remember, Tenderly, Prepare

 Remember:

On Saturday, we had family photos taken even though it seems like we just had them taken.  Except that was actually 4 years ago.

Tenderly:

Yesterday on my run I heard such a racket that I stopped.  I looked up and spotted that guy perched on the wires.  I watched him for a bit and a couple of other people stopped as well, all of us trying to capture a photo.  I ran on my lunch hour, you know in the middle of the day.  These other people were presumably also in the middle of their day at work.  Before Covid would we have all stopped to watch and listen?  My heart feels happy with the thought that maybe we're all a bit more tender, a bit slower, a bit quieter now.    

Prepare

Emma and Eleanor snuck out of the house early this morning and went to Dunkin Donuts for coffee and donuts to start our day.  I was so delighted with my oat milk gingerbread latte!  It was the best way to prepare for day of online school!

Advent Days 4 and 5: Awesome and Perceived

 Awesome:

Yesterday afternoon Emma and I went visited the Central West End and walked through A Walking Christmas Carol.  It was a beautiful afternoon and our time was so well spent.  This is a great example of the kind of thing that pre pandemic we would have said we wanted to do but we would never have actually done.  Some things about our life right now are just so awesome.  Praise be to God that we still have an abundance of blessings!

Perceived:

This tiny room was created in our renovation last fall.  We call it the nook and the girls watch tv and hang out here.  Except Teddy thinks we created it for him.  And when I find him all snuggled in like this I don't have the heart to boot him out. Sometimes what we perceive becomes our reality.  For Teddy, in this case, that is a good thing!  

Advent Photo Challenge Days 2 and 3: Kindles and Known

  Kindles:

We always visit the St. Louis Zoo Lights at Christmas.   Pandemic plus super early in December made it a ghost town last night.  We didn't mind and had a great time.  The zoo holds a lot of good memories for all of us and being there always feels good.

                                                                  I love those eyes!

Known:

My school is currently online so I'm teaching from the living room and this guy is my office mate.  He is so comfortable with himself.  He snores and groans and makes me laugh all day.   He's sweet to keep me company but sometimes he's a bit much.

Advent Photo A Day: Presence

We've been listening to Christmas music for a couple of weeks (ok, maybe a little longer) so I've heard "O Holy Night" a few times this season but today when I heard it, the words "the weary world rejoices" hit me.  How very weary the world is. 

O Holy night! The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
'Til He appears and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees; O hear the Angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born
O night, O Holy night, O night divine!

Today I started the Advent Photo a Day challenge.  I'm only a day behind plus it's December 1st and since I like to start new things on Mondays or on the first of the month I  feel like I'm in good shape. Today's word is presence.  

We are weary.

We miss our old lives.  

Nothing feels "normal".

But tonight, all is right.  

We're all in the same room watching Rudolph.  

This is our norm.  We eat dinner together.  We spend the evening together.  We're almost always together. 

2020 is hard.  But there is a lot to be grateful for, starting with a norm that includes being together.  

Presence.  

Trout Lodge- Year 5

 What started as a whim of an idea to take the girls on a nature retreat has officially become a tradition.  I think 5 years seals these sorts of things!  Every October we drive to Trout Lodge and do one overnight that is packed with way more laughs than nature but honestly, time together away from our norm was my original hope so there's no complaining on my end.

 Some things have become standard parts of our trip.  We always plan our trip for the end of first quarter long weekend.  We leave on Thursday after the girls get out of school for an early release day. We stop at the Blue Owl for lunch, and then at the Wal-Mart in De Soto, making what should be an hour and a half drive from St. Louis at least a three hour drive.  Why Wal-Mart, you ask.  Who knows why, other than the fact that it's become a tradition that we all love.  We always watch Halloweentown, and some of us even stay up to watch Halloweentown High.  The lodge always serves roast turkey for dinner. 

And some things change year to year.  

One year Lucy's lips were so chapped she could barely smile in any of the photos!  Another year Emma was in 7th grade, and then another Eleanor was a 7th grader ....and we all survived!  One year we drove through the lodge grounds at night looking for a nature presentation in one of the cabins.  I got a little off track and we went off roading in the mini-van.  Finally we found a little cabin with the lights on  and a group of people sitting around.  In my excitement I jumped out of the van and ran up to the cabin full of people who were there on a vacation, that did not include me or a nature presentation.  The girls still howl about that one.  There was the year that I forgot to put my bag in the car before we left home.  I had nothing.  No pajamas, toothbrush, clean clothes.  In a stroke of good luck I purchased a pair of pajamas at the DeSoto Wal-Mart before even realizing my bag was at home.  They were a nice cozy pair that I wore to bed and then the next day to breakfast at the lodge and on our drive home. We've taken a pontoon boat ride, played pickle ball, cards, putt putt, tennis and volleyball.    

This year had some differences, too.  

Trout Lodge isn't open during the week right now so our trip was on a Friday night, not Thursday.   So no turkey for dinner.  Dinner was actually better than we remembered though!  We ate outside in the freezing cold all by ourselves, because everyone else was packed into the dining room.  We were as happy as could be!  We tried to stop at The Blue Owl but the town that The Blue Owl is in was hosting a Halloween extravaganza of some sort.  The streets were full of people, shoulder to shoulder without masks.  We could not get out of town fast enough.  However, the DeSoto Wal-Mart was a haven for the masked!  And the best difference ever was our little political study.  In 2016 we were sucker punched by the campaign signs for Trump.  It was hard, we were surprised (not exactly sure why we were so surprised) by the enthusiasm!   This year we saw Trump signs for sure.  But we also saw signs for Biden!  We only counted signs once we left St. Louis County.  20 Trump signs.  10 Biden.  Hope!!!

                                                                2020- Outdoor dining!  

                                                            2020- Masked beauties!

2016- Year 1

2017- Year 2

2018- Year 3

2019- Year 4

September

Many parts of September feel ordinary.  

 We picked apples and made applesauce and are waiting for a crisp fall day to make an apple pie.  It's coming, we can feel it!

We celebrated Emma's 17th birthday!  And even with the pandemic she said it was one of her favorites.  And I believe her!  We ate great food all day long, and spent the day doing whatever Emma pleased.  Which included lots of time to talk and walk and just hang out.  

The balloons showed up in Forest Park just like they always do.

But there are lots of other reminders that this September is not at all like any of the others.

The balloons showed up but the people did not.  

Our 17 year old attended her first college fair in our dining room on Zoom.

And apple picking with masks on makes apple eating pretty tricky.

We've had some pretty hard days. Being a child during a pandemic hurts.  Being a parent during a pandemic hurts.  It's just a whole lot of saying no, not right now, we'll have to wait and see, and let's keep praying.  Praying that people will put the whole before the individual.  Praying that we will care about one another.  Praying that we'll keep seeing this as an opportunity to be the people we really want to be.  And remember,  it is still September!

Just keep going

Some days are like a bike ride with an empty water bottle and sun in your eyes.

And some make you feel like you just can't even get out of the car at the end of the day.  It's too much and you pray that maybe you can go directly from the car into your bed where you'll sleep until sometime in mid-2021.

That's the real of right now.  Some of it is not that pretty.  But the truth that has held throughout this whole mess is that if we just keep going

we will wake up in the morning and the sun will rise.  And if we're lucky enough we'll see it.  

And with a full water bottle and sun glasses we are pretty unstoppable.

New Year! Day 2

Today marks day 2 of the 2020-21 school year.  Like so many things that we've done over the last 5 months, if my 5 month ago self had a peek into yesterday or today I would have thought I'd lost my mind.  Gone crazy. Needed an intervention.  None of this is normal.  Kids at desks in the hallway, multiple Zoom calls going at once, me homeschooling and starting a new part time job that takes me outside of our little remote school, plus Kevin working in the basement.  Oh my goodness, this is bananas.  But, life in a pandemic is bananas and when you realize that, well, everything is actually a ok!

Eleanor is now in high school!  Classes are all virtual until at least the middle of October.  As expected she's super organized and totally ready for the rigor of high school.  She rarely complains and when she does (because honestly, there's a lot to complain about)  it's not long before she's flipping the complaint around and figuring out how to make something positive out of the situation.

Emma is a junior this year and so ready to get back to work!  She is taking three AP course, is a section editor of her school newspaper, and co-conductor of the student run musical.   Things will be very different online but she's focused on making the best of it!  Also, she's now driving and is such an incredible help to our family, running errands, including chauffeuring her sisters!

Lucy is in 4th grade at Family Homeschool!  We are using Oak Meadow curriculum but I'm supplementing quite a lot using the curriculum from Clayton, which thankfully I have easy access to because the school I'm teaching at this year uses the same curriculum for math and literacy. In addition she is taking two dance classes and violin.  Plus, she now has 3 animals!  I know that we will have really hard days but the last two days have been amazing.  In fact today was one of my favorite days in very long time.  It included having Lucy read aloud to me under a fort, taking a long walk and taking pictures of trees so we can later try to identify their type, zipping through math because it's just review and boy doesn't that feel good to zip right through something,  and reading aloud to Lucy on a blanket in the middle of Concordia Park, in a spot I've named our outdoor classroom, and Lucy thinks is so goofy but it also makes her smile great big like she knows I'm right :)!

And here I am all masked up in my classroom.  Again, no way I would have thought this would be a thing 5 months ago.  Back in a school and so, so, so happy!  5 minute commute, wonderful learning community where I get to teach literacy to 5th and 6th graders.    Pinch me. 

I know, I KNOW, there' s a pandemic!  It's scary.  

And yet, I still feel this way. 

 And Kevin! His work hasn't let up one bit so even though he's home working, he's not really home.  Thankfully he has a spot away from the sometimes chaos of upstairs.  He makes sure everyone has what they need and is always willing to take a bike ride, or a walk, or watch a show or movie.  And honestly, right now, just having someone who will be with you in all of this unknown is such a gift.  

Not bored

Today marks the beginning of the third week since we've been staying home because of the pandemic.  I have a lot on my mind that I don't want to forget but today I have just a quick story to share that I think says a lot about our days. 

Eleanor finished her school work late in the morning.  I asked her how she felt about that and if she was frustrated with her new school situation.  She said, "No, I'm fine. I'm actually not bored.  I was more bored before all of this than I ever am now."  I asked her if she'd tell me more.  She explained that before she had to stay home she always had things she had to do, things that felt like they were weighing her down, and when she had a little bit of time--like 45 minutes, that felt like pressure too, like she had to come up with the perfect thing to do with that time, so it was hard to make a decision and she felt like she wasted the time, leaving her feeling bored." 

Lysol and cleaning wipes

We have two sick girls.  Each with a different type of ick.  One woke up in the night with thedreaded stomach virus!

  Oh, December!  

We have a real knack for getting stomach bugs in December. I've even blogged about a couple- 2012 2011.  Plus there was the year Kevin and I got sick over Christmas in Columbia.  And last year a stomach bug hit Lu right before Christmas and took me down on Eleanor's birthday :(.    And of course I'll never ever forget 2005 when I was 9 months pregnant with Eleanor and landed in the hospital with a stomach virus.   

What gives in December?  

Not enough sleep- true

Too much sugar- also true

Lots of time around other people in enclosed spaces-yep 

It might be too late for us this time around but those stomach bugs will be waiting all December long!  So today I cleaned every surface with disinfectant wipes.  I sprayed everything down with Lysol.  I'm washing all sheets, towels, coats and any laundry just hanging around.  

And I'm thinking positively.  

We can make sleep a priority.  

We can be smart about sugar.

And we can be careful about how much time we spend indoors.  

Today I'm thankful for Lysol and cleaning wipes!

An afternoon snack with Olaf!

Picking right back up

December 1 is here and so is the first day of Advent!  Today I'm thankful (so it didn't work out to blog daily in November--oh well, there is hope for December--there is always, always hope!) for an ordinary Sunday.  It's been a few weeks since we had a run of the mill Sunday and it felt so good!  After a great dinner, a family devotional, and a family meeting to lay out the week I am fully satisfied and grateful!

We have a easily visible calendar for evening activities, this is also something to give thanks for!  

Two More!

I'm thankful for Mondays!  I work from home on Mondays and most weeks I just work a half a day.  I catch up from the weekend and get set for a great week.  This week in particular I was grateful for Monday because most of my weekend chores were left undone since Eleanor and I left for Chicago on Friday morning.  I cooked and did laundry and cleaned up the house.  I got my calendar straight for the week and took a long walk.   I was able to return work email from my dining room table and the one meeting I had was at the Starbucks up the street.  Monday might not be my favorite day of the week but it's still a pretty terrific day!

This pretty much sums up my Monday :)!

Today I'm also thankful for Richard Rohr.  I was introduced to his writing a long time ago but didn't really read anything until a couple of years ago.  Now I read something of his almost daily.  His writing is brilliant and makes me really think about my lived faith.   Here's a devotion I've been re-reading lately.

November is here!

November is here which means my annual attempt to mark each day of the month with a thankful post is also here.    We're three days in so, here goes with 3 things I'm thankful for right now.


1- Eleanor
Just the two of us traveled to Chicago this weekend.  She is a lot of fun to spend time with.  She is thoughtful and smart and funny, too!  I have about a million and one stories to back all of that up, but she's 13 and most of her stories just plain belong to her.  But if you know her, even a little bit, you don't need any stories to know that what I say is true :)!

2- Holiday preparations
Our trip to Chicago has been so much fun and I hate for it to end--though I do miss the rest of my family and am excited to get home to them!  The weather was chilly and perfect for getting us in the holiday mood.  We woke up early and were at Macy's when they opened yesterday and loved shopping and enjoying all of the holiday decorations.  We've got some ideas for the holidays and are hoping that somehow the next two months can feel like an eternity as we try to just enjoy the moments!

3- Train travel
Traveling by train in the US is not exactly the fastest way to travel.  If Eleanor and I had wanted to be speedy we would have driven to Chicago . But we didn't care too much about speed.  We both wanted to sit back and just relax.  We've done some online shopping, planning, homework, Netflix watching and chatting.  And we've enjoyed the other people on the train.  There is a man near us who is currently on hour two of catching up on the phone with someone he must not have talked to in at least five years.  I am dying.  It is so sweet and I love it.  Also, the couple next to us brought McDonald's on for breakfast, prayed over their meal, finished up and had been snoozing away for 2 hours.

7 more!

14- Birds

I love that I can hear the birds singing in the morning when I wake up!  They are a sign that Spring is coming and that sounds wonderful to me.  One of my favorite things about where we live is getting to experience 4 seasons every year.  I'm almost always ready to move into the next season when it's time.

15- Dark chocolate

It's funny how tastes change.  I've always liked chocolate  but I'm finding that I'm really grateful for dark chocolate lately :).  Not so much candy bars, in fact those mostly don't interest me. Just a little plain dark chocolate.  Sometimes I wonder who I am.


16- Wondering who I am.

Dark chocolate and other small things lead me to my 16th thing to be thankful for.  Oh sure, mostly I am the same year after year.  But every so often I realize I've changed.   Not good or bad or really any judgement whatsoever, just changed.  It feels good to know that I'm growing into whoever it is I'm meant to be.

17-Apple Car Play.

What a great invention.  It allows you to plug your phone into the radio and access Apps.  Easily.  Like so easy that a low tech person like me can't mess it up.  It's wonderful.

18- Text messages

I remember when I first heard about texting.  I really thought it was dumb.  I'm a slow adopter.  Very slow.  Would rather not adopt in most cases. But the thing about us slow adopters is, once we're convinced we're with you, we're not looking for the next shiny thing.  You really have us!  Anyway, I could see absolutely no reason why texting would ever serve a purpose for me.  Fast forward many years and now I LOVE it.  I talk to my kids multiple times a day via text.  Funny videos, hilarious memes, and just general awesomeness!  I love that I can quickly catch up with friends and family and  even get reminders for orthodontist appointments!

As I wrote #18 this text came in-

🐨🐶🐮🐻🦁🦊🐱🐭🐰🐹🐯🐸🐷🐵🐣 YAY!

Who doesn't want this message from their favorite 8 year old?!

19- Pushing past comfort.

I read this on Instagram right before the plane took off on Monday for a conference in Houston I attended and it was exactly what I needed read. 

 Another time I will write about all of the things that led to me traveling to this conference but trust me, it was meant to be.  However, every bit of this was out of my comfort zone.  From the moment I got into the Uber at 4:15 on Monday morning, until the moment I returned the rental car an hour ago.   A few of the things that were out of my comfort zone:

• Checked myself in for a flight .  I usually fly as a family group where someone in the group checks us all in.   Checking myself  in resulted in me boarding in the C group for both flights.    Thankfully one thing I have going for me is the fact that I am not a nervous traveler.  I'm not worried about being early, I'm not worried about being late. I'm not worried about being in A and I'm not worried about being in C.  And yes, I had to sit between two people on the flight to Houston and I suspect the return will be the same.  Somebody's got to do it!  Another thing I have going for me is being 5'4".  I don't take up a lot of space.
• Rented a rental car.  Ok, it was more the picking it up and driving it.  I did fine!  They rented me a little car that had Apple Car Play so I plugged my phone in and away I went.  Not a single problem.  I even had to drive in Houston traffic out to the suburbs about an hour away.  
• Stayed in a hotel all by myself.  I'm 43 and I've never done this.  Two summers ago Lucy and I drove to Wisconsin to pick up the older girls from camp.  We spent two nights alone in a hotel as we made the drive and as silly as it sounds, I felt different after that trip.  This stay had less of an impact.  Mostly, I felt just like me. For instance, I forgot my key every single time I left the room.  Went to work out, had to get a new key.  Went to breakfast, had to get a new key.  Came back from a day at the conference, had to get a new key.   I did thoroughly enjoy two nights with absolutely no responsibility though!  I stopped both nights after the conference and picked up a salad and some fruit for dinner.  And then I got in bed at 6:45 and watched reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond until I feel asleep around 9.  Left to my own devices this is the exciting life I live.

20-Home-

I am at the airport and heading home and I cannot wait!  Can't wait for all of it.  The work, the complaints, the laundry, the smiles, the hugs, the mess. I love my home and the people who make it my favorite place!

12 and 13

Today I'm thankful for time.  Time away from our normal routine to explore and enjoy.  

Time for things like holding baby alligators!   Boy does she live by the when in Rome motto!   

Time for learning about a time in our history that we know too little about.  On Sunday we visited the  Whitney Plantation, one of the only plantation museums with a focus on slavery.  We learned so much and it has us thinking a lot.  

Yesterday I was thankful for my birthday!  It was as good as it gets and if yesterday was any indication, 43 is going to be amazing!  We had a decadent breakfast (bananas foster gluten-free pancakes  and a mimosa for me!), followed by a stroll around the French Quarter, then an outstanding narrated tour for kids (but parents also learned a lot!) of the history of New Orleans and the French Quarter, a snack on one of many lovely balconies in the French Quarter,  an hour-long line for Preservation Hall that felt like a minute because of the good company, the beautiful weather and the comedy of standing on a street in New Orleans (so many characters!), a great jazz show at Preservation Hall and an outstanding dinner and dessert at Muriel's.  Plus somewhere in there, we had Pinkberry.  And Lucy got a henna tattoo.  It was a day packed full of fun!

Days 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11

I have been very thankful and even intentional about thinking about something daily but I have not written.  So, I'll catch up today with 5 things just from today that I'm thankful for!






1: Waking up to gentle rain.  We drove all day yesterday from St. Louis to New Orleans and got in at about 8 last night.  We were exhausted and all slept great, and waking up to the gentle sound of rain was beautiful!

                                                        

2: Great travel companions.  All of them are really the best.  Everyone is up for an adventure (a VooDoo Museum that a certain 8 year old had to see), understanding of diet restrictions (vegetarian and gluten free), willing to try new things (gumbo), and in general just a whole lot of fun.  They are my favorite group ever.

















3: Musicians in the family.  One of the reasons we chose to come to New Orleans was jazz.  Both Emma and Eleanor play in jazz bands, and have taught us a lot about jazz music and instruments.   We heard some fun music today and are looking forward to more throughout the week.

4.) The Magic Tree House book series.  Lucy and I read a Magic Tree House book about New Orleans and Louis Armstrong last week and we learned all sorts of things about the city and jazz.  Lucy keeps noticing things we read about and sharing them with everyone!  Emma traces her love of history back to that book series and I'm seeing it happen again with Lucy!  

5. Quiet!  Right now I'm sitting on the front porch of our Air B and B and I can hear birds singing and an occasional car.  It's cool outside and there's nothing I need to do.  Kevin is reading and the girls are inside relaxing with Food Network.  We're ordering Mediterranean food to be delivered for dinner and everything is lovely.