Savor: April

This is such a season for savoring, and April brought many more moments to savor.

Because. . .of course! BOOKS!  Sharing book with family--even better!  I snapped a picture of Alan reading Robinson Crusoe to the kids--I love how engrossed they are.  And Tyrell "reading" to Aryana was too precious to resist.

I got to go to another Beth Moore conference with my sister and my sister-in-law.  This is such a great annual tradition, a time of renewal and great fellowship. . .

and laughter.  Always lots of laughter.  (I totally busted Marcy stealing Andes mints from the bathroom of the fancy restaurant.  giggle)  And Shayla and I introduced Marcy to sushi.  I KNEW she would love it!!!

I so treasure these girls, and our relationships!

A first with our friends, Troy and Caren, we tried out a local movie theater that serves a meal during the movie!  How FUN is that?!

More savoring with Kiana, she read her first chapter book ALL BY HERSELF--a Magic Tree House tale.  She was SO tickled.  She has also been having some fun experimenting with her hair.  She wanted to get it straightened, so I let her get it done (no chemicals, just a flat iron).  It was cute, but I like her curls better.  She did too.  She was soon in tears, "I miss my curls".  I'm glad she decided she loves the curly hair the Lord blessed her with.  treasuring. . .

I'm so thankful for Kidan who occasionally pitches in to help me with a hairstyle.  She is so much faster (and BETTER) than I am, and this style was particularly cute.

And finally, Destry's last concert as concertmaster with the Des Moines Youth Symphony, his last high school performance.  After all these years of running him to lessons and rehearsals. . .

savoring. . .

Dr. Seuss Party 2016

I realize Dr. Seuss's birthday, and our party celebrating him, was back in March.  But we're playing a quick game of  "catch-up-the-blog." This was the third Dr. Seuss party we've had over the years. I had the first one when Briana and Destry were little, then another one three years ago when Easton and Kiana were 5 and 6. When another homeschooling mom mentioned that she would like to do one but didn't have the house for it, I decided to do it again. Easton, Kiana, and Tyrell were 9, 8, and 5. The perfect ages.

Tabitha, Carrie, and Tami brought their kids over along with fun ideas and snacks. Sara's children, unfortunately, got sick so they weren't able to come.

We made books of their footprints, 

fish crafts (with glitter! My kids NEVER get to do that!),

read books, played games,

And ate a themed lunch: pizza pockets, fish sticks, green deviled eggs, ham, goldfish crackers, and fish swimming in hello water.

 It was lots of fun once again. I'm so thankful for friends who pitch in to make fun memories like these.

Savor: March

Since this post was sitting in my drafts folder, I will go ahead and post this reflection of what I savored in March. Once again, it was mostly about relationships (with a big accomplishment thrown in). 

Friendship.

I am a friendship sort of person.  Some people don't seem to need many friends, but I do.  I thoroughly enjoy my people, and this month I got to savor some special moments with special people.

Dear friends John and Amber and their children spent a weekend with us.

My friend Misti made a pitstop on her way from Delaware to Montana.  We were both so excited to spend the evening together that we couldn't even look like semi-normal people!

"Make new friends, but keep the old.  One is silver and the other gold."

John and Amber and Misti have been friends for many years.  But I am also savoring the development of newer friendships.  Tami, left above, is a new friend and I am treasuring our growing friendship.

I pulled together a few other couples and we did one of those nights where an artist walked us step-by-step through painting a picture.  It was an absolute blast!

 Neither Alan nor I have a gift for painting, but we had a lot of fun and I treasure this memory.  The "lovebirds" hang above the sink in my kitchen.

A night out with the kids to eat sushi.  

A rare Sunday afternoon with just my big kids.  We slipped out to watch London Has Fallen, a one-guy-takes-on-100-and-wins sort of action flick.  These two are busy living their own lives, which is as it should be, but I savor the moments they share with Mom.

And finally, I treasured Kiana's excitement this month as she joyfully announced that she just read this story in a Highlights magazine ALL BY HERSELF!  Learning to read has been challenging for her, but she didn't give up, and this was her first experience with the joy of reading. I had to snap a picture as I savored this moment with tears in my eyes.

Marriage Cruise, Take Two

Alan and I had a wonderful time again on the Love Like You Mean It Marriage Cruise with two other couples (back in February).  This season of life is so busy, and I love the opportunity to focus on "savoring" my husband.

Our 25th wedding anniversary is next year, and after seeing so many people's marriages fall apart (including my own parents) in this season, I am sensitive to be extra diligent in protecting our marriage.

We once again went on the cruise with some good friends.  My friend Wendy lives in Oklahoma, so the cruise provided a great excuse to see her and her husband John.

And Troy and Caren are good friends who live near us and suggested the cruise in the first place.

Part of the fun of the cruise is eating--escargot, alligator, our daily omelet, pizza, desserts, ice cream. . .

The cruise was supposed to go to Jamaica and Grand Cayman.  We were especially excited to go to Jamaica since that is Tyrell's birth heritage, but unfortunately, someone on the cruise had a health situation arise and we had to turn around and go back to the States  So we ended up back on Key West, which had been a destination the year before.

Thankfully, what we really cared about was having a good time and being with our friends, so riding around in a golf cart with our new selfie sticks and laughing 'til we almost peed our pants was enough to ensure we had fun.

Our second stop was the Bahamas.  Alan and I explored the island from the poorest of the poor native islanders to the extravagance of the Atlantic resort.  The stark extremes were striking.

The conch we tried here was A-MA-ZING.  Much better than what we had in Key West.

As usual, we heard some outstanding lessons from speakers including Lysa TerKeurst and Dave and Ann Wilson.  Some of my favorite tidbits from the lessons include:

• Don't worry about falling out of love; worry about falling out of repentance.
• We tend to think our greatest need is to be loved, but our greatest need is to learn HOW to love.
• Forgiven people forgive.
• Unforgiveness is like drinking a cup of poison and expecting the other person to die.  We cannot harbor unforgiveness and expect to achieve oneness at the same time.
• Satan does all he can to dim our light by making us turn from the battle around us to battling one another: 'You're not meeting my needs!'
• In conflict, someone has to de-escalate the situation.  Who? Whichever one is most mature.
• Inside every man resides a punk and a prince. The one you speak to is the one you call out.
• Stop speaking to the problems and start speaking to the potential.
• My job is to be obedient to God.  God's job is everything else.

Selah was absolutely incredible.  What amazingly gifted musicians!

A major highlight of the week for me was the ballroom dancing classes Alan and I took (and we talked Troy and Caren into taking one with us!).  It was SO MUCH fun, I know my mouth was stretched into a huge grin the entire time.  We laughed and goofed and had a blast.

Alas, all good things must come to an end.  Once again, the buffet was closed and it was time to head back to snowy, cold Iowa.  While we don't plan to go on this cruise again next year, I do hope we'll get to go again someday.

Friendships Don't Just Happen

Friendships Don't Just Happen!: The Guide to Creating a Meaningful Circle of GirlFriends by Shasta Nelson

I very much enjoyed this book.

Having said that, I must insert a disclaimer here that I don't agree with EVERYTHING in this book, and I'm quite certain I don't agree with all the author's life choices or beliefs. While she professes christianity of some sort, she appears to be a religious pluralist and I am not. I could write a couple paragraphs detailing this disclaimer, but overall I really did get a lot out of the book so I'll leave it to the discerning reader to read carefully on her own if she so chooses.

If you can sort the wheat from the chaff, however, there is lots of very interesting information in this book. My main takeaway was that wherever people fall in your circles of friends, *that's okay*. We need people in all different circles or levels and it's okay if you don't "click" with everyone or have a consistent and vulnerable relationship with every person that you like.

As an analytical person, I especially enjoyed evaluating my friendships, placing my friends in their respective circles, and observing where my circles are strong and where they are lacking. This exercise also helped me to identify some of my own strengths and weaknesses in my friendships and challenged me to be a better and more intentional friend.

I also think this book will appeal to people differently based on their perceived need. One of my friends who read this book with me felt like the author was pushing people to make more friends as she frequently suggested ways a person COULD meet new people and make more friends. I didn't sense the author was saying people *must* have lots of friends, but just that she was offering suggestions for people who feel that need.

I thought the author's writing style was quite engaging and found this an easy read, even as it was packed with lots of thought-provoking information. This is definitely one to read and discuss with a friend--RED CHAIR WORTHY! :)

Savor: January

I have a goal this year, to record a few things I savored each month.  I meant to do this earlier, but hey!  We're still in the first week of February, so it's not too late to record January's savorable moments.

Savor:  taste and enjoy completely, enjoy or appreciate completely, 

especially by dwelling on it to delight in

Friendship is very important to me, and I got to savor some wonderful moments with great friends  Misti and Caren (ironically, they seemed to involve food too!).

My baby is growing up, but has had a couple days this month in which she just needed extra mommy time.  I chose to savor the moments and reverted to babywearing.  She loved being up on my back.

Tyrell is doing a great job learning to read, and thinks he is teaching Aryana to read with him. She repeats everything back to him just as he says it.  It is about the most precious thing I've ever seen.

Savoring. . .

My dear, dear friend and sister-in-law, Marcy, and I slipped away for a fine. dining. experience!!! (With the accompanying price tag! whoops and giggle) We had a wonderful evening of sharing and recharging which I savored immensely (and yes, I savored that Sashimi Tuna as well, mmmm!).

Puppies. How the children loved on those puppies in January before they went to their new homes!  So sweet.

Briana came over for supper one evening and was bombarded at the door.  So precious.  Savoring these moments of sibling love.

Destry and Kiana parked on the heat register reading Odyssey magazines together, ages 18 and 8.  Knowing this time next year Destry will not be living here and I won't see these precious moments.  Savoring. . .