Adventures in Idaho

2. She loves "her people" - the people in her world (and there are many!) are so loved by her. She just genuinely craves time with all of us. She hugs and loves so openly without holding back.

3. She knows empathy - her teacher has shared several times in which she has stood up for the underdog in class, taken the one without friends under her wing, and worked to be inclusive with her friends.

4. She is hilarious, and feeds off of our laughter. She finds ways to be crazy and get a laugh out of us every day. When we laugh, she laughs harder....and the cycle continues.

5. She is an amazing big "Sis." - I expected her to be good but didn't know she would be great. She shows so much patience and compassion with Mercer and puts Mercer's needs and wants in front of her own on a daily basis.

6. She is intelligent - I can't believe the books she is reading, the spelling lists she is mastering, and the math and science she is excited about! She wakes up early every morning and reads for 1-2 hours without thinking twice about it.

7. She has matured so much in the past two years. For someone who had such an intensity about her, who had such a difficult time calming down, sleeping well, and trying new things - I can't believe the things she does now that were such a challenge at 5 and 6.

8. She gets God - she gets faith and belief in God more clearly that I do. She asks important, thoughtful questions and then applies them to situations that come up in her life in ways that are so simple yet so meaningful.

9. She is patient with me. Parenting is hard, I mess up. She is gracious and sweet and loves me anyway.

10. She loves ballet, and music, and performing, and entertaining! When we started ballet at three it was because I thought the pink leotards were cute. Who knew, she would love it this much at 7?

Bonus: When I just re-read this list to myself I realized how obvious it is that she is Cory's. I know she's mine too, and that we share many qualities that are wonderful. But the core of her is so Cory. I am so thankful for her and so sad that she and Cory didn't get to enjoy each other for as long as they could have. I can just see the two of them reminding me together to chill out and have a little more FUN with life. I'm working on it....

Spend Less

Give More

Love All

We started a four week discussion group at Cathedral of the Rockies tonight focusing on the message of the Advent Conspiracy. The four short phrases above summarize the entire idea beautifully. After watching the video, we started our discussion and most of us fast forwarded to thinking of ideas to "spend less" and "give more." We had many great ideas but our friend Erik, who was facilitating, kept bringing us back to the first idea - to "worship fully." Looking back on the evening, it's interesting to think about how easily I (and most of the people there) slipped right past step one and on to steps two and three.

I'm human and pragmatic. My instinct is to cut to the concepts that are tangible, the ones I could list and then check off on a sticky note. In the midst of our discussion, one woman stopped us and reminded us (as Erik had) that we were moving past the most important part when what God really wants from is to enter FULLY into worship during this advent season. She said we need to "stop and listen" to what He wants from us before moving on to the next steps. Several hours later, this is what is stuck in my mind as I think about how I want to head into the holidays this year. First I want to stop and listen - neither of which come naturally to me. I'm up to the challenge but will most likely need hourly reminders to just stop and listen instead of go and talk, and talk, and talk!

I have hesitated in the past to write in detail about my faith on this blog, which I've realized has resulted in me censoring myself. Since the few of you who read this blog know me well enough to know what I believe (whether you agree with it or not), I'm also challenging myself to not hold back on that aspect of my life when I blog. Why I've held this part of me back from this blog may take some exploration on my part but I can at least offer this reason: I have beliefs that are shared by people I love and beliefs that are not shared by people I love. I worry (you all know I worry) that by sharing tidbits of my faith I may isolate those of you that I love who don't share my beliefs. However, instead of worrying, I'm just going to let that go, and write without worrying.

Recap..I may have overdone my challenges in this blog: worship fully, stop, listen, and stop worrying. Yikes, that's a year's worth of challenges but no better time to get started than right now!

After eating, we headed to Build A Bear so Ian could make his Clone Trooper Monkey. We started allowance with Langley about a year ago. She gets 5 bucks a week, one to give, two to spend, and two to save. We've been talking lately about not spending a small amount just because you want to buy something (instant gratification) and instead finding something that you want to save for. However, Langley had $10 that was really burning a hole in her pocket while Ian shopped. I've been working on trying to not influence her purchase decisions, since it is "her" money. After looking around the entire store for about 15 minutes, she walked over to Ian and I and said, exasperated, "Mom, everything in this entire store is way over my budget!"

Parenting is hard much of the time but it's nice to know that SOME of what we are modeling for our kids is being generalized!