Capture

Portrait session with Justyn : ), originally uploaded by annamaren.

The time I have with family feels so precious that I need to seal it in.
So I am thankful- deeply thankful to Justyn for providing some captured moments to seal the memory of the time I've shared with my family this Christmas.

Reflect::: Nourish:::

Happy Hearts.... and "goofy" faces,

the expected goofy shot, originally uploaded by annamaren.

Happy hearts and happy faces,
Happy play in grassy places -
That was how, in ancient ages,
Children grew to kings and sages.

~Robert Louis Stevenson

advent

For our family this time of year is a celebration of the advent season. This year we are asking in our prayers that the Lord guide our hearts to those that we are able to help and allow our hearts to receive with grace. Each night we will gather at out table for reading from the scriptures, a holiday book and prayers. These are our reading for the first week of this advent season:

Sunday ~ Isaiah 40:1-5
Monday ~ Isaiah 52:7-10
Tuesday ~ Isaiah 40:9-11
Wednesday ~ Genesis 3:8-15
Thursday ~ Genesis 15:1-6
Friday ~ Deuteronomy 18:15-19
Saturday ~ Psalms 89:1-4

*I am pretending that there are 3 purple and 1 pink, not all white. I don't think my kids will notice that I have the wrong color candles.
did you?

he still needs me

He's been a climber for as long as I can remember. He climbed before he walked. He walked at 9 months. I don't have many rules, mostly guidelines, but for trees I do have a couple of rules:
1) you must be able to scale the first branch on your own before making it to the next, no boosts
2) the branches you step on need to be as big around as your arm.
This has helped keep them out of the branches that bend and sway w/ the weight of a boy and I hoped it would keep them out of really tall trees (hasn't worked for my oldest, most agile son, but works like a charm for my 2nd son). The trees he tends to climb are usually quite tall and he makes it to the top, only one big fall that I can remember.

Today I was sitting fireside, reading a new WorldPulse and Sojourners magazine, sipping coffee when I heard him. "Mommy!" "Momma, come here, please - I need you." I slipped on my flips and opened the door. To the left there he was - stuck in a little dogwood tree. I chuckled, told him to wait a quick moment and grabbed my camera. I then did what you see above, took a photo.

I needed to savor the moment. He needs me less and less as he grows, or so it seems. I needed this moment to remind me that no matter his age or height, he will always be my little boy and will always need me, even if it to help him get his feet untangled from a tree branch.

When I got him down I asked why he choose that tree. He said it had little red things growing in that were fun to write with and he needed some more. I went back inside to the fire and my new magazines with a very full heart and he went on drawing with berries on the sidewalk.

Thanks

Fun underneath the dining table, originally uploaded by annamaren.

Every year at this time, we hang a banner in our dining nook, it simply says "Thanks". We have so much to be thankful for. I am blessed in my life in so many ways, and I feel grateful for a holiday to reflect on how my own thankfulness.

I am thankful for my family, knit together with love. I am thankful for my friends- the warm support that nurtures in so many ways. I am thankful for a warm place to live on a cold morning like this. I am thankful the sun is shining this morning! I am thankful for coffee. ; )

still there

there is a sugar maple just outside the window by my desk. she is holding on to many of her leaves and continues to display her magnificent colors. i really hope she stays for a few more days.

Pilgrimage to adventure.

I love sharing adentures- Devon St Chicago Nov. 2008, originally uploaded by annamaren.

When you are a nomad and you get that itch to travel, you do what you can to honor that! I love the fact that I have the opportunity in my life to nurture a spirit of adventure and travel in big and small ways. So we went to the little India district of Chicago, not really all the way to India.

It was just a day long trip but it fed my soul in so many ways!