Christmas Tour of Homes 2012

Welcome to our home!  I love doing this link up every year with Kelly's Tour of Homes.  It's so fun to see how people decorate, but also to share glimpses of our home with our friends and family who live so far from us.  I wish I could have you over for a cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll, to kick back and hear how you are and to enjoy the things that the Lord is teaching both of us.  I love to have people in my home and this season it's been hard to do that.  Several unexpected things have kept me from doing what I love this year, so I'm extra happy to open up the door to YOU today!

However, before I let you come in, there are a few things I want to make clear up front:

 

1. Do not let these pictures deceive you.  My house is never this clean!  If one area is picked up, all others are a disaster :) That is the hidden truth behind every photo.  Photos are easy to stage, but if you walked in my house "in real life" picture toys everywhere, half full sippy cups, kids in interesting outfits, stains on the carpet, and Travis and I trying to enjoy it!  No need to feel like I have it all together...I DON'T!!!  I love to decorate and design is my trade, but I'm just as normal as every other woman at Christmas, trying to get it all done and fighting to maintain joy and purpose in the season. Sometimes the internet can be a place of jealousy and envy in this pinterest world, I've fought that too with all those amazing pictures of homes I'll never live in :) But that's not how we live and not the impression I want to leave you with.  All are welcome here... 

 

2. My goals in decorating for Christmas are to create a cozy, happy home to flood my children's memories, to keep it simple and kid friendly, and to make much of Jesus.  I have lots of things I put out every year, some that are new and some that have been given to me.  I love this time of year and I love when our home is "decked" and warm with the glow of candles and lights.  My two favorite times of the day are early in the morning when the kids come out in their jammies to see the tree and re-live their excitement from the day before, and at night when they are in bed and Trav and I get to curl up to the glow of the tree and just enjoy the quiet and the warmth.  Having almost 10 inches of snow fall last weekend has also been a perfect backdrop out every window and another reason why I try to make our home feel warm and safe from a cold world.

 

So, thanks for stopping by, I hope you feel welcomed here and I pray that you'll see Jesus all over our home and my life.  Grab your coffee and come on in... 

 Merry and bright! I have a pretty traditional color scheme going on and I like it.  It's seems very condusive to childhood but someday I'd love to do all white, with lots of natural and organic elements, bringing in touches of golds and browns. 

I envision that when my kids are out of the house or I have a home big enough for two trees!   

For now I love our red and white tree and all the sentimental ornaments I pull out every year.  We love unwrapping them and thinking back on all those memories.  I can only imagine how much we'll continue to love that over the years!

 I have goals to get the kids' stockings monogrammed and I'd love to replace ours (Travis and I) but I can never land on what I want.  And that's ok, the snowflakes were from our first Christmas :)  They're still sweet to me.

My kids adore this rocking chair and so do we.  It's a family treasure and now it holds one of my favorite little pillows!  If only my kids could read that...I think it would be a good reminder during the day :)

 I picked up some cute Christmas pillows after Christmas last year and they were a fun addition to pull out this year.  I find them in all sorts of arrangments every day :)

 Last year I put all of our Christmas books away with the decorations, thinking it would be fun to rediscover them this year, and I was right!  I put out this basket of Christmas books and we've had fun reading through them again.

 I'm a sucker for greens and candles.  The floral designer in me can't have enough around here!

I intended that tray to hold treats (and it has a few times) but mostly it's a stage for Ava's little princesses or the nativity characters who like to migrate from the stable every day :)  My Mom went back to a store we love to get me those cute "JOY" blocks, after my sisters bought them at a clearance sale while I stayed home with the kids.  I'm so thankful she did that, I love them!

 I picked this up at Homegoods in October and I love it! 

Candles, candles and more candles.  My indulgence all year long.  I love a candle burning and yes, I keep my eyes on it when the kids are awake and I usually put them in places they can't reach :)

This is my latest addition and my tribute to pinterest!  I've pinned so many adorable Christmas ideas and used very few, but while I've been sick this week I decided to work on this :) I love all the chalkboard printables, but I have chalkboard paint and I've been using it for a few years now here and there, so I just picked up a poster frame and painted right over it (right on the plastic) and then dug out my chalk to come up with this!  And I love it.  It took me about an hour to get 3 coats to dry, then 20 minutes or so to write it.  Probably $10 and it's my favorite thing around here!  I'll be doing at least one more for some other place in our house :)

Fun little something at everyone's seat

Our little table with our new centerpiece that we all love...

My Mom bought us this great advent tree, called the Jesse Tree, and we have have just loved it.  The kids especially can't wait to read the little devotional every night and hang the next ornament on the tree.  It's so perfect for their ages and we have been so surprised at how much they remember and retain every night at dinner. 

It's called the Jesse Tree because Jesse, who was just an ordinary guy, was faithful to teach God's word to his sons, one of whom would be annointed by God to become King of Israel (David).  Each night we read a little thing about different characters in the Bible who point us to God and one of His promises, preparing us for the ultimate gift of Jesus.  We started it December 1st and we'll finish on Christmas.  I've loved this daily time of being intentional with the kids and also focusing our hearts on who God is and what a truly significant gift Jesus, God with us, is.

Our little countdown, we move it every morning at breakfast :)

For 3 years running now, I've had empty frames from the years marking Ava and Carter's first Christmas...what are the odds I'll actually print the pictures that are supposed to go in there this year??

More candles, I told you I love them :)

Last year we decorated the kids room a little bit, which was so fun.

It's pretty rare that these little people are actually all accounted for in the same location :) 

Ava's tree

Carter's tree

I made this last year from an idea on Pintrest.  It's a colored strand of lights with lots of bright ribbons tied on.  It's hard to tell in the picture, but it's so cute and bright and the glow in their room when its dark is so fun, it's a great night light!

 

Better shot :)

 Finally, I'll leave you with this. My Mom recently found this at their house, it's a toddlers quiet book I made for a class in high school.  We had to design and sew the whole thing (kind of makes me want a sewing machine again!) and I chose to do a wordless storybook about the birth of Christ.  I brought it home and put it out and the kids just love it!  Which is so, so sweet and rewarding and also incredible to think I made it when I was 18, in 1998.  Definitely didn't know what little hands would hold it someday, but I'm so glad my Mom kept it all these years.  It's a treasure to me now!

 

Thanks for stopping by to see some of our home! It's not a castle by any means, but we are grateful for it and more importantly, for the people who fill it. 

Merry Christmas from our house to yours, can't wait to keeping touring all of your homes too!



Adventures in Dallas

 Our trip to Dallas was so great!  We've been back for a few weeks now, but I wanted to write a little bit about what we did.  And of course, I have a million pictures :)

Beginning with my little cuties driving into the sunset with my Dad!  We were all worried thinking they would be sad to say goodbye to us, even though we'd prepped them for a few days.  Hah!  I was totally wrong  :) They jumped in my Dad's car so fast and Carter was telling me, "Bye Mom!  Close da door!" Stinkers!

After that easy goodbye, I took my sad tears and turned them into happy tears pretty quickly!  I waved goodbye and headed straight for the nearest Caribou before I hit up an outlet mall too!  I had no plans to waste my new found alone time :)  After meeting my Dad, I drove back to the cities and met Trav so we could go out for dinner.  In our first 3 hours without kids, I packed in coffee, shopping and a dinner date with my husband!  And we came home to a QUIET house.  Wow!  What just happened??

We had a gift card from an amazing restaurant that we love and of course, after a fabulous meal we ordered dessert...Banana toffee pudding!  I never would have chosen that but I would have missed out because it was so good!! 

 

The next morning we met our friends Jason and Greta at the airport and got on a plane for Dallas.  It was pretty odd to travel sans children, but a thousand times easier too! 

When we landed we took them to Babe's Chicken for a Texas staple, the chicken fried steak of all of our lives!  It was and is, the best chicken fried steak, almost as good as my Grandma's :)

We were in Dallas for a National Youth Worker's Conference with thousands of other youth workers.  We stayed at the Sheraton, where the conference was, in a beautiful room...with no kids!!  Do I even have to emphasize how wonderful that part was??  :) :) 

We got to our room knowing we had 4 uninterrupted nights ahead of us...For parents of small children, is there anything more glorious than good sleep???

We woke up every morning to a beautiful view of the downtown Dallas skyline. 

And a giant billboard for the ipad mini. 

Guess who wants one after that??

And every morning we ate breakfast here...Along with hundreds of other youth workers standing in line for lattes and yogurt and granola parfaits before the morning sessions began.  We were all sick of it by the end of the trip but actually, they had great coffee and we would have been up a creek without it!

We came a day early to the conference so we could all participate in some intensive classes.  I signed up for a class on mentoring and it was great!  It was 6.5 hours of training on building a mentoring culture within youth ministry and I'm so glad I went.  It was full of helpful teaching that is very relevant to what we're doing or would like to do.  Apparently the way to get youth workers to sit for that long and pay attention is to throw candy at them.  At every turn there were buckets and buckets of free candy and I won't lie, I may have visited them a few times!  You can't work with students and not have a healthy appreciation for sugar :)  And caffeine.  

There were tons of breakout sessions all day long, on a variety of topics (too many to choose almost!) and then big group times too.  They had some good worship artists come and we heard from some good speakers, but the breakouts were my favorite.  

And in a hotel with thousands of youth pastors, workers, directors, volunteers, etc., THIS youth Pastor was my favorite.  Also, the most handsome. 

We hit all of the places we don't have in MN, like In-N-Out Burger! How could we as youth workers not support anyone with John 3:16 on their cups??  :) :)

We also made a stop at some of the locals favorites!  This burger place was amazing and we had a gorgeous day to eat outside even.  Probably one of our last opportunities to do that for awhile.

2 youth Pastors and mouths full of big, greasy burgers!  These two are pretty good connoisseurs of burgers I think, they tend to eat a lot of them while out for lunch during the work week :)   And I think they gave the Twisted Root Burger a big 2 thumbs up!! 

BTW, loving the Corona light box all front and center.

It held the condiments people, nobody go spreading any rumors!!

We were officially the "wives" all week :) At every session the question was usually asked, "How many of you are full time youth Pastors?  Part time?  Volunteer leaders?  Spouses?"  We were in the minority, but thankful to be along for all the fun!

Aside from sessions on mentoring, I went to several on marriage and family.  As in, how to balance marriage and family with ministry.  They were all very good, and gave me some needed confirmation about boundaries and healthy choices we are trying to make on this journey.  Like every job, it's very easy to get too busy or too wrapped up in things that are good, just not the best for your marriage or your kids.  If we aren't intentional now, we will regret it later.  And that's not a position we want to be in.  Travis went to a couple with me and we had some great discussion about some things we want to change or start doing.  I'm really grateful we had this opportunity to go to this conference!  

However, while we were having lots of fun away, we were also missing these little people!  We were able to face time a little bit and loved seeing smiles, they had such a great time with my parents and Jennie and Dave!

Carter was unfazed, he was the one we were worried most about :)

But after a few minutes on one of the last days away, this little girl got some watery eyes :) Poor baby!  That will rip your heart out quickly! 

Overall, we so enjoyed our time away to rest and rejuvenate and just spend some time together.  The conference was fun, we had a great time hanging out with Jason and Greta, and thankfully all of our kids did well with the grandparents while we were gone.  One thing I really appreciated while we were there, was our Church.  After sitting with lots of different youth workers and hearing their stories of some of the struggles they face with their leadership or volunteers, it made me appreciate how blessed we are at Grace and how thankful I am that God has given Travis and I like-minded hearts for ministry.  That's not to say our Church is perfect or that Trav and I always agree and see eye to eye, but I have no doubt that he has been called and gifted as a Pastor and that we are where God wants us for now.  There is no perfect place to serve because we are imperfect people, serving imperfect people!  But I'm grateful to love where God has us, knowing that we have to hold it with open hands!  Who knows what the road before us holds, but as the old saying goes, we know who holds it.

So glad we get to enjoy this journey together :)

Travy, you're an amazing youth Pastor and an even better husband and daddy. 

You do this ministry juggling act well and I'm proud of you. It's hard to believe we have 10 years together of serving shoulder to shoulder.  It's been an eventful decade but I wouldn't trade it for the world!  The Lord has shown Himself mighty and faithful to us, over and over again.  What joy to serve students with YOU while we try to stay young! 

I loved this time away with you...

Let's do it again soon??



Thankful in November, Days 18-30

 I definitely want to finish sharing this month of gratitude with you!  I've been keeping my list and I'm picking up where I left off...

 

Day 18- Home sweet home!  After being in TX for a few days, seeing people from all over the country at our conference, it still feels good to fly "home" to Minnesota!  And as odd as it felt, it was also nice to come home to a quiet house for a night :) We totally missed the kids at that point, but it was pretty sweet to have our own house to ourselves again!  It's been quite awhile sincce that has been the case.

 

Day 19- Unexpected delays. 

As we left for our epic roadtrip, we were not 2 minutes on the road when we discovered a tire that was losing pressure rapidly.  As we got to "enjoy" the next 4 hours at the Honda dealership, we weren't thrilled at the interruption in our schedule but we were thankful that we discovered the problem (a nail in our tire) before we were on the road in the middle of the night, with two kids and a flat tire.  When these kind of things happen, I can't help but think about all the things the Lord might be protecting us from without us even knowing.  I didn't love spending money to fix a tire, but it certainly could have been worse!

Day 20- Family time, in the car, making memories.

Yes, hours and hours of family time was actually pretty great.  We had times that were hard (mostly because we were tired) but the Lord granted us much favor and our kids were so, so good.  It was amazing to show the mountains and watch their faces light up in wonder.

 We made time to stop and enjoy the beauty of God's creation, and to stretch our legs a little in the mountain air.  The smokies were as beautiful as we remembered them, what a great drive on a beautiful day!

Day 21- Aunt Stacie and Uncle Jesse!!

What fun to be at their house in South Carolina, finally out of the car and able to rest and enjoy.  I'm so thankful that God gave me the family He did and I'm grateful that we have such a great time together.  Our kiddos love their aunts and uncles and we were so grateful for this chance to go visit them!



Day 22- On Thanksgiving, too many blessings to count!

The Lord has been so good to us, there are so many ways He's been faithful, met our needs and just blessed us in abundance.  We are overwhelmed by His goodness...Our marriage, our kids, our families, a job, a house, our Church, friends...we could go on and on.  We have nothing to complain about and that is a gift that we are trying not to take for granted.  There have been and will be hard seasons too, but for now this is a sweet, sweet season in our lives. 

 Before our feast!  Stacie and I were exhausted pulling off a Thanksgiving meal :) We think we should leave it to our Mom from now on, ha!

Day 23- The beach.

Before we got married, we lived in a town on the water.  We met, fell in love, and got married in Naples, Florida and for the two of us, the beach holds a special meaning.  There is something so incredible and endless about the majesty of the ocean.  It's crashing waves, never ending expanse that melts into the horizon, it's beauty...we love the beach!  Every time I go to the ocean, I am reminded how big our God is and how small I am.  He has numbered every grain of sand and the ocean waves obey the sound of His voice.  It's almost too much to take in...

 

 Day 24- Trav's job.

What a blessing to be employed full time, to have a job with vacation time, benefits, etc.  We are so thankful that we were able to pack up and spend this time away, grateful for the family-friendly leadership of our Church that knows how good and important pauses are in ministry.  To have back to back weeks together, uninterrupted...what a gift!  We don't want to take that for granted.  We have needed this time to reconnect and reset a little bit.  Ministry can be unbelievably draining, but it's also an incredible privilege and JOY to serve the Lord as a family and to love our Church like family.  Feeling especially grateful for this tonight...

Day 25- Date night!

Stacie and Jesse gave us the chance to eat out together and enjoy a quiet Sunday night in downtown Charleston.  We ate at this amazing little seafood restaurant, Coast, and it was soooo good!  We are foodies and our idea of a great night always involves coffee, food, and dessert :) So that's what we did and we enjoyed every minute!  But almost as fun was coming to see our kids having a great time with their Aunt and Uncle too.  



 

 Day 26- History that points to the Lord

Walking around downtown, you can't help but notice all the historical buildings and homes, marveling at their amazing detail and beauty, but equally prominent are the incredible old Churches that dominate the city.  There is a building code in Charleston that allows no architecture to be taller than the tallest Church steeple.  I love that!  Seeing those old, glorious Churches made me think about all the people who worshipped the same Jesus we do today, so many years ago.  He's the definition of timeless, the same yesterday, today and forever.  He was as relevant to people in the 1800's as He is today.  I loved seeing the history of Charleston, but I am reminded that all history points to only One.  It's HIS STORY afterall and we are just one little dot on His kingdom calendar.  It's so comforting to me to imagine all people, all tongues, tribes and nations giving praise to One God.  That day will come, until then, I'm grateful for the many faithful Christ followers who went before us and left tributes and monuments to point future generations to Christ too. 

May we do the same for the generations that follow us...

 Day 27- The wonder of a child.

Exposing kids to new things brings such a delight to the soul of a parent.  Taking our kids to see the mountains, the beach, beautiful places and family we love brought out the simple wonder in each of them and it was so fun to see.  Even fake snow thrilled them!  Sometimes I think it's such a shame that as adults we tend to lose that same sense of wonder or we hide it under a stoic face.  If anything should prompt wonder in us, it's the work of God in our lives.



 Day 28- The mountains!

Nothing causes our mouths to drop like a drive through the gorgeous Smoky moutains.  Their Blue Ridge landscape bleeds into the blue skies and creates such a gorgeous embrace around a city.  We love the mountains, it was so fun to stay in Tennessee for a couple of nights and soak it up. 

 

Day 29- Old, heart connection friends!

We were able to orchestrate a very last minute, on the spot meet up with one of my sweet, sweet friends from our Seminary days while we were quickly driving through Kentucky.  We met at a Chick-fil-a off the interstate and spent a sweet hour and a half catching up and introducing our kiddos.  We haven't seen each other for almost 7 years, but we talk on the phone and connect here and there.  Nothing replaces face to face however and it was such a treat to see my friend Jen!  I never thought we'd be able to make that work or that we'd be so close to her on our drive, but I'm so thankful God gave us that little present.  She is a dear friend who is a fellow youth Pastor's wife in Kentucky, and now a Mom of 4!   When we met, we were young brides, working so our husbands could go to Seminary, along with 6 or 7 other couples that we grew to love.  We were a tight group of friends and we've stayed in touch, mostly through blogs and facebook, as the Lord has taken each of us to different parts of the country to serve Him in different ways.  I love all of those girlfriends and this makes me ache for a reunion soon!!

Day 30- My husband.

Finally, on this last day in the month of gratitude, I want to say how very thankful I am for the man I married.  God was so faithful to me in bringing Travis and I together and He blessed me beyond anything I could dream or imagine when we became husband and wife.  He is such JOY to my soul, a friend like none other, a leader, a KIND and GENTLE man, and my opposite in so many ways.  He balances my straight, rigid places with grace and a go-with-the-flow personality that has forced me to relax over the years.  I love him dearly and I couldn't imagine a better man to be joined as one with, or a better Father for my kids.  He makes my heart melt daily when he walks through the door after work and as I watch him love and laugh with Ava and Carter.  I have such a sense of fulfillment watching him in action as a Pastor, doing exactly what God gifted him and called him to do.  He isn't perfect, I'm happy to point that out, ha ha!! But he loves the Lord and he loves the kids and I, faithfully and tenderly.  I just couldn't ask for more than that!  

 

This has been such a treat for me to share some of the things I am thanking the Lord for this month.  It's not a comprehensive list of every blessing I've experienced, but it's a great snapshot of what He's doing in our lives and how easy it is to stop and reflect on the goodness of God, every day.  Being thankful is a great way to prepare your heart for the best gift He's ever given us, the gift of His Son and our Savior, Jesus.  As we walk through December, I hope to maintain a daily sense of gratitude for the miracle of our God who came down....Immaunel, God with us. 

 

Praying this advent season is full of wonder and gratitude for you and your family as well!

Christmas Card Carousel 2012

Every year my friend Faith, does a Christmas Card Carousel on her blog, where you can link up with hundreds of other people to share and see Christmas cards! I love doing it, it's fun to see what people choose and to see all the adorable cards out there.  I love this time of year when my mailbox is full of beautiful photos and people we love!  If you want to participate in Faith's link up, it is on December 17th this year.  Just go to her blog here and follow the instructions on the 17th!  It's easy and such a fun way to see all kinds of cards. 

 

 

 

Speaking of cards, I have been staying up late trying to get my cards designed and ordered before any more of December sneaks up on me!  There are so many websites that make amazing cards now but one of my favorites is Tiny Prints.  Have you heard of them?  They do all kinds of cards, photo-cards, announcements, etc. and they have a great selection of "Christian cards" that I really love.  Sometimes the religious section is pretty cheesy and lame on most sites, but their's is not!  I grabbed a few below that are darling for you to see.  If you haven't sent out your season's greetings, Tiny Prints is a great place to buy beautiful holiday cards! They have amazing customer service and you can even email back and forth with a designer to make sure your card is totally perfect before you order it.  They even have a sale going on that ends TODAY for:

ends today! enjoy 20% off any holiday order or 25% off $149+ | code: dec25sw | ends 12/4

Love this card, the snowflakes are darling all over the front and especially the back...

This one is one of my favorites!  So cute!

I'm always a sucker for stripes and I think this one is a great modern take on an old Christmas carol.

Love the traditional and elegant feel of this one. 

But of all of them, this one is my very favorite!  Love all the scripture and the heart of the Gospel on a card.  You can even customize this one (and many more) with different colors, if the blue is not your thing. 

 

Check out Tiny Prints, I think you'll really love them for you Christmas cards!