Her Sense of Style

Moriah was quite the stylish little girl earlier today.

 All the accessories were chosen herself...

...the floppy hat from the costume box, a wooden bead necklace that Tobin made some time ago (and had placed in the stable of our nativity set--a gift for Jesus perhaps?), a black scarf around her neck (which is actually the mask of Zorro), and a pair of white tights from her sock basket for waving in the air.

With such a highly developed sense of style already, it will be no time at all until she passes me up!!  :)

My Heart Is So Full, It's Hard to Squeeze out Any Words

...but here's one little snippet I posted on Facebook tonight.  :)

I used to say that when I get to heaven, the first thing I want to do--after meeting God face to face--is lie down and sleep for a hundred years or so. It's entirely possible that when I said that, my brain wasn't functioning quite up to par as a result of days and nights of sleep deprivation because of nursing an infant while caring for other children while keeping a household running while homeschooling and so on and so forth.  However, tonight I discovered what I REALLY want to do for the first hundred years: listen to the hosts of heaven sing Handel's Messiah.

I heard part of it tonight at JMU's Holidayfest (an AMAZING concert that featured the Shenandoah Valley Children's Choir during some of the pieces...I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to watch my firstborn up on that stage, surrounded by such talented, devoted musicians), and my soul filled up to the brim with a deep sense of wellness and peace and happiness and joy and wholeness and WORSHIP. I sheepishly admit that I wanted to bawl like a baby as the waves of sound and the meaningful words washed over me; only by stern effort did I hold myself together. But when I get to heaven...oh! I want to hear those words and those choruses sung by a heavenly choir. "And the glory of the Lord..." "Glory to God..." and "Hallelujah!"

Tonight was a tiny little glimpse of the glory of heaven. I cannot wait to experience it in all of its fullness!

P.S. Not to take away from the glorious solemnity of what I just wrote, but I do want to jot down a little something that totally cracks me up. On the way home, David and Josiah were excitedly talking about the concert, and David said to Josiah, "The Chorale did something really funny tonight. There was a song [in the Messiah portion] that used the word 'everybody' a lot, but instead of pronouncing it 'everyBody,' they kept saying 'everyVody'."

"David," I nearly shrieked with laughter, "they weren't saying 'everybody,' they were saying 'every VALLEY'!" [One of the choruses is "Every valley shall be exalted," and that phrase is repeated a lot in that song.]

"Oh!!" he responded, finally understanding why that "v" sound kept showing up.   

Seven Times We've Climbed These Hills

Way back in 2007, Jeff first heard about a nearby Christmas tree farm that he thought we should check out.  And that is how a tradition was born.  :)

This year was extra special because we got to go while Grandma Fisher was here--her first time being with us when we started decorating and preparing for Christmas.  She, however, declined to climb the hills, but patiently waited in the Big White Van for us to return after our jaunt.  :)

Jeff and the boys headed off at a brisk pace, while Moriah and I followed at a much more leisurely one.

So leisurely, in fact, that we soon lost sight of the boys.

While Moriah enjoyed the challenge of walking up and down the hilly, rough ground and exploring new surroundings, I had to content myself with watching--and photographing--her.

It was tough, let me tell you.  ;-)

Eventually we did find the boys.  At this point they, despite their exuberant leaping and running around, had not yet found the candy cane tree.

See that black object in the middle of the picture?  That's Jeff.  I decided I didn't really need a picture of him cutting down the tree this year and could wait at the top of the hill for him, rather than carrying Moriah down--and then back up--it.

So I watched her explore some more.

The boys reminded me of the gazelles and young stags of Song of Songs 2:8-9a as I watched them race towards Jeff.

He had called to them that he knew where the candy cane tree was, so they raced off to find it.  :)

And here comes my beloved!  Even though I didn't get a picture of him cutting down the tree, I did get a picture of him dragging the tree.  Good enough, right?  ;-)

Success at last!  Somebody found the candy cane tree.  :)

You know why I love Jeff?  Because every year, he's willing to load up everyone in the van, drive through the countryside, grab a saw, climb up and down hills, choose a tree, cut it down, drag it back to the van, visit the springhouse for free hot chocolate and ornaments, leave a check there, take a picture on the old sled, drive home, usually saw off either the top or the bottom of the tree to make it fit, turn the screws of the tree stand to hold it steady, adjust it when I say the tree is leaning, untangle strings of lights, make sure they work, fix them if they don't, then put lights on the tree.  He does all of this, simply because he loves us and wants to gladden our hearts.

You know why Jeff loves me?  Because I am not picky AT ALL about which tree he chooses.  He could pick any old tree from the whole entire farm, and I would be happy.  Tall, short, full, skimpy, with a big hole in one side or not...it really doesn't matter.  We're so far from achieving a magazine-worthy look in our Christmas decorating that I don't worry about it one bit.  Being the furthest thing from picky about our Christmas tree has been a good thing in our marriage.  ;-)

Glad hearts all around.  :)

Looking back through the years:  getting the tree in 2007...and in 2008...and in 2009...and in 2010...and in 2011...and in 2012.

When We Got Home from Town

I did something out of the ordinary last evening.  As soon as supper was over, I, along with Josiah, Moriah, and my mom, went shopping.  Most evenings--especially late-fall, it's-been-dark-for-hours evenings--find us snuggled up at home; going out is usually the last thing I want to do.  But Josiah needed to get something for his choir concert this weekend, and I figured it would be a good chance to pick up a few things on my shopping list, so we set out.

When we returned home, Jeff was asleep on the couch, after a long, full day.  When Moriah spotted him, she immediately hurried over to him with a quick pitter-patter of tiny feet, crawled up on the couch, and waited for him to wake up enough to acknowledge her which he kindly did.

As he wrapped his arm around her, my heart officially melted.

The picture isn't the greatest, but the moment sure was.  :)

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday {Right Before Grandma Left}

One last snuggle before the goodbye...  :(

I Shall Be Random, Vol. 7

~ 1 ~

Last evening, Josiah and David's choir rehearsal schedule was a little different than normal because of their upcoming concert, so I ended up with a gap of time after picking up David before Josiah was done--the perfect amount of time in which to take David and go Christmas shopping (for him to pick out gifts for his brothers).  He wanted to go to Walmart; and as we were walking into the store, a big white van, not unlike our own, pulled up at the entrance.  The doors opened, and the bonnets poured forth.  A group of Old Order Mennonite ladies had evidently arranged for a ride to the store to do some shopping.  I glanced at them and smiled, grateful once again for the cultural influence that the Old Orders bring to our community; but what really caught my attention was an Old Order man, his young daughter held securely in his arms.  Her pink bonnet couldn't hide the shy smile on her face as she leaned down to place some money in the red bucket of the Salvation Army booth outside the store.

Even if I had had a camera, I wouldn't have taken a picture out of respect for their beliefs.  But my heart went *click* and captured the beauty of the moment.

~ 2 ~

Speaking of big white vans...  I've been driving ours quite a bit recently and have discovered an advantage to doing so.  Now when I drive our minivan, I feel like I'm zooming along in a little Miata or something similar.  :) The minivan is so small!  And so low to the ground--no stepstools required to get in it!  And it accelerates so quickly!

It's really amazing what a change of perspective will do!  :)

~ 3 ~

One of my goals for 2014 is to read the entire Bible, and I've already discovered a little trick that will help me accomplish that.  I started early.  :)

On Thanksgiving night, I opened the One Year Bible that I plan to use and went ahead and did the first day's reading.  Why wait for January 1?

It's a great feeling to already be up to January 6's reading.  Maybe I'll actually be able to finish by December 31, 2014!  :)

~ 4 ~

On Sunday, Jeff's mom treated us to lunch at Aroma, a local buffet restaurant.  At the end, the waitress brought fortune cookies; and we cheerfully broke them open to read the sayings inside.  I believe it was Tobin who got the one I liked the best:  "Time to tie up those loose ends into beautiful bows."  After a few weeks of extra-busy schedule and extra-special activities, it's plain to see that I've got a number of loose ends around here that need to be tied into beautiful bows!  I'm gonna get right on that.  Tomorrow.  :)

~ 5 ~

Who has the job of writing the sayings that go inside fortune cookies anyway?  Where do they get all those thoughts from?  (Google searches maybe?)  :)

~ 6 ~

While we were eating at Aroma, Shav leaned over to me and said in a mournful voice, "This world is just going too fast."  I wasn't sure where he was coming from with his comment, so I tried to hide the smile on my face as I questioned him a little further.  Turns out he was already sorrowful over the fact that Grandma Fisher would be leaving in a few days, because "I like her SO much!" he informed me.

A time or two since then, I've heard him making the same complaint: "The world is going too fast."

It IS hard to believe that four weeks have passed since we welcomed Grandma Fisher into our home for her annual visit.  Tonight we had to take some pictures before we let her go back to California.

She...

...is...

...LOVED!  :)

~ 7 ~

During the first few days of a new month, right after I change my blog header and background, I often find myself clicking on my blog at various times throughout the day, just so I can see how it looks again.  I know how it looks, of course; but there's a sense of satisfaction that comes from seeing the real thing in front of me--kind of like when I organize a closet or cupboard and then find numerous reasons to go open it and admire the neatness.  Silly.  :)

Previous "I Shall Be Random" posts:  1...2...3...4...5...6.

Wonder Is...

...a toddler seeing a Christmas tree for the first time...

...and reaching out to touch it.

Priceless.