Slice of Life: Transitioning from Christmas to Winter Decorations!

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 

to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.

Thanks to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Lisa, and Melanie

 for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

I am not a woman who transitions easily from December to the New Year.  I'm never ready to put away the Christmas decorations.  So some years ago, I convinced myself to embrace snowmen and winter themed decor in January.  This decor eases my transition into the new year.  Most of the Christmas decorations are put away, but my snowmen are scattered around the house
bestowing winter cheer!

My January Cheer

(with apologies to "My Favorite Things")

When the day's gray

When the rain pours

When I'm feeling sad

I'm simply surrounded by snowman decor 

And then I don't feel so bad!

Celebrate This Week: The Helpers

                              Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres. 

                                                      When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy.

 

A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

I'm celebrating the helpers in my life this week!

My husband helped out by cooking dinner and cleaning the kitchen several times this week.  And he listened to me as I made my way through a very busy week.  I subbed three days and then helped with a dinner for 75 missionaries on Thursday.  I so appreciated my friend Diane's instructions for food preparation and her expertise since she's done this many times before.  I had many helpers from our congregation - from the lettuce brigade who prepped all the romaine, to the brownie bakers, to my friend who made the final Costco run since I was subbing, to the servers who arrived to make sure everything was ready for the luncheon.  Thanks to all who helped!

Every week, there are two special helpers at book club.  
This is the third year that these young ladies have participated 
in our after school book club.  Whatever I need during book club - 
a trip to retrieve something from my car, help organizing book groups,  managing the drawing for a free book, or arranging the final clean up at the end of our meeting, Katie and Elsa are ready to help.  They always help me haul my stuff back to the car after book club.  Here's a fun pic I took last week of these two helpers as they patiently waited (while I chatted with Carrie, our KCLS librarian who assists at book club) to make that trip to the car at the end of the meeting.  

A few other quick celebrations:

I found my OLW and posted about it on

Spiritual Journey First Thursday.  

I finished this book which celebrated Beatrix Potter's 150th anniversary year.  Don't miss this tribute from 32 children's book authors-illustrators who reimagine characters from Potter's most beloved tales.  I finished Wolf Hollow and now I'm reading The Girl Who Drank the Moon.  Not much time left before we'll be voting for our favorites in our Mock Newbery at book club.

I celebrate that Sunday morning began with FaceTime
with a couple of my favorite guys - Teddy and his dad!

And here's my favorite holiday pic
from Teddy's first Christmas in Utah!

Spiritual Journey First Thursday: One Little Word for 2017

Thank you, Irene Latham at Live Your Poem, for getting this group back together.  I look forward to our year together as we explore spiritual topics. Carol at Beyond Literacy Link is hosting our first Spiritual Journey First Thursday of 2017.  I loved these words from Carol about choosing a OLW:  “Each year instead of creating resolutions, millions choose one word to guide their journey. Why? One, meaningful word becomes a focal point, a reminder, and a guide throughout the year. It makes its way into your life, tugs at your heart, snuggles into your being, connects with your lifestyle, and accompanies you on your journey. It can be your mantra, your go to word, your star to follow.” 

This is my 5^th year to choose a word to tug at my heart and snuggle into my being.  Here are the words that have guided my journey for the past four years.

Listen

Savor

Stretch

Abide and

Drum roll, please . . . 

My One Little Word for 2017 -   

Nourish!

This scripture in Psalms 107:9 spoke to me in December:  "For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness."  I considered the words satisfied and filled, but decided that nourished was the perfect word.  

There are so many ways that I want to experience being nourished in this new year:

Nourished by immersing myself in the good word of God

Nourished by extending love to family and friends

Nourished by choosing to exercise

Nourished by making healthy food choices

Nourished by observing beauty in the world

Nourished by embracing quiet time

Nourished by sharing my writing 

Nourished by reading the words of favorite writers

Nourished by stilling the demands that crowd my heart so I can

listen to the stillness,

savor the present moment,

stretch to grow, and always

abide in His love to 

nourish my soul and reach out in love. 

Slice of Life: Book Spine Poem

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 

to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.

Thanks to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Lisa, and Melanie

 for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

Always reluctant to pack away the Christmas decorations, I arranged some of my Christmas picture books to create a book spine poem that reflects on our biggest blessings of 2016!

Little One We Knew You'd Come

(that would be Teddy)!

A Dozen Silk Diapers,

A Christmas Memory 

(Teddy's first snow),

The Third Gift:  Bartholomew's Blessing -

Room For A Little One

(Grandson #2 - Arriving in February)!

I love how two births bookend this poem - one in June and one soon to come.  Those births and the joy they bring remind us
of how blessed we are by the birth of the Savior.  
And I must put in a plug for Bartholomew's Blessing, one of my favorite Christmas picture books.  I was so excited when it was picked by the Lundell girls to be read at our Christmas story hour last week.   If you don't know this book, you should.  It's a precious story of the mouse Bartholomew's search for a perfect gift when he's invited by an angel to be blessed by the newborn prince.  You'll be mesmerized by Margie Moore's beautiful illustrations and captivated by 
Stephanie Tolan's story of Bartholomew's journey.  

Celebrate This Week: A Sunday Morning Surprise!

                            Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres. 

                                                      When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy.

 

A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

A sprinkling of snow greeted me at 4:30 this morning. 

I was hopeful that we might have enough snow to cancel church. 

 I had a lesson to teach and hoped I might get to sleep in instead.  

My husband said my prayer should have been more specific.  

"Don't just ask for snow, ask for enough snow to cancel church."

But before I worked on my lesson, I penned a haiku to honor our snow:

A snowy Sabbath
A new year's soft beginning
Wintry white frosting!

It was lovely to share a discussion with

a group of women I love around the topic:  

"How do we feel the love of the Lord in our lives?" 

I came away enriched from our discussion

and so happy to worship and learn weekly

with these women whose examples inspire me.

I introduced the idea of One Little Word to them.  

We searched our scriptures for words and phrases that are

meaningful to our lives as women of faith.  

Here are some of the responses that were shared:

Light

Living water

Strength and honor

Real intent

Satisfied

Remember

Good word

Patience in afflictions

Receive

Trust in the Lord

Encircled in the arms of His love

Rejoice

This has been a full week of celebrations:

A visit from our dear friends, the Grahams 

A stop by the Yves St. Laurent exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum

Christmas story hour and treats with the Lundell girls and a friend

Pics and FaceTime and videos from Stefi and Blake of sweet Teddy

Teddy with Great Grandma

 

Family pic

Teddy's first snow!

I finished Ghost by Jason Reynolds and am now reading 

Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk. Ghost was a great read. 

I wish I'd picked it for our Mock Newbery list.

I luxuriated in a pajama and movie day at home with daughter Sara. 

(Thanks, Allison, for introducing us to pajama days.)

Slice of Life: My Tough Dilemma!

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 

to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.

Thanks to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Lisa, and Melanie

 for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

I hate to make this public, but sometimes I'm a rule breaker.  You see, my desire for books is always bigger than my capacity for reading. Right now I have an overdue book (just one day overdue) that I'm keeping for a bit longer even though there are 43 people waiting to read it.  Are you wondering what it is?  It's Ghost by Jason Reynolds.  I can't return it unfinished!  So I'm making this a short slice so I can get back to reading.  We have friends in town for a few days so it's tough to squeeze in reading time.

And then I have to get back to another book that I've neglected in the holiday rush, Present Over Perfect:  Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living by Shauna Niequist.   It's due tomorrow and there's no way I can finish it.  And 87 people are waiting for this book.  Decision time . . . I'll use my Christmas gift certificate to Island Books to purchase this one.  It's that good!

Since many slicers are using this week to write about their OLW for 2016, here's the link to my reflection on abide which I wrote earlier in the month.  The week between Christmas and NewYear's is one of my favorite weeks of the year.  I hope each of you find time to relax and recharge as 2016 draws to a close.   

Celebrate This Week: The Joys of the Season!

                            Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres. 

                                                      When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy.

 

A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

So much to celebrate!

Technology that keeps us connected to loved ones! 

Thanks to Instagram, FB, and FaceTime, we've stayed wonderfully

connected with Teddy and our son and his wife who are in UT for the holidays.  

(Come back later to see pics of Teddy and family.)

Christmas cards that bring pictures

and greetings from family and friends

 to my mailbox and into my home!

We attended Christmas services with our daughter.  

She and her husband sang in the choir.  

What a beautiful celebration of the season!

Family, games, friends, good food, cozy fire, 

children's nativity,  a gorgeous Christmas Eve sunset,

Christmas services, and new books! 

Christmas Eve sunset at Calkin's Landing

Modeling our Christmas Eve PJs

with daughter Sara and friend, Sara

Christmas Day pic with daughter Sara,

a beautiful mom-to-be!