Twelve.

How does this happen? I wonder every year. One minute you’re holding this teeny tiny, squirming little newborn who you just can’t believe is actually Y.O.U.R.S. ….and then you blink and take a few (thousand) deep breaths through the tween years, and suddenly a dozen years have passed. Wait, how did I totally miss the tween years? I’ve been soundly informed that our little miss is no longer a tween - she’s a preteen.

TWELVE YEARS ago we brought this beautiful little bundle home from the hospital.

Ohhhh, she was the sweetest little thing. And ohhhhh, how I loved taking pictures of her! We have THREE large, FULL, heavy albums of her....in the first year.

Poor sweet Jacob. He looks at all those pictures and asks over and over, “Is this me?” No, that’s Kloe. “Is this one me?” No, that’s Kloe too. “Where are my pictures?” Um, (hangs head) they’re in a box in my room. Sad mama.

Anyway, amidst the hubbub of back-to-school and back-to-soccer and back-to-ballet, Kloe's graduation out of tweenhood into preteenhood - which happened a month ago - somehow got brushed to the side.  It's time to rectify that.

I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that Kloe wanted to celebrate turning 12 by having a SLEEPOVER.  Yep, I did it again.  And I admit, it was fun!  Turns out turning 12 doesn't have to involve a birthday party marked by gossip, borderline-appropriate movies, and hurt-feelings girl-drama. We had seven friends over for a rousing good time of pizza making, cookie-cake eating, and many lively rounds of Telephone and Apples to Apples.

Oh, and then?  We finally joined the ranks of the NICE parents (because we weren't just uncool before - we were mean).....

And much gleeful screaming ensued.

Welcome to the world of a preteen.

On Friday.

I had planned to write a light-hearted Five for Friday post today.  I was going about my morning, emptying the dishwasher, watering the tulips, planning the five things for my post (because I'm actually off work today, gloria and hallelujah!), and then I sat down at my computer with my cup of coffee, opened my email, and read this post from Lara at To Overflowing.  And there went Five for Friday.

By God's divine non-coincidence, the kids and I have been reading Exodus chapters 11-13 this week in our morning devotions.  We started at Genesis 1:1 way back when and have been reading straight through, and this is where we are this week. :)

You friends who hang out around here know I'm not a great deep thinker.  I wish I were.  I pretend to be - ha!  But in fact, I'm not.  Not a deep thinker, not a deep, spiritual teacher, grasping or creating profound teaching moments for my kids.  And so I have to work with what I've got.  And one thing I've got is a great love for ceremony and ritual and tradition.  It sounds grand doesn't it? :)  Like I orchestrate great, moving traditions for our family.  Ha - not hardly!  But small, familiar traditions, yes.

So...Lara's post....Exodus chapters 11-13....and tradition.  Hmm.  Do those 3 things have anything in common at all?  Well, a little.  If you think creatively. :)

Because I love tradition, and because I tend to rely on rituals and ceremony to create those teachable  moments for my kids, we've been trying in our own little way to get ready for this Resurrection weekend by preparing our hearts and focusing on what it's all really about.  Not bunnies (though cute), not eggs (though so much fun - and YES, we will be coloring some tomorrow!), but Jesus.  Jesus who died.....died.....DIED so we - so I - wouldn't have to.  Because He loves me.  Because He longed for His creation to be redeemed. 

And so to try to remember that, we've been reading this week from Max Lucado's book, This is Love, and we've been reading the scripture passages that tell about what happened in Jesus' life between Palm Sunday and Good Friday (I've always thought it was so weird that that whole week usually gets left out of the story).

And tonight we will celebrate Passover.  Oh, how I love this tradition!  I love the symbolism and the reading of the scriptures, and knowing that for thousands of years, God's people have celebrated this same festival in exactly the same a similar way.  And I love beyond words how every. single. part. of the Passover seder points to JESUS!!  It is absolutely amazing how all those thousands of years before Jesus was even born, God was writing His story into the celebration of Passover.

I love how the matzah (the bread - Jesus is our bread of life) is striped and pierced like Jesus was.  I love how there are 3 pieces of bread (representing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), how the second piece of matzah is broken (as Jesus' body was broken) and hidden (as Jesus was laid in the tomb).  I LOVE that Jesus was celebrating the Passover meal with His disciples when He broke the bread (did you ever wonder why He broke it?  It's part of the Passover seder ceremony) and said, "This bread is my body, which is broken for you." 

I love that the Israelites sacrificed a lamb (ok, I don't love it for the lamb, but you know....), and that as they placed the blood of the lamb over their doorposts, they were saved.  And it's the blood Jesus, our sacrificial Lamb, that now saves us.  I love that the 4 cups of wine at Passover all represent Jesus - the cup of sanctification, the cup of deliverance, the cup of redemption (this 3rd cup  - the cup of redemption - is the cup of which Jesus said, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood - ooooooh, I love this!!) , and the cup of hope, which isn't drunk at the meal - it's the cup we will partake of in heaven!

This is what Beth Moore wrote about the cup of redemption in her study Jesus the One and Only:

I am convinced this cup (the 3rd cup of Passover) is also the symbolic cup to which Christ referred only an hour or so later in the garden of Gethsemane when He asked God to "take this cup from me" (Luke 22:42).  This was a cup He could partake only with outstretched arms upon the cross.
The imminent fulfillment of the cup of redemption signaled the release of the new covenant that would be written in blood.  We know Christ did not literally drink this third cup because He stated in Luke 22:18 that He would not drink of another cup until the coming of the kingdom of God.  Instead of drinking the cup, He would do something of sin-shattering significance.  He would, in essence, become the cup and pour out His life the the redemption of man.

Love.

And that's why my family celebrates Passover.

Not because we're Jewish (we're obviously not).  Not because we're under the Law (we're obviously not).  But because the Passover screams of Jesus and what He did for us on this most holy of weekends.

My kids often ask me why we call it "good" Friday if it's the day Jesus died.  It is good because Jesus is the Lamb who was slain for our sins before the foundation of the world.

How does your family celebrate Good Friday?

NINE!

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby boy today!!  I can't believe how fast nine years have gone by since you came into our lives.  What an amazing adventure it's been so far! 

I love you, buddy!

Another Valentine's come and gone.

Our Valentine's started early this year, when the Mister woke me up with this fun surprise on Saturday. :)


Yes, that's the cup that was in there when I found it. :)

Goodness, we've drunk more coffee in the past week than we have probably in the past two months!

And then on Sunday, we woke up to Dippin' Dots falling from the sky. :)

The dippin' dots turned into real snow, and school was cancelled on Monday. It's not often we get a snow day around here.  Talk about excited kids!  The day warmed up, the snow melted, and the kids spent the afternoon outside.  Perfect day!

On Tuesday, we had so much fun!  Our traditional Valentine's scavenger hunt ended with a twist this year....presents!

Jacob running to the mail box for the next clue.

Kloe found the loot in the freezer....and another clue telling them there was more to be found!

Searching the car for presents!

Found 'em!

Tennis rackets for everyone!





Haha - this doesn't look too appetizing, does it?  It actually was delicious!  Our red dinner: chicken parmesan (The Mister like the sauce on top of the cheese...he says the other way makes the chicken breading soggy), red potatoes, and cherry tomatoes. :)

Now this looks much more yummy!

Another very fun Valentine's Day in the books!

Gift

Dear Valerie,

Good Morning.....Surprise!

Happy Birthday!

Love,
God

'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving....

I didn't make it too far on my photojournal of thankfulness. Only nine days of pictures, but definitely a whole month full of being thankful.

So, so thankful for my family.
Thankful for my beautiful children and wonderful husband.
Thankful for our home, warm beds, warm clothes, warm showers.
Thankful for plentiful food and clean water.
Thankful for our jobs, and that we've not had to go without during these hard economic times that have affected so many.

So very thankful. For so much.

In that spirit of thankfulness, our family participated this year in a tradition we learned from our friends the Mosses.....we had a Thankful Dinner. Jen calls it a Starvation Dinner, but I wasn't that brave. :)

We had black beans and rice for dinner, and nothing else. As soon as I said, "And just water to drink," Jacob suddenly started asking for all kinds of other things to drink. "Can I have milk? Juice? Can I put flavoring (i.e. propel powder) in my water?" What's so funny is that we drink water with dinner every night - but suddenly when it was part of the Thankful Dinner, Jacob couldn't stand it. :)

After dinner we watched Kit Kittredge - lighthearted entertainment, but also with a strong message about being thankful - and then a couple of YouTube videos to help us remember that we have SO MUCH to be thankful for. And....SO MUCH responsibility to help others.

We watched this video that I saw on Jen's blog....




And then this video that I saw on someone else's blog a few months ago....




Man.

At the end of the videos I asked the kids, "What do you think about that?"

Kloe's response: "I want to adopt. A lot." I don't know if that means she very much wants to adopt, or she wants to adopt a lot of kids. :)

Jacob's response: "I'm hungry. Will you get me something to eat?"

sigh.

I have to remind myself it's the Holy Spirit's job, not mine, to create compassion in him. My job is just to educate, and train, and remind.....and pray.

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In other news, early this morning -- or at least I thought it was early until I actually got up and saw what time it was :) -- I was awakened by the sound of incessant hammering.  When I couldn't take it any more, I got out of bed and stumbled into the living room where Kloe was watching cartoons.  I asked her, "Where's Jacob?"

"Outside."

Great.  Yep.  That was him making all that ruckus.  Hammering rocks in his size 5 overalls. :D  (Ok, can I just pause right here and ask why Blogger doesn't have emoticons that you can insert into your posts???)

Later I found him hammering nails into the fence, looking a little like Pa Ingalls in the same overalls.  (Why do we still have them, you ask?  Dress up, my friends, is a very important part of our lives around here.  He dressed up as no less than 4 different people today.)

************************************************

While Pa Jacob mended the fence, Kloe and I started on lunch for tomorrow. This guy went for a long swim in my sink for the biggest part of the day.

Kloe helped make the green bean casserole and mashed potatoes. She said, "It's like cooking school! Oh, I love Thanksgiving cooking school!" :)  Haha - she might not be so excited if she knew her teacher was the cooking school dropout!

Tomorrow morning we'll finish up the candied sweet potatoes (ONLY because my mom's coming over!), pumpkin pie, dump cake (mmmmm - love), stuffing, and of course the bird. It's my first time making the whole shebang myself (can you believe it? at 40?)....and you know cooking isn't exactly my forte, so wish me luck!

Just like today - what with the crack of dawn rock busting going on - I'm sure I'll be needing a bunch of this to get me through the morning.

Happy Thanksgiving all my bloggy friends - I hope you have a wonderful, blessed, THANKFUL day!

Photojournal of Thankfulness - Day 5

The Nile River.  In person. :)

Photojournal of Thankfulness - Day 4

Photojournal of Thankfulness - Day 3

My dear, sweet friend Ashley,
I have no words.
You have no idea.
Thank you for sharing the true love of our Lord Jesus with me.
I just....just....well, thank you.
Love, valerie
(I canNOT get this picture (on right) to turn the right way. grrrr. It's so much lovelier if you tip your head to the right. :) )

First Second Day of Summer

I had grand plans for the first day of summer.

If you can call my thinking, "Man, I'd really love to do something fun for the first day of summer,"....plans.

Instead, this was all I came up with. But they're pretty cute, right? :)