christmastimeisacomingsofastagainineverlearn...

On my way...

Just a little pre-church peek.

puppet show!

today owen and i rode the bus and met andy at the library to see a free performance of The Selfish Giant. it was a puppet show (but so much more) by the chicago children's theatre. it was amazing. there was one man singing the story and switching between guitar and mandolin and only one puppeteer. the pictures cannot do it justice. owen wore his sweater from samuel and was so happy.

sweet sisters....

we just got back from a long weekend in the woods at my aunts cabin... it was wonderfilled; -somewhat warm coffee on the porch with my love, huddled under blankets, making bownarrow with charlie and sammy, smelling the sun warmed pineneedles, scanning for moose (the hunt is on) getting our boots stuck in the marshes, swimming in icewater (we all did! exept for toby who was asleep in the heather surrounded by our clothes and boots)... making puppets with bella and sammy out of sticks and colored wool, chopping wood, grilling marshmellows and hotdogs... my hair still smells like bonfire... we just bonded as we turned off our phones and had nowhere else to be... i so want a cabin!!! trying to talk mike into buying land and building me one in the trees... i think i might be close... it would be a good place for you all to come and stay.... anna, something is coming in the mail for you soon, i hope to send it before the weekend, the instructions are all in danish, but you are a smart doulah, so you might be able to figure it out, if not, i will be happy to translate... caromio, do bring a p12 skatetroup to us next summer, it would be fun... any news on wedding dates? im saving all my money! much love, k

Bushed

Just got back from spending 10 days in Bushnell with the new P12 class. It was trying and rewarding in parts, but I can't help but be filled with hope that God is doing something good. It's a huge class this year, 27 people right now, and Im sure a couple will drop out and some new people will come, but it was a bit overwhelming trying to get to know everyone. It was especially interesting watching people trying to figure out what attitude they were going to have about P12. Some days they were being forced (practically at gunpoint) to be there and other days "the Lord had called them" to be there and was going to start a "revival in JPUSA" through them. But I think in the end most everyone was in a pretty good space with it. I was reminded again how lucky I am to get to serve and live alongside people like Glenn and Wendi and Jon and Ami and Tyler (who was a huge blessing and support). So yup, pretty filled with awe at the Lord and at the place He has called me to be right now (although, if He ever wanted to call me to Norway, I wouldn't argue...far be it from me to stand in the way of the Lord).

shortest pregnancy yet.

4 weeks and 3 days.

Sunday: positive test
Monday: second positive test
Tuesday: bleeding and cramping and sitting waiting for doctors to give me answers. again.

Might be chromosomal translocation. We'll get blood tests this week.

Or we are just unlucky.

no, i have to hang up.....

you guys are so beautiful - loved all the photos - and today i am filled with love - and my lips are sealed, and i have to logg of before i say something.... aaaaah i hate keeping secrets (espesially happy ones).....

Hey lovely ladies, I'm back from dropping off the face of the earth. Went out to the dunes for a camping trip with Ami and Brian and Tyler and then went to Boston to visit Jessi and the aquarium out there and then to New York for my cousin's wedding. Overall, quite nice, although I can't say I would recommend spending time with people who have been on "vacation" for over a month with each other. New York is the kind of beautiful that makes you want to start a whole new life. One that involves copious amounts of chicken feed and hay and possibly a large barn. AND, I saw a porcupine, in the wild, I'm just saying, that's pretty awesome...we tried to follow it and get a picture, but for something that's that awkward looking, they can move pretty fast.

Mississippi Palisades

K, your creations are so lovely! We just got back from three days camping - it was wonderful to be outside and drive through some amazing countryside. My desire to escape the city has only intensified. We hiked up to the top of one of the bluffs overlooking the river and watched the sunset - it was amazing. We saw a "rafter" of wild turkeys bobbing their way through the woods on our way up. They were shy of us, but indifferent enough to our presence that we got a good look at them. It was dusk by the time we hiked down, and I wondered if we would see them again. Suddenly I remembered that wild turkeys roost in trees to sleep, and no sooner had that thought entered my mind than we heard a loud crashing and gobbling up ahead as the first turkey fell off it's branch. It seemed backwards that they would give up the safety of the trees to escape us but they did. Every few feet we heard a new crashing and frantic gobbling. It became so frequent that we wondered if we would be hit by a falling bird. I have no idea how they get into the trees in the first place!

solliddiffyyyyyhhh...

solid foundations

ive begun to have fun with old books... this one was called "trygg grunn", or solid foundations/ safe ground... heres a taste of some and related stuff...

fang boy...

at the beach in the city theres this rock wall thats been there for hundreds of years... after a storm its the place to go to find old pottery and shards of colored glass... one day we were there, sammy found this black pottery piece that looks like a fang... he wanted me to take photos of it so that owen could share in his adventures....

what big brothers do...

he dont even care... he is gonna be the most resilient little person - ever!

Currently reading...

Just finished this excellent and heartbreaking book. Very fascinating. - Anna

oh so far away from here...

oh people of amazing awesomenesses -
i am now in your midst!

Megaman

Owen wanted Sammi to see pictures of his Megaman costume. There was a video game themed birthday party last month and we created this out of tissue paper and other stuff we had on hand. Nothing says "supercool hero" like wearing your underpants on the outside.

SUSHI!!!

The pictures speak for themselves...my favorite was the salmon, mango, cream cheese and green onion maki...

bigger than the WHOLE U-NAH-VAHSE!

Hello both of you! I'm glad we can be together on this corner of the interweb. Last night Owen was going to sleep and said,
"You know mama, when those guys, I mean those Troxels, come over for a day I will tell them I can talk like Sammi."
He does every now and then summon the spirit of Sammi and say something with a Sammi accent. It is a funny way of remembering his friend. He says Sammi will always be his favorite. He still has the Transformer-Burger.
We are missing you.

Another new skirt

So, I was so inspired by how easily the last skirt whipped up, that I made another one:

new skirt out of an old muumuu

So, I bought this incredibly ugly muumuu at a garage sale in Missouri on our missions trip and finally did what I bought it for...a summer skirt with a little bit of a bustle in the back.

So...just playing around with this...Im not even sure how the whole multiple authors thing works, hopefully it's a bit more explanatory on your end...we went to St. Louis last weekend to MEET THE FAM. A little intimidating, but in the end, not too bad really. It's so enlightening to see where people come from.

well, here we are Kristin.....let's give it a go...