Reluctant

I enter into this holiday season of Thanksgiving, Advent and Christmas with a profound awareness of my inner reluctance.

My heart still grieves as does my little family.  Holidays after the death of a loved one are just no nasty and raw!  Such bittersweetness... to bake the yummy foods, decorate our homes, and gather around a table with one chair so obviously absent.

I know this terrain.

Other times in my life I have traversed this space... it is just so hard to navigate this hallowed ground on behalf of my little one who simply misses her Nana.

What traditions do we keep for continuity and what new expressions are born from this?
 Tough to say.

I have decided that however reluctant I am ... I cannot stop the movement of momentum in the calendar... so here goes!

By God's great grace.

365 Days

As of November first our family countdown began.  The days until my husband finishes his Master's degree are closer now than they have been.  As of this writing only 357 days remain until the celebration begins.

Whoopee!

Difficult to determine who is more excited about this prospect: the student or his family.

Let this be a warning to all readers that random numbers, which are not so random, may start appearing in my conversation, blogs, posts, and tweets.

Gosh- that also means I have a limited amount of time to plan the graduation party and get my gifts ready!  I better get going!

Fall Break

When I think back about the last two weeks of Fall Break, and list all the fun my kid had when she:

• visited a dairy farm
• screamed in a haunted house (Time Warp at Children's Musem)
• made her own animated movies at camp
• enjoyed all her favorite parts of the Children's Museum
• saw Cloudy with a Chance for Meatballs 2
• slept in
• got lost in a corn maze
• met an astronaut at Space Day (Purdue University)
• ran a 5K in the cold rain
• spent the day planting a secret garden at her grandma's
• shopped for new clothes
• went out to eat (a lot)
• baked Nutella chocolate chip cookies & celebrated her Daddy's birthday
• adopted a new fish for her tank
• celebrated her excellent report card

I am not surprised by how s-l-o-w-l-y she got out of bed yesterday for her first day back at school.  Nor that we were unprepared for the return to the school routine. 

She (and we) simply had too much fun!

Thank goodness another break is coming! 

Finished!

After the pouring down cold rain two Saturdays ago (and fifty one minutes later), my kidlet and I finished her first 5K!  Woo hoo!  I was so proud of her tenacity (and ability to jump into all puddles along the course)! 

Besides our medals, bananas and bottles of water, you can see that she collected several autumn leaves while enjoying the course through Fort Harrison! Only my kid.

Right after the race (moments after this photo) she said, "Momma, I don't ever want to do that again!"

Sniff. 

I guess it was a once-in-a-lifetime event!  She is finished with 5K's. 

5K with My Kidlet

Early tomorrow morning my daughter and I will have our shoes laced for the 5K which is part of the Indianapolis Marathon and Half Marathon! (3.1 miles is a lot for a 3rd grader!)

The trees will be gorgeous and hopefully the weather will be dry!  A personal best will be far from my goal this 5K. Enjoying time outdoors- that's the ticket!

How are you enjoying the autumn season?

Not on Fall Break!

Not to do on this fall break:

• clean up a foul doggie mess after my pooch had a seizure in his kennel while everyone is away for the day
• dust our house
• anything related to laundry
• rush around town looking for the last minute items needed for a homework project!
• anything homework related
• get up early (on purpose or by accident because the dog itches himself LOUDLY)
• solve problems that I did not create and are related to someone's poor use of the brain power God gave them  (I have enough trouble re-solving my stupidness!)

Best things to do:

• go to a haunted house and act not-scared
• eat fresh apples with caramel on them
• have a special anniversary date with my spouse
• surprise my husband with his birthday goodies
• sleep in
• avoid anything related to the above list
• maybe even walk a labyrinth or two!

A Month of Celebration

Yesterday while our U.S. Congress shut down our government, October 1st marked another beginning for my household: the biggest, densest month of birthdays for our combined family.  Apparently, nine months prior to October several couples within our family were 'busy'.  And a variety of births were the result. Hallmark will experience a volume in sales from my pocketbook alone.

Besides Duke Basketball season's start, October also holds my wedding anniversary (my lucky number #13).  We're not sure that we've even got something special planned for the the 13th.  I did some research into how to celebrate the 13th.  One website site I found stated that...

13th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY 

Traditional Anniversary Gift: Lace 

Modern Anniversary Gift: Textiles 

Travel Anniversary Gift Ideas: France

Not sure if we'll go with these ideas, but they are interesting and clever.  I don't want to iron lace and we've already traveled to France once as a couple.  Dinner and a movie or concert sounds good!

It is not how you celebrate but that we have much to celebrate... as yesterday also was the long-awaited for day when we learned whether my husbands position at his employer would continue into 2014.  We are overwhelmed with gratitude to know there is a future for us because God is in charge.  (And also his job will continue.)

With all that said I began our month of celebration with the baking of 4 loaves of pumpkin bread to share!  Yum- an autumn harvest is yet another celebration!

How do you celebrate those big and small moments in your life?