Christmas Card Remorse

I've been feeling some remorse lately because I did not manage to get Christmas cards to MOST of my friends and family.  Normally I send out about 200 cards and I truly enjoy reading every card I get and seeing how everyone's families are growing and changing.  This year things have been wild for us and I wanted to bring everyone who is interested up to speed.

I ordered my cards in early November and was ahead of the game.  I started addressing them the first week in December.  Here is what they looked like!

We got our tree fairly early this year -- another 16 footer from our favorite Bernard's $25 tree farm in Honey Brook! Paul built an awesome train platform and we were so excited for the season of Advent. 

The first Thursday in December Maeve and I hosted a fun Christmas playdate for her pals in preschool and we enjoyed a great time of crafts, snacks and play.  

We had a visit from Maeve's teachers and all of the kids were so excited to see them!

A few days after our party we were finally scheduled to have our kitchen floor replaced after a dishwasher leak when we moved in.  The flooring company showed up and ripped up the vinyl in our kitchen to find a not so friendly black substance growing underneath.

We could tell that it was under the cabinets and so the entire kitchen was ripped out.  No cabinets, sink, dishwasher, or stove.

This was what was underneath:

So the builder began the process of ripping up the subfloor to replace the plywood.  Everything was structurally sound, thank God!  However, when the floor was taken out no precautions were taken to confine the mold.  The vents were open and the kitchen area was not contained.  I was really scared about the type of mold and what could happen to our kids.  I contacted a lawyer who encouraged me to stop all work and have testing done.  We did this and found that it was toxic black mold and that it had spread in the air through the entire house (the spores, not the black mold growing).  So we have spent the last four weeks waiting for everything to be properly cleaned up.  Our house had to be professionally cleaned by Mold Remediation specialists from top to bottom for 5 days.  The air was scrubbed, the walls were scrubbed, the floors were professionally vacuumed, the heating ducts were cleaned.  

We had to assess all sorts of different things about whether it was safe to stay, how we react to mold personally... we had to call the doctors, the allergists, the CDC and the EPA!!!!  But, thank God we are totally fine.  

First we had to empty the rooms, then empty the cabinets, then empty the pantry and laundry room.  So, all of our belongings are scattered throughout the house.  Our drawers are in the living room, we wash dishes in the upstairs bathroom, we are eating off of paper plates (and if you know us you know we never ever do that!).  We are using purely k-cups and plasticware.  We balance between eating cold food, eating out, and using the microwave.  Paul has the camp stove set up on the floor and we are managing!  We have also had so many people invite us over for dinner or make us a meal and extend gracious hospitality to us.  

(our properly sealed off kitchen, complete with zipper!)

Rumor on the street is that this week the floor will be reinstalled and the cabinets and appliances to follow.  We will see!!!  We are going on two full months without a kitchen.  

We did have to move our washer and dryer into the garage because there is more mold under the laundry room floor.  Our cabinets and granite are also living in the garage.  These factors mean that we have done very little laundry and that we haven't been able to park in our garage during the snow. We finally had to move our washer and dryer back in because we ran out of clothes! They will come out again this week.  

Despite all of this craziness, we are very aware of our blessings.  We still have a warm place to sleep, an abundance of friends and family, and a life that is worth more than any kitchen could ever be valued.  

So, as I stare at the HUGE stack of Christmas cards that never went out, please please forgive me.  We did try to get some in the mail but we were using a list from our wedding and most of them were returned back to us.  

I promise that next year I will be back on my Christmas "A game" and be ready to greet you with your homemade crafts, photo cards, and baked goods!

Happy February!

California

During the last week of January I was able to attend the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators meeting in San Jose, CA.  I jumped at the opportunity because I had never been to California!

I flew in a day early to attend a religious tour of San Francisco.  It was an amazing day seeing sights that most people will never see.  

We began at the Cameron house named for Donaldina Cameron.  This woman was instrumental in helping young women who were brought as slaves from China to the USA in the 1800's.  She brought them to this house to rescue them and then taught them life skills to be able to get a job or to get married.  Before women could even vote in the USA the Presbyterian Women were lobbying Congress for help with these refugees.  The building and the stories were amazing.

Next we went to Chinatown and had some time to look around and shop.

We headed to Grace Cathedral next which is a central landmark of the city and we met with the rector there who gave us an amazing tour.  There was an art installation while we were there that was literally so moving!  It was done by an artist in residence and it is thousands of pieces of paper with people's prayers written on them.  As the air and the light move through the sanctuary the prayers swirl about. 

We went to The Ferry Building next which is the building where the Ferrys come into the city.  It houses 30 artisan food vendors and we enjoyed meat in a cup and various wild olive oils among other things!

The piece I was really waiting for was our trip to St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church.  I recently read the book Take This Bread by Sara Miles which is set in this church.   In the book, Sara tells of her own conversion story from an atheist into an Episcopal priest all through the sacrament of communion.  She takes a fresh hard look at Christianity.  Her strong tie to the meal at the table inspired her to turn their sanctuary into a weekly food pantry which raised lots of criticism but she prevailed and started feeing 300 people a week around the communion table.  

Here is the inscription on the communion table

(did not the Lord share the table of publicans and harlots? So then... do not distinguish between worth and unworthy, all must be equal in your eyes to love and serve)

The church dome is decorated with around 200 saints chosen by the congregation.  The saints are dancing and they include all sorts of people who made an impact on our world.  Gandhi, Isaac Newton, Desmond Tutu, MLK and more.  All of them are dancing and Jesus is in the center of the dance.

The baptismal font is outside and is water pouring out of a rock.  The symbolism of this is that the choice to be baptized is a choice to go out into the world and live out your faith.

The sanctuary is set up as a moveable area so people can discuss and dialogue and move during worship.  There is an eclectic blend of traditions and collections from all over the world.

More views of the saints.  It was such an inspiring day to see how so many people live out their faith in different ways... oh and the yummy food!

The next day my meetings didn't start until 3pm so I rented a little car and drove through the redwoods to the coast.  Here are my toes in the Pacific at Santa Cruz:

 

I decided to head back to San Fran because I didn't get to see the bridge or Fisherman's Wharf.  I finally found the bridge (driving was WILD!) and it was too foggy to even see any red!

I walked around along the waterfront and had some shrimp salad and coffee.  I stopped at the Boudin bakery to look around and saw all of these cool animal shaped breads!!!

I headed back to San Jose to begin the conference and I enjoyed 4 days of workshops, worship, speakers, and fellowship.  There is so much work to do in the church, but it's so exciting all at the same time.  Here is a plenary with Bruce Reyes-Chow and Brian McClaren.

When I got back to my office in West Chester I was greeted by some of the world's most famous teeny boppers... thanks youth group!

New York 2014

As one of our relational gifts we gave the kids an overnight in NYC.  We picked the date and hotel a while ago and as the date approached the weather was looking terrible!  They were advertising the lowest temperatures in five years and a blizzard!  We made the decision to go anyway and to take our snow clothes and make the best of it!

On Thursday we headed up first thing and made it in only two hours!  We first went to Ground Zero to see the memorial and spent time explaining 9/11 to the kids.  Noah was particularly interested and asked a lot of questions.  

At the burger joint across the street the kids got Wiki Stiks with their kids meals.  They were really neat twistable wax sticks that we had a blast with.

We checked into our hotel and then walked around Times Square.

The Toys R Us in Times Square was awesome!  A huge roaring TRex,

a giant lego Incredible Hulk,

a ride on the indoor ferris wheel,

and lots more fun!!!  We walked around some more and watched some street performers before eating a yummy meal at Carmines.

                                      

After a good night's rest we woke up to a very snowy NYC!  We put on our gear and headed into the city. 

The streets were virtually empty of cars and we did snow angels everywhere we could!!!  We walked back to Times Square to get coffee when Maeve had her epic meltdown.  The NYPD was doing a publicity boost to improve their image and a police officer came over to see if he could do anything to help Maeve.  They caught it on camera and put it on the NYPD facebook page!

We trekked a few blocks away and looked at Rockefeller Square and St. Patrick's Cathedral.  

Then we split up and Maeve and I headed to The American Girl Cafe for lunch while Paul and Noah went ice skating at Rockefeller center.

Maeve was in absolute glory during the whole event grinning from ear to ear.  The lunch was actually very nice and pretty large.  It was fun to share the experience with her!

We gathered the boys and went to the Lego store....

And then we headed back to the car.  We didn't see as much as we had hoped but with the weather we were just grateful to have made it!!!! We all hope to go back again soon!

Christmas 2013

Christmas was a really special time for us this year.  Both children were immersed in the biblical story and I was so excited to see them interact with all of the amazing opportunities to learn and experience the birth of Christ!

We allowed the children to pick a gift for each other.  Noah remembered a My Little Pony Maeve wanted and Maeve wanted to get Noah is favorite Root Beer.  Here she is wrapping his gift!

On December 23rd we allowed the kids to open their Icelandic presents.  They received awesome monogrammed suitcases filled with books and goodies from Iceland.  They spent the entire Christmas week carting everything around in their luggage!

On Christmas Eve I had to head to church very early to get ready for 6 services from 1pm to midnight.  It was so exhausting but so amazing to see so many people at worship!

Here are the cuties all dressed and ready!

The 3pm service is the children's pageant.  Maeve was there early and got to pick the Mary costume.  She was so excited. 

Maeve's choir sang three songs before the pageant began and she was adorable!

A few children had speaking parts but for most of the play children came just in costume for their part and joined the nativity.  We had shepherds, angels, magi, and animals in a great surplus!

As the worship service continued, Noah was able to read the Christmas prayer and he did a wonderful job.  Part of the set was a bed and we used Maeve's bedding.  At the end of worship, right before the benediction Maeve walked up on the altar area and laid down in her bed and started reading a book that was a prop.  Hilarious!!!!

She and I walked out after the benediction together!

We went home and put the kids to bed full of excitement and joy.  On Christmas Day they woke up and raced to begin the day.  We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus in blueberry muffins and then started opening gifts.

Christmas was much calmer this year than it has been in the past which was a welcome addition.  We casually strolled through the day, opening, playing and eating with our family.

A big part of our Christmas celebration was giving the kids gifts of family time.  The first one was a trip to Disney on Ice, the second an overnight in New York and the third tickets to see the Wild Kratts, our favorite PBS show about animals.

It was a great Christmas!!!!