5 Gifts I'm Giving This Year

a few things I'm giving my family this year:

--a book to each kiddo, which they will sign immediately to record their current john hancock.  how sweet will be it be to open a beloved story years from now and see an early handwritten name?

--we're keeping our Christmas book collection under our tree all month for the kids to read to each other on schoolwork breaks.  we added this Christmas Carol picture book by Charles Dickens to our collection this year.

--a new Bible for each reading kiddo.  this year I bought Adventure Bibles for two of my kiddos and the Action Bible for my comic loving son.

--a stocking stuffer of school supplies (like these multicultural skin-tone markers) and band-aids (Sorette's favorite thing ever) to unwrap before we open gifts with others.  this will be a practice for receiving gifts with gratitude.  (read onethankfulmom here for her 5 Hints for Avoiding a Christmas Fiasco)

--i've had so much fun planning 12 Days of Christmas for matt.  each morning i'm giving him a small token of appreciation for who he is and all he does.  did i mention small?  they are small. on the first day of christmas, i gave him a pen.  people are always taking his around here.  i can't give more away, because he hasn't opened everything yet and he reads my blog, the sweet guy.  here's some printables i found too.

what are you giving?  

2012 Book and Movie List

It's practically summer, and although I haven't published this post, I have been updating it quietly for my own records. But now I share it with you, so you can share with me: What have you read this year?  Any must reads?  or sees?

Books read in 2012:

1. Bossypants
2. The Hunger Games
3. The History of Love
4. Catching Fire
5. Mockingjay
6. The Christian Atheist
7. On Writing Well
8. The Charlotte Mason Companion
9. Criss Cross
10. Radical
11. The Well Trained Mind
12. Pocketful of Pinecones
13. Loving
14. The Great Divorce *still reading
15. Smooth and Easy Days (free ebook from SimplyCharlotteMason.com)
16. The Read-Aloud Handbook
17. I am the Messenger
18.  Cutting for Stone
19.  Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
20.  Interrupted
21.  The Heart of Anger
22.  Still
23.  Good and Angry
24. Son of Hamas
25. The Quest for Quality Caring
26. Coming Home
27.  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
28. The Lost Years
29. Looking for Alaska
30. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
31. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
32. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
33. The Power of a Whisper
34.  His Affair My Redemption
35. The Bridge
36. The Mom You're Meant to Be
37. Raising Godly Tomatoes
38. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince


Read Alouds with the kids:

1. The Bears on Hemlock Mountain
2. Dear Mr. Henshaw
3. The Ballet Shoes
4. Freckle Juice
5. Stuart Little
6. Henry Huggins
7. Mr. Popper's Penguins
8. Ralph S. Mouse
9. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
10. Frindle
11. Junie B. Jones, First Grader, Jingle Bells, Batman Smells
12. My Father's Dragon
13. James and the Giant Peach
14. Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus
15. Two for the Fun
16. Chibi
17. The Chalk Box Kid


Movies seen in 2012:

1. Beginners
2. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
3. The Book of Eli
4. 50/50
5. Drive
6. Just Go With It
7. The Guard
8. Terri
9. The Ides of March
10. Being Elmo
11. Hugo
12. Take Shelter
13. Moneyball
14. The Hunger Games
15. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
16. Warrior
17. The Beaver
18. Footloose
19. Mr. Popper's Penguins
20. Haywire
21. Rounders
22. The Decendants
23. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
24. The Long Goodbye
25. PS
26. Incendies
27. The Artist
28. 21 Jumpstreet
29. The Dark Knight Rises
30. Friends with Kids
31. Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets
32. Mission Impossible 4
33. Remember Me
34. The Vow
35. Jeff, Who Lives at Home
36. Madagascar 3
37. Superman 2
38. Superman 3
39. Superman 4
40. Half Nelson
41. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
42. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
43. Madagascar 2

ps.  here's last year's list

The Last Three Books in my Amazon Cart

I've met my reading goal for the year (39 books).  I keep a running list of books and movies on the sidebar, and this year, I just wanted to surpass my previous year's number of books read.

I checked my mailbox on Veteran's day four times, I think, before I realized that the mail was not coming.  But my amazon account said three books were on their way.   So they came Saturday.

The first was Jesus Calling by Sarah Young.  This is a daily devotional written in paraphrased Scripture from the voice of Christ to you.  I found it on Pintrest, on a kindred spirit's book board, added it to my cart and left it there.  Later that same night, I talked to a living saint from our church.  She asked me if I'd heard of Jesus Calling and said to get it and read the day of my birthday.  So I did.   It was spot on.

Here's part of today's:

Thankfulness is not some sort of magic formula; it is the language of Love, which enables you to communicate intimately with Me.  A thankful mind-set does not entail a denial of reality with its plethora of problems.  Instead, it rejoices in Me, your Savior, in the midst of trials and tribulations.  I am your refuge and strength, an ever present and well-proved help in trouble.  

-November 22, Jesus Calling 

I also ordered the second book, A Charlotte Mason Companion after seeing it on the same Pintrest board. Maybe that means I need to get out more, but at least I'm reading.   This book is not Charlotte Mason's writings but a collection of essays written about using Charlotte's ideas.  It feels very practical and encouraging.

The third book, I am almost embarrassed to say that I ordered only for the dust jacket.  The book is A Guide to Birds of East Africa.  and it's cover is art.  And did you know that my oldest daughter is a bird lover?  And I know you know my youngest daughter is from East Africa?  So yes, I put the $3.99 copy with free shipping in my cart before I even read the summary.  Then I read one of the reviews call the author Kenya's version of Botswana's Alexander McCall Smith.  I clicked 'Buy Now'.

What have you read and loved this year?

2011 Book & Movie List

I loved keeping track of what I read and saw last year.  It was a first for me, but I'm sure I will keep it going-and now I have a number to beat (last years books numbered 39)...

Books I've read:

1. By the River Piedro, I Sat Down and Wept
2. What the Dog Saw
3. One Thousand Gifts
4. Lumber Camp Library
5. Childwise
6. Sex God
7. Adopted for Life
8. Her Mother's Hope
9. 31 DBBB
10. Simple Blogging
11. Misty of Chincateague
12. Shades of Blue
13. The Mission of Motherhood
14. Her Daughter's Dream
15. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
16. The Little Riders
17. The Twenty-One Balloons
18. Maximize Your Mornings (free ebook)
19. The Invisible Woman
20. Eating Animals
21. Leaving
22. I'll Walk Alone
23. Little House on the Prairie
24. The Shadow of Your Smile
25. Ender's Game
26. On the Banks of Plum Creek
27. Journey to Jo'burg
28. The Prodigal God
29. Farmer Boy
30. Learning
31. My Side of the Mountain
32. Hind's Feet on High Places
33. The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe
34. Love Wins
35. Make Over
36. Something Borrowed
37. The Ballet Shoes
38. The Charlotte Mason Companion
39. And the Shofar Blew
40. Longing

Movies I've seen:

1. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
2. Going the Distance
3. Frankie & Johnny
4. Breaking Upwards
5. Shutter Island
6. True Grit
7. High Ball
8. Roman de Gare
9. Easy Rider
10. City Island
11. The Secret in Their Eyes
12. The Social Network
13. Let the Right One In
14. Winter's Bone
15. Jack Goes Boating
16. The Kids Are Alright
17. Cyrus
18. Greenberg
19. High Noon
20. Summertime
21. The Fighter
22. Due Date
23. Animal Kingdom
24. Salt
25. Get Low
26. The King's Speech 
27. Four Lions
28. Falling Up
29. Looking for Eric
30. Easy A
31. The Diary of a Mad Black Woman
32. Black Swan
33. Bridesmaids
34. Blue Valentine
35. Somewhere
36. A Scanner Darkly
37. Looking for Eric
38. It's Kind of A Funny Story
39. Super 8
40. According to Greta
41. No Strings Attached
42. Killers
43. High School Musical-yes.  i did.
44. Love and Other Drugs
45. When in Rome
46. The Switch
47. The Company Men
48. Fat Sick and Nearly Dead
49. Happythankyoumoreplease
50. Taken
51. Hawaii, Oslo
52. Intacto
53. Iron Man 2
54. Tangled
55. The Adjustment Bureau
56. Of Gods and Men
57. The Princess Bride
58. The Wizard of Oz
59. Last Night
60. Biutiful
61. Everything Must Go
62. X-Men: First Class
63. Chopper
64. Zodiac
65. Road to Perdition
66. The Trip
67. State of Play
68. Pulling John
69. Hot Tub Time Machine
70. Horrible Bosses
71. Submarine
72. Our Idiot Brother
73. Crazy Stupid Love
74. Buck
75. The Namesake

Any recommendations?

Is God Really Good?

At some point in any God-believing person's life, the question exists.  Sometimes it is barely whispered, or only a fleeting thought.  Other times, it is a gnawing overwhelming silence.  

I'm reading One Thousand Gifts and have found hope for the fear that surrounds the unanswered question.  Ann Voskamp has lived through the question after several tragedies and found the answer in the ordinary: gratitude.  She explains, "It is impossible to give thanks, and simultaneously feel fear."  

Yesterday, at fifty pages into her story, I challenged myself to write down 1000 things to give thanks for.   Dressing for church this morning, as a I slipped my hand into a coat I rarely wear, I found a note of a quote I must have wanted to keep. I collect them, you know.  Yet, this one, I forgot.  

"We walk by humble miracles everyday.  They give evidence that God is good."  

Ann's book is the first item on my beginning list.  The note is the second.  

These moments from our simple Saturday evening at home are also on my list.  
My littles masked in lemon and mint clay. 

I hope your weekend was sweet and full of humble miracles that went noticed.  Have you started reading Ann's book? 

Drawing with Children's Books

Have you read Drummer Hoff?  We brought home a copy from the library on our last trip.  And each of us have commented on the texture of the illustrations...very cool.  Here's a page:

Source

So yesterday I had to try the style myself:

Have you ever tried to imitate an illustration style? just for fun?

Books that make you want to do something: A giveaway

I love a good story.  Especially one that moves me.  Often I read stories that move me to tears.  Every once in a while I read one that moves me to act.


In honor of Sorette and our passing court tomorrow (call it faith?), I thought I would share a few books that have impacted me so much so that we will bring home our fourth baby a somewhat atypical way.


I read There is No Me Without You by Melissa Fay Green and knew I could not ignore Ethiopia's defenseless.  I wanted to bring a dozen babies home before I finished the last page.  Read it.  I dare you not to be moved.


Not too long after we began our adoption process, I was sent a copy of Red Letters by Tom Davis.  He is the president/CEO of Children's HopeChest, a children's advocacy organization that helps churches and corporations around the U.S. adopt an orphanage and make a real difference in the lives of orphans.  This great book describes the reality of life for much of the world's orphans.  


A few years later, I heard Tom Davis had written a novel, and not just one.  But his first novel in particular was recommended by a friend.  Scared is the story of an orphan girl in AIDS-devastated Swaziland and a photojournalist who cannot do nothing.  It is a hard sad story, but one with hope and redemption.

And now, Tom Davis has continued the story of the photojournalist, Stuart Daniels, on another mission in a new novel, Priceless set in Russia.  It's gripping from the first page, all the while so eye opening and thought provoking.  Possibly, God-willing, even life-changing.  My heart has definitely softened to the many orphaned girls in Russia because of this story.  


So, now for the giveaway!  Tom Davis has offered a signed copy of Priceless to one commenter on Pajama Mama.  A winner will be chosen on Sunday, June 27th.


Thanks for reading Pajama Mama and caring about the story of our girl!
***************GIVEAWAY CLOSED-Congrats, Shannon!*****************************

For the Joy of My Low-fat Mid-morning Snack

Joy of Cooking is seriously such a great kitchen reference.  I got my copy as a wedding gift, and use it all the time--need menu ideas for a brunch?  (page 21), or a substitute for cilantro?  (spicy basil, page 1060) or wonder how easy it is to make biscotti (which, by the way, they declare low-fat)?  (page 834).  

I love it when a recipe I searched for is naturally low-fat AND I have all the ingredients on hand. Biscotti is a perfect tide-me-over til lunch--it's not a cookie, it's biscotti-- not to mention a strong reason to pour that third cup of coffee.  Don't judge.  I can quit whenever I want.  

Do you have a favorite homemade mid morning snack?

Randomness with Link Love Sprinkled On Top

• Put up my LOVE sign.  It is February, you know. Printable font is here. 
• Read a beautiful book, The Book Thief, last week.  Here's one of three quotes I saved from it, 
• "'Look at the colors,' said Papa.  It's not hard to love a man who not only noticed the colors but also speaks them." 
• Now, I'm reading a loaned copy of Backyard Homestead.  Any seasoned gardeners with tips for a newbie? Like where I can get free, clean dirt?
• I've been talking to our agency.  No word yet, but I think our baby is at another orphanage, not one owned by our agency, so it is taking a while to get more information.  But soon, they tell me. Soon.     hmm-mmm.  I'll believe it when I hear it.   Adoption is not for the faint of heart.  And we haven't even met her yet.  
• I'm taking an SLR Photography class starting at our local rec center.  Anyone in the Plano area interested in joining me?  
• Stop by Better After, One Pretty Thing, and The Crafty Crow.  They are really cool sites, and you might see me over there!
• Enough self-promoting...what are you all up to?

2010 Book & Movie List

I find myself always clicking on others' links to their book lists and movie lists in hopes to find either a good recommendation or a connection to those who have enjoyed the same things.

And I assume, if you have clicked on my list, you are looking for the same.

I hope you find both.


Books read in 2010:

1. The Time Traveler's Wife
2. The Kite Runner
3. Rees Howells: The Intercessor
4. Training Hearts-Teaching Minds
5. The Book Thief
6. Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance 
7. A Thousand Splendid Suns  
8. Creating Short Fiction  (in the process)
9. If God is Good  (in the process)
10. The Backyard Homestead (skimming)
11. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
12. It's All Good Hair
13. A Case for Faith
14. The New Square Foot Gardening
15. Prayer for Beginners
16. There are No Accidents
17. Redeeming Love
18. Steady Days
19. The Help
20. The Color Purple
21. Where Are You Now?
22. Priceless
23. Scream-Free Parenting
24. Born to Run
25. Have a New Kid by Friday
26. Take Three
27. Take Four
28. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
29. My Father's Daughter
30. At Home in Mitford
31. Eat Pray Love
32. Little Bee
33. The Secret
34. The Missing
35. Choosing to See
36. Digging to America
37. The Telling
38. Suicide by Sugar
39. The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook

Movies seen in 2010:

1. Comedian
2. Away We Go
3. The Devil's Backbone
4. 500 Days of Summer
5. Fiddler on the Roof
6. The Importance of Being Ernest
7. The Conversation
8. A Serious Man
9. Good Hair
10. The Hurt Locker
11. Up in the Air
12. New York, I Love You
13. Monsoon Wedding
14. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
15. An Education
16. Where the Wild Things Are
17. The Blind Side
18. Fantastic Mr. Fox
19. Crazy Heart
20. Funny People
21. The Proposal
22. Captain Abu Raed
23. Invictus
24. Reign Over Me
25. The Last Station
26. Eclipse
27. The Last Song*
28. Cop Out*
29. Bounty Hunter*
30. Date Night*
31. Beautiful Losers
32. Fame
33. A Prophet
34. Youth in Revolt
35. Terribly Happy
36. Time Traveler's Wife
37. Do the Right Thing
38. Murder on the Orient Express
39. Paper Heart
40. Sin Nombre
41. Inception
42. New In Town*
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic*
44. The Back Up Plan*
45. District 9
46. Herb & Dorothy
47. The Baxter
48. Art and Copy
49. Paper Clips
50. Last Chance Harvey
51. My Flesh and Blood
52. Hot Fuzz
53. The Ghost Writer
54. Moon
55. Singles
56. Tin Men
57. Glengary Glenross
58. Precious
59. 8 Mile
60. Gigantic
61. Toy Story 3
62. The Purple Rose of Cairo
63. Moon
64. Eat, Pray, Love
65. Saving Sarah Cain
66. It's Complicated
67. The Other Guys
68. Priceless

*saw on 18 hour plane trip :)
*or saw while Mr. Smarty was out of town :)

Have a book or movie list?  If we're kindred spirits, let me know,

I collect words.

I love reading. I love the written words that tell a great story. And I love the creative ways writers form words to make a clearer picture or a more beautiful or poignant statement.

Sometimes I have to reread phrases that make me smile. Other times I have to write them down. Phrases like, "companionable silence" or "runaway enthusiasms."

Sometimes I save an entire monologue. Last week, I scribbled this on the back of the closest water bill envelope:

"She glanced down at her shoes again, and they met her stare. Shoes are realists, she thought, and they seemed to be saying: 'No chance. Sorry, but no chance.' " Tears of the Giraffe

Anyone else collect words?

September

Reading:

Hold On To Your Kids by Neufeld & Mate. Essentially why parents need to matter more than peers.



Home Grown Kids by Raymond & Dorothy Moore. An urge to parents to consider teaching children at home informally in the early years. They have also written the book, Better Late Than Early.

Learning:

New love is amazing, but love realized is even more wonderful.

That is is my desire that:

I am more concerned with principle than social pressures,

I cherish my children more than my own freedoms and

I am willing to study to provide them sound values, academic excellence and a sense of self-worth.

Working On:

A Car Seat Makeover for a baby girl due in October using these fabrics:



Deciding what fall color needs to go into my window box and large pots.

Trying Not to Think About:

The Phone Call that hasn't happened yet...I am granting myself a phone call to our agency on Wednesday, though, to ask for a status update, Come on, Wednesday!

What have you all been up to?

Two Links and A Popularity Test...

I've been debating doing a post on my depression in hindsight. For several months now I have experienced more peace and healing, where before there was fear and doubt. But every now and again, I face a trigger, or hear a sermon or come across a song on the radio, that reminds me of the mindset I was in just a half a year ago.

Someday I will work up the nerve to tell you about what I was thinking back then, and what I occasionally still think. But for now, I will post that God does give peace. Last week, on the short ride to my neighborhood Walmart, it was this new song from Jeremy Camp that reminded me of that fact.

And then yesterday, it was Chatting at the Sky's post that reminded me that I am not in control-but I know the One who is able to hold me together when things fall apart.

And now for that test that seems silly after re-reading Chatting at the Sky's post above...
Google has added a new feature that allows you to subscribe to a blog and appear in a public list of all other followers of it. Several of the blogs I check on a regular basis now have this feature on their sidebar, and look very cool doing so.

So for me to add this feature, because all the popular bloggy moms are doing it, I have to take the risk that no one is willing to follow me. Woah---, I'm having an uncomfortable flash back to high school. But you can elect me homecoming queen change that for me ;-) If not, I will have to move the followers gadget down on my sidebar and eventually remove when no one is looking. We'll see what happens.

(Update: ohmygoodness...I just added the followers feature and found I already had a follower! Thanks Brandee!!!!-You've made my day!)

I'm back, really...

So I bet you all have been thinking I must have turned into the best mom around and have been super busy working with Belle on her schoolwork and playing on the floor with Boo & Baby in between laundry loads and meal preparation...thus too busy to blog consistantly, right? Nope. I got talked into starting the Twilight Saga!

I really didn't plan on reading it. Really. Even after reading like 20 blog recommendations. Really. But I changed my mind. I picked up the first book in paperback thinking it was $8. No big deal. I'd just see what the fuss was about. Yesterday I finished the fourth and final book of the saga.

If you haven't read Twilight, here is the basic story line: A seventeen year old girl named Bella moves from Phoenix to small town Forks in rainy Washington state to live with her father. She's basically just an average plain jane girl until she meets a fellow student named Edward. He is beautiful. He is mysterious. And, later she learns he is a one hundred year old vampire stuck in a seventeen year old perfect body.

So now let me pretend to win back some of your respect by writing my review on the series.

Did I love reading these books and getting swept up in the fairy tale? Yes. Would I recommend them for the intended audience: teens and tweens? Uuuuummmm, weeeeelllll, not really.

The vampire thing really isn't my issue with the recommendation. But I'm not particularly sensitive to that...other things may bother me (without giving an spoilers-email me if you've read them and we can chat!), but the whole vampire/werewolf thing was used primarily for story telling, a plot device. But for a 13 year old girl, they may seem very dark.

Amazon reviews call the series "clean romance for young girls." Ummm. Clean but a bit racy at the same time. Is that possible? I could praise these books for raising important questions and issues about personal responsibility, consequences and moral conduct-i.e. Edward believes that just because he was created for evil doesn't mean he has to give into those desires. But bottom line, there were scenes I wouldn't want my early teen daughter reading this.

So why did I sacrifice hours of sleep and house work and meals and blogging to read these books? Although these books are no Anne of Green Gables, Wuthering Heights or Chronicals of Narnia (which also had some "unrealistic" characters), they are brilliant-and addictive. Every girl dreams of being loved so fully and passionately and to be protected and thought of in every moment...(are we really that vain?) And it was fun. Devouring 2000 pages about the same characters was fun...to get lost in the world of Forks and Bella and Edward.

But I'm back...back in the world of Belle, Boo and Baby and laundry and dinner and dusting. And that's fun, too.

Eleven by Sandra Cisneros

What they don't understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you've eleven, you're also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two and one. And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don't. You open your eyes and everything's just like yesterday, only it's today. And you are--underneath the year that make you eleven.
Like some days you might say something stupid, and that's the part of you that's still ten. Or maybe some days you might need to sit on your mama's lap because you're scared, and that's the part of you that's five. And maybe one day when you're all grown up maybe you will need to cry like if you're three, and that's okay. That's what I tell Mama when she's sad and needs to cry. Maybe she's feeling three.
Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree truck or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one. That's how being eleven years old is.
You don't feel eleven. Not right away. It takes a few days, weeks even, sometimes even months before you say Eleven when they ask you. And you don't even feel smart eleven, not until you're almost twelve. That's the way it is.

Don't Make Me Count to Three

I'm reading and loving this book.  My cousin, Carolyn, recommended it a few weeks ago and I just now was able to get it from the library.  It is very similar to Shepherding a Child's Heart (Ted Tripp) , but more straightforward.  It also quotes The Heart of Anger (Lou Priolo), but seems better for parenting younger children.  The author, Ginger Plowman, also has a book called Wise Words for Moms...I think this one may make the permanent shelf in our book closet. If you're not familiar with the titles I compared this book to, Don't Make Me Count... is a book that equips moms (and dads) to apply Scripture to go beyond the outward behaviors of our children to really get into the issues of their heart.