From Costa Rica to Christmas

Been quite a strange transition from my nail polish completely melting off in the sun and beach of caliente Costa Rica to arriving home to the cold Christmas holiday, but here we are! We introduced our new tradition of the Elf on the Shelf (his name is Stanley, which Pea picked and happens to be my grandpa's name); separate post to come on Stan the Man. AND we ventured to see THE jolly old fellow this morning. Pea is now at the point (like her cousins) where she believes this Santa in the little green house is the REAL one because he has a REAL beard so we keep going back there. Praying he makes it to next Christmas as well! Here are the highlights:

Pura Vida

We just returned from Costa Rica for our week long vaca of adventure, sun, and jungle. We traveled into the depths of the rain forest at the foot of the Arenal Volcano and then over to the Pacific side of this beautiful Central American country. I have to say I didn't understand just how WET the rain forest is; nothing EVER drys. It's just damp everywhere and your nail polish melts like my heart when my girls say, I love you. We went white water rafting, which was SO fun and I'd like to do again for sure and zip lining over a rain forest canyon 50 stories, which I'd say I'm good doing just once... After those adventures we traveled to Guanacaste (west coast of Costa Rica) for some sun and boy was it HOT. The perfect ending for a bit of R&R. Below are just a few of my pictures. There's so much more to say about this country and it's people and what we did, but I can't put it all into words: except to say as they do: Pura Vida. oh, and these will have to do...

Three for tree

This season we went to Trinity Tree Farm in Issaquah with three families. Three for trees! Such a fun new discovery; like Joe said, "can't beat the ambiance" and he was right. Praying our pretty tree does not die while we're in Costa Rica (count down 4 days...yikes!) Here's to starting off Christmas with those we love, hot cider, and a tree.

Thanksgiving 2012

Pic stitch style...

Family Shots.

We had a short session with Andi today to capture a couple quick shots of us a family, turned out to be like 15 minutes, but we got a few good ones! Enjoy...

Bemusings: Beginnings, Ponderings, and Grateful. God, so grateful.

Beginnings are sort of a theme in this season for me. It's largely due to the fact that many new things are happening for the Bells this year and I'm doing a year-long study on the book of Genesis, which of course is the beginning of my faith. Looking back through my blog, every year around this time my posts go kaput. Theoretically, it's one of the busiest times of year for us and with no exception this year because, wait for it, wait for it...we are headed to Costa Rica! In T-minus two weeks. As you can imagine the work to get ready to leave is almost more than it's worth, but it's the trip of a lifetime and we just could not say no! There's laundry, packing, preparing, subbing, calling, switching, calculating, emailing, sending, and buying to do before our plane can even depart. That said, I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm feeling VERY grateful. For added blessings. For what words have a hard time describing. Tis the season of Thanksgiving, and the older I get: the more grateful I am for the larger, more existential things and the smaller, more genuinely significant ones. Less about the things in between. On a grander scale, I'm understanding more and more the work Christ has done on my behalf, grafting me into His body of believers, for my children, for legacies of faith, that I'm still here! For His easy yoke and peace. For these enormous blessings that continue to reverberate in my life; I have a need to pass them forward, but the how is hard. Which leads me to the smaller things as a place to start, and I am trying to live in the moment more and more as I lean into the Holy Spirit. It's a nearly Herculean task to train your spirit to SHUT UP and hear the still, small voice of God speak. For His words bring INTO existence. What he calls out of nothing can become something and since he's created me in His image, my words call out too. They create. And I'm wondering where I take them now, but it's a desire that is becoming greater than the need to hear myself. In short, enough about me, and more about Him. I think I'm finally coming to a place in my life where the small things count toward a greater purpose and at the same time cause a greater divide. In that vein of thought, I am currently asking these questions of myself. Where do I need to get out of the way? What am I willing to begin? What am I willing to let go of...hard questions deserve well-thought out destinations to land. I am working on a post about using talents, being created and called by name and it's got me in a tissy because there's much to unpack there. For now, I'll leave it at this. I am grateful that He has begun a good work in me and He's a promise keeping God who is faithful to complete it.

30 Day Mom Challenge

These past few weeks I've been participating in a photo challenge started by one of my new friends Bre. She's a mama and a photog and her goal was for us moms to be IN the picture with our kids for 30 days straight. It's been fun! And a definite challenge on those days where I put on a hat with no make-up. But I do it anyway, because that's the point; me with my kids in the small, quiet, and everyday moments in this life. And it's going by quick, so I'm happy to take a time out and remember my most important job. Here are a few of my favorite. I'm 2/3 thru so I might add one or two this week. Thanks Bre! xoxo, to you...