Be Home

the church

Heroes of the faith, it seems sometimes, are more prevalent in the history books then in the here and now. But don't you believe it! They are everywhere. And in fact, you might be one in the making.

My family and I went to go see one of our heroes. If you ever need reassurance that the church is alive, active, and amazing listen to the good words coming out of its leaders. This is a place were we find those things. My "bucket list" is full of making visits to those kind of churches and I have one more checked off that list.

 

 

City Church, Seattle WA

sunday snapshot {exhale}

I know that most of my readers live in my hometown territory of the midwest. And I am very sorry to hear that summer is behaving exactly as it should...hot and humid, hot and humid - repeat. However, I had no idea that other parts of this glorious country had nothing like that when they perceived their summer holidays! I have to say it is agreeing with us quite nicely.

It actually had to get warm enough for us to head to the beach. We still had our jackets on and definitely no thoughts of wearing swimsuits. But that really just how we like it, walking with flip-flops in hand and running with jeans rolled up on the sandy shore.

 

I have a confession to make...I adore the beach. I think I could get lost in its rhythm and freedom. A book on the beach with sand at my feet, kids laughing and getting deeply buried in its granular goodness, and the calming sound of waves ebbing and flowing...need I go on. Ahhhhh. Exhale.

higher up

We're still taking our weekends to sight-see around this new terrain of ours. I refuse to leave a "we never got to that" statement during our time in the northwest. A particularly warm Sunday we headed up to higher altitude. After looking at this gorgeous mountain daily from our window, we decided it was time to make the climb, first by car and the rest on foot.

The lodge was as picturesque as one might imagine. George loved the fact that he had been there once before. Yes, all bundled up in the drizzly cold his little thoughts could have hardly remembered such a place at 10 months old. But Andrew and I sure did...and loved the fresh air once again.

kids camp

There isn't a better way to be apart of the church than to jump in with both feet! And when the opportunity comes 4 days after you move in well, you take it!

City Bible Church had its kids camp this week and let me tell you, it was amazing. It reminded me of my own camp experiences in grade school. I wasn't sure that even existed anymore. Real camp grounds with great services and fantastic adults pouring into every kid.

Nicholas started his adventures on Monday as an overnight camper. As a student entering 6th grade he was the seniority class but this was his first time staying away from home (except of course, Grammy's house). He did wonderfully.

On Tuesday, Peter got his chance to make some new friends. He had day camp on the same camp grounds as Nicholas. I didn't see much of him even though Andrew and I were also hanging out for the entire day. Peter had his team flag and followed the fun in the sun with much enthusiasm. {Peter even had a gluten-free meal option provided by the staff! Made this mom cry, literally.}

Finally, for Wednesday and Thursday CBC had Kiddo Camp for George and Annika. This included at least one parent's attendance, we had two. We loved all being in the same place as a family. And that we all got to meet a lot of other moms, dads, kids, and the pastoral team in one concentrated effort! But it wouldn't have happened if everyone we met had open arms and huge hearts to welcome us right into the fold. I love this place.

To see more go {here}

sweet home

We have arrived! Actually, we have moved in and we're getting situated pretty well. The drive from Boise into Portland was the most scenic yet, Oregon is quite the state. Hills grew into mountains which in turn went from snow-capped to snow-covered far down the peak.

{our parked traffic for an hour}

{almost home!}

It was a fantastic moment to finally pull up to our new front door. Ironically, it is another blue door and house but I don't think that they'll let me paint it bright green like my last one. Too bad.

The truck arrived right on time and when we opened the much anticipated back hatch...

everything was exactly as we had left it! Hallelujah!

After a day of chaos we couldn't stand to see all our stuff before us but incapable of making any sense of it. So we did a little work.

{a bit of a backyard common area}

Oh, and we did make a bit of a detour to an important stop here in town. Any guesses?

boise

I love Boise. Andrew and I lived here a few years into our marriage and it also welcomed parenthood into our vocabulary. My parents and my sister shared those days with us as well. To go back and see the ole stopping grounds today was pure delight. 

A few highlights.

~ Idaho Capitol Building - a short walk from our first home.

~ First Starbucks I ever laid eyes on! Of course, we all had to reminisce.

There it is! Our first house. I painted every inch of it and added that screen door. Actually, the lawn wouldn't even exist if we hadn't spread it with seeds by our very hands. And those light fixtures? Yep, I picked those out a decade ago. I still love that red door.

~ My parents gorgeous house that was just around the corner.

Between our two houses was Hyde Park. Every Saturday morning, newspaper in hand, we would map out the route for garage sales over a cup of local joe.

Up the road was Camel's Back Park. Today we just had to climb, whether we were prepared to or not...

For dinner we headed out to the best downtown I've ever had the privilege to know and dined with some good friends. Although I will say, we had in all a count of 7 more children since the last time we got together!

Ok...just a few more.

~ Ballet Idaho, where my sister utilized her beautiful talents.

I think Nicholas enjoyed viewing his city of birth. The strange mix of memories behind you and moments before you, creates a pleasant reality of truly loving the life you've led thus far.

driving, driving, driving

After an amazing time in the presence of the Lord at Pearl Church this morning, we headed out for another day of treading tires along vast expanses of pavement. Let's just say that leaving for a 9 hour drive at 1:00 in the afternoon produces a goofy kind of personality in kids and adults! Toys, movies, and music filled our day, all with frequent interruptions to the likes of "look at those mountains"!

hopscotch

Remember this little game? Hopping on one foot from number to number and then back again. Well, in a way we're going to play a bit of hopscotch here. 1,2,3,4, - we were hopping on "vacation squares" for a while, now we are skipping over the rock laying on #5 and move on to 6, 7, 8...

If I haven't totally confused you...

In other words, we are on our way to Portland!  Day one is complete. Yeah!

Currently we are sitting in our Denver hotel after dining unexpectedly with the Pearl Church pastors + friends. We can't wait for church in the morning! And get this, they meet two floors down! That's right, I have a 45 second walk to church. Its once in a lifetime. Of course, so is everything in our world about now.

all things china

I love China.

I love the people. I love the culture. I love the nation. It's hard to know which came first, whether it was a heart for the faraway nation itself or the adoption of one of its abandoned beautiful daughters. I guess it doesn't take much imagination to understand the weaving that both have done in my heart over the many years. But since we have brought Annika home a strange weaving of another kind has happened. Of course there is the heart of a mother expanding the resources of her love for yet another child, but this particular weaving is in the hearts of my men.

They all, husband and sons alike, have taken all things Chinese into the fabric of their daily thinking. Some of this is to be expected. Not a day goes by but that Annika's heritage finds it's way into our thoughts and feelings. But beyond that is the longevity of the conversations that seem to springboard from these things. Sometimes I hear them wrestling with the thought of whether they want to go on vacation or back to China! And my men love their beach time, let me tell ya.

And than there is the child like faith of my smallest man. Today he asked how long we would all be staying in China the next time we went. All of us, as in the whole family is going next time, apparently. I answered with the standard 2 weeks, even though it was 3 weeks with Annika. George's reply was that he hoped it would be 11 weeks! In fact, he followed that up with he hopes just to go live there awhile. Dreams start young my friends.

So in the smallest way, we chip at the understanding of all things Chinese. For us. For Annika. For our dreams.

:: Chinese New Year celebrated at the Nelson-Atkins Museum

 

 

:: Even the massive statues bring understanding. All idols hold the same empty space and the philosophies that they embody do nothing for the redemption of the human soul, for they are dead. The underground christian church of the chinese people is a heartbeat of truth resounding in the midst of it's suppression. Pray on.

money museum

Quite the picture. What is it you ask?

Shredded money. No, really.

We went on a field trip to the Money Museum! It's actually the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. The tour is very interesting. The kids and I learned a bit of unknown stuff about the inner workings of the money that slips (and I do mean slips!) through our fingers daily.

Did you know most bills are on average only 18 months old? How about the weight of a bar of gold...around 30 lbs. and we got to lift it. This shredded money was sent through at around 60mph. We saw it! Then of course there was the vault. A very large vault. But only the robots - Huey, Dewey and Louie - go in there. But we saw part of it through the glass.

At the completion of the tour each visitor got a bag of their own shredded money. And of course every child wanted to know...can I tape it back together?!

We found a good home for our money. It was deposited safely into jars set on boy's shelf, and in doing so tells the story of educational moments through a wonderfully visual display.