God...big and small

"Here is the thing about God. He is so big and so perfect that we can't really understand Him. We can't possess Him, or apprehend Him. Moses learned this when he climbed up Mount Sinai and saw that the radiance of God's face would burn him up should he gaze upon it directly. But God so wants to be in a relationship with us that He makes himself small, smaller than he really is, smaller and more humble than his infinite, perfect self, so that we might be able to get to Him, a little bit.

Being born a human was not the first time God made himself small so that we could have access to Him. First He shrunk Himself when He revealed the Torah at Mount Sinai. He shrunk Himself into tiny Hebrew words, man's finite language, so that we might get to him that way. Then He shrunk Himself again, down to the size of a baby, down into manger finiteness.

Jane Vonnegut Yarmolinsky wrote, 'The whole concept of God taking on human shape, and all the liturgy and ritual around that, had simply never made sense to me. That was because, I realized one wonderful day, it was so simple. For people with bodies, important things like love have to be embodied. That's all. God had to be embodied or else people with bodies would never in a trillion years understand about love.'
Never, in a trillion years."

Girl Meets God by Lauren F. Winner


I have joined a book club. It's fantastic. The women that are in my group are smart, well read and interesting. We have read two books so far: Infidel by Aayan Hirsi Ali and Girl Meets God by Lauren F. Winner. Infidel is a must read. It's a story about a young Muslim woman who escapes her abusive and controlling family and flees to the Netherlands to seek asylum. She then, through her rise in power in the Dutch Parliament, blows the whistle on the treatment of women in the Muslim religion/culture. Tolerance is the rule of thumb in Holland (It was so interesting to me that Holland is such a different country now than it was when my Grandmother immigrated.), and Aayan urges the Dutch to forgo tolerance for human rights. It is an eye opening, disturbing and educational memoir. Every American should read it, if not just to understand the culture that our country is dealing with. The Muslims hate Americans with severe intensity, and the title of the book was a double entendre: Aayan was an infidel for her betrayal, in leaving her culture, and in denying her religion, and Americans are infidels because of our unbelief in Allah. Infidels must be killed, annihilated.

Girl Meets God was not so much of a page turner, but it was a quiet and reflective tale of a woman's spiritual journey from Judaism to Christianity. I've always thought that if I wasn't a Christian, I'd be Jewish. There's something about that group of people: their tenacity, their sense of culture and family, their commitment, that really is attractive to me. I believe the author embraced Judaism as a youth because she was looking for those things in her life. Through her writing, I have learned a bit more about being Jewish, and I am glad that Christ claimed me as His. And, really, that is what this story is about. Winner vacillates between the two religions (her mother is Southern Baptist and her father is Jewish - random!). She put into words my many feelings towards God (see the above quote) but never could communicate. Christ claimed her (and me!) as his, and even though she is extremely smart, she accepts the mystery, beauty and scandal of the Incarnation, crucifixion, and gift of Grace. She can't fully explain it, though she does try, and acceptance, thankfulness and appreciation for His "indescribable gift" abound. This book is slow, but it is a rich story that makes you think about God in a bit of a different fashion.

Our next book is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I've heard great things about it, so I'll let you know what I think. My favorite places to get books are Costco and half.com. Half.com is a website that allows people to buy and sell their used or new books. You can find some great deals, so check it out!

Lily's Christmas programs

Lily was in two programs this season: the first one at church and the second one at school. I don't know if other parent's feel this way, but I sweat everytime that kid gets on stage! I am a nervous wreck! You never know if they are going to do something random that might make a great story at their wedding some day. She did fine in church.....

She even had a little part to sing, which I had no idea about!

The school program, on the other hand, was a different story. Their music teacher, bless her heart, wanted the kids to have flashlights to use during one of the songs. 5 and 6 year olds with flashlights is a recipe for disaster, in my opinion! Well, Lily and the little boy next to her (who, by the way, was born on the same day as her, in the same hospital) were fascinated with their lights. During the entire program they were messing around, and she disappeared several times during the program! Apparently, the flashlights were dropped, so she took it upon herself to climb under the risers and retrieve them! Can you see that devious grin on her face?

Lily's point of view

Lily likes to take pictures with my camera, and here are a few from her point of view! We've been counting the days down to Christmas with the Kindergarten craft above. She was pleased to note this morning that there were only 2 more links left!

Jake, the Elf on the Shelf, made his way to our house right after Thanksgiving. He flies back to Santa each evening to report on the doings of Grace and Lily. The girls get a kick out of trying to find him each morning. It's a fun little game to play with them, and I'd like to think that it helps their behavior!

a little wine and chocolate pudding after dinner!

Black Friday and Santa Claus

Usually we avoid the malls and shopping on Black Friday, but since we were within range of South Coast Plaza, we had to attempt it this year! My mom and dad were the early shoppers, so they were willing to take my kids for a bit while I did some shopping, which was so great!
Here's Nana and Papa's Grandkids in front of the 130 foot Christmas tree at Fashion Island, another favorite shopping destination.
Lily and Grace were able to tell Santa their wish list for Christmas, and there weren't any tears! Grace wasn't so sure, but it helped to have her big sister there for moral support.
The South Coast Plaza carousel is decked out with reindeer to celebrate the Season!

Thanksgiving, Southern California style

This is the view we had on Thanksgiving....not to shabby!

Charlie, the girls and I headed to Huntington Beach on Thanksgiving morning to spend Thanksgiving with the VGs and my parents. Ahhh....sun and 75 degrees with no dishes to wash! The kids swam and went down the hotel waterslides in the afternoon, and we enjoyed cocktails by the pool. Not your traditional Thanksgiving, but I'll take it. Below is Charlie and me before heading to dinner at the hotel restaurant. We had a beautiful sunset to admire by the beach.

Dinner was lively, as you can imagine. Most of us chose to eat non-traditional food, which fit with the theme for the weekend.

Lily loves to travel (She has her mom and Nana's genes, and it helps that we've taken her many places in her short 5 1/2 years.), and even though she loves our trailer, she gets giddy when we tell her she is going to stay in a "hotel." (Lily has a special way of saying that word.) I asked her this trip why she loved staying in a hotel so much. Her reply: "They put chocolates on your pillow at night, mom!" Pity the girl if she ever stays at Motel 6...she's going to be so disappointed!

Stay tuned for the next installment...shopping on Black Friday, Santa and South Coast Plaza!

Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast

I seem to be very behind with the blog entries....the holidays come too quickly this time of year. Lily's class enjoyed a Thanksgiving Feast before the vacation....They didn't have turkey; chicken nuggets are definitely more Kindergarten style! The room moms went all out with fun activities, cookie decorating and great food!

They learned some great songs and poems about Thanksgiving, and here they are above showing their stuff to the parents and feast attenders.

Lily is here with her table mates: Aubrey, Roger and Clarissa.

Savannah and Lily are enjoying their "Thanksgiving" dinner.

My pilgrim girl is loving the cookie with frosting and sprinkles piled high!

Halloween

The girls were all pinked and princessed out for Halloween this year. Lily was Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Grace was a ballerina. We trick or treated by Grandma, Beppe, and Nana and Papa before heading to our friends at the Lakes. We cruised all over in their "golf cart" and the kids came home with lots of loot!

This time of year, it's one party and holiday after another! We're looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving by the beach with my side of the family this year. Yes, we will be having a restaurant Thanksgiving, and I can't wait. No cooking and no dishes! (It's really the "no dishes" thing that I am excited about....you all know that I LOVE to cook!) It's supposed to be 75 degrees, so we'll be playing on the sand! This year, I am very thankful for many things. I love my husband and my girls. They make my life so rich, and I couldn't imagine life without them. I am thankful I am working at school. It's been a great thing for me, and I like being with the students again. Even though it's been a tough year for our industry, we are still milking cows, and we have our farm. For that, I am very thankful! I am thankful for Lily's school and her wonderful teachers. She's learning so much! I am thankful for Charlie's kids, their spouses and his Grandkids! We enjoy them, and our kids love playing with their "nephews and nieces!" Our church has really gone through some transitions, and I am thankful for that. I am thankful for our small group bible study and all our friends. We are truly blessed. Finally, I am so thankful for a loving and gracious God. His love and mercy fills me up daily!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Wine Tasting Party

I organized a ladies day away at the beginning of November for Brooke. Here we are enjoying lunch and wine at the beautiful Cass Winery. We enjoyed tasting at Jack Creek Cellars, Cass Winery and Vineyard, and San Marcos Creek Vineyard. Then, we at dinner at Villa Creek in Paso Robles. We had a great day!

Grace's Second Birthday (a bit late!)

Grace turned 2 a month ago tomorrow, and I am just getting pictures up on here. Sorry! I guess you can tell from my lack of blogging that I have been a bit busier than usual. Grace ended up getting sick before her party, so we had to cancel. Nana and Papa came over for dinner, presents and cake. It ended up being a nice birthday for her after all!

Grace is enjoying her current favorite dinner: rotisserie chicken from Costco, mashed potatoes, "sauce" (applesauce) and broccoli. Her other favorites are steak, spaghetti, "tandy" (candy) and "booty" (Pirate's Booty). She also loves "nanas" (bannanas), apples, "mok" (milk) and "watie" (water). She speaks her own language, but usually we can figure out what she wants. "He due" means hold me, and when she wants to hold something, she says "Mama, hi it!" which means I want to hold it. She prefaces everything with "mama" these days.

She got into opening the presents this year.

I love the look of anticipation on her face, and as you can see below, she didn't hesitate to dive in!

Veteran's Day

The handsome man in the uniform above is my dad. This was taken at his Boot Camp graduation from the Marine Core at Camp Pendelton. My Grandma DeVries is on his left, and his sisters are also in the picture. Thanks to my father and to all the other Veterans out there for their sacrifice and service!

Mickey's Trick or Treat Party

We took the girls to Mickey's Trick or Treat Party at California Adventure Thursday night. Here they are all dressed up and ready to go! This is a preview of what they'll look like on Halloween. Pretty cute, if I do say so!

The Wicked Queen was the first character that we encountered, and to the girls' credit, they did very well. I hovered and expected a freak out, but it never occurred! I think this picture is hilarious.....

A parade went through the park around 9:30, and Lily was raring to go. When the green witch invited her out to dance, she boogied on out there! That was one of the high lights of the trip!

Grace had given up on posing for pictures, at this point. We'll only see Lily from now on....

Halloween Time at Disneyland

We were able to sandwich in two days at Disney after daughter #1 got sick and before Daughter #2 came down with it! What a fun place to go with your kids!

Grandparent's Day

Lily played hostess to two of her three sets of Grandparents last Friday at her school. We enjoyed a cute program, and then Lily showed Grandma and Nana and Papa around her room, giving them special gifts. She was very proud, and it was very fun watching her with some of her favorite people. Two were missing: Grandpa Heinie and Beppe. We missed them very much. After Grandparent's Day was over, we headed to the Fall Festival and had fun on all the inflatibles and at the games. Friday night we had Kevin and Brooke over with their kids to celebrate Charlie's birthday, then on Saturday morning Charlie and I left for Paso to spend the night in a vineyard in our trailer for his birthday. It was a wonderful time! We went wine tasting and ate a fabulous seafood dinner at Cass Winery, which is highly recommended! We've got another busy week ahead with a trip for Grace's birthday along with her birthday party. Lily's a bit under the weather, but we're confident that she'll bounce back. There are so many kids from her school that are sick, which is a real bummer!

Class trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Kenna, Aubrey, Samantha and Lily

Lily's class took their annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch this past week, and I was a parent helper. It was very fun going on a field trip and not being in charge! I remember those days as a teacher. You sweat buckets no matter what the temperature and pray that no one gets lost or hurt and that this trip was truly worthwhile! It's much different now being on the other side of the situation, but I have to say that being a former teacher has really helped in my understanding of Lily's school journey. I am thankful I had that experience in my life to prepare me.

It took awhile for the girls to find the "perfect" pumpkin, and we all got very muddy as we traipsed through the patch. It had rained here on Monday and Tuesday, and we received a record setting 1.42 inches. We are all thanking the Lord for giving us that rain!

Kindergarten, Room B

Below are a few of Lily's pals: Brooke, Lily, Samantha and Savannah.