San Francisco

Maria went to spend a week in San Francisco with ReImagine with 11 other students and 4 adults. "ReIMAGINE is a Bay Area Center for Life Integration based in San Francisco. We fuel initiatives integrating spiritual formation, community building, the arts and social action. As a collective of artists, activists, educators, tech professionals and social entrepreneurs we invite people into conversations, projects and community experiences that explore the question: 'How can we cultivate a way of life together that leads to greater wholeness for ourselves and our world?'" If you want to read more about what Maria will be doing, click here.

James and I drove to the Mission District with all the luggage and sleeping bags. My sister Annabelle met me there and we walked around, somewhere between 3-4 miles. We went to lunch (yummy Machaca), Mission Dolores, garage sales, and a park. It was a fantastic day.

Here is Annabelle (or should I say Auntabelle) and James at Mission Dolores.

Here I am with James at Mission Dolores Park, where there were so many things going on. James hung out in the swing for more than 30 minutes and then got to ride his newly aquired ride-on toy that I bought at a garage sale. Annabelle commented that it was like being in a picture book of a perfect day at the park. There was jump roping, slack line walking, dogs chasing balls, kids playing, kites flying, music playing, people relaxing, families throwing balls around and more going on. I love being immersed in an atmosphere like this.

Impulse Hospitality

I am not sure how to even highlight all the things I get to do each day. One of the main things that happened today was after CBS I invited some people from the nursing mom's group (pretty much whomever I saw at the end) to come over to my house for lunch...I had leftover lasagna, sandwiches, and I made a quick box of macaroni and cheese. It was so much fun hanging out in the backyard, watching the various kids run and play and swing. There ended up being 5 other ladies, with a total of 15 kids running around. I am so blessed to have a house that I can open up to other people impulsively.

Fun-Filled Day

What a great day. James and I went to a Music Together preview class, of which Maritez and Heather attended, along with a lady I didn't know but would be at my house later in the day. After the class we went to playgroup, which is always fun. We then popped over to a park to meet up with Heather, Maritez and Amy....James at that point was tired, so he just slept in my arms. After we went home, I cleaned up the house and set the table for bookclub, which was at my house this evening. Then we all went to church where Maria and William and I went to a presentation about medical reasons for sexual purity. It was a very well-done presentation with a lot of factual information and not a whole lot of scare tactics. Then, Ken left to speak at the Community Outreach Center and headed off to airport to fly to Florida. The kids and I came home where I finished getting the house ready for bookclub. Bookclub was great- there were seven of us sitting around the table and talking and laughing and eating till all hours of the night....and we even discussed the book a bit. I highly recommend the book, Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. It sure made me think and consider and ponder various things and has stayed with me.

Daily Life

I have been doing some gardening....weeding and planting and pruning and all that good stuff. It certainly is starting to feel like spring, even though that isn't for a little bit. But, as nice as the weather has been, I would still like some more rain. Good for the gardens, good for the reservoirs, good all around.

Tonight I grilled asparagus for the first time on the bbq and boy were they yummy. I think I will be doing that more often! It is fun trying new things out on the grill. I have made Naan bread on the grill before...which reminds me I should do that again soon. My mouth watered when I typed it.

We are currently hosting someone from back East for a few nights named David. He is currently working on translating the Bible into one of the Chadian languages. He had stayed with us a number of years back so it is great to have him here again. Tomorrow we are hosting another couple who will be doing work overseas....if anyone wants to come over, have some soup, cornbread and dessert, let me know. Everyone welcome.

James is now 10 months old. On one hand it is astonishing to me that he has already been in our lives for that long and on the other hand I can not imagine what my life would have been without him. I am so enjoying my time with him and just doing more at home in general. Funny how life's twists and turns brings you to various places. I am very grateful and content where I am at right now, but don't want to grow complacent either.

So, since it has been more than a week since my last posting, let me re-cap what we have been doing. CBS, had Amy over for impromptu lunch of lasagna leftovers (like the alliteration?), playgroup (2x), James' first Babysigns class, kids portraits taken, shuttling Maria and William back and forth to and from church for various different events, small group (a whopping 15 people showed), Kindermusik Storytime, walk with Holly, date with Ken (make that 2 dates with Ken), Babysign Storytime, and I am sure there were other things too. But, in this there was a lot of nice downtime where I was able to get caught up on laundry, make some nice meals, go grocery shopping, garden, buy birthday gifts, purchase and plan swing for outside, read books, watch some videos, and play on the floor with James. Nice when life is pretty even-keeled. No sickies in our house, no crises, no emotional swings high or low. Gotta love it and embrace it while it is here. Who knows what tomorrow holds!

Lasagna, Apple Crisp, and Boundaries

Well, no one was able to take me up on my last minute offer of lasagna, so I know what we get to have tomorrow for leftovers! Look at how much is still left.

If anyone wants to pop by tomorrow, I know what we will be having for lunch and dinner! Then, to finish off the meal, we had apple crisp, of which there are also leftovers.



Talk about comfort food. Both of these dishes are from my childhood memories.

And, since I haven't posted any pictures of James for a bit...here are two from dinner.




And, on a totally different note, I just finished reading the book "Boundaries: When to Say Yes, When to Say No To Take Control of Your Life" by Dr. Cloud and Dr. Townsend. What a convicting book. This is the first time I have read it and I really just went through and read it. I would like to go through this book again more methodically and perhaps even do the study guide with someone or a group. This book showed me a lot of areas that I still need to work on...growing sure is painful sometimes. But, it is good to grow, even though it can be hard work. I also put Boundaries with Kids on hold at the library...always wanting to learn ways I can be a better mom.

Lasagna Dinner

Anyone looking for dinner tonight? I am making a nice, large, homemade lasagna right now that I will be serving my family....and there is more than enough to share! So, if you want to be impulsive and come on over for dinner tonight, let me know. Ken and the older kids are off to Perspectives at 6:30, so we will be eating 5ish/5:30ish.