Joy to the World, the Lord is Born!

We rejoicing in the coming of the Savior and long for the time when He will make all things new! Merry Christmas! 2021 was a hard year. There is no doubt about it. But there was joy, hidden in the corners, found in the fringe and even, shouted from our rooftops, because of Jesus.  

 

Let every heart prepare Him room

And so, it's Advent and never did Advent feel more appropriate, more needed: The weary world does indeed rejoice. We have had a whirl of a month with exciting visitors, a wedding, a hotel stay, pilgrim thanksgiving, music recital and many hours of practice and hard work.  Be prepared for a flood of photos because I hardly have words here- I'm still catching my breath. These girls are keeping me busy and growing up in the blink of an eye.  9, 7, and 2 make for such a wide array of opinions, habits and personalities that most days make me laugh out loud at the paradox of blessing and chaos.  Phoebe is cutting four molars at once and lets us know it! (Poor wee birdie) We are working through our Advent Jesse Tree devotions, writing poems, drinking tea, practicing music, composing music, preparing for ballet recitals, speaking french and latin as we cook: "Wendell improbus est" is a frequent phrase now. But in the dizzy days we have all felt a deep ache as we watch those we love struggle through terminal health issues, face difficult unknowns, and look around us at a broken world.  The world needs a Savior and we rejoice that He came to rescue us from ourselves and from the shattered Shalom. Let every heart prepare Him room. 

 

As the North Wind Comes to Call

The last of the summer flowers are gone, but these cosmos lasted well into late October and we captured sunlight as long as possible. The Mud Kitchen has remained open and chocolate mulch tarts are the newest on the menu.  But as the north wind comes to call, we stack our firewood and gather candles and tea to begin our hibernation. We seem take a deep breath.  The last few weeks were busy with many visits and exciting events including cheering Nana for her 97th birthday, story book character dress ups, chasing kittens out of trees, mud puddle splashing, painting afternoons, learning renaissance music and mornings in colonial American history, Ballet Magnificat dates with Papa and tears as we wrestle with life in a fallen world. The nights are cold now and we choose to be thankful, even during hard days.  

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