Viva La Blog

I went back to the original title of this blog.  My cynical side (which composes approximately 88% of me) thought that maybe if I proceeded under the assumption that no one was reading this, I would be more likely to post.  Its really hard to use reverse psychology on yourself.  You see right through you.  You don't buy you for a minute.  You're not fooling anyyou.

So back to Grace Upon Grace.  I got the title from a Sandra McCracken song which I now commend to you.  The chorus says, "Grace upon grace every sin repaired, every void restored, you will find him there,in every turning he will prepare you with grace upon grace."  I add my hearty amen.

It's comin' on Christmas.  I'm embracing it all a little more this year.  We got our tree while it was still November.  Who ARE you, Jamie Rives?

I like to get my money's worth out of clothing, ok?

My holiday aversions are well documented here but this year I'm feeling a little more open to figuring out a way to create a special experience for my children without compromising what we value and without emphasizing what we don't.  I know I hold back because one thing I hate is to be disappointed.  So I live in this space of cautious distance from anything that might not meet my expectations.  My "all or nothing" syndrome is well-documented here too and I think that plays a big role in my hesitancy to get caught up in the holidays.

But it's like eating strawberries.  I think the goal of strawberry season is to eat so many strawberries that by the end of strawberry season, you are so contentedly full of strawberries that you don't have any regrets about your strawberry consumption, or lack there of.  You surrender to the berry.  You eat your fill so that when it's all over, you're OK with it.  You aren't longing for more or wishing it could all last a little longer.  It's done.  And that's just fine.

So I want to take a strawberry approach to my life--holidays, babies, education, age--anything for which there is a season.  Go big then go home.  I hold back far too much and too often.  But it would be better to risk.  I'm living my story.  It might as well be a good one.

Towards that end, I am doing a "countdown to Christmas" activity calendar.  Each day, the boys get to remove from a line of twine I strung up, one slip of festive green and red paper on which I have written something fun to do that day.  Some of them are your basic Christmas activities--go see lights, go to a Christmas festival at a church, etc, some of them are things to do for others, some of them are incredibly lame and were it not for me setting the bar so low in past years, may not even be considered fun.  But they are loving it.  And I am loving them loving it.



And just by way of updating you ALL, here are the Brothers Rives.  My how they've grown.

Asher is 5. And a male model.

Jude is 4. And a caffeine addict.

Simeon is 2. And a scholar.