Advent Begins

 This year the world needed Advent more than other.  There's been so much waiting this year...  It has been good to be reminded of what we're ultimately waiting for.

The boys' youth pastor and his family created these Advent wreaths for everyone this year!

The kids were excited to start all the house decorating and this year the boys and Jinna asked for some "Charlie Brown trees" at the local lot so they could put them in their rooms.

It's been fun setting up our new home for its first Christmas (with us):

Even Guster thinks this is a most magical time.  The tree has been a very delightful playground.

This year we have circled back to Jotham's Journey (having read the other books in the series for the last several years).  Pete reads to them each night, and this year has been nice to not have a bunch of other commitments to compete with (since everything is canceled).

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Thanksgiving

 This year's holiday was more of a Friendsgiving since we couldn't be with family.  We invited the Unverzagts and   Ms. Melissa over for dinner and games, and we had a blast!  (The only challenge was that I still haven't recovered my sense of smell/taste from Covid, so I kept being unsure if was seasoning the dishes correctly and couldn't smell if I was overcooking various things... Oh well!)

We started off with a liturgy from Every Moment Holy -- it was beautiful!

After dinner we played the bowl game and a story-creating game... so fun!

Introducing... Guster Ravenclaw Frank

 

Jinna has been begging us for a pet for awhile now, and when some friends of ours were looking for a home for their last kitten, we decided a cat might be an easier pet than a dog, so we went for it.

All the kids were smitten with the kitten immediately.

Since he's tuxedo cat we figured he should have an illustrious name.  We've been watching Psych this season, so Guster seemed appropriate.

Jinna is thrilled with her new best buddy....

...But the rest of us have also decided we are now cat people, too.  Even Miles, who was very reluctant to get one in the first place.

I am well on my way to becoming a Cat Lady, and Pete, well he likes him, too.

Blessings

 I was recovering from a fever last night so I went to bed early.  A couple minutes after I laid down Jinna came in my room and said, "May the Lord bless you and keep you."

Five minutes after that Colsen came in to say goodnight and said, "Peace be with you."

This morning Miles was first to come in my room and he said, "Good morning, Mom.  How are you feeling?  Bless God."

I'm not sure what it is about me being sick that brings out the priestliness of my children, but I'm thankful for it.

Colsen = 14

 Our little lawncare-loving toddler, the one who used to talk all the time about lawnmowers and drag around with him golf clubs that he called his weed-eater and edger, has now become a handsome, strong, lawn-mowing 14-year-old.

(His youth leader Bryce owns a lawncare business and is now employing Colsen to do some mowing.  Cole could not be more thrilled!)

His birthday this year was a little subdued since a couple of us had Covid, but he still managed to have a lot of fun with some of his friends.  A bunch of them rather spontaneously met up at the soccer field where they played a rousing match, and Colsen couldn't have planned a better afternoon.  Then the next day Pete and took him and his friends to Alameda for some mountain biking, so he got all of his favorite activities covered for the weekend.

BBQ dinner and apple pie from Emmett's rounded out the festivities.  Plus he got his own (non-smart) phone! 

He's an awfully fun kid/young man and we all enjoy him so much.

Biking adventures

 All summer and fall the boys have been mountain biking on the trails at the park.  I'm very glad I do not see what they are doing there.... The one time I went to take pictures was more than enough for me.

When Colsen's birthday rolled around the one thing he requested was that they go to a place in Butler to do some more biking.  A couple of his friends came along and they had a great time!

Campus Goings-On (Goings-Ons?)

 Despite this being a MUCH quieter semester than normal, with far more restrictions and cancellations, the college has still managed to provide various sources of entertainment, education, and amusement.  We've enjoyed watching or participating when we could.

Andy Crouch came as a speaker one evening and Pete and I were invited over to the president's house to have dinner with him.  What a fascinating thinker he is... I wish we could have had many more hours to hear his thoughts.  Afterwards we went over to hear his talk in the auditorium.

The marching band has no football games to play for this fall, but that hasn't stopped them from playing for the campus community in various ways.  One afternoon when I was walking up to Pete's office I came upon this on the quad:

Speaking of football, the official sports were canceled this semester but the students have still found ways to play all kinds of things.  Every weekend that we went on campus we saw dozens (sometimes hundreds) of them out playing on all the various fields.

This week when we went to pick up Rayna from her little "job" on campus, we stopped to watch this.... a scene from Shakespeare.  It's fun watching your friends and neighbors act things out so dramatically.  (Our next-door neighbor was the dead Caesar lying in front)

Trick or Treat

 This year for Halloween we played a little "trick" and showed up in Charlotte a day earlier than we had planned, and got all kinds of "treats" during our NC visit.

We loved seeing all the cousins and my parents and siblings... it felt like a whole weekend of holidays.  Unfortunately I got essentially no photos!

It was also good to see Strider and Brennyn... this was their Halloween costumes this year.  :)

We finally got back to Redeemer, too, to see a bunch of our friends there.  It was a whirlwind of a visit!  

So yes, mostly TREATS, but we did get one final TRICK that followed us home: Covid!  Oh well... it was totally worth it.  :)