We Gather Together

Tomorrow we celebrate Thanksgiving. I love love love Thanksgiving because it focuses on the 3 F's: family, friends and food. No gifts to wrap (yet), no fireworks. Just lazy time with the family.

It's always so hard to think of a meaningful "what I'm thankful for" list on the spot when the food's all hot, the turkey's carved, you're starved, and family members *really* don't want you to take too much time thinking... just get it over with right? So... this last week I've been asking the kids (and myself) what we're thankful for, and we've been writing it down on a piece of paper on the fridge.

I really do try to raise thoughtful children who cherish God, family and friends foremost. S's "I'm thankful for..." items include mostly stuffed animals (and their leashes). J is thankful for his skateboard. If Z could talk, he would probably say he is thankful for Whole Vitamin D Milk. Deep, eh? Mommy or Daddy didn't even make the list.

Psalm 100 (The Message):

1-2 On your feet now—applaud God! Bring a gift of laughter,
sing yourselves into his presence.

3 Know this: God is God, and God, God.
He made us; we didn't make him.
We're his people, his well-tended sheep.

4 Enter with the password: "Thank you!"
Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
Thank him. Worship him.

5 For God is sheer beauty,
all-generous in love,
loyal always and ever.

Here's my list... I'm thankful for:

• haircuts
• snuggling with my husband and our kids
• books
  
• hot showers after I run
• sailing with my husband
  
• the opportunity to raise 3 kids
• our wonderful family
• dear friends
• digital cameras that capture precious moments
  
• our backyard swingset
  
• open-mouthed kisses from Z
• the blue cast that is healing J's broken arm
• eating ice cream with my daughter
  
• dinnertimes
• church
• a God who pours down blessings on us all.

Jeff sang the hymn "We Gather Together" as a kid at Thanksgiving, and we continue the tradition...

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing,
Sing praises to His name: He forgets not his own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, wast at our side, All glory be thine!

We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,
And pray that thou still our defender wilt be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving 2007

Sans Kids

The devoted Mr. Garland and I enjoyed a kid-free weekend in Balboa, our first weekend alone in almost 5 years! It was wonderful. We rode bikes, sailed, and jogged together. I have such a great husband.

Thank you so much, Mom and Dad, for watching our little ones. That was a wonderful gift. The kids didn't miss us one bit.

2 more days

J gets his cast off Wednesday... hooray!
I will not miss having to do this...

MOPS

Last weekend my MOPS group (Mothers of Pre-schoolers) held a fashion show fundraiser . I invited my girlfriend Jenn (we went to college together, a fellow engineering major at Cal Poly SLO) to come (love ya Jenn!). I indulged on hot chocolate and brownies while we perused the merchandise. My big purchase for the night was two headbands for $1 (the sales guy Jeff was going to give them to me for free, but I wanted to pay something). What a generous deal. The fashion show models were moms from my MOPS group and they all did such a great job.

This is my 5th year being involved with MOPS (I did 3 years in CO and 2 years in CA) and it has been a tremendous blessing in my life. The way MOPS reaches out to moms to encourage and strengthen relationships with God, hubby, kids, family, friends etc. is awesome. Moving from CO to CA last year, it was a wonderful way for me to meet other gals, quickly.

I've decided to not participate for the Spring semester, though. I might go again in Fall 2009, but I'm finding that I'm ready to move on for now. We're getting busier with home school activities, and I do a pretty good job keeping us occupied every morning with parks, the YMCA, museums, the beach, day trips, the zoo, and some days, just staying at home to read, craft, or play (gasp?!). So we're going to take a hiatus for a bit to see how it goes.

I'll miss it.

Eating Out (or Lack Thereof)

So things are still tight with the economy. The two things we've invested most of our money in have gone down in value: our home and the stock market. It's okay... we're in it for the long run. But we're really trying to stretch every dollar right now.

Eating Out. It's been almost 2 months now since our family has dined out. Yup, that means I'm doing a lot of cooking. Jeff has helped too, when I'm completely burnt out (which does happen). I hope hope hope this is only temporary, and I look forward to the day when we can eat a healthy meal out, and not have to worry about the check as much. But for now, we're trying to save our $$$ and if you eat out, you get junk food for cheap money and that is no way to do it. Let's face it, healthy food in the grocery store isn't necessarily cheap these days either?!?! But we'd rather eat healthy food at home. Yes, we may have to run our dishwasher or clean our kitchen floor a little more often, but it's worth it to have a good meal together as a family at home. Plus, every night we have Bible time before dinner, and after dinner the kids are excused from the table, they are not allowed back in the kitchen. They are usually off playing in the family room together. Jeff and I sit and linger for our "table talk," then we clean up together. I love that time alone with him. It's a great thing. And you can't do any of that in a Chick-Fil-A.

Cash Only. We usually use credit cards for everyday purchases, but we switched this month to using our ATM cards. We have some friends who are strictly cash (green paper $$) only but this is a little too hard core for us. It works for some folks, but it's just a little too much work for me. I've wanted to switch for a while, but we were just lazy and credit cards are just too dang convenient. We pay off our credit cards in full every month, but it was too easy to let the charges add up and then be hit with a whopper of a bill at the end of the month. Using our ATM, we see the charge hit our bank account immediately and have a more accurate balance this way.

These are just a couple things I've been working on recently... I'm not perfect, just trying to stretch our hard earned dollars.

Pocketbike

Jeff's co-worker owns this little red number. (You can barely see it. Really, there is a bike under Jeff.) 6'7" guy on an 18" bike. Hmmmm. It probably won't become his standard mode of transportation, but it was sure fun for an afternoon ride.

Decorated Cast

J is over half way done with his cast sentence. He gets the cast off the day before Thanksgiving (yippee!). We decorated it this week: everyone signed it and Jeff sketched a great picture of a Blue Angels airplane on it that J treasures. Sorry Blogger wouldn't let me upload the close-up in the proper orientation. Not sure why.

Can I also say I thought casts were supposed to smell? This one doesn't stink one bit?! Again, not sure why...

Maritime

To celebrate the devoted Mr. Garland's 39th birthday today, we headed to the San Diego Maritime Museum. The museum consists of 5 boats floating in the SD harbor.

S and J inside the B-39 Soviet Attack Submarine. Talk about close quarters. What's that circle thingy J is sitting in? It's a door that we all had to climb through. Let's just say that I'm not as graceful as I might look (ha!). At 6'1" (and Jeff's 6'7"!), we had to fold in half (and bring Z along as well). You can just call us the family of smooth moves.

Our snack aboard the Berkeley (steam ferry) - what an amazing ferry! This was probably our favorite boat. We watched the other ships in the bay, as well as airplanes taking off and landing at the airport. Excitement all around.

Looking out the Star of India's porthole at the HMS Surprise. About 3 of the ships were out sailing today.

l to r: B-39 Sub and the Berkeley.

Jeff and Z on top of the sub with the Star of India in the background. The Star of India is the oldest active ship in the world. It was built 145 years ago (1863), when Abe Lincoln was president.

Star of India mast and rigging.

Celebrate

Banana cream pie + 3 fun kids + birthday Hubby/Dad = God is so good.

Happy Birthday Jeff

Happy 39th birthday Jeff.

I'm so thankful to God for you. You are a living example to me and our children of how to to love God with all our my hearts, souls, minds, and strength. You have taught us to love each other, and to love God. You have shown us what it means to be humble before God and others. You have dedicated your life to God, your family, and your friends. Your kids adore you for being fun and loving, but they also know that you expect the best out of them, all the time.

I love you my best friend, my true love and my companion for life.

It is so much fun to grow old with you.

Wendi

Senior Home

l to r: Wani, Woody and J

We made another monthly visit to the Senior Home near us this week and had a great time. The people we visit are Alzheimers' patients. The kids are now starting to learn names and what the folks' favorite colors are. We bring toys to show and share with our older friends. It sure makes me appreciate youth, life and health. These people are so friendly, loving and gentle.

I asked one of the ladies her name and she said "Wani. No wait, is that right? Yes, I think it's Wani." She couldn't even remember her own name.

Mr. Woody is a former surfer so J is happy to bring every toy he can think of that relates to surfing.

Christmas Countdown

Christmas 2007

I'm trying to be better organized for Christmas this year. I'm not good at this stuff. But I want to enjoy and treasure Christmas festivities. Here's the schedule I'm following (from Simplify Your Life by Marcia Ramsland):

8weeks:  shop and wrap 1/3 of gifts
7weeks: shop and wrap 2/3 of gifts
6weeks: Finish shopping and wrapping gifts
5weeks: Start planning for Thanksgiving and vacation
4weeks: put up outdoor decorations and write Christmas cards
3weeks: Set up the Christmas tree and decorate indoors.  Mail gifts and cards.
2weeks: Attend and host parties.  Bake and clean.
1week: grocery shop for Christmas meals and make final preparations for the big day

Christmas week:  celebrate Christmas and enjoy!
New years day: take down decorations, write thank-yous and start the new year fresh.
-------------

I think we're at about week 6 (already)!  I've got our Christmas photos in hand and want
to start addressing envelopes this week or next.

I'm not promising any miricles, but I'm trying! If you have any great tips, I'm all ears!

Weekend athletics and play

On the go...

S and her current fav stuffed animal: Kana the puppy.

Jeff snapped this while goofing off with the kids. I love the facial expressions!

It was cruel of us to take a 3-year old to the beach and say "don't play in the sand or water" (so his cast would stay clean). Mean mean mean parents.

Hankerin' for Hot Fudge

Can I just say I love my family? Last night after dinner, all 3 kids successfully ate all their dinner (Chicken Paprikash and plum & grape & lettuce salad) so it was time for ice cream dessert! S has long wanted to enjoy a picture perfect bowl of ice cream with Hershey's chocolate syrup. She wanted it exactly like the picture on the syrup bottle, minus that pesky marichino cherry. The devoted Mr. Garland and I enjoyed some homemade hot fudge on our ice cream. It was excellent!

40th Anniversary

40 years ago today, my parents-in-law were married! Fred Richmond Garland married Louise Jeannette Bulkley in Denver, CO on November 9, 1968. Over the years they have enjoyed friends, family and the Colorado Rockies: skiing, hiking, and basically anything outdoors and at high elevations. I'm especially grateful for their faithful union because together they produced and raised my husband, Jeff. They have two fun kids, Jeffrey Clyne Garland and Julia Alice Garland, and 3 grand kids (whom I'm intimately familiar with). We celebrated the occasion in August with a party in Littleton, CO, where they reside.

l to r: Fred, Jeff, Julie and Louise.

Congratulations, Fred and Louise! We love you!

Little Indian Z

Calavera Lake Bike Ride