An offer he couldn't refuse . . .

Joe turned 40 yesterday.
Forty.
Wow.
That's a pretty big number.
That's a pretty important milestone birthday.
And so, we did what had to be done.
We had a 4oth birthday bash to celebrate the day, and Joe's life.
My mom did most of the work to make the day successful.
It had to be big. And sophisticated. This is an older man we are talking about here :P.
Soooo . . . we were very mature about the whole thing . . . and dressed like gangsters!!
That's right.
It was a Godfather themed party.
We had good food, great company, cool music, a huge cake (yes, we had 40 lit candles on it!!!) and lots of fun!
It was amazing to hear friends and family (there are those people, again) share their hearts about Joe, the impact he has in their lives and what he means to them.
There were lots of trips down memory lane, lots of new memories made, lots of laughing, and lots of crying, too (good crying, though, and, happily, not too much ugly crying).
I wanted him to have a spectacular day, and later he told me it exceeded his expectations.
That's exactly what I wanted to hear.
I am so happy he had a good time.
When you love someone so much you want to give them the world, the moon, the sun and all the stars thrown in (And I do. Love him that much.), a party hardly seems able express all that enough.
Even if it is a cool party.
And this party was pretty "off the hook" (what does that even mean? I'm getting too old to figure this stuff out).
It is a little weird, I guess, to be getting older. To be hitting numbers that always seemed so far away before.
Time marches on, and we are all in his parade.
He makes us offers we cannot refuse.
Not and survive, anyway.
We get older.
And sometimes, we get better.
And sometimes, we get together with our friends to celebrate our lives. To know we are loved. To be aware that we love being here. Doing this.
We have moments that make all the other moments of our lives come together, make sense.
I think Joe had some of those moments yesterday.
I hope he has many more.
Hey, Joemanuch! I love you! Hope you had an awesome birthday!!




Little man didn't last very long. Sorry to say, he slept through most of Dad's big day!!

Everyone was talking with their hands. Fuggetaboud it!
"Hey, get that camera outta here!"Gangs of New YorkLook at the glow coming off that cake!!He's so Sinatra!
The Padrone!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The Christmas season is in full swing here!
We got our tree last weekend, and decorated it and the house.
It looks very "Christmas-y"
It feels very "Christmas-y".
I absolutely love it.
The boys all helped with the decorating.
Isaac was helping his little brothers get their ornaments "higher up" on the tree. I got a little misty at that.
Daniel was dancing all around, putting ornaments wherever his little heart desired. The sparkle in his eyes twinkled brighter than any five-and-dime string of Christmas lights I have ever seen!
Here are some before and after pictures of our tree this year.
Joe, being the awesome man that he is, made his own switch box for the tree lights, so we don't have to keep crawling under all the scratch-ity branches to keep plugging it in. What can I say? He's amazing *sigh*. He had a little help from Small Fry.
Last Sunday, Advent began.
We had some very special guests who helped us commence this year's advent season. Thanks for being a part of our evening, Emily, Donovan and Christian!!
My family has decided to "keep" Advent this year.
What is Advent, you may ask?
Advent is the season leading up to Christmas, beginning four Sundays before Christmas Day. There is a very good, short article written by Noel Piper (John Piper's wife) about the Advent season here.
Basically, it is a time set aside to remind us of the time when God's people were awaiting the promise of his son, who would be born a babe, who would grow to a man, who would save them from their sins. It prepares our hearts for the real message of Christmas. It reminds us that it is not about gifts (although they are nice, and there is nothing wrong with them), but about The Gift. And it fills us with hope and anticipation for the next appearing of Jesus.
We have chosen to celebrate Advent in our family because it sets aside time to reflect on, to think about and to learn the true reason we, as Christians, should celebrate this season with hope and peace and joy and anticipation. I want to remember. To teach my sons. To wait with hope.
Taking time to observe Advent just kinda helps us to focus. There are a lot of distractions out there, especially at this time of the year.
Our Advent devotions consist of lighting the Advent candles, reading scriptures that highlight the theme for the week, talking about what it means for us individually and as Christians, and praying together. We do it in place of our regular devotional time.
It's pretty simple, really.
But there is profound meaning in it.
Monday night, our school participated in our town's annual Christmas parade with a float titled "The Knight Before Christmas." It featured our grade school boys, equipped with swords and shields, and donned in their new Knights sweatshirts, kneeling before a manger scene (one of our teacher thought that one up!). We also had Rachel, dressed in full armor and astride the noble steed Avalon, riding in front of the float.
Daniel participated too, throwing candy to all the kids in the crowd and yelling "Merry Chismiss!!"This weekend, we will celebrate Joe's 40th Birthday! Oh, my! This week, most of my time and efforts are going into planning and (hopefully) pulling off a killer party to honor him and celebrate his life! (Actually, my mom has done most of the planning and pulling this one off, but I am at her disposal and will think of nothing else until we are on the other side of it. Thanks, mom, for faithfully working on Joe's birthday bash, for the hours, the preparation and endless lists and . . . and . . . and.) But really, nothing I do will ever be able to express enough how much I love him, how much I am grateful for him, or how crazy-off-the-charts my heart still races when he walks into the room!
So, here's the scoop: we have several holiday parties and outings yet to attend, I have several dozen cookies that need to be baked, and I am nowhere near done with Christmas shopping.
I have so much to do.
I have so much fun doing all of it.
Really, I do.
But, this year, remembering everyday the why we are to celebrate this season with such extravagant joy and such lavish generosity, will make the how I do it so much more worthwhile.

Thanksgiving . . . in retrospect

Thanksgiving has come and gone, just as I knew it would.
Just as it always does.
But I have pictures to prove it was here.
And this to say about it: It was a warm and wonderful day, and my home blazed with the fires of friendship long into the evening.
Family and friends.
People.
Lots of people. Came and went. Stayed. Ate. Laughed. Played. Watched. Talked. Loved. Ate some more.
It was money.
And I wouldn't have changed a thing about it!
Well, maybe one thing.
Our good friends, Micah and Sarah, had a good habit of coming over for Thanksgiving. Something they've broken since moving to Korea. We've missed them. Our gatherings, though awesome, are just not the same without them. But I hear tell they are coming back soon. You know what that means, guys. Right? Next year, Thanksgiving at our house. Don't forget, you owe me one for the pizza debacle. : )
So, I'm thankful for so, so, so many things. My husband, who is possibly the best man I know. Definitely!
And my boys.
And my family.
And my friends.
Basically, people.




And food.
Lots of de-lish, mouth watering food!