I have been asking the Lord for wisdom a lot lately, and as a result, this verse has been crawling through my brain for weeks. I want these words to describe me: pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy, fruitful, impartial, sincere.

I’m currently reading this book, and I like it so much, I couldn’t wait another second to share it. This is the kind of book you read aloud with a friend. This is the kind of book that makes you giggle, even when you are alone in public. This is the kind of book that makes you love your family a little bit more than you already did. This book is a quirky little page-turner. This book can be read in one sitting. This book might make you a little bit misty (maybe even shed a tear…or two…or more). This is my kind of book.

Also? I knew it would be a winner the minute I saw that it was written by Lois Lowry, the same author who wrote The Giver trilogy (which I have read at least ten times).

This article:

Dancing Makes You Smarter

This song:

This poem:

English Pronunciation

I don’t want to wish away these cold winter days. You know how daylight seems so much brighter when you walk out of a dark movie theatre? I cherish these days because they make the contrast of summertime so much sweeter.

The morning of New Year’s Eve I went with a group of friends from church to watch the Aggies FINALLY win a bowl game! That hasn’t happened in ten years, so it was great to win, even if it was the Meineke Car Care Bowl. At least it didn’t have “.com” in the bowl name, right?

That night I went with three friends to the New Year’s Eve party that was held at our favorite place to go salsa dancing. It was just like any other Saturday night at The Village ($5 for a 30 minute lesson and hours of social dancing), PLUS a free glass of champagne! I have been going to salsa lessons/dancing consistently since the end of summer, and it is fun to enjoy the progress I have made. It is also really fun to share the salsa dancing fever with friends!

with Ellen at The Village for Salsa!

The next morning, we went to church and then lunch with friends, but the highlight of my day was Swiss fondue! We have a friend, Stephan, who is from Switzerland, and after graduating he moved back home. He was in town visiting his girlfriend, Brennan, who we know from church, and they invited us over for fondue. It was great to catch up, see pictures from their travels around Europe, and share culture, food, and community. I truly believe that food is one of the greatest gifts from God. Food brings people together, food is delicious and therefore enjoyable, food sustains our bodies, and food represents our personalities and cultures. Eating meals together is such a fun way to enjoy the people you love!

I have had fondue before once or twice, but never legitimate Swiss fondue! I learned quite a few things about fondue:

1) I didn’t know that fondue is a traditional Swiss dish that they eat every wintertime. I never really thought about where fondue originated, I guess. Apparently it’s Swiss! Also, Stephan insisted that real fondue was made in a ceramic, not metal, pot.

2) I had no idea that it’s not just melted cheese- it is melted cheese mixed with wine! Something about the melting point of cheese/preventing it from burning. (But also probably a little bit because Europeans like wine.)

3) The Swiss tradition says that if your bread/fruit drops into the fondue, you must kiss the person seated to your left! Comment of the night from Ellen: “I wish there were more boys here!” For the record, the only bread dropping/kissing was Brennan kissing Ellen on the cheek.

4) After the cheese is mostly gone, and there is a little burnt bit at the bottom, you are supposed to crack and egg in the pot and let it cook. Then you dip the rest of your bread into the cheesy egg goo, and eat it. This egg cheese mixture? It’s called “the grandmother” in Swiss-German. So great!

I hope the start of your 2012 has been as magical as mine!

Anticipating stuff and planning for stuff is my favorite season of life. Because when you are anticipating, it’s all in the future. It’s all still perfect. I haven’t had a chance to mess it up yet. I have nothing to feel guilty about yet. I am nothing if not eternally hopeful. I go into most things knowing that it has the potential to be AWESOME, even when history has taught me time and time again that nothing is perfect. Still – in my mind, whatever I am anticipating is always going to be perfect.

Basically, I am awesome at setting myself up for disappointment. This is why I say that anticipation is always better than the real thing.

The new year always brings lots of great anticipation. I love this season, looking forward to a whole new clean slate of a year! But I want to be a little more cautious about the whole setting myself up for failure thing…

So I have decided to think of the new year that I am anticipating as “Fake 2012″.

For example: In Fake 2012, I can make resolutions like, “Call my parents once a week” and then I will actually call them once a week! In Fake 2012 I will also become this awesome chef lady who never spends money out at restaurants because the joy of cooking delicious food of my own trumps the convenience and deliciousness of restaurants. Also? In Fake 2012, I never have to turn down invitations from my friends to eat out at restaurants because…well, apparently in Fake 2012, all complications just resolve themselves.

Fake 2012 will be awesome because it will be perfect. I’ll never be late for carpool. I’ll have perfect spending habits. I’ll only eat healthy food. My pores will magically shrink, my eyes will stop twitching, I’ll be a salsa dancing pro, my cat will learn to use the toilet so I’ll never have to clean out that [damn] litter box, my Polish will suddenly become flawless, my eyebrows will tweeze* themselves,  and the Ags will win the college World Series. Isn’t Fake 2012 going to be hypothetically awesome?! (*In Fake 2012, tweeze is a real word.)

Real 2012 will be awesome because, although it won’t be perfect, it will be exactly as it should be. I’m going to fail, I’m going to have issues, and I’m going to try to have some grace for myself. I’m going to try to avoid all the unnecessary guilt that I pile upon myself when things aren’t going as seamlessly as they would be going in Fake 2012.

With all of that said, here are my resolutions for the new year:

1. Read more at the local library and less at the local coffee shop. Why? Because it’s WAY closer to home, and it’s free. I got so much delicious loose leaf tea (Harney & Sons!) for Christmas, I can brew it at home and bring it with me. Better quality tea, for free. Also? This shouldn’t be too difficult to accomplish because “more” and “less” are relative terms. I only went to the library twice in 2011. Three times, and I’m golden. (Maybe someday I will be able to read at home, but I’m trying to not set myself up for failure, remember?)

2. Knit a blanket. I’ve never tackled such a big project, but now that I can follow a pattern pretty easily, I’d like to try.

3. Start saving for a new car. My car has been incredibly reliable for 10 years now. I think I’ve only had 2 or 3 small hiccups in all that time. But my friends with similar make/model/age cars are all starting to have some troubles. So now I live in constant fear that my car is going to start falling apart at any moment. If you know me at all, you know that nothing freaks me out like car-related decision-making. Maintenance. Inspections. Talking to car repairmen. Getting my tires rotated. Following driving directions. Driving in traffic. Picking a gas station. Car washes. I suck at all these things. This is why God gave me Merritt. So when the day comes that I need a new car, it will probably help decrease my stress-level significantly if I already have…ya know…money to pay for it.

4. Stop texting while driving. I know. I know. I know! Please don’t lecture me. I hate driving so I try to distract myself from the misery by multitasking in the car. I may or may not have read blogs while driving, knit while driving, or painted my nails in heavy traffic. (I haven’t actually done these things.) ((Yes I have.)) I know that this is unsafe, and I want to change. Also, soon it will be illegal and I don’t like being illegal, so I need to break the habit before I break the law.

5. Give myself grace about not accomplishing these resolutions. Hey, Fake 2012, you suck because you make me feel guilty and disappointed. I hate you. Here’s to Real 2012 and all it’s imperfections!

Here were my resolutions from last year. Let’s see how I did…

1. Graduate from seminary. Hey, I did that!

2. Read Les Miserables cover to cover. I’m on page 900-something of 1463 pages. So around 2/3 of the way done, and only a few more days of 2011 to go. Whether I finish before the new year or not, I am definitely going to finish soonishly. In case I haven’t said it enough, IT IS SO GOOD. It’s just really big and parts of it read slowly.

3. Only eat out once a week. EPIC FAIL. This resolution was stupid. Or rather, I was stupid for thinking that this resolution was a good idea.

4. Refine my “Better World Shopping” skills. Hey, I did this too!

5. Purl with needles. I majorly did this! I learned not only purl, but a bunch of other knitting skillz that sound fancy but turned out to be pretty simple. I can now follow a pattern, which is a big deal for a free-thinking gypsy-knitter like me. I used to make fun of people who followed patterns like I still make fun of people who measure when they cook. Now…I am a pattern follower. But only sometimes. I still enjoy the occasional make-it-up-as-you-go gypsy-knitting.

I’m still thinking of things I might resolve for the new year…

This phrase keeps coming to mind, and I can’t help but agree that it seems to characterize what this Christmas season has meant to my heart. It has been so nice to take time away from the hurried pace of life to rest and rejoice. It’s hard to do this with a pressing to do list. Sometimes it seemed irresponsible to rest instead of accomplish. But the moments of the season that I will remember most fondly are the ones that weren’t on my to do list.

This is just the tiniest picture of what happened that first Christmas. The to-do lists of the Pharisees were blinding Israel from the true meaning of the Sabbath- trusting that God is powerful enough to accomplish more in 6 days than we ever could in 7 without him- trusting that God is sufficient!

So He put on flesh and walked around with us and turned our legalism-obsessed culture upside down. He brought rest to the weary souls. Our hard work was as useful as filthy rags- what God really desired was a people who trusted Him entirely. The world was weary- then Jesus came, bringing us a true Sabbath…and the weary world rejoiced!

Happy Christmas! I pray that your weary soul is rejoicing in the Lord of the Sabbath.

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:9, 10 ESV)

In the meantime…here are a few stories from work over the past few months.

You all know that I love a good tea party. Well, for one of my students’ birthdays, I took the girls to a tea party at the local tea room. And it was awesome. First of all, the birthday girl is Little Miss Accessories. She comes in every day with jewelry galore, she rotates between 4 different backpacks (2 Hannah Montana and 2 Disney Princess), purses, headbands, you name it. So we started off the day by giving my 3 girls manicures, and then I let the birthday girl paint the clear topcoat on my nails. One of my girls had never had her nails painted before ever! I couldn’t believe it. They walked around all day showing of their nails to everyone they met. You could tell that they just felt so special. There is something about feeling beautiful that makes a girl carry herself differently, and it was so sweet to help that happen for my little ladies.

Then we went to the tearoom. First of all, I must brag on my contact at the tearoom. When I called to inquire about bringing my class for a tea party, she was SO excited and called me 3 or 4 times as she was making preparations to make sure that it would be just right for our group. When other people get as excited about my kids as I am, it makes me really, really happy. She was just SO nice and accommodating! When we arrived, the first thing she did was compliment my girls’ nails. Then she led us to our table, and sent out the tea. As the server was pouring the tea, she came over and whispered in my ear that the tea would be complementary. Then each girl ordered a dessert, and we just acted fancy all afternoon long. One sweet girl kept talking about the pie being so delicious that she wanted to marry it. Then the hostess brought out tea bags of their specialty house tea for the girls to take home as party favors – again complementary. It was obvious that my girls felt so special and important and celebrated. That tea party will be a memory that I cherish forever. (I’m getting all verklempt just typing about it!)

(Whenever I talk about this, people always ask about the boys – don’t worry! While we were at the tea party, the boys were having a blast at the high school watching a basketball tournament with our favorite coach. I do love a good gender-role stereotype!)

—–

One of my students has a very difficult time understanding, processing, and verbalizing emotions. But recently we have had a couple of huge breakthroughs in this area that make me really happy! It is always exciting to see growth in kids, and these might seem like little things, but they are huge (HUGE) for him. For the past several months I will tell this kid about once a day, “Hey, did you know that I love you?” and he always says, “Why?” sounding a little disgusted and confused. And I always say, “I just can’t help it!” Well…a few weeks ago he was doing something totally characteristic of himself – rewinding and rewatching and rewinding and rewatching and rewinding and rewatching the same 15 second clip of a movie over and over and over. It was just so adorably him, so I said, “Hey, did you know that I love you?” and he said, “Yeah.” And now that’s how he always replies. It makes me really happy.

Empathy is doubly difficult for him – understanding how he feels is hard, but understanding how the things we do make other people feel? That’s just a really, really big stretch. A few weeks ago were going Christmas caroling at the nursing home, and I knew that he wouldn’t really get it. Also, he doesn’t like crowds or noise or talking to people. This trip was not exactly the recipe for a fun time for him. Even really fun field trips with big payoffs are hard for him – so I knew getting him to attend would be very tricky. And he kept talking about how he was not going to go.

But I had a trick up my sleeve… see, this kid L-O-V-E-S the presidents. He is especially interested in two things: Who did they marry? and How did they die? Millard Fillmore is particularly interesting to him because his first wife (Abigail) died, and then he was sad and lonely, and then he got married again to a widow (Caroline) who had also been sad and lonely. He talks about this guy and his two different wives a lot. So I told him that we were going to a nursing home, and explained that nursing homes are where old people live whose husbands and wives have died, like Millard Fillmore. They are really sad and lonely because they miss their Abigails, and they haven’t met their Carolines yet. So we are going to go try and make them happy by singing Christmas songs and giving them cards and saying “Merry Christmas”. I asked him if that sounded like something he could do. He thought for a second, and said, “Yeah.”

So we went to the nursing home, and he shook a jingle bell while everyone was singing (noise), and then handed a few people cards in the lunch room (crowds) and said “Merry Christmas” (talking to people) without a single fuss. I was really pleasantly surprised. But what happened next almost made me fall out – As we were leaving, he looked up at me and said, “Did we make them happy?” I was shocked! I said, “Yeah, I think we did!” and he said, “Yay. Tell Mommy that we made them happy.” My heart nearly burst. I was so proud! Sweet boy.

—–

I received an email from a friend that began, “Hey, Miss Redhead!”

(side note: There is a strange phenomenon about my hair. Apparently its color is hard to remember. When people are looking at me, they tell me my hair is blond or brown. But probably a dozen different times people have referred to me as a redhead in email/over the phone. People who know me well. I think it must be the curls and freckles that are deceptive. Red hair is lovely – I just don’t have it. But everytime this happens I start to question myself…maybe I do have red hair? So I always start obsessively asking people what color hair I have.)

Me: What color hair do I have?
Boy in my class: Wild!
Me: Haha, wrong answer.
Boy: No, I LOVE those little curls you have up there, they look SO cute! They make you look like a Wow Wow Wubbzy!

(side note #2: Wow Wow Wubbzy is this stupid YouTube video with these annoying little talking animals. None of them even have hair.)

(side note #3: I asked him again about the color, and he said, “Blond.” Then I asked a girl and she said, “Yellow.” Then I asked a man and he said, “Blondish-brown.” No one said red. Then I told my co-worker about the phenomenon. She called her daughter and said, “What color hair does Rachel have?” Her daughter thought for a second and said, “Red.” PHENOMENON!)

Patrick being adorable:

Patrick being bossy:

Patrick being smart:

Patrick being so silly (and me not wearing any makeup, so please don’t judge me because posting this photo takes basically all of the humility I can muster):

Patrick being so curious about my cat, and me being so proud of Wojtek for being so patient with the growling toddler:

My Thanksgiving plate! Please notice the dressing in the center of the plate. This is the best dressing ever made in the history of mankind because no one makes dressing (or ice tea) like your own Momma:

I love this picture of me and my siblings. First of all, we all look so much like we actually look in real life. Second of all, Merritt and I look SO MUCH ALIKE! Third of all, we are in order. Fourth of all, we are a pretty good-looking bunch, right??

And finally, one last photo of the nephew that was NOT on Lindsey’s blog! I found this on my phone this week. Precious: