blessed beyond measure

When mistletoe and tinsel glow Paint a yuletide valentine Back home I go to those I know For a Christmas auld lang syne And as we gather 'round the tree Our voices all combine In sweet accord to thank the Lord For a Christmas auld lang syne When sleigh bells ring and choirs sing And the children's faces shine With each new toy we share their joy With a Christmas auld lang syne We sing His praise this day of days And pray next year this time We'll all be near to share the cheer Of a Christmas auld lang syne Merry Christmas everyone!

So a couple of years ago, I installed a small, simple clearance chandelier over our kitchen table. With guidance from Youtube, since I'm technically not an electrician. It took hours and hours, but the success of that venture lit a fire in me to try other DIY things. Well, maybe not a fire. A warmish charcoal briquette that took two years to finally smolder. The boys' bathroom was at the top of my list. Just altogether a pitiful space, and only partly because of the disgusting nature of a male-dominated bathroom. Two towel racks and a toilet paper holder that had been lovingly anchored to the walls fourteen years ago had long since fallen out, and took some nice chunks of drywall with them. I had cleverly covered the holes with little cartoon wall decals of cars, trucks, and planes. That were peeling off and matched nothing and were no longer interesting to my now-giant children. The honey oak single cabinet and ten-dollar light fixture screamed nineties. The mirror ...

Where on earth to begin? There's been a lot of life, with its many ups and downs, over the weeks-long blog silence. And at least the ups, I don't want to forget. To kick off an early Thanksgiving week, Mom and I headed southeast to see Nene for a few days. Oh what fun we had. Shopping helped us get in all our steps, and I got to experience the phenomenon that is Ikea for the first time ever. The Christmas lights at Busch Gardens were breathtaking and just made the season come alive. On a whim, we drove to the beach - through a terrifying underwater tunnel, I might add - for the best rainy oceanside seafood I've ever tasted. We warm fuzzied our way through the Mr. Rogers movie in a theater filled with full-size recliners, be still my heart. But most of all, we just soaked up time together, catching up, reminiscing, laughing. It was so wonderful. On the way home, Mom and I took a stroll through Williamsburg, one of my favorite places on earth. Our ...

It is November, which means the Thanksgiving-slash-Christmas combo of holiday merriment has descended upon us. On the morning of the first, Aden hopped wide-eyed out of bed ( never happens, y'all) and told Alexa to start the Christmas music. Trey heard, and wandered into the kitchen smiling. Brandon heard, rushed Aden with a hug-tackle saying, "That's my boy!" Let me just tell you something about Christmas music. It is magical . No one got on a screen that morning. One evening, the music was playing, and both boys sat in the living room with me and created Lego things. We talk, we sing, we dance, we smile. When it's on, video games don't mean nearly as much. That nostalgic delight just makes us want to be together. It's awesome . Well, Operation Christmas Child time has come. Every year, even since the boys were very small, I have gone into the whole shoebox scenario with high, high hopes. My children will finally realize how blessed they a...

We have spent our October doing our very favoritest things. The weather has been classic Virginia. Starting off all-out summer, then practically overnight changing to fall. Lo and behold, a great many of the leaves are brilliant red and yellow, making for some breathtaking drives through the woods. Frigid in the mornings, comfortably warm in the afternoons, and a bit chilly in the evenings. Picture perfect. Brandon started things off with a bang by traveling up to Charlottesville and scoring some quality actual face time with one of his heroes, Tony Bennett. Like a kid at Christmas he's been, throwing random Tonyisms out in mid-conversation and talking about him like they are best buddies. It's cute, but from an integrity standpoint and a faith standpoint and a cough- looks -cough standpoint, um, my man couldn't have found himself a better role model. We hiked a new trail in the state park. It was still warm out, but we apparently forgot about earlier sunset, tha...