Happy moments

I'm not sure what character she is...

but she does love to dance! 

 Nora got a hold of her sister's crayon holder and was rather proud of herself for filling it up!



1000 Thanksgivings

I am not easily shaken by "self-help" or devotional books, but I read one last year that shook me hard to the core.  Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts shed a bright, searing spotlight on my heart's natural state of ingratitude and pride, and challenged me to practice thanksgiving daily and always.

So I took her challenge to actually write down 1000 gifts that my loving, Creator, Father God has already given me.  Gifts that were big and small, hidden and in plain sight, happy and "difficult."

#997 Cat shadow thru the window shade.

#998 Nora's yummy "mm-mmms" for food

#999 Crayons, colors clutched in little hands.

#1000 The first spring crocus, deep purple to remind me in Lent.

It took me a year, and it has made such a difference in me that I started a new notebook this year with

#1001:  No more Portland trips, at least for now!  Peace while waiting for our little one. 

#1002 A morning habit of reading our Bibles and drinking tea together

#1003 Elsa's bouquet of Lenten Roses for our windowsill.



Hummingbird nest

A brave little hummingbird tried to establish her nest on a limb on our Doug-fir tree that directly overhangs our front walkway.  She courageously persisted for several weeks, but finally all of our ins and outs going to and from the house and an energetic outdoor kitty finally convinced her to abandon her beautiful and carefully crafted home.

IT'S SNOWING!

I'm sure my college roommates remember my excitement at seeing my first "real" snow fall.  I don't think the snow that fell on our house in mid-Feburary would count as more that a "heavy dusting," but the girls were excited and begged to go out and play, and Elsa insisted she be fully clothed in snow pants and snow boots for the occasion.

Nora's first taste of snow:

Elsa was particularly proud that she was able to scoop up most of the snow in the front yard and it fit into three buckets!  (Her favorite is on the right, she loves the color blue right now.)

Of fairies and flowers

Elsa has taken to dressing herself whenever we let her, and the other day she decided to "dress" Nora too - this was the best we could come up with to dress a baby fairy!



Fairy sisters

   I am ready for spring to arrive.  The daffodills are poking out, but the snow flurry we had yesterday was good reminder that it is still winter!  Even so, Elsa and I had fun threading up a garland of flowers to remind us that spring is on the way!


Paper flower garlands

 And two more random photos:



Nora enjoying one of her Valentine cards

 


Self portrait with new camera - you'll have to excuse the blurs until I learn what all the buttons do!

 

Glimpses through the looking glass, however dimly we may now see...

The time has come, I think, for me to start a blog, mostly because I have gotten to be so terrible about sending life updates to fiiends and family, and I am hoping that this new (to me) format will encourage me to do better. 

The blog title and quote comes from Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass," and it reminds me of how we find ourselves talking of anything and everything, material and invisible, with our children, and especially of Elsa's ever wandering imagination.  The season of little children is full of hard work and wonder.  We may now only see dimly through the looking glass, but the glimpses we are given help to see the abounding wonder that motivates our work.


June 2011, our first Little Wonder playing Alice in Wonderland's favorite game.  Photo by Abbie Morrison, http://www.abbiemorrison.com/

The time has come in our lives to be talking of many things, of fairies and of flowers, of crafts with paste and string, and when can she marry Christopher Robin, and whether cats can sing.