Happy Birthday, Martha!

Yesterday was the birthday of my beautiful sister, Martha, who celebrated in her home in Uganda with her husband, Eric. We would've loved to have her here to enjoy our spring-like day with us, but I guess she was OK with being near the equator. We did get to sing her to her over the phone, which I'm sure was SUCH a treat! She and Eric were out to dinner when we called. It's good to know she got a little of that on her day.

As my younger sister, Martha has contributed significantly to my development over the years. Just the other day, someone commented to me that I didn't seem like an oldest child. My response was that this is probably because my younger sister never let me boss her around. So, as traumatic as that is for an older sister, I guess I can thank her now. (I wish I could scan in a picture we have of her as a four-year-old, in total control of her Sunday School class.) She's definitely one who likes to think for herself.

It was sort of strange to pass all of Dec. 30th without doing any of the birthday stuff, as we have every other year. With Martha's birthday falling between Christmas and New Year's, we were always all home to celebrate it (something Mart has always relished!).

The internet connection hasn't been very reliable for Team Smith recently, but hopefully Mart will be able to read our birthday wishes soon and catch some of our love across the miles!

Images of Christmas

I thought I'd do this really cool photo essay, but as I look at these pictures, there are so many parts of Christmas that I didn't capture. So, I guess this should be called "Images of Some of Christmas".

We had a wonderful holiday and have been reminded, again, of how VERY blessed we are.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

We started a new tradition tonight by have a Jesus birthday cake. The kids loved it! (Well, duh, I guess that's a given, considering it's CAKE!)

As I head off to bed, I'm thinking of a song we've sung in church.

How deep the Father's love for us!
How vast beyond all measure!
That He would give His only Son
to make a wretch His treasure.

How awesome to remember that Jesus came to live with and rescue those who were His enemies (Romans 5:10). The truth of Christmas makes God's gracious gift so much more meaningful.

Thirty-Five

There's a whole lotta birthday blogging going on this week, but I have to squeeze one more in. Last Sunday I celebrated my thirty-fifth birthday, and it turned out to be the nicest one yet. (But then, I always think each year gets better.) I was serenaded by most of my family, as Matt was part of a small group singing in the morning church service and Joe and Ellie were in a kids' Christmas program that evening. In between those times, we ate at a pizza place I really like, and I got to open some gifts. Matt and the kids got me a couple movies, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (which I was probably a little too excited about...for someone who's 35). They also got me a new Elizabeth George book which I'd really wanted called A Woman's Walk With God. When the Christmas season is done and I'm walking again, instead of running, I'll enjoy that a lot. I think Matt did pretty great considering he has to buy me birthday and Christmas gifts all in the same week. The best thing he did for me was that on Saturday he made me my favorite dessert, which we call Lush. It's a chocolate pudding layer thing, and it's awesome for any meal of the day. Although, now that I think of it, I didn't have it for breakfast at all this week...I really must be getting older.

My favorite birthday moment came on Friday night when I was out to dinner with my extended family. As soon as our food came, Erin needed to go to the bathroom, so I took her. Then as soon as we got back to the table, Ellie needed to go. When we finally got back to the table after that one, everyone else was pretty much done eating, and I hadn't even taken my first bite. The great thing about it, though, was that I didn't feel frustrated or upset. God really gave me some grace to be able to do all things as unto Him, including taking my girls to the potty. Thinking about it, I don't think I could've done that with such a servant's heart even a year ago, so I just got overwhelmed at His faithfulness to teach us year by year and to give us what He commands us to have. With that in mind, I'm ready to move ahead to 36.

Something new I want to try this year is to look for one passage of Scripture to focus on throughout the year, then to be able to testify regarding that passage on my next birthday. I haven't chosen the passage yet, but I'll put it here when I do.

There! Now the normal people birthday blogs are done, and we can start to focus on the biggie coming up on Monday!

Happy Birthday, Carrie!

Because of some technical problems with Blogger yesterday, I am a day late in wishing a happy birthday to Matt's sister, Carrie, a.k.a. Aunt Kitty. We actually celebrated her birthday with her last weekend, and I got a really cute picture of her with her Star Wars cake, but when I told her I would put the picture on the blog, she sort of made me say, "OK, I won't put the picture on the blog." (Of course, this doesn't stop me from putting other pictures on the blog...Did she really think she could get off that easily?) So you won't get to see her Star Wars cake but, let me assure you, it was pretty cool, and she looked very cute holding it up. Here's a picture of her with her daughters and in case you can't tell who the mother is, she's the second one in from the right. Pretty group of girls, huh? And they smile like this all the time, too!


As I mentioned before, Carrie is my Star Wars go-to girl, but she means a lot to everyone in our family. She's a super fun aunt as you can see from this picture of her with Joe when he was one.


We love her very much and hope she had a wonderful day!

Birthday Overload!

I've been away from the blog on the worst of all weekends, for I've missed wishing happy birthdays to two very special ladies!
On Friday, my Grandma Starbuck, also known as "The Great Baboo", reached the illustrious age of 87. (She's related to the whaling Starbucks, not the coffee Starbucks, which makes a world of difference.) During my growing up years, Gram lived a couple hours' drive away, which, I remember as a kid, thinking was way too far! Five years ago she moved to a retirement community close by, so we now get to see her once or twice most weeks. She has a true appeal to children. I remember it from when I was a kid, and I see the same chemistry between her and my kids. They just adore their Great Baboo! At the age of 87, she still is active in a couple clubs, a Bible study, and goes to water fitness classes. That is inspirational!

Saturday was the birthday of my brother's wife, Niki, who turned 32. Just being my brother's wife earns her a badge of honor, to begin with, but she also adds a fun and unique flair to our family. For example, on her birthday, Niki was going with a friend to an old-fashioned ball at an old, mansion-ish house, where people were going to dress in period costumes. Doesn't that just sound totally cool? And Niki knew about it, and Niki went. I haven't heard yet, but I'm hoping she had a wonderful time.

We went to another birthday party on Saturday, which I'll blog about on Wednesday.

Oh - and today was my birthday, but I'll cover that one tomorrow.

Fun Book Game

Julia blogged about this, and I thought it looked like it could be fun.

The rules are:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next four sentences on your blog (or here in the comments if you don't have a blog), along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet. I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest!

I stuck to the rules and my nearest book is a kids' book that barely has 123 pages.

"A little distance away, Klaus leaned against the rail. Now that the Mayflower no longer pitched and rolled, Sarah dared to go over to him. 'Are you glad we're here?' she asked.
"Aye, Lass'."

And I do believe that's the first time I've ever typed the words "aye, lass".

My Hero

While I have considered our kitchen project "done" for a few months now, there are still a few little finishing touches that need to be added. One of these was the cabinet and drawer pulls, which, we found, are a VERY convenient thing to have. We've been prying cabinets and drawers open by their edges ever since the new doors were installed (in Auguest?), and I must say, I was very tired of it. The decision on which type of pulls were the perfect ones was a bit overwhelming for us, but we finally did it. (Actually, I think our time of three months is about two years faster than our brother-in-law in Seattle, so we can feel good about that. :) Tonight Matt installed the final knobs, and we're both very pleased with how they look. As we were cleaning up from supper, we both made a big deal about commenting each time we had to open a drawer or cabinet, "Wow! That's just so nice!...What a perfect door pull!...Handles on the fronts of drawers are just SO convenient!" I guess that's the nice thing about waiting for something...you appreciate it so much more when you have it.

My Favourite Christmas Music

I got cybertagged by my cousin, Julia, to write about my favourite Christmas music. It was a game of tag which came from her friend in Malaysia where they spell "favorite" with a "u" which makes it look so classy, don't ya think? Anyway, I've never been cybertagged before, and I've had a lot of fun thinking about the topic.

My first thought is to go with Drew Barrymore's line in Ever After, "I could no sooner choose a favorite star in the heavens." I love almost all Christmas music as long as they don't take a traditional carol and make it way too groovy. Amy Grant, Martina McBride, and Point of Grace are my main Christmas staples, but there are many others I enjoy. What makes a good song to me is the lyrics, so I love it when the words of a song are clever and make you think about truth in a new way, like Point of Grace's One King..."One king held the frankincense; one king held the myrrh; one king held the purest gold; and one King held the hope of the world." It seems like a lot of my Christmas favorites deal with the idea of Christ being our hope. Love Has Come by Amy Grant, and Let There be Light and Hope is Born Again by Point of Grace are good ones in this department. Our church choir is singing an old hymn as part of our Christmas worship service tomorrow night, and I think it fits all categories of a good song. The message is profound and stated in a poetic way, and the harmonies are gorgeous, so it's probably going down as my new favorite for this year.

Thou Who Wast Rich Beyond All Splendour

Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,
all for love's sake becamest poor;
thrones for a manger didst surrender,
sapphire paved courts for stable floor.
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,
all for love's sake becamest poor.

Thou who art God beyond all praising,
all for love's sake becamest man;
stooping so low, but sinners raising,
heav'nward by thine eternal plan.
Thou who wast God beyond all praising,
all for love's sake becamest man.

Thou who art Love beyond all telling,
Savior and King, we worship Thee.
Emmanuel within us dwelling,
make us what Thou wouldst have us be.
Thou who art Love beyond all telling,
Savior and King, we worship Thee.

Now I tag Team Smith in Africa (hopefully, they'll be able to connect sometime soon) and Bridget, who seems sort of musical. Hope they have as much fun as I had thinking about this topic.

For Mothers

I've been reading A Mom After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George. The title refers to the mother who views her job as mother as an appointment from the Lord and seeks Him and His will as revealed through Scripture, in that role. I came across an inspiring quote this evening in the chapter entitled "Train Your Children in God's Ways".

"God has entrusted you with a new generation. And He's also given you all of the grace and strength and power and wisdom and love you will need for every step and second along the way. Believe it and own it. Never forget - you are a mom after God's heart. For this you were born."

That is so reassuring!

The author also shares what she calls "the most frightening 'mom' verse in the Bible", Prov. 23:6: "My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways."

There's my dose of conviction for the day!

My Slippers

I try not to be a clothing martyr, but I had to post this picture of my slippers. I think they're about ten years old, and they're obviously well-loved. I wear them all the time in the colder months. (I guess a better word for them would be "house shoes", but that sounds sort of dowdy.) They've got a cork footbed which is still just awesome, even after all the wear. The toes have worn through on top because I've spent so much time on my knees the past few years...not praying, but playing, (which can also be worshipful). I somehow misplaced these old faithful's on Friday and had to spend the whole weekend feeling out of sorts, like something vital was missing. I'm not used to wearing just socks. Alas, today Ellie found them for me on the shoe rack right where they should have been! Of course, I never put them there (because I always need them), so I'm thinking Matt must have tried to be helpful and put them away for me. How sweet. (Let me point out that this is far from being the first time Matt has had to pick up my shoes. I'm terrible about leaving shoes lay, and then I just don't notice them. I can walk around a pair of shoes for a week, then spend ten minutes looking for where I left them. Matt is such a good husband to still laugh about this.)

I have a strong suspicion that I may get some replacement slippers as a gift sometime this month. I'll miss these guys, but it will be nice to have slippers that keep even my big toes warm.

Happy Birthday, Mary!

Today is the birthday of one of our very cutest relatives, Mary, a.k.a. Tiny Mouse! She's turning five today in the far-off state of Montana, and we're wishing she were closer, so we could tell her happy birthday and see some of her great smiles in person. We adore Mary for her generous nature and happy heart.

Mary's also a great person to have around when you're having a water relay. She's one persistent little cup bearer. I would say she was the unofficial MVP of her team in this water relay pictured last summer.With Mary being just a few months older than Ellie, I have some cute pictures of them together through the years. This one is when they were two, and it's one of my favorite pictures of all time. We love you, Miss Mary! Happy Birthday!

Blog? What Blog?

So I haven't been the most faithful blogger for the past couple weeks...something had to give. Hopefully, I'm back now.

We got our Christmas tree today...yippee! It's all decorated now and gorgeous. I think I suffer from Christmas Tree Lot Proportion Distortion Disorder (CTLPDD). No matter what the little measuring device says, I cannot judge the size of a tree when it's under the wide, blue sky. We get our trees home and either have to lop off two feet from the top to make it stand up in our living room or stand back and wish it were just a little closer to the ceiling. Our tree is definitely on the large side this year, probably in reaction to our tree being on the small side last year. I was looking for "bigger", and BIGGER I got. After losing count of how many hundreds of lights I was having to put on, I decided that it was way too big, so next year we'll be looking for "smaller"...which means, of course, that Erin will be able to put the star on the top while standing flatfooted on the floor.

As I was stringing the lights on the tree, I was listening to a Point of Grace Christmas CD and ended up hitting repeat on the song "Let There Be Light" about twenty times...

"Let there be light!
Let it shine bright!
Piercing the darkness with dazzling white.
Hope for the hopeless was born on that night,
when God sent His Son,
He said, 'Let there be light!' "

The joy of this time of year just seems to grow deeper with each passing year!

I'll try to post some pictures later...I'm not that far back into the blog yet.