it's a wonderful life

The weekend had been a long one for me.

I took the kids to see family by myself, with shooting pains radiating through my back from overdoing something, maintaing my patience through stop and go traffic as best I could.  (The good part.... Diego woke up crying that he had to pee and I was able to pull off on the median, open the sliding door and let him pee onto the grass right out of the van.  Then I pulled right back into the traffic not too far from where we had left it.  We did it on the way home, too.)

Christmas excitement, lots of sweets, less sleep, and sitting crunched in seat belts had the kids wound up by the time we got home Sunday night.  Plus Daddy was on his way to work, so we only got a quick 'hi' and he was off.

I got the kids engaged in activities and dinner was started,  but one huge meltdown later because 'stars are just too hard to draw' and two of us ended up in tears.

The next scene, I'm plunging a stopped up toilet with a too small plunger that's splashing drops of water onto my hand, crying to God about my hard life.  It was bound to happen.... at six months pregnant, Christmas to do's still lingering and sleeplessness.  But in the end, I'm a cryer anyway.  I cry at movies, sweet things my kids say, mean things they do, books, commercials, memories, 'what-ifs', even quotes.

But there I was, trying to pull myself together.  The kids had moved on to something else, and I decided to move on to our junk mail pile flowing all over the table.  On top was a grey plastic Lowe's bag with some circular flyers broadcasting sales, already opened credit card applications, a Christmas card from a friend, and a strange, small envelope with only my name on it, well actually....it said Susan and family, but no address or return address.  It was unopened, a rare find because JP loves to open mail.  So I opened it.

It was a snowman card, with another envelope inside.  The card was signed 'from your guardian angel' with a little heart.  What was in the other envelope?  It was filled with unbelievable blessings of money, a gas gift card and a McDonald's gift card.

I was shocked.

I searched the envelope over and over for some sort of clue.  I called JP and had to leave a message, "Call me back as soon as you get this."  The tears were flowing again, but it must have been different.  The kids were concerned saying, "Mommy, what's the matter?"  I was speechless and could barely whisper back, "I'm okay."

Juan Pablo finally called back and I described what had happened.  He said the envelope had been left in the door when he got back late from work over the weekend.  He hadn't opened it because it was fat, and he thought it probably had pictures in it, so he just left it for me.

And that was it.

I read the card again through tears, as the kids and I sat down to dinner.  They were amazed that I would have a real guardian angel.  We had watched It's a Wonderful Life the night before, so they knew about guardian angels.  Then they started talking about what if it was a real person and who it could be.  They went through our list of friends and why or why it couldn't be each one.

Did this guardian angel know our bank account had been negative for the last three days and wasn't going to see the light of day until the end of the month?

Did they know we needed a tangible miracle to lift our spirits?  Because you know, faith is a hard thing.  To believe without seeing takes strength and might and can become cloudy over time.

We were recipients of a random act of kindness..... from who, we'll never know.  But when I opened up that card, we received so much more than what was inside.

Restoration.  Breath.  Faith.  Belief.  Miracles.

What we do know...that night, our guardian angel got their wings.  It is a wonderful life.

three is funny

Over the summer, the kids became engrossed in a cartoon series called Avatar: The Last Airbender.  I watched alongside them as I laid in bed dead with morning sickness and grew to like the show, as well.    The characters have special powers...water bending, air bending, fire bending and earth bending.  The Avatar can do all four...and of course, Diego is the Avatar.

So the other day, after searching high and low for some silk scarves I'd bought the kids a year ago, I finally found them in the exact place I'd put them...the dress up suitcase.  Diego decided to put all the powers on...and we even added a few new ones...animal bending and rainbow bending.

This picture is why I love three year olds!!



And this picture is why I love Pinterest. We made this the other day in a matter of minutes.  I like how Diego placed the stained glass squares flowing all around the manger, too.  You can find the how-to here, if you'd like to do one yourself.



This reminds me of a funny story from the other week.  We have an amazing piano player/singer in our church that happens to be a guy with long brown hair, past his shoulders.  We passed him in the hallway and Diego asks in an excited voice, "Mom! Was that Jesus?"

Then tonight we read The Animals' Christmas Eve, a golden book story, and he pointed to each wiseman, shepherd, and Joseph asking, "Is that Jesus?"  We finally got to the baby and I said, "That's Jesus.  Christmas is his birthday.  He was a baby, and then he grew up."  I could see the wheels turning in his head, but I think I've got some work to do before next Tuesday.   Maybe a birthday cake is in order.  Santa seems to be overshadowing the little baby.

give this christmas away

Last weekend, instead of church services, we were told to head out into the community and do good for others.  You could sign up through the church for a service project or think of your own idea.

Juan Pablo was right when he said we better just sign up because we might end up doing nothing.  But once I'm signed up, it always prompts me to go a little further.

The night before, Isabela and I had made cheesecake...from scratch.  They are super simple to make and absolutely delicious!  And our recipe made enough for two cakes...one of which was begging to be given away.

So the kids and I brainstormed as to who to give it to...and the lucky winner was our local police station.  We whipped together some cards and delivered it the next morning.  We're not sure what they thought of it, but it really does make you feel better to do those random acts of kindness.



Then we were on our way to our 'real' service project...sorting and cleaning at a local thrift store.  I couldn't believe it!.... given my love of thrift stores, I knew I wouldn't be able to count this as work at all.

Unfortunately, JP couldn't be there, so it was just the kids and I off to do some good.

This was the hardest for Joaquin....he is SUPER sensitive to smells...and if you've ever been in a thrift store, you know that musty smell I'm talking about.  He fussed and fumed and complained about not being able to breathe...but all that died down after the first hour.  He was the most help at bagging up the old stuffed animals to send to Honduras.  He's a stuffed animal lover just like his mom.

(The day took an exciting turn when he discovered a dead mouse buried under boxes of toys.  Later, when he was asking 'how much longer do we have to do this?' the owner nicely explained, "Sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do...like when I had to pick up that dead mouse...I didn't want to do that."  I was fascinated that the kids were getting their first experience at what a real job might be like when they're older.)

Diego found random things to play with, including an old organ and a toy vet hospital.  The extent of his helping was throwing some hangers into a box.

But Isabela was in her element.  She loves to be busy with a helping task and walked around on her own like she worked there.  She said the time just flew by!

The best part was watching the change in the kids.  When we first arrived, everyone was nervous and a little scared of the lady who ran the place.  She was nice as can be, but had a little thing on her eye that distracted the kids.  But by the end of our shift, they were talkative and interested and exploring all of the amazing trinkets you find at thrift stores.

On the way home, we all chatted about how much fun we'd had.

Of course, we didn't walk away empty handed.
Diego came home with a tube of bubbles.


Joaquin found a little cut the rope stuffed animal and made his own game version.



I finally got the tree skirt I've never had.  I couldn't decide if it was vintage looking and lovely, or just plain ugly.  I went with the vintage, which the $5 dollar price tag helped convince me of.



Plus I found these awesome walls stickers for $1.  And I finally did the right thing in the design world by buying more than one of the same thing.  I was able to hang these around my pictures...



....and the kitchen cabinets.



Would you believe Juan Pablo came home late and didn't even notice them?



(and yes, I totally straighted up my counter before I took these pictures.)

I'm grateful for the timing of this give away project.  When there's unbelievable evil in the world,  it's reassuring to know we can each do our little part to make it a better place.


“It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” 
― Mother Teresa

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” 
― Charles Dickens

“Happiness doesn't result from what we get, but from what we give.” 
― Ben Carson

“I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.” 
― Kahlil Gibran

“I know what I have given you... 
I do not know what you have received.” 
― Antonio Porchia

Believe me, our kids will be receiving plenty of presents under the tree this year, but I'm so thankful that our church guided my hand in helping us remember how great it is to give of yourself.

she chose pink!

fracture

It's her first sports-related injury...but her frequent flyer miles in the ER are building up.



Saturday's TaeKwonDo class looked like a lot of fun.  They were cartwheeling over partners and doing flying kicks over their heads.   We watched her smile and laugh all the way through class.

But as soon as she came over to us, she burst in to tears and said she had hurt her thumb.  I couldn't believe she had finished class!  It was so swollen I took her straight to the hospital.

Two and half hours later, we found out it was fractured.  She'll get a real cast on Wednesday and we're wondering what it will be like.  It's already a huge adjustment not being able to use her left hand...her writing hand.   It's amazing how much you need your thumb!

But she's brave, positive and still smiling.

She's also finding out it's sometimes hard to accept help or even realize you need it.  We could all benefit from learning that.

thrift store find!

I've been showing people pictures of my new chair like they're pictures of my children.

I stumbled across it on my way out of a Goodwill I had no intention of going into to.  I guess it reminded me of two chairs my mom had when I was growing up...boxy, modern, low back, neutral.



Luckily, the trunk of my car was cleaned out, and there was a nice man that lifted it into the back for me.  He said it wasn't heavy, just awkward, but when JP got home and helped me get it into the house, it sure enough took all our muscles to move it.



So....guess how much it cost?  I asked the family the same question.  JP got it right away.  The kids took only three guesses.  I was surprised because I loved it so much I would have paid double.




Anyway, it was $30!

It is the new favorite chair of everyone...especially kids with food in their hands.  I shoo them away, but it doesn't help that it sits right near our kitchen table.





There's one key to any great Goodwill find.  Fate.  The right place at the right time.  This chair was meant to be.

So do you love it as much as I do?

our own bike trail

I've mentioned that we've been in yard-clean-up mode for the past several weeks.  When you live in a forest of oak trees, it really is a never ending story.

And not having a leaf blower makes the story that much longer.

But it's a great excuse to get outside and exercise those raking muscles.  Joaquin, it turns out, is an amazingly quick raker.  He has his own technique that somehow involves pushing the rake on its back rather than pulling it with your arms.

So he easily put together a series of windy trails through our tree-lined front yard.  Late fall is the perfect time for this because it is cold enough that all possibility of snakes and spiders are usually gone.

The trail quickly became a practice course for mountain biking.  And trust me, it's much harder than it looks.



Check out this steep hill at the end.  It's a sure wipe-out zone for most riders.



Diego got the birds-eye view of the whole thing from the tree fort.  I call this picture "twinkle toes"...I love how the sun is shining just through the branches and lighting up his feet.



Here's an action shot of Joaquin riding one of the trails.  You can see Diego at the beginning, knee-deep in leaves.  He's a whacker...any stick, ruler, bat, flute...long shaped instrument will quickly be turned into a whacking machine.  Enjoy!