these days

These days, I'm ....

- thankful for slower days, the natural cloistering in of winter
- lighting candles, wearing slippers, sipping tea, cuddling under quilts with my family - making the most of the cold weather settling in
- playing my favorite advent albums on repeat: "Prepare Him Room" by Sovereign Grace Music, "Behold the Lamb of God" by Andrew Peterson, "Sounding Joy", by Elizabeth Mitchell, Handel's "Messiah" and the local Christmas radio station thrown in for good measure.
- savoring our daily homeschool morning times, particularly hearing my children happily memorize true and beautiful things
- working on some fun wintery lessons with my students before classes end for winter break
- treasuring Levi's funny, curious, insightful and interesting thoughts 
- listening to Magnolia start to assert herself and communicate her wants, needs, jokes and sweet little sayings. 
- excited about plenty of Christmas festivities planned in the coming days
- painting a commission for a friend and hoping I can finish in time for it to be wrapped up for Christmas
- trying to have "tea" time with the kids as regularly as possible while reading through our current pile of advent/Christmas stories from the library.
- smiling at Brian, as we watch our kids play, talk with and love each other well(most of the time, that is) ;)
- full of excitement in my research and reading of homeschool methods and philosophies; folding laundry and doing dishes to the tune of some amazing, inspirational podcasts
- missing my Dad, at expected and unexpected times and places
- finishing a purposefully slow read through "For the Children's Sake" by MacCaulay and soaking in every word.
- saying some "no's" so that I can say more "yes's" (not easy for me)
- almost done putting together Christmas presents for our family; a little less crafting than usual, but a very fun concept for Brian and I to work on together
- enjoying advent in a more peaceful and purposeful way than ever before