Dear Santa,

DEAR SANTA,

Thank you for all the wonder your inspire. I pray my children will be as dazzled with you as I was as a child. May your kindness, generosity, and joy be always alive in our hearts.
                                Love, Angie

A tradition that I had as a child I am forcing sharing with my own children. A visit to Santa. While Yaya was not impressed and Eden was marginally terrified this year, they still loved talking about Santa and looking at Santa. The actual getting close to Santa was not their delight. But we have the pictures that captured every exciting moment, and that’s all Mommy cares about...no wait, the joy of my children, that’s what Mommy cares about! Noah came prepared with his list this year and Santa was such a sport with Noah. He joked and played with Noah a lot! I really liked this Santa!

Post-Santa: After posing with St. Nick, we all went for cookies and water and then walked the mall. My favorite part was seeing Eden in the Lego store window standing next to the Lego figure that was as tall as she was. I also could not believe that both girls wore their Santa hats for so long! It was a fun day and we got to bring Grandma along too!

And without further ado…

So many posts…so little time

Yeah so, anyone’s life racing by at light speed? Ours is. I mean, I still have Christmas posts pending…it’s 3 days away from April. Sitting here wondering if I will every catch up is causing me a mild panic attack. But then I think, whatever for? This blog is for my benefit, it is my outlet and record of our family history. However, I know others follow our little family and wonder how we are all faring. Hence, the mild panic attack. I also know that any of the 4 of you still reading this blog aren’t judging me, so I thank you for your kindness and patience. In an effort to hold myself accountable I am going to list a couple pretty cool events that I hope to be posting soon, kinda like a teaser. But don’t hold your breath or anything I don’t want you passing out while waiting, since the waiting could, as you well know, be long. Here’s to hoping!

1. Visit with Santa post

2. Christmas recap

3. Empowered to Connect

4. Noah’s 10th Birthday

5. 15 year anniversary of Angie and Eric

6. An important anniversary for Yaya

7. Eden, Noah and Yaya update

8. Rainbow Cake

9. Back in the Saddle Again- Youth Group (Church update)

10.  Random life

Made to Crave…

I admit my envy of a few friends that seem to be able to blog and document their children's  lives almost daily. I want to keep a record of what we have done and accomplished. Celebrating victories,  lamenting  defeats, rejoicing in sweet moments and braving honesty in the hard ones, are all things I’d like to preserve on this blog. Only, it doesn’t happen that way. Often it is because I don’t have the emotional margin to sit and put fingers to keyboard and review our day, be it a “good day” or a “bad day”.  As if I can really classify and label my life that black and white, and truly I pray my life is a spectrum of colors and grays. I digress. My point is to say that I want that luxury of energy and desire and time to blog our life.  But more than that, I want the energy, desire, and time to live a bloggable life with my family. Okay, so bloggable is clearly not a real word, but I’m running with it. I have found lately that all I have energy for is to wake up and keep breathing until I get to lay down to sleep. Anyone in this place? I want to do cool fun things with my family and have super neat pictures to share. Heck, at this point I just want to want to be around my family! Okay, I jest. I do want to be around my kids and husband, but not in the state of mind I currently hold. I want to enjoy them yes, but I want them to enjoy me. To be brutally honest, I’m not very enjoyable to be around as of late. Can I tell you I don’t like “playing”. What?! When did that happen? When did I get so crotchety that I would rather wash a sink of dishes or do a load of laundry than sit 30 minutes and play a make believe game of ninja princesses with my daughters? The truth lies in this, it takes way more emotional energy to do creative play than to mindlessly scrub a dish or fold underwear. But folks look at these faces…

Uuuuuuuhhhhhh!  How dadgum cute are they?! And I am missing it. I gotta get myself back from whatever sad selfish vacation I am on and rejoin the joy of my current life. That starts with  running to the Cross. I just need to sit in the shadow of the Cross and let my soul be healed and revived. I am committing to do that. I am doing that through a crazy journey I never dreamed I’d be on.

I’d like to introduce you to a little book called, Made to Crave, by Lysa Terkerst. My dear friend Julie asked me to read this book with her and do an online bible study. The premise of the book is that God made us to crave Him, not food, work, shopping…fill in the blank. The focus of the book is Lysa’s battle with craving food.  At first blush, I was all like, I don’t have a problem with food. Sure I’m at a weight that is not my favorite number, but I’ve had two kids and blah blah blah blah. I can rationalize my weight, I mean, I’m not obese, right? Yeah so, I read the first chapter and was still not convinced that I should do this book. Then I called Juile and asked if she was going to actually answer the study questions at the end of each chapter. Her response, “Yeah, I probably will.” Well the book says if you don’t answer the questions then you are wasting your time reading it. So I responded with, “I’ll do them if you do them and we can share with each other.” Julie liked the idea so I sat down with my bad attitude and began trying to answer the questions. The first question caused me to want to throw my Kindle across the room. It wanted me to “personify my craving”. I hated this lame book instantly. I skimmed down the questions to see that I would soon be talking to my personified craving and it would be talking back to me! I hate this kind of thing! Have I said the word,

L-A-M-E, yet?

Yeah so answering these questions led me to answers inside myself that were startling and unsettling. Here are my answers to just question 1.

Chapter 1

1. If I could personify craving based on my experience of it, what form might it take? I imagine that there is a black chain around my neck and there are spindly black hands and arms at the other end of the chain, tugging me into the pantry. The body of the figure is in the shadows but I imagine it like a Frank Peretii demon out of This Present Darkness. Creepy.

a. What does it do? It tugs and dances and draws me near to the pantry and fridge. Never like a harsh jerk but a steady pull and resistance. If I try to turn away it tugs on my chain and pulls me back. It hums or sings a little song so I am not afraid and I want to listen.

b. If I could have a conversation with it what would it tell me? It would tell me not to do this bible study. It would tell me I’m not obese. It would tell me to not worry so much and eat a little fruit now and then but don’t give up all the sugar because I like it so much and it is permissible. It would reassure me that during my period the sugar/salt craving is totally acceptable because after all it is my hormones talking and I can’t control that. It would say that I don’t have time to eat healthy or the money. NOR would my kids ever eat healthy food anyway. And fruit and veggies rot too fast. Plus, my portions aren’t out of control, I don’t actually eat that much.

c. The question I’d want to ask it is: Why do you care so much about what I am eating?

d. How do I imagine it would respond: I like keeping you in bondage, because God hates it! You help me hurt the heart of God!

WHAT?!!! I have an issue with food? Seriously? And did you catch the answer to “d”…my craving tells me that it is there to hurt the heart of God. Spiritual Battle anyone? Gear up! When I was typing that answer, I didn’t know what I was typing until I was done. Like I was reading the screen eagerly anticipating what words would appear, as if I wasn’t the one typing it. Oooooooo, spooky I know. But when I finished typing that answer, I jerked my hands away from the keyboard like it was on fire, shoved my chair back, and dropped my jaw. Instantly I was furious! Friends,  if there is one thing that gets at me; it is when the enemy uses me as a tool and I don’t even know it! I am not  someone’s puppet…only I am. Well I was. When I say this book is life changing for me, I am not being pithy or light. I mean it. It is a hard journey of self revelation and I don’t know where I am going, but I’m going with God so it really doesn’t matter in the end. I have a lifestyle that needs to change. That is no easy task. Really, it is impossible.  But not for Jesus!

In just a few short weeks I am finding my energy and desire for a joyful life with those I love. I’m not super-dee-duper mind you, but I am on a new trajectory that gives life, not steals it. God has been so faithful and he has brought about many changes within me. I am thankful.  Please keep me in your prayers.

Romanian Friend for Noah

Cuddled among all these Romanian orphans is my new babysitter...Raeghan. Serving in a Romanian orphanage this past December, Raeghan brought the love of Christ to these kids. When our small group found out she would be travelling to Romania we partnered with the Bread of Life organization to send shoeboxes of gifts to this orphanage. I asked Raeghan if she would be able to know who got our box and if so, could she take a picture of that child? And I told her, if that child wasn’t sponsored, we’d consider sponsoring them. Noah was thrilled at this opportunity. He picked out all the items for our box, we built a box for a 10-year-old boy. Sadly, Raeghan said that all the boxes were put in a big shipment and it would be impossible to know which child got our box. Bummer. So I included a note with our box to let Bread of Life know that we would consider sponsoring the child who got our box, if they didn’t already have a sponsor. I sent the box and didn’t think of it anymore.

The end of January brought us the letter above and these three pictures! Isn’t it just like God to give us exactly what we deemed impossible...a photo of a boy, Noah’s age, with our shoebox, who does not have a sponsor. We were floored at the infinite power of God! Noah was thrilled! I had to laminate the pictures and letter so he could hang them on his wall. I called Bread of Life to see about sponsoring Daniel. Debora answered the phone and within about a minute she asked me if my son’s name was Noah. What? Ummm, yes. This dear woman had already linked Noah’s name with Daniel’s praying that we would sponsor him. Then she told me, “the rest of the story.” When she got my note about sponsoring a child she quickly picked three boys she thought would be good choices. Upon arriving to Romania, Debora told her counterpart about the potential sponsorship and offered only two boys names. Her Romanian colleague chose the boy  Debora said she would not have chosen. So Debora asked “Why Daniel?”  The response was this, “Because Daniel doesn’t really believe in all this Christian stuff and he really needs to know that someone out there  really cares about him.” When they gave Daniel our Christmas box they watched him carefully but discretely. Debora told me they could see on his face he was starting to believe. They said the gift had a big impact upon Daniel and they began praying furiously that our family would sponsor him!  I asked if I could send a small gift to him and she responded by telling me that Daniel’s birthday was the day before, Feb. 9th. Meaning, I could send him a larger gift of clothing and some other small things. Noah and I can’t wait to go shopping. The Lord is so good!

Here is Daniel’s letter to Noah…

Dear Noah,
Hello, my name is Daniel and the Bread of Life Orphanage is my new home, for the last few months. I am very happy but in the same time, surprised when I get a present, the gift from you and everything that you have included for me is very nice and I like it very much.

Like you, I also like Legos, and I can’t wait to play with the Legos you sent for me.

I am very happy that we are the same age because we can communicate together and find out interesting things from one another.

I want to thank you very much that you want to help me, to have a better life here.

                    With love,     
                                        Daniel

Williamson Christmas Gathering

Yeah…so I’m a bit behind. If you enjoy seeing holiday stuff, stay tuned. I’ll be posting a flurry of holiday stuff I am just now getting around to doing.

We all converged on Suzy and Kenneth’s home, December 21st, to celebrate together. It was a great visit! The kids all played together independent from Eric or I! Yaya fell in love with her cousin, Carson, which is sorta okay since they are in now way related! Eden loved running around with all the boys and taking pictures on the “Red Couch”.  Sweet Halli some how was able to procure ALL her siblings, save two. She came with 4 children in her car! We were able to get a picture of Fay and Elwyn with all their great grandchildren. A first for sure! Later we went back to Fay and Elywn’s home to spend some more time with them. It was a blessed day!

Chinese New Year Celebrations Begin…

Happy Chinese New Year!
As you can see it is Year of the Horse. Starting strong we did many activity sheets and made masks. All of us will get new haircuts and I will pass out “Red Luck” envelopes when Noah returns from Space Camp. We will also read our CNY book, do some sweeping, eat oranges, wear our Chinese clothing for pictures, try some Chinese food and make some lanterns. So much fun starting this tradition of celebrating Chinese New Year!

Snomaggedon 2014

If you want the full story on the pages below,  just scroll down for the rather lengthy play by play of our Snowmaggedon experience. The “fun” snow pictures will be a separate post!

It started off just a normal day. Threat of snow was in the air but not imminent. Hurriedly, Noah the girls and I rushed out the door at 8:40 a.m. After dropping the girls off at school Noah and I headed to another appointment. At about 9:30 a.m. I noticed that snow was falling fairly steady. By 10:00 a.m. I was concerned. Eyes wide with wonder, Noah and I hurried to the car. Must retrieve girls! I knew by the look of the parking lot time was not our friend. Frantically, I called Eric and begged him to head home immediately. Upon reaching the interstate my heart sank. It was already getting treacherous. Bundling up the girls we tore out of the parking lot of the preschool...or I had hoped we would. Instead, we barely made it up the hill. I had the fleeting thought to just head straight to the Edington’s not but a half mile away. But I brushed it away and set my mind on home. Not my best decision. Sliding, skidding and stressing we arduously made our way down the road that we hoped would take us home. Cars were out of control everywhere you looked. Knots of tangled messes of metal littered the streets. My hope of home was fading fast and my blood pressure was rising in equal amounts, as was Noah’s. We made it down Highway 150 as far as Publix when we saw an impassable scene, so we snuck up the steep hill to Publix and found it clear of ice and snow! Tearing across the parking lot at 5 mph we wove our way back to Highway 150 where it crosses beneath I-459 and the picture above shows you what awaited us there. Pressing on to the goal we continued. By now, I had my parents on speaker phone for moral support. When the car began sliding into the next lane without me doing anything…it was comforting to have them with us. Only by the grace of God did we actually climb that hill past the Target and I mean that. Thank you Lord Jesus! We inched down the other side and finally made it to CVS. I decided that there was no way we would be able to climb the hill before us and make the left turn onto South Shades Crest. Clambering out of the car we rushed the doors of CVS only to find them locked! What?! However, an employee hurried to open them in order to let us know they were closed and the registers were down. Seriously?! They let us in and after a potty break for all, the kids ate their school lunches on the floor. Another woman in the store offered Noah some bread, lunch meat and a banana- kindness of strangers. Soon the manager informed us she was closing the store and walking home, so we’d have to leave. Sigh. Before I could even gather all our things she also told me she would open a register and I could buy whatever I needed. Score! Pull ups, wipes, bottled water, Gatorade, Goldfish, animal crackers, applesauce, cashews, and fruit bars...check! I decided to try the impossibly steep hill at CVS to position myself on South Shades Crest from a different angle. It worked! However, after over an hour on this road the realization that we’d have to abandon the car sank in. Who did I know? Who could help? We were sitting very near to our old neighborhood when the Holy Spirit whispered the name, “Alex.” in my ear. Of course, the Sheppard’s, our old favorite neighbors! Alex used to babysit for us all the time. I texted her to see if she was home, praise Jesus she was indeed. They invited us to come over and Alex came to meet me on the road to help with the girls. The walk to their home was half a mile, it was snowing, and 19 degrees! Upon arriving to their home we were informed that the windshield was actually 9 degrees! I still am not sure how my littles made it that far, again...God. My right hand was numb and purple. How I had the notion to keep the girls hands in their jackets as we trudged along I’ll never know...wait...Jesus again. MEANWHILE, Eric tried to make it home but only got as far as West Valley Avenue when he deemed it better to head back to the office. But before doing so he spent hours helping people and pushing their cars out. His home base was Naji’s Pita Stop, they kept him well supplied with coffee and plenty of food. He decided to head back to the office as the sun was going down. A woman, who lived on Valley, needed a ride home, so he took her home on the way to the office. It was getting late and the trek from Valley Ave. up Beacon Parkway he said was brutal due to the cold and setting sun. In the office, he set up camp by using cushions from the tops of two drawer filing cabinets. He had never understood their purpose, a place to sit perhaps, but was grateful to have them to make a make shift bed. Co-workers, who had made it home, contacted Eric to let him know to raid their food stashes. He settled down for the evening with his laptop and internet for company, which for him is good company. Back at Camp Sheppard, the rest of the Williamson clan were being well taken care of by Gail and Alex. The kids loved Alex! Brownies were made. Bellies content. While the kids watched cartoons, the “adults” watched the weather station and got reacquainted again! Later, Mommy made a palate for the girls on the floor and put them easily to bed. Nothing like a ½ mile hike in the snow, uphill, in almost sub-zero weather to wear out your kids. Noah and I watched a bit of Animal Planet then hit the bed. As Yaya woke me up 4 times, Eden once and Noah multiple times, (I should have put him on the floor instead of in bed with me!) I thanked God, each time that we were in a warm house and not our car. Morning came too early for me, the girls were up at 6:30 a.m. A large screen T.V., paper and crayons, and books entertained my children most of the day. Perfect angels! About 11:30 a.m. Alex and I headed out to my car to get “kid food” and pull ups. We wanted to survey the situation to make a determination about our chances of getting home. No go. Roads were still slippery with ice and the cluster of cars blocking the intersection were still doing that very thing. Taking some pictures along the way we enjoyed the time out. When we returned with the kid food, my children were thrilled! Poptarts all around! Eric phoned to let me know that he would try to make a break for it around 2:00 p.m. Praying silently, I tried not to get my hopes up. He called around 2:00 to let me know he had gone the long way around the mountain to get home, putting him on the opposite end of Hwy 150 and he had to abandon his truck. Back on foot he was still helping push people out and he pressed on with determination to reach his family. I got a text at 2:30 letting me know that he had caught a ride to the back entrance of a neighborhood that joined the one I was currently in. However, he was still a good distance away. Back at the Sheppard’s, Glory to God, Kevin (Mr. Sheppard) made it home. He relayed to us that we could likely make it home if we got the car. Alex and I bundled up again and headed out to get my car! Luckily, it was a breeze getting to my car and bringing it back to the house thanks to some good Samaritans who were directing traffic. Back to Eric. After, pushing out three more cars, Eric was noticed by another driver and she gave him a ride all the way to the Sheppard’s home! I saw a white car pull into the drive way and Eric stepped out of the car. Running like a goof in a bad romance movie, I threw myself into his arms. By this time I already had the car packed up and the kids ready to go. Gail put some warm soup in a bowl for Eric to take home and there were hugs and kisses all around. We rallied to the car. We carefully drove home. We made it! Never, in recent history, can I remember being so happy to be home with my entire family with me! Later the kids got some good “snow time.” But that’s a different page. God is so good!