liturgical living // shout for joy

How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings glad tidings,
announcing peace, bearing good news,
announcing salvation, and saying to Zion,
“Your God is King!” 

Hark! Your sentinels raise a cry,
together they shout for joy,
for they see directly, before their eyes,
the LORD restoring Zion. 

-Isaiah 52: 7-8

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I just wanted to stop in real quick and wish you all a wonderful Christmas Day and an even more blessed and beautiful continued 12 days of Christmas celebrations! 

I also wanted to thank each and everyone of you who have ever stopped by our little space on the web! For all who ever read my mommy rambles and life-shares, left comments, built friendships and community, shared themselves, prayed for me and our family, let me pray for you and yours, joined in fun email exchanges, and so much more, thank you, thank you, Thank YOU! There's so much good I've experienced here and I could not be more grateful for every experience! Truly, you've been such a gift to me and in turn, our little family!

Praying for God's Goodness, Love, Joy, and Peace be with you and yours this season and all throughout the year!

Break out together in song,
O ruins of Jerusalem!
For the LORD has comforted his people,
has redeemed Jerusalem. 

-Isaiah 52: 9

Photo Party: Christmas Eve

We were at my in-laws for Christmas Eve. The weather was gorgeous that day!

My father-in-law fried a turkey and it was delicious!

We got a quick snap.

Linus was really wanting the deflated basketball toy that was on the other side of the fence. Of course.

Joseph was all about Penny Lane while Linus kept his distance.

Penny lane.

Linus loved this little hill.

And his time with Bekah.

Brothers.

Linus loves corn on the cob with passion.

Post-nap snuggles with a side of grouchy and clingy.

Mama got a new haircut. A Christmas gift from my in-laws. Perfect for this mama who hadn't cut her hair in almost a year!

Post Christmas Mass cuteness.

This face on Linus is so classic. His facials are so telling and expressive and hilarious.

The boys who have a piece of my heart.

Taunting Penny Lane. Goober.

This smile. It gets me.

Patiently waiting gifts.

Excitedly opening all of their gifts.

Another family photo snapped. Woohoo!

Home base. I love being home base.

Late night, past bed-time, crazies starting to show their face. Bigfoot started getting his dance on to his own tune.

Linus was quick to follow suit.

Pre-bedtime spinning with Nonna.

Hugs with Papa Wooley.

A bit more snuggles and spinning.

Lights.

And good nights.

The boys had a great time with their grandparents. I love that they get to make so many memories and how loved they are. It really is so good and fills them so very much.

Up next will be Christmas Day! Hopefully sometime this weekend. :)

Thanks for sticking around for our family memories!

7QT: A new pup and the fluff

The boys. Oh, my sweet boys. We had been doing so well in the health department prior to the holidays. Then I ran out of bone broth. Ran out of their probiotics. And, ran out of their elderberry. I thought, surely, no biggie. Right? We've managed to skid by random exposures of sickies no problemo up to this point, right?

But, such is life that in the week and a half they were off all the goods, they would catch a sneaky virus that was strange and sneaky.

I wrote about how the later part of Advent was tough, but at the end of it all, we did have safe travels to all of our destinations, thanks be to God! Major win and reason for gratitude.

The virus slipped by Linus after 24 hours. He was just fine and stayed fine. A day later, Bigfoot caught the virus and struggled. Poor baby. He did however seem just fine the next day too, so we were hopeful that we could possible still make our way to San Antonio and mostly stick to our Holiday travel plans. 

But poor boy woke up sharing his food with the bed, floor, clothes, and toilet. Eventually he didgo back to sleep and acted completely normal but we held back and altered travel plans, afterall.

Come Monday morning, all was well and we were packed. Off I go to take my shower, only to step off our step and have my knee-cap completely dislocate in a way it hasn't done since my sophomore year of college.

...Really knee?!! Of. all. the. times. After my back is getting mostly back to normal? Now? ...Not cool.

Anyways, it swelled, I iced and took some medication. We were leaving no matter how many things kept popping up.

We traveled well. I rested and the boys did considerably well considering it's a good 6.5-7 hour drive to Corpus (on a good day for us).

We saw our family and these are seven photos I captured from our first day at my in-laws.

The major to-do that evening was Penny Lane. My brother-in-law and soon to be sister-in-law have a new pup that is much bigger than our little, old, fluff, Lily.

 I'm experimenting with black and whites. Can you tell? I really want to get better at them. They really can be so beautiful but I'm just not good at the beautiful black and whites yet. Hence, you will be seeing me efforts scattered throughout this year.

Either way, Bigfoot love Love LOVED that little-big boxer whereas, Linus was not so sure. At all.

 Lily isn't great with other dogs. She's uber protective of all of us and well...she's Lily.

I have so many photos I want to share here on the blog and will be doing that throughout the weekend. Probably through to next week too, knowing myself and how rare little moments have been these days. So, if you enjoy photo stories, come back! If it's not your thing, I'm hoping to write more content and words and heart this year on my little space. You know, resolutions and all.

As much as we had a rough end to our Advent, Our Sweet Lord was still born and I'm thankful that never changes. Also, I got to talk to Sister Kathleen on Christmas Day which was such a gift. As always.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Here's a glimpse of Christmas Eve morning. I love the light and comfort of this one.

Linking-up with Kelly for Quick-takes. It's been forever! Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of enjoying my little space more as the year continues. Till that time, I'll be here helping the boys settle back into our home post weeks of travel, and drinking lots of coffee!

the side of love // a thankful heart leaves room

Back when I met with Sister Kathleen (Met once a week for over two years.), gratitude was the pinnacle of our conversations. Prayer and grace were also big contenders, but thankful hearts were mentioned in each visit because they lend to prayer and grace and all the things of virtue that would be kind of awesome to acquire.

Scriptures that rang of His Love for us because she wanted me to recognize how He loves me. Scripture of Trusting in Him, because she wanted to challenge me to love Him in a way that trusted Him with my whole self. All of this and more always led back to hopefully inspiring a thankful heart in me.

With Christmas just around the corner, so many things come to heart while anticipating the celebration of the birth of Our Lord. The child that was and is Our Savior. The One who came to save us. Our King! It's His birthday!

Slowly but surely we are drawn into this time, every year. A time that is meant to draw us into the reality of His Flesh. The same Flesh that was nourished and nurtured in the perfect womb of Our beautiful Lady. The same Flesh that walked this earth sharing miracles and love beyond comprehension. So so much to take in, and all a midst so. much. crazy!

As we all gear up to fight our urges to let the stream of our present culture of materialism and all. the. things. I am reminded of Sister and a story she once shared as well as some scripture we spent some time on. 

And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

-Colossians 3:16 

See, I need this reminder every time this season rolls around. It's so tempting for me to receive a gift and think that I don't need it. Or, if only they had gotten me this other thing that I could use, or whatever other thought of ingratitude you could fathom. This just happens sometimes. Call it sleep-deprived neurosis or call it just a moment that happens because. sin. Regardless, all of this comes from a place of selfishness, pride, and not having a thankful heart. 

Which leads me to that story Sister shared with me once.

I forget what the occasion was (or if there even was an occasion) but I remember that Sister had a friend that brought a box of goods - mostly clothing - to the convent. This woman brought the box of goods specifically to Sister and encouraged her to sift through the items because surely there would be something Sister could put to good use. 

Sister began rummaging through all of the items and found that all the sizes were size Large and up. Now if you know Sister, you know that she is a tiny, frail, lovely Irish woman that maybe touches 100 lbs but packs a punch of Jesus that makes you want to stay with her forever and ever just so you can feel His Goodness. She left the box in frustration. Sister felt it incredulous that this friend would think that she could use any item in the box and was frustrated at the time spent sifting through it. Surely she could have been off praying or tending to another chore, while another who would be able to use the items sifted.

After leaving the box and spending time in prayer, she felt disappointed with herself. Her friend had nothing but kind and good intentions for Sister, even if the items were twice to big for her. In turn, Sister sifted again and found a beautiful knit sweater. One that fit her largely but perfectly. It turned into her most cozy and worn item, especially because she was always cold in the building where she spent a lot of her time. A gift she found because of her change of heart. 

She later told me that, had she approached the box with a thankful heart, she wouldn't have had the temptation to react the way she originally did. She told me, had she only opened the box with grateful eyes and a grateful heart, she would have known to be thankful for the gift before even opening the box, because it was a gift given in love from a friend, and that was more than enough (Her friend really did want her to find something for herself, so she told me).

At the end of Sister sharing her story, she told me that because she did not have gratitude in her heart upon receiving her gift, she ultimately did not leave room for Him.

Thereafter, so many times she would remind me that a thankful heart leaves room for Our Lord to work in us. In our hearts. For Him to surprise us in ways that we never would have anticipated. For Him to prepare us to respond in love.

And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 

-Colossians 3:15

This season, I pray that we all can open our gifts with thankful hearts and eyes. Pray that we open our gifts with gratitude in our heart so that we can be open and ready to receive goodness from our loved ones and in turn from the One who first loved us. Pray that we be able to carry the hymn of gratitude this Christmas so that we can leave room for Him to be born into this world. His gift. The beginning of His ultimate gift for us! Pray that we can welcome Him into a little manger of gratitude gathered in our hearts.

Because in receiving with a thankful heart, we truly are not only receiving but also gifting our loved ones, friends, and in turn Our Lord, with love, goodness, and joy.

Pray you and your families have a Merry Christmas! I'll be over here hoping and praying for the grace to be gracious and thankful this season for all that is to come! What are your prayers this season?

I'll be over on Instagram till after Christmas. Hope you'll join me, but either way, till then, Merry Christmas to you and yours!

How Lovely are your Branches!

Growing up, I don't remember ever going to a Christmas Tree farm. Correct me if my memory fails me, mom, but I'm pretty sure we didn't go just because there weren't any where we lived.

Now that we are in North Texas there at least 10 different Christmas Tree farms in the area (when I say in the area, I mean about 45 minutes - 1 hour away). This is so exciting! I've really only seen Christmas Tree farms in movies. The whole chopping down your own tree. Finding the one. Searching and seeking your solid symbol of Hope that will be in your home lit against the darkness that a season of waiting entertains. I'm not romantic about it at all.

Not at all!

Ha, anyways. Like I said in our previous post, we were home for Thanksgiving so we were able to find a farm nearby to go have a little tree adventure. It was a beautiful day and we were so excited. The first Christmas songs of our season were being played in the car the whole way there for us to enjoy! Well, not all of us, since the boys ended up falling asleep about 15 minutes in to the drive, which was a great thing since we were going to be there during nap time!

When we arrived at Yesterland Tree Farm we were overwhelmed in a mostly good way. This place was huge, beautiful, and ultimately looked like a mini carnival for little kids a midst all. the. Christmas. Trees! The boys were thrilled!

Only, when we got down, for whatever reason, the weather decided to be uber windy! So windy that we drove home with dirt marks all over our cheeks. We really looked like we rolled around in dirt from all the dust-carrying wind. But, the boys could care less.

Off they went. They loved exploring through the beautiful tree selection, but not as much as they love Love LOVED the horse rides!

They were in Heaven. These two boys have been waiting to ride a horse since I can't remember when. I know they are only 3 and 1, but when a little one wants something, he wants something. And, these two have really wanted to ride horses.

I was so happy to see them riding. It made my heart smile and pause to think that these are the moments.

And, I promise Linus was so happy to ride too. This is just his go-to face for all things in his life that need a face that don't immediately spark a crazy happy smile or cry.

The horse ride could not have lasted long enough.

I made sure to capture as much of this bit of joy and fun.

The farm also had a little Western Village for kids to wander in.

Peek-a-boo in the house was a fun game for Linus and Daddy. It was pretty funny to watch and Linus thought he was being hilarious.

They had merry-go-rounds, huge slides of all kinds, roller coaster rides, and even a little Ferris Wheel the boys could get on.

I shared a little about these two and their Ferris Wheel experience in this post. I'm so glad they were both able to enjoy this fun ride that took them both high up into the sky to oversee the whole farm. I love Ferris Wheels for the amazing views they share.

Hope this experience planted a seed for them to love Ferris Wheels too.

They had a kiddie playground and petting zoo.

Finally, at the end of our fun stay at this amazing little farm, we ventured to find our Christmas tree. Because of all the crazy in the form of toddlers who have not napped and all. the. stuff. going on, I felt a little frantic while helping the boys find a tree.

I'm happy to report, despite my frantic self, we found a tree, but not the one below. See, originally we had chose this tree, but after coming back around saw that someone had damaged the bottom (not. cool.). We ended up passing on it, and quickly found a new tree we could call our own.

Y'all. I heart this tree. It's so beautiful! It's definitely the most beautiful tree we've ever had before. Smells amazing. And brings a beautiful light and warmth to our home.

Traditions have been on our minds lately. Geekman and I want to start having these moments that the boys can anticipate every year as to more fully experience the beautiful rhythm of the liturgical year. After this experience, I think it's safe to say, we are adding a visit to a tree farm to our family traditions.

Have you ever been to a Christmas Tree farm? Is that part of your family traditions upon entering the season of Advent? Or do you wait to put up your tree till Christmas Day?

Linking-up with the beautiful women of Like Mother, Like Daugher for Pretty, Happy Funny, Real: Seeking contentment in everyday life.