the last week

things just keep getting busier as we are preparing for the holidays ie: finishing our shopping, doing laundry, cleaning the house and preparing to pack, brandon is studying for/taking a final, etc. And this morning we woke up to a dusting of snow here in Portland! the funniest thing is people are shutting things down! there is literally about 2 inches of snow at our house. :) It's definitely different than in Colorado!
Well, all of that to say, we are holed up in our cozy little apartment with the Christmas lights on and candles burning. All of you that know me, know that I am not a fan of snow. However, when snow only comes once every couple of years...it's kinda fun. ok. that's probably the only time you'll ever catch me saying that! So sitting here in my sweats is a good time to post a few pictures...

last Tuesday our life group participated in Advent Conspiracy with our church. For those of y'all who don't know what that is, i would urge you to visit www.adventconspiracy.org it's a movement that is all about refocusing our Christmas on Christ and less on materialism. Anyways, our church has "adopted" several families in a lower income elementary school in the neighborhood and are helping them with Christmas. Our group was able to shop for two of them. here are a few pictures of us getting into the spirit of the season at Target:)


And today we delivered Mo's Christmas present...just a good excuse to go see him:) he's doing well. all through with his chemo treatments (you can see the last dose caused him to lose his hair). We love going over there and just being with them. Kim and Christian (his mom and dad) are super sweet and we all pretty much just sit there and play with Mo. Here he is chewing on Brandon's shoelace:)



Mo was the second baby I watched after we moved here and I'm about to start with my 4th family in less than 2 years. It definitely wasn't my ideal working for this many families and having to look for a new job every 6 months, but as I look back I'm seeing how many people Brandon and I have been able to get to know through it. We still see Addie and her family every other month or so. I see Mo about every month. Sam's parents have already started asking for me to come back and see him after I leave. I feel so priveledged to hold this place in all those babies' lives. And after caring for their children for 40 hours/week, there is such a special relationship that I have with all those parents. I'm not sure that I can explain it but I feel so fortunate. I love all of those families and thank God for the opportunity to love on those kids.

wow, that was a super sappy ending to a not-so-deep post:) thanks for bearing with me.

Weekend in Sunriver, OR

We just got back from a super fun couple of days in central Oregon with about half of our Young Married Small Group. We feel so blessed to call all of these people our friends and wish the others could have made it! Here are some pics:

walking in old downtown Bend, Or

John, Crystal, and Jamie about to eat at a yummy burger place

John and Crystal

Josh, Tiffany and my friend Raleigh the cockapoo:)


the crew (minus me)



walking in beautiful Drake Park

Jamie and Dave

playing games at the condo...of course!!

Crystal and Raleigh:)

Anna and Kevin

my favorite place..by the fire:)

ok this picture needs a bit of explaining. This weekend also happend to be both Jamie and Dave's birthdays. John had a "great" idea of putting on a skit for them as a present. here are John (as Dave)and Brandon(as Jamie) in the skit...that's all i'm going to say about that

"sliding down the stairs" races...oh the things you can come up with at midnight

the crew the morning we left (minus Crystal)

our lovely drive home...it was raining sheets on us!

Christmas Questions

Alright, Hannah, I have always ignored these in the past, BUT it's about Christmas...how could I resist:)
Here we go!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Definitely Wrapping paper. Let's face it, gift bags are just not as much fun to open. Plus, I LOVE to wrap presents, pick out the ribbon, decorate the package...it's all part of getting ready for Christmas.

2. Real tree or Artificial?
Real tree is the only way to go. Growing up both Brandon and I always had real trees (although now that we are grown both of our families have switched to fake). Brandon's family would actually go cut one down, we didn't have that luxury in Texas so we would just buy one in a parking lot:) There's nothing better than a home filled with the smell of a fresh tree.

3. When do you put up the tree?
Well, if I could have it my way we'd have one up about mid-November. Unfortunately they don't start selling them, usually, till the day after Thanksgiving. so, as soon as possible!

4. When do you take the tree down?
Probably around mid-January...although last year we missed the "curb-side pick-up" that the recycling people do...that was a hassle!

5. Do you like eggnog?
Only about 3 sips of it...it's delicious but oh so rich!

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
One year all I asked for was a talking dog. My mom actually found a dog that had a cassette tape in it's back and would tell stories...a total dream come true:)

7. Hardest person to buy for? my brothers

8. Easiest person to buy for? Brandon

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes we do...an all white porcelen (no idea how to spell that) set...animals, angels and all.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
I love mail. We hang up all of the Christmas cards that we receive. I especially love seeing all the pictures!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
is there a bad gift?

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
"Elf" is an all time favorite, but I love "It's a Wonderful Life" just as much. Who am I kidding...I LOVE ALL CHRISTMAS MOVIES!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
nope. not that I can think of.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
probably all of the cookies/desserts I make with my mom. What other time of year can I get away with that?

16. Lights on the tree?
white...always white

17. Favorite Christmas song?
O Holy Night!

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
I really like not to travel, but since all of our loved ones are in Colorado, we will be traveling:)

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's?
well, I thought I could, but I just tried and forgot one...

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
a star. that's just the way it's always been. Brandon and I just bought our first one.
I do remember when I lived with Joanna and we had a starbucks cup on the top of our tree. is that sacreligious??:)

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Christmas day! although when we were little, we always seemed to convince my parents that it was ok to open one on Christmas eve.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
it goes by too fast. by the time you are really able to slow down and enjoy it, it seems to have flown by. I would like to propose that everyone just skip halloween and start celebrating in October:)

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
my mom used to buy me and my brothers an ornament every year that was significant to that year (ie: a tennis ornament when I was on the tennis team; a car ornament the year i started driving). it's great now that brandon and i have our own tree to see all of my ornaments from my past and start collecting them together.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
we do Thanksgiving dinner again....the dressing is my favorite!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
this year I want people to give to International Justice Mission. I love this organization. I won't cry if people also give my Starbucks cards, though:)

26. Who is most likely to respond to this?
???

27. Does Santa wrap your gift or leave them unwrapped?
Santa always wraps gifts...who likes a gift that's not wrapped? where's the suspense??

I tag...Joanna!

not sure what happened to my last post....good luck following all of the picture comments! sorry

Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities!

Thanksgiving was WONDERFUL! we were super blessed by lots of friends-new and old- and a beautiful city to celebrate in. Brandon and i were house-sitting for some friends and they were kind enough to let us have our thanksgiving feast in their home. let's just say the best part about it was the dishwasher (not to mention the huge kitchen/table, satellite tv, etc)!!! haha

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i put emily to work...now that's a dedicated friend!

the boys figuring out where to put all the chairs

basting the turkey (after calling my mom for the 3rd time!)

again, emi was such a huge help. she did my most unfavorite job: peeling potatoes

the finished product

our friend, Todd, carving the turkey he and Jen brought.

Ryan and Alex being helpful

Brandon carving his first turkey

the spread...way too much food

can't keep emily from helping...

playing chickenfoot after we filled our bellies

i had everyone write what they were thankful for on our pumpkin

Jen, Todd, Brandon, Emi and I (and some random very happy man) downtown at the annual Christmas Tree lighting...INCREDIBLE

after the lighting. 75 feet hight, 50 years old. just beautiful

I love you, emily!



And today after church, Brandon, Alex and I went to buy a Christmas tree! The tree wouldn't fit in our car (what we did last year) and since we don't have a rack on top of my car, Brandon and Alex walked home with it. i LOVE living in the city!!! here they are flexing their muscles.

decorating

our annual "we're finished decorating the tree" picture:)

here are my crafting attempts for this week. i felt that our walls needed some christmas cheer so this was my interpretation. i'm thinking of adding a third that says "live joyfully". whadya think?

finding myself out

i am finding (through trail and error) that I am a schedule person. I used to think of myself as a "fly by the seat of my pants kinda gal" (what movie is that from?!?!:) however, i am realizing that i NEED a schedule. when things go differently than planned or i have to wing-it, i get completely annoyed. why? who knows?! most of the time it's not even that big of a deal, but for some reason i feel flustered. just thought i would share that little bit of me. it's not a pretty piece of me, but a reminder that I am just a piece of clay and always a work in progress.

update

ok lets see if we can fill you in on what's been going on in our lives....
here is a HUGE praise: I (callie) have a new job for January!!! yay! for those of you who didn't know, my job with little Sam is ending at Christmas and I have been looking and interviewing for jobs for several weeks. God totally provided above and beyond with this job and we are soooo thankful for it!
we continue to be blessed by our awesome small group. God has answered our year-long prayers for friends and we truly feel connected to these couples. It's so refreshing to have so many couple friends who desire to have authentic community and to serve God along side each other. we are blessed!
yesterday I brought out the Christmas decorations:) i convinced Brandon that since we will be gone for 2 weeks at Christmas then it was only logical that we start decorating/celebrating early. yes? well, he has graciously embraced our 24/7 christmas music and the twinkle lights draped over our windows.










I got to visit with Mo and his mom, Kim, yesterday and was totally refreshed by it. he is doing really well with only 1 more chemo treatment left. Mo touches my heart with his big smile and earnest attempts at walking. I'm so glad I've been able to stay in his life since being his nanny.
Brandon has been up to his eyeballs in homework/papers/reading for the past 4 weeks. this has been the hardest semester by far at seminary and we are constantly reminding each other that there is an end in sight. i'm so proud of him for the effort he puts into his school work, but even more for the effort he puts into our marriage at the same time.
and lastly, this last week has officially begun "winter" here in Portland. The weathermen have it very easy for the next 9 months..."nothing but rain in sight..." I'll count on my twinkle lights and red starbucks cups to keep me in good spirits!