Christmas season

December 5, 2011

Yesterday we went to Tom’s performance of the Messiah and Emma’s piano recital.  It was a great day; the Messiah was powerful as always.  Sam, of course, got tired (it’s 90 mins long) but literally within 5 minutes of being back in the car after it was over, I turned on my Christmas cd with a few Messiah songs and he and Emma just belted them out!!  Success, I guess.  It is so moving to participate in standing for the Hallelujah chorus, to hear the beauty of the orchestra, the power of the words.  I am so glad we have this opportunity to participate in Anchorage…to see it and make it part of our family’s life, a real blessing

Then to Emma’s recital.  This semester has been ups and downs with piano, mostly downs.  She likes sweet nurturing personalities for teachers, but I have felt we can stick this out for the semester (or year hopefully).  So she’s gone back and forth with setting piano goals, and when it is a goal, she does amazingly well at keeping her commitment.  For the recital, she was assigned a piece to memorize and began plodding through it.  She would practice right when she got home from seminary to get it over with.  It was a beautiful piece and to hear her play it at 7 in the morning is hard to describe.  It’s still pitch black outside, no one is really stirring at our house yet-Sam and Tom are still in bed, so the sounds of the piano waft throughout the house.  It was a special thing to hear. 

I’ve been trying to do an advent calendar where I put a slip of paper of something we’ll do in a stocking daily.  For the amount of work Christmas is to orchestrate (even when we try to simplify) it’s no wonder kids love it.  If I did a daily thing in all the other months (complete with gifts here and there, crafts, service, and all the preparation and planning that goes with that), life would be pretty fun.  But it seems like on the other hand, it would build up expectations that life should be like that-where someone is always paving the way with fun carrots and making things constantly festive.  Is that good or bad?  Does it create high expectations that I should be trying to implement other times of the year or can we call it good?  

We have yet to hear from the county magistrate in Taiwan.  Even our agency case worker is getting a little anxious and is evaluating who to talk to and what to say.  I try not to think about it too much, but we pray for them-the children and the decision makers. 

October 28, 2011  Friday

Still no word from the county magistrate in Taiwan.  I feel fine about things and more than anything, I am hopeful that we can find a place to live that will help our family thrive.  We are so unsure about buying, but renting a larger house will up the costs considerably.  We have been spoiled with this house, rent and neighborhood.  It has been wonderful.