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thanksgiving 2021.
This post is obviously long overdue. I’ve been wanting to share pics from Thanksgiving this year because David’s brother, Joe, and his family were able to come from Pittsburgh. We loved having them here and it was so fun seeing the cousins reconnect. Joe, Lindsay, and the kids stayed over at Steve and Linda’s, and even with the cold weather (for SC at least), we did lots of hanging out between the two yards and at the river. With that many boys it’s vital to be outside as much as possible! Sadly Noah went down hard with a virus out of the blue on Thanksgiving afternoon and missed every part…
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100 books.
Today I finished reading my 100th book in 2021, so I thought I’d write a bookshelf post. I didn’t set out to read a hundred books this year. I don’t do well with reading goals; they make me feel pressured. But I did decide to keep a list in my bullet journal of the books I read, and I’m so happy I did it. Here are the highlights, books I’d unequivocally say are worth adding to your home library (or buying as Christmas gifts!): You know that I’m an avid re-reader of books, so that accounts for a goodly number of the list. Here are the series I reread this…
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raising boys and girls.
You’ve probably heard me say before that how much I’m soaking up these days of parenting “big kids.” The baby/toddler/preschool years were hard for me. Part of it is the things that were happening in our lives (you know, seminary, support-raising, moving to India, getting sick, moving home from India, support-raising, planting a church, adopting two kids). But I’m convinced that even without those major life-upheavals, I still would’ve found that season difficult. I was just so tired all the time. That’s the main thing I remember from those years: tired. Punctuated by many bright and precious moments, of course, but all of it kind of a blur. Looking back,…
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october.
Visit with Christi and John David posted this to Facebook after we met up in Greenville with the boys’ birth mom one morning this month, and we mean every word: May my boys always know their birth mother, know her fierce love for them, her courage to carry them to term and bear them into this world, and do the impossible to give them another life through adoption. May they love her all the more for it. And may we find our way together in this blended family God has knit together in the unlikeliest but most beautiful of ways. David turns 40! It was…
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a trip to the middle east (by judah).
Okay, testing, testing. This is my first blog, so if it isn’t as smooth as those written by my adept mother, please be patient. Last month, I got the privilege to go to the Middle East with Dad. It was my first overseas trip since India, a decade ago. I soon found the familiarity in the plane flights and foreign food, though at age fourteen, I have a little more maturity and wisdom then in my more “innocent years”. Our first flight was from SC to DC. It was only a couple hours, and a good appetizer to the next two flights. I brought my NEO2 word processor…
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the soul that’s wide and deep.
I sit here at my writing desk, laptop open, staring at a blank screen. David has taken three kids to the thrift shop to hunt for Halloween costume accessories, and another kid just wandered outside to the trampoline. For a few glorious minutes, silence has wrapped itself around my shoulders like my favorite green India-cotton blanket, easing the tension that bunches there. It’s a cool, golden fall day, but still I close my bedroom windows, because my body and soul long for stillness. It seems like that’s what I crave most these days. I want to be still. I want to be alone. I long for a refuge from voices…
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our week.
Last night, David and Judah returned home from 9 days in the Middle East. We’re thrilled to have them back with us, and I am excited for Judah to get on the blog this week and share about their trip. We had a busy but very sweet time while they were away. I wish I’d thought to take more pictures hanging out with friends and family — thank you to Joyce, Nina and Papa, Grandpa and Mum Mum, Annie, Caroline, Brittany and Sarah, the Wingates, and the Allen family for hanging out with us. Here’s what else we did: Noah is finally ready to play on his “own team”…
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the gentino zoo (by amie).
There are four things our family collects: Legos, books, plants, and animals. This blog post is about our current collection of animals. This is Max. He is our chubby, spoiled, furry friend. You can definitely tell that he’s happy with his life. He lives in Gabe and Noah’s room, and all day, when people are coming and going, he gets plenty of “hellos” and pats. His least favorite days are bath-and-nail-clipping days. Which happened today. Dad’s role in the family is “guinea pig nail-clipper.” You can tell they don’t like him because of that, but immediately after we bathe Max and clip his nails, we give him…
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a new school year.
We’ve done it! We’ve successfully started a new homeschool year. This is our ninth year homeschooling, and every single spring and summer, at some point, I think, I can’t do this anymore. I just cannot educate our kids at home. I research school options. I think about selling our beloved house and moving to a different school district. But it never feels right. So I pray a lot and say, “Okay, Lord, we’ll try it another semester.” It’s a step of faith for me to order the curriculum and make the commitment, when I feel homeschool-weary and unsure of how it will all turn out. But then we have a…
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pawleys island.
David’s three-month sabbatical is winding to a close, and a friend treated us to a last sabbatical gift: a week at her condo on Pawleys Island. David, Gabe, and Noah drove up last Monday afternoon, and the big kids and I followed on Wednesday after homeschool co-op was finished. It was our first week of classes (my first week teaching three English classes two mornings in a row), and our brains were a little fried from prep and homework and getting back into school mode. But once we hit the road, it felt good to disconnect one more time. We listened to The Count of Monte Cristo on audiobook, and…