Courageous Joy

Day of the Broken Glass

Having gone years without breaking glass, THIS day was bizarre. FIVE items were broken; plates, cups, bowl and an ornament...the TX ornament.

Nolan dropped it. He and I decided that we would go to the store where we thought it was purchased and buy another one. In our home we teach that possessions are the blessing of the Lord and to be valued. We strive to respect and honor each other's things. Nolan wanted to replace the ornament. This was not punitive. It was a consequence....it was an accident...but if you break something; you replace it. The thing is *I* had it down low. I thought I should replace it. I could see it was really in his heart to buy it and so we split the cost. Our new TX ornament is exactly the same...and now it has several special memories...first from a dear TX friend and second from my son and I. I have it high on a shelf in my room - beside the tree.

Zander wanted to come with us. We agreed. I called Heather and she graciously agreed to let me come grind some wheat at her home. We stopped there before going downtown for our ornament. Her son, Jesse, was a great host. He showed the boys his rats and then played games with them...even finding something that Zander could play with since Stratego was too hard for Zander. We had a minor explosion of flour in Heather's kitchen....I felt bad leaving her with fine dust over all her kitchen. We did clean up the big spots. I discovered the nutrimill is bigger than my whispermill. It is louder...but not terribly loud. As for mess - not a fair test today because we tried to grind without the little cup since we didn't know what the cup was good for. ::snort:: The boys are now convinced they need rats. Maybe we'll just make it a point to visit Jesse's. I DO have a thing about rats and mice you know...but these are NOT white and they are BIG and not mouse-like....I should have taken the camera.

We left with our flour and headed to the historic area of town. Walking into Eggemeirs is like walking into an antique. The ceilings are COOL. In addition to the amazing architecture they also have antique planes - giant models - hanging from the ceiling. They have two trains that run around the store, up high on shelves. The boys were AMAZED. They have a brio train set up and they had fun playing. Then we walked around the kitchen part of the store so I could find a few Christmas items I "need" as Josiah and Jamin have been asking me for gift ideas. I found MY TEA here...it cost more, so I don't feel very bad for ordering a box online. They also had some "The Republic of Tea" tea.....Heather had previously let me try some Rooibos tea. They had some. I opted for the "Good Hope Vanilla" Rooibos tea.

Our last stop was to deliver a baby gift to the base chapel.

Back at home I made a tiny pot of tea. My Good Hope Vanilla IS yummy!!! Arielle made a pot of organic hot chocolate and we visited. She's reading a mystery book about a green cat. She seems to like it. The little tea for one in the photo below was a gift from dear friends at Elmendorf PWOC. I've thought it too nice and dainty to use because I don't want it broken...but today I USED it....and it was wonderful....nice to sit, relax, reflect and remember....

I unpacked my winter plates - some have pine and pine cones and the others are snowmen. I usually keep my snowmen up until spring...though some in TX really questioned this practice last year. LOL It was never a problem in AK.

My copy of the MOMYS (Moms of Many Young Siblings) cookbook arrived. I can't remember what the Latin means on the front. I guess I'm going to have to look it up. It will bother me endlessly until I do. ::snort:: (Ah, you can see my crashed computer in the background....with its perpetually frozen screen LOL)

Cy didn't close tonight! Yippee. We had dinner: bbq meatballs over rice, salad, carrots, fruit plate....

There continues to be an almost continual parade of slow-moving cars down our street. This is the sure way of knowing that it is Christmas in TX. LOL Ah well, the realtor DID warn us we were buying on Christmas Alley. Saturday night there were TWO busses AND a semi-truck pulling a flat bed loaded with hay and carolers. Jamin suggests we should sell hot chocolate and make a fortune. Maybe we should set up with some hot chocolate to GIVE away next Saturday night. I'm still considering things we can add that will concisely get across the Christmas message since so many drive by this time of year. My ideas so far haven't been entirely kosher....but maybe by next year.....For now the nativity and Celeberate Jesus sign are good.

We caught up in Tabitha's Travels and read a chapter of Peter Pan.