View from the Prairie Box

We’ve been singing God With Us in church quite a bit recently and I’ve been struck by the chorus in particular:

All that is within me cries
For You alone be glorified:
Emmanuel, God with us.

Perhaps it’s the longer notes of the word Emmanuel or maybe it’s simply a well-written song in general, but it gets to me. Like lump-in-the-throat gets to me, every single time.

Emmanuel. God with us! All year long we sing this song and all year long it rings absolutely, positively true. It’s not a song meant only for the Advent season, but it applies so perfectly at this time of year. God is not a distant figure, a Creator who has stepped back from his creation. He sent his Son to earth to redeem his beloved people from the distance sin had caused. And so we celebrate, with gratitude, the birth of Jesus Christ.

This amazing God, loving and righteous, is with us. Emmanuel.

My favorite time of day in the park.

Mission accomplished.

On Thursday, Livia baked sugar cookie gingerbread men. And floured. And rolled. And baked and floured some more until there were clouds of flour covering the kitchen counter and floor.

The house had a flour storm unlike any ever witnessed before. Flour on Liv’s scalp. Flour on our clothes. Flour on the dog’s head and, after one especially tumultuous mishap, flour turning his gluttonous doggy tongue from pink to white. Honestly, I don’t know how he even swallowed at that point.

On Monday, Livia wanted to bake gingerbread men. We didn’t do it.

On Tuesday, Livia wanted to bake gingerbread men. Knowing she wouldn’t like the spicy cookies, we convinced her we’d make sugar cookies in little gingerbread men shapes. But still, we didn’t do it.

On Wednesday—that would be today—Livia wanted to bake sugar cookie gingerbread men, but got distracted by Bolt on Netflix online. I pulled out the ingredients, took a few photos for the December Photo Project, actually made the dough, and that was it.

Will all Livia’s cookie wishes be fulfilled on Thursday? Stay tuned. It doesn’t get more exciting than this, folks.

**You are very welcome to join the DPP at any point! We’ll continue updating our participants list through the weekend.

It’s December! Time for the December Photo Project to begin. Time to enjoy the lights and evergreens of the Christmas season. Time to… swing? In Nebraska? Yep, I guess so!

Pssst… Want to join our Flickr Pool? It’s up and running now.

Our children’s zoo opens it’s doors for two weekends in the winter. I never want to go because, let’s face it, who likes to walk around in the winter winds of Nebraska when you don’t have to? But Thanksgiving weekend here was amazing weather-wise, so off we went. I like this shot of Livia and my niece Madeleine because they were entirely engrossed in a completely empty turtle exhibit. Muddy leaves were all that covered the concrete basin, but they found it quite interesting. We had a fun afternoon together, complete with vanilla ice cream cones and a walk with Shiloh through the park. The girls were really sweet to one another—not one squabble over a toy. Praise God for cousins!

It’s the last day of November, peeps. Stretch those fingers, squint those eyes, do a few laps around the yard to wake up your brain in preparation for the December Photo Project! Twenty-five days straight of photography fun in one of the most beautiful seasons of the year. Our list of participants is growing and I get more excited each time someone signs up. Grab a badge and join the challenge of the 2009 DPP!

We enjoyed a really relaxing and delicious day yesterday as we celebrated Thanksgiving with both sets of parents. There is something quite decadent about two turkey dinners in one day, I must say. What I really felt was the wealth of riches God has given us: our parents (now grandparents to Livia) that have raised us faithfully and loved us unconditionally over the years. We are incredibly blessed by our families.

As much as we enjoyed our folks, we did miss our siblings. So Bean, Adam, Kris and Andrew? Can’t wait to see you at Christmas!

Pictured above are a few of the side dishes we ate at the Lawton dinner. There was the sweet potato souffle and bourbon cranberries from Needs More Butter sitting next to The Pioneer Woman’s corn/wild rice dish. We ate our fair share of green bean casserole and stuffing, and of course, the star of every Thanksgiving meal, turkey. Liv and I ate turkey sandwiches tonight and I can’t imagine a better way to eat leftovers than slapping them between mayo-coated slices of bread. Mmm, mmm good.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, what is left of 2009? A lot! The December Photo Project starts shortly (make sure you sign up—it’s fun!), then we have the national holiday known as My Birthday, and finally Christmas. Jesus’ Birthday. Somewhat of a larger event than mine, I suppose. ; )

Click on the image below for all you need to know about this year’s December Photo Project!

Our small group at Redeemer meets every other week for dinner and bible study. I’ve come to love these folks and enjoy both the dinners and the studying with equal interest.

Our kids are loud and creative and active—and our babysitter is worth every penny we pay her. In this photo Rev has a light saber, naturally. He and Liv encourage each other to new heights of commotion, I believe!

My favorite shot is this last one of Conrad and Amy. I have a perfectly lovely shot of them tucked away in my files, but I like this one better. Conrad actually held that skeptical expression so I could get my camera settings right. I have more photos of people scowling at me than you can imagine! But this one is fun-loving, so it gets posted.