Adoption.

A few nights ago during house church, a friend saw a book about adoption on our [wobbly] coffee table. She asked if we were going to adopt, and we answered affirmatively. The way she asked it, though, made it seem so much more real. We've been married for over a year and are in steady jobs. We're not ready to have/adopt children yet, but we're in the stage of life where everyone around us is doing that. Thinking about adopting makes me so excited and a little nervous for our future. I don't want to go into that process without knowing the intricacies of being adoptive parents.

I love reading blogs of people who have adopted. It inspires me and opens my eyes to a reality that is as yet unknown to me.

I saw this video on a blog that I read. I think it would be really amazing for this woman to get a show on Oprah's network about adoption, from a personal and passionate perspective.

Valentine's Day

I am not a big fan of Valentine's Day. I don't care about it at all until everyone around me is receiving flowers and big displays of affection - which David and I aren't really into. But this year I resolved not to care at all. And then I came home from work to an amazing letter from my husband... All the Valentine's love I could ever need!

One of my kids (I don't play favorites...), D, told me today - "Mrs. Elise, your hair looks really pretty today. I am going to go to the store and buy my mom some flowers and I am going to buy you a pretty purple princess dress". I'll take it! 

The attempt to write a blog that I would want to read.

We had some friends over the other night, and one of them asked me if I wrote a blog. I said yes... but that it wasn't necessarily the kind of blog that I would want to read. I am a self-proclaimed blog-addict, and my favorite blogs are the ones with poetic, inspirational language and creative pictures. My blog doesn't exactly have either of those... So I'm including pictures this time. 

 So... It's 0 degrees today. Much warmer than yesterday, when it got down to -13 degrees. It reminds me of living in Canada... We definitely don't get that low in Colorado very often! This picture was taken out our living room window. It's my car, sitting in the sun that's not doing much more than lighting our way. Warm the earth, sun. Warm our earth! We're cold!

 

One of the things that I realize I miss about summer is riding my bike to work. Such a good way to start out the day... My poor bike is sitting on the back patio, probably frozen.

 

 One of the best things about this freezing cold is that I can wear flannel - at least until I have to leave for work. Thank you, Samuel, for this hand-me-down flannel shirt! 

 

 This morning, my rare free morning, I ventured out in the cold to the thrift store. Maybe, I thought, I'll find a treasure. Or maybe two. I found, instead, six treasures for the low, low price of $29.56! I bought these two shirts - they're the same shirt in different colors. I'm pretty excited about them. 

Last, but not least... House church. We had a tiny group last night because of the cold, but I can't wait to jump back into our discussion of this book.

 

 It's already such a good book... I think we're all connecting with it, and it's helped people be more open and honest in house church. I love it. Thanks, Dani, for letting us borrow it and giving it your glowing recommendation!

This week.

This has been a topsy-turvey, tumultuous week. I've gone through too many emotions and I'm ready to be back to normal. I am, however, so thankful for my supportive, hilarious, and amazing husband... and for my family who love me no matter what.

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Cities.

I'm sitting in the middle of Denver, waiting for the Marade (March-Parade, MLK Day) to pass by so I can join in the march to the capitol. So I can set aside all the things that are ingrained within me that I fight against daily. Because despite misconceptions we all may have, I truly believe that we are the same. We have different backgrounds and cultures (within a culture), and we have very different convictions and ideas and ways of speaking and disciplining and thinking... But in all our beautiful differences, we're the same. God loves us all the same... We all bring a beautiful, different aspect to the Kingdom of God, and it's amazing, and we're all on an equal playing field. Martin Luther King Jr's fight was so long ago, and sometimes it feels that we're so far past the racist tendencies that he stood against... But sometimes it feels that we're not. Maybe it's not most often between blacks and whites, but it is against hispanic people, middle-eastern people... So let's stand against that, today, 2011.

I didn't even mean to write about that today. I meant to write of my newly discovered love for big cities. I love cities. We just returned from Milwaukee... A city I definitely didn't expect to be intrigued by. But I was so intrigued. Old buildings, similar to Denver... But with a bigger river down the middle. Apartment buildings with marble interiors and creaky old elevators. Midwestern style houses. Coffee shops and places to eat brunch and gastropubs with lots of different kinds of beers (not just Colorado brewed) and a stingy cold that gets inside your bones. 


Chicago... similar to Milwaukee in the giant lake that sneaks up on you. Cozy apartments with fireplaces and yellow painted walls. Funny board game bars and hidden neighborhood gems. So many parks and trees and giant museums and factories. 


San Francisco... Oh, yes. Cold and foggy and a huge red bridge rising up in your peripheral vision. So many trees and redwoods just across the bay. Hills to climb up to see the whole city. Ice cream and vegan restaurants. China town and luggages. I really love San Francisco. 


I could say many things about Denver, but I've either said them already or will say them in the future, so I'll spare you (this time). I want to explore other cities... New York - a stroll through Central Park. Maybe take a quick peek at Time's Square (and then leave, because I often feel overwhelmed by large crowds of people). Seattle - I've been there before, but so want to visit again. With someone who lives (or has lived) there, so they can show me all the secrets. Portland - I've been there many times, but I was too young to truly enjoy it. 


I love cities.

Winter.

I'm in a cheap hotel in Milwaukee... Staring out the window onto that wintry strip mall. Even though it's cold, snowy, and the bleak midwest, I'm thankful for this quick "vacation" with my husband. Being in Wisconsin makes me very thankful to be from California, to be living in Colorado. We get to see the sun every day!

I'm looking forward to wearing this dress tomorrow night... The last time I wore it was the night before our wedding. It's been over a year now, and I still think marriage to my husband is the best thing in the world!

Last week I was talking to one of the kids at work about David, and he sighed and said "Oh... You're just the marriedest". Yes. Yes, I am. Thank you.

Life and death.

We spent time with my beloved family last week. Talking, eating, eating some more, sitting, driving... It was wonderful. We spent so much time at my grandparents' house... Soaking up the life that was soon to leave us. My grandfather (Papa) passed away on New Year's Day. He had spent the week (in and out of consciousness) with his entire living family - had even sat with us at the Christmas dinner table. Watching him slip away was so hard... but it made me know, even more than I alreay did, that God loves us more than we can ever comprehend or imagine. The ways in which the family came together that week, his last week, were divinely arranged. I will always be thankful that we were there - to say hello, to tell him we loved him (and to hear it back from him), to say goodbye, and to pray and hold each other. I'm so thankful for my family. I am so thankful that I got to know my sweet grandfather for 23 years of his life. We spent so much time together as I was growing up, and for that I will be endlessly grateful.

The next day, David and I celebrated our first anniversary. We didn't do much but revel in the thought that we had been married for an entire year! It was the shortest and longest and best year of my life. I have learned so much about love and life and God and myself and him... I can't wait to see what the next year will bring us!

All that to say, we have a wedding and a memorial service in the next two weeks awaiting us, but for now... It's so good to be home. To be working, to be in our home... It's good.