We were inspired by my Dad recently completing P90X and decided to start it again today. It also helps that an indoor workout is more tolerable than an outdoor workout with the colder temperatures. We'll be going at a bit slower of a pace than the program because we are busy still, but we figure every bit helps fight Desk Body Syndrome.


We had a nice holiday weekend. Thursday's Thunderwolves Thanksgiving Potluck was a lot of fun and there was a very abundant amount of food. We are so blessed. On Friday we saw Harry Potter with the Shulls and then had them over to watch the Duck game. We made sandwiches with Charissa's delicious leftover turkey, Stacey's tasty cranberry sauce, and some bacon that Jonathan picked out. Saturday Jonathan met up with some old Varsity House guys who were in town for the OSU vs. Stanford game. Today was church and youth group. Our church put together an Advent devotional this year and I am really excited about going through it. We started tonight with Hope. 


Any other gaps were filled with homework, walking the dog, and running errands. Hugs to everyone, we're thankful for you!

We have been bundled up for our nightly walks the past couple days. It's no Pacific NW snow, but it's been very chilly. We've been having tea each night too. Did you know that there are a lot of benefits to consuming ginger? I have been adding a sliver of fresh ginger to our mugs to steep with the tea and it's quite tasty and warming.

The end of our classes is in sight! And I've had a bit more time lately to read for fun, crochet a hat for a friend's baby, and make up a granola recipe. If you enjoy oranges and spices like cloves and cinnamon, you better find a way onto my Nice List this year, because I'm planning to make a giant batch to hand out :). It made the apartment smell so good! We've been enjoying it sprinkled on vanilla ice cream. 

It would be so nice to be with family for Thanksgiving this year, but we are looking forward to a potluck with our home group tomorrow. Yum!

Here's a quote from Pastor Richard Baxter that Randy Alcorn shared on his blog today:

“Resolve to spend most of your time in thanksgiving and praising God. If you cannot do it with the joy that you should, yet do it as you can.… Doing it as you can is the way to be able to do it better. Thanksgiving stirreth up thankfulness in the heart.”

I think Christmas is going to sneak up on me this year. Our minds have been all over the place.

That being said, I want to share a way you can make an amazing impact on a child you have never met this Christmas. It's not too late to sponsor a child through Compassion International. They shared on their blog the other day about what Christmas is like for an unsponsored child. For only $38 a month, you can help a child be released from the chains of poverty.

Sponsoring is a great first step, but communicating with these little ones is what gives them the message that they matter. That they are not forgotten. I read this post the other day and I've been changed ever since. If you read nothing else today please read that.

It can be tough to know what to write. This post was actually inspired by my buddy Katie who shared honestly on her blog about the struggle. This blogger has a lot of letter writing ideas and tips for what you can send to your sponsored child. Our sweet little fellow Angelo always draws us a picture, shares a Bible verse, and tells us about school and the people in his life. What gets me the most choked up though is that he asks for our prayer requests because he wants to pray for us. It is so humbling to know an eight year-old little boy in Colombia is praying for me.

If you already sponsor one of God's little ones through an organization, I encourage you to renew your zeal for growing a relationship with him or her. Whatever you do with this information, I hope it spurs you on to look out for "the least of these" each day.

My parents visited us this weekend. They rolled into town on Thursday night and stayed until this morning. I had the day off on Friday so we were able to get outdoors and have some fun while Jonathan worked.

On Saturday, we all went up to Berkeley for the Duck game. Their stadium is so unique. It seems like it's carved into the hillside. The game was pretty stressful, but we still enjoyed getting to go. Jonathan and I even ended up in a photo on Eugene's newspaper's website,can you find us?

My parents brought me a new Duck shirt that has a drawing of Chip Kelly with the words, "Go Chip" on it. Love it.

We made a quick weekend trip to Colorado Springs two weekends ago. Jonathan has some friends from high school/college who live out there and my friend-since-birth Candace lives there with her husband. I had never been out there before, it was so beautiful. Everywhere you turn, Pikes Peak is staring at you from his lofty height. The sky is massive and blue and golden aspen trees shake their precious little leaves with every breeze. 

On Friday night we were driving back to Candace's house and I saw a red fox run down the sidewalk. We thought it had to just be a weird looking cat because obviously foxes don't run around populated downtown neighborhoods. Then Saturday morning were eating an awesome breakfast at a local restaurant and a red fox ran across the street and made a car slam on its brakes! We asked the waitress if she saw it too, and she confirmed that, yes, it was a red fox in the middle of downtown. When we saw the third one while driving out in the Broadmoor area, I was prepared with my camera.

We wandered around Garden of the Gods, breathtaking! And generally just cruised around town. We also got to meet Candace's adorable bunny named Larry. He reminded us of Shinobi.