BOOKS I FINISHED - DECEMBER 2018

*****

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, written by Atul Gawande

Gawande is a surgeon exploring the way our culture treats aging and death. Using his own experience as a doctor and family member of the dying, as well as drawing on what others have experienced, he offers constructive criticism of the way medical professionals and nursing homes treat patients. It's certainly an insightful book for anyone who deals with aging or dying people professionally. However, it's also a good book for everyone to read, as none of us will escape our own death or that of those we love and are in a position to make decisions with or for.

p. 77, This is the consequence of a society that faces the final phase of the human life cycle by trying not to think about it. We end up with institutions that address any number of societal goals - from freeing up hospital beds to taking burdens off families' hands to copying with poverty among the elderly - but never the goal that matters to the people who reside in them: how to make life worth living when we're weak and frail and can't fend for ourselves anymore.

p. 128, Medical professionals concentrate on repair of health, not sustenance of the soul. Yet - and this is the painful paradox - we have decided that they should be the ones who largely define how we live in our waning days.

p. 140, All we ask is to be allowed to remain the writers of our own story. That story is ever changing. Over the course of our lives, we may encounter unimaginable difficulties. Our concerns and desires may shift. But whatever happens, we want to retain the freedom to shape our lives in ways consistent with our character and loyalties.

p. 232, One has to decide whether one's fears or one's hopes are what should matter most.


*****

Lady Cop Makes Trouble (A Kopp Sisters Novel, book 2), written by Amy Stewart

Constance Kopp is working for the sheriff's department now, but most people aren't thrilled to have a female in the mix. After making a huge mistake on the job that will prove costly to others, she sets off on her own to hunt down a fugitive, while continuing to work with the jail's female inmates. Like the other books in this series, the Kopp sisters were real people and many of the story's details come from actual headlines, but the story itself is a work of fiction.


*****

This Side of Home, written by Renee Watson

Life can be unfair. It can change your neighborhood into something unfamiliar, make children suffer for their parents' choices, put unnecessary strain on relationships of all kinds, and cause tension in a community. Life can also be beautiful. It can provide new experiences, give people a chance to serve others, create opportunities for meaningful relationships, and foster unity. It does all those things in this story of a young woman wrestling between hope and disappointment, personal values and cultural expectations, taking a stand and going with the flow.


*****

Wishing on Willows, written by Katie Ganshert

A widowed mother with a deep dedication to her community and a focused businessman with his own baggage have their worlds collide in this story of grief, determination, and learning to look past one's own perspective.

p. 48, ... and like a deep massage against all-too-tender muscles, the lyrics dug into his knotted up soul, reminding him of a truth that had become entirely too slippery. God's grace was big enough. For him.


*****

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MORE CHRISTMAS FUN

I've already shared our Christmas festivities from the first half of the month, as well as the Deck the Halls party Silas and Devon went to and the Nutcracker performance Naomi and I saw, but there's been more!

12/24 - Silas was working on Christmas Eve, but the rest of us spent some time making Christmas treats together in the morning. Tyler, Naomi, and I worked on Oreo Peppermint Bark. 

Meanwhile, Tim and Devon made cinnamon rolls.

Our whole family, along with Gabriel, was able to sit together in one of our church's Christmas Eve services that afternoon.

12/25 - Christmas morning was quiet, just our family gathered together to hear Tim read The Legend of the Three Trees and exchange gifts. 

Over the course of the afternoon and evening we had seven people from three families and four households, most we'd never met before or barely knew, accept our open invitation to come over. We thoroughly enjoyed having them join us for food, conversation, music, and games. 

12/26 - The kids enjoy making gingerbread houses with graham crackers each year, but we'd struggled to find a time to do it before Christmas when all four were home at the same time. So it happened the next evening and we invited Gabriel to join us. Here they are near the beginning.

 

Tim and I mostly supervised and chatted with the kids this year as they worked on their creations.

Here are the finished products.

Once everyone was done building, we loaded up and went to check out the last night of the Keizer Miracle of Christmas Light Display. It's such a fun neighborhood to drive through!

12/28 - Silas and Natie headed out to the Oregon Zoo for this year's ZooLights.

There have definitely been some frustrating moments throughout the season, primarily because we're in a season of life where it's rare for all the Ws to be available at the same time, and maybe a little bit because I'm tightly wound, but we still managed to have a lot of fun.

SADDLE MOUNTAIN WITH SILAS

I had big plans for a quiet, productive day yesterday. Tim, Devon, Naomi, and Tyler were going to be at a church event all day, and Silas always has things going on, so I was going to stay in jammies and tackle a huge list of things I need to accomplish.

As I sat enjoying a mug of tea, Silas asked if I minded him going on a hike. We were discussing the logistics of who he could invite when I had one of those "you know what you should do" feelings. I tried to ignore it because I desperately needed some uninterrupted productivity, but it wouldn't go away. It was a chance to choose present over perfect. 

I asked if I could join him. He said he'd love for me to come along, but thought I had a bunch of work to do. I assured him I did have tons of work, but that I still wanted to come. So we went. He drove the two hours out to Saddle Mountain State Natural Area and we hit the trail. 

He's hiked the whole thing once (helped a group of grade school boys from church) and part of it another time (made it halfway trying to catch the sunset with Devon), but this was my first time. There's an elevation gain of over 1,600 feet in the 2 1/2 miles from start to finish, which I wasn't in very good shape for, so I sat down for a couple minutes to stretch my legs and drink some water once along the way. He took advantage of the break to go check out some views.

I had to take several other quick stops to catch my breath, but I was determined to make it to the top. We finally did it! There's a 360 degree view from the summit, but clouds covered most of it when we were there. We did get a view out to the beach, even though it's hard to tell in these pictures. For those in our neck of the woods, these pictures are looking toward Astoria and the Columbia was on our right.

This is the same view as before, but zoomed in a bit toward the coastline.

Once we cooled down, ate some food, and my heart rate dropped back to normal, Silas and I took a summit picture together.

I took this picture on the way back down. It's looking back on the final climb of the trail. If you enlarge the picture, you can just barely see someone in blue shorts near the cluster of trees at the top left corner of the peak. That gives a little perspective on how high it is.
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On the way up I'd mentioned to Silas that parts of the trail looked like they could be waterfalls in the winter. A short time later that's exactly what happened. The picture doesn't really do it justice, but I told Silas on the way back that we could sing both "climb every mountain" and "ford every stream".

I loved this section of the trail that was filled with white trunks and branches!!

Today I'm playing catch up because of all the work I ditched yesterday, but I'm so glad I went. Next time I hike Saddle Mountain I'll just make sure the skies are clear so I can get the full view from the top!

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for my electric kettle. What's one thing you're thankful for?

A NUTCRACKER TEA - 2018

Naomi and I had the opportunity to attend Northwest Dance Theatre's A Nutcracker Tea on Saturday afternoon. Neither of us had ever seen any performance of The Nutcracker before, so it was fun to go together. Tim took a couple pictures of us before we left and I'm posting both. I like the first one because it's a better shot of our faces, but the second one makes me see how grown up she's looking. Time flies!

We had someone take a picture of us in the lobby when we arrived at PCC Sylvania's Performing Arts Center, then headed to our seats for the show.

We went to see Grace, a friend of Naomi's, but knew there would be three other girls we know in the performance, as well as the production manager. When we started flipping through the program and watching the show, however, we discovered we actually knew nine of the performers and the NWDT board president. It was cool to see so many familiar faces and we really enjoyed the show. We were able to catch Grace afterwards for a quick picture of her and Naomi.

What a fun way to spend part of a December afternoon!

BRACES ON FACES - 2ND SET

Devon had an appointment at Senestraro Family Orthodontics yesterday and is now sporting braces. I'm completely blow away by how quickly this happened! Just like we did with Silas earlier this year, we took a picture of all of us and the pie chart I tracked our progress on.

This pie chart makes me smile. (And the 75% slice makes me twitch because I absentmindedly wrote the date in the wrong spot. I confess to almost printing a new pie chart and redoing it at that point.)

The support I received along the way as I worked my Pampered Chef business was amazing, the little checks I've earned from Amazon affiliate links and Random Conversation Starters sales have helped, and some unexpected gifts have filled my heart even more than they filled the pie chart.

I took a picture with the second little W to receive braces after we got home. I'm super excited for him!

Two kids down, two to go! The next sets will be a slower process, as I'm no longer working a part-time job to pay for it, but that's fine. Those kids are younger and there's no rush. We'll just keep plugging away at saving money and filling up pie charts until we've paid for all the #BracesOnFaces.

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for friends who are different than me in their beliefs, thoughts, feelings, personalities, skills, and interests. What's something that you're thankful for?

DECK THE HALLS - 2018

Last night Silas and Devon cleaned themselves up a bit for Deck the Halls, a Christmas party with our church's high school youth group. They were crunched for time when they left, so I snapped a few quick pictures before they hustled into the car. It's fun watching these two brothers turn into young men! And it's funny to watch them spend their own money on ties. Never thought I'd see the day.

It cracks me up how their personalities come through in pictures, even ones taken in a hurry.

Their first stop was to take pictures with some friends. A shot of the brothers.

A shot of Silas and Natie.

And a fun shot of various siblings and friends.

Next stop was Wilsonville Lanes for bowling with some of the other kids from youth group. Another shot of Natie and Silas. 

And one with a whole bunch of other kids who struck down pins with them.

Finally, they headed off to church for the party, which included some photo booth time. A shot of Devon with some other freshman guys.

 Being a goofball by himself.

Another brother shot.

There's a reason we consider Devon the "ham of the fam"!

Look down by the poinsettia. Photo bomber!!

A shot of Silas and a bunch of friends.

Same group, minus a few friends.

And a shot of all the guys.

They had a great evening!

Photo credit: Alicia Moore for the three pictures in a home, Natie Moore for the two in the bowling alley, and ACCF for the ones at the photo booth.