The kids meet Santa Clause

We took the kids to the local paper's open house this week. We got to tour the facility, munch cookies, and meet the jolly fellow. This is the only picture where Joisah is not crying. Santa asked Mary what she wanted for Christmas and she said she would like candy and to dress like a ballerina.

Tales of Transition

There has been talk of transition for the Timmons family. We have no news yet, but I wanted to take some time to fill you in on what we do know.

Aaron has been considering a job/career change for a while now. He has enjoyed his current position at Hawker Beechcraft, but he is ready for something different. Recently, he began actively seeking out positions with companies of interest to him. Namely, The Motley Fool and Amazon.com. They have both been receptive to his interest and things seem to be moving forward, though he has not received any job offers yet. He has an on-site interview with The Motley Fool in December and there are two locations with Amazon.com that we are currently looking at in Pheonix, AZ and Allentown, PA .

A trip to the zoo

Wednesday was too beautiful of a day to not go to the zoo. I just cannot get enough of all the beautiful fall colors. The red leaves pictured above are probably my favorite during this season. I love my children and I love watching how excited they get about the animals and the playground at the zoo!

Josiah at age one

To mark Josiah's 1st birthday, I thought I would give an update and describe him at this point in his life.

People keep asking me if he is still wearing his brace. As of September 10th, he only wears it at night. In Novemeber, the left hip was not quite where it needed to be so he will wear it until his next evaluation in March. He can stand up, crawl, roll over, and even "waddle cruise" with it on!

I think it is telling what others say when we are out and about. He is "a really happy baby" and "doesn't look like he's missed too many meals" as one put it kindly. :)

He is walking while holding onto things and can kick his crawl into overdrive. He is intense, persistent, and responds to a firm "No." with a giddy grin. We have to wrestle him to keep him in the bathtub, but he loves splashing water; reaching into the tub, sink, and toilet. He makes us smile and laugh a whole lot.

In addition to splashing, he LOVES playing with his sister, being outside, moving to music, rubbing Daddy's head, eating, and manipulating toys.

He hates lying on his back and spoon food.

He blesses Mommy by pretty much only soiling his diaper in the morning (when he still has a disposable on) or on evenings when Daddy is watching him (cloth diaper). Such a sweet, sweet little boy.

The above was written before we tried transitioning him to whole milk. That backfired. Literally, messy, multiple times a day. Not good. Today his doctor recommended keeping him on formula until 18 months.

We have all had fun watching him learn to use sign language. So far, he knows signs for light, dog, more, and all done. It is so exciting for everyone when he communicates!

Josiah is 1!

We celebrated the little guy's birthday last weekend. Highlights included an intense game of stack the cheerios, receiving a blue bow on one of his gifts, Josiah centered finger food for dinner, Daddy arriving home from work with LOTS of balloons, a train cake decorated by Mommy and Grandma Nancy, which led to...his first taste of SUGAR!

updates for my blog readers

Here are a couple of "blog housekeeping" updates I wanted to bring to your attention:

I have added a "subscribe to" option to my blog. This will allow you to receive an e-mail notification when there is a new post rather than having to check in periodically. It is in the top right corner. Let me know if you have questions or need help with that.

Also, I changed the settings so that anyone can post a comment. Those of you who had mentioned having trouble with that can now comment to your heart's content!

The Clutter Battle

I'm engaged in a clutter battle and winning. I've been inspired by www.FlyLady.net. I have started asking myself "is there anything here I would rather not have?" and I am amused by how often I give an emphatic "YES!"

This past weekend Aaron and I went through our nightstands and I cleared off my dresser. I had a too small jewelry box from childhood that caused more harm than good to be brief. I had been wanting to make something to display my jewelry neatly and finally just did it. You gotta love functional art. :)



One day I tore through a box of old school notebooks. I only saved about 4 things, releasing this stack of papers to be recycled. That felt so good!

Love

Yesterday I heard a sermon that answers a question I have been pondering.
Our church is going through a series titled "The Mark of a Christian". I was getting stuck on the following verse: 1 John 4: 7-8 "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

I know people that have not been born of God and do not know God, yet they love (at least they would say they do and I think they do).

The trouble is that English only has one word for love where Greek has 4. They are Storge (affection), Eros (attraction), Phileo (companionship), and Agape (self-sacrificing). Basically, the first three, Storge, Eros, and Phileo, are natural loves (everyone can experience these) and Agape is a supernatural love. Agape is the kind of love God demonstrated for us when Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins. That is the kind of love we cannot know apart from knowing God. God is love.

My trusty New Testament Expositor's Bible Commnetary put it this way: "Moreover, God's love for us defines what true love requires- the commitment to sacrifice one's most beloved possession for another's gain."

Before, thinking "How can I show love to this person?" or "How can I love this person"? could easily lead to things that would please that person or make me feel good.

Now it is "What sacrifice can I make (that honors God) for this person?" No surprise, the answers have often had to do with my time and treasures.

Triathlon Training

I recently decided to enter a mini triathlon at one of our Wichita YMCAs. This is something that I have always wanted to do, but never seriously considered. Better now than never. Aaron quickly caught the bug and we are both training. He has chosen Dec. 5th and I had planned to do it in the spring, but may change my mind to do it earlier. The air is thick with a competitive spirit around the Timmons' household. My strength is swimming and my weakness running. Aaron's weakness is swimming and his strength is running. My advantage is that the swim is 500 yds and the run is only 2 miles. Aaron's advantage is that he is overall in better shape. We'll keep you posted!

Sarah's Personal Mission Statement

As my 30th birthday approaches, I have been increasingly aware of the facts that I am getting older and time is short. Last weekend I took some time to develop a personal mission statement. I realized that the process of just thinking through my values and what I want to do with my life was more valuable than the words I used to express it.

Sarah’s Personal Mission Statement

I will love the Lord with all my heart, soul mind and strength and love others as myself. I will pursue wisdom, excellence, discipline, and beauty in all that I do. I will honor my husband, nurture my children, and take care of myself. I will be a faithful steward of my time, talents, and treasures as I manage my home, pursue healthy relationships, and serve my community.

Protecting the Gift: Babysitting

I've been reading an excellent book "Protecting the gift: Keeping children and teenagers safe (and parents sane)" by Gavin De Becker. So far, it has addressed issues such as the importance of trusting our intuition, teaching our children how to talk to strangers, selecting babysitters, and signals to recognize when someone is trying to manipulate or control before their intentions are obvious.

The timing of my reading coincided with our decision to find a babysitter who could regularly watch our kids while we had dates. I took this opportunity to ask for names and yesterday conducted my first interview. It was a bit awkward and at times I felt like I was making a bigger deal of hiring a sitter than necessary. However, I think it communicated to her than this job is a significant responsibility and it gave me the opportunity to screen for any red flags before I had entrusted my most precious stewardship. I had her fill out an application before hand and she seemed excited to have her first "real" interview. It was a good experience for both of us.

Beginning Money Management

Mary (3.5 yrs) recieved her first allowance this weekend. I felt she was ready to begin learning how to manage money because:
1. she wanted to buy things
2. she wanted to give an offering at church

We decided to give her $.75/week.
She put a quarter in each of three tins (giving, saving, and spending).
This allowance is not tied to her chores.

She took the money out of her giving can to church today and I'll invite her to bring her $.25 in spendinging when we go to the store this week. She has been wanting to buy a gumball at Dillons. For savings, I gave her the choice of saving for a purse or a pair of shoes. She chose a purse. We found a cute blue one at the DAV for $1.50. I took a photo of it and cut it into 6 puzzle pieces. When she put her quarter in savings, I gave her one puzzle piece to put up. This will give her a visual way to see her savings grow toward her goal.

I found a lot of useful ideas about how to get started at Crown Financial Ministries. I especially recommend:
Giving Children an Allowance
Children and Finances Part 1 and Children and Finances Part 2

Clarise is officially a Wildcat!

Saturday the 21st, we took Clarise up to Manhattan to move into her dorm. Thanks to the Cryer Family for letting us borrow their van! We needed every inch for all her things and the whole gang.




This picture was taken before I lost my composure. When it was time to say goodbye, it seemed so weird to just leave her. There was another lady in the hall nearby when I said something to the effect that I was about to cry. She said "She's not even my kid, gesturing into another room, and I'm going to cry." I thought to myself, "They never are (ours)." Even my biological kids are not my own. She is 18 and entering a new season of life, this is a time for transition. Fly little bird!

Photography Class Week 4 (2 of 2)

Here are some more photos meant to inspire!


follow the subject, then snap the picture while panning.


Hold your camera right above the water and you get this smooth glassy effect.


Reflections can add interest. This is of Exploration Place.


Using a tripod, at a slow shutter speed, zoom during the exposure.

Photography Class Week 4 (1 of 2)

For our last class, we went down by exporation place and the Keeper of the Plains. Perhaps this will inspire new approaches to ordinary photos.


Get low and shoot the subject behind tall grass.


Use something in nature to frame the subject.


Lighting is everything. This is right after sunset.


They light fires at 9pm. Reflections can add interest.

A weekend of Milestones!

Clarise got her driver's license on Friday!


Josiah learned to army crawl on Saturday!


Mary said her books of the Bible today in Super Church!

Spontaneous Photoshoot cont.

More shots from the fun photoshoot with our friends!

Spontaneous Photoshoot

Some of our friends recently indulged me in a spontaneous photoshoot. They were awesome and we had a lot of fun!

Our Wedding Video after 7 years!

We watched our wedding video tonight and I thought I'd share some highlights and observations, but first a huge thanks to Nate Bethell, our videographer and friend for his job well done!

1. The shirt Aaron wore to the rehearsal is still one of his "nice" work shirts.
2. Ben's hair was groomed, Carmen's was long, and Aaron's was...
3. Katie looked the same age as as Mary is now.
4. I didn't steam my wedding gown...oops!
5. Patrick Largen, Emily (Marvine) Engle, and Lindsay (Walter) Hendricks did a fantastic job with the music! We are so grateful!
6. I wore the pearl necklace Carmen gave me at her wedding.
7. Chuckles broke out when I put my tissue in Aaron's jacket pocket during the ceremony.
8. More chuckles when I bashfully hid in a hug after Aaron's double dip kiss.
9. At the reception we were figuring out how to feed each other cake without getting tangled up and I exclaimed "I've never done this before!"
10. Ron said some great stuff on the reception video, then left us with a famous word from Ron "You have to eat big to get big."
11. After the reception, Ben so thoughtfully had a Marvin Gay hit ready in the SUV so that everyone was reminded of events to come.
12. The rehearsal was fun to watch to see how young we looked, and acted! The wedding was fun to be reminded of the sacred commitment we made despite our youth, and the reception was fun because of my dad's tear jerking speech and everyone's advice and well-wishes!

Zoo photos set 1

This week's assignment was to do landscapes and it didn't get done, however I did get a chance to take some photos at the zoo.


meerkat mischief


Something seems humbling about watching this guy lap water from a puddle.


All the beautiful and amazing creatures of the zoo can't compare with these children whom I love so dearly.

Zoo photos set 2

This one is for you, Nancy!


This hippo came right up to me and started smiling. :) This one is for Carey!


Moments earlier, she ran up to the glass between us with a growl up on her two hind feet with the front paws on the glass. She sent one little girl into tears and gave Mary a whole new set of "why" questions. I was bummed to miss the shot, but it was a cool moment.

Photography Class Week 3

Here are three photos from last Monday's class.


A quick breath of warm air on my lens made an easy filter on this shot.




These were taken with a shutter speed of 15 sec., f-stop of 8, ISO 400 in a completely dark room. My instructor walked behind the subject shining a flashlight around and toward him.