final exam

The past six months, I've been learning a lot about patience, trust, and learning to be thankful when I don't want to be.
I felt like I'd actually passed the test in those lessons...only to be hit in the face with the final exam!

(Translation: the house is almost pending now. We've passed inspection, the assessor has come through, and we're just waiting on the deposit check to make that formal step. So now we're looking for our new house, and it's a stressful lesson all over again. Everything I've been learning, in a more intense morsel. Okay, I say I trust the Lord to provide. But all the houses we fall in love with go under contract before we get in there. I trust Him to work out the timing, but we need a place to live when we close on this one. We just got a foot of snow, and the realization that we could be trudging through snow when we load up the truck makes me twitch. Do I really trust God, or do I just think I trust Him?)

(photo taken on my iPod Touch)

I'm avoiding giving people links to houses we're looking at, or too much information about locations or hopes, because the houses we like are FLYING off the market. By the time someone reads what I've written it's already obsolete. So if you wonder why I'm not posting on Facebook very often, or responding to emails in a timely manner, that's why. You'll hear me shouting from the rooftops when we have everything ironed down, but until then I'm going to keep on the quiet side and continue to pray that I make it through this final exam so I can move on to a new stage of life :) 

Hudson.

My kids crack me up.

The conversation that came with this:

Hudson: "Mommy, what are you making?"
Me: "a hat."
Hudson: "it's too small. it must be for David." (his 9-month-old cousin)
Me: "um..."




Bekah: "what's the difference between little and young?"
Me: "you can be little and not be young. Have you heard the phrase, 'a little old lady?'"
Jasmine: "like me. I'm little and old!"
Me: "um, no, Jasmine, you're not old."
Jasmine: "But you are!"
Me: "uh..."
Bekah: "You're a big, old mommy."

Merry Christmas

I've gotten some complaints about this plan, but I'd like to explain a little more.

This year I'm not sending out Christmas cards. I know. I know. I know.
But I'm so stressed. Trying to keep this house ready for showings is really wearing on me. I'm surviving, but when I try to add anything to my life I start running, screaming through the house.

I'm going to be sending out "we moved!" announcements when that happens, and you'll have CharlaArts-quality photos in that announcement that you can put on your fridge and smile about. But the Christmas card I made over a month ago isn't getting printed and addressed.

So now, without further ado, here is the 2012 Virkler Family Christmas Card.

(linked to the template to make Christmas cards like this ;) )

A little vent

I'm not aiming at anyone in particular in this post, so please don't think I'm pointing fingers at you.
I have a fancy camera. I love buying more stuff for it. Each time I buy something, it lets me do something I couldn't do before. Without my expensive, heavy camera, I would be very (very) limited.
But I don't take good pictures because I have a camera.

Case in point:

This is the third or fourth year we went to see Santa at the cute caboose nearby. It's free, it's not the mall, and the caboose is fun to see. 

I've always brought my big camera with me. But two years ago it was bitter cold and it was when I started having issues with that camera. So between that, and the fact that this is the same picture I've taken every year, I decided to be a rebel and use my cell phone, and to leave it to Santa's "elf" who got the top picture.

She took two pictures. The first one was blurry.

The one you're looking at was the second one she took.

I should add that she has a camera as fancy as(actually I think it's almost identical to) mine.

I also got one with my cell phone. A really not-good camera. I didn't bring the iPad with a decent one as far as "cell phone" cameras go. 

This is what I got:

(ignore the fact that they're not looking at me. You can tell it was taken the same moment as the elf's picture).

It's not the camera. I need the camera, but more importantly, it's the hours and hours and hours I've spent, learning my camera, learning how to see the light, studying and practicing and studying some more.

I know I have more to learn. I know what I want to learn more about. And yes, I do want more gear. But it's not the camera. It's what I've learned to do with it.

I will now get off my soapbox. Thanks for listening.

Because I'm a rebel...

It's December, so that means it's the perfect time to write a thankfulness list.

Actually, this whole year has been a lesson in learning to be thankful. It turns the worst days into at least reasonable days, if not actually pleasant ones.
So today, I'm thankful for:

~The kids' friend Olivia, who told her mom "I love Ms. Charla" this morning when she was told she was coming over.
~Olivia's mom, who made incredible banana bread for us
~Mondays. Seriously. I love Mondays. I'm always so excited to get a ton accomplished, and it feels SO good to see all the progress I'm getting done.
~Blogging when I have other things to do. Yes, I'm procrastinating, but I'm doing something good, so it can't be actual procrastinating, can it??
~Christmas lights.

And photogenic kids ;)

~Friends and family who will understand if I do what I'm planning to do this year...which is to send digital Christmas cards this year. I hope you won't mind. 

Happy Monday!