eleven eleven twenty ten

-yesterday was a holiday in belgium. we still worked, hoping to build up some overtime for a weekend away.
-the sun made a debut yesterday morning-i practically skipped to the shower i was so glad to see him.
-had a colleague down from sweden yesterday and i noticed that my soul delighted in hosting dinner for her. can't wait to have guests again.
-while making dinner yesterday i was feeling the big sweatshirt vibe, but had none, so i put on the shirt devin wore when he first said "i love you."
-yesterday i became an aunt again. joshua glazier. oh boy, 5000 miles has never seemed so far.
-couldn't fall asleep last night because my mind can't keep up with my dreams.
-bon voyage. we're off to ghent for the weekend.

food market in antwerp

everyone dancing merrily, in the new old fashioned way.

christmas is here in belgium, has been for about three weeks... we're playing bing crosby, celine, and manhiem, using this holiday budget, getting a creative with our juletide decor, and hunting down the perfect gifts at every flea market stop. less than 7 weeks left folks! 

i am loving festive plaid. makes me wanna go thrift old christmas pajamas and sew something.

all pictures taken at sissy-boy. our favorite dutch store. beware if you click on the link-good tunes will play.

our christmas giving goal:

"We all enjoy giving and receiving presents. But there is a difference between presents and gifts. The true gifts may be part of ourselves--giving of the riches of the heart and mind--and therefore more enduring and of far greater worth than presents bought at the store."

James E. Faust, "A Christmas with No Presents," Ensign, Dec. 2001, 4

stads park, antwerp

fall in forresty belgium...a perfect way to spend a saturday. it's funny that after a day in antwerp, in the city, in shops, in the consumerism mode, in the huge crowds, doing what is IN... it's funny that after all that, looking back and realizing that the best part of the day was spent in the city park, amid leaves and geese and bunnies, not clothes and advertising and money spending...

i forget that more than i wish i did.

oh and do you get the LDS gems? They send daily, youth, family, and church history gems to my inbox throughout the week. Short thoughts from God's most recent words, spoken through his living prophets, to help me not go veering off in all sorts of directions. a much needed thing for me. enjoy this recent favortite, and subscribe. it's not your typical junk mail. actually, i actually love opening them.

“It is not easy to give up our personal priorities and desires. . . . [But] ‘he who lives only unto himself withers and dies, while he who forgets himself in the service of others grows and blossoms in this life and in eternity’ (Gordon B. Hinckley, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley [1997], 588).

“A familiar example of losing ourselves in the service of others—this one not unique to Latter-day Saints—is the sacrifice parents make for their children. Mothers suffer pain and loss of personal priorities and comforts to bear and rear each child. Fathers adjust their lives and priorities to support a family. The gap between those who are and those who are not willing to do this is widening in today’s world. . . .

“We rejoice that so many Latter-day Saint couples are among that unselfish group who are willing to surrender their personal priorities and serve the Lord by bearing and rearing the children our Heavenly Father sends to their care. We also rejoice in those who care for disabled family members and aged parents. None of this service asks, what’s in it for me? All of it requires setting aside personal convenience for unselfish service. All of it stands in contrast to the fame, fortune, and other immediate gratification that are the worldly ways of so many in our day.”

take home chronicles: candles

over the weekend we ate dinner with some friends at their new place--the belgian way: by candlelight. every home we've gone to late at night here always has the lights off, and the candles melting. saves electricity, creates the best feng shui in town, and is green

we went to ikea stalked up, and burned away. it's a great motivator to go to bed earlier, if you can't do something by candlelight, you should wait until morning. we starting playing with the melting wax, like little tots, when we got the idea to make dice. our first game here: a free and homemade round of farkle or greed or whatever you call it.