Joy and Fun in the Heart of Winter

 Above, shining weirdly in the eerie green light, is the only snow I've seen in Blacksburg this winter. I am coping with this about as might be expected.

We're trying to keep our spirits up as best we can in the SW Virginia version of the polar vortex.

Improvised boats and rides therein, for example. 

We enjoyed a visit with our friends in the country (25 minutes away but still!):

And we are so glad to be back in church. We just love being there; it is really a second home.

Toddler mates.

Thanks for my new dress, Grandma!

Amos, another nursery star. 

There isn't always room for Mr. Cool in the baby room. 

Miles & Baden can conquer the world! Or at least Children's Chapel.

Back home, where the Wild Things are.  

I don't want to give too much away, but let's just say I just got a letter that was VERY MUCH to my taste:

 It contains an invitation to something which will happen this summer and which has given me an inestimable amount of joy to anticipate. Come on, summer!

Alas, January remains, bleak, cold, and still, snowless. Ouch.

Preschool was cancelled simply due to cold yesterday. Today, there was a delayed opening, so Jon and Miles killed time with a walk at the duck pond.

 This is about as much ice as I can remember seeing on the Duck Pond.

Winter wisdom: keep swimming, keep breathing, keep moving so you don't freeze in place.

Once the Fahrenheit rises into the 20s, I can start to love winter again, and can appreciate its wisdom. All things must rest, sleep, even die, but that does not mean they should be considered as lost.

Besides, we know birdsong by its absence, sunshine by darkness, and the value of the blood in our limbs by the freezing quality in the air in winter.

Marilynne Robinson agrees with me:

"To crave and to have are as like as a thing and its shadow. For when does a berry break upon the tongue as sweetly as when one longs to taste it, and when is the taste refracted into so many hues and savors of ripeness and earth, and when do our senses know any thing so utterly as when we lack it? And here again is a foreshadowing -- the world will be made whole."

-From Housekeeping

Roanoke, VA, on the last day of the year.

With a few days of vacation still to go when we returned from Maryland, it was my thought at first only to rest and clean and prepare to go back to work. But I found myself in only a couple of days more rested and generally caught up than I've been in months (I remember fondly what that felt like, now I'm back at work). So when I came across a Free Admittance For One Child ticket to the VA Museum of Transportation, we decided to be intrepid and drive up to Bustling Roanoke.

Unfortunately, we hit an unexpected obstacle. A beloved volunteer at the museum had just died, and all employees wanted to attend the funeral. So the museum was closing at 12:00 that day. Since we'd arrived at 11:40 that day, it seemed wise to find another occupation.

Fortunately, Roanoke's just finished this lovely new Center in the Square building, which is really a cultural triumph for a city of just under 100,000 people.

The new science museum is on the 4th floor of the CITS building. It is just what a little-city science museum should be: simple, attractive, hands-on, and cheap!

At this Living River you could pick up and handle sea urchins, sea stars, and horseshoe crabs.

There were loads of aquariums, which always cheer me up.

I actually love the reflections in this picture. 

There was this whole horrifying exhibit about parasites... very clever, very fun, and terrifying! Carrot Top was the ringmaster in this circus of fear.

I preferred the physics section, with exhibits about sound, noble gases, light, and electricity.

They loved being struck by blue lightening. 

But the dinosaur probably saw the most of the kids. Once they were good and convinced that it was plastic and unable to pursue them, they grew impressively bold with it. They'd charge up and roar at it, and just laugh and laugh when it roared back (has a motion sensor).

In the "Children's Curiosity Corner" where we lingered for a good hour:

Adele climbed up here herself and sat down to read. If only I had a shot of her reading to Spot, her beloved stuffed companion. That's one of my favorite recent developments.

In one corner, you could do what you liked with a HUGE pile of cool wooden blocks. We all tried our hand at engineering.

I think Jon won, though. 

In another corner, you could dig up dino bones like a real archaeologist.

Probably one of my top favorite things about this museum was the view it afforded of DT Roanoke and the surrounding mountains. Good place to gaze thoughtfully.

Here's looking at you, 2014. 

I have many reasons to think that 2014 is going to be an improvement over 2013. Jon is (hopefully) going to see some important milestones in his academic work, I have some resolutions that excite me, and *just* got an invitation for an event in the summer that took my breath away (more on that last later). Also, let's face it, 2013 had a 13 in it. It caused mild pain to write it all year! 2014 is just shinier and prettier and more angular.

My oneword for 2013 was "See." I wanted to notice more what was actually around me, both as an anxiety-fighting measure and to promote prayer and an attitude of wonder & praise. I have seen improvement in this area. Resuming daily yoga in September has done a lot to root me back in my body and physical surroundings, too. As I continue to battle anxiety, I have decided I need a subtle adjustment in attitude. I often fall prone to scarcity thinking. I think, I'll just have this meager little life and hopefully fly under the radar of Big Scary Forces in the world. I think my energy and abilities so limited, and assume I don't have the energy or time or money for this or that activity which might really bring great joy. I'm trying to wean myself from this mentality, fearing that if it continues, I'll one day be too meek to inherit the earth.

Because I am rejecting this scarcity mindset, I'd originally been planning to use "abundant" as my 2014 one word. But it just didn't give me the tingle. It wasn't simple enough, I think. So I'm going to fix upon "Alive." I want to do things that mean I'm courageously living life, things that give life, and things that allow me to experience more of it. I want to rise to the surface of my skin and meet other people in the world. As Anne LaMott observes in her lovely new book Stitches, "It is most comfortable to be invisible, to observe life from a distance, to be at one with our own intoxicating superior thoughts. But comfort and isolation are not where the surprises are. They are not where hope is." (Thanks for the book, Dad!)

So I have either set the bar very low or very high: in 2014, I will be Alive.

Days of Christmas

 The days since Christmas have been filled with rest and family time, two things we really, really needed. I have finally been able to experience again the almost totally novel sensation of having adequate sleep. I had forgotten how many more spiritual and emotional as well as physical resources one has when one is rested! I'm hoping, no, resolving to live as much of 2014 in that state as possible. It's been amazing.

On Saint Stephen's Day, we spent several hours at the National Zoo with our old friends, the Browns.

We found out that we could get a much reduced parking fee if our trip concluded during Zoo Lights hours.

Unfortunately, our kids have needs that meant we really couldn't stay much past sunset to see the spectacle of the lights in true darkness.

Namely, they need to eat regular meals and keep their napping and sleeping hours likewise regular.

Still, we got to take in a lot!

David, the Browns' 3 year old son, enjoyed himself, we think. 

 Welcome to our new camera, where even animals far away or in dim lighting can be photographed!

Miles hears the lions roar and imitates them gleefully. 

This camera makes me so happy!

We got a meal with our friends, then went our separate ways. The kids got to enjoy more cuddletime with their grandparents:

There was even time while in Annapolis for a walk and a visit to the playground. We put the fresh air to good use!

On Saturday,we packed up the car and were off again. It was a smooth and uneventful trip south with these two good attitudes:

Adele was SO happy to be back in her crib:

Coming home on December 29 meant we had several more days of vacation to enjoy at home! We got some cleaning and other projects done around the house, and the kids enjoyed their Christmas gifts....

Meet "Kyrie Gale" (Miles got the names from our book of baby names) and "Baby Doll" (Adele's still in a pretty literal stage of toy naming). These dolls, made by Ikea, were among the Christmas gifts. If you know our kids, you'll not be surprised to learn that Kyrie Gale is treasured, changed, bathed, and carefully dressed, and Baby Doll spends most of her time in a corner of Adele's room (she prefers her huge menagerie of stuffed animals). For pity, I have dressed Baby Doll and put a blanket on her. I know it's bizarre, but the poor doll is so cold! Anyway. we'll see how these relationships develop over time.

There was even opportunity for a little outing on New Year's Eve Day. We went to Roanoke & visited a brand new museum in the new Center in the Square. Pictures to follow!