What We Watched Tonight

What We're Listening To...

Courtney found this absolutely brilliant CD: The Annie Moses Band as we were looking for some good Christmas music at the store last night. Check out the video bar in the right column to see a sample video. Click on the first frame.

Books We're Reading

Operation Christmas Child

Paige and I will be joining our Youth Group, Grounded for Life, this Friday to work with Samaritan's Purse to pack Christmas boxes for Operation Christmas Child in Orange County.

Click on this video to see a short clip on what Operation Christmas Child does for children around the world.

We are very excited to be a part of this! What a great way to kick off our Christmas celebration!

Christmas Traditions

We asked the kids this year what they'd like to see happen for Christmas and the consensus was that they'd like to make sure that we do all of our Family Traditions. They were feeling that as they get older, we tend to let the traditions fall by the wayside.

Instead of getting caught up in the commercial side of Christmas this year, we wanted the month of December to be a time where we celebrate home, family, tradition and focus on the Reason for Christmas.

So, we're making a list:

Some traditions we have:

• Reading One Wintry Night by Ruth Bell Graham
• An Advent Calendar that reads through the Bible Story of Jesus' Birth
  
• Having an Advent Wreath on the dining room table - lighting a candle each Sunday along with reading some advent scriptures.
• Putting up a Jesse Tree - Reading a book and scriptures and hanging ornaments that correspond to the story.
• We have the whole family participate in getting all the decorations out of the garage, decorating the house and hanging the outside lights and putting stockings on the fireplace.
• We go to Starbucks for hot coco and coffee and drive around the neighborhoods that have special Christmas decorations and lighting in their yards.
  
• The entire family goes to (at least) 2-3 tree lots to pick out the perfect tree. Strapping it on the roof of the car and driving home to have hot coco and popcorn while we decorate it.
  
• We have a list of favorite movies that we have to watch each December: It's a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, A Christmas Carol, A Muppet Christmas, Charlie Brown Christmas
• We usually try to see the Nutcracker Ballet
• The kids spend at least one night in the living room with the tree lights on all night.
• We make a gingerbread house and let the kids decorate it. Sometimes we do more than one and have team competitions.
  
• We have a traditional Christmas Morning Breakfast served on Great Grandma's China
• Ron and I buy stocking stuffers for the kids and wrap them late on Christmas Eve - listening to Christmas carols in front of the fireplace in our bedroom.

It's alway hard to make the transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas, I can't believe a week of December has already flown by! I better get in the garage and start digging out the boxes!

Just Finished Reading...

Just finished reading another George Eliot novel, Silas Marner, and am adding it to my list of favorites. Although the plot is simple, I love her writing style, her beautiful use of language and the insightful character studies.

Zach and Andrea

Courtney took some pictures of Zach and Andrea in Old Town Pasadena for her photography class- here are a couple. More to come...

Our Annual Thanksgiving Hike

Thanksgiving

We've been having a great time this week preparing for Thanksgiving. We're having an extra special holiday this year as Andrea and her parents, Jonathan and Mary, will be joining us. We've got a lot of fun planned for the weekend: our Annual Thanksgiving Morning Hike in Millard's Canyon, Golfing for the guys, A quaint Tea House for the girls, Dinner in Sierra Madre, A Trip to the Observatory in Griffith Park and a Family Game Night. We'll do our best to post pictures this week of all our activities. We are looking forward to a great time with the Lambros Family.

One of the things we did this year was to make a Grateful Garland: we cut out leaf shapes and wrote out scriptures, quotes and things we were grateful for on them. We're having trouble uploading photos today, so we'll post them later.

Quotes:

O Lord that lends me life, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!
William Shakespeare

If I have enjoyed the hospitality of the Host of this universe, Who daily spreads a table in my sight, surely I cannot do less than acknowledge my dependence.
G. A. Johnston Ross

Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.
Henry Ward Beecher

Thanksgiving Day Prayer
Heavenly Father, on Thanksgiving Day
We bow our hearts to You and pray.
We give You thanks for all You've done
Especially for the gift of Jesus, Your Son.
For beauty in nature, Your glory we see
For joy and health, friends and family,
For daily provision, Your mercy and care
These are the blessings You graciously share.
So today we offer this response of praise
With a promise to follow You all of our days.

--Mary Fairchild

Zach's Home!

After a 5 week filming job in Virginia and a week layover in Phoenix to visit Andrea and attend a friend's wedding, Zach is finally back home. On Monday, we celebrated having the whole family back together by piling in the car and heading to the famous Lucky Boys for Breakfast Burritos.

Everyone is so happy to have Zach home. It's been great catching up on everything that's happened over the last 6 weeks and talking through the next few months as he prepares for his FAA interview and medical/psych exams at the end of January.

Fire Season

Along with the extremely hot week we just had, accompanied by low humidity and high winds, fire season came with a vengeance. In the past few days, we've seen fires springing up all around us - from Santa Barbara to Sylmar to Diamond Bar to Yorba Linda. This morning we woke up to grey, smoky skies and the pungent smell of ash in the air. Our eyes are stinging and it's difficult to be outside. There are fires about 30 miles from us, one to the north and one to the east of us and we are getting the smoke and ash from both fires.

One thing that stands out to me about living in Southern California: when we face crises, like earthquakes, or fires, the whole atmosphere changes. People are compassionate, caring, helping one another and taking time to show concern for each other. The outpouring of help - by the red cross, community organizations and churches is amazing.

Another thing that happens: people change their conversation to what really matters in life. No longer is the pursuit of possessions, fame, and wealth the theme - but now it's replaced with gratefulness for family, health, friendship, community and LIFE. It's as if the fires purge away superficiality and leaves something valuable in its wake.

While we are very grateful that we are not in the fire zone, our hearts go out to our neighbors all around us who are losing their homes and being displaced. It is very sobering to see how quickly one can lose everything. And it's a good reminder to make sure that we are investing in what is truly lasting.

Life With Tilney

We decided to name our puppy Tilney: it's from Jane Austen's Northanger Abby. We had to have a name that reflected our family (of four girls who love Jane Austen). The more commonly known names: Darcy, Knightly, Col. Brandon didn't seem to fit. We like the name Willoughby but he was a scoundrel. Everyone liked the character of Henry Tilney in the recent BBC version of Northanger Abby, so that name won the chance to be put in the mix. Zach gave a valiant effort to name the puppy Jack (after Jack Bauer in the TV series, 24) - so we did give him a fair chance and flipped a coin. Tilney won.

The first week we brought Tilney home was a BIG adjustment. It's very much like having a new baby in the house! I only got about 5 hours sleep the first two nights combined. We all took turns sleeping with him in the living room - we were on the couch, he was in his crate. The third night he slept through the night and now we are actually on a schedule- and in our own beds! Our lives have been revolving around his body functions: eating, peeing and pooping. It's bringing back a lot of memories...

We've been spending alot of time doing research and learning everything we can about having a dog: watching videos from Cesar Millan, and reading books about puppy training, and getting good advice from my brother and sister who are veteran dog owners.

All things considered, everyone is in love with this little pooch and it's fun having him around.

Election Day: VOTE!

Al Mohler: A Prayer for America on Election Day

Our New Dog

Here's the newest member of the Boomsma Family.

Our girls have been working hard, babysitting and doing odd jobs, saving their money, and putting dollars and change aside in our "Dog Jar" for several months. Now, all their hard work and all our research in finding a good deal has paid off. (Although, they are still basically my slaves until the end of the year - working to pay off the balance of their portion!) The part that we donated toward the dog is our Christmas present to them.

We just bought this puppy this morning and it will be shipped to us on Friday. Everyone is excited. Now, the big question on the table is: What shall we name him?

My New Favorite Author

I'm on a George Eliot kick right now. Just watched the mini-series Middlemarch and while browsing in a bookstore last week, I found another novel of hers: Adam Bede and just finished it this weekend. It's been so long since I've read a really good novel. This one was written in the mid 1800's but the story takes place in a small country village in England around 1799.


While I was browsing through Adam Bede in the bookstore, a paragraph caught my eye and influenced me to buy it. The author was explaining how she liked the Dutch painters who celebrated the working class and painted beautiful domestic scenes of their everyday life. Ron and I love Dutch paintings for that very reason and it's our favorite exhibit when we visit the National Gallery of Art in DC.

George Eliot, did the same with her novel, Adam Bede. She painted with prose a celebration of the lives and thoughts and motivations of simple, country people. It was a real treat to read - hard to put down and too soon finished.

Autumn Finally Arrives!

Last night the cooler weather finally arrived. It was so cold that we slept under piles of blankets. It's always a game to see how long we can go without turning on the furnace. This morning we all donned sweaters and slippers before breakfast. In keeping with our fall theme, Courtney bought some small pumpkins for the girls & had a girls' night carving pumpkins. In case you don't recognize the last picture, it's Paige's sense of humor coming out: "Homestar Runner"

Breaking News!

Zach just got his call from the FAA! He has a job offer here in Southern California at a small airport just 10 miles from Pasadena! His next step will be to set up an interview and prepare to attend the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City. Everyone here is over-the-top excited! YAY!

He is still in Virginia working on a film, so we haven't had a chance to talk in detail with him yet. We just got the call yesterday, so we'll be talking more with him this weekend and will keep you posted as more information comes in.

What We're Studying in School

Lewis and Clark Expedition / Louisiana Purchase


Thomas Jefferson


Marie Antoinette


Napoleon Bonaparte


The French Revolution


The American Constitution


William Wilberforce


William Pitt



William Wordsworth

What We're Doing

Zach is getting ready to leave for a month long job in Virginia. He's been doing freelance jobs working on editing short films, public service and political commercials, making trailers for movies, and now he's on a film doing grip work (lighting). He leaves this week and we won't see him until mid-November. He'll bookend his trip to VA with visits to Phoenix to see Andrea.

Courtney has her plate full with going to school, studying, working part time in the office, and providing childcare for an autistic child one day/evening a week.

She started a "newspaper" for our church, which included: gathering a team of writers (including a professional journalist), passing out assignments, planning stories, managing production, starting a blog where the writers can turn in their pieces and give feedback to each other's work. It's been a great success! We're really proud of her!

Paige is getting used to a high school workload and lots of homework. She continues her interest in Archery and Art. We resume her art lessons with a private tutor this week. She's our resident fashion consultant regularly letting us know what's cool and what's not. We often find her tearing apart old clothes in order to reconstruct them into something more fashionable. She's always working on something whether making jewelry, clothes, costumes, drawing, or baking. It's hard to keep up with her! On a side note: she's hoping she's done growing because she's just under the 5'10" mark.

Taylor and Ashley are growing up. Taylor will be 12 this week and Ashley turns 11 in April. I'm taking Taylor out for an "overnighter" on Thursday for her birthday. We're staying in a friends beach house in Huntington Beach. It's a tradition for us to have a girl's night out when they turn 12. It's been a lot of fun, and each girl looks forward to her turn.

Both Taylor and Ashely are busy with their school work, also getting used to their new schedules and taking classes at our Academy Day. Every Wednesday, we go to the church where we have classes for the kids in our home school group: they are taking general science, Spanish, art, choir, tennis and PE.

Ron and I are taking a few days off this week to celebrate his birthday and our 26th anniversary. That feels weird to write! Can't believe we're old enough to be married for that long!

Breaking news: we are looking to buy a dog. That's huge news! Ron has finally relented and is lifting his 26 year ban on having a pet. The kids and I have been scouring the internet looking for dogs. The girls are busily working and saving their money to put in our Dog Fund. A lot of the pet stores here aren't carrying dogs, so we have to look for breeders on line. We are considering Shorkies, Morkies or Yorkshire Terriers. The mid-west breeders have better prices so we're looking there.
More details to come...

Tami's Day Off

The Academy is launched, the Wednesday Classes are up and running, we've established a good daily routine at home to get the schooling done - now it's time for me to take a day off! I've been working overtime to get everything in motion, so it will hopefully save me time and effort throughout the year. It's tempting to not take this time away - it's never convenient- but I'm determined to make it a priority to use these times to prevent burn-out and to be proactive in dealing with stress.

So tomorrow will find me first at the gym, then sitting in a coffee shop reading, and later, walking on the beach or in the mountains - soaking up silence and sun.

"All the troubles of life come upon us because we refuse to sit quietly for a while each day in our rooms." ~Pascal, Blaise


"In the rush and noise of life, as you have intervals, step home within yourselves and be still. Wait upon God, and feel His good presence; this will carry you evenly through your day's business." ~Penn, William

* Photo: by Courtney.
Taken on a hike, it's actually the sky reflected in a pool of water.

The School Year Starts!

We've just finished our first two weeks of the new school year. Last week, we held parent and student orientations for our homeschool group: Sovereign Grace Academy and launched our "Academy Day" - a full day of classes that meet on campus once a week. The moms pool together to teach different classes and we hire teachers for special subjects that we can't cover. We are fortunate to have several former teachers, science majors and a nurse in our group - so we have a wealth of talent to draw on for our science classes.

We have three age groups: lower elementary, upper elementary and jr. high. (Most of our high schoolers take classes for free at our Community College just down the street and get a head start on their college credits.)

This semester we are offering classes in biology, Spanish, composition, physical science, general science, art, pe, tennis, choir and science co-ops. We met for the first time last Wednesday and had a great day together.

What I'm Thinking About Today...

Found this on a blog: Micellanies

Walking by faith maketh a man comfortable and confident; a believer is encouraged in all his duty, emboldened in his conflicts, comforted in all his sufferings. The quieting or emboldening of the soul is the great work of faith, or trust in God’s fidelity.

A promise to him is more than all the visible things on earth, or sensible objects in the world; it can do more with him to make him forsake all earthly pleasures, possessions, and hopes : Ps. 56:4, ‘In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me;’ so Paul: Acts 20:24, ‘But none of those things move me, neither count I my life dear unto me, so I may fulfill my course with joy. Save the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me’—did wait for him everywhere. I make no reckoning of these things.

It maketh us constant. Have ye fixed upon these hopes with so great deliberation, and will you drawback, and slack in the prosecution of them? Have you gone so far in the way to heaven, and do you begin to look behind you, as if you were about to change your mind, Heb. 10:39. The apostle saith, Phil. 3:13, ‘I forget the things which are behind, reaching forth unto the things which are before.’ The world and the flesh are things behind us; we turned our backs upon them when we first looked after heavenly things.

by Thomas Manton (1620-1677)

Last Day of Vacation: Hike at Millard's Canyon