under construction

I did this thing where I thought I could work on some blog layout.  Then I lived out my reality:  I have 3 kids and I'm not an experienced blogger.  Therefore, I need lots of time to rearrange my blog.  I'll get to it.  :)  Soon.

Faves

A small list of things that I'm appreciating these days:

• music:  Mumford & Sons, Lumineers, All Sons & Daughters, Fun., George Winston, Diana Krall & Hank Jones on Pandora, Astrud Gilberto on Pandora.  This is quite the range from new to old-time jazz, to instrumental I heard throughout my childhood.  
• books:  John.  The past 2 years our church body has read through the book of John.  My servant-hearted husband has poured hundreds if not thousands of hours into sermon prep to share Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and re-appearance with our church goers.  This book has greatly shaped my understanding of Jesus.  The summary sermon Jason preached this past weekend was outstanding by the Lord's doing only.  (Jason gets nervous when complimented.  He's funny like that.)  I'll post the link once it's up on our church site.  Another book I'm appreciating is Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh Demoss.  My quad finished this book a few months ago and it challenged me greatly.  I frequently need a swift kick in the pants.  This book kicked with gusto.
• food:  I love me some honey Greek yogurt mixed with Jif peanut butter.  Dip some apple slices into the dip and voila!  New favorite snack.  And then popcorn.  I use our popper 4 to 5 times a week.  Melted, unsalted, full-fat butter, sea salt sprinkled on top, with highly-processed cheese sprinkles are also a fave.  Coconut oil.  I've been using this to cook, saute veggies, bake bread, and for non-food reasons.  It's a great hair treatment, skin softener, and I'm going to start oil-pulling.  I'll write soon about some of the natural and organic facts that I've been appreciating and implementing at home.  I think this stuff is so neat.  But, back to faves...
• beverages:  do I really need to specify?  I love coffee.  Light roasts in particular because they have far more caffeine than dark roasts.  Plus, dark roasts taste bitter and burnt.  I prefer not to drink something that tastes like cigarettes.  Flavored light roasts are delightful--coconut macaroon from Target, Archer Farms, is currently at the top of the list.
• skin care:  Mary Kay.  Always and forever.
• hygiene:  I'm becoming an earth-lover and anti-chemical chic.  It's more pricey, but research has convinced me that all the chemicals we put on our skin, which soak in, because skin is a living organ, does and will harm us.  So, I've become a fan of sulfate, phthalate, paraben-free products.  (Should I have saved this for my granola-muncher post?)  All the sulfates from my old shampoos were drying me out causing me to be my own winter weather system.  White flakes falling---and it wasn't snow.  This is a weird topic to have on my list of faves.  Moving on, shall we?
• websites:  www.alaskafromscratch.com, whole-foods from scratch.  Skinnytaste.com, Pinterest.com, Etsy.com, Amazon.com.
• my family:  Jesus has given me a beautiful family.  There is no way to express the gratitude and deep appreciation I have for the four other people who live in my house with me.  I'll try to get better at expressing these feelings as I continue blogging.
• first Fridays of the month:  My mom has graciously offered to watch my kids for me on the first Friday of each month so I can have alone time to clean and organize my home as needed.  This is a huge blessing to me!  Today is the first Friday of the month which means I need to get going so I can take advantage of my wonderful mother's sacrificial offer.  I need my mother so much more now that I am a mother.  

Oh, hey. It's been over a year.

It's been over a year since I've posted.  Well over a year.  What got me back to my blog today?  This morning I was talking with Jason and he mentioned that he'd like us to read books together this year.  He had this lofty goal of reading sixty books last year.  He ended up reading twenty.  That's nineteen more than I read.  The only book I read and finished was What to Expect When You're Expecting.  And because anyone reading this probably reads my Facebook status you already know that we added our third child to our family (in March).  Hence the pregnancy book reading and near memorization of said book.  And about our third child, he is awesome; more on that soon.  Back to Jason, he mentioned that reading together would be a great idea and I agreed.  There are four books I'd like to read and have finished by February.  All are relevant and would be helpful to my family and I.  Then I mentioned I'd like to start blogging again.  He supported and said he'd even like to blog again, too.  So while my oldest kiddos played, colored, danced, "imaginationinged", snacked, and fought as my youngest took an unusually long afternoon nap, I tweaked my blog.  And I'm so glad I did.  It's nice to be back.

Life is flying by for me.  All those parents who said, "oh, honey.  Time flies.  Soak up your kiddos and all the time you have with them while you can" were right.  My days go by so fast--so fast that it's usually 1 or 2 before I even have the time to brush my teeth.  I know, gross.  So with life flying by so fast that I can't brush until it's officially post-meridian, I thought life and it's happenings need to be captured via this blog.  A little note about this blog:  I'll be honest about life, my heart, my walk with the Lord, how parenting is going with it's joyous moments and heart-breaking moments, what I'm reading, what is influencing me, even details about the flavored coffee I'm drinking.  I'll share who has inspired me, encouraged me, how Jesus is revealing Himself to me in and through my husband, children, family, and friends.

With all that out there, thanks for reading this.  I'm glad to have friends and family who care about the life of my family.  We have been so deeply blessed.  And as I referenced earlier, we had our third child this past year.  Talk about a blessing!  Jonathan Rock Wing, who we lovingly call Jonny Rock, Jonny Rockerson, Jon Jon, Jonny, punkin', sweetie, sweet baby, etc., is the perfect addition to our Wing clan.  He is 9 months old and he is a joy.  He has his moments of being a total cling-on, a horrible night-sleeper, hard to please, and a very picky eater.  But his two-toothed smile that lights up a room, his white duck-fluff hair that sticks straight up, his cottage cheese-like thighs that are oh-so-squeezable, his mimicking head nods and shakes could melt anyone on contact.  His siblings are over the moon for him, too.  Reagan is 5 and the best big sister this world could as for.  Gideon is almost 4 and he's anxious for Jonny to grow up so he can play trains and Buzz Lightyear with him.  

There are so many blessings to count since my last post.  The birth (VBAC, mind you) of Jonny, my brother and sister in law moving 5 minutes away from us, the addition of their second child, Annie, a 12 week sabbatical for Jason which was only supposed to be 5 weeks (thank you, Lord), Reagan starting pre-school for the second time at Tuesday School, Gideon starting pre-school for his first time at Tuesday School, Ohio Ham Fam reunion this past Summer, Apex Xenia starting up and growing for over a year.  All these blessings didn't come without sadness, however.  My dear Grandpa passed away this past September.  He was a man of honor, integrity, and utmost character.  I miss him.  His passing has been so hard to get over.  But the blessing in Grandpa's passing is my faithful Lord using it to grow me and teach me more about Him and life after death for Christ-followers according to His Word.  

As I finish this long-overdue post, here is the list of the four books I'm anxious to read by the end of February:  One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp; a book about counting blessings in any and all things, Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon; a cookbook that challenges the politically correct view of nutrition, Interior Wisdom by Leah Richardson; an interior-design book that teaches you how to make your home comforting and stylish while challenging the reader to make over their heart for Jesus, and Education at Home by Jean Soyke; a guide to help parents who want to homeschool.  Rest assured these books will impact the way I live and fulfill my duties as wife and mother.  So, stay tuned.