artsy fartsy

Now that we're mostly settled in to our new place, I'm back to making cards, and I've even started a scrapbook of our summer trip! I just finished making a birthday card for a very dear friend of mine. I think it may be the nicest card I've ever made, aside from my card-making classes, so I decided to take a picture. I wanted to record it not only to share with my crafty friends, but also to remember how I did it!

For some reason the "add image" feature isn't working so here is a link to the pic on Facebook.

http://www.new.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=827363&id=618796876

Getting over the Flu

Superbowl Sunday 2008 - the Mellen household was very excited, because the Patriots were not only in the Superbowl, they were going for a perfect season! We had a nice party with some neighbor families - a casual potluck kind of affair, with kids running around everywhere and more food than we could possibly eat.

Then the unthinkable happened - the undefeated Patriots LOST the Superbowl! We were more stunned than anything - the heart and soul of our sports world revolves around the Red Sox, not the Patriots... still, we HAD expected a New England win.

The next day, we woke up sick. All 3 of us. Sore, scratchy throats, throbbing, congested sinuses, body aches, coughing, sneezing - a real Nyquil kind of cold. Rob went to the store for Alka Seltzer and baby Tylenol & Ibuprofen. This cold is hanging on... I saw on the news last night that the Flu is striking late and hard, and Idaho is one of the 31 states where it's been reported. We don't actually live in Idaho, but we're pretty close to the border, and I go to school there. Well, not this week - I thought it best to spare my classmates from the possibility of contracting this nasty bug.

It's been almost a week since the Superbowl, and we're still not 100% better - although we are coming out of it - enough that we're planning to attend the local Caucus this afternoon.

Here's hoping that you & yours manage to avoid the Flu this year. As for the Giants, congrats... I didn't think you had it in you.

First step!

She did it! She took a step! Last night, I had been home from school for about 15 minutes. Rob, Grace, and I were hanging out in our room - Rob and I were talking about our day, and Grace was playing with a toy. She was standing at the bed, hanging on - when she let go - no big deal, she'd done that before - but then, she took a step, without holding on to anything!!! We waited to see if she would take more, but then she seemed to realize what she had done, and quickly grabbed the edge of the bed again. Since then, we have tried many times to encourage her to take another independent step, but she is reluctant to let go of the security of having something to hold on to.

We will keep encouraging her, but we won't try to push her before she's ready. We don't want to scare her away from the incredible world of the bipeds. She will walk when she is ready. For now, it's enough that she took that first step, and that Rob and I were both there to see it as it happened. What a magical moment!

~ Kate :)

Happy New Year!

Hi All,

Since I haven't blogged in over a month, I've probably lost most of the few readers that I had, but here goes... in case anyone is still paying attention...

We had a wonderful Christmas season. We went to Portland, OR a week or so before Christmas for a few days to get some shopping done, to see my uncle & cousin, and to get away from our tiny little town. While we were there, we got some professional pictures of Grace taken...








We are very happy with how well they came out, but we suffered from a bit of sticker shock. We won't go to Sears again - we learned the hard way!

When we got home, we STAYED home, at my insistence, for Christmas this year. It was just us for Christmas dinner... I made a yummy homemade 4-cheese pasta dish that Rob had been wanting me to make for quite some time. He said it was almost exactly like his favorite pasta dish that he used to get in Sacramento before the restaurant closed. Grace loved it as well, since she adores pasta and cheese.

We had a small, casual, fun gathering at our house for New Year's Eve. Since almost everyone in attendance had small children, and no one was staying until midnight, we did a champagne toast at 8pm (Pacific Time).

Now another semester has started - I am taking Advanced Financial Accounting and an upper-division Business Law class. Rob just discovered that he may not need the Monday night class he's signed up for... he has to meet with his advisor to figure it out though. It would be great if he could drop it, because if he does take it, he's gone from 7am until after 9pm on Mondays...a very long day for both of us.

Grace is doing great, she's growing like a weed! She will now stand, unsupported, for up to 5 seconds or so. I expect she will take those first few steps within a week or two. Then the fun really starts! I did take her out in the snow one day last week, thinking that she would enjoy being outside, and be excited about the new experience...



Needless to say, I brought her in pretty quickly. Hopefully next year she will enjoy playing in the snow...

Our Bible study is continuing to meet on Thursday nights. We are studying "The Mortification of Sin" by John Owen. We are finding it very theologically rich, encouraging, and convicting!

That's all for now. May the New Year bring you love, happiness, and prosperity!

Blessings,

~ Kate :)

Advent is upon us!

Yep, we got a tree. It is our first real tree in our first house as a married couple. Since we were married in Dec of '04, AFTER Christmas, we didn't get our first tree together until 2005, but we were still in an apartment. Last year we had the house, and we did get a tree, but it was a very small, artificial one because we were in New England for most of the holiday season. This year, we are staying home for Christmas, so we went to the local Christmas Tree Lot and paid an outrageous sum of money for the privilege, but we have our tree! We set it up yesterday and decorated it today.

When Grace woke up from her nap,












She was utterly bedazzled by the lights on the tree, and even clapped! Always nice to get an ovation for decorating...

In the midst of tree trimming, I of course still have schoolwork to do, but thankfully the semester is almost over! I have one more presentation, on Tuesday, a research paper to edit, then finals on the 13th and 14th, then we are off until mid-January!

I get so excited this time of year, not just because of the break from the mundane, but because of the true meaning of Christmas. I marvel that God chose to humble Himself, and become a baby. I think I realize it more since becoming a parent, just what that entailed. The Christ-child, being fully human, had to have his diapers changed. He had to be nursed, and burped, and spoon-fed, and swaddled. He had to be sung and rocked to sleep, and learn to roll over, crawl, and walk. How old was He when He spoke His first word? When He took His first teetering, uncertain step? When He used whatever passed for a potty in Biblical times? And how odd was it for Mary to know that He was God incarnate, yet He was so dependent upon her for all of His needs? I understand a bit better now, the scripture that says that Mary "pondered all of these things in her heart."

Christmas is God's provision to a needy world. It is the incarnation of hope, and peace, and salvation. Some folks back then thought that Messiah had come to bring political freedom from the Romans. Many did not believe He was Messiah. I am so thankful that He did what He came to do, which is to show the way to His Kingdom ("No one comes to the Father except through Me), and to provide us with the means to get there (If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you shall be saved). That baby boy who was born some 2000-odd years ago is still alive today, at the right hand of the Father. That is the miracle of Christmas. My goal is to honor Him with all that I do, and this Christmas, that means seeking to bring Him glory with every decoration I put up, with every gift I make or purchase, with every greeting of "Merry Christmas," with every step I take in the snow.

Lord, may it be to me as You have said.

Blessings in Christ,

~ Kate :)