5 Favorite Things 4/17/13

 

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Okay, so its a day late…but won’t be one “Favorite Thing” short…

#1

My newfound 15 minutes of prayer time in the EARLY morning.  ‘Nuff said.

#2

My lovely girl.

My lovely girl.

This little lady.  She completes our family in ways that I cannot and probably will never be able to express.  She consistently surprises me with her incredible faith.  For Christmas, I bought my husband The Brick Bible – Old Testament.  Girl took it over and read it cover to cover.  Started asking me questions like, “Why did people die when they touched the Ark of the Covenant?”  And when we would answer she would say “But why?”  So this week she brought her Lenten Prayer Book home.  Basically, scriptures her class read once a week and then their own reflection on that verse.  This was one of her many cool responses:

Ava's Lenten Journal

#3

Sigur Ros Live

Sigur Ros Live

Sigur Ros…

I actually went to a real live grown up concert last weekend.  My sister, her husband, my husband and I spent a lot of money on tickets to stand on a concrete floor, get beer spilled on us*, get a secondhand high from the legal pot (thanks again Colorado), watch the opening act guy sit in a chair and flip knobs to make weird music (our theory was that he was checking Facebook) and lose count of all the following: plaid shirts, thick framed glasses, skinny jeans on men, beards,  – all in an attempt to watch one of my favorite all-time bands sing in a language I couldn’t understand. (literally.  they are Icelandic)  But when they began, really, NOTHING they did disappointed.  They are amazing.  If you haven’t yet, check them out.

#4

TRex

Maybe a bit negative, but one of my favorite things is that I am NOT into CrossFit…

I’m sorry to all those Crossfitters, I know y’all love it and rock it and burpee the nights away, but its just not for me.  Speaking of my awesome sister, her hubs and her are doing the CrossFit thang, and while they were in town last weekend, we decided that on Saturday morning, we would go try out their friend’s CrossFit gym on Field Day.  My husband and I were – in all of our newfound workout cockiness – ready to do this.  Then it happened.  Basically, 3 rounds of partner competition (which included running 400 meters, rowing machine, endless pushups, jumprope, counter-intuitively lifting a 25 pound weight over my head, and 18″ box jumps) and I realized that though I can hang with the CrossFit people…I don’t wanna.  My legs and strange muscles in my feet I didn’t know existed told me so the next day and I’m pretty sure though the other women look awesome doing it, I look like the sad TRex above.  In fact, while searching for Mr. TRex, I entered “CrossFit” into my Pinterest search engine, and saw too many women who looked like they wanted to hurt me.  For those of you who love it, God speed…or make you do box jumps…or whatev.

#5

http://www.howsweeteats.com/

http://www.howsweeteats.com/

CrockPot Turkey Quinoa Meatballs

In our quest to eat healthier and NOT have to make 2 meals for dinner so that our kids will stay alive, I came across this recipe.  It is hands-down one of my faves.  The kids love it…I love it…  They get whole wheat spaghetti, we get spaghetti squash…. which is awesome, as long as I get my sprinkle of parmesan.  If you like it, then I better put a link on it.

*Okay, so I spilled it on my sister’s leg and foot. Because, as usual, I was trying to multitask holding a cup in between my lips, while holding my phone in the other and switching my why-did-I-bring-all-this-crap purse onto my other shoulder)

5 Favorite Things

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Okay, this is my first stab at this kinda linky thing.  I am a busy woman.  I am struggling with keeping pants on my 2 year old at any given moment much less tackling the Blog-to-English dictionary.  BUT, even as such, I have resolved to do more writing AND I just so happen to love MoxieWife (aka Hallie Lord), her blog, her fashion sense, her husband’s book Choosing Joy and her cool book Sex, Style & Substance .  I’m linking this up to her blog Moxie Wife.

And… I like favorite things.  I really do.  I am somewhat of a reserved emoter (is that even a word?) so you might not see me jumping up and down and screaming about my favorite things like a freaked out Oprah audience, but I think its a sweet practice to notice the little things that brighten your life week to week. Because, really, if mama ain’t happy…well…you know the rest.

So here goes:

1.  My Kindle

Look at her. Isn’t she pretty???  She’s not just looks either.  Girl’s got some brains to boot.  She allowed me, in post-Middle-School retreat exhaustion, to order a pizza from her and then continue reading only getting up to pay the pizza guy.  And then, right about nap time every day, and after a few chores, she lets loose a siren song so sweet and convincing, that I can no longer help myself.  I sweep her up and settle on the couch with Peppermint Tea, a blanket and a prayer that naptime last a tad longer.  And no, she does not have a name.  That would just be creepy.

 

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Kindle Sister

2.  Peppermint Tea

I looooooove tea.  I drink probably a little too much of it.  Me, my tea and my Kindle are like besties every afternoon.  And since there are so many types of teas, I’ll be specific.  I tend to lean towards a local company, Celestial Seasonings, in Boulder (hippie capital only second to Berkeley) who started their business by gathering “herbs”  in the 70’s.  Uh huh.  But I’ve been on their tour, watched my husband don a hairnet for such, and walked into their Peppermint Room – and let me tell you, both figuratively and literally – it brought tears to my eyes.  Its gooooood stuff.

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Minty Freshness

3.  Hillsong United – Zion Album

If you haven’t ever heard of Hillsong United and their music.  I am so sorry.  I really am.  Someone should have prompted you to know the existence of their music.  They have a way of weaving beautiful praise lyrics with incredible instrumentation to make one-of-a-kind stuff.  This album, Zion, though very different than their previous albums, might be my favorite.  In one word.  Ambient.  Loving it and especially the words of truth spoken in my favorite track “Oceans.”  See more in the pic below…

Soul Penetrating Oceans Lyrics

Soul Penetrating Oceans Lyrics

4.  Shakeology

I mentioned a post back about our incredible fitness journey.  One tool that has helped us tremendously is Shakeology.  Breakfast in a glass.  Previously, I didn’t have enough time to cram a piece of peanut butter toast in my mouth while yelling at the kids to get their shoes on for school and chugging coffee.  It was chaos – a moment every day when I was glad a reality show was not following us – but also, not so good for digestion.  Enter Shakeology.  The blender creations we have made have not only streamlined our mornings, but also our health.  And mom is a tad more sane every morn.

Yum.

Yum.

 

5.  The Outdoors

We live on Vaughn Street.  But its a cul-de-sac.  But called a street.  Confusing for many people who have tried to find our house, as you might guess.  But that cul-de-sac/street ends at a preserved Wetlands.  My 2 year old loves nothing more than to take a walk (which for him means running the entire time) through the wetlands and point out different things.  Him: “Duck” Me:  “No, Goose”  Him: “Sword” Me: “No, stick” Him: “Wolf.” Me: “No, that’s a dog.”  Anyway, you get the idea.  It is a delightful way to be present to my small man-child and spend some quality time together in God’s creation.  I love him & Him.

On our "walk"

On our “walk”

And so there you have it.  My week’s worth of favorite things.  Be well, my friends… and enjoy all your favorites today…

Gotcha Day 2012

6 years ago today we held our daughter, Ava Therese FuBin Farmer, for the very first time.  You can click here to watch a moving short video of the journey.  Below is something I wrote while in China in the midst of that journey about Ava and her special intercessor: [Read more…]

You Are So Busted!

Photo by Joia Farmer

 

This actually happened this morning.  Our 10-year-old was ready for school early (miraculous in and of itself) and I caught him on the couch with his rosary in hand, quietly praying the Divine Mercy chaplet!

 

Here’s how it happened.   [Read more…]

Picture This

After my last confessionary, this post may come as a shock to you. I won’t beat around the bush.  I know you are very busy.

We have a brand new camera.

Now, before you start reporting me to the FPU Police and demanding our menu contain only rice and beans and that our mantra should be “I’m better than I deserve,” hear me out.
[Read more…]

Fighting the Debt Beast

“For your own good, for the good of your family and your future, grow a backbone. When something is wrong, stand up and say it is wrong, and don’t back down.”    ―      Dave Ramsey, The Total Money Makeover
 
To kick off my first real post since Advent (I promise – they’re going to get more frequent), I thought we’d get a little bit vulnerable, make a confession and add a “tab” to the ole blog.  We have a fight on our hands.  We plan to go toe-to-toe and knock the teeth out of something that plagues many families in our country, including ours.
 
Debt.
  [Read more…]

Ava’s Gotcha Day

5 years ago today we held our daughter, Ava, in our arms for the very first time in the Golden Resources Hotel, Chongqing, China.  There is much more that makes family than just blood.  What an incredible journey it continues to be! We are thrilled to share this short video we compiled of the journey to China shortly after our return.  

 

Joia @ CatholicMom.com

Joia was recently interviewed by Lisa Hendey, founder of of CatholicMom.com.  A HUGE thanks to Lisa for the article.

The musicians who live in my house probably dream sometimes about having a mom as cool as Catholic rocker Joia Farmer. This amazing mom of four, a pro-life advocate, musician and speaker has done an amazing job of using her God-given talents to spread faith and joy to so many. I’m happy to share my recent conversation with Joia and hope you’ll enjoy and purchase her music to support her fantastic apostolate.

Read the whole interview (concert video included) by clicking here

2011 Vacation: Lost cameras, Re-routed airplanes & Instagram.

We just returned from our vacation this past Monday.  It was a whirlwind 12 days in which we:

 

*Drove 4 1/2 hours to Denver

*Flew to Kansas City

*Survived a 3.5 hour layover in the worst laid out airport before we took off on time

*Circled Washington D.C. for 1 hour during a SEVERE thunderstorm

*Ran out of fuel and re-routed 1 hour to Columbus, OH

*Re-fueled and flew back 1 hour to Washington D.C.

 

And that was just the first day!

[Read more…]

Get ‘Er Done

Over the years we’ve experimented with different charts and systems to get our kids motivated to do household chores, with varying degrees of success for them and difficulty for us. We have now discovered a great website that actually has our two 5-year-olds and our 9-year-old obsessed with pitching in.  They can’t wait to log in and check off the chores they’ve done and they’re constantly looking for other chores to accomplish. This system strikes a nice balance between “you get paid an allowance just for being a member of the family” and “you do the chores or else [insert terrifying threat here]”. It’s easy to set up, easy to modify, easy enough for even 5-year-olds to use, and it’s FREE!  Check out www.myjobchart.com .

As it says on their website: Using an innovative job chart that is based on technology, positive feedback, and mutually determined rewards, myjobchart.com helps parents help their children be responsible and develop a good work ethic.