It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

  I don't know if we'll ever be able to take a serious family photo. Oh well. Ladies and Gents, today is Friday, and I'm super excited because B and I only have 3 more days of school left next week before break! Woo hoo!! I am so excited to relax, spend time with family, eat a lot of good food, and reflect on the goodness of my Lord for sending his sweet son to this earth for our redemption.

 Living in America, it's hard to remember what Christmas is truly about. I encourage you to re-think how you're spending your money this holiday season, and give more from the heart to those who are without. Here is a great blog post about re-imagining Christmas with tons of helpful and eye-opening links about how you can spend your money ethically and benefit those across the map.

 Also, have you heard of Advent Conspiracy? Check it out! Did you realize we [Americans] spend 450 BILLION dollars (yes, billion with a B) on Christmas every year? Every. Year. Isn't that just ridiculous? And we could help solve the world's clean water crisis with 20 billion dollars a year. Does that make sense to anyone? I encourage you to donate to clean water organizations such as WaterIsLife. They provide filtration straws for those without clean water that last for up to 1 year, while working to create a more permanent water supply in impoverished nations. Cool, huh?

 It's time to make a change, so let's start with Christmas! I hope you all have such a wonderfully blessed holiday season. Now, where is that snow??

On Making Potato Chips

 Kevin has been into "cooking" lately. I'm quite excited at the idea of not having to make every meal all the time. His first cooking endeavor was homemade potato chips. The directions seemed simple enough for him to follow: slice potatoes thinly, dip in oil, lay on cookie sheet, bake on 400 degrees until edges curl up. I sadly don't have a picture of the finished product (Kevin ate them all). They turned out a little crispy - but that's alright. The first time is just a trial and error kind of experience. And they were much better without any kind of seasoning at all. Way to go, Kevy! You're one step closer to gourmet cooking.

And a picture of Nikoo in the tree for good measure. Happy Wednesday!