Merry Christmas!

Got Peace? That question seems ridiculous, right? I mean, the economy is terrible, there is a high unemployment rate, money is tight, and now to top it off, the stress of Christmas is upon us. We have shopping, gift wrapping, office parties, cookie parties, dress rehearsals, Christmas programs at school and church, house cleaning, finding ornaments in every place in the house- except on the tree, and visits with Santa. The list could go on and on, so where does it end? Where is the peace?



True Peace was born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger. His name is Jesus.


I love to do all the things that come along with the Christmas season, but this year, I’m trying to focus on peace. They say “Peace on Earth,” but I would like to suggest starting a little smaller. I’m going to say “Peace in your heart.” When there is peace in the very center of your being, it manifests in your life. If I have peace, my home has peace, and my family has peace (except when we are arguing about what shoes to wear, but that’s another blog). We affect the people around us and what is it exactly that we want people to see? The hurried, hair pulling, yelling, pepper spraying (I will admit I was happy not to take part in the Black Friday frenzy), “Happy” Holiday; or the joyful celebration of Christ’s birth? In the midst of all the traditions and new ideas, I urge you to think about the point of it all.


We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas full of joy and peace!


“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.” 2 Thessalonians 3:16

Home is where we are.

This is a long time coming, but we have a home!  After a weekend spent house hunting, 2 months spent in temporary living, and a very strong desire to have living space and our things, we moved into our home.  Our little corner of the world is perfect for us.  We immediately made friends with the neighbors across the street who have a little girl about the same age as Brady.  Their family has been a God send for us and we are blessed to have them as neighbors and friends.  Our home is on top of a clothing store and we are just a few blocks from the Piazza.  We are able to walk to anything we want.  I usually drag a kid along every week to buy our fruit and veggies and our Salumeria (they sell cheese, lunch meat, and a few other grocery items) are across the street.  Brady and Juliette come home with a stomach full of cookies, chocolate, lollypops, French fries (Juliette’s favorite), and some kind of fruit when we make the shopping rounds.  Brady’s school is directly next door, so we walk to his school every day.  Even though we live so close, we still have to leave 10 min. early to make it on time.  What should take 45 seconds, takes, well, 10 minutes.  We haven’t been able to improve Brady’s walking skills.  After dinner we take an evening stroll to get gelato or cookies.  Life is grand!     

                                                           Our main living space

                                           Playroom connected to the back of the living room

                                                            Our big open kitchen!

                    Our very small cooking space!  I made Thanksgiving dinner and lived to tell about it!  The top cabinets are storage space, but only the small cabinet on the bottom right is storage.  The large door next to the oven is the dishwasher.  A little more storage is in the recessed cabinet on the far left.

       My favorite part of the kitchen is this storage/ drying rack above the sink, Oh, and the dishwasher!

                                                                         Sunroom

                                  Guest room/ bathroom.  Come on folks, we're ready for you!

                                                      View from our back balcony

                      Perfect spot for a fire pit.  We live next door to a cop, so hopefully those are legal!

Yes, that's laundry on the line and the bars above are for a canopy that can be lowered

There are three bedrooms each with their own bathroom upstairs.  We are very happy here and look forward to the coming years!