And the beat goes on . . .

We had a fabulous time when Mom and Dad stayed with us earlier this month. There was, of course, lots of dancing. Watching the video below reminded me of all of the dancing around the house in Oregon last Christmas.

Food for Thought

Here is a bit of commentary on receiving service and human nature. In thinking on this for the past few months, I have gained understanding and a new perspective on myself, on pride, human nature, serving others and feel I can better understand the reactions of others while being served. Enjoy!

The Four Loves, C. S. Lewis pp.132

"Suppose yourself a man struck down shortly after marriage by an incurable disease which may not kill you for many years; useless, impotent, hideous, disgusting; dependent on your wife's earnings, impoverishing where you hoped to enrich; impaired even in intellect and shaken by gusts of uncontrollable temper, full of unavoidable demands. And suppose your wife's care and pity to be inexhaustible. The man who can take this sweetly, who can receive all and give nothing without resentment, who can abstain even from those tiresome self-deprecations which are really only a demand for petting and reassurance, is doing something which Need-love [one of the four loves which exist] in its merely natural condition could not attain. (No doubt such a wife will also be doing something beyond the reach of a natural Gift-love, but that is not the point at present.) In such a case to receive is harder and perhaps more blessed than to give."

Bagels anyone?

Just thought I would share that Emily learned how to make bagels this week. They are quite delicious. These ones are cinnamon raisin. I guess the trick is to boil them first and then cook them.

The other day she also made whole wheat lasagna using our new pasta machine!

Oh and this week we decided to try Rainbow Chard. It's kinda like romaine but it has a stalk that is bright red and orange, kinda like liquorish and at least just as good!

Sorry if it seems dumb to talk about our recent meals but we are having fun :)

Thanks for your thoughts

Emily is doing much better now. Friday's lesson went especially well for her. She teaches one class that is much more quiet than her others so she is able to do more rambunctious activities which makes things fun. Her students are starting their research projects so Emily needed to topic to give examples for how to research and present the paper. Guess what she chose for her topic?... You guessed it, healthy living. She has been showing videos from CNN and on Youtube of interviews of 110 year old Okinawa ladies and things like that. She is having a blast. Thank you for your prayers and emails. She has a good start now and is excited for the rest of the semester!

Doug

Student teaching for Emily

Hi Family,

I just wanted to ask if you can keep Emily in your prayers especially this week. She starts student teaching tomorrow (Monday) and she has really struggled to feel confident about being a teacher and just not knowing if she is going to say the right things. Actually if you have a minute too, it would be great to send her an uplifing email or something like that. Hope things are going well for you all and we love you!

Doug

The other side of weather

Just in case Mom and Dad forget, this is what snow looks like. This is what a LOT of snow looks like. I didn't take a picture of the Bingham's mailbox box but the snow as practically covering the whole post (because of the snow plow pushing all the snow there).

I suppose Nikki and Jason though have much more snow than Utah.

Evergreen and Traditions last forever!

Just wanted to show the family some of our Christmas decorations. Yes those are our tree stump slices! Two years running now.  Just imagine in 80 years! We'll have to have a second house to display them all!  Smiths pokes a hole in the middle of the trunk so it makes the slices easy for hanging. By the way, we had to have something up for stockings so we chose my thermal socks :).