Tag: family vlog

AROUND HERE: JANUARY 2018

Around here we have been…

WATCHING {D} as he learns to play basketball. He was nervous going into the season, not having any prior experience; But he has grown in confidence and skill. The moment he scored his first ever two-pointer he was beaming with pride. We are proud of the hustle and persistence he shows out on the court.

We are thankful for his teammates, some of who are much more experienced in the game, for their encouragement.

 

COMPLETING puzzles. For some reason January tends to be puzzle month in our house. It is probably mostly because of the cold temperatures and the fact that we spend much more time indoors. Every weekend this month we have had a puzzle going, with the kids contributing their help now and then and the adults working diligently after the kids are in bed.

A couple of the kids also enjoy working on their own smaller puzzles. {I} and {K} will sit down and complete a 150 piece puzzle in one sitting.

 

SICK. A bug has been going around at school, and a couple of the kids were struck with it – as was Craig. Tis’ the time of year for sickness, and we only hope that it passes quickly. Being sick is no fun.

 

UPSET by the ending of the Vikings football season. They had a good chance to play at the Superbowl, which is going to be taking place this coming weekend in Minneapolis – their home turf. They lost the Championship game to the Eagles, after winning on a last second touchdown the week before. Kind of a heartbreaking end to the season.

We know that it is ‘just a game’ and although we feel disappointed, we are thankful for the entertainment this football team has given our family. We look forward to next season and hope they can make it all the way!

 

FREEZING, but still participating in winter activities. January was a very frosty month, but we still managed to spend time outside. Craig had a couple of very cold fire calls, and ended up with a frosty beard.

There is still not much snow, but the kids have been taking what they can and have built a small snow fort in the yard. They were also able to go skiing with school.

 

This is just a glimpse at what our family has been up to. If you’d like a closer look, be sure to check out our weekly ‘mini vlogs’ on our YouTube channel ARROW HILL FAMILY. Be well everyone!

 

INTRODUCING THE ‘AROUND HERE’ BLOG FEATURE

As my last post eluded to, I am currently doing a lot of research and soul searching – trying to figure out what direction this blog & website is headed.  When I started out, the plan was to make it mostly about our house design. But every house has a family, and mine is with me every.single.day (at least in the summer), and so I was finding it easiest to do quick posts about US or posts about things that WE were doing.

But now, when I look back on my first 75 days of blogging, I’m seeing that there hasn’t been a lot of talk about Arrow Hill Cottage at all!  That fact makes me a bit sad, and has me longing to sharpen my focus.

We are keenly aware that quite a few/ probably most of our followers up to this point are friends and family who know us well, and love to see images and videos of the things we are up to.  And so although I will be trying to focus more on home design aspects, I am also planning to keep up some family blogging to a lesser extent.

Each Monday, you will still be able to log into YouTube and get a little recap of the previous week.  Such as this video compilation, which includes tons of rainy day fun!

 

If you don’t subscribe to our family YouTube channel yet, we recommend you do so – because I won’t be making posts about each video we upload!  We have all our videos organized into playlists for convenience of finding the content that you want to watch.  As of right now, we have playlists for Family Home Videos, Arthrogryposis/AMC related videos and of course, our Weekly Photo Vlog.

On the blog, I plan to do one big recap near the end of each month or beginning of the next.  This feature will be titled ‘AROUND HERE’ and will chronicle all that our family has been up to in that corresponding month (school starting, holidays, birthdays, eventually even house building!)  If you click on the ‘AROUND HERE’ tab on the top of the website, you can access FAMILY ONLY posts through the ‘our adventures‘ menu and learn more about our HOME DESIGN & BUILDING through the ‘our home‘ menu.

Again, thanks so much for taking this journey with us!

PS:  Planning on making the last post about our weekly meal rotation tomorrow, and after that the FOCUS will begin!

YOU SAY GOOD MORNING

Every night as I tuck {K} into bed, she says to me ‘You say good morning’- not so much a question as a statement. A fact. I am quick to answer ‘Yes.  I will say ‘good morning!’  It is a little way that she reminds herself that even though she is closing her eyes now, when she opens them her family will STILL be there.  Precious words from a child newly home and still learning what family is all about.

This past week found us in many waiting rooms.  Waiting to see specialists who would begin evaluations for what will be years of care.  She has already been through so much, and will continue to be faced with many challenges. More on that tomorrow.

After the appointments we were able to meet up with some very special people who knew our daughter long before we did.  The incredible family who fostered her while she was living in China (and coincidentally live only a couple hours away from us now!) and the sweet doctor from Shanghai who lobbied to get {K} the care she needed, the care she deserved. These people are so, so special to us and there will never be enough thank you’s to properly acknowledge how grateful we are that they stepped up for our girl, saw her worth, and were willing to fight for her. The fact that we were able to break bread together and see everything come full circle is nothing short of an orchestration by God Himself.  We are so blessed.

We were a bit worried though, that seeing these people from her past may set her back a bit – confuse her.  Worried that all of the doctor’s appointments might scare her and cause her to lose trust in us.  But God showed us, once again, that he is making beauty from ashes.  Through it all {K} held strong, she looked to us for reassurance, she leaned on us for comfort, and really seemed to understand that we were going through it all WITH her, FOR her. She understood that at the end of the day we were going to bring her home and back into that same bed in the evening, where we would tuck her in and she could once again say ‘You say good morning’. Our bond is getting stronger.

 

A reminder, if you ever want to catch up on what our family is up to – you can check out our family YouTube channel!

REMEMBERING THE EVERYDAY

I just finished uploading the 4th installment of our weekly photo vlog!  I have slowly been improving the quality and content of this series.  This week I made the text a bit larger (and more readable) and also added a new feature – small videos within the scrolling timeline video!  I’m happy with how it turned out!

An entire month of our family’s memories have now been preserved.  Sure, it took a little more effort than what I have previously put forth; But now all these precious photos and videos are presented in a FUN way, and easily accessible instead of being stored and hidden in a computer file.

These little weekly videos simply showcase our lives – no fancy vacations or spectacular adventures.  They may not get thousands (or even hundreds) of views on YouTube, and that’s okay.

It’s not about that.  It’s about us.

They are a reminder of how brave {K} was at her very first checkup in the United States, a glimpse of how the boys used their imaginations and worked together to create some awesome fidget spinners, and a memory of the giant smile I had on my face when Craig raced all the kids on his 37th birthday – just to prove to himself that he was still the fastest.  On those days when it feels like all I do is cook, and clean, and wipe dirty hands for the millionth time – when I feel like ‘just’ a stay at home mom – I can remember that I am also a curator of family memories.

We will hopefully watch these videos in the future and recognize that our lives are full.  Full of love.  Full of togetherness. Full of happiness. Full of the simple everyday.

 

To see all the videos in this series, click HERE.