Prepping for the Holidays

We have had a fun time getting ready for the holidays. During Thanksgiving weekend, we put up the Christmas tree and other holiday decorations.


Both Kacy and Sara like the nativity set. Kacy uses the characters to put on a "show".


Kacy is quite proud of her very own little tree in her room.


Sara had fun with the Christmas ornaments although she wasn't much help on getting them on the tree.


Sara loves her food. She claps to signify more.


Kacy is always up for a good book. Actually, I don't know if it even matters whether it is good--she loves to read.

ARFF

No, I'm not talking about dogspeak. ARFF is an acronym I heard at a recent conference and it caused me to reflect (so I guess the presenter did okay). Despite the presenter's quirkiness and "not really my style" type of guy, Dennis McLoughlin made me think so I give him props for that. The comment below undoubtedly reflect my own thoughts as stemmed from his discusssion...

ARFF stands for the 4 things: achievement, respect, fun, and freedom. He argues that we need all 4 of these components in our life to be satisfied and have some sense of fulfillment. For Achievement, he said adults need to have some feeling of achievement about 80% of the time. We don't have a high fault tolerance and we need to feel like we are accomplishing something. Successful completion of tasks are not the only criteria here. I would argue that some feeling of using God-given talents also fit in. We have to feel we are working toward our potential and using skills to some degree. We need to feel productive.

Respect refers to perceptions of respect from others and I would argue from ourselves. The self respect part may be inextricably linked to the feelings of achievement. We have to feel that we have some measure of expectations from others. We have to feel some value to what we do with our lives.

Fun refers to our need to just relax and unwind. We have to do something to have fun. We need hobbies and non-work related items that give us joy and allow us to step aside from professional duties. We need to just have a good time once in awhile.

The last F refers to Freedom. We need to have some freedom of choice in our lives. This concept may take many forms but we can't always be controlled by others. We need a degree of independence.

McLoughlin says we all need our ARFF to be happy, productive and satisfied people. 3 of 4 won't do it...we need some balance of all 4 components. I won't digress into spiritual components that humans need as well, but many ideas, including some spiritual, are embodied in these ideas. Do you feel that you achieve something substantial with 80% of your time? Do you respect yourself? Do you feel respected by others? Do you spend enough time just having fun? Do you have freedom in your life? Some food for thought...

Sara's 1st Birthday Movie

Sara had a fun birthday. She had a little party on her actual birthday and then another party with friends and family a couple days after. Here is a movie that shows her first birthday festivities!

Happy Halloween

So, I do realize that it is now November 5th and Halloween is passed, but for our celebration it was just a couple of days ago and I'm a few days late...so here are our pictures. For Halloween this year people in our school community volunteered to have children come trick or treat at their houses. We all then ended up at one families house for a party! We had lots of fun and walked around for a couple of hours.

Kacy as "Tinkerbell" and Sara as Tigger! Sara really just wanted to stay and play with the candy all night. She really didn't eat any, just played with it.

You can see a meager attempt to put coloring on her face, I got a few marks on her nose and she went nuts. It was quite humorous because most people commented on what happened to Sara's nose, did she fall and scratch it up? They couldn't tell that I was going to give her a brown nose and whiskers.

Kacy and Zachary Pinho

"Sleeping Beauty" Hayley and "Tinkerbell" Kacy

Sara's 1st B-Day Party

Sara had two birthday parties. The first one that you saw pictures of before was our "family" party and was on her actual birthday. The second one that you can see below was with her "friends". Hope that you enjoy! I can't believe that she is one year old already!

Birthday Girl~

Thanks Mom for the cake...it was beautiful!

Zachary Pinho and Nina Willoughby enjoying some food.

Jacob Loween made it out for the big party (he is about 1 month old)

Sara investigates her first gift~

All the kids lined up for some cake. (Silas, Hayley, Kacy, Nina, Zachary, and Sara W.)

My Reflections on 30

Laura recently wrote a blog entry about my 30th birthday. The passing of a decade seems to bring forth special meaning for many people. However, I don't feel any different 1 week later than I did on my birthday or the 2 weeks before. But I have paused to reflect...

And as I reflect, I cannot help but be reminded of how blessed I have been over the last 10 years. The 20s are a time when you take your established beliefs out into the real world on your own. Independent adulthood becomes a reality with your own bills and paychecks, worldview, and decision-making. Course choices at a university transition to career choices and job searches—ultimately life choices. At 21, I was blessed to marry Laura while I finished my senior year of college. At 22, I entered my first teaching job, not really knowing where I was headed. At 25, we moved to Korea. I was teaching a PE class and part-time assistant principal, which quickly became full-time. At 26, Kacy was born. A month later I finished my master's degree after spending 2 summers in southern France, getting my first taste of Europe. At 28, I started taking doctorate coursework. At 29, Sara was born. And that is a only a few highlights.

Spanning 10 years, 3 continents, approximately 13 countries, 2 children and a beautiful wife, the 20's were eventful. I had rich experiences that have changed me forever. I have a fantastic family that I love more deeply all the time. I have wonderful friends across the globe. I have gained confidence and perspective on so many things. The sacrifices seem menial in the grander scope of where God has brought us. I have begun to realize how much about life I truly don't know and probably never will. God has given us so much—we are indeed blessed!

What will the next decade bring? I can't tell the future, but I pray God will continue to bless us. And when I say bless, I don't mean make everything perfect. Sometimes the tough times are the blessing. May God change us and mold us to be the people/family He wants us to be, bringing Him glory in all we do. I hope you can say the same.