12/20/15-12/26/15

Last week with the Fauses...

On Sunday, Patrick got to stand by his good friend Andrew as he married his best friend, the beautiful Simona. It was so festive to get to celebrate a wedding the week of Christmas!

I can't believe these two belong to me! I am so blessed. They are the cutest daddy-daughter duo I've ever seen!

This year, some of the women on my mom's side of the family decided to do an extended family secret Santa gift exchange! I had so much fun shopping for my great aunt, Julie. I am hoping this becomes an annual tradition, with even more family members joining in next year!

 She said she liked old things, so I hunted around a local antique store in Old Town and found this darling vintage enamel tea pot and scrabble piece ornament. 

Procrastinators united together in one very, very long line at the post office ;)

Tuesday was Patrick's 27th birthday! My gift to him was a date, just the two of us, to L.A. to do the Warner Bros. studio tour. They are currently hosting a Batman exhibit with all kinds of original props from every Batman movie ever made. Patrick was stoked to see all the bat suites and batmobiles, including those from his much anticipated Batman vs. Superman. I also had a fan girl moment seeing some of Gilmore Girls old sets! They were working on painting Luke's Diner in preparation for the upcoming reunion series that will be filming and I literally got butterflies. The whole day was so much fun! We are in such a busy season as Patrick is on his final year of college before we leave for seminary, and it was so nice to get to just enjoy one another's company. 

Waiting to go in! I love this guy so much

Looking where a scene from Jurassic Park was filmed

Our tour guide caught on pretty quickly that Patrick was a big Batman fan. So when we came into the batmobile room, she let him turn the bat signal on and off. Pretty cool! 

 Luke's Diner!!

We finished Patrick's birthday with sushi for dinner with some of his buddies, and then we walked around Bainbridge Circle and looked at all the beautiful Christmas lights. It was extra special for us because last year we saw the lights for the first time the same week we found out that I was pregnant with a girl. We had walked around dreaming about what life was going to be like with our Emery Paige and promised we would come back with her next year. We blinked, and next year was already here. We walked around with our sweet six month old girly until she fell asleep on my chest. Life with our little family is my favorite!

 My super adorable shopping buddy as we braved venturing out with the masses of last-minute Christmas shoppers on Christmas Eve-Eve. 

One of my favorite annual traditions is spending Christmas Eve with my family. We all come together to eat Grandma's lefse, catch up on family news, sing carols and read the Christmas story all together, and open a ridiculous number of gifts. Some highlights of the evening were Emery opening her wonderful gifts as well as playing a fun game of Left-Right with the presents from my Uncle Joel and Aunt Dorene! We shared many laughs that evening :)

Silly Uncle Gabe!

 Emmy Bear already loves her great grandma, Tutu!

 Merry Christmas Eve!

On Christmas Day we always go to my mother-in-law and step-father-in-law's home. I feel so blessed to have a cherished second family in them! They love Emery to death and spoil her to pieces! She is beyond blessed to have her Grammy and Papa Coco. 

Our one smiley picture of the night!

Who cares about the presents inside? The paper is the really exciting, and not to mention tasty, stuff ;)

After our crazy busy week, Emery was super tired by Christmas Day. She tolerated our attempts at capturing a picture, but she was less then enthusiastic about the whole thing. Really though, she was such a trooper! We had a lot going on for anyone, let alone a little six month old. Grammy and Papa Coco were super understanding, and even let her and I lay down for an afternoon nap in the middle of the festivities.

Once we got home, we finished off the night with our favorite thing - family snuggles in bed! After "nummies" and cuddling up in her pj's, Emery was back to her happy self. I think she takes after her Daddy, who is a homebody as well ;)

Finally, on Saturday we walked around Best Buy and Super Target looking at laptops, and then we spent the rest of the day snuggled up in our pj's, watching 48 Hours Mysteries as a family. I think Emery was enjoying herself ;)

Cuteness overload!

Love,

Amanda

Christmas Time is Here

December 1st! Twenty-four days until that most wonderful day of the year, Christmas. I don't care how cliche it is to say - this season is undeniably my favorite one. The smells, songs, and sights leave me with a month-long smile in my heart. Cheesy, I know, but it's true. For the Faus family it really is the most wonderful time of the year. Patrick loves the cold, and I love that the cold equals extra cuddles, so its win-win! We are so excited to celebrate our first Christmas together as a family of three, even if 6 month old Emery won't really know how much fun she is having. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures to remind her later ;)

I am seeking to really savor this special time as a month of reflection and preparation for the year ahead. For the third year in a row, I will be reading Good News of Great Joy: Daily Readings for Advent by John Piper. The length of this little devotional belies its depth. Each day's reading is centered around a scripture and it never fails to focus and excite me as it shepherds my heart to recall Jesus's first coming to earth. Holy, infinite God, born as a baby. That reality alone is enough to make my mind explode! If you happen to be in search of something to help you meditate on Christ during this season, it can be downloaded as an ebook or Kindle book for free off of the Desiring God website. 

Despite being my favorite season, this time of year can also become one of the most stressful ones when I get caught up in trying to impress others through the gifts I give, the goodies I bake, or the decorations that dress-up my little home. While decorating, baking, and shopping are some of my favorite December past-times, when they become my focus I can become disheartened by all the areas where I find myself falling short of the Pinterest standard, and the warm feelings of yuletide joy that I get from holiday Hallmark movies are superficial at best. But when those same things are used as means to celebrate and accentuate the glorious reality of God's redemptive plan for man, my heart is filled with a genuine joy and peace that surpasses all understanding. I am learning more and more each day how Christ's past work affects the here and now of my life, and I am looking forward to sharing more about that with you later. For Christmas 2015 I am making a particular effort to choose simplicity, to love those in my sphere of influence, and to point others to our humble Savior as I remind my own heart first and foremost. I hope you are able to stop in the midst of all the busyness and savor Him with me. He is all-together worthy.

Merry Christmas,

Amanda

10/25/15-10/31/15

Fun going to lunch with Daddy on Sunday! Emery is such a such a doll, so easy to take out with us for some special family time. Now that she has learned to play with her toys she is happy to sit quietly and play while Mommy and Daddy talk. Patrick has a lot on his plate with his school load right now as he enters into his last year of his Bachelor's Degree program, so I was very grateful l to get some special time with him in the midst of all the busyness! I love the passion with which he is pursuing all God has called him too. There's no one I'd rather be on this crazy adventure called life with!

Sunday night I made homemade applesauce... it was amazing. I have sworn off of store bought! Homemade is so much richer, nutrient-dense, and downright delicious. 

Working my way through Elyse Fitzpatrick's Because He Loves Me in my quiet times. SO good. If you haven't read it, you should!

Everything is going into Emery's mouth these days!

Just chillin'

Emery Paige began eating solids this week. I started her off on avocado and bananas, and she loved both! I can't believe we are already to this stage. It's unreal.

Goofing off while Mommy teaches TJ

Saturday morning snuggles <3

Happy girl! It's Halloween!!!

Baby girl helping Mama with laundry

She was much more enthusiastic about her Halloween pictures in the morning as opposed to when we went out and went trick or treating with my siblings in the evening, but I promise she was having a good time all day long ;) Notice our matching headbands? Straight #twinning. 

Xoxo,
Amanda

First Things First, Part 1

Soon my blog posts will be current, focused on what we are doing and what the Lord is teaching me in the here and now. But for this first "real" post I want to share a bit about what has been going down the past few weeks that has gotten me to today. I wouldn't be blogging if not for all that I have been learning as I have experienced my first encounter with the world of minimalism and intentional simplicity! The Lord, in his grace, has been using that system to remind me about what it means to live with Heaven in mind. It all began just a few short weeks ago...

When I first began reading about minimalism in September I came across the Intentional Possessions episode of The Livin' Lightly podcast. They took the old expression "time, talents, and treasures" and re-defined treasures to mean more than just money or possessions. Instead, they defined treasures as the things which we value most. As I thought about it, for me it was clear: my stuff is not my treasure. I treasure people. I treasure experiences. I treasure creativity, in all its various God-glorifying expressions. Most of all, I treasure Christ. Money and possessions are just a means to the end of getting to have more experiences with the people I love, to reaching the lost, to being creative, and to serving and spending time with Jesus. I began to evaluate my home based on this question: how are my possessions serving my treasures, protecting my time, and allowing me to pursue my talents? In all reality, many of my things were hindering what I valued most. I would be distracted in my time in the Lord by all the clutter and piles of papers in the kitchen, and that was when the kitchen was "clean". Cleaning my little two bedroom apartment couldn't even be done in an entire Saturday. I was wasting ridiculous amounts of time reordering the excess in my life, or as some would say, "organizing". That physical clutter translated clearly into mental and emotional clutter that was hindering me from enjoying people. Now, to be honest, my home wasn't always terrible. I could have people over. I wasn't a hoarder. Sure, sometimes I had to throw a towel over the giant pile of dirty dishes in my sink when a surprise guest showed up. Maybe my bedroom had become a cast-all in the name of keeping the living room presentable. But hey, nobody's perfect. I was just keepin' it real! I honestly didn't even realize how bad it had gotten. As I took my first step on the path towards simplicity I had no idea how much getting rid of a car-full of stuff would have a ripple effect on the rest of my life. 

Getting rid of my things proved far easier than I anticipated. It was extremely addictive! The first space I cleared was my kitchen counter. It was the only space that I took before pictures of, and I wish I had taken more, but these give you a clear idea of what I was dealing with. It took me barely an hour, and my to-go pile was started. The effect that that one small counter had on me was astounding. The basket sitting there with the stack of papers had been a constant source of anxiety to me as it grew, and grew, and grew. Once it was gone, I was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief. It was as if I had been holding my breath and didn't even know it! I put that basket in the to-go pile so that I wouldn't have to confront that kind of clutter again. Because we had a lot going on, that was the only space I got to for that first week. But it didn't matter. I was totally hooked. Any second I could find I was listening to podcasts like Simple Life Together and reading articles by The Minimalists*, Beginner Beans, and Becoming Minimalist to name a few. Finally, a week later I had the time while I was home to finally start hitting each room, cupboard by cupboard, space by space. I fell in love with the minimalism motto: only keep objects that serve a purpose or bring you joy. 

Now everything in my kitchen is an intentional possession. 

It either makes me happy or serves a purpose!

Once I began evaluating each item based on this criteria I was surprised to see how many thing I had just for the sake of having. I'm referring to the fondue pot I used three times in the four and a half years we've been married. The vase that has been sitting on my counter for two years despite the fact that it's color and style didn't jive with the rest of my decor or even what I wanted my decor to be. The three bags of clothes stuffed in my closet for when I'd lose weight or the weather would change. Because, if and when I lose weight, I'm going to want to wear that three year old shirt, right? And because the weather in Southern California is so severe and frequently changing! Oh wait... As my to-go pile grew and I dug things out of hidden (and some not so hidden) corners of the house I was convicted as the Lord reminded me of His words, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth or rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 16:19-21). I was always hesitant to get rid of things because of the great "what if?" But God is faithful and revealed this lack of trusting in my heart, and I kept on adding more stuff to the pile. When it was all said and done I had hit all the major areas of my house and had an entire van filled, floor to ceiling, with things that weren't necessarily bad, but were hindering me from spending my time doing what I know God has called me to. 

Now, my home won't be getting published in a minimalist magazine! It is not anywhere close to the true definition of minimalism. Realistically, with one daughter and more kiddos eventually on the way, I don't foresee that being a reality for us anytime soon. More importantly, at the end of the day it has never been about the stuff. It is about being intentional with every aspect of my life, questioning each part to determine if it is in line with the responsibilities God has entrusted to me. My Lord and Master is returning soon (Matthew 25:14-30), and the desire of my heart is to be faithful to Him until that day. The same principles that lead me to simplify my physical life lead to me evaluate my time, systems, goals, and pursuits and in doing so gave me greater direction in what kind of wife, mom, and woman I want to become. At some point I will put together a post on the specifics of how minimalism helped me evaluate those areas. But until next time, thank you for following along with me as I pursue simplicity, moderation, and grace in all things!

Love Always, 

            Amanda

*The writers of this blog occasionally use curse words in their posts, so if this would be a stumbling block for you then I'd encourage you to move on to the other two blogs I mentioned. If it isn't, they do have a lot of very helpful tools, such as their 21 Days to Minimalism series.