Searching out a Fuller Life

Signing in from Texas.

We began this blog to document our world travels. Starting in England and documenting trips to China, Korea, across the continental United States, Hawaii, etc. has been fantastic. This blog has also witnessed the expansion of our family, our fellow travelers in life and the joy of our existence.

And now we've taken a new step in our journey, this search for moments that swell life to its fullest. Moving away from family, familiar mountains, comfortable surroundings, we've taken a step out into a new and stretching adventure. We are, for the foreseeable future, Texans.

Making this decision was exciting. We grabbed a great opportunity, eager to experience new and more and different. But then we faced the realities of being separated from family--from cousins our kids saw as best friends, from parents who had real time and need and love for us, and from a large and welcoming extended family that nurtured close and enriching relationships for all of us. That is still the most difficult facet of our time here, and it's getting harder.

But when Dustin and I flew down to house hunt we felt the need to be here. Later, when we drove a car down for him to use at work (he started his job while the kids and I had finished summer in Utah) we felt it again: a resonating pull and sense of right-ness being here.

And so, based on prayers and that reverberation of home, we are here. And our drive to have not just a full life, but a fuller life--one we choose, one we conscientiously expand, one where we seek for deeper and whole-er impacts on our souls--has landed us in a new and wonderful place where we will keep expanding the good we've gathered. This blog is a receptacle, for now, of what we find.

Can't wait to share it with y'all!

Books of 2017

  I read 37 books this year (actually, close to 100 if you count the 50+ The Magic Treehouse series I listened/read to my kids. Boy, was that a time commitment!). I really enjoy reading, and this year I practiced feeling like reading was a time of enlightenment, instead of a guilty time-waster as I so often categorize it. Here's the order, with a few comments:

• Anne of Ingleside--L.M. Montgomery

Finished this series this year after beginning it last year. Anne is a delightful character, and I enjoy her story inasmuch as it so closely parallels my own love story.

• Rainbow Valley--L.M. Montgomery

• The Queen of Attolia--Meghan Whalen Turner

This is a FANTASTIC series. I love the first book, and this second one is great, and the third is splendid...you get the idea. Great characters, strong females, etc. And always a twist in the perspective of the story/plot.

• Daring Greatly--Brene Brown

This took me so longt o get through. I loved the first half, but then I lost steam, and it seemed that she began repeating herself as the slogged to the finish. Her Tedtalks are good.

• Of Mice and Men--John Steinbeck

• East of Eden--John Steinbeck

SUCH an impacting book. I read it with a few friends and spent hours discussing what Steinbeck reveals about people, love, religion, meaning, all of it. Definitely a book everyone should read in their lifetime.

• The Bell Jar--Sylvia Plath

• Rilla of Ingleside--LM Montgomery

• Peter Pan--J.M. Barrie

If you are wanting to read Peter Pan out loud to kids, choose the play instead of the book. The pirate fights and descriptions are lost on the kids.

• The King of Attolia--Meghan Whaler Turner

• River Secrets--Shannon Hale

Shannon is a good storyteller. I really enjoy the world she has created, and the strengths and flaws of her protagonists.

• Forest Born--Shannon Hale

This book stood out to me because it shows (spoiler alert) that, unlike Frodo who can't happily return to the Shire, that heros and heroines can be happy to go out, adventure and travel and such, and then return home--like home is actually a good thing :)

• Conspiracy of Kings--Megan Whalen Turner

• The Boys in the Boat--Daniel James Brown

• Hillbilly Elegy--J.D. Vance

• The Penderwicks--Jeanne Birdsall

Another great series. The first book is my favorite, and it delights me all the more because this is such a great picture of how my sisters and I were growing up. I love it!

• The Penderwicks on Garham Street--Jeanne Birdsall

• The Penderwicks at Mouette Point--Jeanne Birdsall

• Don Quixote--Miguel de Cervantes

This took me FOREVER to get through. Like over 9 months--more than it takes to grow and deliver a baby. It is TOO LONG. There are lots of good and humorous and literary important things here, but mostly just too long.

• Chocolate Fever--Robert K. Smith

Read with the kids. Funny.

• The Chocolate Touch--Patrick Skene Catling

I liked this even better than Chocolate Fever. So did the girls.

• What We Talk About When We Talk About Love--Raymond Carver

Meh. When I talk about love, I don't talk about such sad and depressing things. Needs more of an emotional, less cynical mix.

• Thick As Thieves--Megan Whalen Turner

• Ten Colloquies--Erasmus

Read this because Erasmus supposedly had quite an influence on Reformation thought, etc.

• The Penderwicks in Spring--Jeanne Birdsall

• Middlemarch--George Elliot

Phenomenal. I can't believe I never read Eliot during my MA in English program. Her ability to weave together stories and keep track of dozens of characters is mind boggling. Good read, and beautiful, meaningful writing.

• House Full of Females--Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Ulrich is one of my long-time role models--my dream was to follow her academic path (history undergrad, English masters, then history PhD), and I appreciate having an intelligent, historical researcher who is so thorough in delving into a topic. Lots to discuss with this one.

• The Girl Who Drank the Moon--Kelly Barnhill

Enjoyable Newberry award.

• Elantris--Brandon Sanderson

This is my first exposure to Sanderson. I was struck with the story, and I have thought of it often. Lots of the details escape, but some of the characters still find me in my thoughts.

• Half of a Yellow Sun--Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

So much tragedy and hardship in the world that never touches our lives directly. Without modern technology we wouldn't even be aware of the rest of the iceberg. Some is so foreign, but some is repeated in every society on earth.

• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society--Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

So fun.

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory--Roald Dahl

My oldest daughter's new favorite book, and has started off a Roald Dahl kick in our house.

• Little House in the Big Woods--Laura Ingalls Wilder

I was surprised how much my kids liked this. We've trudged all the way to near the end of the 3rd book in the series now.

• The Book of Mormon

Every year the same words. Every year new highlights, thoughts, and inspiration.

• Tuesdays at The Castle--Jessica Day George

Kids love it. a Little juvenile for me.

• Wednesdays in the Tower--Jessica Day George

• Thursdays with the Crown--Jessica Day George

• Fridays with Wizards--Jessica Day George

Books Read in 2016

  I love these sort of posts--both writing them and reading friends'. I'd resigned myself to not having one for 2016 because, well, it is MARCH and the moment has passed...but then my friend posted hers just this Monday--I drew courage and finished this. I love the idea of writing a monthly version, but, knowing my blogging record, I'd better stick to annual for the time being--if I get ambitious I'll keep an updated draft here, or make it a semi-annual thing :) 

  Also, my goal (paltry to most of my English and book friends) to read 50 books? I did it.

Till We Have Faces--C.S. Lewis

I read this twice this year and kept a list of quotes to blog about because it tempts you into thinking about harder aspects of the bigger picture versus our own small perspective. Not usual Lewis stuff, but then at the end you hear echos of his musings: love as a devouring force, the common human experience of living as an individual, intention intention intention with self confession. Great book to read and discuss with someone else.

The Sleeper and the Spindle--Neil Gaiman

This is a super short one, but my first exposure to Gaiman. Thought he was awesome. Liked the girl power and flipping the fairy tale. Negative: has that feeling of surfacing after being pushed into a freezing lake and not knowing where you are or who shoved you in that I hate about short stories.

The Wide Sargasso Sea--Jean Rhys

This book did a good job of describing the panic that comes when fate careens out of your grasp, leaving you unable to make your own choices. I didn't like the way it interacted with Jane Eyre, but I appreciate what it wanted to do.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe--C. S. Lewis (Rosie)

This was the first "long" book I read aloud to my kids. My oldest was enraptured and still talks about it. I'm so glad to have a fellow Narnia fan in my kids. It's been hard finding a read-aloud book to compare.

Brisinger--Christopher Paolini [Audio] and Inheritance--Christopher Paolini [Audio]

I enjoy fantasy, but I don't know if I would have gotten through this series without the audio book. It made it entertaining and let me multi-task (laundry, prepping dinner, etc.) while enjoying the story.

Cybele's Secret--Juliet Marillier [Audio]

Continued my great experiences with audio books. This is Marillier's second book. Both leave some depth and unpredictability to be desired, but are engaging stories.

Yes Please--Amy Poehler

My first in a string of celebrity books this year--an attempt to read what others were discussing. I wish I'd watched more of Amy (didn't start P&R until months after) before reading this. It was good, but I enjoyed reading Tina's better.

Charlotte's Web--E. B. White (Rosie)

I'd never read this, and it was fun to do the animal voices with my kids.

My Life on the Road--Gloria Steinem

Again, trying to read what was being discussed at the time. I loved the first half of this book, of hearing how Gloria came to where she is, but I hate to admit that the second half left a bit of distaste in my mouth. So much "us" and "them," and a tendency to abandon those with less bold and brassy talent but who still want to join the team.

Seriously... I'm Kidding--Ellen DeGeneres [Audio]

Ellen is funny and has a casual easiness about her. Good person, but I don't remember much of the book.

Housekeeping--Marilynne Robinson

Robinson's Gilead and Lila both make my best books ever list. This book is very different from those, but sent me off in throes of thoughts: I realized yet again how scary it is to be a mom--you give birth and become mutually imprinted souls that exist in an alien or separated state from each other; the struggle between choice and fate, or pre-fated choice, or whatever; the loneliness that being human is.

Less Than Human--David Livingstone Smith

Nonfiction research and discussion about how we de-humanize those around us and how the most catastrophic moments in our history come from seeing others as not just different but inferior and non-human. Important points and scary possible repercussions.

Bossypants--Tina Fey

Funny, enlightening, best of the celeb reads, but not super gripping.

Jesus the Christ--James E. Talmage

A reread from the copy my grandfather sent me during my college years. Interesting interpretations of Bible passages and moments in the Savior's life. A lot of opportunity to appreciate and re-appreciate Christ's life and eternal legacy, good reminders of my time in the Holy Land, and points of scripture and history to ponder.

Catcher in the Rye--J.D. Salinger

Not what I expected at all, and I liked it better by the end than I did when I started. And better after talking to the geniuses that frequent my book club.

Calling on Dragons--Patricia Wrede and Talking to Dragons--Patricia Wrede

Great childhood series, loved it again.

Unbroken--Laura Hildebrand

Long, but good. I love historical biographies that dramatize important moments in our history.

Why Not Me?--Mindy Kaling

I'd fazed a bit on my celeb reading by this point, and she didn't quite grip me with this, although her desire to be loved and in really resonate with me.

I am Malala--Malala Yousafzai

Little Women--Louisa May Alcott [Audio]

The Graveyard Book--Neil Gaiman

Love Gaiman. I want to read more and more. This is a super fun book.

Catch-22--Joseph Heller

I get what he is doing with it. I appreciate the moves. But it is soooooo long and sooooo uneventful...sigh, I should appreciate these things more.

Scarlet--Marissa Meyer

A fun series--I like following different characters through an overarching story.

Misty of Chincoteague--Maugerite Henry (Rosie)

Tried to live my childhood through this one with my kids--maybe not a huge success.

Cress--Marissa Meyer and Winter--Marissa Meyer

The Book Thief--Markus Zusak [Audio]

This was the first audio book I regretted. I think I'd've liked it better reading it as a book. Couldn't connect with the girl.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child--J.K. Rowling

I SO loved sitting down with a snack, a blanket, and a Rowling book again! I liked having it in play form--it kept it separate from the HP series nicely for me. Fun glance into the characters' older lives, but at the end of the day, it read like a fan fiction and not HP #8 (which of course it wasn't).

I Am America, And So Can You--Steven Colbert [Audio]

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up--Marie Kondo

Found the first third motivating enough to get some good DI and trash bags leaving my house. But she is ridiculous and way over the top for my level of desire in invest in home-ifying my surroundings.

The Kiss of a Stranger--Sarah Eden

Cards on the Table--Agatha Christie

As a teenager I went through a Queen of Mystery phase, and it was fun to read this as my sister-in-law read Christie's ENTIRE published works.

Cranford--Elizabeth Gaskell [Audio]

Anne's House of Dreams--L.M. Montgomery

Moments of the Anne series resonate with me. Especially going back every ten years or so and seeing how similar so many aspects of our lives have been (minus her tragic beginnings). Montgomery's writing is often over the top, but every once and a while she offers up a passage that is absolutely riveting and moment-making.

The Secret Garden--Frances Hodgson Burnett

  Another classic I'd never read. Wonderful.
  

Out of the Silent Planet--C.S. Lewis

Can't say enough for Lewis when he uses fiction to explore human nature. I wish people read more of this side of Lewis and included it in their love of his works.

The Horse and His Boy--C.S. Lewis (Rosie)

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet--Jamie Ford

Loved the dramatization of an historical moment, but very wrapped up tidily by the end.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz--L. Frank Baum (Rosie) [Audio]

Wives and Daughters--Elizabeth Gaskell [Audio]

  Even better than Cranford.

Ender's Shadow--Orson Scott Card [Audio]

Fantastic audio book. And I LOVED seeing a parallel overlapping perspective to Ender's Game.

Fairest--Marissa Meyer

The Woman In White--Wilkie Collins [Audio]

Way too long. But fun to read after hearing it mentioned so often by my Victorian lit professors.

Frankenstein--Mary Shelley

The Shepherd's Crown--Terry Pratchett

A mildly disappointing finish to an utterly brilliant series--one that my kids will all grow up knowing and loving, I hope.

David and Goliath--Malcolm Gladwell

Seriously wish I could take a seminar from this guy. Every book I read of his gives me great points of conversation (thank you, Dustin, for your patience).

The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever--Barbara Robinson

The Thief--Megan Whaler Turner

Again, a fantastic book; part of a fantastic series. Great authorial moves in making an interesting plot with unique characters.

The Simeon Solution--Anne Osborn Poelman

Made me wish I received revelation in such a direct way, as this author and many individuals I know do.

Finding myself through The Office

These were some thoughts I wrote down after finishing The Office--which I started over a decade after it first aired, the first show I ever watched through on my own:


Pam becomes much more attractive after she is married; her appearance has a striking difference to her early years. It gives hope that I, not yet 30, will still be able to shape my appearance to fit who I become, and that my best years can still be ahead of me.

Wanting to hold onto people forever. Interesting the part Michael Scott plays in the finale. I thought his return would be a huge factor, the pinnacle of the episode. But it isn't. They are glad to see him, and they welcome him with hugs and tears, but he isn't even invited to the final gathering.

What a perfect, ordinary, special special love story Pam and Jim have. It mirrors my own and gives me a lot to strive for at the same time.

Pam is eager to stretch herself, to live her dream, and to anchor her family. I have admired her character's struggle to promote her talents and opinions, and her innate goodness that pushes her outside of her comfort zone.

Kevin says that if you film anyone long enough, you eventually will come to love them. I want to pay more attention to people and the details of their lives. I shouldn't need a 9-season show to help me fall in love with those around me.

A room full of the un-ideal, the ridiculous, the laughable, the pathetic. And yet, through serving each other and enduring, they are able to forge a community bond. Such an enviable outcome. It's why I want a large family--to have someone to share that with. But not just for a decade or for a career--it seems like graduations, interstate moves, life's twists and turns all seem to bring an end to these relationships--that's how The Office ends, with Pam and Jim leaving and thus the "documentary" itself drawing to a close...so many faces leave. But a family can be together forever. I want that. I crave it: sowing connections that will never have to fizzle or fade across time and memory. In family, something will always stay. Jim and Pam get that, with their daughter and son. I want that with my own family.

California Beach and Disneyland 2016

We splurged on a Disneyland trip in February, and it was a total success. Reasons for this: 1. we went the week before Disney jacked up their prices yet again and 2. everything on the trip was perfect. How often does that happen?

At home, prepping for our trip.

We drove, and, thanks to books-on-tape and other CD songs, it was actually a fun roadtrip. 

Like our naptime blanket tents?

Our first afternoon we spent at the beach. Both girls' first beach experience. I think I was the most excited (I haven't been to a beach in five years—too long!!! Curse the desert!)

Dustin's mom came with us and the girls loved having Grandma around! We spent Friday in California Adventure. 

And it so happened that no one at Disneyland wore yellow the day I dressed my girls in their matching shirts, which made it so much easier to keep track of my sprinters.

We ran home after lunch and took naps (the kids were wiped out!). I worried beforehand that once we left the park we would never make it back, but after naps we jumped back on the bus and headed back for more fun--our little girls kept going strong through World of Color and fireworks.

The next day was solely for the Disneyland half of the park--Fantasyland, Adventureland, the whole shebang. We brought an Elsa and a Cinderella to the parks.

And we got some classic cameos of our little blondies:

I attribute a lot of the magic of Disney and the enchanting atmosphere, but really, the trip was wonderful because it was me and my family, spending time away from our day-to-day duties, making memories and reveling in the magic of a family made of best friends. 

P.S.—Sara can't wait until the next Disneyland trip...which will probably be in a decade or so :)