in no particular order

life has been a little fast-paced lately.

we were in ohio for christmas, came back, and then 2 days later had jamie's sister's family at our house for several days. things have slowed down substantially now that we don't have 2 little nephews shooting us with nerf guns.

i'm still looking for a job. i sent in a few applications right before christmas, so i'm assuming i still have a chance at those jobs since this is the first serious work week for most people since before christmas. we could really use the money for debt reduction, but i'd just like to have something to do each day. it's nice to have nothing to do, but it gets old really fast. especially considering that we're approaching the really big wait for our adoption -- the wait for a referral. personally, i don't really want to be sitting around my house everyday with nothing to do fretting about whether today is the day we'll hear something. i want to be busy.

i have a few books i'm planning to read while i wait for a job:

treasuring God in our traditions -- noel piper
the problem of pain -- cs lewis
the connected child -- karyn purvis
fields of the fatherless -- tom davis

also, i've seen 2 really good children's movies recently. up and horton hears a who. has anybody else seen these? up has a whimsical feel to it that draws kids in (and talking animals, which is always a plus), but i think the themes are really for adults. i don't mean that the themes are inappropriate. i just think there are deeper, more profound meanings to the movie that adults will appreciate. seriously, the movie made me sob. i used christmas money to buy it because i was so impressed. horton hears a who was also well done. it's based on the dr. seuss book of the same name. i don't want to spoil the movie, but it has a lot of great religious overtones. it would be a great movie to use with your kids to discuss how God exists even though we can't see him.

we want to be really intentional about the movies (and tv shows) we let our kids watch. i think we really hope to not let our kids be obssessed with tv, which means that my goal is to buy a lot of books, music CDs, learning activities, and craft supplies before our kids come home. but when we do watch movies (or tv), i hope we can teach our kids to be discerning about what they're watching. i read one blog where a family asks their children to name 2 distortions of truth in whatever movie they watched. i really like this idea because it teaches your children wisdom, truth, and discernment and also hones their thought processing skills (though, a younger child would need help from mom and dad). so i'm taking recommendations on good kids' movies and what activities you do with your kids in place of copious amounts of tv-watching.