The card I meant to send

I find this particular week of advent difficult. We have been doing so much to prepare ourselves for the coming of our Savior for three whole weeks now. I must admit monotony is starting to set in. The advent candles don't always get lit at dinner, and by now, some little boys enjoy blowing them out as soon as they are lit. My morning prayer, that started off so well three weeks ago, was done at 10:30pm last night. Most of our advent books have been read multiple times. And all those narrations, summaries, and pictures that were supposed to follow those book reading moments, and then be integrated into our advent lap books. Most of those didn't happen, and the free sheets of papers that did get written are floating around my kitchen. But this blog is not one to describe our advent and our last few weeks of school (or not-school) depending on how you look at it. I hope to blog that tomorrow. This blog post is to let you know I'm trying to make advent holy. And I still have all the presents to wrap. And the dog really needs a bath, and a brush, and frankly a pair of scissors to cut out the tangles. And we need a Christmas tree this weekend. And I still need to write the Christmas cards. And now the problem. I took the picture. It was "good enough" for four kids and a battery-low light on the camera. I came home and ordered it via an online print shop. I chose some custom cropping option. BAD MOVE! The picture is the wrong way. Sarah is almost cut out of the picture. So is the right side of Luke's head. It is really, really bad. I have 70 copies. I don't have time or patience for retakes. It will be sent out. Wait until you see it. It is that bad. But next week will be a special, holy week in this house. I will try to get back on track with prayer and advent. The third week of advent is Gaudete week. The week of rejoicing for the Savior is coming. I am going to try to recapture that starting tomorrow. Next week will be snuggling, more baking, and more reading. Although I am dying to get back to science, and history, and geography. It will wait. All so my children will remember these times of joyful anticipation, even though the stress may be settling in for mom. And in years to come this picture will be my reminder of and advent spent trying to be holy. But this is the picture I meant to send out!