Catching up on November

This will be an odd compilation of thoughts and stories, seeing as I haven't written consistently this month. Enjoy!

There is an equine annex near our house, so we drive past it very often. The other day, it was so cold that the horses were wearing coverings to keep them warm. I mentioned that the horses were wearing jackets, so Theo repeated over and over, “Horse. Jacket.” We were on our way to drop Theo off on campus with Corbin so I could run some errands. Apparently, Theo carried on the horse jacket conversation with Corbin after I left, but it obviously didn’t make sense to him. That is, until they rode the bus home, and Corbin saw the horse jackets for himself. They were both quite excited about the discovery.

I teamed up with a bunch of ladies from church to create a "quiet book." I am making thirteen copies of this awesome page, and then we'll trade pages.

I think it turned out quite nicely, and I can't wait to give the whole book to Theo for Christmas.

Corbin and I have been reading the New Testament for our couples scripture study, and tonight we are on track to finish! I am also studying the Old Testament in my personal study, and I realize that these books were really not written for our time.  It's really great to have all these stories and accounts through history, but there is a lot of weird stuff to sift through. Stuff that is from another culture, another time, another understanding of how the world and God's relationship with it.

It makes me appreciate the Book of Mormon a whole lot more.  It was written in a similar time frame as the Bible, and it is another testament of Jesus Christ. The Bible seems like a bunch of writings that were thrown together, because they were available, which is nice to have. But the Book of Mormon was compiled very carefully from a lot of different writings for a specific purpose.  In its introduction, it says that it was made for our day.  It sure makes a lot more sense to me, and I feel like I don't have to work quite so hard to glean the spiritual messages from it. Reading the Bible helps me appreciate the Book of Mormon so much more.

Corbin and I went on a date a while back, and I got these sweet new shoes. I put them on right outside the store, and threw the old ones in the trash.  Best part, they were only $10.

NaNoWriMo is going really well for me.  I'm almost at 40,000 words! I'm so close to my goal of 50,000 words by Nov. 30th, and I feel such a sense of accomplishment already. But I need to keep it up if I want to win!

I'm not sure if I've talked about this yet, but there is so much free food floating around Cornell Campus, it's astounding. Corbin gets free lunch many days of the week. He is such a lovely husband, he brings me home leftovers very often. Yummy veggie or humus wraps, sandwiches, chips, cookies.  It sure makes my day. Thanks, Love!

I am so excited for Thanksgiving! We’re staying in New York, and we will be dining on turkey with our new best friends from church, the Passeys. Sara’s sister and family will be joining us, so Theo will have an 18 month old play mate to enjoy. We sure are lucky to know such quality people.

Sara said something to me a while ago that warmed my heart, and I think about it fondly. We had been playing at their house, and before we left, she stopped me. She said she liked the way we parent Theo. It looks like we have fun, like it’s a pleasure to be a parent.  And that we’re patient with him.

As a mom I’m constantly evaluating my actions, so it was nice hearing that from an outside source.  It gave me confidence that maybe I am doing a good job.  Sometimes, Theo and I are bored, or he does something that makes me want to throw him out the window. But most of the time, we have a lot of fun and enjoy each other.  So thank you, Sara! You made my day, and many days since!

The Passeys joined us for an event on campus last week.  Josh Malina, who we are fans of because of West Wing, came and spoke about how his Jewish life and his acting life intermingle.  It was so interesting, and very entertaining.  Thanks for pointing it out to us, Holly!

And last thing I wanted to talk about, but certainly not least. Shelley bought Theo's and my tickets to Argentina!!! I'm not sure if she wants us to pay her back in pesos or dollars.  We will be ditching Corbin at the end of January and staying til the end of February. We are so so sosoosososoooooo excited! I've had intentions of learning Spanish before we go, but all I know at this point is si, and como se llama (and that's only because Shelley told me).

Christie's wedding, Corbin's TED talk, my NaNoWriMo

About a week ago, we got to go back to the TriCities for Corbin's sister's wedding. We had an absolute blast, and the wedding was wonderful. Christie looked beautiful. When they were saying the vows, I could see Adam's face perfectly, and he looked so full of love.

Corbin, Austin, and I got to sing and play during the lighting of the unity candle. I'm so glad Christie let us be involved, and now we have another pretty song in our repertoire.

Theo's favorite part was playing with Corbin's cousin Terese's son. He is three, and so full of energy. Theo loved running around, jumping through hula hoops, and being silly with him.  He called Theo "FeFo," and how awesome is that?

Theo was a champion traveler on our many flights. It gives me hope for the very long flight to Argentina we will be making in January.  By the way, that's happening!

In other news, our stake president (higher up leader in the church) came to the Branch today for our conference. He spoke for a few minutes at the beginning of Relief Society, and began telling a story of how his 18 year old son wanted to put an ad on Craig's list for a bassist.  He is an amazing guitarist and singer, and needed someone to jam with. President Beck told us how worried he was that some creepy guy would respond, and introduce Jake to drugs and persuade him not to go on a mission. But he agreed on the terms that whoever replied would have similar standards to his own, and not be a creep.

So when Jake got an email from a guy almost ten years older than him who lived in Ithaca (they live about an hour away), he was apprehensive.

Then he stopped and said, "You know who it was?  Corbin Miller."  And everyone in the room laughed out loud.  I guess Corbin was an answer to President Beck's prayers, and he talked about how we don't know when we will be an answer to someone else's prayers.  And he said this awesome sentence, that I wrote down so I could remember it. "You can be the Corbin Miller in someone's life." Yay Corbin for getting in with the Stake President!

Anyways, Jake and Corbin played for a TED event that was going on in Corning. They went to the dress rehearsal on Friday, and Corbin had a sleepover at their house. Theo and I didn't get to come see the talk, but  we came to pick him up, got lots of leftover snacks and treats, and took a look through the glass museum where it was being held.

I'm so glad my husband is talented and nice and wonderful. He is a good influence on me to put myself out there, develop my talents, and not be afraid to try new things.  I sure love that guy.

Theo at a play lab at Ithaca College. yes, I pimped out my son to research.

In other other news, my NaNoWriMo novel is going really well. I have about 17,000 words so far (about 35 typed pages), which is almost to where I should be for today.  It started out a little rough, but I know it's improving because I'm more comfortable talking about the plot and stuff.  I love creative writing, and it's so fun to have an excuse to do it!