Lent Day 4: Dresser Top

Saturday was a jam packed day. I had an early event that morning. Met up with some friends for lunch and Timbers game in the evening. But had a little time to do Forty Bags in Forty Days. Instead of attacking Joel's clothes I tackled the top of our dresser. Joel has been out of commission so I couldn't just clean out his clothes without him.  The dresser stares at me every day and I can feel the dust bunnies hopping around. I think I could have filled an entire bag with dust. (Just kidding...kinda) Besides dust there was Christmas decorations that didn't make it back into the totes, lots of random paper, shoes, and some random camera stuff. After putting away the random items in their rightful places I ended up with a whole bag of recyclables, small bag of garbage and bag of stuff to take back to work. I feel like its a whole new dresser! Hopefully we can keep random crap off the top of it. Sundays are off so... Hopefully you are having a meaningful lent season. 

Lent Day 3: My Clothes

After having two kids and having lots of clothes that are for the "in between" stages... It was definitely time to clean out my clothes. I'm not complaining. I'm pretty much my same weight as before kids or even through college and high school. But after kids the weight just kind of shifts around a little. Lol. So, the question really is why do I have clothes from high school in my closet?  Crazy! I don't wear any of it. It just gets moved around and shifted over. And why does one person need seven black cardigans? Yep. That's me. Guilty. My problem is that I get a new one cause my old one has a tear or rip in it and instead of letting go of the old one when I buy the new one I just keep both. They are a little different. (I try to justify in my head). Lol. Then over time I have seven. 

I recently read Jen Hatmaker's book Seven. Where each month she chooses seven items of one thing like food, clothes, etc. She only could wear the same seven items of clothes for a whole month. It was entertaining and eye opening. And at the end of the month no one really noticed or cared that she was in the same stuff. Now I'm not going to go to that extreme but it sounded very freeing not to be spending so much time having to think about clothes, folding, washing, matching. Haha! 

It's so crazy that our identity is so wrapped up in our appearance and our clothes can communicate a lot about us. As I was cleaning out my clothes today I was praying that my identity can be fully wrapped in Jesus and the clothes that he dresses me in... Righteousness, love, joy... And not my own selfishness. May this season of lent be a time of reflecting on your true identity and not what this world tries to make our identity. 

Lent Day 2: Kaden's clothes

Day 2.... Again I pulled out a little grocery paper bag thinking I've been on top of Kaden's clothes and he doesn't have much excess. He doesn't have THAT much stuff. But boy was I wrong. Another garbage bag full. Granted, not as full as Addysen's bag... But full nonetheless. 

We used to serve at a place calle Northwest Children's Outreach. It was a place where social workers could request a bag of clothes for a child in need. We would get cards of a kid's name, age and size they wore. They would get a garbage bag of 2-4 shirts, pants, underwear, socks, two pairs of shoes, one coat, and maybe a hat. Some books, a toy and stuffed animal. Their bins would be lacking in certain areas and it would be hard to think these may be the only "new" clothes this kid is getting. Especially hard to think about when I see my kids growing leaps and bounds faster then I can blink. 

Starting my 40 bags in 40 days with cleaning out our clothes has been a reminder to be thankful for the abundance that we have. Thankful for the friends and family that clothe my kids... especially all the soccer gear that kaden has. :) To remember to cherish my kids today, because they grow so fast. To pray for those in need...that the one bag of clothes could mean the world to them. So far day 2 has been an eye opener. Hope you can find an area to simplify and be grateful for today. 

Lent: Day One-Addysen's Clothes

We had play group this morning and a friend of mine was taking about lent and what she was doing this year. She called it decrapifying. Simplifying. Decluttering. 40 days, 40 bags of things. I made a list of the 40 areas I want to tackle. For me my physical space reflects my inner being. When I feel chaotic you can see it in my bedroom. Laundry everywhere, clean or dirty. I was having a hard time with thinking of something to give up for the lent season. I wanted it to be something other then food or coffee or media. I wanted to learn to be disciplined and learn to be a simpler person. So when my friend talked about this it resonated in my heart. It's always nice to do things with other people too. So, day one was Addysen's clothes. I started with a paper bag but ended up having to grab a bigger garbage bag. I think writing the list was a hard thing for me. I got to number 15 and got stuck. But prayed through the areas in which I need to simplify and got to 40. Hope that through this my heart will be more thankful for what I have and that I can think of others and give things away. That I will take to heart not worrying about my daily needs but see how much God loves and cares for me. May this season of Lent draw you closer to the one who created you. 

2013 Recap

Wow... it's been a long while since I have blogged. I am sure the five of you reading will be happy I am actually updating something. :) Here's our year in review since I was so great at keeping up with everything. Of course this isn't everything and missing a whole lot of important moments...

We started off 2013 at our friend's Pete and Jean's house... The kids past our on the couch before midnight. But it was a fun evening getting to know new friends. We also made a quick trip to Seattle to throw my mom a surprise 60th birthday party!

February we got to have our first ever Tran family vacation to Hawaii! We celebrated a destination wedding of Vince and Kirsty and celebrate my 33rd year of life! We ate a lot, hung at the beach and fell in love with Hawaii again.

March I became a "soccer mom" we enrolled Kaden in his first indoor soccer lessons (Thanks to Kaden's sponsors: Uncle Zach and Mei Mei) and realized how quick he picks up on all the techniques. Joel also got the privilege to baptize his very first person: Olivia Dailey. She asked for Joel to baptize her over Easter weekend. It was a beautiful moment that we will all treasure. Addysen learned to walk and there wasn't a dull moment since.

April was a busy month filled with LOTS of birthday celebrations. Kaden turned FIVE and Addysen turned ONE! And we can't forget about Joel...he turned 37. We had a Portland party where we rented a soccer-plex and had two hours of open play and lots of pasta to feed an army. We celebrated in Seattle at the drop in day care that Kiki works at. We ate at Red Robin a few times (Kaden's choice) and the party month was a blast!

May Kaden had his last day of preschool at SonShine Express in Lake Oswego. His teachers: Kathy and Nancy were so sweet and he learned a lot there. He made many friends and got to spend the year hanging with his best friend Lillian. We also adopted a new housemate: KaoXu. She moved into our basement and has become family.

June was the month of graduations.... we were able to attend Kiki's graduation and our family even made the evening news! (We might have been a little loud! LOL) Joel and I celebrated our 9th anniversary with a staycation. Chi Thu and AT were kind enough to adopt two more kids for two nights and allowed us to be a tourist in our own city of Portland! We ate at yummy happy hours, slept in, and dreamed of what the future holds.

July we were able to put Kaden in Soccer Camp at Jeld Wen Field, home of the Portland Timbers! (Thanks again to his sponsors). We were all in awe of him actually playing on the pitch that the Timbers play on... and the daughter of the owner of the Timbers was in his camp too. Of course it was THE HOTTEST day of the year we were out there... but Kaden was in Soccer heaven so he didn't mind. We also go to light up the skies at the Lam's abode with many friends and family. They never disappoint. The Banker's also returned back to the states and it's always good to have them back.

August the biggest wedding of the year #phanwedding2013 was a blast. We also had Chi Gracie come back up to the NW where we ate wayyyyy too much and baked yummy treats! Lots of adventures with Uncle Zach and Mei Mei too! Addysen also had her modeling debut for Zulily.

September Kaden started Kindergarten!!!!! Ahhh! We have a school aged child. He took about two months to adjust to the schedule. He was starving and tired every day he came home from school. He picked up reading super fast and loves every minute of it. His teacher Mrs. LeRoy is amazing. She had those kids functioning like clockwork in that classroom after a week. Kaden also joined his first soccer team the Foothills Bobcats. We played him up to U-7 team. He had a great season and scored most of the goals in his games. (Although we don't REALLY keep score.) Addysen was a trooper she didn't know what to do with Kaden gone to school all day so we enrolled her in a four week art class at the Children's Museum.

October was filled with lots of soccer and trick or treating at Multnomah Village. We also threw a Halloween party with some friends from Missio and Hayhurst Elementary School. Went to the pumpkin patch with my brother and his family. It was a blast! I also was able to coordinate Compassion Connect's annual banquet and loved every second of it.

November came too fast. We made a whirlwind trip to Seattle to say goodbye to my brother and his family as they loaded up their belongings and headed South to Irvine, California. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house and spent lots of time just enjoying family.

December was a very enjoyable month for me. It was the coldest month ever... but it was also magical to cut down our tree at a farm high enough that the snow was still there. We did a lot of our gift giving through baked goods and online shopping. The Tos had a wonderful Christmas celebration Saturday before Christmas. We were able to spend a week in Seattle with my family.

This year was a lot more stable than last year... no moving, no new jobs... there was lots of other events and milestones that happened this year... but not enough time or energy to write them down. As we look back we are thankful for 2013 and look forward to 2014 and what adventures God has for our family of four. Happy New Year! 

Little Timber Kaden

Kaden's dreams came true this week. He got to play soccer on Jeld-Wen field. Zach and Amanda sponsored Kaden to soccer camp and we found one put on by the Timbers. Kaden got to play for three days, four hours each day with 100 other kids. Kaden was the youngest and so excited to play! He put on his Timber jersey and we got him shin guards and cleats and he was off. He looked like he belongs out there. Of course it was one of the hottest weeks in Portland but he braved the heat and learned new skills and played his heart out. I would figure he would be so exhausted by the end of the four hours but he wanted to keep playing when we got home. I think I was more emotional sending him off to the pitch then I was on his very first day of preschool. I enjoy seeing my kids love something so passionately. Kaden even got to meet one of the Timbers players: Diego Valeri. It was a very cool experience for him. I am very thankful he gets to do cool things like this. I guess I'm a real soccer mom now. We also got a minivan this week. Haha!! I think Addysen's first song she can fully song is going to be a Timber chant and not twinkle twinkle. Haha! 

One and Five

A late post. But better late then never. The kids had milestone birthdays this year. Addysen turned one and kaden turned five. We celebrated with dinner at Red Robin (kadens choice) for the day of his actual birthday. But celebrations lasted all month. Lots of fun outings: free ice cream, free burgers at Fudruckers, two parties. The Portland party was held at the soccer field and was a hit! We had two of our friends be the coaches and had the kids do some organized soccer drills and scrimmage. Then we had a Seattle party at The Nest. It's a daycare facility that has all sorts of fun stuff for the kids. That party was mostly family. We also had professional pictures taken at the Picture People. It was my first time as a true customer on the other side of the camera. Pictures turned out great! I can't believe these kids are growing up sooo fast before our eyes. Kaden lives and breathes soccer. Addysen is super funny and loves the out doors and birds. I am blessed to be able to call these two as my kids. Happy birthday dear ones! We love you so much!