Writing again! [2015 update]

I've decided to begin writing again, mostly to keep track of these days and to remember the happy things therein. I hope to check in once a week or so with a few snippets of my life. For today, I'm finally polishing off and publishing the family newsletter I wrote in early January.

Happy New Year from the Joseph and Rachel Langemann family!  Life is flying by with increasing rapidity and I thought that I would take the time to write up some of our highlights from 2015, lest they be lost to posterity in the craziness of life.  We are well; loving our life together and our beautiful little ones.  Putting up our stockings this year was a fun visual reminder for me that we actually are a family of four!   We are blessed to live near both of our families and rarely lack for someone to visit with or watch the kids for us.  

Emily Grace joined us early in the morning of July 2, missing Canada Day (July 1) by 5 minutes.  We’re actually not disappointed that she chose her own birthday, narrowly avoiding both of our national holidays.  We were so grateful for a fairly quick and easy labor and delivery this time around.  We’ve adjusted well to two children (busy times!) and love our dark-haired, dark-eyed little princess.  Emily is one of the happiest babies we have ever seen and she is a delight to watch; her smiles and laugh are contagious.  She’s quite the social child and wants to be where she can see other people.  She’s playing with toys--finally got some little girl toys for Christmas--and getting more and more stable at sitting up.  She brings us so much joy and it amazes me how quickly she is growing up.

James turned two in November.  He’s a sweet, loving, very active little boy.  He is talking more and more and has just been starting to string words together!  His favorite things are big trucks, trains, doing the dishes, and helping Mommy cook.  He’s getting good at coloring and likes to sit and play the piano, moving expressively while he does so.  If we’re playing together sometimes he will take both my hands and put them on the keyboard.  James loves his little sister, whom he calls “Bebe” or “Ummy”, and will ask to hold her or have her near him.  It’s been so special to watch them build a relationship.  He’s also a leftie, to the delight of his left-handed mama.  He’s such a water boy; loves bathtime, “doing the dishes”, and swimming in the summertime.  

Joe has worked at The Deck Superstore for nearly two years now.  He’s part of the sales team and loves his job, selling decking products primarily to contractors.  It’s a bit of a commute for him but it’s such a good fit and I’m happy that he loves his job.  Joe is an awesome dad; I love to watch him care for and interact with our kids.  He has a great eye for design and we really enjoy remodeling and decorating together.  He still sings with Bold Reflection, a mens’ choral group, and appreciates the opportunity to use his voice and spend time with friends.  In April he joined Vision Heirs for their spring Revolutionary War re-enactment.  Getting dressed up in period attire and strutting about the battlefield (or discoursing about the disturbing medical practices of the day) gave him an enjoyable change of pace.  Joe loves getting out of the city for our family vacations and dreams of living in the country again.   

I’m keeping quite busy with two little ones.  I love to get outside and usually manage to walk when the weather’s good.  My favorite gift when Emily was born was a super-nice BOB double stroller; we get good use out of it!  Our condo complex has a pool and we take full advantage of that in the summer.  I love to swim and it looks as though James is following in my footsteps.  I enjoy my time in the kitchen and have had fun learning more about culinary art since we’ve been married.  Good breads and soups are so satisfying to create.  I still enjoy reading whenever I can, and I’ve come back to crochet; it’s relaxing to work with my hands and I find joy in creating beautiful things.  This fall while we traveled I took the time to teach myself to knit Continental style (with the yarn in my left hand vs. right hand) and I love it!  Can’t wait to do more.  Music is still deep in my bones and I love to play when I get the chance.  I play piano for Bold Reflection and love the opportunity to make music with others, and lately I’ve been pulling my violin out now and again.  

Joe and I have been married for just over 3 years now.  We love our life together and are amazed at God’s goodness to us.  We were able to take a short trip to Breckenridge in May.  We missed James but it was good to get away and have some time for the two of us: enjoying the amazing views from our bed and breakfast, walking the streets of Breck, and shopping for tea and books.  We share a love of the outdoors and enjoy packing the kids in the stroller or in our handy child carriers and exploring, either nearby or further up into the mountains.  

We also greatly enjoy road trips (the open road is so good for the soul!) and some of our favorite memories this year have been of our times on the road.  We visited a friend’s cabin in Buena Vista a few times throughout the year and made a whirlwind trip to NE in October for a friend’s wedding, but the most exciting event of our year was our road trip to Michigan.  We took nearly two weeks in the fall and traveled, with our two under two, back to where my mom grew up and where I spent most of my growing-up vacations.  We had a wonderful time with my grandma, mom and sister (and brother in law, who’s engaged to my sister!) and also spent some time as a family in a cottage on Lake Huron.  It was such a relaxing time, though we are realizing that life with two kids is still life with two kids even on vacation.  The colors were beautiful, the lakes so refreshing (we love water) and time with each other and with family was a special gift.

After attending the Church at Ellerslie in Windsor since our marriage, we finally decided after Emily’s birth that driving over an hour each Sunday was no longer feasible or wise for us.  We are blessed to have found a solidly Biblical local church.  We’ve been attending there for a few months now and it has been so good to interact with the local Body of Christ, connect with new friends, and be close to home!  Change is often hard but we are grateful for how this transition is working out.  

In closing, we are thankful for you, our family and friends. We love you and are so grateful to have you as part of our lives.  

Joe, Rachel, James and Emily Langemann

               

All photo credits except for the lake picture go to Sarah Morgan Photography.

                                       

Springtime

This afternoon I took James for a walk and we stopped for a while at a nearby park to relax, read, and enjoy the beautiful outdoors.  We had a wonderful time!

I am blessed that we live near such a pretty place to walk.  I love the sound of running water.

Little violets hiding near the creek.

It's a lot easier to paint your toenails when you aren't 9 months pregnant!

Just waking up.

Reading with Mommy!

Little Bits of Random

I have been thinking about writing again lately.  Lots of little things to say have been bubbling up all day, so I will try to catch them and write them down.  

It's a quiet day.  The kind of day where you want to do nothing but sit, read, write, take care of your baby, and drink about ten cups of tea.  But I have a lot of little chores to do and some big organizational projects looming (two closets that drive me batty when I take the time to really look at them, which fortunately isn't often).  I guess I'll try do to some of both--the getting things done and the sitting around and relaxing.  

My Aunt Ruth passed away on Monday night.  Most of my family is driving out to Omaha today.  We will miss her so much.  I remember her as a sweet, loving, generous lady.  Small but so spunky, and family was tremendously important to her.  She invested a lot of time and care into our lives; she was really like another grandma to us.  I wish I could be with the family this weekend but two days of driving with James sounded like a little too much.  

* * * *

I just got my third cup of tea.  I went to put a little honey in but the honey jug popped open and I ended up with a lid and enough honey to sweeten the next 7 cups of tea in my cup.  Goodness.  I removed the lid, transferred my milk and enough honey for one cup to another mug, and left the rest for future use.  

* * * *

I just practiced piano for a while.  I have been practicing a lot of worship music lately, getting ready to play for Steve and Melody's wedding.  Today I was working on a song called Holy Ground:

We are standing on holy ground

And I know that there are angels all around.

Let us praise Jesus now

We are standing in His presence on holy ground.

I started thinking of Aunt Ruth again and it made me cry.  I am happy for her, but sad for us.  She’s in His presence now, standing on that most holy ground before Jesus.  No more sadness or pain or cancer or ugliness of any sort.  Just praising Him in absolute freedom and full joy.  I can't wait to join her.

* * * * 

James is so cute these days. I just love him. He's still sleeping in our room but we're going to get a crib mattress here and start the process of moving him to his own room. I think I'll miss him. Sarah took pictures of him on my birthday (a week ago) and they are so adorable. He's turning from a tiny baby in to a little boy. I'll post more another day, but here is one of my favorites:

I should go start dinner and make some muffins. I almost always make muffins on Saturdays. We drive so far to get to church that we kinda need some rations for the road, and muffins fit the bill quite well. I'm making chicken barley soup for dinner, and I am going to make it up as I go along. I'm pretty sure it will turn out edible.  

It's snowing lightly outside but the sun is shining and on Monday it's supposed to be 70 degrees. Maybe Joe and I will take James for a walk when he gets home from work. It would be nice to try out my new walking shoes. :) Have a beautiful weekend, friends!

Rachel

Quick post...

Hi! I'm trying out the Blogger app for my iTouch. It's fun that I can post this way, but I think said posts will be a bit more brief--though perhaps more frequent. This particular one will be filled with various randomness...

Let's see...life since I last posted has been great! I'm starting to feel a lot more settled, now that the initial moving-in stuff and all of the Christmas busyness is over. I seem to have more time and have even been able to start practicing violin again; I really enjoy that. It's good to feel the technique coming back, and to have a bit more confidence in demonstrating for my students. Music is such a gift. (Along those lines, Joe got out his bassoon the other day and played while I made dinner. I enjoyed that a lot. Picture below.)

Earlier this month Joe and I went to Nebraska with my siblings. We had such a great and relaxing time; it was really a blessing. Since then we've both been busy with life. God has really blessed Joe with great work right now, and I'm enjoying my teaching, cooking, and keeping up with the house.

Today I've been at my family's place for most of the day, spending time with Kristin and Sarah and working on a scrapbook project. It made me think about getting pictures printed and actually do a wedding scrapbook. :)

Now all the skiers/snowboarders are back and we've had a good time--eating yummy food and playing Scrabble, or more recently just playing with the scrabble pieces. Good times. (Picture below.)

I figured out how to upload pictures to a post, but can't seem to incorporate them into a post and caption them. So you get to take the clues above and make up your own. :)

Anyway...that's a little bit of our life. We're so blessed, and quite happy as well. God is gracious to us.

[first picture: roses from Joe last month]

Fun with the Siblings

The other night we had my siblings over for games, a puzzle and snacks.  I got a few very random pictures, and some other people got some even more random pictures...enjoy at your own risk.   :D

My sisters worked on our puzzle and we finished it before they left.

Michael was enjoying the spinney function of the office chair; hence the blurriness.  :D

And then he tried to hack my FB.  I caught him before he posted.

He was also quite bemused to find his ice cream in a crock-like dish 

(we don't have a lot of bowls out--small kitchen)

The boys hanging out and eating ice cream

Dutch Blitz!  A long-time favorite for both of our families.

At this point someone else grabbed the camera and the pictures got quite entertaining.  

Here Rebecca discourses upon something--I have no idea what.

And finally, Michael gets some assistance with his scarf before leaving.  

Looks quite professional, don't you think?

That's all the pics I have for now.  Hope your new year is going well!!

Rachel

Christmastime!

Hello folks!

Hope you had a lovely Christmas!  We certainly did.  Christmas Eve with the Langemanns was quite fun, with Chinese food, animated table discussion, lots of gifts, and various games/puzzle-building/random outbursts of song afterwards as the evening progressed.  We spent Christmas morning by ourselves, took a walk at Standley Lake in the snow that afternoon, and had Christmas dinner with my family--an evening of Lasagna and Italian Christmas soup, lots of laughter, games, gifts, reading of books, and much music.  I figure that someone was playing the piano at least half the time when we weren't all doing something together, and Michael, Rebecca and I read some amazing piano trio music.

Unfortuantely I don't have pictures of Christmas, having forgot my camera both days, but I do have pictures of our Christmas tree and a few decorations.  Joe and I went up to the mountains early in December to cut a tree and we found an absolutely beautiful one.  At least we think so.  :)

 Joe on the property--saw in hand, prepared for tree-hunting.

Here we are, in our cool hats!  Joe's is from Scotland.

Looks like Joe liked this one, but it's not what we ended up with...

Joe with the tree of choice

The tree comes home!  It was exactly the right height; 

we didn't have to trim it or anything.

Finished product (sort of--we kept adding ornaments).  

We went with a red/gold theme, with some fun gifts and handmade stuff thrown in.  

I love it and am not in a hurry to take it down!

We got this ornament for our wedding from some special friends in Scotland.

My little piano...

 This one was a wedding gift from my aunt.

And a special bonus: Joe models the latest and greatest in scarf-wearing techniques.  Reports state that it's quite warm and cozy, though not exactly recommended for situations where one desires to appear normal.  :D  I love my man.

Well, Happy New Year to all of our friends and relations!  We're sorting out our affairs today, after enjoying a great skate up at Evergreen.  There's a random assortment of Mexican food in the crock-pot for dinner (logically, if ingredients more or less fit together, you should be able to just throw them in and have it work, right?  It worked last time I tried it!) and our little place is looking quite cozy in the late afternoon light.  May Jesus fill you with ever more of Himself through the new year!

Blessings,
Rachel

Everyday Life

It's a quiet day for me and I thought that I would take the chance to write here a few thoughts (updates, rambles, what have you).  I don't have anywhere to go till this evening and I am in my comfy clothes, working on the Christmas decorations.  Actually right now I'm typing a blog post and eating leftover soup, but you get the idea.

General life first...God has been good to us.  We have a lovely little place to live, are close to both our families, and in general are so blessed.  Joe has no shortage of work, and I am enjoying my part-time job as strings teacher at a small Christian school.   I like making food and Joe likes eating it (he's so easy to please--doesn't mind eating soup half the time), and we both like chocolate and ice cream and spending time together.

Tonight we are going up to Ellerslie for Michael and David's Advanced graduation.  I'm really looking forward to it (rush hour traffic notwithstanding).  It's a busy time--Sarah graduates from the Ellerslie Basic program on Sunday, and Bold Reflection has 3 performances within a week.  Joe and I are still participating in that interesting and entertaining group and we really have enjoyed it.  

My mom is an amazing thrift store shopper--she found a cute little Nativity set and a tree skirt for us. Christmas decorating our own place has been great, and I think it helps it to feel more like home.  We went to the mountains to cut a tree last Saturday and it's been so fun to decorate it and sit together by Christmas-light.  (Pictures on the tree coming once I get it fully decorated, hopefully.)

Today, when I finish the Christmas decorations, I am hoping for time to sit down and crochet and listen to Messiah.  My fingers have been itching to do some creating again, so I brought my thread crochet stuff over from my family's place yesterday and have been looking up all kinds of patterns (primarily of snowflakes).  I am looking forward to it.
  
I love Christmastime and want to make the most of it, not just let it fly by.  I have a couple of Christmas books out and it's good to take little dips into them here and there.  My favorite is a little volume of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Christmas sermons.  This quote caught my attention the other day:


"We have selected from the Christmas story only the pleasant bits, forgetting the awesome nature of an event in which the God of the universe, its Creator and Sustainer, draws near to this little planet, and now speaks to us."

Well, I am going to get back to that Christmas decorating.  Have a lovely day, all!

Rachel