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Routines for me are the secret ingredient to get through most of my parenting days. We have our morning routine, a meal routine, a nap routine, a bed routine, and so on and so forth. Now that my nap routine is fairly successful, it is almost enjoyable. Once I turn off the lights and turn on Hanna’s white noise she lays her head down on my shoulder pops her left hand fingers in her mouth, her right hand twirls her hair and she’s ready to lay down. It’s like magic!

I also love our night routine – laughing together as a family as the girls run around being silly. Followed by pajamas, brushing teeth, stories, prayers, and a little “I love you” song I sing to the girls passed down from my parents. Now Ellie sings it with me:

I love you Ellie

Oh, yes I do.

I love you Ellie

‘Cuz you’re so true.

When you’re not with me

I’m blue.

Oh, Ellie

I love you!

I’ve also started a fun routine to take pictures of the girls. It is hard to capture all the adorable memories, so I try to take a quick picture of them every few days in the same spot before we leave the house in the morning.

I think it also needs to be said that although routines can be great, it is also fun and important to break them occasionally. I think my favorite is breakfast for dinner! Today we tried a new little hiking adventure with our friends. It was during nap time, so I was a little nervous, but we had a blast and I always leave a new experience feeling proud that I tried something new!

What are some routines that get your family through the day? What are …

Valentine’s Day is one day each year that reminds us to focus on the people we LOVE! I absolutely LOVE everything about showing LOVE to others but my philosophy is to focus on loving others EVERY day of the year.

Wikipedia summarizes the history and folklore of Valentine’s day

“Saint Valentine’s Day, also known as Valentine’s Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is observed on February 14 each year. It is celebrated in many countries around the world, although it remains a working day in most of them. St. Valentine’s Day began as a liturgical celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus. Several martyrdom stories were invented for the various Valentines that belonged to February 14….. A popular account of Saint Valentine of Rome states that he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire. According to legend, during his imprisonment, he healed the daughter of his jailer, Asterius. An embellishment to this story states that before his execution he wrote her a letter signed “Your Valentine” as a farewell.Today, Saint Valentine’s Day is an official feast day in the Anglican Communion, as well as in the Lutheran Church.The Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrates Saint Valentine’s Day, albeit on July 6th and July 30th, the former date in honor of the Roman presbyter Saint Valentine, and the latter date in honor of Hieromartyr Valentine, the Bishop of Interamna (modern Terni). In Brazil, the Dia de São Valentim is recognized on June 12.
The day was first associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. In 18th-century England, it evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed …

Good morning friends,

Each week Rachel writes a newsletter that automatically goes out to all our subscribers. It is a great way to receive a reminder to check out our blog and it gives you a short recap of the articles written the previous week. I decided to post these newsletters each Monday for awhile to increase awareness and to increase our number of subscribers. To receive this newsletter as an email, just click the link at the bottom of this post or go to the bottom right corner of our blog anytime and hit the link to the subscriber form and you will begin to be a member of the Growing Weisser subscriber’s community.

 Welcome to your weekly wisdom with Growing Weisser.

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As I write, Bekah and Ashkon are literally taking off from the San Francisco airport for their last 5 months of their adventures in Grenada…yes we did get up at 3:30 am and drive them to SFO and we are safely home and it is only 6:20 am. So I volunteered to author her post today since they were up packing until late last night and are now on their flight bound for Grenada.

Their adventure began one month after their wedding in the summer of 2012. With six 70 pound suitcases packed and checked in and two carry-ons each, they boarded a plane bound for Grenada to begin Ashkon’s medical school education at St. George’s University Medical School.

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Christmas Blessings to all of you. We are so grateful for your devotion and enthusiasm as we have endeavored to establish a website that brings encouragement, hope and joy to families and friends; old and new. We hope that your holiday is full of fun, laughter and joyous celebration. We are taking a two week break from blogging to enjoy our family time. We will be back to posting in January with some exciting new ideas for our blog.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!   …

It is Rachel’s daughter Elliana’s second birthday today! Even though she can’t read, or use a computer, we wanted to say Happy Birthday! We love you Ellie!!   …

November. A month to remember all that we are thankful for. A month to think about how blessed we all are. However, it is very easy to get wrapped up in our packed schedules and busy lives. Then, all of a sudden it is Thanksgiving Day! We realize that the entire month has almost passed us by and we have rarely thought about the things that we are thankful for. I have a very EASY craft to help you think of one thing a day for the month of November that you are thankful for! Although simple, it could really have a positive impact on your life and your family’s lives each November that you haven’t ever experienced before! Not only is this a craft that your kids can really participate in, but it is also a great activity to do with your family each morning or night, to impress upon your kids the importance of thankfulness and show how having a mindset of gratefulness can really transform their lives!…

Have you ever heard of the wonderful ministry called Young Life? I had heard of it, but did not understand its power and impact until I got involved first hand. In 2006, I transferred to Azusa Pacific University and wanted to get plugged in to some type of ministry. Young Life was the first one to catch my attention,…

As I’m sure you can tell from my posts, I am all about simple. I have two little ones under two, which often means too much to do and too little time. I am always looking for ways to simplify my tasks. I am going to share a really simple, no-brainer tip that helped me feel confident about taking care of my house:

I schedule my cleaning.…