Still here?

     Hello everybody. Thanks for still checking in. I know that it has been a while. I have had a long lull in my letter writing. These past few months have been full of some difficult times.  Personally, my family and I are fine but there have been major events that have impacted many of my friends and acquaintances. There was also a murder in my community that really hit everybody hard. Sometimes when events like these happen, you just wonder if what you say has as much importance as it should or if you are just being superficial. Combining the past few months with other items within the year, like the Sandy Hook Shooting and the Boston Marathon Bombing, I have been relatively quiet. I've been feeling a little more like myself lately so I figured I'd take a few minutes to make an entry on the blog.

     Last week I celebrated Thanksgiving with my husband's family. We went to my in-law's house in Boston. It was my family, 2 grandparents, a grand-aunt and grand-uncle, 2 aunts, 4 uncles, 7 cousins and my sister-in law's mother and brother in law. (Phew) This is actually small for our family. We had turkey, pork, ham and potato soup, mashed potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce,green beans, squash and some munchies. Our dessert table was just as abundant with ice cream, all kinds of pies, pastries and some delicious Oreo cookie dessert that I need to get the recipe for. We had a great time just relaxing with the family. My husband's aunt had died a few days earlier so it was sad to reflect on the loss of a dear family member, but a blessing to appreciate each other.
     I have been busy with work and with musical performances that are coming up. I had 1 performance that one of my groups sang in last week, 1 concert they still have to perform and 2 concerts that I will be performing in within the next 2 weeks. As a musician, this is not too overwhelming. I actually really look forward to these 2 concerts that are coming up. Playing this music really puts me in the Christmas mood. I also love seeing people in the community appreciating the music from the orchestra I play with. These specific concerts benefit 2 local food pantries so it is really cool to know that my talents are helping to serve some local people who are in need of some assistance. I will try to post some pictures of the concert venues, they are beautiful.
    I'm also excited to be starting Ann Voskamp's "The Greatest Gift" to read as an Advent devotional. So far, so good. 
     The kids are fine. We had a great parent teacher conference (our first) for our youngest son and still need to have one for our oldest. Both children are really excited for Christmas. They don't really care about getting gifts but they are excited to learn more about Jesus and spending time with us. I can't wait to put up our tree. Here are some pictures from just hanging out the other day. David is reading to his stuffed animal and Timmy is just reading- as always. (no complaints here)

     I'm trying to come up with some nice family traditions that we can start this year for Christmas or New Year. Do any of you have anything special you are doing, or have grown up with?  I have a few ideas but I'm not sure what I'd like to do yet. When I was little, we used to go to my Aunt Diane's house and make gingerbread houses from scratch. I used to love it but used to hate it falling apart on the way home. Since I had this tradition, I think I'd be hesitant to use the precooked, "ready to assemble" sets, but I'm not sure I have the patience to do it from scratch. I also have carpal tunnel syndrome so sometimes that makes things like decorating a little difficult.
     Ooh! I'm also participating in the Redditgifts Secret Santa 2013. We have over 100,000 people involved. I just got my match today and he is totally different than me. This is partially exciting and slightly unnerving. I look forward to find something that he'll like but I'm hoping I don't put a lot of time and effort in and then fine out that he thinks it's totally lame. I will be enlisting the help of some of my friends to bounce ideas off of. I can't wait to participate. I'm also excited to see what my Santa thinks to get me but, honestly, I'm sure I'll be happy with anything.

MAIL CALL!

     Today was actually a great day. I was a little stressed when I got home so these notes and cards made my day a whole lot brighter.
     The first piece of mail was super exciting. I got a letter back from my latest soldier. Many times, the soldiers that I write to so not write back. Although I have connected to a few of them over Facebook so I keep up to date, I don't always expect a response. I figure that if I was a soldier, especially one in a war zone, and I was on duty- would I spend my free time trying to catch up with my family, trying to let them know that I am okay or would I write to a random stranger? I expect that the family will come first. If they can write, awesome- it will definitely reaffirm that my letters are making a difference, but if they can't, I get it. This is my first letter from this soldier. Ironically, I just wrote him a letter so I will add my response to it and send it out tomorrow in a Christmas card.

     The second piece of mail I got is from my penpal, Belinda, in South Africa. I love her delightful, chatty letters and I love the little Christmas card she sent with the letter.

     The last 2 things were Postcrossing cards. The first one is from Lunenberg, Germany. The second card is from Mingna in Beijing. She bought this card in Inner Mongolia. It is very different from many of the cards I have received and I like it a lot. The little boy is running around au natural so I gave him some pants. (with my luck I would be reported for inappropriate content or something!) What is it with little boys liking to run around without clothes? At least it's a global thing and not just my weird children :)  The text on the card says Harmonious.

     Alright, I think that's it for tonight. I hope to write more in December. I'm trying to give myself time to pamper myself a bit and writing sometimes calms me down. My posts will definitely not be as long as this one every day. I hope you are well and that you see the blessings in your life right now.

More Love Letters

     I wanted to just take a second to tell you about an awesome site I came across. It is called More Love Letters.   If you know me, you know that (sometimes, despite my crappy attitude) God made me to be an encourager. As a teacher, I love seeing the look in a kid's eyes when they realize that they can do something they didn't know they could do before. I love doing random acts of kindness. I love seeing people succeed, getting good things that they deserve, getting good things they DON'T deserve (grace- it's a wonderful thing!), or seeing my kids encourage someone. I'm so weird (as Matt calls me.. lol) that I even like seeing a stranger's day turn into a better day. Well, there's an amazing woman named Hannah Brencher who I think I would get along with really well. She began the More Love Letters site with the realization that she could bless other people through her letters- using encouraging words to lift the spirits of total strangers, using her own experiences to help people who are experiencing similar things, blessing others.  Since I found this site, I've been writing notes to all kinds of random strangers through their request section.
     I also thought that maybe I should write in to see if Timmy might be able to receive some encouragement for his upcoming school year. Last year he had a really negative year. Don't get me wrong, I love his school, but last year was just awful. Well, MLL chose him as one of the recipients of the letters.
     He has no idea about this yet, but he has over 20 letters so far from as close as Quincy, MA and as far away as New Zealand. As a facilitator of the letters, I have to read them to make sure they are appropriate, etc.  I cannot even tell you how touched I am by each letter. The encouraging words, the decorations and stickers, the art- they're all awesome and I CANNOT WAIT to give Timmy the letters. I know that these words will set themselves in his heart and give him courage. I may share some on the blog here after I have given them to him. In the meantime, I'd love if you'd go check out her site and maybe even send some letters out. If you're not usually a letter writer, it doesn't take eloquence, just a little time and effort to make someone's day a little sweeter. Spread this site around too.
     If you are reading this and you are a MLL writer- THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Package from Germany...

    Ok.. so on a bad note, I'm totally behind in tracking my mail so I'm going to start counting things as I sort through them. I'm way ahead of my numbers right now.

Incoming....

    I was super excited to see a package I had been expecting from my good friend Jenny in Germany. Not only did she send a great letter, as always, but she also sent some yummy chocolate, marzipan, and a really cute notebook. I love the Ritter chocolate. I'm eating 1 little square a day; rather... I'm trying to eat 1 little square a day. 

Outgoing...

    I just have 2 intro letters going out to new soldiers. Nothing visually interesting :) 

The 366 Project:

Received: 37
Sent: 86

Other stuff...

     I'm home for the summer so I have a lot more free time. I have enjoyed spending it with family and friends. This week we celebrated Independence Day. I "adopted" a few more soldiers to write to on Adopt A US Soldier.  I also have adopted a soldier at Any Soldier. A few of my soldiers have returned home to the states so I looked to support some more people.
     Yesterday my kids, along with some friends, rode in the Horribles Parade. They won an award and were very excited... and hot.

         Earlier this month I got to go see a former student of mind on Broadway. I was so proud. I went to see him in April in the ensemble but  I went back to see him as the lead a few weeks ago. He's in Cinderella and he's such a great guy. His name is Andy Jones, keep an eye out for him! If you have a chance to go see it, you should!  Everybody that I met in the cast seemed like really down to earth, kind people.

   What are you all doing for the summer? Anything good?  I look forward to hearing from everybody.
 

Blizzard mail

Blizzard!!!!

    Hello from snowy Massachusetts. We're supposed to get 16-24" of snow tonight, which is nothing compared to what some of my friends get for snow, but a lot for here. Here are some pictures of the storm right now:

 Timmy in action

 Matt, David and Timmy sledding in our side yard. (Well, Matt is pushing rather than sledding!)

 David.. who really flies with a good push.

 The side yard/driveway. We live next to a shop, hence the classy dumpster. Past the dumpster, next to the snowy truck, is a huge pile of lobster traps. A fisherman from Gloucester stores them here. (Just some random info. for you :) )

 Looking down toward the highway.

 Across the street.

 Timmy.

Timmy probably secretly hoping to run David over.

     I'll take more pictures for "after" shots.

Incoming....

    Only got 1 letter today. It was from Linda, a penpal from AL. I loved a little sticker she had on there.  It made my day.

  The other day I was super excited because Matt texted me that I got a package from Italy. I wasn't expecting a package from Italy so I was a bit surprised. In fact, I don't even have a penpal from Italy. I got home from work and rushed to my mail. I pulled open the package and found a postcard and a box. The postcard from Postcrosser Lamberto in Italy. (Impressive- he's the number 1 postcrosser in Italy for postcards sent and distance sent!) In addition to being a super postcrosser, he seems really nice. In addition to the postcard, there were 2 pairs of Timberland sunglasses in there. What a cool random act of mail kindness :)

Outgoing....

    What blizzard? Good thing John was working at the post office and waiting for me to come by. lol. (The post office is closed tomorrow here. No mail delivery I'm sure. Maybe this will make Monday and awesome mail day!) 
    Today I sent 3 Postcrossing postcards and care packages to soldiers 2 and 3. May I just say I hate customs forms for the military packages? Thanks. Here's the loot:

 I ran out of shipping tape so duct tape had to work for my top package. (That's a Month of Letter sticker on there too!)

Other...

    We tried the miso soup and Chinese noodles sent in the food swap. They were tasty. It's a good thing we have Ramen noodles because here were the directions:

 In Japanese, I believe it says: "Dear Jen, it's instant soup and noodles. Are you really trying to read the directions? Let me draw you a picture... dummy."  The pictures worked..lol.

      This was tasty. The noodles tasted different than the noodles that are in our similar noodles. I was also surprised that the miso soup flavoring was a liquid. Many times with instant foods in the US, the seasonings are dehydrated. My penpal Akiko said that the curry and the pasta sauce that was sent in the swap should be put in boiling water, heated in the package and then used on the food. Hmm... I'll try them all soon. Timmy wanted to try the soup and he really liked it too. (Tim says: "That soup was awesome- a little spicy but very yummy")

     In other notes, I just got a postable. If you'd like, please update your address for my online (secure) contact book.  A lot of people from A Month of Letters are using it. It will certainly make things easier if I'm trying to send a letter from school or something.
    
    Have I rambled enough yet? Maybe I'll go finish Ashley's letter (seriously) and write a few letters. 

Let's try this again, just slightly different- 2013

    Goodbye 2012 and hello 2013!  Happy New Year to all! My letter project in 2013 was a minor failure, mostly due to the fact that I have been really bad about responding in a timely manner. On a good note, I have discovered that I have an issue balancing work, family, responsibilities and personal life. This sounds negative at first but I have discovered:
1) I really value all of my friendships that have been developed through penpalling.
2) I get extremely guilty when I haven't written someone back within a week. (Then I feel bad and don't want to write to anyone, which just adds to the issue).
3) I send lots of mail- letters, postcards, swaps, etc.
4) Writing has become a major source of relaxation and enjoyment for me. Sitting and writing to connect with another person- whether it is someone who lives 5 minutes away or 5,000 miles away- feels similar to going out to lunch to catch up with a friend. I'm a pretty social person so I enjoy being around people but I've realized that I don't like shallow relationships. If I'm going to sit to write a letter or visit with a friend in person, I want to make sure that it is quality time and that I'm investing in that person. So, this is the only solace I have given myself in regards to why I haven't been caught up with my writing- that I want to actually give the person my time. (Any of you who have read my letters also know that I have an issue with not having any free time, no matter how hard I try to plan some.)  With this being said, if there are any people who have been secretly annoyed that I don't respond as quickly as I want to and you want to stop being my penpal, please e-mail me here and I will understand. I hope there aren't any but I figured I'd put myself out there just in case. I'm still struggling with how to fit everything in my day that needs to be done, as well as the things I want to get done.

So, here are my "blog resolutions."
1) I will try again for the "366" numbers of incoming and outgoing mail BUT I'm going to count letters, postcards and packages- both outgoing and incoming.
2) I will update the blog at least once per week. I haven't decided which day yet... probably closer to the end of the week since I have lots of due dates and meetings at the beginning of the week usually.
3) I will try to document all incoming and outgoing mail with pictures.

Thanks to everybody who reads this blog and to all of the great friends I've made this year. Here's to a really happy mailbox for all of us in 2013!

    

Postcard to Sweden

Outgoing...  

     Last week I spoke to a man on Interpals who was looking to collect some postcards. Being involved with Postcrossing, I always have a ton of postcards. (If I don't always have a ton I'm always looking to buy more. So, if you're one of my friends and you go on vacation- feel free to pick me up some! I'll pay you back)  Arthur likes city views so I sent him this nice card of Boston.

     I have a letter headed to Katherine in Australia too.

Incoming...

I finally got some mail yesterday! I got letters from Michelle and Linn Marit- 2 of my pals. Michelle is from the US and Linn Marit is from Scotland.  Here are some cute things from Linn Marit's letter.

This little guy reminds me a little of David. He's a little shy and reserved.

Another cute sticker on the front.

The little gold butterflies are raised off the page. (No need for the thank you note but I liked it!)

The 366 Project:
Received: 32
Sent: 81

Random:

     I see that the PPFL newsletter came out. Welcome to those who are stopping by to check out my page. If you don't know the history of the page- I decided this year to attempt to write and receive 366 letters, 1 for each day. I am behind on my goals but I've always cared more about quality than quantity. I have started the blog to document some of the mail I've gotten. I have really enjoyed blogging. I've gotten a few more pals through this page and then I've also just had some people who don't have time for another pal, but wouldn't mind writing me a letter about themselves, their area of the world, their culture, etc. to help me out with my project. I love randomly connecting with people.  So, if you'd like to send me a letter, please PM me for my address. I'd love to hear from you.  

     Alright, I'm headed out to church in a little bit so I'm going to go get ready.  After church we're inviting a few people over for a cookout. It should be a really fun day. I hope you have a great day too. 

Update

Hello again, friends! I noticed that I've had a few people check in from Serbia and Puerto Rico. These are new countries to my "audience" so greetings!  I'd love to hear from you.

Incoming...

Here is a Postcrossing tag from The Netherlands. It asks 20 questions about me.  The next envelope is from a new penpal, Ashley, in Wisconsin. (She is one of the people whose blog I mentioned)  I loved her cool envelope and her letter :)  This picture does it no justice at all- check it out on her blog! Look at the cool wax stamp on the back. I want one. My birthday is in October..lol.

RU-1107358

Thanks Olya. I believe the names of these characters are Gena and Chebyrashka.

Outgoing

    You ready? 
Vaarwel!

 Farvel!

 ごきげんよう  Woah! Hope that kanji is okay!!!

 

Good-bye! Ironically, I tried to mail this letter just like this. My mailwoman noticed my mistake and left it in my box. (I guess we're even now!)

 Bonjour!

 And... shoot, I'm not sure which other languages you speak so I'll just say goodbye to your letter too!

  I also mailed a get well soon card and an outgoing 20 questions tag for Postcrossing.
    I'm finishing up 2 letters so I can probably add them tomorrow.  People who do mailart or penpalling, how do you usually write the addresses on your addressed envelopes? I have been affixing them with paper decorations and taping them down with shipping tape, or writing it in a sharpie but I wonder if there is a better way. I would love to have a sticker or something that I can write on.  Suggestions?

The 366 Project:
Received: 29
Sent: 74

Well, I made my send 20% goal by the end of August. Can I make 25%? Not without new mail to respond to! We'll see.

 

Back from New Jersey again...

Hello. It's been a while since I've updated here. Matt's grandfather passed away on Monday so we took an unexpected trip to NJ (and back the next day!). I didn't know him well but it was obvious that he was a great man and I'm sorry I didn't know him better.

Incoming:

     This is a lovely penpal letter from Susanne in Denmark. She is one of my newest penpals and I'm grateful to have found her.  The Little People man looks really at home surrounded by all those Disney princesses :)  I also have a letter from South Africa that I need to photograph. I'll do that later tonight since I'm too lazy too do it right now. ;)

      Here's some mail that has gone out recently.

Outgoing:

   I also have other mail to photograph but these letters are going to my 2 soldiers, Alabama and... shoot, I forgot- Australia, I think. The bottom one is one of my favorite envelopes that I've made recently- even though it's lopsided. I have not photographed all of my outgoing mail but this past week I have sent letters to: Uganda, my 2 soldiers, Alabama, Ethiopia (my Compassion International child), Australia, Massachusetts, France, and The Netherlands. I also sent some postcards out.

The 366 Project:
Received: 27
Sent: 69
    I'm still far away from receiving my 10% goal by the end of last week but I will definitely hit my 20% of outgoing letters written by the end of August. I'm hoping to maybe even get 25% out. I'm running out of letters to respond to though so hopefully I'll get many on Monday. 

Other random stuff:

Here is my son Timmy, super excited to be eating with the chopsticks that Akiko sent us. Thanks again!

Here's my youngest son, David. This is on the day of his preschool orientation (which was full of meltdowns). He was much happier once we were outside playing.

This is a concert I played at Revere Beach with North Shore Philharmonic Orchestra. I'm pretty my invisible here but I'm back where you see the lights, playing xylophone. It was a nice night out. I love the picture of the fireworks.

    I've also noticed I have 2 more followers to the blog. Welcome ladies! Glad to see you here.

 

 

 

Chopsticks!

Incoming...

    So far this week has been a slow mail week but the mail that has come in has been really nice! I received a beautiful Postcrossing card on Monday.  This postcard is from Lithuania. It shows the Trakai Island Castle.  I love the colors in this card. Narina actually put a nice Trakai stamp on the card too. I love it. Thanks! Here's the card:
LT-223497

    Then, yesterday, I received a package from my friend, Akiko, in Japan. She sent me some beautiful chopsticks for each person in my family as well as a very interesting letter which I can't wait to respond to! (Love the information about naming!  I had a conversation about naming with a friend from Uganda yesterday. It's fascinating to me to hear about how children's names are chosen. )

 Outgoing:

    I'm still playing around with making envelopes. Here's an outgoing envelope that I'm sending to Susan in Alabama. I made a whole bunch of envelopes from a New England calendar.  So, any of my penpals who live outside of the States or in a different part of the country, those envelopes will show what my area looks like- or at least areas I can get to pretty easily.  Here's Susan's envelope. I'm probably going to start photographing the envelopes before I write the addresses since I haven't been able to figure out a "non-tacky" way to cover the address. 

The 366 letter project:
Received: 23
Sent: 59
      If you're dropping by my blog for the first time, I'm attempting to send and receive 366 letters this year- one for each day of this year. Yeah, I'm behind right now. SMALL GOALS: Get 20-25% of sent letters out by the end of August. 2) Get 10% of received letters in by the end of next week. So, if you're a stranger passing through, feel free to send me a letter about yourself! E-mail me and I'll give you the address. I love just hearing people's stories so you can just tell me about your everyday life if you're unsure what to write. 
     It will just be sad if I send out 366 letters and have 50 responses. Honestly though, even though it's a large goal I set for myself, I would rather have sincere letters of substance than to just have 366 papers come through the mail. I love to penpal because it enables me to travel the world without leaving home. (I would love to ACTUALLY travel too but being a teacher is not a hugely profitable adventure!) I love making new friends across the world and sharing knowledge and goodies with my children. So, I guess I have fully accepted the fact that I would much rather invest in people (and be invested in) than to just get lots of stuff in the mail. Sorry, rambling. 

 

Ending the week...

Ending the week...

Incoming

   I got a few goodies in the past couple of days. The first was a package from a Postcrossing tag. This came from Austria:

(I have to get more creative in covering all the addresses..lol. Now you know why I'm not an visual arts teacher!)  What's in it, you ask?

CANDY! The tic tacs are a "melon mix."  They taste good, pretty similar to tic tacs we have here. I think I have had a similar tasting flavor here. The Fizzers are very similar to Smarties here, just a little more tart. (They didn't taste fizzy though)  The MAOAM was kind of like Starbursts. The white ones with the blue stripes were a type of chewy caramel- yummy. My favorites were the red striped ones. They were a white, hard candy with chocolate in the middle. The ones with the fruit on them were hard candies that were fruit flavored. I haven't eaten any of the Tutti Frutti ones yet. The boys liked all of them. (Thanks for not sending anything Timmy was allergic to!)

     Then I got some letters:

     The one on the right is a thank you note from a woman from church. (Totally unnecessary!) The one on the left was a welcome to the Letter Writers Alliance. Here's what was inside:

My membership card, a pin and a welcome letter. The Letter Writers Alliance is a a group dedicated to preserving the art of letter writing. You can't seriously be surprised that I would want to be a part of this group. :)  Wait until I start sending mail out on official LWA stationary. If anyone reading this is a LWA member, leave a comment and introduce yourself.
     I also got a letter from Claudine in France.  She also sent me some Ritter Sport chocolate with some berry "yoghurt" filling. Delicious!!!

Outgoing:

    I have quite a few letters that went out, as well as a Postcrossing tag. I have been exploring all kinds of interesting blogs, including people who make some really pretty mail art. Mama Rae's Adventurous Days is one of those blogs. I looked at her mail and thought "What a difference that cute envelope makes!" So, I was inspired to make a few envelopes of my own.  I made these 4 out of a map, 2 tourist brochures and a new Super Mario Brothers advertisement.  Tonight I made some from a calendar of New England. (I apologize if you get one of these. They are very pretty but somewhat lopsided too!)  

      
The 366 Project:
Received: 22
Sent: 53
    I feel really good about being able to sit and write some nice quality letters and not feel totally rushed. I'm hoping I'll get to 15% (of the whole project) received by the end of the month. Come on people- send those letters! I'm hoping I will get 20%-25% of the sent letters done by the end of August. It's a big goal! I still have a TON to go.

Have a nice weekend everyone! Thanks for reading!