life lately

This has been the year of unintended blog breaks, and even a tiny social media break, at least as far as posting things.  Who knew?  I have had a hard time being inspired to keep this thing up, but I do finally have a few ideas rolling around in my head about things I may write about in the coming weeks.  We'll see.  ;)

I thought I'd share about what we've been up to the last couple of weeks (and one week that I posted next to nothing). 

I have loved Halloween the past two years, because my bestie has come over to hand out candy with me.  We did do that a tiny bit this year, but the rain started and drove us either back inside or home again (for her), so it was a short night.

The night before, I had volunteered us both to man one of the registration tables at our church Fall Fest.

That is a GIANT tub of candy.  We had so much fun welcoming the hundreds of people who came by our table and seeing all the kiddos all dressed up.  It was a fun night and we have already determined we will do this again next year, as long as we can be the welcoming committee.

My choir had a ministry event thing the Sunday night before this, a night of praise and worship at a church thirty minutes away, and it was AMAZING.  There is something really special about going away and worshiping with people we don't know.  It was refreshing.

November happened.  And with it, a new plan for writing scripture.  I started back again in October, after a break this year, and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon.  I love love LOVE writing out scripture.  I'm actually thinking of just starting to write out whole books in 2019.  I've already written out James (three different times), 2 Timothy, and 1 and 2 Thessalonians.  I'm thinking of doing all the books that end in I-A-N-S, 1 and 2 Peter, the three short letters of John, Titus, Philemon, and Jude.

Speaking of 2019, I am also looking ahead as to what I'm going to do for my bible reading for the year.  I am going to try to read through the bible again (I'm currently doing that now for about the fifth or sixth time), but this time using the guide in the back of my bible.  I want to read and mark on every page of the bible I've been using for a year now, and then for Christmas for myself, I'll pick out a new bible for me to start using.  I really love my current bible, though, and I may just buy a nicer version of the same one.  Mine is a gray linen cover, and it's already starting to be out of shape and will fall apart after about another year, if I had to guess.

The guide in the back of my bible mixes in the reading.  Each day, there is some Old Testament, a Psalm and Proverb, and some New Testament.  I've done it that way before, but I'm looking forward to it again.  Currently  I'm reading in chronological order.

This was the last day of writing for the month of October.

Speaking of writing, last Christmas, I received so many journals as gifts, about ten, I would guess.  I'm on my last two!  I took a break from journaling a lot, too, so there were weeks that would go by with nothing entered inside.  In August, I started back again, journaling something every single day almost, and I'm so glad to be doing this little thing again.  Inside I write my daily plans (like to-do lists), I like to write out prayers, or things and people I'm praying for, and then I love to document when God answers.  I also write things I want to remember, like when Drew made his first A in his first college class, I write out scripture, and I take notes in church every time I go.  All of that makes me fill out journals really quickly.  It's been two months since I started this one pictured above, and I'm at the end already.  (Some of the journals I received as gifts were really thin.)

I have LOVED all the fall foliage lately!  This was on our town square this past weekend.

I love our house best when it's all dressed up for fall.  I love the leaves all over everything, and while so many friends of mine are already decorating for Christmas, I can't quite quit with fall.  I love our little turkeys that Jonah placed in our yard last Thursday.  All these things will stay out until Thanksgiving, and then when Todd goes in to work that night, it all comes down and the Christmas goes up.  I actually take the fall stuff down Thanksgiving morning while the Macy's parade is on, then all the Christmas will already have been pulled out of the attic as well, so we can start when we get home.  I don't like to be gone for long that day, because of this.  We usually will go to my mom's and stay for about three hours, then we're back home for the dogs and for this.

Also, speaking of this home that I love, we had been seriously praying and talking and thinking about putting it on the market to sell and buying another one locally.  We decided against that, finally, last week, and decided to just fix this one up and make some much needed improvements.  So sometime in the coming months, we will be under construction.  We plan on having this siding taken off and replacing it with vinyl siding, which is much more durable that this we have now, we'll be getting new windows that don't leak air and heat, and we'll have the whole house replumbed, because we are so tired of waiting on the next leak.  I am so excited!  If you want to suggest colors, I'm open to them.  For the house, trim, shutters and door.  Also, hopefully, we will also be replacing this green awning with a shingled wooden one.  (Ahem, Big Daddy.)

On a cuter note, look at my precious great nieces.  Kinsley is on the left and Kylie is on the right.  I want an outfit just like theirs.

My niece is starting a photography business in Denver, and she's using this to advertise.

This was our womens event at church Monday night of this week.  It's one of my favorite events, Tablescapes, and it was so much fun.  That's my table you see pictured, and after a good dinner, we listened to some incredible music.  The group is called High Road.  I'll post my favorite song they sang below, though this one features Jason Crabb, and he was not there with them.

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They were so good, I could have listened to them all night!

I got inspiration for my table from this verse, which is one of my favorites.

What hope we have in Jesus!  What life, what LIGHT, even in this dark world we live in.  He is so good, y'all, and not just when things are going our way.

Drew brought some drawings home yesterday from some sweet little kindergarten and first grade students.  He started his new job this week!  He works from three to six Monday through Friday afternoons, at a Christian daycare nearby us, and he is with this age group of students.  He already loves them, and I would say that it's mutual.  He will keep these forever.  This boy loves children so much, it thrills my heart to know that he is walking the path that God has laid out before him.  He is in school to be a nurse, and Lord willing, his focus will be pediatrics.  His dream job would be to work at St. Jude someday.  I'm so proud of him!  He also passed a huge test over the weekend, a nursing school entrance exam.  I know without a shadow of doubt that the Lord helped him through that.

I told someone recently that it is so exciting to see God's plans begin to unfold for someone's life.  I miss the days when my boys were little, but I really love their ages right now, and I wouldn't go back even for a second to trade this time with them.  It's not always been easy, especially for Drew, in the last couple of years, but to see light at the end of a very long tunnel is such a sweet gift and a huge relief for this momma's heart.  It is hard to see your kid struggle, and without saying too much, it's been a long minute of watching this one in particular go through some rough patches.  Friends and girls did not help at all, but praise God he has some sweet friends finally, and there is even a girl in the picture that he may or may not like more than a little.  (Because of his sweet spirit and kind heart, he is a good candidate for friends treating him less than honorably.)

I don't love one of my kids any more than another one, but I talk about this one because of how hard things have been for two years.  I say this to encourage someone else who might be going through something similar.  Don't stop praying and believing that God will bring you through the trial.  I'll say it again, friends, God is infinitely good, and He is sovereign!  His greatness, no one can fathom.  I certainly cannot wrap my head around all that He is and the things He does, but I am so grateful that I have Him, and that He has saved me from an eternity of being separated from Him.

You can have Him too.  Reach out to me, if you want to know more about Him.

I guess I'll end on that note and go do that laundry I hear calling.  Thanks for reading!  Love to all.