Month: July 2018

We got our kitchen painted this past week, and I am so happy with how much brighter and cleaner it looks!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE                                                         AFTER

I’m super happy with how it looks now. And I think Mack and Rolo like the new rug.

Rolo had surgery last Wednesday for her spay. She has been doing so well! We’ve taken good care of her and made sure she got lots of rest. Four days later, and I’d say she has pretty much gotten back to normal. We won’t be taking her on long walks any time soon, but she is back to her playful-self.  We resorted to buying a onsie from the baby section at Target because we wanted to cover up her incision so she wouldn’t mess with it. And that  cone of shame was not working for any of us! Can’t the vet get a little more creative??? That thing is terrible.

Sweet Rolo.

The girls and I decided to take a trip to Georgia to visit friends. It was an absolute whirlwind. I planned the trip as best as I could to see as many people in three days as I could without losing my mind. I think it went well except I would have loved more time with each individual person to hear more about what has been going on with them. Four of the families had moved to new homes, so it was fun to see where they lived now. A huge mistake was not planning a couple of hours to wander Woodstock Market, my favorite place to shop! Cannot believe I didn’t plan for that stop. ugh.

Here are some photos:

Nellie was a great host for us and several other girls that stayed the night. I love all of these people!

The next morning I drove to Woodstock and can I just say, I DO NOT MISS THE TRAFFIC ONE IOTA. THIS IS SERIOUSLY CRAZY.

 

We ate at Crave with lots of folks. All the kids had grown like weeds. I guess that is what happens when you stay away for over a year. Wow! Half-grown kids, for sure.

 

Then, we hung out with Melissa. She still lives in our old neighborhood, so we drove past our old house. It looks exactly the same from the outside, besides the Michigan flag. Mack would have been so embarrassed.

 

 

Then, for dinner we met up with friends we’ve known for many, many years. Their new house was amazing! And dinner was delicious, too. But nothing beats the great conversation.

 

By the end of this night I was EXHAUSTED. Having so much fun wore me out. So after a good night’s sleep at the Dutton’s house, we were ready for another fun day of visiting.

I spent time with Felicia on her birthday and got to see her new, beautiful home!

 

Then, I stopped by Stephanie’s home that is being built. It’s amazing! I am so happy for them.

And then we went to The Anderson’s house and saw how beautifully she had decorated their new home situated in a calm cul-de-sac. I was thoroughly impressed with her freshly painted white cabinets. So much so that someone is coming to paint mine next week. It looked amazing.

 

And after that, we collapsed into bed yet again at the Dutton’s house. And I woke up and said goodbye to Stephanie, our longest-time friend from Woodstock–pre-house, pre-babies. I almost cry every time I have said bye to her….thankful for long-time friends who knows us well and love us anyway.

We stopped at J. Christopher to meet Shana, my longtime friend. And I am so glad I did. It is always good to be with her.

And then after four or so hours we made it back home. Back to Charlotte, NC. We spotted the skyline we’ve grown to love and admire, and I couldn’t help but thank the Lord for how He watches over our journeying here on this earth. We are approaching two years since our move here, and I can honestly say that I am glad we are here. The Lord has been so faithful to me, so personal to me and taught me so much. I can’t put it all into words yet, but I hope to attempt that one day soon.

Woodstock friends, thank you for your welcoming spirit and love for our family. For how you altered your schedules to work us into them and how many awesome memories we have with each of you (& many more that aren’t pictured and that I hope won’t be angry with me). Come see us in Charlotte any time!

There has been so much going on around here lately. My head spins most days trying to keep up with the kids’ social obligations. ha! Seriously though, there is a lot of driving kids here, to, and yonder. We have all had a full summer. Last weekend the girls and I visited friends in Georgia, and we loved that time! I will post photos from that trip a little later when I have more time to put a good effort into it.

I logged out of facebook, and I don’t remember my password, so I may be out for good, which is a good thing. I have not spent a lot of time on there, but when I do scroll through I am reminded of what a time-waster it truly is and how I don’t even know very well most of the people that post on my feed. And I cannot help but hearing a quote from Tony Reinke’s wife in his book 12 WAYS YOUR PHONE IS CHANGING YOU that was something like, “Social media is a bad trade. Your present moment for someone else’s past.” Yikes. So true. So bye-bye Facebook.

I have been reading a lot lately. Last year I started stacking the books I read as the year went on, and I liked the visual it provided. The stack got pretty high, and I was able to have on-hand any books I wanted to go back and read. It is kind of crazy that my favorite two books from last year are no where to be found in this house. I may have to re-order them!! I don’t remember loaning them out or anything. I usually don’t loan out my favorites that I have marked up and want to re-read. This is my stack so far this year:

And right now I am reading this one:

IT IS SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!! I MEAN, CRAZY GOOD, CRAZY CONVICTING, CRAZY AMAZING!

I will share more about it later. So many nuggets to remember and share. One statement she makes that I cannot get out of my head is, “The strength of our words must match the strength of our relationships.” Wow.

And this book is also one I am working through. The main practice I am into right now is basically free-writing every morning. Three pages of whatever I want to write. No rules. No sharing. No worrying about how it sounds. I hope it leads to a breakthrough of sorts in creativity for me. We shall see.

And one last thing to record here on the blog is that I am making steady progress with my health. I am in my seventh month of working out, and I feel so much better. It is hard to go three times a week and work your tail off for an hour, but I have been doing it. I have lost nearly twenty pounds and gained much better sleep, clothes fitting better, and just overall better feeling about everything! I think I need another round of Whole30 or something like that to keep my eating in check…but it isn’t terribly hard to keep my eating in check because my stomach acts crazy with certain yummy foods. I am always quickly reminded why I shouldn’t eat those foods. Josh seems to have a stomach of steel. Nothing much bothers him AND he sometimes eats terrible and then loses a few pounds. Crazy.

So here’s a photo that shows me seven months ago and then seven weeks ago and the black shirt is just last week. So, I hope I can keep on keeping on. It’s been worth all the sweat, and oh boy do I sweat!!!

I suppose that is enough randomness for one post. But maybe I will post this list of questions a friend posted on facebook. I took a photo of the screen before I logged out of facebook. They were just too good not to keep and use. Maybe you will find them useful as well.