adoption
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birthday gratitude.
114. God’s given me 33 years on this earth 115. getter older is so much more fun than I expected 116. enthusiastic birthday greetings from my two kiddos and nephews bright and early this morning 117. family breakfast at Crepes and Croissants 118. how fun it is to have my birthday a day after Kenny’s 119. amazing gift from David, who hired someone to deep-clean our house this week 120. a lovely first Book and Tea club this afternoon, and many more to come 121. my mother-in-law made gluten free treats for me 122. finding Starbucks coffee on sale 123. the Mitford books, which never lose their charm 124. Home…
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monday gratitude.
98. the baby’s room 99. Judah is rediscovering his Legos 100. lots and lots of games of Uno 101. decaf coffee with a splash of organic heavy whipping cream 102. gluten free “monster cookies” that the whole family loves 103. dust bunnies along the baseboards mean I’m not obsessing over a clean house 104. Peace Like a River, the best novel I’ve read in a long time 105. we met new baby Allie on Saturday and the kids held her so carefully 106. taking a break from design blogs and Pinterest to enjoy my house exactly the way it is 107. Judah and Amie are big enough to stay up…
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resolution.
Hi there! Did any of you make New Year’s resolutions? I made a list of goals for 2014 here. And the year before, I made one non-New Year’s resolution. I’ve been trying to think about goals the past couple of weeks but I keep getting stuck. In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been stuck in general lately: stuck writing creative blog posts, stuck coming up with interesting hobbies, stuck in the house and not getting exercise. Stuck watching too much TV. Just. Stuck. I’m a planner, and yet right now I can’t make out my future. There seems to be a veil thrown over the next season of our life,…
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wednesday gratitude.
84. two kids who were overjoyed to get back to Classical Conversations on Monday 85. finding our routine again 86. Judah is getting faster at reading 87. a cluttered house means new Christmas presents to play with 88. a batch of granola in the oven 89. enjoying The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White together 90. season 3 of Gilmore Girls 91. movie night at my mom’s last night while the guys are hunting 92. sunshine yesterday 93. fire pits in our pavilion 94. a stack of back issues of Taproot magazine to read 95. 2.99 Tuesdays at the Fresh Market 96. a friend who recently adopted is coming…
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christmas eve gratitude.
66. our kids are old enough that we got to sleep in this morning 67. a lazy, rainy morning inside a warm house 68. David’s homemade bagels 69. gifts under the tree 70. strong, hot coffee 71. rediscovering curtains in the attic from India that are perfect for the baby’s room 72. my whole family will be together on Christmas day 73. our first Christmas with Steve and Linda here 74. looking forward to a service tonight with our church family and Chinese take-out afterward 75. Amazon packages arriving all week 76. I made fudge for the first time yesterday and it tastes delicious (recipe here, I halved the amount…
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waiting.
I’ve been trying to think up this blog post in my head for a couple weeks now. But I’m struggling to find words for this season of my life. We’ve been officially waiting for a baby for two months, and the hard-ness of these two months has caught me by surprise. I honestly did not expect to find it difficult. I think I worked so hard just to get through our process, to do absolutely everything I could: fill out every paper, meet every deadline, answer every question. I figured the actual wait would be restful in comparison. Life is busy and Christmas is coming and I thought I’d just…
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monday gratitude.
50. two and a half magical days in Charleston with my husband last week 51. staying in a hotel and not lifting a finger to cook or clean 52. long walks, window shopping, eating fabulous food, curling up in bed to watch Rise of the Planet of the Apes together 53. our kids spent two and a half happy days with their grandparents 54. coming home, walking in the door to a dirty house but our house 55. my great obsession: organizing closets 56. wrapping Christmas gifts 57. Indah coffee at the Farmer’s Market 58. laundry spilling out of baskets means we have clothes to wear 59. Gilmore Girls 60.…
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monday gratitude.
33. Rainbow Rowell’s novels 34. the smell of a freshly opened English Breakfast teabag 35. road trip to Ikea with Shari 36. fall colors outside my window 37. a day that’s warm enough for open windows 38. our elders and deacons and pastors officially voted in yesterday 39. the load it takes off David’s shoulders to have help 40. staying on top of the laundry 41. fire pits 42. planning a book and tea club 43. Dinner: A Love Story (this would make a great Christmas gift) 44. Boundaries 45. a new crochet project 46. not traveling for Thanksgiving 47. mapping out my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner 48. all of…
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tuesday gratitude.
Today I’m so very, very grateful for our adoption fundraiser this weekend. I’m grateful to those of you who came, who helped: who made great food and drinks and supplies, to my brother Kenny who brought in the band, to those who set up and took down sound equipment, who hung out and talked and laughed and wrote us cards and encouraged us endlessly. I’m grateful for the laughter of a whole bunch of kids jumping on the trampoline and climbing in the playhouse and running around the yard sneaking more treats. I’m grateful to Volcanoes in the Kitchen for driving from Charleston and playing awesome music for an hour…
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monday gratitude.
20. my kids played for 2 hours with their friends after CC this afternoon 21. John is ordained and was officially installed as associate pastor yesterday 22. my in-laws are now members of our church! 23. seeing healing and joy on the face of a friend who was broken and despairing a year ago 24. money to buy groceries 25. the relief of dinners planned out for the week 26. a meeting with a group of women I love in a home I love tonight 27. Bleak House tv series 28. ideas for positive ways to discipline from Boundaries With Kids 29. the comfort of having my husband home after…