Thank y’all so much for your sweet, encouraging comments on yesterday’s post. I really appreciate them.

I love Five on Friday. It’s so easy to just jot down some things I love this week and some things I want to share. So join in and link up with Darci, Natasha, Christina, and April!

-ONE-

I am sitting at the airport in Columbia writing this right now. I finished teaching VBS this week. It was such an incredible week, and I had the best group of rising kindergarteners. But this weekend, I am going to see Nina! Nina and I became friends through blogging over five years ago, and her friendship means the world to me. I’m so excited about a low key, fun girls weekend with her!

-TWO-

I just finished Fly Away by Kristin Hannah last night. It’s the sequel to Firefly Lane, which I absolutely loved. Fly Away has been really good, but also really sad. Not the uplifting summer read I’d like, but I couldn’t put it down, so that was a good thing.

-THREE-

There is nothing on TV this summer, and every day I can’t wait until Friends comes on TV Land. I know, it probably still comes on TBS at least once a day. And I could also easily just watch it on DVD. But I love watching it in prime time with Todd. It’s one of my top 5 all time favorite shows, and while it makes me feel a little old to think that one of my favorite shows is on TVLand, that’s okay because I just get to watch it more often. Love it!

 

(one of my favorites, “The One Where Ross Got High“….. Joey: “It tastes like feet!”)

-FOUR-

My bright, shiny, new Life Planner arrived last week. I think production may be taking a little longer due to the high demand, but I didn’t mind at all that it took mine a few extra days to arrive because it was so pretty when it got here!

I chose the pink and gold Gold Edition because pink and gold is my favorite color combination. I love pink and gold… they were my wedding colors.

Anyway, I love the new changes to the Life Planner this year and I am so excited that my old one expires in just 31 days. (The verdict is still out on the new Erin Condren pens, but I’ll be sure to give you a review when I’ve used them for a little bit. It will be hard to top my favorite Paper Mate flairs.)

-FIVE-

Google Reader is going away this weekend, and I would absolutely love it if you all would follow my blog on Bloglovin so we don’t lose touch. I am really going to miss Google Reader. Google Reader is like my version of The New York Times. Yes, I know this is very sad. But let’s stay in touch and follow my blog with Bloglovin. Pretty please.

 

So how about you? Did you order a new Life Planner? Can you give me some great summer book suggestions? (I’m thinking of reading Defending Jacob.) Are you loving Friends on TVLand?

Oh hey! Hey, y’all!

I guess that was an another unintentional blog break.

Here’s the thing. The summer is really fun and the summer is really busy. With two wild, precious boys, I do my very best to keep as much time occupied outside of the house or in the yard or going and doing and soaking up every moment of the summer. Not in a super-structured way, but in a “If we spend all day in the house, they’ll be climbing the walls by 5:00” kind of way. And I love it.

But it leaves very little time to blog. And, truthfully? Blogging just isn’t a priority right now.

And one of the things I’ve decided to give myself in this year is grace when it comes to blogging. I don’t have a strategic mind when I blog. I don’t have any thoughts about the “right” or “wrong” ways to blog. I just want to share our story the best way I know how. And right now, during this summer, I am soaking up more of our story and doing less sharing. (And still not really remembering to take pictures at the pool or the zoo or the backyard.)

But! I blog for two reasons. To keep a record of our memories and to connect with other moms. It’s very rare that I’m able to share something new or innovative. You will rarely read anything here that you haven’t seen before somewhere else. And that’s okay. This little space is for connection and memory-keeping, and it’s easier to give myself grace on the quiet blog days when I remember that I don’t really have goals with this.

Anyhoodle! With all that said, I do have some fun updates. Some big and some not-so-big.

1. My mom updated her blog last night. KK started a blog back in 2010 when she was diagnosed with Melanoma. It’s a horrible, horrible disease and one that she has successfully fought by changing her lifestyle and letting her immune system fight it. No drugs, no poison, no chemotherapy or radiation. Just the daily decision to make healthy choices. But her Melanoma did come back and in the other leg. I know that probably for the rest of her life, we will always be praying that melanoma will stay far away and not keep resurfacing.

But, go ahead and read my mom’s update and dig into her archives to soak up some of her wisdom. She is so faithful and so strong, and our main prayer has always been that God would be glorified in her situation.

 

2. I just returned late last night from Shreveport. I flew out of Columbia late on Monday night to Shreveport to celebrate the life and attend the memorial service for my best friend’s dad. Catherine and I met at Louisiana Tech in our first graphic design class, and we were both Alpha Chis. She became one of my dearest friends, and I am so thankful for her. She and her family spent the last 13 months caring for her amazing, larger than life, father as he battled pancreatic cancer. Sadly, he lost that battle, and many of Catherine’s closest friends came to Shreveport to be with her for the services.

I’m so thankful to still be so close to so many college friends, and friends I’ve made through Catherine. And even though the past 24 hours in Shreveport were short, they were full of love and I’m so glad that we could all be there to celebrate her dad’s life.

 

Catherine is one of the strongest girls I know and I’m a lucky girl to have a friend like her.

3. While in Shreveport, I got to stay with Jennifer and Alison, and finally got to hang out with Jennifer’s daughter, Elise. I met Elise when she was about a week old, and I was 30 weeks pregnant with Hayes. Time flies.

 

And no trip to Shreveport is complete without splitting a piece of Strawn’s Strawberry Pie. Yum!

 

4. This week is VBS at our church. Hudson and Hayes are absolutely loving it, and it makes me so happy that they love it so much. I am teaching the 4 year olds (rising Kindergarteners) and it has been wonderful so far. I missed teaching on Tuesday because I was in Shreveport, but the kids have been really great. They’re so eager to learn about Jesus, they’re so well-behaved, and it’s just a good time for me, too.

Hudson and his best friend, John, wore the same shirt in different colors on Monday, and they were so excited to be spending the week together in their classroom!

 

5. Some of Todd’s extended family came in town last week to visit, and on Friday, they came to the pool with Hudson, Hayes, and me. I have been taking the boys swimming as often as I can this summer because it does us well to be outside and be active. So either in the morning before naps or in the afternoon after naps we’ll go to the pool and spend a few hours.

Hudson has been doing so well swimming without any kind of floatie or anything. We still have to remind him to kick or make sure his has his face down so he can move faster. But he has done really well! Hayes still wears a Puddlejumper because it’s about all I can do to watch Hudson all the time. Hayes will get himself out of the pool and just jump in and over and over again and swim to me. He has come such a long way! Three weeks ago he screamed every time he got in the pool. I’m so glad that he loves it now!

 

6. And just a story about how small the world is… I was walking to my gate last night in the Atlanta airport around 9:00 p.m., and I passed an adorable girl who looked exactly like Darci from The Good Life blog, who I just LOVE. Darci is so creative and so relatable. I just love everything she posts. And y’all, I could not stop staring at this girl. Was it Darci? Was it just a look-alike? Would it be weird if I just said, “Hey, Darci!” And if it wasn’t her, maybe she just wouldn’t say anything.

But I chickened out and I walked away a little bit. I knew that Darci had been on vacation, but I wanted to check her Instagram feed to see if she might have been traveling that day. (Stalker, right??) And I realized that she WAS traveling that day. I turned around as fast as I could and she was walking toward me and said, “Erin?” Ha! It was absolutely Darci!

We hugged and laughed and introduced ourselves and couldn’t get over how random it was to run into someone you “know” but had never actually met just in passing at one of the biggest airports in the United States!

And of course we took a picture in the middle of Five Guys to commemorate the occasion. So here we are in all of our traveling, tired glory! (But, seriously, Darci is TOO CUTE.)

 

Needless to say, it’s been a whirlwind few weeks for us and I’ll be really happy when things settle down into a slow crawl.

I’ve missed you all!

You all have been so kind and patient with me as I’ve sorted through the unfamiliar, the lack of control, and have come to terms with the waiting game of finding our next home.

I did my fair share of complaining and grumbling, and then realized that all of that was just a big old waste of time. I couldn’t change our situation. I couldn’t hit fast forward. All I could do was choose to be joyful and choose to be positive.

And what was my biggest source of joy? What is my biggest source of joy? My children.

The freedom and permission to see this season as restful and intentional was the biggest gift I gave myself.

Now that we’ve entered the summer, days are even more lazy. But they’re spent soaking up each moment with my kids. Deciding to be content and deciding to let go of expectations and to just enjoy these days for what they are was huge for me. And these days are wonderful because of my boys.

I’m reading a book and doing a study with a fantastic group of women called “Your Beautiful Purpose” by Susie Larson. The word “purpose” literally makes me sweat. I see that word and feel extreme pressure to come up with a purpose that is different and “better” and “more worthwhile” and more “productive” than what I’m currently doing. And what if what I’m currently doing is my purpose?

I read this paragraph a few days ago and thought, “that is me. She’s talking to me!”

“There will be whole seasons of life spent serving in ways that don’t seem to match our gifts or passions, seasons where we feel overlooked and completely missed, seasons where the storms of life seem to focus their fury on us.” – Susie Larson

It’s normal. Other people have been there!

But those seasons don’t have to be a waste. They’re not lost. There is opportunity to love and grow and make a difference even if we don’t feel like we’re in the right place.

For so long, I’ve felt completely unaware of a dream of calling in my life. I was completely blind to the fact that God may want more for me than for me to feel like I’m just being faithful in the familiar.

And you know what? My “purpose” may not be any different at the end of this study than it was at the beginning. I may discover that God has me right where He wants me to be, but the only difference is my acceptance of it and belief that this work has purpose.

And my belief and confidence of this, that He who began a good work in me will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)

These seasons and storms are not a waste. These days where we feel like we’re lost and wandering have a purpose. And being open and willing to accept His purpose for us (and we all have a purpose, ladies!) will completely change our outlook on those hard seasons.

 

Our pastor shared this video with us on in church on Father’s Day. This is so Todd and me, and I’m sure most couples can relate.

I feel like I’ve said to Todd countless times in our marriage, “I don’t need you to fix it. Just listen to me and tell me you understand.”

No matter the situation, this is usually what happens. And when I was working and had a problem, Todd always had a solution. And you know, I just wanted to vent. And complain.

(Usually, I just want him to tell me that he agrees with me and that he thinks I’m right, but that’s a blog post for a different day.)

Anyway, I thought I’d share it with all of you in case you hadn’t seen it yet.