I’m posting over here. I’d love for you to go read it and see something that has been on my heart lately.
And while you’re at it, go ahead and subscribe to Courtney DeFeo’s blog. She’s the creative, passionate mom behind the ABC Scripture Cards and Lil Light O’ Mine. And she has a brand new, fancy, pretty blog full of wisdom and passion for moms and women of all ages.
I’m so excited about all of the contributors and learning from each of them!
1. Winter Gives Way to Spring from Sweetwater
My friend Ellen is such a beautiful writer. Please read this!
2. Fifty Two Shades of Shay: Traveling With Your Kids from Mix and Match Mama/The Shull Family
This is the kid-traveling post of all kid-traveling posts. We have done a ton of traveling and flying with our kids, but not nearly as much as Shay has. This girl knows her stuff and she has some amazing tips and advice!
3. Sadness and Madness from Beth Moore and the Living Proof Ministries Blog
Wow. This post is so good. She talks about the dangers of bullying and the dangers our words can get us into – especially when it’s Christians hating on other Christians. I loved this post so much.
4. “The Big Chill” Antebellum House for Sale in South Carolina from Hooked On Houses
The Big Chill is in my top 5 favorite movies of all time. My dear friend, Malain, and I used to watch it all the time in college and I can quote it and sing the soundtrack and I just love everything about me. I’m dying for a college reunion soon. Anyway. The house from the movie is for sale… and it’s not far from me! Maybe we can move in there! I wish.
My friend, Maureen, has an adorable new blog called The Northeast Girl. She has great style and has fantastic photos. You should definitely check it out!
6. Reading the Word as a Boy Mom: Thoughts on Bravery from Home With the Boys
We actually studied 2 Timothy 1:7 in Sunday school this morning, but I just love this post about raising brave boys and being a brave mom.
7. I love reading all the posts of everyone who linked up for Build ‘Em Up. I am still making my way through to comment on all of them, but I’ll get there! I promise!
What is it about the weather that affects our outlook so much?
In this case, I don’t think it’s just the weather. I think a lot of it is time, too.
As you all know, we’re in a really interesting season of life. I’m a planner. I planned to have us sell our house, and that took a whole lot longer than we expected.
And then I planned that we’d find a house that we loved enough to make an offer – or that something wasn’t seriously wrong with- and that didn’t really happen. So we moved in with Todd’s grandmother.
And then I was surprised and delighted to find out that I was pregnant. Only to go through a heartbreaking miscarriage very soon after finding out.
I didn’t plan any of this.
This season has been one of dryness for me. And maybe even a little bit of bitterness. I haven’t felt like myself in months.
Since the miscarriage, I have felt empty and heartbroken. I’ve felt confused. I’ve still been trying to convince my heart that we won’t be having a baby in September and I need to stop thinking about the plans associated with that.
But this week, the rain stopped. The cold left. And the gorgeous, skin-warming sun showed up.
The boys and I got outside. We’ve all laughed. Real, true laughter. Not laughter that hides the pain, but real laughter where you don’t even know what pain feels like because you’re so happy.
I look at my precious Hayes and realize that I’m not ready for him to be the middle child. Every single bit of him is my tee-tiny baby and I’m just not ready to give that up.
The dryness is leaving me. I’ve cried out daily for God to take this pain from me, but I hadn’t been putting in the time to allow Him to fill me up. I had just been in constant mourning, and a whole lot less praise.
We drove by our lot on Tuesday morning and there was a bulldozer. The work has begun. The earth is being moved. The foundation is being laid. Our new chapter is on the horizon, and I can see it. Clearly.
In the mean time, we’re content. The sadness is still there for me, but life is moving along. And we’re all in a good place.
I know that days will come when I’ll think about September and what could have been. Maybe the day will come someday when we’re ready to finish out that fifth bedroom in the new house to welcome a new family member.
Right now, though, we’re just content to be. We’re soaking up moments with grandparents who live right down the road and two silly little boys who have the rare experience of growing up with a great-grandmother.
The sun is out. Summer is coming. The azaleas are in bloom, the windows are rolled down, and the music is cranking. God has delivered this new season to us and here’s my opportunity to seize it.
We’re soaking up the sun. We’re enjoying each minute with each other (and don’t be mistaken, we’re still having to discipline imperfect children). And we’re just going to sit back and watch our new home rise up.
And that’s exactly what I want for my family.
This past week was Spring Break. We didn’t actually do anything out of the ordinary, but it was a fun week spent with the boys without any speech therapy or Bible study or preschool. It was just nice uninterrupted time.
We had a couple of rainy days that kept us inside all day. And keeping boys entertained AND inside all day is a challenge.
But when the sun came out, we went to the zoo with friends. I’m so thankful that Columbia has such a great zoo. Our zoo membership was money well spent. We go as often as we can!
The zoo has a little train that the kids can ride around. After standing in line for twenty minutes, it was finally our turn. My friend, Ainsley, was going to ride the train with all the boys, but Hayes starting crying and saying he wanted to get out.
So I jumped on the train with him. But I’m not sure it did a lot to calm him down.
We went to EdVenture on Thursday with the same group of boys and had another great day. The boys are so rowdy together and spend a lot of time wrestling.
At night, we tried to get out of the house to go to dinner or to go visit the lot for the new house. (We’re breaking ground this week!)
We came home one night and Hudson wanted us all to sit on our bed at Nana’s house and hold hands while we watched Mickey Mouse. It’s hard to say no to that!
Another night we went down to the River Walk with Boudreaux and the stroller and had a nice, long walk. I used to bring Boudreaux to the River Walk all the time before we got married. I love it down there!
On Friday night, we went to Trader Joe’s to get groceries for the week. Hayes was screaming his little head off for everything in the store. It’s just his age, but he wants to touch everything! So Todd and Hudson finished up with checking out of the store, and I took Hayes out to the car.
After Trader Joe’s, we drove over to Zestos. Zestos is a little greasy spoon that has burgers, chicken, fries, and other yummy bad food, and ice cream! Hudson has been dying to eat here as long as he can remember because of this giant ice cream cone outside.
And the sweet boy got an ice cream cone!
Hudson had his first soccer game on Saturday morning. It went well, for the most part. Ha! He had a few little “moments” because he didn’t want to come out for someone else to go in. And I think he was afraid to steal the ball. But we’ll work on that!
The kids were so cute and got so into it! Go Strikers!
After the soccer game on Saturday, I hate lunch with my sweet friend Christina. It was so great to catch up with her! Todd went with my dad to Atlanta for the Final Four, so we’re missing him and can’t wait for him to get back on Tuesday.
My father-in-law came to hang out with the boys while I went to the hospital to visit my dear friend Emily and her beautiful new baby girl, Hazel. Oh she is so sweet!
And on Saturday night, the boys and I went with Todd’s parents and Nana to Shealy’s barbecue. They’ve been telling me about it for years, but I’ve never made the trek out there.
While we’ve been living at Nana’s house, it has also been so nice because Todd’s mom and dad live right down the road from Nana’s house. So we see a lot of them and it’s been such a blessing to all of us.
I was so excited they let the boys and me tag along for dinner at Shealy’s on Saturday night.
And sweet Hudson got another ice cream cone!
The boys and I went to church on Sunday morning and then hung out down at Todd’s parents’ house on Saturday afternoon riding bikes before going to Cookout for supper.
It was a great weekend!
I hope you all had a fun weekend! We’re excited about getting our house started this week and we’re welcoming the warmer weather!
(I posted a lot of these pictures on Instagram, too, so you can follow along there!)
(Don’t forget about tomorrow’s Build ‘Em Up all about remembering you!)
