Erin Akin Carroll

I’m linking up again with Darci and the girls for another Five on Friday. Seriously, this is the easiest, most fun link up!

-ONE-

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably already know this. But this week, we’re in Indiana visiting my parents. My parents moved back to Indiana about two years ago and we try to visit them a couple of times every year for a couple of weeks at a time. We moved to Indiana when I was in the 8th grade and I left to go to college. A couple of years after that, my parents moved to South Carolina and then moved to Dallas. They only came back to Indiana right before Hayes was born.

It’s not easy to fly there because there’s not a direct flight for us, so when we left Atlanta last week, my mom and I picked up the boys and we started the drive to Indiana. It’s a beautiful drive!

We’ve just been laying low this week. Watching movies, playing with toys, going to the park and the pool. The boys love their KK and Poppie!

 

 

-TWO-

The house is coming along. Now that the rain seems to have slowed down a little bit, the guys are able to get in there and make a little more progress. All of the windows are in now and they have started the brick work. The house will have a combination of brick, hardie plank, and cedar shakes.

Right now, there is still only framing on the inside. The HVAC, electrical and plumbing work is done, so it shouldn’t be too long until we have sheet rock.

 

-THREE-

When I was at Scott’s Antique Market in Atlanta last week, I was on the hunt for some dining room chairs. Our last house had one dining area and we were using some dining chairs that my mom had used at our breakfast table when I was a kid. There were only four of them, and I needed a few more to put around our dining table in the new house. And I found them! I was instantly in love, and the seller was willing to negotiate a great price with us. That’s what I love about Scott’s! So eight of these beauties are coming to live at our house. They’re French antiques that the seller and his dad cleaned up. I love them!

-FOUR-

My precious friend, Callie, lives in Atlanta and met me at Market last Saturday to look for lighting for her new house. We just had a great time being able to catch up and hang out for the day.

-FIVE-

I pinned this gorgeous room last week. (Are you following me on Pinterest?) I love the shutters on the wall so much! I need to do this in my foyer!

 

Happy Friday, friends! What are y’all up to this weekend?

*You can still enter to win a trip to the Influence Conference!

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up,

just as in fact you are doing.”

1 Thessalonians 5:11

A couple of years ago, I got an email from the great and talented Ashley Brooke introducing me to a friend of hers in Orlando named Courtney DeFeo. Courtney was the creator of these adorable ABC Scripture Cards and was the honest, loving writer behind Lil Light O’ Mine.

After the introduction, I emailed Courtney and a friendship began. I quickly learned that Courtney is most passionate about her kids and helping other families bring God’s word into their homes. And encouraging moms and loving on others is one of her greatest gifts.

Last week, Courtney and I finally got to meet face to face! Her ABC Scripture Cards were making their debut at market at America’s Mart, and Courtney used that event as a reason to host all of the women who contribute to her blog for a good old-fashioned Southern brunch.

I was planning to be in Atlanta for market that week anyway, as I go every year with my mom and her best friends. So the timing worked out perfectly! I drove to Atlanta on Thursday morning, and made my way to Katie’s parents’ beautiful home.

The minute I walked into this house I could feel it. The encouragement. The gratefulness. The love. The support. The common thread of the Holy Spirit and sweet, energetic Courtney who brought us all together.

In the midst of one of the biggest moments for her ABC Scripture Cards, Courtney wanted to take time out to personally thank these women, and to stop a give the glory to God and ask His help as we all go forward and strive to encourage other moms.

We gathered around a stunning table, and the ice broke quickly as we all connected the dots and realized how much we had in common. Or, in my case, got crazy excited to get to meet some of my favorite bloggers and entrepreneurs in person. And these women are the real deal. Every one of them. Tara and Jennifer and Ashley and Kelli and Paige. And everyone else there.

These are the moments when I realize that no matter how silly blogging can seem some days and how we can focus on the pettiness of so much of it, this is what makes it worth it. The connection. The purpose behind it all. And putting Jesus first. And when you meet other women who get it, too, I just know that God is bigger. God did all of this.

Courtney went around the room and told stories about how she knew each woman there. I cried, others cried. We laughed and giggled and squealed. We heard stories of redemption and restoration and stories of true, sacrificial friendship.

The talented Laurie Byrne (of @lboriginals) made these precious favors for each of us. So sweet! And so cute!

I’ve had the privilege this summer to come together with a group of women that could only be put together by the Heavenly Father. Sure, Courtney knew us all, and invited us all. But over years and years, God put all of these people in her life to get us to that morning last Thursday. We came together at the end of the delicious meal to pray. We prayed for the moms who read our blogs and who come to Courtney’s blog looking for encouragement. We prayed for the stores that will be carrying the ABC Scripture Cards, and that the cards will find their way into homes and God’s word will be present there.

I’ve mentioned already on here that I’m participating in a summer study with my friend Ellen. Together, we’re reading A Beautiful Purpose by Susie Larson. (Read this book, friends! Seriously.) The greatest thing about this, though, is the group of people that Ellen has put together. It felt so random when we first started, but it is absolutely not random.

I know that Ellen prayed for each of us and prayed for this group, and I have been so touched by each and every one of them. It’s a heart connection that only comes from God.

In this season of my life, with a hard-working husband who loves us so much but feels the demands of being the bread winner, and two spirited, wild little boys who thrive from getting all of my attention and being in this season of waiting on our home, my friends have meant so much to me. They all know who they are, but I am so very grateful for them. For the connection, for the encouragement, and for the common thread of Jesus.

My prayer is that each of you reading this have these relationships in your life, as well. Internet friends. Church friends. College roommates and high school friends. School drop-off friends and the moms of your kids’ friends. We all need encouragement, and each day we can all pour into others and they pour into us.

Thank you, Courtney, for such a beautiful day, and for showing us all how to build ’em up.

(*And thank you to Paige for some of the pictures!)

 

May 17 was the last day of preschool for my boys. Hudson went five days a week last year and Hayes went three days a week. From 9:00 a.m. until noon, they’d get dropped off, I’d run a couple of errands, I started going to Pure Barre, and then it was time to pick them up. By the time we got home and ate lunch, it was time for naps. Long, sweet naps. They’d wake up from their nap and we’d play and read books and watch something on Disney Junior and wait for Todd to come home.

That was our routine.

And then on May 18, I started to panic and thought, “What happened to our routine? How will we survive without our routine?”

So I started thinking about all these ways I could come up with a fun list of things to do. I could make daily charts to have a bit of a “flexible summer routine.”

But the charts never got made. The routine was never implemented.

And we’ve survived.

Some days have been full of activity. Hudson had a week of swim camp. And then we had a couple of weeks of 25 minute swim lessons. We had a week of VBS.

We’ve had play dates at the zoo, the children’s museum, and the pool. We’ve gone to play in friends’ backyards and had friends over to play with us. Before the rain set in, we were going to the park and going for long walks.

And we’ve survived.

We’ve had so much fun!

Now, don’t get me wrong. I hear, “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!” about 3,856 times a day. I referee at the train table as much as I praise them for getting along with each other. We had to leave the pool a little bit early today because Hudson just had a rotten attitude. And the truth is, he just needed more sleep.

But, y’all. I’m loving summer time. Every moment of every day is not intentional. I don’t have activities and games and learning activities planned for every day.

This in-between that we’re in has been so relaxing. We have days when we don’t get out of our pajamas. We have days when 5:30 rolls around and we decide to either eat sandwiches or have a pizza delivered because cooking just wasn’t going to happen.

The laundry gets backed up and the toys are really disorganized.

It’s not the best way to run a home 365 days a year, but it’s okay for right now.

The summer is more than halfway over for us and I have no idea where the time went. We’ll spend next week at my parents’ house, and in a couple of weeks we’ll be at the beach.

It was a fun idea to think that I’d have Hudson practicing his handwriting every day and have Hayes working on his colors and shapes for a little bit each day. But it’s just not our reality.

My goal has been to keep them happy and entertained. Movies. Playing outside. Running in the sprinkler. (Or sprayers as Hudson calls them.) Eating watermelon and popsicles in swimsuits and skipping baths because they went to the pool that day. (Oh yes. It’s true.)

It’s cuddles on the couch and introducing them to a new movie. It’s deciding at the last minute to run meet a friend at the park because everyone desperately needs a change of scenery. It’s turning the mandatory trip to the grocery store into a fun, exciting outing for them. And playing “hide and go see” for two hours before bedtime because the rain has taken away our ability to play outside. (And lack of time outside makes it harder for everyone to get along in a house full of boys.)

Survival mode somehow, sweetly, turned into thriving mode. And I know that I’ll be sad to say goodbye to summer.