Hello, friends! I got behind in my holiday posts due to illness in December, so today I'm going to try and quickly wrap up Christmas and New Year's in one clean swoop of a post. We began decorating the weekend following Thanksgiving, but it took me a few days to really get into it and finish it all. I don't like to get too themey with Christmas--I mean, Christmas is a theme in and of itself, right?--but the last couple of years I've gone with more of a natural, woodsy vibe. I adore the outdoors and the woods behind our house, so it just felt very natural to use evergreen garlands, pinecones, and starry twinkle lights. Last year I used blue for my main accent color; this year I went ... Read more
Happy Thanksgiving!
This fall, the kids and I have enjoyed lunch on the patio most days which almost always leads to shenanigans with the pets! One particular day, a couple of weeks ago, turned into a silly fall photo shoot with our fur babies, and we thought these photos would be a fun way to say "Happy Thanksgiving" today! Barney, our most exuberant pet, didn’t stick around too long. We were pleased to get him in at least one good photo. To our surprise, the cat and the bunny are pretty comfortable with each other, but, we’ve realized that the cat thinks the bunny is another cat, and the bunny thinks the cat is another bunny. And so now we call them "the sisters"! Happy Thanksgiving from our ... Read more
Hello, Pumpkin!
We've added a furry family member to our home! Meet PUMPKIN! We got Pumpkin a couple of weeks ago, and my daughter asked this week if I would write a post about her. Sweet. This baby girl is the softest and sweeeeetest little puffball. She came at a purrrfect time for our family for a couple of reasons. First of all, an orange kitty in October is such a lovely autumn blessing! Second of all, having her around the house has lightened our spirits during this busy and stressful season of life. She loves to be held and loves to play. The tension of the day melts away. My son's observation put it best, "Mom, God sure made cats really cute! Barney gets supervised visits with ... Read more
Spring 2020: Counting Every Blessing
Spring 2020 was a doozy. These days just the mention of 2020 comes with sighs and eye-rolls. Covid-19 has brought hardships, stress, and loss to many. Our family has dealt with the heaviness as well in a number of ways, but the Lord has also showered blessing upon blessing on us. I love the song "Counting Every Blessing" by Rend Collective and have had that song in my head since The Rona hit. So today I'm counting every blessing of Spring 2020! And because there were so many, this is an incredibly long post, but mostly photos. Blessing 1: The Great Outdoors Not a single day passed during all of isolation where the sun did not rise! And with each sunrise came new mercies and ... Read more
Sweet Lottie
Last week our family said a tearful goodbye to the sweetest dog ever. Our poor Lottie suffered from a brain disease, seizures, and multiple orthopedic disorders, and that’s just scratching the surface of her problems. Having loved this dog as much as we did, and having lost one of our bunnies over the summer, I was concerned about how the kids would hold up when her time came. However, I was the one who sobbed and sobbed when she passed. Yep, me. The mom. (We each cried. Mine was the ugly kind.) Despite the numerous pains and discomforts she experienced on a daily basis, our Lottie girl loved and protected our family fiercely. Joel and I never worried about the kids when Lottie was ... Read more
Barney
Our family has two dogs, two bunnies, and a leased horse (and would totally add a cat if one of my kids wasn’t allergic). Our newest pet—a puppy we gave Incredi-Boy for a very special milestone—joined the family this summer! If you have pets, you know all too well that pet care is one of the many works of our hands in any given day, and this new puppy has kept our hands quite busy! Meet Barney. I know, he looks pretty adorable, doesn’t he? Well, I have another name for him: The DESTROYER. If you can just look past the beautiful chocolate coat and those mesmerizing eyes, you’ll notice a plant hanging out of his mouth. That plant was just one of MANY he has dug up from my yard. I don’t know ... Read more