when east meets south
We cooked. We ate. And, after sleeping off the turkey-induced coma, we romped around the back leaf-strewn acreage. With a quick stop for some chicken-snuggles. (No, we do not eat our chickens. Even the crowing ones.) Indescribably thankful for this season, this family, and this sweet life. The Lord has been so good to me.
Halloween 2018 was one for the books. The last few years have found us keeping our kiddos close, due mostly to Clementine’s initial surprise diagnosis and resulting surgery, as well as Magnolia’s heart surgery and artificial valve placement (putting them both in the “fragile” category for a season). But last year, on our way home from our typical Halloween-ing at… Read More
We don’t really do back-to-school stuff anymore. Not that I don’t want to, it’s just a bit anti-climactic when you homeschool… The first day just sorta feels like just another day, but with a stack of new curriculum. If I were a planner, and the tiniest bit organized, I might do just back-to-school photos on the first day of the… Read More
Sophie has wanted a pet for years. Years, y’all. But this girl is a planner. A thinker. And she wasn’t going to just jump head-first into pet ownership like a crazy person. She needed time to research. Gather information and experiences of others to best determine which little critter would be the perfect little love for her. First she thought… Read More
It’s been a big week around here. A *really* big week. Big enough to justify taking an entire weekday afternoon off just to celebrate. Specifically two of our kiddos – and the miracle of God weaving them into our family through adoption. So, at the request of one of the two being celebrated, we closed the schoolbooks early, packed the… Read More
The very first celebration we had in this house was for this girl. She was turning three. Now she’s eight. In anticipation of her big day, she’d carefully crafted a birthday list: 1. Tamogachi 2. pink sandals 3. kinetic sand 4. Wonder 5. a backpack 6. watercolors And the menu: Mom’s chicken chili homemade bread Coca-Cola (on repeat) And for… Read More
This girl. What fun she is to celebrate… Someone who is always joyfully doing for others. And rarely has expectations for herself. Ever practical, she asked for a Vera Bradley bag. Art stuff. And boots she picked out online. Since she made an Amazon “wish list” to help her mama know what to get, she kinda had a good guess… Read More
Being a mama is hard for a million and one reasons. And one of the biggest – for me at least – is when your kids go and get all big and grown up… and live hundreds of miles away. And are only are able to come visit a few times a year. Which makes the best part of my… Read More
It was good. It was crazy. And, in many ways, it was crazy good. We missed Zach so much, who wasn’t able to be here until after the New Year. (insert sad mama face here… I might have shed a few tears.) But, for the first time, we had Victoria’s boyfriend Jon join us on Christmas morning. And his presence… Read More
This Christmas season I wanted to be really purposeful in finding ways to make the season memorable – without either spending a small fortune or increasing my already-sufficiently-high level of holiday-induced anxiety. And, taking those two things into consideration, well… doesn’t leave a whole lot of things. Even gingerbread houses. But these? With the already-built graham cracker sides? That require… Read More