December 25, 2015

merry christmas | 2015


From my family to all of you, I hope you've had the merriest of Christmases! 

"Love and joy come to you, and to you glad Christmas too, and God bless you and send you a happy new year."



December 17, 2015

happenings

"Do you ever wonder if you'll ever know what it's like to not even be a little tired?"
"And to think you don't even have a baby waking up at night..."

So went my silly question and sarcastic response from one of our assistant pastors (who just so happens to have a newborn!). Ah, the different stages of life and the things that accompany them!

Just getting out of missions conference and feeling like we're barreling through the Christmas season, it's hard to find time to sit and enjoy everything that comes with this time of the year. Something as simple as letting things go can make such a huge difference, but it's amazing how difficult that can be.


I normally write a poem for our Christmas cards, but this year I had to let that go. We mailed them about a week ago, and I'm still feeling bad about it. My brother did it for years, and then when he went off to med school, that Christmas tradition was handed down to me to carry out. This year my mom wrote a quick update on our year and we got those pictures in the mail. I love that tradition, and I'm planning on starting next year's in July. ;) 

So far we have only watched one Christmas film. Usually Thanksgiving night we begin with Holiday Inn with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire and watch one nearly every weekend leading up to Christmas Eve where we'll end with It's A Wonderful Life (my all time favorite movie anytime of the year). This year we watched the shortest one I could find and squeezed it in while we were all thinking about the huge lists we each had to get done. 

Amie and I make our teachers' gifts together - she makes a few things, and I do too. Several years we've been in the kitchen together preparing them, but between her piano students and me painting the hallway, well, hers are done and mine are not. (Her cookies and cheese logs are quite good, though!)

This week though, we're going to really enjoy Christmas and I can't wait! It actually started last Friday night when our Sunday School went out to eat and then to Opryland Hotel to walk around. I'll insert the big group picture when I get it, but here's a "group selfie" of the people I walked around with all night.


Saturday night I helped my friend throw her first Christmas party at her and her husband's new home. They live just five minutes down the road and we had finger foods and tacky sweaters and gag gifts and games and a houseful of happy people!

 
Monday morning we had Lena Rae and Dougy for a bit, and I decided I would go in late to work so I could make pancakes and sausage because I was missing breakfasts. (When you go to bed at 1am, you tend to oversleep and grab a granola bar on your way out!) I made a big ol' stack and Lena Rae had 3 and I had 3 and we were so full and it was delightful.


My dad has been preaching away since Monday, and he'll get back this morning. Our annual open house for our church is Sunday night, so we've been painting and cleaning and to be honest, doing a few manly things (like hanging mini blinds. I'm so impressed with myself). When he gets back, the house will be clean and shiny and sparkling with lights. We will have cookies and caramel apples and probably iced tea since it's been 70 - 75 degrees here (Tender Tennessee Christmas! haha). I'll put on Holiday Inn and guess what? We're going to sit down...together

All that to say, I know it's been quiet on here. I know that I never finished my Thanksgiving week and there probably won't be a Christmas story this year. Just go back and read last year's or the one I wrote when I was nineteen.

I hope everyone is having a good Christmas! Whether you're with family or not, remember that it's all about your perspective. So many times over the past few weeks I've wanted to sit down and have a little cry because it didn't feel like Christmas. We weren't all together and the house was in chaos and it was 9 at night and I was still painting. But a few deep breaths, a few looks around at all the blessings, and you can make any situation a little bit brighter by changing your outlook. Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas traditionally, do what we do and celebrate family, the gifts of God, and Christ lowering himself to meet us on our level as the most innocent and vulnerable of all human beings. 

Thank you for still reading this blog. Sometimes it's just a simple documentation of my days, but I put it up for me to go back and remember. Please make the most of the last few weeks we have left in 2015! It really is a wonderful life, and it really does pass all too quickly!








November 25, 2015

thanksgiving week | wednesday


After church tonight we had a "pie potluck" (which we actually called a Pie Social). All the ladies brought a pie or two or five and I had a little of four! We love pie.



With Missions Conference two weeks away, guess which group thought it would be a good idea to learn a new song or two without sheet music? Two and a half hours later...I'm hoarse, but it was so much fun.

Tomorrow's Thanksgiving Day!!!



November 24, 2015

thanksgiving week | tuesday

Today was the only day this week with nothing planned... so here's how I spent it!


This will be mailed Friday morning on our way to our families' Thanksgiving celebration, so I'm trying to have it all ready by tomorrow afternoon and enjoy the long weekend!


I bought some fabric for a skirt awhile ago and since today was the only "free" day I decided I "needed" a new skirt for the holidays. It's hanging in my closet right now! (My mom did 95% of it but I'm getting there.)


And finally, around 9:15pm I finished this pie for tomorrow night. I feel so much better when I can be ready ahead of time!



November 23, 2015

thanksgiving week | monday




Making cupcakes AND frosting from scratch isn't always my idea of a good time, but during the holidays it's my favorite thing ever. I started Thanksgiving week early this morning by mixing these up at 7am. I did not have one for breakfast, but the finished product this afternoon was well worth the wait. Try them out! 



An annual party that kick starts the holiday season around here! There were 53 ladies that participated in the White Elephant style ornament swap. It took awhile, but it was so much fun. I'm so grateful for sweet church members and friends willing to host that many people for so many years in a row!



November 21, 2015

3. beholden

be·hold·en bəˈhōld(ə)n/ adjective 
adjective: beholden owing thanks or having a duty to someone in return for help or a service.


Thanksgiving is next week and although we have a lot to do to prepare I am SO excited! Here are a few of my semi-recent pictures!



We had a beautiful fall. It was short as always, but every now and then I'll spot a bright orange, red, or yellow tree that hasn't lost all their leaves yet. This was taken in our neighbor's yard, and I love Lena Rae's panic stricken expression!


At a Missions Conference earlier this week I was able to spend some time with my friend and her beautiful little girl. I'm missing so very much of her growing up years, and the time there was sweet.



I'm not a fan orange, but I'm less of a fan of being sick. My mom has us stocked on all these things this time of the year!


That's all for this week! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I hope you all have a wonderful one!





November 14, 2015

strength for today, bright hope for tomorrow

There is peace in the center of God's will.

There is no fear in the middle of God's protection.

There is heartache in this temperal world. What happened in Paris could have happened here. We have no promise that our city, our town, our community, is exempt from terrorist attacks.

It is evil. It is wrong. It is terrifying.

It is the world we live in. It's depressing and it's dark.

There will one day be peace and total security.

Until then, remember that life is a vapor. A regular day spent with family could very well end in a horrible way. Remember it could have been any of us, and never forget to pray.

Today we need strength to face what possibly lies ahead, strength to take in what is happening in our world.

Tomorrow we have hope for a bright eternity where none of this will even be a memory.

In the middle of my comfortable, happy life, I couldn't not acknowledge all the hurting people right now. Please pray with me for them. Even more than they need comfort for their loss, they need Jesus for their future.




November 13, 2015

2. appreciative

Y'all. I love Fridays. Like, seriously love Fridays. I think one of the things I miss most about being a kid - or even a teenager - were those endless days in summer when I would wake up, and after falling back asleep and waking up again, get out of bed and think "Hm, wonder what I'll do today?" Now it's more like I roll out of bed at the first alarm because I can't trust myself to go back to sleep, and think, "Hm, wonder how I'm going to get all this done today?" And I know, I know - it'll only get worse the older I get.

But Fridays. Y'all, Fridays! I still have to get up early, but somehow it's easier on Fridays because the sooner I get to work, the sooner I can come home, and as soon as I do, it's "Weekend Chores in Fast Time." Which means: do my laundry, vacuum, dust, and mop my room, clean my bathroom and shower, wash my makeup brushes, tidy my bookshelves, take out my trash, tidy my drawers, and then during the in-between stage of clothes drying and clothes folding/ironing, I plan what I'll do next. (Yes, I do all this weekly because I'm just that way.)

Today, I think I'll bake cupcakes if we have the ingredients and do a small re-purging of my closet. I like to do this every few weeks after the "main purge" because I still keep a few things I'm just not sure about yet. Re-purging is done with a better idea of what I need or use, and keeps my life (and closet) in a more simplified state. I'd also like to wrap up a couple gifts I'm taking with me on a quick trip next week, and order something with my $20 ThredUp credit!

And all this means I have Saturday morning to sleep in, wake up, and think "Hm, wonder what I'll do today?" Because I did all the "need to"'s the day before! I just love Friday because when I'm done, I'm really done, and somehow the anticipation of Friday afternoon and Saturday is almost better than the actual day. I don't know. Wow, this introduction got rambly. Happy Friday!

This makes me so happy. I love pulling all this stuff out of my closet and then giving it away, donating it (the Yard Sale had already ended when I did this), or just plain trashing it. And now I can buy more stuff and do it and again in the spring! This is what I call the Main Purge. The purge I'll do today will have a small stack of things I don't wear anymore. This picture is all the junk that had gotten shoved to the back of my closet during the hectic weeks of summer.


These donuts are everything. As if Friday wasn't already good enough, we've got a whole bunch of these sitting around and they're dwindling quickly. They're dipped in butter and coated in cinnamon sugar. 'nuff said.

I love being an aunt so much. I tend to have more pictures of Lena Rae because she's a girl and she's always ready for the camera, but a sweet lady snapped this picture during our church picnic back in September and I love it. I love that Jace is in the background because he was willing to go down the slide slowly to help his little sister and stop halfway down when she wanted off. He's nearly seven and he'd prefer going down it 100 mph on his head, but for Lena Rae, he'll do pretty much whatever she wants.

Have a wonderful weekend and everyone stay warm! What are you appreciative for today?




November 10, 2015

1. gratitude

I really wanted to write a post every week of November leading up to Thanksgiving, but the power cord for my laptop decided to bite the dust last week, so I'll just do two in one this week.

There are so many ways to say, show, and give thanks. I tend to embrace the small things so that'll be the theme of these posts!



This is one of my favorite pictures of Stephen, Amie, Jacob, and me. We took one last year that looks really great blown up and hanging in our dining room, but after the photo shoot we did with our cousins for Christmas, my uncle snapped this one and it's been my phone lock screen ever since.

Lena Rae. Emotional, loud, loving, silly - she is the girl this family needed. I love it when she wants to be held.

Jobs. Husbands and fiances (not me of course). Responsibilities. They add up, and suddenly, in four months another friend will be married [Faith]. Then she's moving. And that day off we had is spent shopping and eating and laughing and just having fun in the moment. Recognizing that life changes so quickly and in the middle of a busy life, in the middle of our own personal struggles, hopes, and anticipation we can forget that it'll all be different next year and instead focus on the fact that we're still young and we're still allowed to make silly faces and laugh at corny jokes and title our all day shopping excursions. Tonight we will go to bed with sore feet and exhausted bodies and tomorrow we will wake up and go back to being responsible adults. We needed this day.



Please feel free to share what you're grateful for!



October 13, 2015

currently | october 2015

I've never done a "currently" post before, but many of the blogs I follow do them, and I always enjoy reading them. I thought it would be an appropriate time for me to do one since I've been "away" so long, and it would catch you up to speed a bit.

reading
A smorgasbord of books. I recently got a free trial of Kindle Unlimited, and I'm pretty sure it's the most genius idea ever. You can "borrow" books and read them for free! I kind of went into rapid-fire reading because I wanted to take advantage of the 100% free month, so I kind of got lost in a bunch of different genres. In fact, I downloaded a two-book series that, although they were definitely Christian novels, I've been so turned around and confused by them I don't even know what I'm reading. This morning I remembered that a book I'd pre-ordered by my favorite author back in the spring has been sitting unread on my shelves for a few months, so starting tonight, I will currently be reading One More Wish by Robin Jones Gunn. (it's a fluffy book, but it's the last in a very long series I began in high school) 

loving
The weather! I don't care how cliche "sunny and seventy-five" is, it's fantastic. It pretty much feels like you can do anything you ever wanted to do - IF you could stop sneezing and coughing for five seconds, but that's just a minor disturbance. I truly love this weather.


celebrating 
Tanner and Amie! Their birthdays are right next to each other - October 10 & 11, respectively. Tanner turned four which kind of blows my mind, and Amie turned 21. We also had our annual Fall Festival/Old Fashioned Day the morning of Tanners birthday, so, needless to say, we were ready for some down time on Monday.


working on
Organization. Simplifying. Getting my life together. Honestly though, it's very therapeutic for me. My closet is about to undergo a switcheroo from Summer to Winter, and I'm oddly excited about that. (Does this mean I need to get a life?) I want to blog the process, but I feel like that might be taking it a little too far! The donation centers in my area are about to be very blessed... 

buying 
Mums.  We do love them around here! My mom has 4 on our porch, and I picked up 12 for our Fall Festival - which doesn't seem like that many, but my car was unprepared for the invasion. They're beautiful though, and pretty inexpensive for a large sized plant!



listening
To incredibly complex classical pieces. Odd opera sounding stuff. My sister is a music major in her last year of college. Pray for us.

anticipating
Seeing the professional pictures from our recent cousins photo shoot. It had been twelve years since our last one, and 5 cousins had been born.


In age order we were boy-girl-boy-girl until my uncle (born 14 years after his sisters) went and had 6 boys!

laughing
At the recreation of our first photo. A few things have changed!


...these are the days for a quick note and iPhone pictures. Until the calendar uses an eraser, it'll have to do!

Happy Autumn!


 

October 6, 2015

checking in

Whenever I'm behind on posting something, I get these great visions of myself making some coffee, getting settled in my chair, and expounding on something of great importance or sharing the happy little details of life recently.


However, lately when I've sat down all I've been able to think about is how it would only take a few more hours to clean out the storage room I've been working on for weeks, or how the light bulb in my closet needs changing, or getting out the fall decorations, or that I need to go over my list for the Fall Festival. ...or wondering if I should get out my winter clothes because yesterday it was in the low 50's but today it's in the 80's. What is life?

As I've mentioned before, it's hard for me to relax in the middle of disorder. It's a trait I'm working on, but with the weather as it's been, my room and closet are a bit chaotic. It makes me feel anxious just leaving it, and I truly enjoy throwing stuff out and simplifying my life. If it's unused, out it goes. 

This might be an odd thing to write about, but it's my life right now. There's a lot going on in the church side of my life, and in the home side, I'm having a great time Fall De-Cluttering. It's driving my family crazy, but I'm really enjoying it.
 
Anyway, all that to say that my mind has been on everything except writing recently. My pictures for September are scattered all over the place, and I'm still catching up with the fact that it's already October! I still jot down mental notes of articles I'm planning on writing, and another part to my Sweetness of the South series. But for the most part, I've been focusing on enjoying the changing seasons and making the most of my days.

So I apologize for the silence here recently, but next week looks to offer some time for a real post. For now, I hope you're having a happy Fall, and I'll be back soon with another post about who knows what! 

Thanks for sticking around!


August 31, 2015

august 2015 recap

It's hard to believe August is over. It's gone by so quickly. It's funny to me how sometimes something that happened at the beginning of the month can feel like years ago, and sometimes it feels like only yesterday.

At the beginning of August we took a quick trip away for some very much needed rest. We were only gone about four days, but it was just what we needed.

If you've never been to the Biltmore, I highly recommend it. This was my second trip, and I'm trying to talk some friends into going at Christmas time. :)

We did some hiking and "nature viewing".

The entire family got together for my mom's birthday. It was a combination of her birthday and eating the fourth of July food we'd had to put in the freezer since no one was around for that holiday. It was a week early, so on her actual birthday I made a supper that catered more towards her favorites. :) (salmon, avocado salsa, roasted carrots...I've posted the recipe, and each time I've made it we wonder why we don't eat it once a week. ;) )

Anyway, when the entire family gathered, we simply grilled out, Mama made an ice cream and peaches recipe from the Biltmore Cookbook, and we enjoyed a relaxing evening....inside, because the bugs were insane.


It was a blessedly un-busy month comparatively speaking. It began cooling off a little bit, but I think we're having an Indian Summer because it's getting hot again.



I hate to see summer end. School has started back, life is returning to a scheduled pace, and while I enjoy the structure to my days, there isn't as much room for spontaneity. August was a nice farewell to summer festivities, and I'm excited to see what Autumn holds. The full calendar in front of me says it will be anything but dull!

Have a lovely evening, readers. You will hear from me soon.


| AUGUST SNAPSHOTS |

 

August 21, 2015

southernisms | sweetness of the south pt.1

Hey, y'all! How's your Mama 'n 'em?

Do what? Come again? What a way to open a blog post!

I know it had been a month of Sundays since you'd heard from me last time I posted, so I decided to do another one right away. All summer I've been coming up with a list of things about the south I'd love to share with all y'all, but that would be the longest blog post ever so I decided to do a series of posts, starting with this one, which to me is the tune of the south.

I reckon I'm allowed to be proud of where I'm from because I was born and raised here, so don't pitch a fit if you happen to be from the north, bless your heart. You be proud of your heritage, I'll be proud of mine.


One of my favorite things about the south is the freely made up, strange, and never questioned expressions. Once you start using them they stick to you like stink on a hog, and never you mind if it's one you made up on the spur, sometimes you just gotta get your point across.

"The south is the one place nothing ever has to be explained to me." I know what all of these expressions mean, and if you think the ones you read here are silly things we only say once in a blue moon, then you've got another think coming. I've only included those I hear at least every week, if not every day.



In my family my grand parents have five kids and forty 'leven grandkids.  We all live a hoot 'n a holler away from them and when family get togethers come around we're up and at 'em because everyone brings a dish. We always bring plenty because there's a slew of people and we don't want to have to be scrounging around for extras when we're fixin' to eat. Lemme tell you what, you've never had rolls like my grandma makes. They're slap-your-mama good, and she's always got some on hand when we go over. We tend to pig out and get full as a tick, but we'll stop when we've had a gracious plenty. If you've never been to a family potluck, well I never. Y'all ain't right


You'd better watch yourself, or your Mama'll jerk a knot in your tail. I don't know how many times I've been told, "don't be ugly!" If you ever start thinking you're too high falutin' to heed that warning and get too big for your britches, then you're dumb as a box of rocks. You'll make your mama mad as a wet hen and get yourself chewed up one side and down the other.  If you don't straighten up you just might get her dander up and cause her to fly off the handle and lay into you quick as greased lightening. Then she'll be upset as all get out so nip it in the bud for heavens sake! Stop being such a persnickety knucklehead, you're getting us all discombobulated.

Manners are first and foremost and you must never let someone think you're speaking ill of a person. For example, "He's ugly as a mud fence, bless his heart." or "Poor thing, he's old as dirt and ain't got a stitch 'a hair." Compliment someone's cooking and you'll like to tickle them to death, but insult their sister and you'll tear them all to pieces and possibly cause them to have a come apartLord have mercy we wouldn't want that!  

My daddy always said that if you can't say nothing nice, don't say nothing at all, and Mama will tell you to hush your mouth when you start talking ugly because that one lady can't carry a tune in a bucket. Just don't cause a stink about it, ya hear?

When asked if you like the fruitcake when you've got a hankerin' for pie, say you surely do and thank you kindly, ma'am. You can wash it down with some sweet tea and go home in a little bit. 


Good heavens, it's hot! The humidity's getting on our last nerve. Summer is spent hay hauling, bean picking, chigger scratching, and spending most of your day in the humid, hotter than blazes out-of-doors. Shew-whee, by nightfall you feel like you've been chewed up and spit out, but just hide and watch us do it again the next day because we hang in there like a hair in a biscuit. Pretty soon we'll have put up all of the harvest and will be in high cotton, ready for bonfires and hay rides. Autumn will be here directly and we'll praise Jesus for the breeze.


Lord willing and the creek don't rise, we'll be having dinner on the ground once it cools off. Everybody'll be puttin' on the dog - girls  dressed pretty as a picture and the boys all decked out. Mama's are tickled pink when you act like you're somebody.



Well if that don't beat all - I've used a lot of southern expressions! There are so many I left out because there just isn't enough time!  Maybe there will be a second one on southernisms? Who knows?

There might be one or two that don't make a lick 'a sense to you, so just ask me and I'll try to explain them! And it's not just the old timers that use these expressions, I asked my friends which ones they used regularly and that's where most of them came from - and they're all under the age of 25!  (9 out of 10 of them said "bless your heart" is the one they use the most.)

"Goodness gracious, hun, I can't think of an expression on the fly like that!" But we did, and here they are.

Have a lovely day, darling readers. I'll see you shortly!






 

August 18, 2015

first in my heart


 "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

It's difficult sometimes. When the dreams and plans you've been building for years slowly start crumbling around you, it's difficult to remember that He's still good. As those pieces of the hopes you've had begin tumbling, you scramble after them, chasing, grasping, desperately trying to put them back together. But the harder you try, the more impossible it seems, and the more scattered those precious pieces of hopes become. Slipping away, impossible to retrieve.

As I've tried to write this for a couple of weeks now, I couldn't get past the first paragraph. I thought of giving examples, sharing some of the struggles my friends and even I have faced in this past year. But when I went back to our conversations, our shared tears and heartbreaks, I couldn't overlook the way every conversation concluded.

"I know God has a plan."
"I'm sure the Lord is teaching me something through this."
"I just have to wait on Him, and trust that He knows best."

Waiting is hard when the end isn't in sight. But the longer I wait the more I find a place of peace. In the moments when I want to question Christ, when I just don't understand and can't make sense of the things He allows, it's as if He shoves a reminder in my face.  For example...

Weirdly enough, two of my very favorite parts of the day are my 7 minute drives to and from work. On the way there, I sip my coffee and listen to music. On the way home, I sip my water and listen to music. The past few days, every song (actually just 2 or 3 because I'm a repeat kind of girl) has been about the sacrifice that Calvary required. How very deep the Father's love is for us, to give His only son to pay our ransom. It was my sin that held my Savior to the tree.

And then this morning, the words and the melody of a song wrapped themselves around me like a familiar, comforting blanket. I don't know what was more meaningful - the words, or the familiarity of the song itself. One I've been singing since before I can remember singing. One I've heard since birth when my parents sang it as they put me to bed, one I've sung in the nursery, when I babysat, and to my nephews and niece. A song sung at funerals, at weddings, during nearly every holiday, and during many church services.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound... How sweet the sound. His grace is amazing, vast, and completely forgiving.

...that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind but now I see. Even after salvation, He seeks us out, He finds us.

But my own personal favorite hymn?

Be thou my vision, oh Lord of my heart. Naught be all else to me save that thou art... I think that if we could look beyond the circumstances we find ourselves in and focus on Him, the "things of earth will grow strangely dim" and nothing would matter but Him.

...thou and thou only, first in my heart... Shouldn't this be my goal? For Him to be first in everything? Every dream, every wish, every hope. Him first. Always. "Abhorring all my sin, adoring only Him."

I want to have a family. I want my friends to have a baby. I want health for the sick, comfort for the widow, love for the lonely.

But if not, He is still good.

August 7, 2015

june & july 2015 recap

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

I'm combining these months because they ran into each other creating such a blur that it just seems like putting them together is the thing to do. It was a couple of really hot and humid months weather wise, but we were too busy to stop and take too much notice. 

Saturday, June 6, my Sunday School class got together and hiked to a waterfall near us. It was a beautiful day, and we went early enough to beat the heat. Our teachers brought sandwich stuff and we ate after the hike. It was a really fun way to kick off summer!


The following Monday we started things off with a bang with our combined VBS and Jr. Camp week. Monday through Friday I was in charge of making sure the 2&3 year olds got to their places. Assembly, class, activities, crafts, and lunch. It was a fun week learning about D.L. Moody, Fanny Crosby, Billy Sunday, George Washington Carver, and David Brainard. The theme - obviously - was American Heroes of the Faith, and each classroom and teacher highlighted and focused on one of the above mentioned names. They decorated their rooms, dressed in period clothing, and were as dedicated and involved as you could ever hope a teacher would be. When adults are moved by a lesson for toddlers, you know something good is happening.

the kids even got to do some pottery this year because our newest church member is a pottery missionary!

We took a little breather the Saturday after VBS to do some laundry and pack for Youth Camp. It began Monday morning and ended Friday night. It was such a good year, and my very first as an official, call-me-Miss-Kelley-counselor. I tend to be overly organized and tidy, and I had 6 girls (five thirteen-year-olds and one fifteen-year-old) in my room. It was anything but quiet and tidy, but it was a lot of fun. It was all of their first time at Youth Camp, so I enjoyed helping them get ready, do devotions, talk about the services, and pray together before bed. I found myself channeling my former counselors and I'm so very grateful for the positive and lasting influence they had on me. 

Two of my best friends since childhood were there as well, and it was so much fun experiencing the flip side of camp together!


Two weeks later, and we're getting into Music School. I didn't get to participate in much of it this year because I was helping with some behind-the-scenes work, but I was able to go to the singing at night and learn some of the songs. It was a wonderful year, with well over 300 people attending at night.

Once again, my friends and I experiencing the other side of what we attended for years as children and teens.

Faith, Kaitlyn, & I. the menu? hotdogs for lunch and ziti for supper!

But the cherry on top of our summer was Douglas Mac being born on July 17 weighing 10 pounds and 2 ounces.

he is our favorite part of summer

This post would have been up much sooner, but we took a quick getaway at the beginning of this month and put everything else on hold. I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer, ours has been busy but we're looking forward to a little free time in August!


| JULY SNAPSHOTS |

I hope all of you have a lovely August!


 

July 17, 2015

seven | seventeen | two thousand fifteen


 Hello, Douglas Mac.


We've been waiting for you. Did you know you're five days late?


You weigh 10 pounds and 2 ounces. You're 22 inches long. 


I hope you don't mind all of the staring, you're just so sweet and cute. And big.


Your big sister thinks you belong to her. You kind of do, but we all feel that way so welcome to our family.


We will try to get you to call me Aunt Kelley, but Jackson told me it's really hard to remember the "aunt". That's ok.


We believe the more the merrier, so you have made us very happy.