things i love thursday

Here I am again, over two months later, finally getting a blog post out!

I'm just going to jump right into it...

First of all, I have to go all the way back to Valentine's Day because that's just how long it's been since my last post! It was our first time to attend the Sweetheart Banquet at church, and our first married Valentine's Day. Last year Brandon surprised me by cooking for us so this year it was my turn to be the chef...and I added a bit of decorating as well.

Sweetheart Banquet 2019

at-home Valentine's Day date

Our anniversary was a few days after that and we celebrated a week later by spending the night in Nashville and seeing The Celtic Woman perform at TPAC. It was such a nice, low-key celebration and I had a grocery shopping partner on the way home the next day! (Maybe it's because I don't have kids yet but I really dislike grocery shopping by myself.)

We picked up some 100-layer donuts from Five Daughter's Bakery for breakfast and they were the best I've ever had!

We also had one-year photos taken because that was my main reason for wanting a porch swing picture on our wedding day. I'm so excited to repeat the first photo year after year and see what changes take place!

My mom got to keep Josie Jean at her house a couple of weeks ago and since she was ten minutes down the road from me instead of over an hour, of course I had to go spend some time over there! Have I mentioned how calm and happy this little girl is? She is truly the sweetest child.

experiencing a little "country life" with MaMaw

And, just because I like these pictures I thought I'd share them. National Sibling's Day was yesterday and now that we're all married I had to put these side by side and see the changes!

Jacob's wedding in Texas - May 4, 2007
Stephen's wedding in Hawaii - May 21, 2011
My wedding in Tennessee - February 23, 2018
Amie's wedding in Tennessee - January 11, 2019

That's all for now! The weather has finally warmed up but that also means we've gotten even busier. We're taking all the steps to start building our house but we're still in the paperwork phase. I hope to document every new thing we get to do.

Have a lovely Spring, everyone!

things i love thursday

"God has promised to supply all our needs. What we don't have now we don't need now."

-ELISABETH ELLIOT

Summer Summer Summer Summer!!!!

Tennessee has come through and delivered the perfect "spring" weather (as far as I'm concerned)! 60° mornings and 85° afternoons. Warm, breezy (is this called "balmy"?) evenings with the scent of honeysuckle wafting around. I can admit that the weather greatly affects my mood.

Last night the teacher I normally help was out of town so I had the class on my own. I read a character story, but since it was fairly short I tacked on an animal story about a pack rat that was discontent. We talked about contentment for awhile, and I really enjoyed listening to their perspective. Contentment has been a thought on my mind for awhile, and last night I decided I really need to spend more time focusing on the people and things I love rather than comparison and impatience.

I don't want to give the impression that I'm a bubbly, lighthearted person because I'm pretty sure if you asked my family, they would tell you I lean towards being more of a pessimist than an optimist! But the past few weeks have been busy, warm, and glorious, and I am thrilled about it. Here are some things I've been loving.

honeysuckle infused sunsets | Dougy kisses | afternoons in the sunshine | cleaning out the pool (y'all ever burnt the inside of your elbow? try not to) | books | "Yard Sale-ing" with my friend | baking | shopping (online and in store! I've turned over a new leaf) | coffee with hazelnut creamer | park picnics & slip-n-side with the kids (I get to hold the water hose and give them an icy spray!) | a new thermos (it made my day, being an adult is so weird) | ice cream cones | churches that feel like a second home-church and an extra family (talking about Ridge Road!) | sleeping babies | Alabama & family reunions - we always come home with chocolate oatmeal cookies from Aunt Julie and almond bark candy from Aunt Pam - it's kind of nice when your dad's the "little brother" of ten people! | home

Are your windows open? Are you getting fresh air? Have you colored a coloring page lately? All of these things lift my perspective so much, I hope you have a chance to experience them soon! Last night one of the last things one of the kids said was, "Miss Kelley, you are so neat, you like coloring with us!" The yellow crayon I was using for the flowers is the same one I would have used to color in my spirit when she told me that. Do something with some children, they make everything a little more colorful!

20 minutes after taking this picture the 3 littles were sacked out! I just love their white hair :)

Have a beautiful weekend, friends!

currently

Hello, everyone! I have to confess that I don't have much to say today. I have several drafts of articles a few sentences long each, but lately that's as far as I can get. Maybe soon I'll break past the barrier of writers block, but for now, here's a list of things I'm currently enjoying!

 

baking

Chocolate chip cookies! They're one of my favorite things to bake because they're so simple and one batch makes a lot of cookies. I made them for the children we take care of during our first or second couples' class, and then the next, and then the next...this past week I walked in and one of them asked if I'd brought the cookies. I wanted so badly to create some kind of tradition - something a little special to look forward to, and that question made my day. One of the ladies who used to watch us when I was little always brought cinnamon graham crackers, and I always looked forward to being in her group! 

back road drives

There are so many back roads in my area that I absolutely love, and there are two in particular that I frequently take time out of my day to drive down. Sometimes on my way home from work on Fridays I pass my house to get gas from the little station down the road. On the way back I don't stay on the highway, but I take a right and wind my way down roads covered with leafy branches, through sprawling fields of tobacco or soy beans, past thriving farms and dilapidated barns and homes. These roads all connect and make their way around the back of our house in a large loop. My windows will all be down and if the music isn't blasting, then I'm enjoying the sound of crunching gravel while I dream of fixing up the old houses and wondering what it was like when the family lived there, children growing up and learning how to farm.

So many houses around here sit empty and begin to decay because the owners (usually children who grew up in them) have moved on but refuse to let anyone else live in them. This particular one is my favorite and has been untouched for many, many years.

listening

One of the wonderful things about working with children is being able to listen to their sweet conversations. I love asking questions and hearing what they come up with to answer. A bridal shower this past Sunday was particularly confusing for a couple of little girls, while a spider in his house was big news for one of the boys. A little boy Lena's age has learned that if he picks on her, he'll get a reaction. From the outside watching, it was so funny to see him do something to irritate her, and her turn around in her little bossy way to get onto him while he just grinned over at us adults. My favorite age to work with are 2/3's, but I solo taught the 8/9's this past Wednesday and had such a good time with it! I don't believe I ever said I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up, but the more opportunities I have to do it, the more I understand why our current teachers have been doing it for 20+ years!

"Kelley! Jace just said a nice thing to me. I asked if I could play with his ball and he said not right now. He told me I can when he's done playing with it with Jackson. He is a nice boy!"

 - Lena Rae last week when I told her to ask nicely after crying about it in my lap for a few minutes

a gift from Jackson

windows open

My morning routine lately has been to turn off my alarm, procrastinate for a few minutes, brush my teeth, open my blinds and windows, and start my devotions. It's been so lovely (on the days it isn't raining) and this morning it was nearly 70 degrees at 8:15! I love it! I also got Whispers of Hope by Beth Moore in the mail to start in April - I'm excited to have an actual devotional to go through again, and I'll have to let you know how I like it! That devotional and Mrs. Kennedy and Me are on my reading lists for April and I'm excited to begin them. I seem to do more reading in the spring and summer than fall and winter, which is a little backwards I think.

"antique-ing" 

One of our favorite things to do as a family is to drive 45 minutes or an hour to a different town and stop at their square. We park and walk down the streets going into the antique stores and finding a little cafe to eat at. My dad browses the tools, books, and art, Amie looks for old white dishes and aprons, my mom searches out crocks, pottery, and unique kitchen gadgets, and I hunt for vintage Pyrex, Tupperware, colanders and anything made of copper. The day either has a break or ends with a meal that usually includes cole slaw on someone's plate, fries on mine, and sweet tea. We don't always leave with packages, but more than anything, it's a chance to inhale a bit of the past and get some dust on our fingers. I was happy with this pitcher that I found last Thursday! I didn't even know Pyrex made them.

It's so hard to believe this week will end with April beginning, but I sure am looking forward to it! It's been quite the week, and I have fun plans for next Monday. I'm ready for some May flowers, so let's bring on the April showers! I hope each of you has a fresh start to the new month! Thanks for always reading. I'll be back in a week or two!

P.S. Since April 1 isn't on a Thursday this year, you don't have to worry about an April Fool's Day prank from me! :)

 

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 apart. Lord 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!

 

the longing for heaven

I mentioned in my last post that I was considering sharing my thoughts on the recent Supreme Court ruling. I had pretty much decided not to, until I was reading today, and a sentence really stood out to me.

But if it were all such as this, where would the longing for heaven be?

There are times, where I live, when it's easy to forget everything that's going on in the rest of the world. When I got online that Friday and saw all the headlines and the rainbow graphics, I was totally surprised and confused. It didn't take a second of reading though before I figured out exactly what had happened...and I couldn't believe that I was reading about America. I couldn't believe that once again, the government had overruled what we'd already voted against (my state, anyway). It was an awful realization, and a terrible feeling. For the rest of the weekend I was ready to charge D.C. and sign any petition sent to me.
 
 And then Sunday came and went, and summer camps began, and while I still discussed it occasionally with my friends, for the most part it got pushed to the back of my mind, more important things taking priority in my thoughts. As they should.

Because no matter how small my town is, no matter that I'm planted in the center of the Bible belt, no matter how fiercely independent the South likes to be, we are not exempt from being infiltrated with the perversion of a filthy world.

As much as I'd love to hide in the hills surrounding me and live the rest of my life in one of the many valleys or hollows in my area, that is not the reality of this life. I wish everything everywhere were as beautiful and serene as certain days in my life are all the time.

But if it were all such as this, where would the longing for heaven be?

The longing for heaven is near. Nearer than before, and I believe closer than ever.

When I spend the day with my nephews and niece, when I walk outside at 7am and it's already nearly 80 degrees, when the sunshine seems to warm me from the inside out. A little heaven coming down to kiss my life.

But if it were all such as this...

Time with family. Laughter with friends. Singing. Reading. 

...where would the longing for heaven be?

I am saddened and disappointed by my country, but I have a deeper sense of desire for the home to come. This is where the longing for heaven is.

my familiar | summer's end

 

I love to travel. I've been blessed to have flown internationally and be in different countries. I've seen beautiful and historical landmarks in America, and if you gave me a plane ticket and a travel partner, I can't think of many places I'd refuse to go. There are so many different travel destinations on my bucket list that I can't name half of them off the top of my head.The world is beautiful - each place stunning in it's own unique way.

But there is something to be said about the beauty I see daily, that I get to take for granted. The things I hope never change, that will welcome me back when I've been gone.

It's easy to feel stuck in a place when there's simply too much going on, not enough time, too expensive to travel...whatever the reason you can't leave.  I've been there so many times. Feeling the itch to pack a bag and get on a plane. Just to see something different, break up the routine, jump out of your rut.

I've been feeling that for the past few weeks as we're in the middle of what sometimes feels like a hurricane of sawdust and nails. The holidays are coming up and it's just a terrible time to take off work. Planning a trip for April and May seems like such a long way off...and so I decided to appreciate the things around me.

The evenings are getting cooler here. Still a far cry from the nose-numbing nights of deep autumn, but the evenings of driving around with the windows down are numbered. So last night, Amie and I decided to take a drive around some of our favorite places near home. We were never more that 15 minutes from our house, and with cameras in hand, my desire to leave this place for a little while grew to a distant call that I'll revisit later in April or May. ;)

These are sights that comfort me, that let me know this is where I belong.

My familiar.

Come drive around with us...

{as appropriate as it would be, no, I do not live on this road ;) }

 

 

We all have places uniquely beautiful and special to us. These sights speak to me of home. What is your familiar?

Our Fourth of July

"Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee." -Deuteronomy 32:7

After Christmas, I think the Fourth of July is my favorite holiday. It's about celebrating our freedom and it's cost and our American history, spending time with family, and relaxing. 

This year for Independence Day we celebrated on the fourth in Kentucky with our church family and other people at a tent meeting my dad preached. We took around 150 people from our church, and all combined there were about 500 people there! Our choir sang, my dad preached, a lady got saved, they served pizza and ice cream, and had fireworks! So much fun. :)

 

On the fifth, we had our big family celebration. Stephen and Tara are finally back in our state for good! They came over, and of course Jacob and his family did too. I'll caption some of the pictures, but you can see what we did fairly well without me writing a lot about it! (A picture is worth a thousand words...) We sat outside and ate and hung out for about five hours and had so much fun.

corn on the cob, baked beans, hamburgers and hotdogs, and chips

smoked jalapeno poppers

 

"Wheelie Poppin' Contest" - perfectly timed photo!

homemade butterfingers ice cream

What did you do for the Fourth of July? I hope everyone had a great day!