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!!!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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?

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!