Faithful in the Fray

Every morning after Jeremy drops our middle, Jake, off at school he comes home with Callum and walks straight into my office. It’s my signal to take a break, get down on the floor and engage in play for however long I can before switching back into working mom mode.

More often than not, Cal has a book he wants to read. He prefers turning the same two pages, pointing with his chubby, always sticky, finger and then promptly closing the book and moving on with his morning leaving me in the wind.

I love it.

Soon, the office he’s used to will look different, but I hope and pray the routine doesn’t change, because as much as it excites him, I think it excites me, more.

It’s been 7 years, 10 months, and 10 days since I wrote my last blog post.

I don’t think you ever realize in the moment that the thing you’re doing right then could be the last time it ever happens, I know on July 20, 2018 I didn’t.

And today, as we are preparing for a new season to begin I found an external hard drive dating back a decade and found writings on it I forgot I ever typed up.

I’m 33, almost 34 now.

A mom of three.

A wife of almost 13 years.

And the start of this blog dates back to crucial moments that made me who I am today.

Wow. What a journey it’s been.

Today felt like I stepped back in time and took a deep breath.

So. Hi. Welcome. I’m glad you’re here.

I’m t-minus four days until my 26^th birthday. I love my birthday. Always have. It’s a great reminder of where I’ve been the last year, and what I have to look forward too. I wrote a post last year about 25 things I wanted to do during my 25^th year and I’m going to be honest with y’all. I didn’t complete all 25. And while I could be really discouraged because I didn’t complete the goal, I’m actually really proud of myself for completing 19 of them!

1. I took a Barre3 class at the gym. It was intimidating, hard, comical, and all around a really fun experience. I went with a few of my friends and that made it even better.
2. I swapped take a dance class with take a vocal lesson. See previous post!
3. Run a 5k. Alexis and I did this, this past September. What a fun experience. Everyone should do a color run.
4. This is my 6^th post on my blog this year. And wow am I proud of myself for that.
5. Travel somewhere new as a family. We went to St. Simons Island together for our very first vacation! 
6. Record a video of myself singing. Jeremy recorded one of the songs I lead during worship last November and I shared it. I wanted to crawl in a hole afterwards, but I did it!
7. Turn my phone off for a day. We went apple picking for Jeremy’s birthday last year and I left my phone at home. Can I just admit how naked I felt? It’s so sad when a small device can make you feel so vulnerable.
8. Get another tattoo. YES! I finally got ‘it is well’ on my arm.
9. Make an entire meal from scratch. I’ve cooked more this last year than I have in my entire life.
10. Write letters to my handful. I was intentional about writing to those that mean the absolute world to me. I need to get better at making sure I write to people more often. It’s such a lost art of communication.
11. Read 10 new books. I technically read 80 books a night with Maizie, but I tried to be intentional about finding really good books for me to read. Both for fun, and for learning.
12. Apple pick in the fall. We did this for Jeremy’s birthday!
13. Have a picnic in the park. For Maizie’s birthday weekend we brought kites and lunch and stayed for a while.
14. Start dreaming of my book. I’ve got things in the works I can’t tell you about just yet..
15. Go to the beach. YES. When we went to St. Simons there was a beach. And then I got to go again when I was in Tampa, and Jeremy and I are going in two months!
16. Swear less. I just would like to give myself a round of applause.
17. Dye my hair. Oh honey, it’s been too long but yes, I did get my hair done this year.
18. Work hard at knocking out our debt. One step at a time, we’re taking it by storm.
19. Be intentional at reading my Bible and journaling more. I’m going through a lot of transformative stuff right now internally and externally, and through that, I have been spending more time in the Word and writing. I’m really thankful for that.

So there is my list. 19 things that I wanted to do / never done before. Apart from this list we went to concerts, I traveled more than ever, we had good quality family time together, and some of our best friends came to visit. I’m looking forward to year 26. Bring it on.