I drafted this post late in September, a few days before Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina. Under what I was looking forward to I had listed our annual fall mountains trip, which was scheduled for Lake Lure. “These trips have been some of the sweetest times together each year for our family,” I wrote.

As best we can tell, the town of Chimney Rock, where we planned to stay, is almost completely washed away. The Flower Bridge, which we planned to visit, is washed away. The Lake Lure Dam has so far held, but only just so. Hundreds of roads are closed. We will not be traveling to WNC in a few weeks, and we are devastated by the loss of life, property, and beautiful landmarks in our beloved mountains.

This week has been a flurry of Spirit-empowered prayer, text messages between friends, Venmos sent to friends of friends, notes compared, networks activated, giving opportunities shared, diapers and water and socks and trash bags loaded in trucks headed west. John and I have also donated to Samaritan’s Purse, whose headquarters is smack dab in the middle of the disaster, and the Red Cross.

We will continue to pray and give, to gather and send. And we will continue to earnestly tend to the small details of our lives, loving our people by what we say and what we do. May all my NC neighbors have that opportunity again soon.

On my calendar:
— Seeing the Lazy Genius at Quail Ridge! A quorum of Articles Club will be in attendance for her book launch and we are excited.
— The NC State Fair! I promised the big kids we could ride on the giant swings this year :)
— Lara and Ari’s vow renewal! Grateful to get to celebrate their love with friends from all over.

What I’m loving right now:
— 2025 PowerSheets are available now! I went with the Aloe cover and it is even more beautiful in person. Join me!
— E. Frances Paper Little Notes, but also the ingenuity of Articles Club. One of us was thinking of ordering these cute little card packs, but instead of placing an individual order she opened it up to the rest of us. We each picked our favorite design (only paying shipping once!) and then once they arrived she mixed and matched to give us each a set of 85, but with 11 patterns! It’s been so fun to use them for lunchbox notes, gift tags, and place cards.
— My Numi undershirt, which I just pulled out in anticipation of cooler weather. I have the crop and it is so helpful for wearing under sweaters so that you don’t have to wash them each wear! I bought mine on Black Friday last year, so may be worth putting on your BFCM list.

As a reminder, you can find allll the things I’ve loved over the last few years neatly organized right here!

Last month on The Connected Family:
— Our 10 favorite family movies (so far) | A survey of the past three years as we start the cycle over!
— Four reasons I love camping | And a little recap of our most recent trip.
— 50 Dreams | The fuel of a rebel family.
— Things we do differently | Not a prescription, just permission to make the choices that help your family thrive – in big and small ways.

What I read in August:
—The Frozen River | This one first caught my eye on a list of books featuring happy marriages (too rare!) and then was enthusiastically recommended (and a copy pressed into my hands) by Nancy. Both recommendations were spot on – this gripping historical mystery will battle it out for top book of the year for me! I was hooked by the narrator (a midwife in 18th century Maine) a few pages into chapter one and she never let me go. A note that the plot centers around sexual assault ❤️
— The Lost Letters of Pergamum | A slim little book that was recommended by The Bible Project. While it’s a fictional series of letters between the Biblical author Luke and a Roman civic leader, the author, a New Testament scholar, weaves historical information throughout to create an engaging (and sometimes appalling) look at the social and political world of Jesus and his first followers.
— All Thirteen | One of my favorite bloggers has been raving about this Newbery Honor book for years, so I came in with high expectations. And I enjoyed it! It’s written for middle grader readers and filled with fascinating details about the 2018 cave rescue of the boys’ Thai soccer team. Planning to reread it with the kids when they’re a little bit older.

My reading list for 2024! I’m 14 / 24 so far.

Revisiting my September goals:
Film Sheptember
Write my Thrive Motherhood presentation (Done! Whew! This was a beast but in the end fun to present – and a great push to get me back into writing the course!)
Read chapters 13 and 14 of Outlive
Finish the 2015-2019 photo album (YES!!! Locked and loaded and now just waiting for a 20% off coupon to hit print :))
Print photos for our new mantel frames
Sort and tag for the consignment sale
Tackle the upstairs closet
Complete our passport appointment
Complete 40 hours of deep work (28!)

October goals:
— Edit Sheptember
— Create our family Halloween costumes (We took a year off and I am v. excited about what we have planned for 2024.)
— Refinish the dining room table (A beast of a job but must be done every few years. Hoping I can get a string of crisp days and work on the porch!)
— Finish TCF content planning for the rest of the year
— Finish writing the TCF course. (The Thrive presentation was a great reminder of how well I work with a deadline. I’m just going for it this month!)
— Send care packages to our favorite college students
— List items that have been accumulating on Buy Nothing
— Make a Christmas decor plan. (Nothing fancy here – I just love decorating for Christmas and want to give a little thought for how we’ll proceed this year so I can arrange for anything new I need in advance!)
— Choose our new china salad plates! (The ones from our wedding registry are scratched beyond recognition after 12 years of daily use and runs through the dishwasher. I’m grateful for every moment we’ve had with them and excited to choose something new! I’m in my green era so expecting to land on something in that shade – I like the look of this and this!)
— Read chapters 13 and 14 of Outlive

As a reminder, many of these are drawn from my 2024 goals!

Grateful for you, friends! Feel free to respond to anything I’ve mentioned here or anything else that’s on your mind.

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