Happy October, friends! Though the pandemic has canceled several of our fall favorites, we’re still feeling the cozy vibes over here. Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, apple cider scones, new soup recipes, hiking through colorful leaves, crisp afternoons playing outside with neighborhood friends, and this weekend – a bit of decorating inside and out! My tiny sidekick is pumped :)
On my calendar this month: — Decorating for fall, including making ghosts with June per her request — The fifth (fifth!) anniversary gathering of Articles Club — Our family fall trip to the mountains
What I’m loving right now: — John and I recently watched the first two seasons of Cobra Kai, and I have complicated feelings about it. The first 8 episodes of season 1 were THOROUGHLY enjoyable and refreshing – surprisingly, the characters kept making the right decisions. Things took a turn from there, though, and for some reason I took it very personally, ha! In honor of Johnny and Mr. LaRusso, we’ve been listening to this playlist and it is deliciously 80’s – great for cleaning or bopping around the house. — My parents-in-law gave me this Gathre tablecloth in the Stars print recently, and I am in love. Made from leather, they are not inexpensive, but the ease of clean-up after meals is amazing with little kids. Maybe a good thing to put on a Christmas list or to scout on Black Friday! — This set of 20 linen hair bows is a steal of a deal. We’ve been having fun adding them to the ends of June’s braids!
As a reminder, you can find allll the things I’ve loved over the last few years neatly organized right here!
What I read in September: — Adopted for Life | I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this book wasn’t it. I enjoyed the Biblical depth he offered for the underpinnings of adoption, but I think I was hoping for something more practical. — 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You | I have read many books on our digital lives at this point, and so far this one is middle of the pack. Similar to Adopted for Life, he’s less focused on the practical and more on the big picture… and I guess I like the nitty gritty :) The “change” that has stuck with me the most, though, has really stuck with me: “we ignore our flesh and blood.” I think about it every time I’m tempted to pick up my phone while driving.
Revisiting my September goals: Film Sheptember, Volume 2 Read a marriage book in honor of our anniversary (didn’t get to this, but I think I’m going to choose How to Fall in Love with Anyone on the recommendation of reader Sarah!) Complete our upstairs bathroom renovation (“complete” was a little ambitious, but we definitely made progress! Walls painted, mirror down, new bathmats and shower curtain installed!) Complete four more Advent ornaments(tree, candy cane, heart, and present!) Ride 50 miles on our stationary bike or out in the wild (48!! So close!) Add plants to the master bathroom Begin family “by-laws” in a Google Doc Adjust the styling of EFM’s H1 headers so I can use them! (sent an email to my web folks, so this is underway!) Send a care package to a former babysitter who’s a college freshman
October goals: — Design our family Christmas newsletter and order Christmas cards — Edit Sheptember, Volume 2 — Complete four more Advent ornaments — Ride 50 miles — Wallpaper the upstairs bathroom — Switch out lighting in the upstairs bathroom — Finalize family mission statement — Finish garage reboot, including hanging our bikes
Also fun to note: 2021 PowerSheets launch this month! Even in a really unusual year, I’m so grateful for the progress I’ve made on the goals I share here each month – things that really matter to me – and my PowerSheets are a big part of that. If you’re ready for a fresh start next year, I hope you’ll take a peek at the collection on October 14th!
Though Articles Club has faithfully continued meeting over the last two months, we’ve switched to focusing on “life lately” updates instead of our usual fare. I miss our deep dives into important (and not-so-important) topics, but have also been enjoying the simple, and shorter, time together – after a long day, Zoom fatigue is real!
In honor of Articles Club, I thought I’d collect a few of my favorite recent coronavirus thought-pieces to share – all reads and listens that would be just perfect for discussing around the table. They’re less about current events and more about what life right now means for life beyond the pandemic. I hope they light a little spark in you today!
P.S. Perhaps you’re tapped out on coronavirus reading right now. Been there! Just for you, I’m including a few photos from this weekend’s backyard campout :) Enjoy!
Present in the Pandemic | This sermon from Jon Tyson was a gentle but firm reminder to abide in the midst of difficulty and sameness. He speaks persuasively about distraction, and what it means for our core relationships and our intimacy with God. If you loved The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, you’ll be nodding along the whole time. In the words of Jon, let’s not say at the end of this, “It was kind of a blur, and then it was over.” The teaching starts at about 44:30.
It’s Okay to Be a Different Kind of Parent During the Pandemic | This is perhaps not the essay you’re thinking it’s going to be. Mary Katherine weaves insight from her husband passing away, leaving her and her two young daughters behind, into advice for parents dealing with our current upheaval. A poignant and lovely piece.
When the Small Things are Everything | Another simply beautiful essay, this time about being a “second responder.” If you’ve been moved by the kindness sprouting everywhere, if you’ve been a part of this kindness in any small way, you’ll love this piece.
Parenting in the Age of Anxiety | Though this is not, strictly speaking, an article focused on coronavirus, it is The Atlantic’s most-recent cover story and couldn’t have debuted at a more relevant time. This is an eye-opening, sobering, and yet hopeful read about the current epidemic of anxiety, focusing on the impact parental anxiety has on children. I think this is a must-read for basically everyone right now.
Have you read anything notable about our current times – something that moved you to action or made you see things in a different light? I’d love to hear. You know I’m always down for a good read!
P.S. Backyard camping was a success! June fell asleep about 10 and woke up with the birds at 6 :) John came inside and promptly crawled into bed next to me, ha!
Isn’t it neat how the concept of “goals” is so flexible? For me, at times it’s been most helpful to focus on daily actions and habits. In others, I’ve found a multi-year “bucket list” of sorts most useful. In still others, just focusing on ONE area I want to grow in has been best. (What has been consistent throughout my online goal-setting lifetime – since 2013! – has been posting monthly updates here for a healthy dose of accountability. I’ve literally never missed a month!)
Last year, I set 8 very specific goals for 2019, and I made little-by-little progress on all of them. I liked the satisfaction of having a very clear finish line to aim for (surprise, surprise!) and am taking a similar route again in 2020. Here’s what I’ll be working on, along with my inspiration board for the year!
1. Live a wild life outdoors. A central tenet of my parenting philosophy is that the more time spent outside, the better — but living that out does not always come naturally (ahem) with everything else competing for our attention. The importance of this was a theme that popped up all over my PowerSheets. I want my kiddos to exercise their creativity and courage, use their imaginations, grow their attention spans, be refreshed by the wonders of creation, and have FUN! (And the same goes for me and John!) Some action steps: Organize our garage to facilitate play. Consider our back bed a natural playscape and finish planting it. Consider a sand/gravel/water play area. Build fairy houses. Do our own version of “forest school” once a month.Read How to Raise a Wild Child and The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.
2. Be a generous friend. I say I go deep, not wide, with friends, and if that’s true, I want to go all-in on this strategy. To do this, I’m choosing a few (5-8) “focal friends” for the year to very intentionally love, delight, and care for. Some action steps: Choose focal friends. Assemble friend dossiers :) Make prayer notes for each. Schedule a get together with at least one friend two times a month. Brainstorm possible get togethers and individual ways to love on each.
3. Grow strong by biking regularly.Last year’s goal to become a biking family was a grand success, and this year, we want to continue the fun by taking our biking year round – and doing another race! Some action steps: Buy a stationary bike for indoor riding. Buy a bike rack for our car. Decide on a 2020 race and register. Decide on best time to ride indoors and set weekly goals for how often.
4. Read through the Gospels together with John. At our year-end dinner we talked about wanting to grow in our faith together this year, and this is how we’re going to start! We’re planning to read one Gospel a quarter. (I already bought these neat Crossway books for journaling!)
5. Build our family culture. Some version of this will probably be a goal until our kiddos are out of the house! Family is the primary responsibility we’ve been given — it’s our best chance to grow into the people we were made to be, and to have fun! :) Some action steps: Reimagine the loft to facilitate play. Make a family mission statement. Implement kiddo dates with each parent. Have fun with our grown-up date nights each month!
6. Complete our Advent calendar as a route to analog hours. Two goals have dovetailed beautifully with this initiative: wanting to spend less time on screens, and wanting to complete our new Advent calendar! After years of admiring this DIY calendar kit, I finally bit the bullet and purchased it. With many pieces, intricate details, and the need to learn new skills, I anticipate it will be a year-long project that will keep my hands busy in the evenings and on weekends, as well as produce a beautiful heirloom for our family! Some action steps: Open the box :) Read through instructions. Identify any new materials needed. Make a plan for completion before December. Get to work.
7. Complete our 3 family photo albums. After several years of organizing and streamlining our photos, both digital and physical, I’m excited to wrap this project up with the most fun part of all: creating actual albums we can enjoy for years! My hope is the visual record I’m building will help establish and reinforce our family story. We’re planning to create one album for every five years, so I’ve got 2005-2009, 2010-2014, and 2015-2019 to complete. Some action steps: Organize 2019 photos. Decide on an album company. Lay out albums.
8. Streamline meal planning. It’s a huge part of our life, and it could be easier and more joyful — and therefore free up time for even more important things! By the end of this year, I want to have a seamless system in place. Some action steps: Choose the best recipe organization system for going forward (I’m thinking binder). Compile and print favorite recipes for seasons and categories. Make cheat sheets for seasons and categories. Implement a system for knowing what’s in our freezer (white board?). Strategize meals that can be fully made the night before. Clean up Pinterest. Host a meal ideas roundtable and potluck? Make a shopping sheet? Share weekly meal plans on EFM? Buy a printer?
I’ll be back with my January goals post soon, but in the meantime, I’d love to hear what you have planned for 2020. Have you set goals yet? I’d truly love to hear, so please drop a note in the comments! I can’t wait to cheer you on.
Here we are at the end of another year — another decade! As always, there have been ups and downs in 2019, moments I wish I could live in forever and things I’m more than eager to leave behind. When you have children, the span of a year brings such dramatic change (see: little bald Shep just sitting up to the big boy we have now!). I find it necessary to pause periodically and soak it in, and so here we are.
These posts are such a treat for me to write, and always some of my favorites to look back on years later. I hope you enjoy this year’s recounting: some of our favorite moments of 2019, in our lives and on the blog.
March is one of my favorite months in North Carolina, not because it’s the warmest but because its warmth is still unexpected after the early spring drudgery of my New England upbringing. We celebrated with a downtown Raleigh scoot (one of my favorite memories of the year) and I shared two posts that get a lot of play in our home: board games for two and our favorite way to print Instagram photos. June also tried soccer for the first time, at a field we can walk to!
There were many slow months on the blog this year, and April was one of them, but it still held a few of my favorites from 2019: tips for finding the right daycare, our experience with a neighborhood meal swap, and the tales of 10 of my favorite purchases. It was a joy to celebrate Easter as a family (and we got to show June faith in action in a very tangible way, too!), we scooted west for a zoo trip with cousins, and June had her first itty bitty dance recital!
We celebrated Shep’s baptism on Mother’s Day and Memorial Day with a flag cake, took our inaugural family bike ride, and traveled to Nashville to visit my sister Kim! I started a book hashtag and we chatted about how we read. We splashed in the neighborhood pool and had lots of picnics.
In a scary turn of events, my sister Kate was diagnosed with a brain tumor in May. She had surgery to remove it and, praise God, it was benign. After a summer of recuperation, she is pretty much back to normal and the outlook is good. This was the most serious medical issue one of my nearest and dearest has faced, and it was a surreal and jarring part of my year. (That train photo above is from one of June’s and my trips to visit her, which was a bright spot.)
June learned the joy of paper chains as we counted down to a week in the Outer Banks with John’s family, giving us lots of material to work with for Volume 4! On the blog, I shared a new insight into one of my Dad’s maxims, and answered your questions about our transition from one to two kiddos in three parts: one, two, three.
July saw us in Maine for lots of cousin giggles and early morning walks. We celebrated three of the best birthdays — John, John Shepherd, and sweet America — and I hosted my first (annual?) book swap party!
After limping through the summer with a string of 2-3-post months, I was grateful to come back swinging in August. We discussed not wearing makeup, the best books we’ve ever read, and our new mortgage plan. John and I kicked up our bike rides to three per week as our race drew ever closer; August was a very sweaty month. A highlight was celebrating Shep’s birthday at Pullen Park with dear friends and family (and the cutest animal party hats!).
We crossed the finish line of our MS race in September, though not without a few twists and turns along the way. Our seventh camping trip almost did us in (but we saw a whole new side of Shep) and I headed to the mountains for work. In honor of our seventh wedding anniversary, John and I answered your relationship questions here, here, and here. I also shared a peek at a few toy storage solutions that have been helpful for us!
Katie struck again with the most darling DIY Thanksgiving banner, our mini session photos came back (!), and we tucked in around the table to celebrate with the Terhunes and my family. I shared one of our go-to recipes (and some thoughts on trade offs) as well as six things on my November holiday checklist and my ideas for helper gifts.
Finally, we had a really wonderful December, one that was full of magic but didn’t feel stuffed. June, it must be said, is a most appreciative audience for all of my magic-making attempts, which makes the holidays a joy. I would bottle her up and keep her here forever if I could.
But alas, I cannot — and so, I stop to appreciate what is and what was. I notice the good things, do my best to facilitate more of them, and remember to thank God for every delight (and for being with us in the struggles) along the way.
I’m about to wrap up my PowerSheets and am excited to share my 2020 goals with you soon. I’m building off of what worked last year and can’t wait to dig in to them little by little over the next many months.
I know I’ve said it before, but I am SO excited for what we’ll discuss here in 2020. Thank you for being here, and for sharing so generously with me! It’s one of the delights of my life. Wishing you a healthy, happy, and abundant new year. I’ll see you soon! :)
