Day 25: What are we afraid of?

Inspiration can come at any time and from anywhere.  Some family members were asking if I was going to post today, and I really had no idea what I was going to post about, but after I got home, I had an idea (which also led me to post what I did for Day 24)!  Thank you family!

Why are we so afraid of letting go?  Of our stuff, of our ideas, of our plans, of our money, of our time, and the list could go on.

Maybe because of that word "our."  We see it as ours.  (And I'm not writing this to anyone in particular because I am as guilty of this as the next person.)

What is really mine?  Nothing that I have or even do is new to the world, it all has a source.  If you read through the Bible book of Ecclesiastes, the writer makes this point chapter after chapter (I found his writing to be almost depressing at times).

The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:
“Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”

All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.
What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there anything of which one can say,
“Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.       -Ecclesiastes 1: 1-2, 8-10

Kind of depressing, right?!

Chapter 12 is more encouraging.  It tells us to remember our Creator.  All things that we have come from Him.

Doesn't that also mean that He can provide for what we lack?  We don't need to hang on to everything if we trust that He is our Provider.  And that doesn't mean that we should be negligent or careless with what He has entrusted to us, just that we should trust more in Him than in the things that we call "ours."

Day 24: I'm Letting Go

I decided that it was okay to post another one of my scribblings.  It wasn't so bad the first time.  

This one comes with some drawings.  My favorite kind of drawings.  The messy, imperfect, very sketchy ones!  They're the most fun to draw because I'm not trying to be perfect with them and get all the details just right, I'm just getting the gist of the subject.  (Which probably means that I should draw this way more if it's what I like best!)

The words in this drawing were a song (but I'm not going to sing it for you):

I'm letting go, I'm letting go

Of all that I hold on to

I'm letting go, I'm letting go

The hopes and dreams that

Sift through closed hands

All I have, all I am

Comes from You

Bigger and better

I cannot imagine

But bigger and better

Are Your dreams for me 

And then you repeat it a couple of time, etc...

Actually, I'm just realizing/remembering that these drawings were blind contour drawings (which means that you draw without lifting your pen/pencil and don't look at your paper as you draw).

Day 23: Little steps can lead to breakthrough

Isn't it amazing how some days you can be in "get things done" mode, and others you just want to lounge around and do nothing "productive."

Today, I'm trying to get things done that I've put off for the last week.  I have a nice to-do list written out with 3 things now checked off, which makes me feel good.  But a lot more stuff not checked off, which doesn't make me feel so accomplished.

And then 2 more items added to the list that I just remembered.

Little bits can still make for a big breakthrough.  Accomplishing the one thing that seems so big in my mind can make me feel like I've completed my whole list.

..............

Now at the end of the day as I look at my list, my accomplishments outnumber my "to-do's"!  Starting is the hardest for me.  But once I reach that first small accomplishment, I know I can do so much more!

Day 22: Living not just surviving

I couldn't sleep the other night.  Like, I slept fine until about 3am, then I was awake in bed for an hour before I decided it was better to just get up.  I wasn't really anxious about anything or have anything specific that was on my mind, I just could not fall back to sleep.

I guess it's practice for wake up calls that will begin in December.  I have not missed being on call all the time, like I used to be for the first 5 years of our marriage (we both were, and Josiah still is, but he doesn't get called nearly as much as he did in those first 5 years).  It is going to take every ounce of simple and creative gifts that I have to not just survive this season, but to feel like I'm actually living.

I don't like that feeling.  It's stressful.  I tend to shut down every non-essential thing (I'm sure a lot of other people do this too) and just focus on survival.  But that could be very bad because I'm not exactly an outgoing people person, so that's the thing that I tend to let go of first, relationships.

For example, we just started new small groups at our church, and sign up was completely voluntary.  I signed up.

And now I'm thinking, "how am I ever going to be able to do this?"  We meet as a group every other week and then we are supposed to meet with one or two other people on the off weeks for accountability and encouragement.  And I missed our first group meeting because I wasn't feeling well.

I missed the relationship of small groups, but I'm just not sure I can do this right now.  Maybe if this was not our first child.  But since this will be our first, life is full of unknowns.  And I don't like unknowns, they usually include some sort of change, and change is hard for me.  And all of this hasn't happened yet, so it is all completely hypothetical!

See what I mean?  Relationships outside of my house seem to be the first thing I chuck out the window when I'm looking at survival mode, even just imagining survival mode.

These verses are a handy reminder for those times:

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do,whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.   -Colossians 3: 12- 17

Day 21: Rest on a stressful day

Some words I wrote during my walk yesterday morning:

Rest in the peaceful moment of now.  Not in what was or will be.  But now.  Right.  Now.
This moment will never be again, though many similar may occur, this is the only one perfectly like this.  Be filled with the peace of Christ that surpasses your understanding.  Just be still.  Be still and know that God is faithful.

I didn't know how much I would need those words going through the day yesterday.

It was a little stressful.  First, there was a baby registry issue, like a big one (it corrected itself, but it was stressful at the time).

Then I went for my first non-stress test for baby, and that did not go well.  I was sent over to the specialist for an unexpected ultrasound.  This was the first appointment that Josiah had not come with me, so I was texting and calling him trying to explain what was happening, when I really didn't know. 

Baby's heart rate was really high and then would drop down to a normal rate, but when I went to the specialist it wasn't happening.  So I am now banned from caffeine for the next 8 or so weeks (I had hot chocolate yesterday morning and that might have been the cause of the issue).  (I already told my sister that I will gladly accept gifts of (dark) chocolate bars in the hospital after baby is born and that they better serve chocolate milk.  I won't miss coffee as much as chocolate.  But whatever I need to do for the baby's health, I will.)

I'll have to tell this whole pregnancy story some time because it's been the most eventful, but without any real problems, event in my life.

Day 20: I Will Follow You

I've never done this before and I'm not sure I want to, but I guess I actually do this all the time, since almost everything that I put up here on my blog is my own writing.  (But I also need something to write about and this is an example of my simple creativity.)

I used to write stuff, just stuff that was on my heart and would come out through my brain.  It would sometimes work itself out to be a song, and other times it would just be words, more like a poem.

So here is one of my writings/scribblings from a year or more ago:

I Will Follow You

Trapped in this confusion,

I don't know what to do.

Strength, I have not 

To do this task

But I will follow You.

You ask me what I'm scared of.

I don't really know.

Many things:

Of falling down?

Of ever letting go?

Gifts and dreams I hold inside,

Oh, would You draw them out?

I long to sing.

I long to dance,

To live without a doubt.

I know of Your compassion.

Your faithfulness I see.

Ever teaching,

always growing

What You have placed in me.

Your right hand will guide me.

You will lead me true.

Of the path You choose

I say,

I will follow You.

Day 19: Lists and other reminders

I feel a little overwhelmed.  With a lot of things.

One of the things that I'm trying to think about right now is getting organized.  I like to plan things out and be ready when I know that something is going to happen.  I make lists for packing for vacations.  I make lists of songs that pop into my head for any future worship planning at church.  I make to-do lists, and thank-you card lists.

And then there's the things like this:

Not lists, but peaceful reminders of who God is and all the things that I am capable of doing through His strength.

Day 18: Fantasy and simple creativity

If you watch any football on a Sunday afternoon, you might see a ton of commercials for fantasy football leagues.  They are so annoying because they happen almost every other commercial!

It got me thinking about how, for me, simple creativity does not have anything to do with fantasy. 

It's too easy for me to get caught up in fantasy, forgetting what is real.  I love to read and movies are okay (way less interesting than I used to find them), but I find that the creativity in myself has nothing to do with fantasy.

Always (at least up until now), when I draw, I have to draw from something that I can see or the result will not be good (in my standards).

And when I write, I don't know that I could ever write fiction.  I feel like I write best when I write as myself, not when I try to be something or someone that I'm not, although I do have a good imagination.  I think I've overused it in the past and that has gotten me in trouble, so now I'm trying to focus on what is.  (I just don't want to go completely the other way and lose any imagination that I had, it's a fine line.)

Day 17: Photo wall

A guest post of sorts, ha ha. 

Game night at Kristen and Eric's house. 

I love the way that she did her picture wall.  

Paint canvas black (or leave white) and mod-podge your photo print on the canvas and voila!  A lovely simple way of putting up photos. 

Day 16: Removing doors

Today is Friday?!  It feels like Saturday.

We spent the majority of our morning and afternoon cleaning, throwing stuff away, folding laundry and stirring up dust.  (I'm finding it hard to breath right now, too much dust inhalation and someone is squishing my lungs)

We also took a door out.  It was in the way and we thought it might look nice.  It makes the room feel bigger!  Sometimes less is more.

But sometimes it's not..  I asked Josiah about removing another door, but it's kind of painted on, like the screws and hinges are painted over.  So I said, never mind to that one.  I don't want to go overboard anyway.

We're slowly getting things checked off our to-do list before baby comes.  Slowly.

Kind of sad that I find taking a door out as being creative.

Day 15: Expectations

Halfway today!!!

Going off my drifting thoughts from yesterday, I had a scary thought, one that a lot of parents might have.

-How am I supposed to raise a child and encourage them to become who God created them to be, when I'm not there yet?

Well, that's definitely going to take a lot of God and a lot of grace, and probably a lot of simple and a lot of creativity.

At this point, I only really have 3 expectations about having children:

• This is going to be the hardest thing that I've done up to this point in my life.
• Sleep is going to be a very precious commodity.
• We are going to love this baby (I know there will be frustrating times, but overall).

Surprisingly, that's it.  Although those probably cover a lot of ground, especially the first one.

You get a lot of advice and stories from other people when you're pregnant.  I've been listening, but I haven't been absorbing it all.  Your story and experience is true for you, and I may experience some of the same things, but please don't try to place your expectations on me, I have my own.  They may be too simple, but they are what I can comprehend right now.  They are where I'm at.

Day 14: Wonderings

It seems that every couple of days I reevaluate what exactly I'm doing here.  My writing and journey this month isn't turning out how I expected.  I thought that this topic would kickstart my doing more creative things in my home.  But mainly, we've been just removing clutter from our lives instead, which really makes a huge difference for any home!

Maybe I chose being simply creative less for my home and more for my self.  Seeing the simple and the creative around me and in me and learning to use it and be thankful for it.  Taking walks and working things out that have been in my mind for a while.  Trying to figure out who I am again, and who I will become in this next season of life.

Day 13: Deer at sunset

One thing that I/we need to be more creative with are our date nights!

Too often, especially during the winter, we end up on the couch in the evening, just watching a movie or whatever sports event might be on.  Bleh.  That gets boring.

We've been making an effort to go on more walks while we still can, before the little one comes and we're too exhausted, or before it gets too cold.  Last night we went on a sunset walk and were surprised to see some deer!

We found a spot downwind from where they had come out of a line of trees and brush and sat on the ground and waited.  After a good long wait, a doe finally came out and looked straight at us, she was maybe 20 yards away from our spot.  We weren't very hidden, so after a good long look, she ran back into the brush.

We were going to leave and had gotten up to go when we heard movement, so we quickly moved back along the tree line more and sat down again.  Out comes the doe again, and this time, after looking at us for several minutes she starts walking out across our field and she's followed by yearling triplets!

The scary part was that she snorted, and then we heard a snort coming from directly behind us, it sounded close, but we couldn't see anything.

As they were grazing through our field, they got downwind and must have smelled us because they took off.  By that time it was too dark to see where they went.

That was such a cool experience, I've never been that close to a deer (that I know of).  It was amazing!  And a nice simple evening that we could spend together, watching God's creativity.

Day 12: One small room at a time

Our project of the day was trying to figure out how to store our barn clothes in the "mud room," our room to keep the "farm" smell from imposing too much on the rest of the house.

It's a very small room with no sort of storage besides a few hooks on the walls to hang up coats and things.  There were a few options up in the attic and around the rest of the house.

I was thinking maybe we could take down some old cabinets in what used to be a second floor apartment and somehow make that work.  I think Josiah was looking for a more immediate solution, so we are using a tv stand that my sister didn't need any more.  Kind of small, but it will work for the time, until something else comes along or we need more storage.

This probably isn't that interesting of a post, but it's what we did today, other than decluttering a few other small areas.

Day 11: Resting and realizing

Yesterday, after church, Josiah and I spent the afternoon resting after the busy day on Saturday.  We normally take a walk in the afternoon, but I was just too tired to do that.

And obviously, I didn't get to writing on my blog either Saturday or Sunday, so I'm making up for it now.

I was thinking about how life will change with a little one coming soon, and I realized that too many times, I have allowed stubbornness get in the way of letting other people help me.  I let my pride or what I've always known or what I grew up with dictate how I live, when I could do things in a better or easier way.

One example of this is our shower curtain rings.  When we got married, I wanted pretty, shiny, silver hooks for the shower curtain.  Our curtain rod is metal, and Josiah tried to tell me that plastic would be better, but I wanted the prettiness.

So for 6+ years, we struggled with that shower curtain.  Every time you would open or close it, it would give so much resistance and some of the hooks would fall off.  I was willing to put up with it, but I would often hear comments from Josiah on how hard and annoying it was.

I finally caved a few months ago (and I had a gift card), and bought clear, plastic rings for our shower curtain.  I must admit, it's been nice.  No more struggling to pull the curtain open or closed (and so much thankfulness coming from Josiah for the plastic rings)!

Slowly learning, that my way isn't always the easiest or right.

Day 10: Tomato juice

I am a few days behind.  So I'll write about what happened on the 2 days that I've missed this past weekend.

Saturday I spent the morning clearing the clutter around my kitchen and getting ready to can tomato juice with Josiah's mom.

I love clear counter spaces!  And it made it very handy to have clear spaces to make the tomato juice.

So I am slowly clearing away the clutter.

A few pictures from the day:

Day 9: My poor perspective

Something that I really want to do before the baby gets here is go through every room in our house and clear it.  Then maybe put some stuff back.

I was thinking, there's a lot in our house that a toddler shouldn't be able to reach (I know that stage will come before we know it, so I want to start to prepare).  And I've been watching other bloggers and Pinners from afar and envying (I'll call it what it is) their simple, yet elegant styles.  I need to find my style, my own ways of being simple and creative with our home.

I just want to start over, because I don't feel like I started well when we got married (with anything domestic).  And I just overcomplicated everything with "I need more" thoughts.  Of course, I wasn't really able to indulge in those thoughts very much, so I just let the whole house slide on the excuse that if I had more I would be able to do better.

Proverbs 30: 7-9  Two things I ask of you, O Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

I found myself in these verses the other day.  This perfectly describes how I want to live.

But wanting to and actually carrying it out are 2 very different things.  I think that's why I chose this topic of being simply creative, because contentment with what I have has been lacking.  I don't really want more stuff, I want to learn to live well with what I have.  I need a change in my mindset and perspective.

Day 8: Creative word

I was thinking, and praying, this morning.  And I realized that writing is another way of being simply creative.  It's taking something that you already have and using it in a different way.

Words float around in my mind all the time, I didn't create any of them.  But when I'm writing or praying, I'm using the words that I have and know to create something that is (hopefully) beautiful and means something.

Day 7: Baler twine and bungee cords

I'll tell a story, hope to make it quick, but somehow my stories seem to run longer than necessary.

A month ago, or more, Josiah was away somewhere.  And I went to visit my parents.  Both of our cars are older, but in pretty good shape for their age.  When I got home that evening, probably close to 10, I was planning to go to bed early, maybe read until Josiah called to tell me he was driving home.

But when I got home, I noticed that my brake lights wouldn't go out, even with the car off and the key out of the ignition.  I wasn't sure what was going on, I am not a mechanic, but I do know enough to make me dangerous.

I tried pulling the fuse for the taillights.  That didn't work (I still don't know why).  I thought the easiest thing would probably be to disconnect the battery, but I have no idea how to do that, so I called my dad, who is a mechanic (and farmer).  Thankfully, he has had this issue happen to several vehicles before, so he knew what the problem was.

I wanted to get it fixed before Josiah got home so that he wouldn't have to deal with it and could go right to bed because it was going to be midnight or after.  I thought I could do it, I'm a pretty good problem solver when I need to be, I can be creative.

A small rubbery piece behind the brake pedal had broken off and was not pushing the pedal the whole way back to it's resting position.  If I pulled on the pedal (I had to pull pretty hard!), the lights would go out.  So I needed to figure out a way to block up the pedal or pull it back toward the driver's seat.

You should have seen all the tools that I gathered!  I had a few bungee cords, a chain, a wood block, some baler twine, a pliers.  All I was missing was the duct tape!

Finally, after about an hour on the phone with my dad, and a lot of trial and error, I got the lights to go out!  Baler twine, bungee cords, and lots of sweat!

Josiah called a while later, after I had gone inside, and I told him about the whole ordeal.  While telling him, I glanced out to look at my handiwork... and the taillights were back on!  The bungee cord or twine had stretched out just enough that it wasn't working anymore.  I was so disappointed, but there was no way I was going out to try again!

When Josiah got home, he went right inside, grabbed an ice cream bucket and wedged it right under the pedal.  Problem solved.

I think I was trying to be too creative and I overthought that one.

Day 6: Crazy wild bouquet

Josiah thought I went a little crazy yesterday.  I went out and picked some beautiful weeds (they are very plentiful around our house) and made a crazy bouquet.  That's creative, right?!

I admit, it doesn't look so good close up, but from far away it looks okay (if you squint).

I've been seeing other people do this, so I wanted to give it a try.  I might need more of a variety next time (if there is a next time).  (I just told Josiah to blame it on being pregnant, I'm not crazy, just pregnant)  To even things out, I did pick some other nicer bouquets of mums, sedum, and one last coneflower.

I also found some birch branches on my walk yesterday morning.  Birch wood is so beautiful!  Unfortunately, it's not very strong, some branches blew down in the last big storm.  Now I need to figure out what I can do with them...

Day 5: Changing season creativity

I am not a very crafts-y person.  I whole-heartedly admit that.  I can crochet, knit, sew (a very little), draw, make cards, etc.  But none of those things really excites me.  And that makes me kind of wonder why I chose this topic!!!!

But at the same time, being simply creative doesn't just have to be about arts and crafts.  Although, that's what I think a lot about when I think of creativity.

It can be just seeing the things around you and taking the time to appreciate the way they were made and learning from that to make life less about more things and more about time well spent on what is important.

I took a walk this morning and was marveling at the change in the land from one season to the next.  I can see the same view 365 days of the year, and it will never look the same!  That just blows my mind!

And that is real creativity right there!

Day 4: Sunday sunsets

The absolute best at simple creativity is the One who created everything.  It was great to see this amazing sunset this evening, especially after so many days of rain and clouds in a row!  These 3 pictures took place within a 10 minute time span.

Simply amazing!

Day 3: Mind clearing

This is not good.  Only 3 days in and I kind of want to quit.  Oh weekends.  I love weekends, but I would rather just relax than think about the things that I "have" to do, like write a blog post.

So on the subject of decluttering, my mind needs it a lot of the time.  Sometimes I can't fall asleep because my mind won't slow down from all the things floating around in there.  The most helpful thing for me to do then, is usually to pray.  And usually praying makes me fall asleep.

It's kind of amazing, I can now be doing something and not really be thinking of anything.  That never used to happen for me.  Like today, I was cutting up some veggies for veggie soup on a chilly day, and I realized that the mind-numbing routine was actually wonderful.

I also love a good drive, alone in the car, for some decluttering.  I rarely listen to the radio anymore, I would rather just drive and talk to God, it helps me sort through some things and express thoughts that I wouldn't to anyone else.

Ok, that's it.  All my thoughts for today.  I should never wait to write these posts until right before I go to bed.  Lesson learned (but will I follow through with this lesson next time??)

Day 2: Declutter

Ok.  So before I start being simply creative with what I already have, I feel like I need to declutter first.  I have a lot of stuff that has sat around my house without use for too long!

I did this to my fridge the other day and it felt so good!  For the entirety of our marriage so far, I felt it was important to have photos and cool magnets and cards that we received plastered all over my fridge.  My niece was here the other day and she started pulling some of the photos and coupons off, and I realized they were so unnecessary!  I wish I had taken a before photo, it was pretty bad.

Underneath all the clutter was a dirty, grimy space crying out to be cleaned.  And it was.  And it was amazing!  It was white once more!  And the most refreshing thing I've ever seen (not really, I'm just being dramatic)!

(Time out, I just remembered something!  This is the very thing that I was going to write about last year, but decided not to because we had a lot going on at the end of September and I didn't have time to prepare... Creating space.)

Sometimes you need to clear everything out or off and start fresh to see what is important and what is just excess.  What is the main focus of my space?  What is important to me to see every day?

So for my fridge, the only things that I put back up were a few magnets that had Bible verses on, our church prayer calendar, a few ultrasound pics of baby boy, a photo of myself and Josiah when we were little, my grocery list, 2 cow magnets from our wedding, and a few other magnets that I couldn't say no to.

Every time I look at my fridge now it feels like a deep breath.

Now if only I could do better at this in the rest of my house!

Simply Creative for 31 days (and forever hopefully)

So here we go.  This year for my 31 Day writing challenge, I decided to write about being creative and simple at the same time.

In my mind, it too often happens that I think I need more when I am being creative.  More fancy pencils or pens, more clothing, more time, more ideas from Pinterest, more courage, more education, more better words, just more stuff in general.  

But really, what could be more fulfilling than to find ways of being creative with the simple, every-day things that I already have?

Once again, I have no idea where this journey will take me and I hope that I have enough to write about for 31 days.  Hopefully I can learn something from what I write, even if no one else does.

I will post a link to each day's journey on this page so that at the end, if you missed any, you can start here and look at any day that you missed or want to see again.

Day 2: Declutter
Day 3: Mind clearing
Day 4: Sunday sunsets
Day 5: Changing season creativity
Day 6: Crazy wild bouquet
Day 7: Baler twine and bungee cords
Day 8: Creative word
Day 9: My poor perspective
Day 10: Tomato juice
Day 11: Resting and realizing
Day 12: One small room at a time
Day 13: Deer at sunset
Day 14: Wonderings
Day 15: Expectations
Day 16: Removing doors
Day 17: Photo wall
Day 18: Fantasy and simple creativity
Day 19: Lists and other reminders
Day 20: I Will Follow You
Day 21: Rest on a stressful day
Day 22: Living not just surviving
Day 23: Little steps can lead to breakthrough
Day 24: I'm Letting Go
Day 25: What are we afraid of?
Day 26:
Day 27:
Day 28:
Day 29:
Day 30:
Day 31:

Challenge (reluctantly) accepted

Honestly, I've just spent the past hour and a half reading over my 2013 posts for the 31 Day writing challenge (31 Days of Joyful Waiting) that I participated in.  I didn't do it last year because I just wasn't writing then.  And now I really want to get back into writing, but I'm scared.

I feel like my writing has gone downhill because I haven't been doing it.  Reading my 31 Day posts, I'm thinking, "who is this person, it can't have been me, I don't have that much wisdom or good words to say!"

I had an idea about what to write about for this October's challenge, but after reading over my posts from the past, my idea doesn't seem good enough.  I want to write things that are as meaningful to me now as what I see my Joyful Waiting posts are to me 2 years after writing them, if that even makes sense!  It seems too simple!

And last time, I didn't even make it to the end!  I quit a day early because I was feeling burned out.

But I guess I can do this.  I want to write again on a regular basis, and this gives me a good reason to. So I will take another shot at this challenge this year.

Summer memories

Summer is officially over.  Fall has begun.  A new season, that will bring a lot of new things.  Changes.

So, I just thought I would sit down to try to remember the things that happened this summer that I am thankful for.

I've decided that one of my favorite things to do during the summer and one of the things that I've enjoyed most about this summer was making s'mores around the campfire with family and friends.  But there are so many more things that were also so fun!

Other things I am thankful for this past summer:

-beach trips with my mom and sisters.
-beach trip with Josiah's mom and sisters (even if it was cloudy all day and it rained, it was still fun to be together, and eat donuts while it rained).
-week of waterskiing on the Bay, along with other waterskiing excursions
-campfires with s'mores
-weekend trip with Josiah's family to the mountains
-baby gender reveal party around the campfire with our families
-evening walks with Josiah
-going to a wedding on our anniversary
-making applesauce
-painting the nursery
-peaches and pears! Yum!!
-eating from my small garden
-zucchini boats
-the pedal kayak
-kayaking with Charise
-worship nights
-planting some perennials!
-seeing my sunflowers come up again!

There are so many more, I'm sure!  But my brain can't recall anything else right now!

It has been a good summer.  A very special summer.  Our last summer just the 2 of us, next summer we will have another little family member here on the farm!  And there will be even more to be thankful for!

I have something I should tell you

I have something that I should probably tell you.  I don't know why I've kept it secret for this long (on my blog, at least).  I couldn't keep it a secret forever, so I think it is now time to let this one out.  For a while, I couldn't decide the best way to reveal this, but...

This is going to be a huge change in our lives!  I feel like I've been holding back in my writing because I wasn't ready to share this, but it's a big part of what's going on in life right now, so I kind of had to share.

I am not really working on the farm at all, maybe helping with a few small things on weekends.  But getting ready for a baby is weird, and busy, and so much to think about!  It can be a bit overwhelming because there is so much information out there, and everyone has advice, and everyone's pregnancy and delivery and child-raising experiences are different.  So it feels like slogging through a whole lot of stuff, but in the end, kind of tossing it all to the side and just doing what you feel is right for your own situation.

So, that's exciting, right?!

The above picture was fun to set up.  I had some onesies laying around and I dressed one of my old teddy bears in it and then got this idea and ran with it!

A few close-up shots:

Monkey trouble

Old buddies: this is Josiah's oldest and my oldest teddy bears.

Riding the rocking horse

My biggest teddy and my oldest stuffed animal "playing" with the Quiet Book my mom made me.

Corn harvest

The harvest has begun.  We started chopping the corn last Friday, and continued today!  A few more busy days to come!

Before chopping

Here are some pictures from today.

Josiah at the top of a silo