a settled place

April has been relatively quiet, especially the past couple weeks. We've been staying home, and I've been attempting to settle into this new stage of low energy me, high energy kiddos, and  patience. Up three/down three was the result of several very, very tough days in a row that left me at a complete loss. When morning #5 started out about the same way that the others had been going, I remembered an idea a friend had told me and grabbed a couple paint strips and a sharpie. We now have a system that forces me to look for the positives to reinforce and also gives me the freedom to give warnings and administer discipline without worrying that I'm doing it too often or not often enough. I'm sure it won't last forever, no system does... but it's brought some sanity to daily life around here and I'm grateful. We were excited Lela could come dye Easter eggs with us! We also went outside and hunted for some plastic eggs and candy. We've been loving this b

In some ways, this book reminded me a lot of another book I reviewed a while back - Staying is the New Going . It's about living in your neighborhood intentionally, invested. I read this book a while back and I'm just now getting around to reviewing it. It's ironic because I just finished a messenger conversation with a neighbor, and it seems like I should be able to do better than that right? :) I do talk to her in person, this just happened to be online, but still. It made me realize I hadn't been in touch with her in a while. And at another elderly neighbor's house there has been lot of activity that makes us wonder if her children are moving her out... sadly, I don't even know her name and hardly enough information to ask any questions. It's shameful. So anyway, I have a lot of work to do in this area of "living out God's kingdom in your neighborhood". I appreciated the authors' approach to it, though. Their philosophy isn't overw

For anyone who hasn't seen it anywhere else on social media, we're excited to announce... We are so grateful for a healthy pregnancy so far and excited siblings-to-be!