[this blog is no longer active.]
Whenever I have something to say, I sit down to write about what Longer Table Living looks like and share my life/thoughts pop-up style! I’d love for you to subscribe to my email newsletter and join me in the conversation.
2022: What a year! 👀Full of grit and grace.
Our baby turned one. He learned to walk, which quickly turned into sprinting.👶🏼
We found our dream daycare for him, and I regained a part of my being.🎓
We traveled way too much. It was good, and it was hard with a toddler.
February was a month of loss, light, and learning. Here are three noteworthy mentions in each category!
Read MoreJanuary was a welcomed, slower month for our family.
It began with a program to help Shia (all of us, really) get some much needed full-nights of sleep. I was convinced there was no way it would work, but within the first 48-hours he was sleeping two long naps and 12-hours through the night.
Read MoreThe days are long, the nights are longer, but the years are short.
As I begin to think about Shia’s first birthday, I realize how much has happened in his 10.5 months of life already and I never want to forget it once the memories become distant and fuzzy. The idea to get back to blogging as a means of documenting my everyday ordinary life was inspired by my sister-in-law, Naomi…
Read MoreI cannot believe I’m in my third trimester already. Some days pregnancy felt like it would never end, yet now that I’m nearing the finish line I feel like it flew by! I wanted to document my answers to 30 questions y’all asked because this is a special time, and also so that if I ever say to E, “I think we should try for another biological baby!” I can come read this before making that decision. ;)
Read MoreMy Space Devotional started off as a private journey long before it was public. In the summer of 2018, I hit my breaking point. Having always been a “yes” girl who kept busy to the point of unnecessary stress and panic attacks, I felt God speak to me clearly in the middle of a sweaty run…
“You need space.”
Read MoreI passionately believe loving children shouldn’t come with the caveat that you get to ‘keep’ them.
I’ll always lay it all out there because #ImpressingIsExhausting and I am freed from the burden of what others think of me. So, let’s dive in.
Read MoreA wise person in my life once told me to pay close attention to the things and people who bother me most because it says more about me more than it does them.
Documenting our foster care journey has made others want to do it too, I know because they tell me. They email, comment, and send me Instagram messages sharing the wonderful news with me. It always makes me light up.
Read MoreThe other day I asked three different people for feedback. My husband, my Pastor, and my supervisor at work. You may have read this from my Instagram post, but I’ve been asking people in my life to answer the following five questions honestly so I can better myself and improve my leadership. It was really telling when all three of them answered the questions similarly.
Read MoreI sit down with a plan to write, but most days I don’t have the energy to recount the day’s memories or retell what we’re in the midst of because that requires reliving it. And right now, living it is hard enough.
I don’t want pity or sympathy, but I refuse to sugarcoat it.
The last two weeks of January were the hardest, most draining and tear-filled days of my life.
Read MoreOver one month ago now, sweet N came into our lives and flipped our house upside down (quite literally). Shakespeare’s, “Though she be little, she is fierce.” couldn’t be more relevant. N has invaded our hearts, which are now as soft and moldable as the play-dough she stomps into my pretty living room rug. She has made us laugh and cry, and panic, and many times – throw our hands in the air.
Read MoreNever before have I experienced this kind of love.
As I’m writing this, it’s been exactly seven days since our world was flipped upside down.
“But you asked for this…” my conscious reminds me.
“You’re damn right, I did,” my heart and soul snap back.
Read MoreToday marks the one year anniversary of receiving our first child.
I will never forget the nerves or excitement I had going into the parking lot where we were told to meet for the pick-up. She was tiny. And beautiful. 3-years-old, looking at me like I was a crazy lady for talking to her in such a high-pitch baby voice.
Read MoreSeveral months ago I scribbled “I want a home well lived in“ on a blue sticky note at my kitchen table. I jotted the words down so fast they were hardly legible, but something urged me not to let the thought pass without giving it a permanent place. I stuck it on my desk right next to my desktop computer, which I rarely sit at. Ponder more later, I thought.
Read MoreE and I have been conversing about really tough and complex things over the past few days and (not to toot my own horn or brag but…) I’m really proud of us. We’ve come a long way in our relationship and I love the direction it’s growing.
For one, I am learning to be completely and totally vulnerable. Also, I’m learning to approach things better. Don’t be fooled, I still have a long ways to go in this area.
Read MoreOver the last couple of years I’ve repeatedly made jokes about how I’m “no good in the kitchen.” I’m notorious for using the excuse that my mother never really cooked as justification for my disinterest in fulfilling that role. I’ve admitted that on numerous occasions E and I have had to pitch the meal I attempted to make and order Papa Johns instead. (For the record, no shame here, I love Papa Johns.)
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