Together

This past month saw me go to Winnipeg for a scrapbooking convention called Canada's Crop for Kids. Loved it! Had an absolutely hilarious trip with two scrapbooking friends from here and met up with a precious friend in Winnipeg. The time zoomed past but I was glad to get back to my family. Not glad to leave my friend Tracy though. Sigh.

Gary was away this weekend and I really missed him. So many different things going on and I was left with a houseful of guests, a football wind-up, and two indoor soccer games to fit into the schedule. Schedules are a good thing to carve out some order but sometimes they have to be tossed for more pressing realities. Well, reality hit my poor little Sophie square in the face on Saturday. Right in the nose, to be more precise. If you can believe it, my 6.5 year old suffered a broken nose and a concussion in a cousin collision. I felt horrible for her, even moreso because I was at Noah's game when it happened. I was able to find a ride for Olivia to get her to her game but I missed seeing her play her first game with a new team. I relished the time holding a sleeping Sophie in the waiting room at the clinic. Sometimes the world seems to be moving far too fast.

This fall has been busier than I had hoped. We're ready to begin renovating our basement but haven't had much time to even think much about it. I'm so excited to be expanding our living space and very content with the plan to stay in this house rather than moving to something larger. With some changes to make the most of the rooms we have, this will really be the house we've always dreamed of. I really appreciate the fact that Gary and I are on the same page about that sort of stuff.

At the end of this weekend I am so happy to have my husband home. I am thankful that I have such a loving husband to walk through all this craziness with me. I am thankful for opportunities to get to see that we truly are a good match and that being together is the very best place for us to be.

{How Not to Blog}

I think I could write a little dissertation on the above topic. Life gets in the way and I'm often not wanting to be introspective when I sit down at the computer. I'm looking for a break, man! This past month has been intense with the start of so many things: a new homeschooling year, music lessons, Bible study, Sunday School (as a student, not as a teacher), and a new major renovating project in our home necessitated multiple trips to visit our banker. One thing came to an end this past week: Noah's first football season. What an amazing finish he had! Playing for the city championship, the game was finally called at a 14-14 tie after eight, count 'em, eight overtime halves! These kids were amazing. I am so thrilled that Noah had this opportunity.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about the nature of friendships and just what role friendships should play in the life of a 30-something-homeschooling-God-loving-wife-and-mother. I have been blessed with some amazing friends but I've also gone through some difficult friendships, some of which have needed to end at one point or another. I find this whole relationship balance stuff really challenging and I struggle daily to keep my priorities in the right order. There have been some hard conversations in this past month and I've shed many tears while praying for wisdom and courage to do the right things, not just the easy things.

Well, there you have a nutshell glimpse into what's going on in a few corners of my life. I had a neat opportunity to be the Guest Design Team member over at Scraptivity for the month of September. I'll leave you with a little glimpse of some of the creative work I've been busy with these past weeks: