A Break from the Holiday Hustle

I am not here to freak you out about all the things on your holiday to do list. Rather, I’m here to help you slow down and relax in the middle of your week.

I would like to thank my husband for being an Instagram husband. We may need to form a support group for him and all the other Instagram husbands out there.

Looking for some gift ideas, especially for those in your life that don’t like mornings? Then check these mugs out!

Do you like wine? Then you’ll love Wine About It! Reasons growing up is the worst. I think I may need to have some wine about it sessions with my girls.

Also, I’ve been binge listening to The Lively Show for weeks now and it brings so much joy and inspiration to my day. If you haven’t check it out, I highly recommend it. I listened to this episode with Alexandra Franzen yesterday and LOVED it.

Happy Wednesday folks!

Importance of Being with You

Almost every Sunday at 10:15 am, my heart is overflowing with gratefulness. This overflow is in response to a God that is so good, and for a community that my family is blessed to be a part of. I know that for many church may not be where you find community, but it’s a great place to find it. Each week my daughter is excited to walk through the doors, to see the people she loves, to sing, take communion, and play with her friends. It’s through being in community with these great people that my heart is full of joy each week.

Community is what nurtures us in the good times, lifts us up when times are tough, and journeys alongside us through the mundane. Most weeks can seem commonplace, but I’m learning eachweek something special is happening for my daughter. Recently I’ve noticed that VHP is learning and understanding what it means to worship. Most of the time, she remains for most if not all of the service. Typically we bring a few activities (coloring, non-noise making toys, etc.) to keep her noise-level down during the quieter times of the service (sermons in particular). Honestly, it has taken the patience of those around her (my husband and I included), but also the words of encouragement from other people. They let us know that they enjoy seeing her in worship, hearing her little voice participate in the service, and they know what it’s like to have a little on in worship. Our littler person now LOVES to pass the peace (greet those around us and shake hands). She loves to sing and dancing to the music. She loves to go forward for the children’s message, learn from watching the big kids. And she longs for the moment we go forward to take communion.

If it weren’t for this community, my daughter would not have had the opportunity to play with some of her favorite friends on a Saturday morning of this week. If it weren’t for this community, my daughter would not have had the opportunity to explore the Christmas story, act it out, and attempt to be a one lady Christmas pageant. If it weren’t for this community, two year olds would simply be other toddlers in worship rather than having something special to do on Christmas pageant Sunday. If it weren’t for this community, I would not have met my husband. If it weren’t for this community, I would not have some of the friendships that make adulting better.I recognize that not everyone has this kind of community, and may long for this. I also know that community can be different for everyone, in particular church may not be where you find it. What I would encourage each of us, is to find community where you are and to help create it around you. Life is better spent with other people, supporting and encouraging one another. It was once shared with me, that the Chinese characer for person represents two people supporting each other. I believe that this imagery is VERY fitting, whether or not it is true. We live in a society that likes us to think it’s better to do it all ourselves, and to pride ourselves how independent we can be. That’s great and all, but being together is where I’d rather be.

Calling – Time to Get Smart

Today is Part III in my series on calling. If you missed the first two you can catch up by reading Part I and Part II.

By application time for seminary, I had my heart set on attending Duke Divinity School, was highly considering Wesley Theological Seminary, and applied to Union Theological Seminary & Presbyterian School of Christian Education (now named Union Presbyterian Seminary). In thinking about each school I thought Duke would provide the academically rigorous environment that I was looking for in a master’s program. In digging deeper about each school, I believed Wesley would provide the social justice minded environment I was looking for in a program. In wrapping up my evaluations on all three schools, I thought Union would be a descent compromise, but not the place for me.

As I kept praying about where I was called to go and writing all the essays that the application process required, I began to have a change of heart. I began to question whether or not Duke would be the right place for me, especially if it was going to cost me $100,000 in tuition, books, room and board. I began to question if Union wasn’t so bad after all. They did require that their M.Div. students take both Biblical Greek and Hebrew prior to taking New and Old Testament. I began to wonder if Wesley was the right place if they didn’t require their M.Div. students to take Biblical Greek and Hebrew prior to taking Old and New Testament courses. After all this praying, wondering, and questioning, I knew where I was called to go.

I realized despite my own desire to run the other way, God was calling me to attend Union Presbyterian Seminary. I’m so glad I didn’t follow my desire to run the other way of my calling and listened, because Union was truly the right place for me. This was the academically rigorous environment I was looking for in school. This was the social justice minded group that I needed. This was the place that I needed to grow in ways I didn’t know that I could. I was reminded in this whole process of how stubborn I can be, that there is always more to the plan than I realize, and that God really wants what is best for us. I’m thankful I wasn’t stubborn, because the time I spent (and still spend) at Union and the relationships I formed nurture me today.

During my first semester of seminary I realized that getting ordained in the United Methodist Church was not for me. I spent time learning more about different denominations, visiting churches AGAIN, and finally found my new church home. By January of 2007 I began regularly attending Three Chopt Presbyterian Church (TCPC), joined in May of that year, and soon began the ordination process for the PCUSA. The summer I joined TCPC, I became the youth director there as well. In this role, I had the opportunity to professionally do what I had done as a volunteer for so long. I had the privilege of working with many great middle and high schoolers, great volunteers, and under a wonderful head of staff. Through my work at TCPC I grew a lot, was challenged in various ways, dealt with difficult people, nurtured young people through their tough and joyous times, and realized that I was doing what I was called to do.

Three years of seminary came and went very fast. During that time I made great friends, learned from excellent professors, grew a deeper love for languages (as if that was possible), and was ready for life to work in the church. By the fall after graduation, I came to the realization that I could no longer continue making my part-time work at TCPC. I -really need a full-time job to support myself, my career, and continue growing professionally. So began the process of juggling my current job, applying and interviewing for new positions, and discerning where was it I should go. By November of that year, I had to say goodbye to a group of people I loved working with, prepare for a new job, became engaged, and many decisions to make.

Check back next week for more!

Wednesday Wanderings and Things to Brighten Your Day

There has been much on the internet to break my heart this week, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Whether it was Donald Trump and his lip flapping shenanigans, issues over gun control, anti-Muslim rhetoric, deaths and illness of too many, there is a lot tugging at our heart, mind, and bloood pressure. Rather than get us down about all these things, I thought I’d provide you with some things to brighten the middle of your week.

http://www.lifehack.org/341396/quotes-are-more-powerful-when-presented-beautifully?mid=20151130&ref=mail&uid=610433&feq=daily

If you haven’t seen this yet, you’re welcome. If you have, then enjoy it again, because you know you want to! Adele, The Roots, Jimmy, and school instruments!

So, basically Harry Potter (Daniel Ratcliff) loves Richmond VA and so should you 😉

Who’s your favorite Disney Princess? May be these battles will help you decide: Cinderelle, Belle, , Snow White, or Elsa.

I was late to finding this blog, and now it’s over. Sad to see her go, but I understand.

I think we’re starting to hit the stage of our daughter hiding things. I’ve been seeing things about a few different tools for tracking down your keys and such. Anyone try The Tile App or Click ‘n Dig? Have other recommendations?

I’ve never been the best at long-term journaling…in one journal. It’s not uncommon to have multiple stashed all over the place. Have you seen this post on the benefits of journaling. Do you journal? I’ve heard great things about The Five Minute Journal…I wonder if it would help me?

I hope I’ve helped send you to some interesting things to intentionally fill your Wednesday. Just remember, the world can be tough, but it’s also really be beautiful. See the beauty in those you meet, and remember you’re the beauty they’re seeing.

Suburban Hippie: Children are Expensive!

I remember being so excited about expecting our first child, but then it hit me. Raising this child is going to be REALLY expensive! At this point in the game, the added expense of health insurance hadn’t sunk in. I was thinking about the impending cost of childcare, clothing, diapers, and feeding. I quickly came to the conclusion that I needed to find a way to cut costs. Enter in becoming a suburban hippie. By my definition, a suburban hippie is one who resides in the suburbs (though they may prefer living in the city) chooses to do some or all of the following cloth diaper, breastfeed, baby led wean, recycle, prefer locally grown produce, use cloth napkins/towels over disposables, and the like. I’ll explain further some of the reasons we have gone this route.

How did we end up in the suburbs? We found it was time to move from our old house (that’s a story for another day) which was a cute little 2 bedroom with one bathroom home that was just over 1300 square feet. For two people it was okay, but not great when both residents need the bathroom facilities, would like to watch different TV shows, or listen to different types of music. So when we were house hunting, we quickly learned we needed to pick a part of town first. We loved the idea of living in the city, but recognized that not all Richmond Public Schools are created equal, and would need to budget for private school. We also recognized that Chesterfield, Hanover, and Henrico County Public Schools are really good, so it seemed a little silly to PAY for private schools. I can share later on the house hunting adventures, but for now let’s end with we landed in the suburbs (we do love where we ended up, but may end up in the city we love later)!

Why did you choose to cloth diaper? I detailed that on my blog a couple weeks ago here, but let me add that I knew diapers were a baby necessity. No matter what, babies do not come out of the womb potty trained, and it takes times (some more than others) before it happens. I knew that I needed to begin thinking about a way to make this more affordable. Thankfully I had a couple of friends who had done it before, so it didn’t seem like such a crazy idea. Plus my friend K had this great resource she put together and shared with another friend and I. It really helped me figure out where to begin on my search for the perfect cloth diapering system, and tips to share with other new to cloth friends. Have no fear everyone, I’m working on a resource of my own to share with you too!

Why did you choose to breastfeed? I’ll start with asking you a question before answering. Have you looked at the price of formula? Formula start around $25 or more a can, so I knew that that was one thing I did NOT want to add to my baby expense list. I’m sure that many of us have heard how great it is for your baby and for you to breastfeed, so I feel like I don’t need to even get on that soapbox. So yes I knew breastfeeding would be VERY healthy for my baby, but I also saw dollar signs for something that could be completely free. So free was much better in my book if I could successfully breastfeed, as I know that this isn’t possible for everyone.

Why did you choose to do baby led weaning? This was something I read about in the past, had thought I should look into more. The idea had fallen off my radar, so my husband and I were looking into making our own baby food. So we would know that our child was eating something healthy, no strange added ingredients, and much cheaper. But then my dad and stepmom’s friend gave me her copy of the book Baby Led Weaning and share how she started it with her second of three kids. It all just made so much more sense. Babies don’t need anything but breastmilk or formula for the first year, do not need anything other than formula or breastmilk before 6 months old, and they don’t need rice cereal. I’ll share more later about our experience with baby led weaning, but I’ll end with that I HIGHLY recommend considering this.

Why recycle and use cloth napkins/towels? Growing up many of us have been taught the importance of the three Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. It’s not always the easiest or most convenient habit to get into, but it’s really worth it. We only have one planet, so we really need to handle it with care. First R is for us to work on reducing how much we have in our homes. We are still working on this personally, and I’m sure all share about this in the future. Once you’ve reduced, you should work on the second R: reuse. We do this by using cloth napkins almost exclusively for meals (even when we have large groups over), hand towels, and limit our use of paper towels. Typically we will by only a six pack paper towels and this will last us a year or so. I have noticed that our paper towel use only spikes when we have folks over that are not accustomed to this. Now that you’ve got in the hang of the first two Rs, it’s time to add in the final R: recycle. Like many people, we implemented the third r last, but we are trying to be better about all three. Whatever we can do to help care for our planet and home is worth it. I’ll share more later about our cloth napkins, towels, and how we keep up with the extra laundry. I’ll end with this, we save plenty of money by using cloth napkins and towels, which adds up with all the other expenses.

What’s the big deal with local produce? For starters, it tastes so much better and often times it’s cheaper! When we have time to make it our local produce stand and farmers’ market we save the most, but that doesn’t always happen. By shopping locally, you help your local economy. By putting money into their pockets, they try to look out for you and keep their costs down so that you can keep more money in your pocket.

So yes, we have made some choices along the way that are not for everyone. In looking back, I honestly don’t regret the choices we’ve made. They have been good for our daughter, beneficial for our wallets, good for us, for our community and good for the planet. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

Calling – Finding my home of faith

Today is Part II in my series on calling. If you missed last week’s post, check it out here.

Now, where were we…I took the plunge and visited D’s church. I was really skeptical about going, but I’m so glad that I did! I quickly learned that there were a couple people I knew from school there, and many other people that I was eager to get to know and they me. This was nothing like the sunday school experience at my dad’s church, or the Japanese church that my mom and I ran from over the summer.

Over the fall semester of my Junior year of high school I began attending D’s church regularly, and by November I signed up for my first youth retreat. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as this whole experience was really new to me. Yes, I had gone to church with family and friends growing up, but being a part of a church and going away on a trip with my church was another story. Thankfully some great folks in my youth group took me under their wings, I met some great people at the retreat, and my heart was opened in more ways to the grace and love of God.

Over the next two years I became very involved at the church, developed friendships that remain today, and came to love and adore our youth pastors, our children’s ministers, our pastor, and our pastor’s wife. To this day these individuals mean the world to me, and have helped me to be who I am today. By the start of college, I remember our youth pastor asking D, S, and I to lead a girls’ Bible study for our youth group. At first we all thought he was crazy for asking, but he was clearly on to something. Our youth group was growing, it had more girls than boys, and the girls needed the support of young ladies older than them. I personally didn’t think I was equipped to be a part of this leadership team, but yet again he knew what he was talking about. My faith grew through doing this, I was forced to study the Bible extra, learned a lot, and continue enjoying doing things just like this to this day.

Through college I remained involved at my church. I got baptized my junior of college, though I’m not sure what took me so long. I guess accepting being a member of the local church and church universal was something I didn’t take lightly. During college I also became very invovled in one of the campus ministries at VCU. Through this ministry, I was given the experience to lead more small groups, and grow deeper in my faith. It was also during this time that I also began to learn about my Japanese great-grandmother’s Christian faith. The story of her and her faith is for another day, but she is a woman who is a guide for me. At yet another retreat, big things happened in my life. During my fourth year of college (I took the five year path due to classes) that I accepted the call to go to seminary. I wasn’t sure all that this “yes” would have in store for me, but I knew the first step was to say “yes God”.

Deciding where to go to seminary wasn’t as hard as I expected, but I definitely didn’t go where I thought I would. My pastor went to Duke and encouraged me to consider going there. Everyone else on staff (or previously on staff) at my church went to Union Theological Seminary, whether it was to get their Master of Divinity or Master of Arts in Christian Edcuation. My dad also encouraged me to consider Union, because we had family that studied there as well. In typical Crystal fashion, I didn’t think Union would be the place for me, but I think it was due to the fact that that this was where the most people wanted me to go. Along this journey, I’ve also learned that God sure has a funny way of taking you places that you least expect.

Check back next week to ~~see~~ read what unfolds next…

How about a little more holiday cheer?

Dear Pinterest Mom,

We are 23 days from Christmas, and I’m trying not to freak out about my to-do list. I know that you have this super cute to do list system that keeps you on track of the gifts you need to buy and make. Also, I really want to like you and be you, because I like to pin all your projects . BUT at the same time I really don’t want to like you. I’m not really sure how you find time to make all of your kids’ birthday presents, Christmas gifts, Easter baskets, and it’s-Wednesday-and-you-deserve-something-sweet gifts, because I barely have time to buy my kid her birthday and Christmas presents, let alone make sure she has something to collect Easte eggs and Halloween candy in by said holiday. I think it’s awesome you come up with these cool ideas, but please don’t make me feel guilty for not being able to make them too. Some days, it’s all I can do to get us out the door to work and school on time. I do want to thank you for the inspiration to do cool some cool projects and to try and be crafty. I did forget how much I do like doing crafty things when I have time, and you give me some awesome ideas.

Love,

Too Busy To Be a Pinterest Mom (but sorta wish I could be one)

Dear Not a Pinterest Mom,

We are 23 days from Christmas, and I’m trying not to freak out about all the things on our to do list. Let me just share, that amazon prime can be a godsend on days like these. MANY times (more than I’d like to count) my Christmas shopping happened because of Amazon prime. Typically the shopping frenzy happens 7-10 days before Christmas, and gifts are only selected for family if and only if it’s available prime. Don’t feel bad about buying each and every birthday present, Christmas gift, Easter basket, and random goodies for your kid, because there are great things already made by other people available. Pinterest can be such a great way for me to keep track of gif ideas, save recipes for later, and try to organize my random ideas. I have some great DIY boards, which have helped me my husband with a whopping ONE project. I sincerely hope I will find the time do some of these projects, but in the mean time pinterest is great for saving all my ideas. This year I’m excited to share that some great local stores (Franklin Goose, BBGB, and World of Mirth thus far) have my Christmas shopping business. But let’s also be real, I’ve been doing some great online shopping and amzon prime will be saving my tail AGAIN!

Love,

Too Busy To Be a Pinterest Mom (but sorta wish I could be one)

Dear Mamas,

Let’s not judge each other this holiday season. We all are trying to juggle a lot in making sure that the holidays are what we can make them be for ourselves, our children, and families. Let’s try to quiet the feelings of being inadequate because we didn’t make the gifts for our kids’ teachers, mail the perfect Christmas card, or provide the perfect gift. If you are that mom that likes doing these pinterest worthy gifts, projects, and treats, don’t feel bad about it either. Let’s cheer each other on, pick each other up, and more than anything STOP the mommy judgement. I challenge us to start with the holidays, and then we’ll tackle it again in the new year.

Love,

Your sister on this motherhood journey

Why Would You Use Cloth Diaper?

This isn’t an uncommon question or wondering when people hear about folks using cloth diapers. It’s not uncommon for people to think it’s difficult and nasty to use cloth. It’s not uncommon for people to think that using disposable diapers are so much easier than cloth diapers. I’m here to tell you that there are a lot of reasons to use cloth diapers.

1. Cloth diapers are cheaper than disposables. Let’s look at the cost of disposables first. Let’s say you use Huggies or Target’s up & up brand diapers, which average out to $0.17 each. For the number of diapers used per day let’s say 10 diapers, because over the first several months you go through about 12 diapers a day, and progressively get down to 8 diapers. Most children in disposables don’t potty train until they are 2.5 or 3 years old, so we’ll go with 2.75 years of diapers (kids in cloth supposedly potty training earlier). That’s a total of $2,326.88 spent on 13,687 diapers over 3.75 years. My favorite All-In-One (AIO) diaper (I’ll explain types of diapers another day) is the Blueberry One Size Simplex which retails for $28.95. Since you need at least 12 diapers per day in the early months, it’s good to have 24 diapers for a total of $694.8. To go all in with cloth diapering, you’ll also need a few other things like 2 diaper pail liners $33, 2 wet bags for on the go $44, 30 cloth wipes $27, and a wipe warmer for $25, all bringing your total $823.80 on cloth diaper supplies. I don’t include the cost of wipe solution, laundry detergent, or water for doing the laundry, because I have seen that much of an increased cost for us.

2. Cloth diapers aren’t as smelly and gross as disposables. Having cared for many children in diapers over the years, I honestly believe my cloth diaper pail smells a whole lot LESS than a disposable diaper pail. Pee diapers don’t smell any worse with cloth, and I’d venture to say not a bad. There’s something in the absorption crystals of many disposables that create an off-putting scent. Poopy diapers get rinsed into the toilet, so the smell is gone and not lingering until the diaper pail is emptied.

3. Poopy diapers aren’t that bad to clean with cloth. We have a diaper sprayer attached to our toilet, so I don’t really have to get my hands dirty. I also know some parents will wear rubber kitchen gloves, so their hands never touch anything to get dirty. Poopy diapers have had no negative effects on my washing machine. Reason being is that they are rinsed into the toilet before going into the washing machine, get an intial rinse cyle, plus a full clean cycle, which all ensures my diapers and washing machine are fully clean when done.

4. Cloth diapers are better for the environment. It is estimated that it takes about 500 years for a disposable diaper to decompose in a landfill. Now, this is just an estimate, because disposables haven’t been around that long and no one has lived 500 years to observe the decomposition of disposable diapers. Cloth diapers generally have great re-sale value, making them great in the realm of the second of the three Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), and aren’t clogging up landfills.

5. Cloth diapers are so cute! I will say that the Honest Company has stepped up the cute factor of disposable diapers, and I have used them from time to time. But the variety of patters with cloth diapers is sooooo great! When my daughter was a newborn she had the cutest diaper with monkeys and owls. Now she has a cover with these adorable whales, an AIO with pretty flowers, and elephants. The best part of all is that these diapers are cute, and we get to use them over and over again.

I initially had us begin cloth diapering to save money, as I wanted as many ways as possible to make having a child not super expensive. I also had us use cloth because my husband and I were allergic to disposable diapers and had a feeling that our daughter would be too. In the end it turn out that my guess was correct, and she is sensitive to most every brand of disposables. Now that we’ve used cloth diapers for two years, I’m so glad that we have chosen to use cloth. It’s not that difficult, it’s saved us a lot of money, and it has been good for the environment.

Soon I’ll write a post about what we have tried when it comes to cloth diapers, what we’ve liked, what we haven’t liked, and how we’ve made cloth diapering work for us. If you have questions, feel free to ask and I’ll answer as best I can.

Have you considered using cloth diapers?

Calling: We All Have to Start Somewhere

Today begins a multi-week series about calling, my own to be specific, and I thank you for taking the journey with me. For each of us, faith is different even when it seems the same. My faith journey has had its twists and turns and continues to take me places I never expected.

I am very thankful for how my parents raised me in that I was able to experience two different faith traditions. My mom’s family was Buddhist (Nichiren Shoshu to be exact) and my dad’s Christian (United Methodist specifically). Neither parent ever forced me to attend worship services with them, but provided the opportunity if I so chose. I almost always went with them, and progressively chose the faith that was for me.

Through the later part of elementary school, middle school and the first part of high school, I would consider myself to be devoted to Buddhism. I would regluarly attend Kosen Rufu Gongyo with my mom if she was attending or I would go with another member of my family. If I were invited throughout this time to attend church with family and friends, I would still go, but it was definitely with some reservation. In seventh grade life science I recall being required to dissect a frog and refused to do it, due to my faith. Perhaps it was the middle school girl in me using it as an opportunity to not have to do what made me sick to my stomach, buuuuuuuuut that frog could be a reincarnated loved one.😉

By high school I began to question things more about my faith. I saw how terrible things would happen in the life of my family, friends, and myself and wondered why it would happen. When I would ask those in my life that were Buddhist, I consistently received the response that it was their karma or my own and that I should chant about it. So chant I did, and didn’t see much result. I also felt that it seemed kind of lonely being Buddhist. There was some vague universal understanding, but it didn’t seem that intimate. I began to wonder if maybe, just maybe, there was something to this whole God thing. I began to pray. Sometimes I’d see a change. Things didn’t always seem to have such negative outcomes. And things no longer seemed so lonely.

I had a good friend named D that I met in middle school. She always knew I was Buddhist, and although a Christian herself, she never judged me for my faith. She and I had some classes together, but one particular class provided us more time to chitchat near the end of sophomore year. I’d ask her questions about the Bible, God, what the big deal was with this whole Jesus character…and she’d kindly answer and guide me through my doubt. She always responded in a way that really resonated with me. As the school year wrapped up and we moved into summer, I began visiting churches. I checked out a Catholic Church with one set of friends and thought it was nice. I knew my great grandmother would LOVE my attending a Catholic Church (she was Irish Catholic), but I wasn’t sure this particular congregration was for me. I visited a United Methodist Church with my dad and stepmom, and thought it was nice enough, but wasn’t impressed with their high school Sunday School. I also visited a Baptist Church that had a Japanese congregation with my mom, but we never made it to the service. A lady from the American congregation was so rude to my mom we turned and left (story for another day). I began to wonder if I’d ever find a church that was right for me.

When school started back in the fall of my junior year of high school, I shared with D about my church “shopping” adventures. She immediately said she was sorry I’d had a less than stellar experience and invited me to her church. Here’s the thing…she attended a Korean-American church. I questioned whether or not the service would be in English, she said that they had a service geared towards high school and college students that was ONLY in English. I gave it some thought for a few weeks and finally decided to give it a chance. It didn’t take long for me this congregation to take me in as part of their church family.

Check back in next Friday to ~~hear~~ read more…

Giving thanks, and upping the posting…

Thank you for all the new followers here on HebrewDawn. Some of you are family, friends, friends of friends, and new internet friends. I’m happy to have you on this journey through life, my story, and wandering across the internet. Beginning this week, I’m hoping to up my post game by posting not just Monday and Wednesday, but Friday too! I’m learning that some routine can be helpful, and I’m starting to figure out what that routine looks like for me. I’m leaning towards it looking something along the lines of:

Monday – motherhood focused
Wednesday – will wander through a myriad of things and some of my favorite finds
Friday – some get to know me style posts

This Fridays I will start a series on calling. Some may know my story, but I have a feeling many may not. Check-in Friday to ~~hear~~ read the first part of the story. If you have questions, suggestions, or ideas along the way, be sure to leave me a comment and I’ll follow up!

Here are Some of my favorite things that I’ve stumbled upon on the ~~world wide web~~ internet (I’m not a complete nerd y’all!) this week. May the bring you some joy in the midst of the busyness!

Adele is the best! I so wish I was able to sing like one of these ladies.

Have you head of the new trend among some men? Personally I wonder, um, why? Some trends do not need to exist, especially for beards!

I can hardly believe we are a DAY away from Thanksgiving! Please don’t panic folks, you’re not the only one not prepared. I have yet to complete my shopping list, and I’ll join all of Richmond at the grocery store tomorrow. Rather than stress, let’s just enjoy this and sip some Chardonnaynay!

Pep talk for my friends with newborns. Hang in there, it does get better and better!

What are you all thankful for this week?