a life beyond running shoes.

this blogging thing is weird. how public do i get.... should i be..... when do i process....how.... etc. well, as to not emotionally vomit via the internet, i will give the bullet points of our summer: my husband resigned from his position as a church planting pastor due to financial reasons. i started packing. my husband did three weeks of home-improvement projects to get our house ready. we put our house on the market. we left on vacation without daddy..... change of plans due to implosion brooklyn. had a blast in california. changed our summer itinerary and came home by passing time in florida. had our final worship service... in our hone no less for an added sweetness. got an offer on the house....countered, accepted. un-enrolled boys from public school. started paperwork to homeschool. kids got sick. left again on vacation. kids had 10 days of stomach bug. had a awesome time at a lake in tennessee with cousins, family, and gramma. my husband had a skype interview with another chur...

last night was the kick-off our our fall community group. we had them all over for dinner...... it was also the first day of school. which means it was a bit of a full day..... pulled pork in the crock pot - check. quinoa cooked - check veggies - check drinks - check (people bringing) floors swept - um...nope. counters wiped off - um...nope. salad made - um....nope. we used all but one of our plates and all of our forks..... we finished every bite of food. it was a good reminder that my house does not have to be clean, organized, or put together nor does the food have to be amazing in order to open my doors and say, "come on in." i just hand over the knife and delegate cucumber chopping, wine pouring, and corn shucking. it was a good reminder for me and a good night to start off the fall!

for mother's day i went to california to visit my family. i took sweet pea. 16 hours at my mom's. (left sweet peat there) 40 hours at my sister's. 18 hours at my dad's. and got no pictures. here at home the boys were busy, busy, busy, busy. what a mother's day gift! here is the before: and the after: now for some outdoor furniture, a picnic table, and some landscaping... but baby steps.... and seriously, i need to leave more often!

we just moved it.... out of the center of our living room. we tucked it upstairs in the multi-purpose room...... office (not really, but used to be), baby room (hopefully not much longer when she joins her brothers in the kid room), guest room, and now entertainment room...... it is an attempt to de-focalized our life from this thing. we'll see.... that couch ain't all that comfy..... but it makes a bed.

to get a few things on the wall..... i've been saving these book covers since peanuts was little. i finally was able to put them on the wall. we love it. and our chronicles of narnia painting..... also, these are the boys one year photos and sweet pea's six month. yeah, sears! and can anyone tell me what is missing from this next photo. now it would help if you have been to our house...... but something is missing from our living room.

....is such a small thing and yet it made me so very happy. i am almost a little embarrassed to admit how happy it made me..... almost. but i love it so much that i have to share it. my chalkboard menu board. it helps me plan my menu for the week, know what to buy, and get approval from the other reading member of the family. when i have planned through wednesday and i have those empty spaces for the rest of the week.... i feel compelled to figure out what to make that completes the week.... one night fish, one night vegetarian, one night simple, one night turkey, one night chicken, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth. it also gets me that much more excited about the farmer's markets and what is in season and figure out how to make things with zucchini. yum!

and boy did it go quickly.... yet it also feels like a lifetime. she is very well loved by both her brothers but in particular by little bit who might love her just a little bit too much. we have also taken time to work in the garden. our lettuce has popped up and has been included into our salads twice this week. of course, there are also lots of weeds that make it hard to tell what we planted and what needs to be taken out. we think the squirrels might have gotten our squash seeds. oh well. it is a learning experiment.

in my attempts to become more of a lover of my home...... as i have been venturing over the past couple of years in learning how to cook seasonally, bake, and take care of my home.... i have come to a new depth. i tried to make my own bread. i have many friends who do this and have done this for years. for me this was scary, uncharted territory from my grandmother's generation. well, it is a work in progress but one that i think i enjoy. i'll keep you posted.

means that i get to finish books at 3 in the morning that i have been working through for a while. i started this book in november when my husband brought it back from a conference he went to. i was a bit insulted thinking that it was a subtle way of telling me that i don't keep a clean house. it is not. in fact, this might be one of the best books i have read in a long time in relation to christian living. i found it to be one of the most encouraging and challenging books i have read for the practicality of making & creating a home.... not just a house but a place of hospitality. "how much more hospitable it would be if our homes were routinely to be places filled with satisfying meals, with shirts warm from the dryer, with smoothly made beds--not because we are trying to win the housekeeping prize but because these are good and pleasant ways to care for one another and ourselves." it is not about "baking for jesus" but about seeing the job i have creatin...

today marked our first worship service.... in our home. the flatbush church project meet, sang, heard the word, broke bread, and celebrated christ together. it was a frenzied week of lots of hands on deck from buying chairs to setting up chairs to clearing our entire living room to taking care of our sick kids elsewhere. it was pretty amazing to think that a year ago we were still trying to decide whether or not this house was feasible or wise. twelve months later, god has so ordained that we got to sing our praises to him in this very same living room. we were singing: "To see you high and lifted up Shining in the light of your glory Pour out your power and love as we sing Holy, Holy, Holy" and i thought that it is amazing that we were singing his praises in our living room, in this community, with these neighbors. god is really amazing.

but not sealed. we are in contract. needless to say... january has been a CRAZY month. god has been kind, gracious, patient, and gentle with me as we have walked down the road to become home owners. when we saw this house less than a month ago, i had no desire to move... again....to this..... i was just feeling settled, comfortable, and at home. it is diagonally about a mile from where we live now..... where we just moved six months ago. i have had to answer hard questions.... and at the end realize that our greatest job is to serve the king... with our time, our home, and our family. i thought this january we were praying about something totally different....and yet it has really been, at the heart, the same thing..... how can we shape our family to better serve the church we want to start, the neighborhood we want live, and the city we love. god answered us with this house. it was not how i wanted him to answer it, but he has given me a bigger view of himself, his love for me, ...

so, where did i go? i'm not really sure. it isn't like i have been idle. we are pretty much settled into the new apartment.... our pretty new chairs for our living room (which was painted since this pic). we didn't have enough seating and had to get some more cool place for people to put their rumps when they come to visit. our foyer.... i have a foyer. i have a place to put & display all of my great photos & my hutch with my china. and my pretty new bedroom. i have been reading a ton..... this was our most recent book club book. we met about three weeks ago and had a great discussion. i just checked out the follow-up book to this from the library. i met with three women to dialogue about this book. it is all about chastity.... from a christian perspective. it is about the best book i have read on christian living. i am in the middle of this and just working through it slowly. it is overwhelming and challenging all at the same time. i wrestle with what does it ...

this family looks cute & content..... we looked haggard, spent, exhausted, and worn. it was a long day. while getting home last week via weather & plane delays was an opportunity to look on the bright side....i missed this opportunity because it took all of my prayer strength to simply maintain composure. FRIDAY, AUGUST 17TH 8:00 am movers expected...... 9:45 movers arrived. 10:30 am i arrive at new apartment to get keys & figure out the lay of the land for the movers who are finishing the first load and heading over in approximately 20 minutes. i am greeted by the super whose first response is, "didn't anyone call you?" that would be a negative. he proceeds to get the building manager to take me up to our new apartment. i walk in to find a full work crew painting, hammering, grouting what is supposed to be our finished apartment. the manager says, "i don't think you will be able to move in today." FUNNY!!! HA, HA, HA! he wasn't joking but...

could have been the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day......if i wasn't convinced that it could have been worse. i woke up with menstrual cramps....my first in 17 months. at least i wasn't pregnant. we left for the airport. we were running late because we let A get a quick little nap. we found out upon check-in that our plane had not left new york yet. at least we didn't miss our flight. in the midst of our delayed flight.....we enjoyed a sweet flight attendant who entertained our two year old as we figured out our flight situation. new york was flooded, our flight canceled, there were no car services with available cars to pick us up from the airport, subways were not running reliably, the cab line was going to insane,and it was too much to ask of our friends to pick us up....we decided to fly out first thing this morning. at least we didn't figure this all out in new york, at dinner time, with two hungry & tired little boys, and no baby food. i checked in ...