Hello and wow! It’s November! This is a fun spot we eat at after church sometimes with a place to play football! Fall has had some pretty days, so we have enjoyed it.
We are into school and in our new house. After praying for about five years for more space, we have girls upstairs and boys downstairs. The girls even have two sinks to use! There is a fence in the backyard too, so (hopefully) it will keep the littlest ones safely contained while we do school inside at the kitchen bar and the little table.
Izzy Grace likes to do schoolwork too (Sunday School take-home sheets)!
Krew too!
Doing schoolwork by a window is the best…
We got to eat lunch at a local church for a children’s ministry conference so it was really fun working in the coffee shop!
We even saw…PEACH from FUGE!!!
This fall, Ek and Jenna are leading the preschoolers in Wiggle Worship again and they love it!
We cleaned out a lot in the moving process and part of that was the linen closet, so what do ya do with excess bedding? Make a fort of course!
Packing means…boxes!
It’s fall, so we are playing football outside. I’m so proud of my little football champ.
Back to ballet class is always fun, so I embroidered some bags for pre-pointe shoes.
It’s always nice to take ballet photos, so I loved taking these on a local hill! Silliness is allowed!
Fall also means…flu shots..and the flu shot clinic. We laughed so hard as the nurse went down the line, oldest to youngest, at Linley’s recommendation.
Sometimes I take the ones not in school yet to our favorite local coffee trailer in the morning.
Playing in the backyard in the afternoons really requires construction vehicles and mud…this is the best of boyhood.
It’s nice to pull into the parking lot and watch demolition of a building after picking up groceries…Just because.
This year has been a blur, really. I hope this is the hardest and worst year I ever have.
It’s at times like this in life when we must ask whether we have faith or not and we live or don’t live what we say we believe. I have had some really miserable days where I wonder what God is doing and if He cares. I know the right answers, but I don’t always feel them.
Though a righteous person falls seven times, he will get up, but the wicked will be cut off. Proverbs 24:16
We show up when we don’t feel like it. We get up and do life anyway. God promises to never leave us and to sustain us. He gives us His strength to do what He has called us to do (Philippians 4:13).
Let me not be misunderstood and pretend like I feel like showing up each day. In reality, I have dreaded getting up many days since Baby Griffin’s diagnosis of fluid on his brain last December 17. It’s been a long eleven months. Right now, while other people are excited for first Thanksgivings and first Christmases, I am getting a headstone for my sweet baby boy we miss so much. It’s tough.
He would have been six months old in October, so we visited his spot together.
I teach fifth grade Sunday School and my Jenna is in my class. Let me shout out to all those girls who are so much fun! We have been talking about how Jesus had compassion on people and healed them throughout His ministry on earth.
We discussed the tough question “does Jesus always heal people?” The answer is no He doesn’t always do it that way. A girl asked what it means if Jesus doesn’t heal someone. What a great question from a fifth grader! In my own life, I would have chosen for God to heal Griffin on earth, but God wanted to heal him in heaven. I don’t understand why He would take a baby from his mommy, and it certainly hurts. We must trust that God is good and his paths are right – even when I don’t feel it.
We have been looking through Psalm 23 on Sunday mornings in the worship service, which actually reminds me of Griffin and all his lamb stuffed animals and the lamb embroidery I did for him. I reminded the girls in class Sunday that God is our Good Shepherd and he leads us down right paths (Psalm 23:3). We trust that He leads us well and the paths are right when we follow Him. Sometimes it feels nearly impossible. Some days I fight back tears all day long. Sometimes it is difficult to speak words of Truth to my children at home when it is difficult to believe them myself. This is when faith happens. We act on what we know rather than what we feel.
What challenges do you face? Everyone faces situations that make us want to stay hidden at home and quit. Sometimes resilience feels impossible. Let’s ask God for help together to get up and show up. Let’s look with anticipation to God’s plan and His right paths. Let’s rise again.
Love,
Charis
Pic(k) of the week: Krew’s owl face and skunk Jon-jon for Sunday morning…if ya know Krew, this says so much…LOL
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