Your Path to More

Almost exactly a year ago, Lucas and I were celebrating our anniversary with 24 hours in Indy. We ate a nice dinner together and stayed at a bed and breakfast 

(and made a mess with the waffle maker).

Our evening involved meeting up with some friends at the Cru Winter Conference. It was great to be in the thick of a ministry we support and to be energized by how God is at work. The speaker, Heather Holleman, gave an awesome talk on being seated with Christ (Eph 2:6), and I recently finished her book going more in-depth on that topic. 

Our bracelet for entry was this:

and I loved the multiple meanings of "Your path to more." I wore it for months (until I stretched it out too much), and I was often praying that I would have the grace to walk the path ahead of me. On January 1st, our anniversary, I was full of anticipation of all the "more" that 2020 would bring.  

Then January 2nd hit...

...and when Lucas went in for a routine wisdom tooth surgery, his jaw was accidentally broken, and he had to have his mouth wired shut for two months.

This is Your "more" for me, God? This is the path You have for us?

I kept praying and kept trusting.

To reach the MORE God has for me, I have to walk this path in front of me.

By the time Lucas went in for the final removal of all the wires (but leaving the metal plate and screws forever), it was mid-March, and COVID was in full swing.

On January 1st, I didn't know that my "path" would lead through...

    my husband's jaw getting wired shut

    his grandma passing away in March

    COVID disrupting everything we knew to be normal -- school, work, church, library, stores, play dates

    resigning from a "sweet spot" teaching job I loved to homeschool our boys

    my dad miraculously recovering from COVID with no complications

    not seeing my parents for half a year (after usually seeing them every month)

    going stir-crazy as an extrovert in a social distancing world

    questioning everything I know to be true and being in a tailspin of emotions

    missing the annual Christmas gathering at the farm

But I also didn't anticipate that the "more" would include...

    learning to trust Jesus for all I don't understand

    spending more time as a family than ever before

    re-discovering the great outdoors and all the awesome parks Lexington has to offer

    praying throughout the day because I was so dependent on Jesus to get me through

    enjoying simple pleasures like stopping to watch a worm on the sidewalk

    making discipleship in our home a reality, not just a talked-about, wished-for thing

    re-kindling a long-dormant desire to teach kids in China (I just didn't know it'd be from my computer)

    connecting with my husband in new ways as we walked hand-in-hand through the fire

    realizing more than ever how this world is not our home

    becoming friends and "mutual encouragers in the faith" with ladies around the country that I've never met

    choosing gratitude and contentment even when the world is upside down

What a year, what a year...

Through it all, I'm thankful. 

His path leads through the waters, rivers, and fire (Isaiah 43:2),

but He promises to be with us.

He promises that the rivers won't sweep over us.

He promises that we will not be burned by the fire (though it often felt like it).

And, as I learned this year, 

there is MORE on the other side.   

August 2020 recap

We took a Sunday drive to High Bridge, south of Wilmore. I was surprised that we didn't see any trains.

Chocolate-covered strawberries and pretzels with my two little chefs

Mamaw joined us for a morning hike and picnic at Veterans Park

Exploring the creek

Cutie 1 and Cutie 2 (the second set of 2 cuties to wear these shirts!)

Calvin celebrated his half-birthday (6.5!). With three of the boys' birthdays on the 6th of a month, there are six 6ths that are either a birthday or a half birthday in our family.

Cooper found a big stick!

This was a nice little park with a shaded area for our snack and some reading of a book in the 13-Story Treehouse series, which we devoured this month. I read them all to Calvin. Carter joined us for some and read some on his own.

"Baby sawberry!"

Stopping to check out the little fairy garden on our back neighborhood walk.

Carter was so proud of himself for climbing the hay bale by himself!

This was a neat paved, shaded trail in Jessamine County.

For awhile, Calvin was the "King of Owies," which made Cooper the "Prince of Owies," but I think Cooper has now surpassed him.

Lucas gave me the go-ahead to take the four boys to Mimi and Pa's in Indiana for a week after not seeing them since February. They had both tested negative the week before, so we jumped at the chance! It was a win-win-win-win. Lucas got quiet, introvert time to work on his magazine deadline. The boys and I got a change of scenery and routine. Mimi and Pa got to see how their grandsons are growing up!

Making their own little fairy garden

Oh, Cooper...

We mostly stayed at the house but did venture out to the Arts Park, Memorial Park, and for daily ride-around-till-Cooper-falls-asleep drives.

I was still able to teach my classes. Hooray for a work-from-anywhere job!

So, so good!

Look at this little guy! He adores his big brothers.

Calvin can now make pancakes almost completely by himself. On this day, he worked on pouring onto the griddle and flipping both times.

On our picnics, we eat the now-famous "lemon-juiced apples." I slice the apples and then toss in a bit of lemon juice to keep them from browning. This is Calvin after drinking some of the lemon juice.

We're still heading out to Memaw's pretty much every Sunday evening. We pack a picnic to eat in her backyard, and she usually puts together some type of dessert. Look at that tomato plant! It's just one plant, and it has grown so tall! Carter has one of the first tomatoes of the harvest.

Colson now loves climbing and standing on chairs. This was his first chance to make our family's salsa. You can tell that he often missed the blender.

I had started to take this picture of Colson and Carter sitting together by the wall but then Cooper and Calvin had a sweet moment of Cooper feeding him a bite of what he was eating.

On Lucas' birthday, he surprised us by celebrating our "unbirthdays." Cooper was the first to receive an unbirthday present -- a Mickey. He LOVES the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse TV show.

This was the first time with all the cousins together since Dan's birthday in May. With the girls also schooling at home for now, all three families have been safely social distancing the past several weeks to warrant a small much-needed get-together.

We ate a lot of food and then ate the famous chocolate sheath cake, which has become synonymous with Lucas' birthday. Then he and the big cousins had a sleepover at Mamaw and Papaw's house.

In COVID fashion, he took off the candle before blowing.

:-)

July in Pictures

Here are some pictures that show what we were up to during the month of July:

Papaw came over to re-hang our gate at the top of the stairs.

A new locally-owned ice cream shop "Crank and Boom" opened up in the shopping center that is within walking distance of our house. Now we've got it all, folks: ice cream, donuts, snow cones, Chinese, Domino's, Bargain Hunt, Goodwill, and Dollar Tree. We took a family walk to get ice cream and this is how Lucas outfitted himself to pick up our ice cream.

He looks like a different kid with his hair slicked down.

Within about 20 minutes, his hair was already starting to creep back up.

The boys and I go on walks at parks all over town. We haven't been to a playground since before COVID, but we've been to some great parks!

Snuggle time with Daddy on the back deck

My beloved slide phone finally bit the dust, so I'm officially a (reluctant) iPhone owner. Actually, there are a lot of things I love about it. Audiobooks from the library are my favorite!

We usually try to make breakfast on Saturday and Sunday mornings. This was our first attempt at monkey bread. We had one plate in the middle, and devoured the whole thing!

Happy birthday, Papaw! We've had some visits with Mamaw and Papaw, mostly in the backyard.

I love watching brother interactions! Carter and Calvin are great big brothers.

Another of our favorite parks -- Veterans

This was a long, sweaty hike. We're thankful for shade and that we managed to find our way back to civilization!

Brothers!

Carter did a rock treasure hunt for us. He left signs in every room of how many were "remaining"

Since Scripture Memory Camp was canceled, I attempted to have our own at-home camp week. I started with a nature scavenger hunt. Let's just say it didn't go well.

I try to document all our experiences, not just the happy ones.

Much more smiley for s'mores!

Colson got the parts of the s'more separately

We attempted to sleep in the backyard in our tent. It might have worked, but Cooper refused to calm down at 10:00, so we headed inside early.

I love this pictures with their stuffed animals -- Carter with Rosco, Cooper with his lion and cow, and Calvin with Tigey

Colson is officially on the move, and the books on the shelf are no longer safe!

Cooper loves picking out books from our Little Free Library. This was his selection one day.

Colson's new game is kicking or rolling the ball out into the street. Thankfully, our street is not very busy, and he knows (for now) not to go in the street. He laughs as I run out to get the ball.

This is life these days. A bunch of boys!

Here are the boys with their prizes for memorizing SwordGrip OT Vol 1. They earned a full scholarship to camp in Louisiana, but camp was canceled. Still, these are some pretty sweet rewards -- a "trophy" with their names engraved on the back, nice study Bible with their names on the cover, the new SwordGrip to memorize for next year, and $20 gift card (each) to Chick-Fil-A. It was so fun for them to open the prize box! Memorizing Scripture is more about the eternal benefits, but prizes are nice, too!