Currently…

Thought I’d pop on here and share a few of the things I’ve been doing currently!

Currently reading…

I have a few books going like usual! I just finished The Ministry of Ordinary Places by Shannan Martin. I picked up Codependent No More by Melody Beattie for my “on my phone” book. I got The Dance or Connection by Harriet Lerner from the library yesterday along with a couple of pregnancy books (the classic Ina May one and another called The Mama Natural). I’m also almost finished with The Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel. Clearly, I like books!

Currently in the market for…

An IKEA Kura bed, a glider/rocker, and a new infant car seat. Even though we have three other kiddos at home, we hit the expiration date on our car seat so we need one. Those 5 years went fast! Plus, we need to transition our youngest out of the Nuna to have a bed for baby. We are thinking the IKEA kura will work as a bunk for the boys.

Currently drinking…

Lots of water! Trying to keep up my intake of water especially when we get outside on hot days.

Currently craving…

Ice cream. Summer and just wanting something sweet at night. I keep looking for Ben and Jerry’s Cinnamon Buns but doesn’t seem like our town has it anywhere. At least they have other good flavors.

Currently wearing…

Comfy clothes, dresses for church, and flip flops. Also, I noticed I apparently have been wearing my Garmin watch a lot since I have a tan line from it.

Currently watching…

The American Gospel. We still have a chunk left to watch and I have so many thoughts!

Currently anticipating…

Getting some more house projects done and hopefully sneaking in a one or more camping getaways this summer before baby. We are waiting on tile to redo the bathroom and then we are also scraping popcorn ceiling. New flooring is coming soon(ish) too. Though, while it’s nice outside we are tackling project “remove all the plants.” We have so many overgrown bushes and this will get us ready for new siding in the spring.

Currently wishing for…

A bit more time before baby comes. Maybe a redo on the spring/early summer where we could have gone to see my new nephew and I could have gone to South Africa? But choosing to trust God and focus on what I can do today.

Currently indulging in…

Cereal or ice cream after the kids are in bed!

Currently enjoying…

Playing board games with my oldest, getting outside as much as we can, sunshine, hearing all the variations of words my youngest puts together, reading tons of books (kids and adults), walks with friends, and my current Bible routine.

Currently pondering…

Like I mentioned earlier, The American Gospel. I’m also pondering church models and how they work especially in light of all the changes the pandemic brought about.

Six years old!

Asher is six! We had such a fun time celebrating him and he loves that his birthday is on the 4th of July. We love to have our kids give input on what would be special for them on their birthday and I love seeing what they request.

Asher showed off his tendency for being a planner with a very detailed list for the day. I definitely had to take notes! He wanted to start the day off by eating Honey O’s and then help making his cake. He wanted a strawberry cake made to look like an aircraft carrier with edible planes on top along with a number 6 candle. We did our best and mostly he had fun helping. He also wanted to bring strawberry cupcakes out to the Villas to celebrate with my side of the family.

Next on his list was a piñata! So, we definitely had fun watching and taking turns trying to crack it open. For presents, we got him some soccer goals for the yard and a battleship game. He was pretty excited about both.

The afternoon included a movie followed by going to the beach and the playground. He had wanted Doolittle’s for dinner but unfortunately they closed recently so the runner up was Tip Top so he got a corn dog and mainly really wanted the ice cream. This time he chose a twist cone.

Lastly, we were thankful to be able to go out on the pontoon for fireworks on the lake! All in all, it was a full, fun day celebrating.

I asked some fun questions too and here are his responses:

1. Favorite color? Blue

2. Favorite animal? Dog

3. What kind of job do you want? Construction worker

4. What do you like to play? Battles and racing

5. What are some of your favorite books? 5 minute stories (Cars/Lightning McQueen) and chapter books

6. What food do you like to eat? Cake

7. Who is your favorite person in the Bible? David

He even obliged my annual photo with his owl ☺️ we love you Asher and love celebrating you! God is using you mightily and I am excited to keep watching you grow.

Mid-year Reflections and Goals

What a year this has been! When I sat down at the beginning of the year, I made a couple of fun bucket lists, re-looked at some vision statements, and kept up with my monthly sheets. We had some hopes and travel plans in the mix for the spring too.

Clearly, as everyone knows, 2020 has been a wild ride of changes and unknowns. Borders for countries closed and other travel got cancelled.

We had hoped to go see my brother’s new baby but instead found ourselves at home. Alongside the sadness of not being able to go, I am holding gratitude for FaceTime and iPhone shared photo albums in the meantime. The rest of the fun things planned like camping on the way and sightseeing around DC will also have to wait. Though, they’ll certainly look different with our own next sweet baby coming soon!

I had hoped to sneak a solo trip to South Africa before baby came and have watched the days tick by as borders remain closed. I find myself praying so often for Ignite South Africa and all the people of that beloved country.

So, instead of trying to plan and control, I’m laying down my plans for His. I am taking one day at a time to do “the next right thing.” Right now, some of that looks like getting our house fixed and ready for whatever next step comes. It looks like loving my kids and working hard on being the best mommy I can be. It looks like continuing to learn by listening and reading when I can. It looks like making the best decisions I can with the information I have. And of course, talking with God a lot.

We have still been able to check off some fun things we planned to do and have adjusted expectations. I’m still doing what I can with what’s before me. I’m writing out my monthly sheets with new perspectives and laying them before the Lord. I keep bringing to mind this verse to help me as I keep moving forward.

“Come now [and pay attention to this], you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and carry on our business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen in your life tomorrow. [What is secure in your life?] You are merely a vapor [like a puff of smoke or a wisp of steam from a cooking pot] that is visible for a little while and then vanishes [into thin air]. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and we will do this or that.””
‭‭James‬ ‭4:13-15‬ ‭AMP‬‬
https://www.bible.com/1588/jas.4.13-15.amp

I keep turning to keep my gaze to the Lord instead of myself. He is trustworthy and faithful. I don’t know what the next half of the year will look like but I’m still moving forward with goals, visions, hopes, dreams, and a focus on the Lord with my hands open to His leading. I am still choosing to step into it with expectation and hope.

January: Ringing in the new year with fun fondue! Survived the flu (with first trimester nausea for me), Melea got stitches, scraping ceilings, and a curly hair cut.

February: Baby announcement once we were healthy from the flu, Spiritual Gifts workshop, and Valentine’s fun.

March: Hearing from some cute preachers…stay at home order started.

April: Trips for ice cream, church online, hike at Carlos, and days at home.

May: Celebrating Ryan, Mother’s Day, hike at Brophy, out to Spruce Hill, Inspiration Peak, and to see the blossoms on the apple trees. Making the best of quarantine/stay at home.

June: Camping at William O’Brien, Ignite 5k, pizza making, Asher getting a new pedal bike, and more progress on the house!

Friday!

Dear 2010 Katy,

You’re still fresh home from South Africa and trying to figure out life. You’re living with your parents since it seemed like that was where God wanted you. You’re wondering if you will keep feeling such an intense longing to be back in South Africa—spoiler alert…10 years later, you still do; differently but it’s embedded deeply in your heart.

I wish I could go back and tell you to get yourself to a counselor sooner. All the big emotions, wounds, and cultural adjustment have you jumping back into old, unhealthy patterns. You will keep learning and getting healthier with lots of missteps and stumbles. You’re still not perfect 😉 AND God is still faithful and still finishing the work He started in you.

I know you’d love to control the timing on a lot of things and even now it can seem like you’ve got a better timeline. Learning to trust God isn’t something you can check off your list. You’ll keep getting lots of opportunities.

There’s a lot I could say but I’ll end it here and will keep looking back with lots of grace for at where I was at then. Oh, and fully enjoy the full fridge while you’re living there.

Love,

2020 Katy

P.s. you still have your flag up in your house and love really does cover all.

Friday Faves

There’s so much going on in the world and so much I’m pondering in my heart as well as with those close to me. In this space though, I wanted to choose to write down some things we have been doing that are bringing us joy and are enjoying in this crazy season.

1. Getting outside!! We are entering the sweet spot for weather here and I am so grateful to be able to go out walking, hiking, playing, and more. The kids have been playing with the sprinkler and hose. We are still loving our fenced backyard. I’m excited for more adventures as the summer continues.

2. Baby kicks. This sweet next baby is starting to make his/her appearance known more and more! I have an anterior placenta for the first time and am still surprised at what a difference it has made. I definitely felt my other babies more but I’m glad to be feeling more as baby gets bigger. And there’s definitely no hiding this bump. I’m close to the third trimester already though!

3. All sorts of new recipes. I’ve been having fun trying new things and figuring out our grocery budget as these kids keep wanting to eat more. Even though it’s more work to find and learn new recipes, I still don’t love repeating old ones. A few things we have tried include Pioneer Woman’s lemon blueberry pancakes, copycat Chik-fil-a sandwiches with the yummy sauce, beef with snow peas, skillet chili with cornbread on top, broccoli Mac and Cheese, some yummy baked French toast recipes, and more.

4. A fresh new journal. Melea has started pulling out my old journals and I saw one from when I kept notes from going through the Bible in 90 days. This prompted me to use a new journal I had waiting to do a dual format where on one side I write down insights from my Bible reading for the day and on the other I am keeping a gratitude list. This has been a fun way to do some old practices in a new way.

5. Three finished bedrooms. We’ve scraped all the popcorn ceiling off and painted all of the bedrooms upstairs. We also added new fans since the old fans/light fixtures were quite outdated. Nice to keep seeing progress and keep moving forward on our goals.

Lately

My good friend (hi Carrie!) recently let me know she was going to jump back into blogging and give it a try again. We both used to blog and read a lot of blogs back in college. Along the way, of course, things changed and blogging changed. I have posted periodically but haven’t gotten back into that same rhythm. With all that is going on in the world, I thought I would dip my toes back in with something light and fun. So, here’s a short list of “lately.”

Reading: With the kids, we have been going through the Ranger in Time series. The books pop around different events in history from the Underground Railroad to WW2 to Hurricane Katrina and more. They are historical but kid friendly!

Personally, I’m trying to finish up Essentialism by Greg McKeown before diving into some surprise picks from the library. Our library started curbside pickup and you can give them genres/ideas for them to pick for you! They picked out three books for me and they all looked good.

Favorite Thing On a Restaurant Menu: Chocolate Chip Cookie ice cream sandwiches from Tip Top! We have driven over to this nearby small town ice cream shop for some treats to have something fun during this time and these are a hit.

Purchase: We have not really needed to buy much beyond food lately and are saving up in our budget for a few things. My wish list (beyond travel/plane tickets when travel/borders are open) includes new running shoes, a new Bible, Sparkling Gems from the Greek Volume 2, and a few other things.

Songs to Sing Along to on Spotify: Lovesick (over and over again) by Housefires, Kirby Kaple, Tony Brown. The Father’s House by Cory Asbury. Let Your Love Pour Out by I Am They.

TV Show Watched: Going through some of the old Jeopardy shows on Netflix.

Recipe: Lemon Blueberry muffins and I’m looking forward to making this cornbread topped chili skillet soon.

What have you been up to lately?

Five Minute Friday: Listen

Hello again! I hope you’re having a fun Friday. I wanted to pop on since I have a few minutes to write with the Five Minute Friday community.

Listen

I shared a story recently and the person listening remarked that I still sounded hurt. I agreed and knew that another lap of forgiveness was needed.

The process of forgiveness and getting rid of every bitter root can feel so slow sometimes. I can think I’m done and have checked off that box only to find that there’s still some left. Yet, leaving them there only blocks my heart and limits what God wants to do.

In the natural, I’m reminded of the debris left behind after pulling out a bush or shrub. When we did some landscaping and took out some overgrown shrubs the mess they left behind was surprising. Even if they did not go deep, they still left all sorts of little twigs, roots, dirt, and junk. The initial action only started the good work. We needed to stay the course and finish getting rid of it all. Then we needed to fill it back in with something new.

The same can be true of forgiveness and bitterness. What am I choosing today to fill back in? Am I choosing to tear out all the roots, deal with the debris, AND plant in hope, love, kindness? Or am I leaving the gaping hole to fill with the next little root? Am I listening to God’s prompting and to my own voice for those invitations to go deeper toward wholeness and healing?

Happy Birthday, Canon!

Wow! Another year has passed by and I say this every time but I cannot believe my baby is 1 (as of September 14!)! Every day feels like such a gift. Life with three at home has been a wild ride and some days I wonder how we survive but we have. I love so much about this season and know there’s more fun to come.

What we have learned…you love to climb! You keep trying to climb the chairs and wherever you can. You’ve dipped down in weight but still feel solid. You like to go explore by yourself but also really love mom and dad. You go running when daddy gets home or when you hear the shower turn off or someone in the bathroom. You also have a few words including mama (for both mom and more), dada, bye bye.

What we are enjoying…hiking when we can! We’ve snuck out to Carlos State Park, Brophy Park trails, and Glacial Lakes State Park. We are enjoying the nice weather while we can!

What are struggles…still working on more sleep and getting enough food you like.

Most exciting milestones…lots of walking and climbing and of course your birthday! 7 teeth.

What Canon seems to like…soft things, brief snuggles, being where everyone is, exploring new things, climbing, being held at times and picking how to be held, taking out books, getting into the glass door bookshelf, being chased, and still loving the dishwasher.

Dislikes seem to be…getting stuck when he tries climbing the kitchen chairs, when we won’t let him go outside on the deck, and when he has to wait for food.

What sleep looks like…he is finally getting better at nighttime sleep! Goes to bed around 8 and wakes up around 7-8. Napping around 10:30 and then in the afternoon too.

He’s eating…everything we are! He had fun trying cake and ice cream too! He’s nursing only twice a day now and working toward weaning.

Who we have seen…had fun getting together with people for Canon’s birthday!

At the last doctors appointment…he’s wearing size 3 diapers and mostly 12 month clothes with a few 18 month thrown in there. At the end of September, he weighed 20 lb 7 oz and was 30.5 inches tall. He’s kind of a skinny guy right now but still feels pretty solid.

Music

I love finding new music and this late summer/fall seems to be full of new albums being released! Some of my favorites from lately include:

Holding Onto You by Paul and Hannah McClure

Favorite lyric: “You are the answer for all my questioning…you are the stillness when the storm is deafening

The Way Home by Paul and Hannah McClure

Favorite lyric: I believe that You You’re with me even though I’ve tried to walk alone So I will follow You Oh, anywhere You go…I found in You my home..”

Powerful God by Expressions58

Favorite lyric: “You’re a powerful God. This I know this I know. I serve a powerful God. You’re my powerful God… The defender of my hope in victory is fighting for me. Even when I don’t understand I’m still in the palm of your hand. Even when I don’t understand still I’ll praise you.”

Ready or Not by Hillsong United

“There’s no place like His presence. There’s no time like the now. He’s not moved by perfection Or how well we look the part But He’s wild about the hidden stuff Like He’s wild about the heart”

I’ll Give Thanks by Housefires, Kirby Kaple

“In the morning you sing over me and I receive your mercy. Your faithfulness is clear to see it’s like the sunrise constant everyday. Though this season doesn’t tell my story I know you’ll move mountains for me you’re just that good so I’ll give thanks to God.”

I’m Listening by Chris McClarney

“I don’t wanna miss one word You speak ‘Cause everything You say is life to me So quiet my heart, I’m listening”

What have you been listening to lately?

Five Minute Friday: Success

I’m back here again ready to spend a few minutes writing. Hope you enjoy and are having a fun Friday!

Success

I recently listened to the Carey Nieuwhoff podcast with JD Greear and Todd Wilson (#287 on the podcast). While they were talking about church multiplication and leaving a legacy, one of them shared a moment with the Lord that has stuck with me. If you have a chance go listen because there is depth in hearing tone and emotion but in short I’ll give you the general idea.

One of the guys was praying about their church and wanting to see their church really impact the city even to the point of ending up in history books. He felt like God came back and asked him what if it’s not your church–do you still have such a heart for these people that you want to see that?

The story hit my heart and resonated with me. There is so much “success” in the Kingdom that we may be a part of but we may not be given credit. Our prayers may bring change that we never see in our lifetime.

Jesus has such a way of taking what we think would be success and showing us a different way. He shows up going lower and clothed in humility. He did not seek to become the king or to bring out weapons.

May my version of success become more about time with the Father and obedience. May my eyes be opened to seeing what God is doing in circumstances. Not my will but Your will be done.