Remember my garage homeless chic playroom? Well, I finished some projects and that mother is officially in business.

I found some chairs and a table on Craigslist and gave them a little makeover. The table has chalkboard paint on it so Bud loves covering it with his art. And the chairs have been anointed with beauty.

Before

After

And to make the blankets a little less weird, I added some lanterns because… well, why the hell not?

Today was devastating. Heartbreaking. Gut wrenching. Today was the kind of day when I couldn’t help but cry out to God, “Why?” I ache for the those little children whose lives were stolen from them. I ache for those families. I ache for that young man, that his soul was filled with such enveloping hate. I ache for the students who had their innocence stripped from them and are asking questions now that even I, as a jaded adult, have a hard time facing.

I ache.

But here’s what I can’t do. I can’t join the choruses of “Our world is going to hell in a hand basket.” Because I have hope. I believe that our God is the same God of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I believe that He aches more over this than we can fathom. I don’t have the answers as to why. Years of seminary and 30 years of living in a broken world haven’t led me to all the answers. But these years have led me to know this. Love will always win. We cannot give Evil the power by saying that It’s reigning over this earth. We cannot give Evil that satisfaction. 

These families will be surrounded by our nation. Think of how many children are being hugged tonight and told that they are loved. We have to believe that light will always outshine darkness. I may live in a broken world but I refuse to live in a world where I give Evil the power. I refuse to live in a world where I give more attention to the darkness than the Light. God is still here and sovereign, lets not drown Him out with the dark.

I ache, I pray, and I hope.

We hit up our usual Christmas tree/pumpkin farm and Sam cut down our tree much to Bud’s squealing to play with the saw… awesome.

I am loving how much Bud is getting into Christmas this year. Every morning when we come downstairs he points at the Christmas tree and says “Kissma Tee! Kissma Tee!” and don’t even get me STARTED on the freak outs I get when the lights aren’t on. It’s like telling Mariah Carey she can never wear sequins again. Total.Breakdown.

We are explaining to him the nativity, the Christmas story, and the beginning of the most wonderful Rescue Plan of all time. Sam taught him how to say “Jesus” the other day when they were reading the Bible together (I know, swoon). 

Then we took to creation appreciation (Hi Kate) and went on a few hikes since Sam has had some half days. I literally have to stop myself from weeping/giggling/smiling like an idiot when I see my whole family back together again. I cannot describe that kind of joy.

Sam wanted to use this as our Christmas card. I’m sorry honey, I’m wearing a weird hat, baggy hiking pants, and NO. Don’t you know Christmas cards are to show people that we can still look presentable as a family at least one day out of the year?!

And oh yeah, DATE NIGHTS AGAIN?! Yes please, may I have another?

or gettin’ busy WHHHAAA?!?!!? Ohhhh I couldn’t resist. Here is a little shot of Sam’s homecoming that my brother took.

Thank you for your love, support, and prayers. Seriously, this 10.5 months would have been a lot harder without your sweet comments, emails, and prayers. I’m so grateful for yall and I promise I’ll be back in the swing of posting cute pictures of my boys but for now, there ya have it!

Welp- I turned 30 last Sunday. It’s true.

Mom and I went to get cupcakes one afternoon which was super yummy.

Then my family and I went out to dinner and little Bud was awesome until about half way through so in order to spare the other customers from a hollerin’ toddler, he and and I entertained each other  at the end of the table. At first I was like, “This is the best birthday I’ve ever had….” (said super sarcastically) but then, I was like, “This is the sweetest birthday I’ve ever had…”(said not super sarcastically) because it was just me and him at the end of the table just having our own conversation and making our own little memories.

The next morning my brother and sister-in-law gave me an AMAZING present, a “30th birthday” where they had family and friends send in pictures of them with the number 30 in the picture. It was crazy thoughtful and wonderful. I’ve looked at it a million times.

And oh yeah, I GOT A CALL THAT SAM WAS COMING HOME TO SURPRISE ME FOR MY BIRTHDAY?! Did I forget to mention that? I can’t even describe to you the look on my face when my phone rang. That little sneak had been keeping it a secret and only told them to call me 18 hr ahead of time before his ceremony. So, the next 18 hours was spent cleaning the house like crazy, squealing, and shaving. My brother was there to capture the whole thing on film so I’ll post the short-film when he’s done.

Bud needs to work on his excited face….

I’ve been on total cloud-9 since he’s been back. I’ll try and keep posting but have grace for me as I’m soaking in this time!

This year has been rough. I won’t sugar coat it. BUT things have been catipulted into perspective and sometimes when you’re stripped raw, you realize how beautifully simple life’s joys are. That’s where I am. I’m thankful everything.

I’m thankful when I get an email from Sam because that means he’s safe.

This is a typical pose from Sam, “Why are we taking pictures when we could have been eating supper 5 minutes ago?”

I’m thankful for the smiles on Bud’s face because it means we are both pursuing joy when its not always obvious and convenient.

I’m thankful for family coming into town and loving on me and my Bud so we won’t be alone for Thanksgiving or my 30th.

I love my dad for a bunch of reasons but one is his ability to PLAY. He just hopped right into the kids tunnel at the Children’s Museum with Bud.

I’m thankful for last weekend when I got to see my brotherbuddy Caleb get married to a wonderful women Katrina. It was an amazing weekend with my friends who are even sillier than I am. We danced like idiots, sang songs about chocolate and laughed harder than I have in awhile. I was myself in truest form…. a complete buffoon surrounded by other buffoons.

I’m thankful for my crazy brother who makes me laugh, is my partner in crime and who cares deeply about the people in his life. And oh yeah… gives me bangs. Yep, I let him give me bangs but luckily my friend Bliss was there to do a lot of the work!

I hope your Thanksgiving Day is full of thanks! Seriously, even if its for toe socks or Chewy Sprees, be thankful.

I hosted a JAG spouses’ night last week and decided to make a little Thanksgiving craft for a party favor.

1. Materials: Dollar Store mugs, gift basket fillers, ribbon, Reeses Pieces, baggies, and enamel paint pens

2. Paint leaves with the enamel paint pens and follow the instructions for baking the paint on. I wrote a little “Thankful” message just for an added touch.

3. Fill each baggy with Reeses goodness. Fill the mugs with the filler, tie the ribbon on the baggy and there ya have it!

1. Target switched diapers. The new ones have stars instead of the dots, feel thinner, and rougher. Yall- these mothers gave Bud a CHEMICAL BURN on his tallywackersacker. It was really heartbreaking and painful for my dude. We have since switched to Costco dipes and he’s all better but just your own little warning from me. I went online and they were hundreds of comments saying the same thing. And when I called Target they said they’d been getting lots of calls. If you call, they’ll refund you!

P.S. I realize I should probably be doing cloth diapers blah blah, but lets be real, I’m going to use that time to shave my legs work out eat candy.

2. Anthropologie has these and they’ve been floating around Pinterest. Let me rock your world by telling you that Bed, Bath, & Beyond sells them for 9.99 and they are the best thing to rub against my legs since…. well, they’re awesome ok?

3. Nothing sends a rage through me like someone telling me that raisins are nature’s candy. You know what? CANDY IS NATURE’S CANDY!  That’s all.

If anyone needs me, I’ll be playing airplane with my little man.

Yall- it’s cold here now. Like all of a sudden, BOOM 35 degrees. I’m not a cold weathered person and apparently neither is my kid. I bundle us both up and go to the garage playroom and even with the heaters blaring, it barely gets up to 50 degrees in there. AWESOME. Bud won’t wear gloves and then gets really crabby when his hands are cold. SO, I’ve had to come up with some creative ways to entertain him for the entire day.

1. Have I mentioned my homeless chic playroom? In order to trap the heat, I bought a bunch of thick blankets and sheets from Goodwill and sewed them together and stapled those mothers onto the ceiling during naptimes. It may have taken me a few days and I could have fallen and no one except Roy the Dog would have known but it got done and it pretty much works…. pretty much.

2. We have turned my coffee table in the living room into an art table. When it’s a little too chilly to play in the homeless chic garage, we have to come in and throw down a drop cloth and just finger paint or smush paint around in a ziplock bag because Mama is gonna need some serious help from Mr. Margarita if she doesn’t find a way to keep this hurricane busy.

3. Who knew tape could be so fun? If I put a bunch of painter’s tape on the table, guess who loves to entertain himself by pulling it all off and putting it back on again? This dude.

4. SWING! When all else fails and I’m sad because its been a really long year and I miss my husband, I bundle Bud up and take him to the swings and hear him laugh and oh, the world is right again.

5. RIBBON DANCE…. with friends. Seriously, homeboy gets it from his mama but he loves to carry his ribbon everywhere. (You should probably come home soon Sam)