Our sweet Alethia turned 16 this year! She decided she wanted a fun party kind of like Rainy's. She created a beautiful invite, sent it to some of her favorite people and we had the best time dancing and celebrating. Of course I don't have many pictures, but I snapped a few of Josh and the grandmas sharing sweet words, Rainy's cake for Alethia, and a couple others.
Fall has been BEAUTIFUL this year! The colors, the coming and going (Josh was gone the majority of this month on retreats and a mission trip to Argentina), the fun happenings at school like HOMECOMING...it was a great, FULL month.
Alethia has really thrived at public high school. She's even gotten Cai to come out of his shell a little bit with football games and other fun activities. I started logging some hours behind the wheel with Cai, the Northern lights came through our region and Halloween is still a thing around here. And finally, Jude and I began a couch to 5k program for PE this year which has been really fun to do together.
Rainy is always bringing home fun circus toys to play with. It always makes for a very entertaining afternoon, lol.
I've decided that my favorite sport to watch is indoor soccer. It's like a mix of hockey and soccer. It is super fast-paced, no off sides and no out of bounds so they play off the wall and it is SO intense. This is Cai's first time playing indoor but I'm pretty sure he's hooked!
Alethia got her level 1 permit! Now to clock those hours to get her on the road to independence.
So this happened. Our sink completely came unglued and without the supports underneath (which were actually never installed) and without the proper instructions from the installer not to use the sink for at least 24 hours after installation (they said nothing after it was installed last year, so it was just a matter of time) the sink just fell through. I ran to the sink to hold it up off of the plumbing underneath, yelled to Zeke to go run out to the shed and grab a big bucket from the shed to prop it up on while we figure out what to do. So I did what every normal person does when their spouse is out of the country and a catastrophe happens...I call my friends who are pros at all the house things to come and save the day! I literally don't know what I'd do without Paul and Martha. We were back in running water order within just a couple of days.
November was spent getting into the Christmas Spirit. Lots of baking and decorating. And we had another birthday! Alethia turned 15! We ended the month up in Maryland with my family to celebrate Thanksgiving. While we were there Deedee took us downtown Fredrick to look at the boats that were all lit up for the holidays. I felt like I was walking around in a Hallmark movie!
I also got the chance to do a concert with our new friends the McCray Brothers as they did a song release worship night. I have no pictures but I'll never forget that powerful night.
October, the middle of my FAVORITE season.
The past four-five years have not allowed reflection or presence. It has been several years of what has felt more like survival, sifting and just keeping my head above the crashing waves than actually living in the moment and basking in the beauty that I love so much about this season. But this year I got to have it and it has been such a sweet season.
It started off with a beautiful wedding. We did no music. No officiating. No premarital counseling. We just got to show up and be supportive friends and it was awesome!
