The Intentional Life

Ah, September. That month between the summer of August and the fall of October. You're not sure which to deliver so you mix it up all month long. You kept us hopping with Cross Country meets, family events, a business trip to New Orleans, and all of the crazy of life in between. There were some lows (the loss of a diamond) but a lot more highs. These pictures don't do the whole month justice, but it's a start. A morning road trip to go watch Owen and Hannah run their first weekend cross country meet. Of course it was a great excuse to get coffee... Hannah placed 13th, the team placed 5th All of these squash grew in our garden. The kicker: I didn't plant a single squash plant. An introvert walk: just two people walking in our own thoughts #bliss Just the usual sight in our yard these days... No, this wasn't face paint... A little Cross Country viewing in the rain... Hannah walked (ran?) away with the top 6th grad...

Last Spring we got whiff of a possibility of something we've been dreaming about for quite awhile. But it's was just a whiff. Then, about 6 weeks ago Paul and I saw this uh, shall we call it, ‘opportunity,’ suddenly seem closer to reality. I don’t want to give out too many details beyond that quite yet, but let’s just say a dream that has been on our hearts for quite some time was fulfilled in this opportunity. It checked all the boxes. And it got us dreaming and planning. Something that I feel we haven’t done a lot of lately, and I really miss it. Side note: Don’t stop dreaming with your spouse. Even if it on something that may never happen, keep dreaming and planning together. This thing that came along, we knew it wasn’t a sure thing. We knew there was a large chance that it would fall through. But we dreamed anyways. We talked through plans.  While in the car. In the dark when we should have been sleeping. And in random conversations during even...

August kept us running, literally and figuratively.  It started out with a hustle as Paul and I both had jobs to help with the Annual Gateway Woods Benefit Auction. Sunup to Sundown that first week of August was moving. But the Lord brought the increase, as the Auction was able to bring in over $600,000 in around 6 hours time... Auction bled into school starting, which brought structure, but also brought the need to seek our quality time over quantity time as suddenly our schedules have us going a lot of different directions.  But there were many reason to smile, to live in gratitude, and even laugh despite the rough spots. And I managed to get a few pictures in, too.  It can be kind of hard to describe, and pretty incredible all the volunteers to takes to make this come together, but this Auction amazes me year after year, as well as what God does with it. One thing I wasn't expecting to come out of this auction....three goats that now belong to us..... ...