Thankfully.

When I think back to this time last year, we were entering a storm.  But, we thought we could fix it, figure out what needed to be done, and get back to normal.

Well, thankfully, that didn't happen.

I never thought I would say that.  If you would have told me one year ago that we would have a whole new life, be a whole new family, and be so much better because of the pain, I would never have listened.

In the end of the saga, before the hiatus, God opened a door for us to begin a new life.  It was unexpected and scary, but we felt strongly that God was asking us to trust Him.


Thankfully, we set off on a new path for our life and our family.  We had to leave behind our vision for our life and accept God's vision for our life.

Thankfully, we listened.

One year ago, I still had hope about where our old life would take us.  But today, I can see that the storm we entered made us stronger in character, in our marriage, in our family, in our conviction as parents, and as followers of Christ.


Thankfully, that storm came through our lives and raged like crazy to teach us so much.

Our life today is completely different...
thankfully. 

We have a life.  We can dream.
We have time for our growing family.
We have emotional capacity for each other.
We are supported.  We are loved. 


We discovered all of this because God had us on a journey, and it involved pain and hurt.  We take responsibility for our share of the conflict and we have found peace in forgiveness where needed.  We graciously - thankfully - accept our new life and know that there may be more storms ahead, but that we will weather them knowing that God will never stop teaching us.

Funky Feathered Turkeys

We made some fun feathered turkeys thanks to my cousin who sent the supplies in a care package.  My four year old really loved this project.  Our turkey family totals about TEN because we had such a great time creating!

Supplies:

construction paper, scissors, pencil, glue stick, feathers, puffs, pipe cleaners

Directions:

Trace hands and cut them out of construction paper.  Then glue feathers and other embellishments onto hands as you please!  Cut pipe cleaners for legs and tape to back of turkey.

from cousin Angie's blog

From Angie's blog

Updates

Since moving in early October, we've been slowly working on making this house ours.  Unfortunately, most of the work we've done can't be seen: shelves in closets, cleaning out storage spaces, etc.  Last weekend, with a forecast for one more warm(ish) weekend in Wisconsin, we painted the front door and shutters black (to forego the faded maroon from the previous owner).  We are loving the crisp, stately look of our new front door color and feel like its one of the first things that makes our mark on this house as ours.  Also gone are the overgrown window boxes which we chose to skip altogether.  Landscaping will be an ongoing project that won't begin until next summer...the work is just beginning!

Turkey Family

Now that Halloween is over, the Thanksgiving decorations can come out.  We don't have much going on for holiday decor this fall, but I am determined to get the new house set for Christmas.  I thought this turkey family was so adorable on eighteen25.  Thanksgiving is such a great holiday to get our kids to understand, so this interactive activity is on my list!

Image & tutorial

For next year...

I'm bookmarking this craft for Halloween next year...so cute!

Halloween Lanterns from Mason Jars