It’s been a FULL week around here! We have attended a gala, had my in-laws in town for a visit, celebrated a birthday boy, and went to a Sauerkraut Festival!
Favorite #1- Hope Rising Gala
Theo and I attended the annual gala for our local Pregnancy Resource Center, Hope Rising. Hope Rising provides pregnancy tests, pregnancy resources, parenting classes, father support classes, post abortion counseling and all kinds of other resources to someone who may be experiencing a crisis pregnancy. This year the gala had a special focus on the fathers who experience crisis pregnancies or struggle post-abortion. The keynote speaker was a man who had encouraged his young girlfriend to abort their baby, and how the effects of that carried into the rest of his life. It was such a beautiful evening and I learned a lot from it!
Favorite #2- My Friend Laura and the Tablecloth Shirt
This is my friend Laura. A couple week ago, I posted a silly IG story making fun of a shirt that I snagged in a Buy Nothing hand-me-down bag. Laura messaged me and said she would like to try the shirt! She took it and totally and completely rocked it- the shirt that I thought looked like a tablecloth looks absolutely amazing on her. Isn’t she just GLOWING? But there is more to the story. Looking at this woman, would you know that her dear son has been walking through intensive cancer treatments for leukemia? Their family has walked through the unimaginable, and Laura is so full of the DEEP joy and peace from the Lord- it has been such a powerful testimony to me! If you think of it, please pray for Elijah as he finishes up the intensive part of his treatment (he still technically has 1.5 more years of treatment, but the most intense phase is done!) and actually gets to come back to school and be in the classroom soon! Please pray that he stays healthy and that there is a special shield of protection around him from any school germs.
Favorite #3: The Sauerkraut Festival
Welcome to small town Ohio- where every town picks some kind of festival theme and sticks with it. This is a street fair and the focus is Sauerkraut, but there are plenty of booths that have nothing to do with sauerkraut! The kids BEGGED to ride the “shuttle”- a school bus- and I think that was the highlight for them! I love browsing all the creative booths! My in-laws joined us for this outing, and it was a fun time.
Favorite #4: Sports Birthday Party
Kiah had his birthday party on Saturday night, and his theme was sports! At this point, I basically let the kids plan their own birthday parties with a little bit of guidance and executive function (making and printing the invites) from me. The whole plan for this party was…play sports. And that is exactly what they did.
Favorite #5: Visit from Grandpa and Grandma
We had a nice visit from my in-laws, who spent the weekend at our place! They provided babysitting services so we could attend the gala, and ran around with us all day on Saturday, then headed home on Sunday morning. It was a lovely time together.
Favorite #6: Sunday Hike
We took the most GLORIOUS Sunday afternoon hike this week! It was probably the highlight of my whole week. The fall colors are starting to creep in and the kids did such a great job hiking.
Favorite #7: He’s NINE
I don’t know how this one snuck up on me, but 9 seems SO BIG. I know it’s not double digits, but it doesn’t seem like he is a little boy anymore. He is a joy and delight to be around! We celebrated him on Tuesday night with some special grown-ups in his life. Then this picture of baby Kiah popped up in my timehop and OH MY GRACIOUS. The days are long but the years are short!
And that is a wrap for this week! We have a fun field trip today and then nothing else on the calendar for the weekend, and I am SO ready to be home for a day or two!