hello august

We reinstalled a new hard drive and my computer is now fixed! Hooray!

Then I realized that my entire list of Christmas addresses was GONE. And I about cried. So if you want a Christmas card{in December}, send me your address, mkay?

>>>>><<<<<

1. The end of July was horrid and I'm happy to welcome August. Not too sure what to share here at present. Let's just say that I was caught off guard by a situation and felt God telling me to FLEE. He said RUN 100 different ways...Anyhow, for whatever reason, I was having a VERY hard time obeying.
Partly because I was trying to be a people pleaser, and wanted to avoid any awkward encounters.
Partly because I was believing lies by the enemy that said "Oh it's not a big deal. You are fine and strong enough to handle this."
Partly because I'm hard-headed, stubborn and sinful.

I just begged God to help and He dragged me out of the situation and saved me. Because I was too weak to do it myself. And for this I'm so thankful. He enabled me to make the right choice, even though I was initially VERY SLOW at obeying. I can give Him all glory.

Through it all, I have become a different person.
Less judgemental. More merciful.
Yet more sure of what is right and true than ever. Because when I don't follow God's path...it just makes my bones ache and misery ensues.

2. This weekend I went out of town to visit my little sister Lindsay, and to take pictures of her twinsies, James and Savannah.

We got to our location and started to set things up. James ended up taking a tumble and his face got all scratched up/bloody and his clothes were all dirty.

I snapped a few pictures of Savannah, hoping that James would rebound. But really, we were all too upset to continue, because James wasn't acting himself. It was just awful. So we headed to the urgent care instead, just to make sure he was ok. Thankfully, he was. So we will try to take twinsie shots again soon. Here are a few of Savannah.


This auntie is smitten by this baby girl.


She did not want to be by herself and reached out for auntie's hand. I, of course, melted. Can not resist her.


Looking worried without her buddy, James.


3. I spent the night at Lindsay's house and we went shopping the next day, to buy a particular sign.
Here's the story. My older sister Jessica bought this map sign.

My younger sister Lindsay saw Jessica's sign, and bought one for herself the next day.
I saw Linsday's sign at her house this weekend and then bought one for myself the next day.(Lindsay chipped in for my early bday present).

Only sisters can get away with such madness.

Not 100% where it's going yet. Maybe over my front room piano...Maybe not. We shall see.

4. I went back-to-school shopping.
For myself, of course.
Mama can't show up to the bus stop in rags, now, can she?
Boys don't even care about clothes. So.

I'm pretty sure every shirt I bought has some sort of metal stud. Gold dots. Drool.


I bought my first ever colored skinny jeans, so that is pretty exciting. I had been looking for coral/peach colored skinnies for AGES(at least a few days). I tried these coral/peachy jeans on at Forever 21 and fell in love. ( I've decided that it's called Forever 21 because it literally takes FOREVER to find what you want in that mongo huge store).

Then I took a picture of myself at home with weird lighting, and the pants looked flesh-colored. Horror! In short, I looked nekked.

I asked John and he said they looked fine....not nekked at all. It must have been the funky lighting. So they get to stay. Weeee! (You would not believe how hard it is to find a pair of coral/peach/orange colored skinnies when you are as short as I am).

I know it's ridiculous to buy sandals in August. But we still have warm weather here til November. And they were on sale. Could you resist? I could not.


5. I have been feverishly doing my exercises every day. Slowly I feel myself improving.

I cannot BELIEVE how much time/energy it takes to stay in shape. In the past, I gave up because my knees would get stingy.
Now that I stablilize my knees with tape, they feel SO MUCH better.
That tape is like $24. Yikes. So sometimes I keep it on, while running errands, so as to save money.
You would not believe the questions I get.
"Are your knees injured?"
"Did you just have surgery?"
And the stares. I'm like "Hello people. Look up HERE at my EYES! Not my knees". I mean, I finally know what it's like for all those busty girls;)

6. I've decided to homeschool Ollie this year(Finn and Calvin will continue at our elementary school).
Why am I homeschooling Ollie?
Because I feel like it's best for him. Not necessarily best for me, lol, but I just have that gut feeling telling me to give it a try.
Our elementary school just switched to all-day kindergarten and I just don't think Ollie and his teacher will survive each other. That's just a LONG day.
So I signed up with a great charter school to homeschool and they literally sent me home with boxes of curriculum.

I need something to store all of Ollie's school stuff.
I remember seeing some cool mustard-colored vintage metal file cabinets at our antique store!!! Must buy!

It's sad that I'm more excited about Ollie's school decor than I am in the curriculum itself--I feel like the black sheep of all home-schooling moms. But once we start, I'm sure I will get more interested in curriculum...