Wow. October…it went by so quickly and November is racing on by. Christmas will be here before we know it. October was crazy. We had a camping trip and two weddings and battled runny noses and sore throats for most of the month. Plus Halloween and the kickoff of the holiday season. November brought healing but it’s also flown by with another wedding and a trip to Louisiana for Josh. What a wild month. Emotionally I’m feeling a little out of sorts. I love my routine. I love having free and relaxing weekends to check things off my to do list. And when I don’t have that I tend to feel a little like I’m spinning out of control. We’ve had a nice weekend and the “Sunday scaries” are filling my mind. Thankfully it’s a short week with Thanksgiving and Friday off work. Is anyone else feeling this way?!

Maybe take a minute, breathe, and pray with me. Father, you see us. I’m so thankful that you are the God who sees. You see my crazy schedule. You see the juggling and struggling when my days are so full. But you are also the God of peace. I am not struggling without hope. Your Word says that I should cast my cares on You because You care for me. It also says that I should come to You when I’m weary because You will give me rest. You are gentle and humble in heart, and only in You will I find rest for my soul. I also know that when the world feels overwhelming I know the one thing I don’t have to work for is peace with You. That was accomplished once and for all in Jesus. So when I don’t have peace here I can rest knowing I have peace with You. Help me to rest now in that peace and take comfort in You even in this busy time of life. Amen.

Now if you’re like me, God may have been speaking to your heart while you prayed and maybe He was instructing you on some things you could do practically to bring more rest. He’s been whispering to me for a few days now that I need to take a break from my phone. Every time I use it lately my chest starts to feel tight and I feel anxiety creep its way into my soul. This feeling usually means I need a break from social media and late night tv binges. I need the rest of spending undistracted time with my family, curling up with a good book and getting a good night of sleep.

If you feel the same, can I encourage you to obey Him? I’m just going to delete a few apps I know have been overwhelming me. I’m not making a commitment to delete them for a month or anything like that, I’m just going to remove them until I have a need to post something or check something. That may mean it only lasts a few days or hours but this obedience will bring some life to me for however long it lasts. Whatever He’s encouraging you to do, do whatever it is, I promise it will bring rest because He knows you better than you know yourself.

Phew, sometimes we just need to be real for a few minutes. I hope someone needed that as much as I needed to write it out. Now, back to the goal/family life update.

In October we were busy pretty much every weekend and battling colds during the week. It was kind of a rough month. Many of my to-do list items are still being rolled over from October. The second weekend of October we went camping in Branson with our friends Darren and Jess and their little boy Levi. Brooklyn and Levi enjoyed going to a diner, shopping, eating and hiking and playing together. It was a nice and relaxing long weekend. We had some yummy food and even went to a fall festival at Shepherd of the Hills. There was so much for kids to do there and the babies had a blast. I wrote more about the details in our monthly email newsletter so if you want more up to date details from us make sure to scroll down and sign up.

After over two and half years of working from home I finally was able to go back to the office in October. It was nice to see co-workers again but also really weird to be back. My office was like a time capsule. I had piles of mail that had been set on my desk and my calendar was still stuck in 2020. I’ll still work from home full time but I think going forward they’ll ask us to come in a little more often. Once every two years isn’t a big deal. LOL.

We had two weddings in October for Josh’s cousins. I love a good excuse to get dressed up every once in a while. Brooklyn had fun and these October weddings really prepared her for a wedding we went to in November where she danced the night away. I don’t think I got a single picture of any of these weddings.

Josh’s sister got a new cat that we got to meet in October. Millie is pretty cute and Brooklyn LOVES her. This is the only time you’ll ever see me hold a cat. I’m very allergic but I can’t pass up a chance to hold a tiny kitten. They are just so cute when they’re little. As you can tell in the video below, B is still learning that she needs to be gentle.

Brooklyn celebrated her second Halloween this year. She went dressed as a piece of candy corn. Such a cute costume and she still asks to wear that tutu every so often. We had a blast with her cousin Lucy who was a very cute police officer. Brooklyn loved trick-or-treating and even said “trick-or-treat” a few times.

To start off November we went shopping with our small group for Thanksgiving boxes that our church put together for the community. Our church put together over 1200 boxes that we handed out to schools and on site to families who came through the line. It was really fun to do a service project with our group! I even made a little reel on Instagram about it.

Later in the month Josh went down to Pittsburg to help Darren and Jess move back to Louisiana. While he was gone Brooklyn, Ella and I stayed a couple days with my parents. We missed our guy but it was nice to spend time with Mom and Dad. This time last year we were still living with them so we miss them a lot!

We had another wedding before Thanksgiving for some friends in our small group. Those October weddings really prepared Brooklyn for the dance party at this wedding. She had so much fun, I think she would have stayed for hours if she could. Hopefully we’ll have another wedding to go to soon, she really loved it!

Then for Thanksgiving Day we went to Josh’s Aunt Gail’s house to celebrate with his side of the family. We trade off every year which family we spend Thanksgiving with so next year the plan is to be with my mom and dad. Brooklyn was teething pretty bad so the drool was nuts. I did not think a family picture made sense this year because the drool was kind of gross. However, on Saturday we spent time with more family and we did take family pictures for our Christmas card. I don’t think I’ll end up getting a physical card out this year so it may just be a digital one. Keep an eye out for a post from us on Instagram and Facebook.

That Tuesday we ripped up all the carpet in our basement. I need to finish editing my October vlog and get it posted. Then I will post this carpet demo and another vlog we did that week. Lots of fun content is coming, just have to find the time in the Christmas hustle to edit it all.

The beginning of December has been really sweet. Brooklyn loves the Christmas tree and enjoyed decorating it. I’m so excited to see her face on Christmas morning and to share some other traditions with her soon. We got a little chocolate Advent calendar that has a bible verse on each flap, she’s having fun opening the little door each evening. Another Advent activity we’re doing is 25 Names of Jesus. Josh’s mom opened an Etsy shop earlier this year and she made these cute ornaments with 25 names of Jesus and a Bible verse. Brooklyn gets to hang one up every night and we read the Bible verse together. We’ll start our “12 Days of Christmas” soon so stay tuned for January’s update where we’ll recap our Christmas fun.

Thanks for tagging along with our little family this year! We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We’re excited for all that 2023 will bring.

Below are some updates to our 2022 goals, let us know how your goals are going!

Spiritual

• Become members at our church
• Find a small group
• Pick a Homeroom topic to study each month – We’ve not been great about this due to our busy schedules, hopefully we’ll start fresh for the new year.
• Read God’s Word daily – I’m so thankful this is continuing to go well and thankful for the way God has grown me in this.
• Keep a gratitude log – I’m still not great at remembering to do this.
• Serve in youth ministry

Relational

• Host lunch monthly after church – I need to get something planned during this holiday season.
• Invite Pitt friends to KC to visit – our friend Kristen stayed with us last week for just a night but it was so good to catch up.
• Get to know our neighbors – I need to make a plan to do this, I have still only taken brownies and a card to one neighbor. But Josh did build a front porch and wheel chair ramp for a neighbor whose family is in the thick of it. I don’t want to share all the details but please pray for them if you think of it.
• Continue our weekly family meeting – We didn’t do great during this busy season. 
• Go on a monthly date night – Josh’s work had their Christmas party, we went for appetizers with his coworkers and then saw a hilarious (and raunchy 🤭) comedy show.
• Plan Brooklyn’s First Birthday!! 
• Reconnect with old friends in KC – I got to go see my friend Micah and her new baby, Luke, in November. It was such a relaxing day and I got some sleepy baby snuggles.
• Take two Mom & Dad only trips

Physical 

• Invite a new friend over each month (once we make some lol) – need to get something on the calendar!
• Develop a list of 20 meals to make meal planning easier
• Go on a weekly family walk – It’s been cold but there have been a couple warm days we were able to get a walk in. On election day, Brooklyn and I walked up to the polling place at the top of our street! 
• Get in shape – I’m still trying to eat well and get at least one workout in every week.
• Make our house a home – We started working on our basement project!

Intellectual 

• Check in on our goals once a month – We’ll do this review at the end of the year and make our new goals for 2023.
• Open Etsy Shop!!!
• Read 5 books

Financial

• Make a profit with 27th & Monroe – I didn’t make a profit this year but I do have a lot of material to use up so we’ve decided to move forward with a second year of 27th & Monroe.
• Max out our Roth IRA – working towards this
• Plan a trip to Glacier National Park – We’ve started talking about this more but need to pick the date for next year!
• Meet our Mortgage goals (we’re trying to pay our new house off ASAP) – we’ve paid off about 10% of our mortgage so far which is great!
• Review Budget together monthly – We’ll review the whole year at the end of December!
• Honor our budget – We need a renewed focus on this, we’ve been eating out a little too often!