14 weeks

Our newest baby flutters low in my belly as I start the second trimester. I'm recharged: cleaning, mixed in bursts with decluttering, instead of the long, necessary naps when energy was low. With the Great Yard Sale of 2017 behind us, the upstairs is inhabitable again, and I'm in a mood for rearranging all the rooms and making a bedroom up there for a blonde baby who will soon be our big girl. I'm not supposed to do heavy lifting, so it's mostly mental rearranging currently, but there's decluttering and cleaning to be done in preparation, and that, I can do.

Fall began with warmth and well-watered earth here by the ocean. Saying goodbye to September has been beautiful; a study of God's faithfulness. There was a whole week that Matt didn't have work this month, and I doubted we would stay on track financially. I thought we would fall short of goals and stumble through. But God. God had plans for us to prosper: to run and not grow weary. We sold the Dodge Journey this month, had the world's most successful yard sale, and I think the best monetary month we've had in the six years we've been married. For that to happen even though my husband was out of work for a week, just goes to show that all of our best efforts are nothing compared to God's good and perfect gifts. He has rewarded my husband's faith and our hard-work. (Jeremiah 29:11, Proverbs 14:23)

Matt's birthday party is a couple of weekends away, and we'll gather, as always, around a fire pit with homemade soup and welcome October the right way, celebrating the man of my dreams. I'm thankful for our little family. In all of our selfishness, pride, and impatience, there is a growth toward the love that suffers-long and is kind. Love that we can only learn from Jesus. Love that covers a multitude of sins.