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Six Things I Learned in June

June 28, 2017 by Kristin 20 Comments

I’m ignoring all thoughts of being half-way through the year and half-way through summer. I’m going to focus on how much I loved June because … hello, Summer! Even while sitting by the pool, barely cooking, and lingering longer, I managed to learn some things.

1. Road trips can mean love.

We drove three hours for Greg’s third cousin’s wedding because we appreciate the relationship we have with her parents.

I drove the kids to Louisville for the day because I wanted to hang out with my sister and her family. They live in Buffalo, NY, so I have to take what I can get. The 15-hour day involved 3 1/2 hours there, four hours at the zoo, a few hours at a park then dinner, and 3 1/2 hours home. But it was such a fulfilling day.

And then less than two weeks later we went to Louisville again for a quick weekend that included my 20th high school reunion.

2. Taking care of our pool isn’t as overwhelming as I thought it might be.

Greg and I are more and more comfortable with being pool people. We get our water tested at Schecter’s Pools & Spas in Murray, and we’ve loved their help. They help teach us what to do at home. We’ve got the weekly maintenance down and rely on the professionals’ wisdom for tweaking the regular treatment.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know we’ve been swimming often, like most every day.

3. Even as a grownup, summer gives me the freedom to sit and linger longer.

I read more fiction. I feel less self-imposed pressure to be productive. I enjoy life more. Truthfully, I need to carry this summer mindset into every other season.

This month I’ve read three fiction books – “Fool Me Once” and “Home” by Harlan Coben, and “Ladder of Years” by Anne Tyler – and nonfiction memoir “Lean On Me” by Anne Marie Miller.

4. Rachel is a patient, quiet hide-and-seek participant and sometimes hides when nobody even declared a game.

This makes us laugh because she’s usually constantly on the move and has many, many toddler words I’m certain mean something in her head. It’s hard to believe she’s 21 months old, and quickly approaching being a 2-year-old girl!

5. The fourth (and final) season of “Revenge” was too drawn out, but I’m glad I finished binge-watching that show.

This means I’m taking recommendations about what else I should watch.

6. Having a kid old enough to play games I love is fun.

Cate has been into Apples to Apples for a while, but this month we taught her Rummy. She, Greg and I have made it part of our nightly routine to play after the other two kids are in bed.

If we were sitting on a porch together, what would you tell me about your June?

*****

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Six Things I Learned in April

May 1, 2017 by Kristin Leave a Comment

Hello, May, you’re my favorite. But, first, April. Oh, goodness, April, you were crazy, yet you managed to teach me some things.

1. I learned how to boxer wrap my son’s hands as he recovered from second-degree burns.

{You can read about his injury here.}

2. Two weeks really was all the time my son’s face and tops of his hands needed to heal from those burns.

That’s what the experts said, but it was hard to believe on that second day when he didn’t look like himself. He’s still healing in that his new skin is sometimes itchy and always sensitive, but we’re so thankful he’s back to his spunky self.

3. Even during a scary situation, God is faithful to make Himself known.

This month that looked like friends showing up with food, supplies, shared stories, prayers, and medical knowledge. Read about why Our Shared Stories Matter.}

4. Expanding our actual porch is exciting – and it made me realize I wanted to expand my virtual porch too.

So now in addition to the #PorchStories linkup on Wednesdays, you can join me on Facebook where we can swap stories and encourage each other any day of the week. You don’t have to be a blogger. This is a place for any women who want to gather together.

{Read more about it here. And join my friends and me here.}

5. I can make it to the end of a book and not like it.

I recently finished “You Know When the Men Are Gone.” It’s several loosely intertwined stories about military families. I really liked the individual stories, but none of them have endings. It’s not even that I wanted happy endings, necessarily, but I wanted amato know how situations worked out. The character development and writing was good, but I was just left wanting more.

{This did also happen when I got to the end of “Gone Girl” several years ago. I did not like the ending at all. And then I watched the movie, which was EXACTLY the same.}

6. Getting away with other moms is important.

I mean, I know this already, but in day-to-day busyness, it’s easy to lose sight of. But I helped host a day retreat for adoptive/foster moms for the third year, and it came at exactly the right time. {Here’s a post from a couple years ago about taking time for yourself, if you need some encouragement.}

So, how was your April? I’d love to hear about what you learned this month.

Our shared stories matter

April 12, 2017 by Kristin 27 Comments

I was going to cancel #PorchStories this week {again} because I knew y’all would understand. Many of you have been praying for my boy, who sustained second-degree burns to his face and hands 11 days ago.

First of all, we got an excellent report when we took him to a follow-up appointment Tuesday morning at Vanderbilt Medical Center.

The burn unit staff was pleased with Ben’s healing and cleared him to go back to school and resume most of his regular routine. It will be a couple more weeks before he plays soccer. We will still wrap the tops of his hands until those wounds heal a little more, but we’ve moved on to using lotion on face and fingers. We are amazed and thankful for how he’s physically and emotionally responded to these injuries during what’s been a hard week filled with so many good things.

Plus, mother-in-law had the girls so Greg and I got an early-morning date with our boy. We extended our time with a pitstop at Target and an early lunch before we resumed our normal day.

But back to the porch. I needed to come here and tell you something about the stories we share on porches, around tables, in texts, and on social media.

They matter.

“But we just kept showing up. … Because when you tell your stories, you start to recognize yourself in the stories of others. You start to discover that you are both, in fact, inside a shared story.”

– Lisa-Jo Baker in “Never Unfriended”

Our shared stories matter.

{Tweet that.}

The characters and circumstances aren’t always the same, but the common threads of exhaustion, fear, joy, and hope matter. Those {and others} have been the emotions of my last week and a half. Yet we welcomed people into our real life – when the floor wasn’t swept, most of us weren’t showered, and exhaustion was our close companion.

I let a hairdresser friend pick up Cate from school and cut her hair when they got here.

I needed help encouraging Ben to do his hand and face exercises so as the wounds healed his motion progressed too, so I reached out to a friend from church who does physical therapy with nursing home patients and said yes to a friend from school who used to do rehab work with stroke & cancer patients.

I said yes to another church friend who organized a Meal Train and the friends who signed up to bring us food.

Another friend got to be Ben’s home health nurse.

Other friends sent muffins and candy and cards. And then many stayed to pray and play with my boy.

I know I wrote about community the other day. But I can’t stop thinking about how blessed we are to have so much goodness in the midst of a hard week.

Not long before Ben’s accident, a friend said to me: People talk about friendship taking two people, but it really just takes one to invite the other.

It’s true.

Sure, one does the inviting and the other does the accepting, but really it just takes one to spur on the other.

And that’s the beauty of friendship.

Often times I’m the one who does the inviting – to lunch, to conversation via text, to whatever other social event I’m happily organizing. But this time I got to be the one accepting others’ help and love. Truly, I was reminded that gathering ourselves together regardless of the circumstances is the epitome of community.

Dear friends, let’s be people who invite others in.

And let’s also not afraid to be the ones who accept invitations from others. We’re all better that way.

*****

I know I’ve mentioned “Never Unfriended” by Lisa-Jo Baker in multiple posts recently, but it’s a subject that’s near and dear to my heart and one that keeps weaving its way into my actual life. I was on the launch team for the book and received a free copy, but I would recommend it even if I spent my own money on it because it speaks truth and encourages community that matters.

{Read the previous related posts How Community Heals and Initiate Peace.}

Surprise! Today I have a copy to give away to one of you! I spent my own money on this paperback copy because I really want to share and couldn’t decide with whom I wanted to share. So, friends, tell me in the comments how you’ve been blessed by an invitation into someone else’s life or how you’re hoping to extend that invitation soon.

A winner will be randomly chosen Tuesday, April 18.

*****

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