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Stories from the Porch in September

October 1, 2019 by Kristin 14 Comments

I meant to post this earlier, but, you know, September has sort of been that way – sneaking up on me with its passing and feeling more like August than it maybe should. Consider that a confession of sorts, this summertime girl is ready for some fall weather. I just read it’s been our town’s hottest September ever – and it’s barely rained! This month also has been packed with soccer practices and games for two kids, so many lessons in growing and becoming who God wants me to be, and trying to take a deep breath in this summer air that still lingering.

Highlights

My mother-in-law treated all us girls – my sisters-in-law and all our seven girls – to a fun day in Nashville, where we ate at The Aquarium, shopped a little, met Anna & Elsa, and then enjoyed Disney on Ice. It was a great pre-game event before we head to DISNEY WORLD THIS WEEKEND!

My baby girl turned four! We had so much fun celebrating – among a normal, busy day during the week and then again on a Sunday afternoon with family and friends. We had a rainbow unicorn party and soaked up sun around our pool.

Favorite things

Soccer season – I have two kids playing soccer for the first time in several years, but I sure do love it. Watching Rachel play for the first time has been as entertaining as it sounds – and she’s pretty good! She’s scored in each of her games so far and she’s enjoyed trying to stop the other team from scoring. Plus she’s fast!

Ben is the youngest in his league, but he’s enjoying playing with some friends on the soccer field. He plays various positions based on what’s needed and does well on both offense and defense. I captured the photo above during one of Ben’s practices after the brief rain.

Lauren Alaina’s new song – Y’all, “Getting Good” is so good. Go listen. Or buy it. (And it’ll be on the playlist I’m making for this season of life.)

Scrapbooking – I caught up on some Project Life pages on the app on my phone AND I started putting together an album of our Disney Cruise a year ago with actual printed photos and paper. It’s still sitting out on the table in my back living – and I don’t even mind the mess because I was so happy to get that project going.

From the bookshelf

“Someone Knows” by Lisa Scottoline – I’m a long-time fan of Lisa Scottoline, although I’ve only ever read her stand-alone novels and not her legal series. I liked the alternating points of view, the suspenseful storyline, and the deeper sides of the characters revealed.

“November 9” by Colleen Hoover – I loved the concept of this one! Two people meet one night and meet up again each year on the same date. Meanwhile, one of those characters is writing a romantic book based on their “relationship” that has one spanned hours at a time once a year. I was totally intrigued and found myself rooting for the characters despite life circumstances and timing that complicated matters.

“All the Little Lights” by Jamie McGuire – I love when I find good books with Prime Reading (hello, free!). I liked the story and main characters of this one. Some of it was a little predictable, but I also was surprised a couple of times.

“Never Have I Ever” by Joshilyn Jackson – I happened upon this one at the library after hearing good things about Joshilyn Jackson branching out into more of a suspense genre. I loved some of her early books and then couldn’t get into a couple of her other ones, but I really wanted to read this one. I loved it and was surprised multiple times. The storylines involve betrayal, love, deception, and friendship. It’s dark, funny, and suspenseful, so I just kept turning the pages and read most of it in one day.

“The Hammer of Hope” by Katie Jo Hook – I got to endorse this children’s book and loved sharing a review on my blog earlier this month. It’s such a lovely book, and I didn’t want you to miss it. {Read my review here.}

On the screen

Hooray for new TV shows on my DVR! I’m most excited for “Blue Bloods,” “The Resident,” “New Amsterdam,” “Survivor,” and “Madam Secretary.”

I’ve also traded “The Voice” for “Dancing with the Stars” because I wanted to watch Lauren Alaina, James Van Der Beek, and Hannah Brown dance. They’re doing so well and I like how it’s only one night a week compared to two for “The Voice.”

How was your September?

*****

Porch Stories in August

August 28, 2019 by Kristin 12 Comments

Well, August always gives me all the feelings. I feel filled by summer, but I don’t want summer to end. I like routine, but I like having my people close too. Basically, I wasn’t ready for my kids to return to school until they did.

My dad died the week before Summer Break started and then we spent the first long weekend of Summer Break on a wonderful vacation to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Then I just never really had all the space I needed to process the grief that came with my dad dying and the realities that revealed. I had a long lunch with my mother-in-law who is also my friend last week because we needed to catch up. I’m thankful for the space for that sort of thing now. And I’m thankful my kids’ school years are off to a (mostly) smooth start.

Highlights

When I turned 40 in May, Greg gave me a trip to Colorado to visit some longtime friends and the Rocky Mountains. Again with the grief, we delayed the trip until our anniversary weekend in August. It was perfectly timed and such a wonderful trip. I shared about it the trip along the way on Instagram and Facebook {You can see all the posts & pictures here!} and then wrote a whole blog post once we were home.

The weekend before school started, we went with our best friends, my mom, and a nephew to Holiday World, an amusement park about three hours from here. If our family has a happy place with too much stimulation, this is it.

We spent a lot of evenings this summer riding through our woods, including the backside of our property that a company has been logging. I never would have predicted to find myself fascinated with the logging process. The picture at the top of the post is from one of our rides recently. There’s some profound about the seasons of the land and how God grows things from the ground to provide for us.

Favorite things

Adoption post – I always love sharing our adoption story, so I’m thankful Mandy Farmer invited me to share about adoption changed my legacy. {Read the post here.}

Jason Gray’s new music – I have to pep talk myself regularly because I’m quick to forget how to navigate well life’s winding road, so I’m grateful God gave me a soundtrack for this season. Jason Gray has a new EP of five songs that are the anthems my soul needs. If I didn’t know better, I would think this musical stranger wrote these songs for me in the midst of “order, disorder, reorder over and over,” as one of the songs says. But I am aware I’m not the only one who needs to perceive the new thing God is doing. {I wrote more about this.}

PackIt Freezable Lunch Bags – We love these lunch boxes! They have built-in gel packs that freeze so the food inside stays cold until my kids’ lunchtime. The bags fold flat and don’t take up too much room in the freezer. Plus when the packs thaw later in the day, the bags don’t sweat. Plus they’re easy to wipe out inside.

Counseling – My calendar once again has regular counseling appointments on it, and I’m so thankful for that space. I’ve missed it (and my counselor specifically) and I’ve needed it more than ever with all the things that got stuck in my head over the summer. {Here’s a post about when I first went to counseling in 2017.}

Outdoor Movie Night – Y’all know I love when life happens on the porch. We recently had a Friday Family Movie Night out there. We watched “Breakthrough,” which is based on an inspiring true story, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I was (mostly) prepared for the boy to fall through the ice, require a miracle, and live. But I wasn’t prepared to relate to the momma main character who adopted her son, has diabetes, and wants to control all the outcomes in life. Talk about hitting home. Even so, I’m thankful for my family and our time together. I also really love our new projector and screen so we can have more nights like this – but probably with a lighter movie!

From the bookshelf

“Blue Smoke” by Nora Roberts – She’s written hundreds of books under two names, and this is the first one I’ve ever read. I really loved parts of it, although I had the mystery figured out well before the end. Still, I read it in two days and didn’t regret any of that.

“The Sometimes Sisters” by Carolyn Brown – This was a Kindle deal purchase quite a while ago, but I really enjoyed the sisters in this story and how their characters grew in their own stories and together as a family as they processed their pasts and recent grief. I liked the lake resort setting too.

“A Grief Observed” by C.S. Lewis – A friend had recommended this book to me and I found it for 25 cents when I happened upon a used bookstore in Estes Park, Colorado. I read it on the plane on the way home and marked several passages. I’ll be thinking about this one for a while and likely revisit in the years to come.

“Without Merit” by Colleen Hoover – I also found this fiction read by one of my new favorite authors for 25 cents at the used bookstore. I devoured it in two days. I loved how this story developed, revealing secrets one daughter in a complicated family couldn’t hold inside anymore. It’s a story about love and forgiveness – and how those things look different for everyone.

“Ugly Love” by Colleen Hoover – Disclaimer: This book had more sex scenes than I would normally read. I skimmed them. But I really loved the character development, how the story was mostly told from one character in the present and one character in the past, and where the plot went.

“All Your Perfects” by Colleen Hoover – Yep, another one! She’s a wonderful storyteller and I really loved how this one alternated between then and now chapters of a marriage. Infertility was a major theme in the book and having walked through that in my own life, I was impressed with how accurate and heartbreaking that storyline was.

“Verity” by Colleen Hoover – Obviously, I’m a fan of this writer. This is the seventh book I’ve read by her, yet this one was the first suspenseful one. She did that on purpose, venturing out of her usual emotional romance. Of course, there was some of that too. I read it in a day, thought I had it all figured out, and then was still a little surprised in the end.

“Finding God’s Life for My Will” by Mike Donehey – I heard this Tenth Avenue North lead singer recently on Annie F. Downs’s podcast and ordered his new book before the podcast episode was over. He said things about leaders and followers that intrigued me and encouraged me to follow Jesus more closely.

In “Finding God’s Life for My Will,” I marked catchy lines and thought-provoking paragraphs and rhetorical questions I need to keep asking myself. I texted a friend a few pictures of pages from the chapter about sorrow & joy and I read aloud to my husband funny and meaningful stories. I’m going to recommend the book to multiple friends with whom I have ongoing conversations on faith. (Obviously, I’m recommending this book to y’all too.)

I haven’t read many non-fiction books this year and am generally selective about which ones I read. This world is so noisy and bossy. But in this book, Mike Donehey shares stories that are gentle, funny, and true. He quotes scripture and reminds readers of what Jesus did for us, what we should do about it, and how life is not nearly as complicated as we make it sometimes.

On the screen

I already told you about “Breakthrough” and there’s not much new TV on right now. My kids did watch “Lion King” with my mom while Greg and I were in Colorado.

“New Girl” – I don’t usually choose sit-coms, but I needed some laughter in my life, so this is a good choice right now. I literally laugh out loud sometimes and these roommates and the new girl roommate in their life.

How was your August?

*****

Stories from the Porch in July

July 31, 2019 by Kristin 10 Comments

July was the slower season I needed, like a deep breath for my soul. I told a friend the other day my insides are calmer than they’ve been in a long time. We didn’t travel, we hosted some family and friends, and I read a lot of books.

Highlights

I love our small-town Independence Day celebration that included watching the traditional parade in the heat, grilling and swimming with other Taylors here at our house, and keeping the kids up way past their bedtimes for the fireworks.

I may have mentioned my sister and her family only live four hours away now (after having lived in New Zealand, Dallas, and Buffalo), so I was excited they came for another visit. It was the second of the summer and we’re making plans to visit them this fall. I love being grown-up sisters and watching our kids play together.

Okay, and actually, I did travel once. I spent one time in Winchester, Kentucky, celebrating my dear friend Sarah’s 40th birthday. It was a quick but soul-filling trip for me with best friend Jaclyn. I also got to see my longtime friend Katie. Being around a table with them is my favorite thing – and to be with all three of them at the same time is a gift.

And, truly, the highlight was being at home soaking in our #88daysofsummer. In addition to swimming, we’ve been eating many meals on the porch and taking rides through our woods, part of which a company has been logging pine trees. It’s all totally fascinating and such a neat process to watch from a distance.

Favorite Things

“Unpack Your Heart” by Phillip Phillips – I often turn on Needtobreathe radio on Pandora when we are outside on the porch or by the pool. I was so happy to hear this song. Of course, I added it to my “sorrow & hope” playlist I’ve

The Couch podcast – I got to chat (again) with my friend Mary Carver about a short-lived TV show that makes me so nostalgic. Come join us on her couch and find out how I feel about Jordan Catalano.

Google Calendar – A couple of months ago I set aside my old-fashioned paper planner, and I don’t have any regrets. Greg and I have shared Google Calendar for years now, and that’s definitely improved our communication. But I’ve recently started using the reminders for my to-do list and putting all my things on our color-coded calendar. I still find myself writing myself Post-It Notes of which errands I need to run on a given day or things I want to remember next time I sit down at the computer. But I feel like this is a simpler process. (I shared more about my going digital in Facebook and Instagram posts. I loved hearing about how others organize their lives too.)

From the Bookshelf

“The Stormchasers” by Jenna Blum – I learned of this author because I read her World War II book “Those Who Save Us,” which was excellent. This book was excellent too, but this story was set in modern times and dealt with different issues that affect relationships. This book touches on family relationships that are complicated when one twin has a mental illness and the other doesn’t understand it like she thinks she does. I read it in two days, mostly by the pool.

“We Were the Lucky Ones” – I packed this book around with me to the lake, beside the pool, in my purse in case I have a few spare minutes, and next to my bed. I used to swear I didn’t like historical fiction, and now I’ve lost count of how many (mostly World War II novels, as this one is) I’ve read. I stayed up way past my bedtime last night because I needed to know how this family’s story ended. This one sure ranks up high on the list. It’s heavy and hard but beautiful and brave.

“High Water” by Lynn Hightower – I read this book in a weekend. It was heartbreaking and heartfilling. It’s labeled as a mystery, and I was surprised a couple of times, but the writing is beautiful and true. This story is heavy but I didn’t want to put this book down.

“How to Walk Away” by Katherine Center – I spent two days by the pool reading this book. I’d kind of been looking for a happy book, but, truthfully, I’m drawn to stories with suspense, secrets, and struggles. It’s weird, really, because there’s been too much of that in real life and my reading life lately. But I thought maybe this cover with the flowers meant happy was coming for these characters. I was mostly right. I mean, they did get happy, but they had to walk through pain and heartache to get there. They had to face their pasts and be willing to step forward. They had to trust and hope and live. And then I remembered that’s true in real life too.

“I would never tell you that the life you wanted couldn’t have been exactly as great as you planned. But you have to love the life you have. You have to find inspiration in the struggle, and pull joy out of the hardship. That’s what we try to do — counterbalance the suffering with laughter, fizzy blankets, hugs, sing-a-longs, sunny-day picnics, chocolate chip cookies, and wildflowers. Because that’s all we can do: carry the sorrow when we have to, and absolutely savor the joy when we can. Life is always, always both.” Well written, Katherine Center. I mean that paragraph and the whole novel that made me teary and make me smile. Just like real life.

“Happiness for Beginners” by Katherine Center – Again, I read this one in two days, mostly by the pool. And yet again I found myself completely invested in the story and characters while also wanting to jot down some quotes. The way the plot is woven around nuggets of truth is masterful.

Here’s one of the quotes I want to remember: “But the things we remember are what we hold on to, and what we hold on to becomes the story of our lives. We only get one story. And I am determined to make mine a good one. After all, life will hand each of us our fair share of despair and loss and suffering — and then some. That’s certain. But just as certain: It will also give us slices of chocolate cake, and sunny-seventy-two-degree days, and breezes that rustle the trees. Good things are easy to overlook, but that doesn’t make them any less there. A forgotten song will come on the radio. A stranger will help you change a flat. A lady walking by will love your red scarify. A mistake will turn out to be a blessing. An old friend will forgive you. A new friend will make you laugh.”

This book left me thankful that happiness can be found despite circumstances, aware of why it’s important in living out my own story, and ready to read more Katherine Center books. It did not leave me wanting to go on a survival hike, but that was a great setting for this story.

“Slammed” and “Point of Retreat” by Colleen Hoover – I picked up “Slammed” when I was at the library because I loved another book by this author (“It Ends With Us”). Then I got totally sucked in and went to the library to get the sequel so I could have it when I finished. I read most of “Slammed” in one day, but I was glad to have a little left to carry over to the next day. And then I read “Point of Retreat” in another day, almost entirely while floating in the pool one afternoon when my kids decided they needed a pool break and surprisingly didn’t need me for a few hours either. Colleen Hoover writes stories with all the emotions I can relate to, even if my circumstances look different. And I’d say that’s a successful storyteller.

“Back Roads to Belonging: Unexpected Paths to Your Places and Your People” by Kristen Strong – This non-fiction book was right for me this summer. I’ve quoted in on Instagram multiple times with peeks into my real life. (Here. Here. And here.) Kristen is such a wise guide with her words and I’m looking forward to sharing more in an official review soon.

“The Middle Matters” by Lisa-Jo Baker – I’ve told you about this one before, but it officially released this month, so I wanted to tell you about it again. (Read my whole review here.)

If you need more book recommendations, I shared a list of the books I’ve read so far this year. Plus I keep a list of recommended reads on Amazon.

On the Screen

“Suits” – I realized there was a whole season of this show I hadn’t seen on Amazon Prime, so I’ve been catching up with Harvey Specter and company. Meanwhile, the ninth and last season is currently accumulating on my DVR. There’s also a spin-off show called “Pearson” I’m recording.

How was your July?

*****