Friday Fun: August Randoms

 

At the end of 2025, Callie wrote this post as a structured roundup to the year. I loved it so much that I earmarked it to revisit at the end of THIS year, but I actually decided to use it as a springboard for a monthly recap. I have written posts with this theme each month so far this year, and I’m back again for August!

Best Personal Adventure: Are you ready for this one? I guarantee you are not. Even if you think you are, you are just not prepared for what you’re about to read. My best personal adventure for the month of August was injuring my shoulder during an ab workout. Yes. You read that correctly. My talent knows no bounds. (I’m healed up now.)

Best Adventure Together: I think my favorite thing we did this month was attend Staff Retreat. We have been living in fast forward for a while now, and sitting back for two days was much needed. Being together for that time, spending extra time in prayer, and talking about what lies before us – this was the best adventure.

Best Milestone: This month marked 14 years since our first date! I always love our relationship milestones. I am so glad he asked me, and I’m so glad I said yes.

Best Faith Grower: One new thing I’ve started doing is praying regularly in our sanctuary. Back when I lived in Marion, I prayed in the chapel at IWU, and I have missed that space. God nudged me that I might not have THAT space, but I do have a beautiful sanctuary in which to pray, so I’ve started doing that, and it’s been good for me. I’ve had to confront some hard things in my own heart, and it’s been good to grow.  

Best Lesson Learned: When I started my class back in August, the professor said that we were likely to have our faith shaken up a little bit as we began to learn. We might encounter things that we had never known before, and it might be hard to work through. Guess what? It happened. It’s been uncomfortable. But I am learning it is okay to encounter that discomfort and push through it.

Best Purchase:  When we bought this house (four years ago next month!) one of the first changes we made was to the light in the kitchen. The previous owners had a hanging light over a table, but we wanted a island in that space, so we put up a light that was flush to the ceiling. We chose it because we liked the style, but more because it was heavily on sale. It never ended up being a great workable light. It cast strange shadows and never functioned quite like we hoped it would. As we head into a spruce-up-the-kitchen project this winter, we found a new light! We like the style even more and the actual light works so much better for our room. (Stay tuned for a proper reveal...)

Best Habit Created: We haven’t done a great job with this one, but we are doing our best to do a charcoal mask every week. We’ve missed one here or there, but we are sure tying!

Best New Recipe: The eating plan we’ve been following doesn’t afford a ton of variety, but one good thing that has come out of it is this turkey and green bean skillet recipe. I’ve swapped out different veggies as I’ve had things available from the garden, and it’s been tasty!

Best Tradition: August brings about the return of rhythms at church, including the return of our Growth Groups! Ours started this week, and I am SO EXCITED. We are studying the book of Acts along with Erica Wiggenhorn’s magnificent study called An Unexplainable Life.

Best Little Luxury:  As you might remember, we attended a Fort Wayne TinCaps game as part of an appreciation night, and it was so fancy to get to sit in a CLUB. Luxury indeed.

Best Date:  Silly as it may seem, my favorite date was a coffee date we had while we were away at the Staff Retreat. We found a shop about a mile from the retreat center, sat with our coffee, and had the best talks.

Best Answer to Prayer: In the aforementioned prayer meetings in our sanctuary, I found beautiful answers to prayers of my heart. I’m keeping those close to my heart at this time, but I’m thankful they happened.