Friday Fun: September Randoms

BONUS: Did any of you notice that yesterday's picture at the start of the blog said Friday Fun instead of Throwback Thursday? I guess I was REALLY excited for the weekend. So welcome to the SECOND Friday of the week here on the blog. Oh, bless my heart.  

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 to share September’s (even though it’s now October)!

Best Personal Adventure: I completed my first class in my new educational program! To be fair, it was an online class, and the last week was “just” turning in a paper, so I personally finished up a few days early, but that was the official end of the class. I learned so much more in those 8 weeks than I could have imagined I would, and I am already implementing what I’ve learned! I had a two week break and then launched into my second class, which will be my final one for this calendar year.

Best Adventure Together: I loved our day-of-reunions that I just told you about this week. I was so excited to have a whole day with Ryan after several days of the divide-and-conquer life, and I enjoyed what the reunions represented.

Best Milestone: I don’t think we had any milestones this month, so I’ll borrow Mom’s birthday as the best milestone. 90 years is pretty amazing!

Best Faith Grower: For the past year, my friend Jenn (from church) and I have worked our way through The Bible Recap and a read-the-Bible-in-a-year adventure. We completed it this month, and even though it was not my first time to read through Scripture (ever or in a year) it was my first time to explore this with someone else, and it was SO encouraging to me to see her growth and depth of understanding as we went! She had good questions, some of which I did not know, so I was challenged to learn as we went!

Best Lesson Learned: I’m not sure this one really classifies as a lesson learned, as much as a lesson remembered. I was reminded this month that I never regret taking time to take the pictures. I do regret NOT taking them sometimes. I’m sure it boggles your mind that there might ever be a time the shutter is not snapping over here, but it does happen. And every now and then, after I’ve either chickened out or spaced out, I regret it later. So I’m freshly reminded to make (and capture) the memories.

Best Purchase:  This mirror from Hobby Lobby was the very best find of the month. I am so glad we went back for it, because I’m convinced it was meant to live in our house, right in the very little spot where it hangs.

Best Habit Created: I am the world’s worst flosser. My teeth are tight, and flossing on the regular is a hassle. But I am determined to make it a daily habit and did it every single day this month. That has to be some kind of record for me!

Best New Recipe: I have (on my 50 Before 50 list) a desire to bake my way through the Unsifted website – all fresh milled flour recipes. So this month I tried the Cinnamon Coffee Cake, which Ryan took to GriefShare. It was really good, and the bonus was that it made 2 round cakes, so I froze the second cake in single serving packages so we can have them in the future for treats!

Best Tradition: We hosted Swiss Village boat rides again this month, and the people had a lot of fun. We had a perfect day and many repeat visitors!

Best Little Luxury:  Ryan and I have used over-the-counter teeth whitening strips before and they didn’t work great for us. I couldn’t handle all the overflowing gel, and he just didn’t feel like they worked for him. So earlier this year, he did an official whitening kit through his dentist – with a custom tray for his mouth and everything. It has been really effective, so I asked my dentist about one too! (That was a whole story that I should tell you sometime. It was pretty funny!) I dedicated this month to it and was extremely pleased with the results. Now it’s just a maintenance thing for me.

Best Date:  I loved our Labor Day bike riding date! It was so much fun to enjoy the trail – almost entirely to ourselves – and spend some time together on our day off!

Best Answer to Prayer: This is always an awkward one for me to answer because sometimes they aren’t things I really want to share in a public forum. This month is such a month, but I will say that I was more intentional about writing down my prayer requests this month and therefore I was better able to see just how many beautiful answers come to these prayers. Sometimes I lose sight of the fact that answers really happen, because I don’t always record them!

Before you go…happy monthiversary, Ryan!! Love you!