Sunday Sentiments

 

Yesterday was our 11^th wedding anniversary, and I wanted to write a proper post to celebrate, so I’m offering those sentiments today.

Ryan,

            Eleven years. I can hardly believe it. The only sadness I have from the last decade plus one is that it has all gone so quickly!!

            Every year we’ve shared has been beautiful in its own way, but there has been something extra special about this year. We’ve had an extraordinary amount of change – both of us changing jobs and our move to the lake – but it’s been a joy to find that despite all the change, our love has stayed, and I am grateful for it.

            What a thrill it has been for me to watch you thrive in your job this year. You were made for this role, and you bring so much life to it. It has been a joy to share lake life with you and see our combined dreams come true in that little house. It has been a joy to watch you find yourself wrapped around Lexi’s little paw, loving her more than you ever imagined you could. And it has been sweet to be loved and chosen by you every single day.

            Thank you for championing me as I have gone on journeys of the heart this year. The growth and healing I’ve found have only been possible through your encouragement and support every step of the way.

            It has been so much fun to dream with you. It’s been fun to imagine what life could hold. It’s been fun to see dreams become realities. It’s been fun to serve by your side.

            Every year, on our anniversary, we write letters to each other, and every year we say we can’t wait to see what the year ahead brings. This year is no different. I can’t wait to see what God has for us in the year to come!

            Enjoy some of these memories from our last year together!

            You are my joy. Thank you for eleven wonderful years!

Bekah

Saturday Suggestions

 

            Ryan! Happy ELEVENTH wedding anniversary! I am thrilled to celebrate you and our love on this day, and I am grateful for the story God has written with our lives. I’ll do an official anniversary post tomorrow, but while we enjoy celebrating today, here are some finds for your Saturday!

ONE. 

Did any of you see the Hallmark movie set at the Biltmore? It aired last weekend, and I watched it whilst hanging out in the hotel in Ohio. I found this article that explains a bit about what happened behind the scenes in that movie! Pretty fascinating. I can only imagine the effort to film there at all – let alone having part of the movie set back in time!

TWO. 

Last week I shared some really cute gingerbread houses I found, and yes, Tracy, I did love the A-Frame one! This week I found a gingerbread house PIE! Have you ever seen one of these? It would take some talent, but it is CUTE. The little ornament-style hand pies at the end are pretty cute, too! One note though…I’m not sure how I would feel about a cranberry pie. I’ve only had cranberries dried and covered in chocolate, so I don’t even know if I like them!

THREE.

I always enjoy reading day-in-the-life posts of people in different occupations. I found this one featuring a day in the life of a writer, and it was fascinating! While I don’t participate in all the same activities she does – and you’ll recognize those when you see them – I find her breakup of time throughout the day really intriguing. I think she and I are cut from the same cloth in terms of recognizing the importance of a structured day. When you don’t have an outside organization driving your schedule, structure is extra-important!

FOUR.

If I have shared this before, I don’t remember it! This post offers a subjective opinion of the most beautiful library in every state. I gotta confess…I did not know that mural at Notre Dame was on the library wall! I have a picture of the mural from our visit there, but I sure missed the library. But OH there are some gorgeous ones on this list. The only one I’ve been in is the one at the Biltmore. For sure, if I could have brought it home, I would have.

FIVE. 

December is here!!!! Time for baking Christmas cookies! I haven’t made all the recipes on this list, but I have made some of them. Christmas cookies are one of my favorite things about the season. Do you love Christmas cookies?? And do you have a favorite kind? Cut out cookies with lots of frosting is my favorite.

SIX. 

We have a little vignette in the corner of the kitchen, and I love it so much. In fact, it’s the same one I’ve had since Willowbridge! Sometimes I wonder if I should switch it up – or add a second one. We don’t have a ton of counter space in the kitchen, so I don’t want to take up too much of my prep space with pretties…but I do love some of these ideas.

Dreams and Goals for December 2023

 

Goodness gracious! It’s December! It’s the last month of the year and the holidays, and I have no idea how any of this all came about so quickly. (Yes, I say it every year. Yes, I believe it every year.)

            What a full month we have ahead of us, and I am anticipating it with much eagerness! I have some dreams and goals for this month, so let me share them with you today!

ONE. Celebrate our anniversary. It’s tomorrow! Can you believe tomorrow is our eleventh wedding anniversary? My goodness. It flew so very quickly. I’m excited to enjoy the day with Ryan and reminisce on all our favorite memories from years gone by.

TWO. Start (eek!) and finish our Christmas shopping. Yeah, I haven’t even started. The cards are underway, and the house is decorated, but shopping? Not a bit has been done. I guess I’m officially out of time to procrastinate, so we’ll get that done on the double! (It may not help that I’m not even sure what all Christmas celebrations we’ll have this year. No deadlines = last minute shopping.)

THREE. Enjoy some Christmasing on our own. We love driving around to see lights and going to some Christmas events, so I’m looking forward to that this year. We have a tree tour at Ryan’s work and a Christmas play we’re going to see, and beyond that, we’ll have to see what all comes our way! But we want to definitely make time to enjoy some of the fun of the Christmas season.

FOUR. Keep brainstorming for 2024. I am knee deep in lists of things for the coming year, and I’ve been praying hard for God’s guidance in some areas, so I’ll keep on keeping on with hat, but I hope to have some solid plans in place by the end of this month.

FIVE. Start preparing for next year’s speaking! I think this is the first time ever that I’ve had a long list of speaking on the docket before the year even begins. I have eleven confirmed dates, with four (and even more) potential dates on the calendar. I need to make a plan for getting the prep and writing done for these starting this month!

SIX. Put the house back in order before January 1. I’ve been told that while we are open for business the week between Christmas and New Year’s, it tends to be a low-key week with quite a bit of down-time. With that news and the realization that I’ll need to jump into 2024 with both feet, I hope to use the final week of the month to put the house back in order and enjoy a fresh start for January!

            Any big plans for your month of December?

Update on Goals and Dreams for November 2023

 

What a beautiful month we’ve had! I appreciated the chance to savor it, which I don’t always feel like I can say about busy holiday months! Throughout this month, the daylight hours shortened considerably the leaves fell from the trees to settle to the bottom of the lake, and a chill blew into the county. I imagine it will stay for a while. But even with cold and darkness, there was a pure joy about this month that I’m grateful for! And today I want to update you on how the goals and dreams worked out for November!

ONE. Enjoy a weekend with our godson. Check! We even had a great time despite having him here on time change weekend AND on our donut duty weekend at church. He handled it all like a champ. It was fun to take him with us on shopping errands, on a walk around the lake, and for an outing to a Children’s museum. We played Legos, read books, and had much fun. It’s always sad to see him go back home.

TWO. Prepare for speaking events. I shared with a women’s group earlier this month and loved getting to meet them. I am also ready for my December day of sharing, which will cover the same topic. These are, as far as I know, my last two events of this year, so they wrap up what has been a sweet year of getting to share in different places and to different audiences!

THREE. Finish planning for our anniversary. Done! I tried to find the good balance between getting to enjoy some fun adventures and having time to truly and fully rest, because we need that, too! We haven’t had much time to get away this year (new job perils) but we are looking forward to this one!

FOUR. Film training videos for work. Well, if you missed this story earlier this week, scroll back and catch it. What a wild compilation of plot twists, but the most important part? WE GOT IT DONE! And what a fun experience it was, too!

FIVE. Decorate for Christmas. Done! It was SO MUCH FUN to see how our Christmas things fit into this house, and much like our furniture, it did all seem to just fit like it was made to be here. We really enjoyed putting our stamp of Christmas cheer on the house and we have dreams for the outside for next year! I posted a tour of it yesterday, so if you missed that, you can catch it there!

SIX. Design and order Christmas cards. Done! They arrived last week and I’m now ready to start stuffing and addressing!

Other adventures included:

Taking an online herb garden class. I found a link to take a multi-session class on herb gardening – for free – so I did it! I learned a ton about growing and harvesting herbs and am excited to put what I learned into practice in this next year!

Taking an online vision-casting class. I realize that may sound a little wackadoodle, so let me explain. A few years ago, I joined a mailing list for a writing group, and now and then, they offer some free webinars. They did a week of them this month in which they offered ideas to think about your writing vision and goals for the year to come. I thought what they taught gave great practical life advice in addition to writing advice, and I took dozens of pages of notes. I am still marinating on all I learned.

Joining a gym and starting Boot Camp. For the first time since WELL before the pandemic, I have joined a gym. And for the first time since JUST before the pandemic, Ryan has a side hustle of teaching classes at the gym! I’m actually taking his boot camp class, and it feels good to be back in a purposeful rhythm of working on strength. (I’ve lost a lot of muscle since my days of regular workouts!)

Celebrating Lexi’s second birthday. We love our girl and were excited to celebrate her well on her second birthday! This also means we’ve gone two years since my dog bite adventure, which happened just two days before Lexi was born. That was such an awful day, and I still have a healthy fear of dogs I don’t know because of it. I’m glad it didn’t make me chicken out from bringing Lexi home!

Dreaming up some new ideas for our home office space. This will be an ongoing project, but Ryan and I had the initial discussions and brainstorming sessions, and I’m excited to see how it all turns out!

            Come back tomorrow to see my goals and dreams for December!