My friend Brian needed a place to store his super-nice, king sized mattress so I took one for the team and agreed to let him store it in my room. We drove all over town one night and gathered up the coolest looking pallets to make a platform bed. I had to sacrifice my dresser but let me tell you… this bed is WORTH IT.

Here’s the new configuration of my room. I still need to make a bigger quilt but for now it works.

dresser became baskets

These windows took a whole team of crafters to pull off and even though they seem pretty simple, every single thing in them is handmade.

scraping the lettering from the previous windows was SO much work!

the burlap curtain is my favorite. We handmade the entire thing.

I hand knit the stockings.

We also put together some pretty cute kits.

And got in some really cute bags.

First we have pie for breakfast.

Then we go on a hike.

Then we nap.

Then we eat.

before/after

So, SO, SOO thankful. My heart is full.

Dexter with his buddy, Memphis

flowers from Lisa. She’s so thoughtful.

Gunnison being so cute

These boys nerding-out over their new helicopter.

Some weeks it feels like I live in this shirt.

her legs are SO long

Ceiling at the Slopeside Lodge at Powerderhorn Ski Resort. We got to stay a couple days up there while Seth filmed a promotional video for the lodge. It was really rough.

voted

woke up looking like this

dexter snuggled in

proud

Amy had baby #3!

Eden is the best babysitter

late night making donation boxes for the clinic

Main Street all twinkly

Excited to carry LGH at Tangle

Josh playing legos with the children

new loveseat that matches my couch perfectly

Bin makes the best Chai Lattes (along with everything else… my fav)

Honor is learning to tie flies.

This little guy was just hanging out on Main Street the other day.

I hand painted the windows for the church’s new coffee shop.

This summer Honor’s friends told me that I looked like Katy Perry and my Halloween costume suddenly became clear to me. After hours gluing candy to my dress (which was floor length with a halter when I bought it at Goodwill), my costume was complete! It was definitely fun!

The kids had fun with their costumes too. Eden was a pirate – a cute, girl pirate. Honor was a storm trooper in a costume that was slightly too small for him… They had fun trick-or-treating with their buddies and came home with a HUGE candy haul!

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup butter

2 Tbs peanut butter (I prefer crunchy)

2/3 cup popping corn, popped with hard kernels removed

Set popcorn aside in a large, heatproof bowl. Combine honey, sugar and butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until syrup reaches softball stage. Stir in peanut butter until creamy and smooth. Pour over popcorn and stir to coat. Transfer to a waxed paper lined baking sheet and let cool. Store in an airtight container.

A month ago we had little pumpkin carving party. I served red chili and white bean chicken chili, cornbread, peanut honey carmel corn, hot apple cider and pumpkin muffins (thanks to Carrie for making them!). After we feasted, we cleared away the furniture and covered the living room floor with orange plastic. I’m always down for a craft, so it was so super fun to get to carve pumpkins with all of my buddies.

Thanks to Lisa and Josh for letting me steal pictures. Click any picture to see the whole set.

My darling friend Amy had her third child this morning, a sweet baby boy. Rickelle got to be with Amy and her husband during the birth, so I got text updates throughout the night as her labor progressed. As each early-early morning text came through, I was so happy to roll over and snatch up my phone, hungry for the news of what was going on. Laying in my bed, I could feel the sacredness of what Amy was going through at the hospital. And when Rickelle texted that it was time to push, tears came to my eyes. I was so thrilled for Amy and what another child means for her. When Rickelle sent the picture of this perfect boy laying on his warrior-mamma’s chest, tears came again… there really is nothing more special. This is the thing that I am most acutely aware of about living in community: we really do get to share what happens in each other’s hearts. Sometimes that’s really, really hard things… sometimes it’s the most amazing joy.

Rickelle has been talking lately about how our tight-knit group is the Bravermans. I laughed and nodded, but the other morning as I was waking up, I realized that we really ARE the Bravermans. I can’t tell you how much I’ve longed to be a part of a family like the Bravermans. It’s one of my life dreams and I’m actually living it. Sometimes that means that the fab-five gets together to have a pow-wow about my love life (much to my chagrin) and sometimes that means we get texts in the middle of the night about how labor is going. What I’m living in right now, this community, is truly something special and that fact is not lost on me. I am overwhelmingly thankful for it Every. Single. Day. I can’t imagine life without this community. It has saved me. I’m a better, more whole, more alive person because of it.

I’ll leave you with Rickelle’s words on being the Bravermans… so tender and true.

have you watched parenthood? we have eaten it up…best show since friday night lights.

the culture of the bravermans has struck me these past few weeks.

we are walking very closely with some friends who are dealing with really important things in very different seasons. and it seems that if one person knows something, then the whole community knows.
and the only way this works is because every single person is safe. and trustworthy. and FOR each other.
i think our community is embracing that secrets keep us in the dark……vulnerable to the evil one. and if we are brave enough to put forth our mess into the light, to lay it on the table, to invite other people to share in it, then Jesus pours over it in the way only He can. and He weaves and guides and speaks. we are trying to get better at listening to Him. which is a daily discipline. but we know He is beyond FOR us and cares about our stories and their outcomes even more than us.
so if sarah wants to keep a secret from crosby and julia, ultimately adam and zeke and christina find out and gather around that person and that problem and they just tackle it together.
i love the bravermans and i love the culture of such safety that we just lay it out and go to battle for each other as a tribe; as keepers of each others hearts.

In the day-to-day, I sometimes forget where and what I’ve come from. But I’m often reminded, especially when a friend holds a mirror up to my face and says, “Gosh, remember when…?” Carrie and I were just marveling the other night at what amazing change has been brought about in my life. I started telling her about a realization I had last week. I was talking to God about something that I think I really want and it seems like I’m not going to get it and I don’t understand why. And I just feel like God said to me, “Remember the last time you didn’t get what you wanted? Remember how many times you’ve thanked me that I didn’t give you what you wanted?”

OH…. RIIIIIGHT.

These lessons of trust are continuous and God continues to show me just how he has me in his hands. Things seem like they are going to be one way for a long time and then they go and change almost instantly. Sometimes I look at my life in awe… awe at what it’s become and who I’ve become. Awe at how tightly God is holding me and how safe I really am. I’m learning to draw lines in the sand with myself… to force forward movement when really all I want to do is wallow. And I’m learning to love this form of limbo… not knowing really where I’m going or what life will look like 6 months from now. But knowing that it will be good and that this is a really special time of life… one that is making me… well, more and more ME. Rickelle said to me the other day that I keep waiting to get THERE but what I don’t realize is that I AM there. That NOW is the time that I’ve been longing and waiting for. NOW is what God has been forming me for. So I’m working hard to enjoy it in all of it’s unknown-ness and awkwardness. This is special and I remind myself often that I will never have this time of my life again.

Knitting with roving

White Beech Mushrooms

14 quarts of salsa canned!

longest my hair has ever been

little sweater for a sample at Tangle

look who says “al” now

Eden and her BFF playing mash while we were out to lunch after church

I peel the breading off my fried zucchini

fiestaware!

glitter pumpkins!

tree in front of my house

Rickelle and I had to get the most ghetto drinks for our badminton tournament. Current tournament score is me 4, Kel 3.

The kids carved pumpkins with my mom before our pumpkin carving party.

For the first time we had to turn patients away at the clinic.

carmel and pecans

helped plan 5 parties in 4 days and this was the list for one of the days

I need giant hamster balls in my backyard as a parenting technique

no bangs

my friend Dane and I switched hand-knit sweaters