busy goodness...

maybe this space has been quiet lately, but I have not been.

honestly, it's been a little too busy in this heart and life, but I'm so thankful for all of it. especially thankful to finally have a quiet sunday to think and reflect and share....




our trip home Memorial Day weekend was LOVELY.
short and sweet and lovely. we got some precious family time as well as some sunny sunny beach time.




sharing meals and evenings with friends has been the absolute sweetest. I adore summer-mode. and I'm so thankful for this community we've found.





recent photog sessions woven into this busy life. some of my faves.




finishing up the semester with Saturday Clubs.  What.A.JOY. An exhausting, glorious joy. In January we prepared and prayed that girls would come. week one we had three girls. lovely and eager they came. by this tenth meeting we had thirteen regularly attending girls. new, lively, precious characters to our story. a tale that would be more bland and lack much purpose without them. they are our children, not that they just became ours, but only that we've just discovered their hearts and lives and have only just begun to let them intertwine with ours. thank you, Jesus, for these dear ones. may we love them well. as your children and our own.




finishing the school year with these gems is a blessing. they're all going places non-PreK, so I cherish this season all the more!

it might be a busy life. I might be exhausted. but I'm thankful beyond measure for all this busy-goodness. 

Oreo cupcakes.

Best I've baked in a while!

...didn't have a whole lot of extra time to make them fancy with a cookie piece on top, but no doubt, next time I will! :)

((Easiness! whole recipe • Thanks, Pinterest!))

Clubs in the City

Favorite moments from Saturday at Clubs. ♥

lately...

love it all. so thankful. ♥

dreaming.out.loud...

so much need all around. so.much.need.

kids without parents, people without homes, beggars at stop-lights, and maybe the one that hits my heart the hardest - kids in bad situations - situations of abuse, neglect, and despair...

I know a little guy who lives in a fog.

And I fear it's for the worst reasons.

I don't know, but I fear there's not a lot of good at home. I fear there's not only an absence of good, but very much a presence of bad. Nearing five years old, survival and protection seem to be his most near-the-surface responses to life.

So, apart from this situation, I've been working on praying aloud. (working on it as of yesterday.) Not writing, not letting thoughts bounce around the walls of my mind, but actually speaking - thanking, asking, pouring out my heart. Writing and 'thinking' prayers are more favorable to me, but maybe only because I forgot there's power in our words -especially spoken words, especially truth+love-filled words to a God who is capable and caring. So today I spoke up. I confessed and thanked and poured out my heart and even asked for a few things. One of the things I asked for was intervention for this little guy. And I'll keep asking for wisdom and discernement and opportunities to impact the situation.

my thoughts have been reeling since...
adoption is a thing.
mentoring is a thing.
what about some kind of family-partnering?

What if we adopted whole families? families that are hurting. families with secrets. families with junk that no one knows how to deal with. What if we partnered with, helped, and supported them? What if we treated them like family, or better. What if we really loved them and helped them get the help they need?

Maybe we could shed light on some terrible situations. Maybe it would be overwhelming and scary, but maybe we would find broken people with the capacity to love and change. Maybe we could save a childhood or two.

((I don't have any idea how or actual capacity to make this happen. I'm dreaming, using my words... asking that God in his goodness would guide and help me help others.))