Update On The Dogs + What I'm Loving // October 2017
Oakley + Scout aka The Dogs
If you read my blog last week, you saw that we rescued two dogs. If you receive my emails, you may have missed the update saying that we found their owners. Needless to say, our house was heavy with sorrow. Our neighbors came. Everyone was reunited. They went on their way. That was it.We tried consoling ourselves with Mexican food, but enchiladas and queso could only take us so far. We took an extremely early bedtime of 9pm for us and chocked the night up to being over. The next morning though, I received a phone call that would change things once again.Oakley and Scout's original owner called with an offer that at first left me with my jaw agape. Scout and Oakley were ours if we wanted them. I hung up, called Rick and played a long waiting game as I wondered what the final verdict would be. Long story short, the original owners are in a fresh, new stage of life and feel like we can offer these two a better and more stable home at this point.I guess that's all to say, we're once again dog parents. It all feels right again.
What I'm Loving
STUNNED at the whirlwind October has been! Our anniversary and one of my favorite holidays always makes for a fantastic but crazily paced month. We've barely even fit watching Gremlins and Hocus Pocus in. Season 2 of Stranger Things has even taken a back burner!LAUGHING out loud at this episode on The Happy Hour Podcast with Jamie Ivey. If you know me, I don't say, "lol," lightly because it takes quite a bit to make me actually laugh - let alone out loud! Sharon Hodde Miller totally brought that for me along with a simple but powerful reminder of who I am in Christ and how to freely live out who he made me be.TRYING to recover after a weekend of Questival which I absolutely loved! Questival is a huge adventure scavenger hunt style challenge which I blogged about over the weekend here because it was one of the challenges. Think of the whole thing as a real life game of Quelf on steroids. I'm already planning my next Questival adventure with my team, because we loved it so much. Next time, I'll be sure to get plenty of rest before it begins though!REELING from this episode about identity on the JourneyWoman Podcast with Hunter Beless: episode 18 | The Theology of Identity with Matt Lantz. Here's a small nugget of truth that made me want to pull over and take notes on the side of the road: “Identity is received, believed, and then lived out. In that order. If you’ve built an identity around anything, whether that’s your job, your spouse, your popularity, your grades, your accomplishment, or any of that stuff. If you’ve built an identity, you haven't built an identity. You’ve built an idol.” - Matt Lantz.PLAYING Molkky in the backyard, because it's absolutely beautiful weather around here. Hello to all things Fall - pumpkin spice, scarves, fleece and that glowing, golden sunset that Fall does so well. Plus, it gets us outside as a family!DRINKING wines and eating cheeses at our wine tasting at Clear Creek Vineyard, courtesy of our bed and breakfast. We finally found a red wine that I actually enjoy! If you ever have the chance to meet Barbara, the owner of the Clipper House Inn in Kemah, please do so. She is incredibly kind, sweet and made sure our anniversary stay in Kemah was absolutely spectacular. We both absolutely loved our weekend there.DROWNING in Ellie Holcomb's beautiful lyrics on her Red Sea Road cd. I am totally feeling late to this party as her cd came out last January, but oh my goodness, it's deep, dreamy and comforting. If you ask Oakley and Scout, that's what we've been listening to around here. It all started with hearing some old episodes of Ellie being interviewed about her heart behind the songs on the cd. I absolutely adore when I get to know the why behind the words of music. The heartache, tragedy and praise she went through that this cd is a direct result of, is inspiring. You can listen to her interview with The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey podcast here or on Annie Downs' That Sounds Fun podcast here.FEASTING on Shauna Niequist's words in Bittersweet. She is one of my favorite authors as her diction and word juxtaposition is always on point. I also believe she reaches down to the depths to put things into words that not only allows one to understand themselves deeper but those around them as well. I can't wait to binge read yet another one of her other books!LOVING my new girls, Oakley + Scout. We're definitely being stretched as we adjust and grow together, but we're a family now. I love that so much. It's a great new adventure for Rick's and my second year of marriage!