Well hello there! May I wish you a happy happy late thanksgiving. It was truly a lovely holiday for us, especially this year when we have so so much to be grateful for! The list is so long…let me list just a few to share the love with you.
- Sweet Afton! The newest addition to our family is of course absolutely perfect in every way.
- God’s provision this year. Continuing to explore new areas of trust with Him, learning to follow even when I can’t see the path in front of me…an inexplicable blessing.
- A family who’s continued to learn to love. I think we’ve learned that a loving family really doesn’t come naturally. It takes hard work, but the earned love is so much more valuable than apathy.
- Financial security. I think for so many years we’ve considered ourselves always on the down, trying to earn our own way. Being able to appreciate where we are right now, recognizing it’s superiority to much of the world, has increased both our gratefulness and our generosity. And when you’re generous…you’re the one that gets the gift. And I think that is so stunning.
- The fact that we have so many of the things we were praying for last year. It’s so easy to gloss over answered prayers rather than acknowledging them. And God has been so good to us this year.
Okay. Glad I got that out of my system 🙂 Let’s continue on!
We had the great joy of visiting our dear brothers in Texas…some of you probably didn’t even realize we had brothers! We aren’t able to be with them often, but the time is so valuable. We of course got tons of coffee there, and the breve from Joe Pine was especially amazing!
We finally got this gorgeous bag named! Introducing Vienna. Love her.
Okay…when you get a family this large, there are sure to be a few nuts. Or more than a few. I wouldn’t change a thing, though 🙂
Basically Grace just loves taking pictures of this bag. Like, a lot.
Exhibit C. But I mean, it does look so nice in the sunlight…I guess I can’t blame her.
Okay, so we’ll never be models. That’s okay. This week, we had the chance to go shopping just us girls for the first time in so so long! Retail isn’t really isn’t really our scene any more, but thrift and coffee still is. So we found some stuff to do. And it was glorious!
We did the most fun show ever in Peoria! Met some amazing new vendor friends and possibly spent more than we made. What?! It’s easy to do!
Participating in the Shop Hop was so much fun! I think I’ve already talked about this….but wow. We are so lucky to have so many fun shops close by! I don’t think about how rare it is, but it’s so unique! Timber and Fieldstone (pictured) is definitely one of our favorites!
This is just a tiny peek of both the inside of Timber and Fieldstone and little baby Afton!
Lastly…Vienna. I really do think this bag is something special. It’s unique among everything we’ve ever created. Certainly the closest thing to actual art we’ve done so far! And I love that about it.
Thanks for joining me today! I feel better than when I started. Possibly by remembering how many things I wasn’t promised but have still been given. I guess it is the season of giving, and gratefulness…and love. Happy Christmas to you and I will see you in the new year!