Tag: Blessings

Stillness 

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Perhaps it’s because I wrote furiously throughout the summer in order to finish my manuscript. Perhaps it’s because I now work outside the home and am forced to speak with guests continually throughout the day, using up my “daily word count” quickly. Perhaps it’s because, with Tori gone, my purpose for writing has changed and I still haven’t quite figured out what’s next.

Whatever the reason, I’ve been struggling to write lately. I haven’t felt inspired.

I want to write, I want to process life with my writing as I have always done. But, I’m simply unable to do so right now. It feels forced.

I rarely comment or post statuses on social media. I rarely blog. I think all the time and am constantly processing things; the difference is that I’ve been keeping it to myself instead of adding my words to a world in need of less noise.

I haven’t been doing this intentionally, but it has happened and I’ve been trying to figure out why. 

Perhaps it’s been my way of creating some stillness and peace in a world and a life so busy and chaotic.

Perhaps it’s simply a reflection of the peace my heart feels most days. 

Whatever the cause, I’m still here. We’re still here. Life is busy, mostly with good things, and we have some exciting things on the horizon. 

We’re preparing to move to downtown Hershey within the next month (!!) which will change so much about our lives – a drastically shortened commute time, becoming landlords, being part of a community that we’ve wanted to join for years, and being able to walk almost everywhere we need to go.

My friend, Jenn, and I are waiting for the official call that will start our LuLaRoe business and cannot wait to see what this venture brings! Brennan and I hope that this will help us fully fund our IVF and adoption expenses. You can check out our page here! 

Speaking of that, we hope to begin the IVF process (again) in the next month or so. We need $10,000 up front to start and we have raised $8,000! Praise the Lord! We cannot wait to be parents again. 

I am hoping that March will be the month for pitching my manuscript to publishers. 

We’re quickly approaching the one year anniversary of Tori’s heaven-going and aren’t sure how we will spend that day (March 27), but I’m pretty sure giraffes will be involved.

I’m hoping to find my voice once more and to write about life and seeing God work again. But, for now, I am being still (Psalm 46:10) and doing what I can to focus on the Lord and where He is leading. ❤ Good things are in store.

Tori’s Bucket List: Kayaking on the River

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Since Tori loves being outside, and she seems to really like water (both being on it and in it), we thought kayaking would be a perfect addition to the bucket list!

Thankfully, Brennan has cousins – Sarah and Adele – who kayak frequently so they are practically pros. They helped us figure out how we could do this safely with Tori, since she obviously cannot paddle herself 😉

We also decided to do a unique family photo shoot while kayaking, since Brennan’s cousin Sarah is a talented photographer and we had been gifted a session with her (special thanks to Justen and Lisa McCollum!) – and it was SO fun! Sarah had never done a shoot like this before, and neither had we!

To reassure those who might be concerned about the safety of this activity: we put in at a location on the Susquehanna River that was fairly shallow and really calm. This allowed for us to safely have Tori in our arms while being towed by another kayak (thanks, Adele!). We didn’t go far because the river is really shallow in spots this time of year, but our little area was SO perfect!

It was another amazing bucket list adventure – and this one was on Brennan’s birthday, too! Now he wants to look into buying kayaks so we can do it more often. 🙂

Here are Sarah’s photos (click on image to enlarge):

And a few from my phone/perspective:

Thank you, Sarah (and Avey), Adele, Justen, and Lisa for making this possible! ❤