Fall Update

Long time, no post! Truly, we are fine; we just don’t have much interesting to share these days. No cheer, no football, no trips, no adventures - and *not* that those are the only things that make life worthwhile, but they are the things *I* usually enjoy sharing the most. Our days remain fairly consistent: the kids wake up & begin online school, I walk Bailey 4 miles, I either teach StudioSmile or take an online yoga class to expand my own practice, I take Bailey with me to our bubble tea drive-thru, come home to eat lunch – which is always my H-E-B salad with chicken – & watch a TV show or 2, I take Bailey on our second daily 4 mile walk, JB gets home, we watch a couple family shows, and that’s it for the night. Do I miss all of our “normal” activities? Sometimes. Do I know this is only for a season? Yes. So we are fully embracing a simpler life and keeping our world smaller for the time being.

I *did* force the kids to sit in a pile of pumpkins for an annual fall picture that I have been obsessed with taking every year since they were babies:

Yes, it’s annoying :-P but they will have to placate me with this and the first/last day of school porch pics for a couple more years. ;-)

Have you voted, yet? What a blessing to be able to vote your conscience without harassment or coercion...

Now if only there were a way to scrub my personal FB feed & TV signal of ALL political propaganda for the rest of election season with my early voting sticker!!!

Following the advice of beloved Brené Brown, our whole fam sat together & watched 2 episodes a night of Ted Lasso for 5 days. It’s the BEST show we’ve seen in FOREVER!!! Sweet, but not cloyingly. Hilariously human. Excellent writing! Annelise made my heart sparkle the other morning when she said during an irritation, “Be a goldfish.” (It’s not for littles: strong language & adult references.)

When your best friend who just moved to Scotland in August now regularly walks by a statue of your son’s namesake & texts you a pic! #williamwallace #guardianofscotland

(We didn’t name Will only for Braveheart – that’s just a super cool bonus. William is JB’s dad’s name + Wallace is JB’s grandpa’s name.)

(PS: boy, do I miss having my best friend here – she was the one quarantine friend I did things with in person this year – and boy, am I jealous in a still-thrilled-for-her-family way that they have gotten to embark on a European adventure! Praying one day, it can be our turn…)

Yoga practice often mirrors real life. Our family has been & is still battling gargantuan challenges (as I know many of us are; no need to compare gory details) ...but we keep pressing on. Despite disappointments. Despite setbacks. I find the same is true on my yoga mat: I make time for my own personal practice beyond StudioSmile (I owe it to them to stay fresh & invigorated!) and every.single.practice, I grow. I’ve been battling a shoulder strain for over 2 months now, and just like the adversities our family is facing aren’t new, this nagging shoulder injury has become banal, as well. It’s hard to wait for restoration. Sometimes it feels like we will never be whole, again... but then you catch a glimmer of hope that inspires & sustains you, as you continue to press on another day.

Bird of Paradise Pose for the first time since my shoulder strain - with so much gratitude & astonishment that I could connect my hands behind my back! #hope #pressingon