new sister and happenings

My brother Eric asked his beautiful girlfriend Megan to marry him last weekend while we were pretending to be hardcore campers.

I'm so happy for both of them, and so thrilled to welcome an amazing sister-in-law!  They make the sweetest couple. ♥
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I packed my first boxes -three of them- yesterday in what appeared to be the most anti-climactic and thrilling moment of the summer.  I'm waiting for my new label maker before I go crazy in my obsessive organizing packing streak.

Ruby has started reading simple words, making letter sounds with exaggerated expression with her little sister mimicking closely behind her.  Eisley also happens to scold herself with drawn out Uhhh-Uhhhs with a little head shake while she's in the middle of doing something she shouldn't.

Aunt Moo returns to college after this week.  Husband is off with his other wife, Football, so the rest of us are headed out for a girl's night out which will likely be one for the memory books.

And because I never, ever want to forget this:

10 Ways to be a Happier Mom 1. Life is not an emergency. Life’s a gift.  Just. Slow. Down. 2. Now is not a forever grace but amazing grace. Do whatever it takes to wake to wonder right here. 3. Sometimes the slowest way is the fastest way to joy. Make time today, even a moment, to read Scripture and memorize it. Without the lens of His Word, the world warps. {Slowest=fastest to joy} 4. Laughter is the cheapest, holiest medicine. Preschoolers laugh 300 times a day. Aim for double that. Tickle someone, (yourself!), if necessary. This is good! 5. Motherhood is a hallowed place because children aren’t commonplace. Co-laboring over the sculpting of souls is a sacred vocation, a humbling privilege. Never forget. 6. Homemaking is about making a home, not about makingperfection. A perfect home is an authentic, creative, animated space where Peace and Christ and Beauty are embraced. {Perfect does not equate to immaculate.} 7. A pail with a pinhole loses as much as the pail pushed right over. A minute dawdled here, a minute scrolling here — they can add up to your life.  Write down your intentions for the day and prayerfully ive the intentions and spend your life well by paying attention to the moments — which pays thanks to God. A whole life can be lost in minutes wasted, small moments missed. 8. Believe it: I have all I need for today. The needs of our day are great but our God is greater and we call Him Providence because we believe: He is the One who always provides. {And when God provides, He should be praised, and if God always provides, shouldn’t praise always be on the lips?} 9. Slow. Children at play. The hurry hurts the kids. Time’s this priceless currency and only the slow spend it wise enough to be rich. If we had to actually buy our time, would we spend it more wisely — spend it more slowly? {God’s Word never says Hurry Up. God words only whisper: Wake Up.} 10. Love is patient. Parenting’s this gentle way of bending over in humility to help the scraped child up because we intimately know it takes a lifetime to learn how to walk with Him. Patience. Love always begins with patience and patience is a willingness to suffer.

[Taken from here]