Trying something new.

So last week I was constantly sitting down to blog, inevitably I would think of something else I should be doing, get up to go do 'that' and find myself later with half a blog idea gone. 

That cycle repeated itself all the way until I left this past weekend to go out of town and celebrate the bridal shower of a dear friend. During my driving time over the weekend I thought of many ideas for blogging (yay!) and was driving so none of them got written down (boo!). 

I have been sitting at my kitchen table on and off for the last 20 minutes or so trying to re-create some of my brainstorming which has gone (thankfully) surprising well! 

If you follow any other blogs, you know that my blog does not have cute DIY projects or fabulous foodie recipes, those are not my gifts to share. If you follow this blog, you also know that I mainly share what is going on in our lives since many of our close friends and family are not geographically so close. But lately I have been praying + brainstorming in general about topics I wanted to write about here - beyond daily life for Adam and I. 

I don't have it all figured out yet, I will keep you posted, but what I DO have so far is that I want to start each week of blogging, the same way I start each week of life - in God's word. An idea so simple and basic, but yet easy to overlook. 

Today I am going to share a Psalm with you. Last night, Adam + I read Psalm 139 as part of our devotions together. This Psalm contains several verses about how God has 'fearfully + wonderfully' made us and 'knit us together in our mother's womb', which are probably familiar sounding passages to you, even if you didn't know where in the Bible they were from. 

What struck me as we read through the whole Psalm was how powerful all the other verses were that I wasn't personally as familiar with. I was especially drawn to verses 23-24, the very last words of the Psalm, as a personal prayer this week.

This morning I was excited that a quick Pinterest search on this Psalm produced hundreds of images highlighting the great words found within. So today, I am encouraging you to read through Psalm 139 below - what verses are you drawn to? What challenges you? What gives you hope?

My personal prayer this week. 

Joy in sharing life.

Every week as I sit down to blog, it is always amazing how much life occurs in such a short span of 7 days. Even if there is a day or 2 out of the 7 that drag on or seem long, for the most part a simple week can easily be filled to overflowing with life.

This past week held everything from one of brothers celebrating his 19th birthday, Adam's basketball team competing in the state basketball tournament, our brother-in-law finally leaving his deployment in Afghanistan to go home, and one of my best friends in the world getting engaged. Not to mention 'regular' stuff like work, small group bible study, running, grocery shopping, skyping with friends, laundry...etc. WHEW + WOW!

If you are reading this blog and know me personally at all, then you probably also know that I a LOVE being excited for other people. So as CRAZY full of life events big and small as this past week has been - it's also been really nice.


NOW. One of my best friends, Jamie, getting engaged this past weekend was such an awesome part of life to share. Adam + I were stopped at Qdoba for dinner on our way driving down to the state tournament on Friday. My phone started buzzing on the table, seeing it was Jamie, I answered and immediately heard "Kyla, I'm getting married!"

From that point in the conversation on I was instantly freaking out, crying, ecstatic, shaking...all before Adam even knew what was happening.  Forget the rest of my dinner, forget anything going on - sharing in Jamie's joy was all consuming. I couldn't be happier for her + her fiancé.

Jamie is one of my oldest friends. We met on a mission trip in high school and have been growing up together ever since. I love the ways that God brings people together and her engagement and upcoming wedding will be another opportunity for us to be filled with joy over the blessings + love God has for every person.

In other joyful life news, the weather has been improving - at least enough to allow running outside.  Looking forward to adding more miles as the days keep warming up.

One of those [joyful] weeks

I give up.

That is what I was tempted to say to myself this morning as I was waking up. So far, this has been one of 'those' weeks where best laid plans + good intentions seem not to pan out more frequently that I would like.

I was planning on the weather being warmer so I could get back to running outside this week. It wasn't.

I was planning to sit down and blog on Monday (like the new usual). It didn't happen.

I was planning on our family budget meeting this week being simple. It was complicated.

I was planning on folding the laundry that has been sitting in the dryer for a few days. It's still sitting there.

I planned a Bible study last night for the young adult group I lead. We didn't do it.

I planned on getting up earlier than usual today. I didn't.


All of these plans for my week not happening, truly are not a big deal. Definitely not defeating enough for me to be tempted to think that damaging thought 'I give up' anyways. Most everything just worked out differently from my personal intended outcome.

I was planning on the weather being warmer so I could get back to running outside this week. I went to work with Adam so I could do some speed based workouts in the middle school gym.

I was planning to sit down and blog on Monday (like the new usual). I'm blogging now.

I was planning on our family budget meeting this week being simple. We realized we weren't keeping the best track of checking our spending against our budget plan when a month was over. So before we started this month's budget, we had some backtracking work to do. We gained new insight into working together with our money.

I was planning on folding the laundry that has been sitting in the dryer for a few days. Adam is generally easy going about having to go to the dryer for clothes instead of his drawer, so far :)

I planned a Bible study last night for the young adult group I lead. We had good conversation about their involvement in the church community, church in general, and how they want to grow.

I planned on getting up earlier than usual today. I still had time to do everything I needed to do before leaving for work.



Too often I think we (especially us girls!) put high expectations on ourselves to see plans through. No one wants to have a bad day, be unproductive, or not finish projects - but the reality is that we can never plan for life. When I let the unplanned or unfinished parts of my days stack up in my mind, it's too easy to have a bad attitude or get frustrated - and that is just silly!


The temptation of saying 'I give up, this week isn't going great so far, maybe next week will be better' is one temptation that I believe robs us of the joy that each day has potential to bring.

Joy seems like the best choice to me. Planning for joy is impossible, living joyfully is not only possible but can fill every day with strength + hope.