Little did she know...

I am pretty good at going through waves of enthusiasm about reading. I can either plow through a few books a week or not finish one for months. I don't seem to have a happy medium.  Well, I discovered Tim Challie's reading challenge a couple weeks ago, and thought "why not?". I mean, it says it's for 2016, but it's whatever, man. No worries, and all that. I am shooting for the "Light" reader section first, and see where we go from there (By "we" I mean "me").   Here's my picks so far for the Light reader section: (It should be noted that I am going to try to read as many books that have been waiting on my shelf as possible) A book about Christian living: A book that has been sitting on my shelf waiting to be read. Loved the practicality of this one! Great resource for moving beyond the "How are you?"  "I'm good/fine" conversations. A biography : An interesting look at the...

Where to begin? Since I last posted in January, a whole world of change has happened -both in the actual world, and in my little world.  I began this year with a real world reminder to hug the ones you love as one of my friends died. His daughter reminded me to tell my dad that I love him; to treasure time with him, while I still could.  My dad came to visit me in February. He slept on my couch and I forgot to make him coffee. We went out to dinner before he left and as I hugged him and told him goodbye, a little thought in the back of my mind whispered "this could be the last time you see your dad." I was 8 months pregnant at the time. I barely fit in the booth at the restaurant.  A month later, my husband and I drove to the sand hills of Nebraska to get some maternity pictures and spend time with our family. On March 22, 2016, at the golden hour of sunset, we celebrated the life of the baby inside of me. A few hours later, we got the news that my dad died...

I went to bed with these two songs playing over and over in my mind and woke up with (surprise) these two songs stuck in my head. In a world of instability and heartbreak and struggle and sin and broken people, I am glad that I can trust the God who is always good and who is always available. PS, if you want a couple of encouraging albums, I highly recommend Psalms by Sandra McCracken and The Hymn Sing: Live in Nashville by Indelible Grace Music.

Ah, Chicago. We loved you for your doughnuts and coffee. We loved you for your churches and community. We loved you for your skyline and tall, tall buildings.  We loved you for your incredible Chinese and Italian food. We loved you for your people watching. We loved you for Cloud Gate/The Bean. We loved you for your friendly metro workers. We loved you for your fancy fall colors. We loved you because there's still so much more to go do/see, which means we'll be baaaack ;)  Things we learned:  Deep dish is indeed, all it is cracked up to be. I dream about that pizza. You absolutely must get an ice cream doughnut sandwich at Firecakes Doughnuts and a Nutella pocket at Stan's Doughnuts. Metro workers are much more helpful/nice than in New York City.  Cannolis are NOT as good as good as any we found in New York City (work on that, Chicago, mmkay?). BUT. E...

We went to Denver and I stood front and center to fangirl over The Lone Bellow in real life. Let me tell you that their voices only get better live, incase you had any doubts. And I only took pictures on my phone, so yeah. They didn't make it onto this blog post (but that's what Instagram is for, right?). After that, we took a quick trip into the mountains to find fall colors and noodles (because Asian noodles is what I want all of the time. so I guess we can blame it on the bebe) and our favorite coffee shops ( here and here ).  Short and sweet. How we do.

Nobody is ever really ready to have kids, they say.  But still, we DEFINITELY weren't ready. Mentally, at least.  We were surprised. We were a little bit excited. But we were, selfishly, not at all excited. We were scared. We were a little worried.  And then we had some time to get used to the idea. And we are. Sort of.  Sometimes we still ask if this is real life. But we can't wait to meet and get to know the little person that is growing right now.  We are still kinda scared and worried (raising another human is kind of a big deal). Mostly, we can't wait to show bebe Tramp the world. Hurry up and get here, April! 

We used to laugh a lot, But only because we thought That everything good Always would Remain. In my wildest dreams, I am close to the stage for a Jack Johnson concert. And I probably fall over from joy and disbelief that I am seeing him LIVE.  So yeah, if any of y'all want to make that happen, that would be greaaaat.  xoxo Ps, What are you listening to these days? Jack has been a long time fav, and I am always in the mood for his music. 

We are really good at short and sweet trips, apparently. Anytime that we are gone for longer than 3-4 days, I feel a little weirded out. True to form, September saw us in KC for coffee and friends and concerts.   I want these stairs in my house Things we learned and did and ate: We managed to hit up Cafe Main , Second Bes t and The Roasterie for muy bien coffee (well, I got the hot chocolate at Second Best because it is LITRALLY the best hot chocolate in my life).  We learned that when your friend tells you that he knows of this great place to get gyros, but it's in a gas station, you should definitely get the gyros. Because they are the best you have ever eaten. Ever. We stood for hours in a stinking hot venue to listen to Josh Garrels live because HE IS AMAZING live. And worth every bit of potential dehydration that you experience and the lack of personal space and all the sweaty clo...