Chilled Saturday & Reviving Proverbs 31

   Hello you fine people... How goes your early autumn weekend so far? Everything here is great. Handsome and I have endured a very long, VERY emotional and hard working week and have since late last night been marinating in romance and worldly pleasures. We have been filling our bellies with comfort foods like slow cooked chicken and dumplings, excellent coffee, and made from scratch pumpkin bread. We've watched horror movies and plugged in way too many strands of decorative lights. We are just about caught up on rest, thanks in big part to some much needed dark, rainy weather. And there is not a frenzied expression anywhere in this house.

(Snagged form Pinterest)

   Yesterday I enjoyed a restorative street taco lunch and shopping trip with my sweet friend Melissa, noticed I'd racked off 20 miles of running this week, and remembered the Worry Room and how closed it is supposed to be. And this morning, thanks to a head's up from our friend and neighbor Seri, we scored about a thousand garage sale treasures ranging from a yellow chenille bedspread to a rusted iron chandelier and big, heavy cedar scraps that are just perfect for making long benches out by the fire pit. Cozy, cozy stuff, man. 

   Oh! And a brass floor lamp that is begging to be up-cycled and re-imagined. Can. Not. Wait. I already know five places in the house where it will look perfect.

   Hey, I just noticed that both Melissa and Seri are members of our world famous Oklahoma book club. These women have a way of weaving joy into my life even without ever touching a book. Thanks, ladies. xoxo

   After one more afternoon nap and maybe a trip to our local feed store, I expect we will be getting ready for house guests! My baby sister, her childhood friend Erin, and Erin's baby girl Elise are all staying over at the farm, making me feel 34% like a grandma. I am so okay with this feeling, in tiny little doses, for pretend only. Although the kitchen is overflowing with leftovers, we are planning a beef roast, garlic-roasted carrots, and cheese-stuffed buns for dinner. What is it about chilly, damp weather that makes a salad with cold chicken breast a ridiculous choice for a family meal? Because that is just not happening.

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   So, as we put the final, warm and luscious touches on this packed month of September, a month replete with both heartache and elation, both work and play, I have decided something. Thanks to a gentle nudge from Melissa, I have decided to revive my 2011 month-long study on Proverbs 31, the 31 day series I dropped about halfway through the month last year due to some family circumstances.

   Now, chances are I will recycle some of last year's material, but I am still super excited. The book of Proverbs has always spoken to me personally, and the thirty-first chapter especially is a great source of inspiration as the season shifts us more inward.

   What say you? Are you also dazzled by this little slice of the Bible? Are you perhaps interested in doing a guest post, or leading a discussion with us? If so, I hope you'll email me or something. My writing this Proverbs 31 series has zero to do with being an authority on the subject. I need input, you guys, and I welcome a curious,  learning community.

(Source)

   Well, happy Saturday evening to you all! I hope it includes plans for a few of your favorite things, and I hope that however you worship or study or reflect on Sunday serves you in an extra beautiful way tomorrow. If all goes well, I will be back on Monday to kick this thing off right.

   Love your people. Enjoy your children. Think good thoughts. Resist worry. Fall asleep to the rain if you can. And bake something.

"If we have no peace, it is because

we have forgotten that we belong to each other."

~Mother Teresa

xoxoxoxo