summer, simplified.

AND the winner is...
Michelle, Tara, Sarah, Julie, Suz, Andre, Kate, Holly, LKL!!!
Reading over your words blessed my soul this week. As you shared your heart, I wish I coulda handed you all a band right then. So please e-mail me your address at saraLroyer@gmail.com so I can send one your way :)


Last summer, we had a bucket list of what we wanted to do. We were finishing up a major house reno and didn't want to get life lost in all the projects. This year, our goal has been *simple and two-fold:
*Simple, as in simplified, not necessarily easy.

Be a blessing.

Let joy live loud in our souls.

Some things have fallen behind these days. Laundry piles on the couch, needing folded. Fabric mounds on my sewing machine, for mending or repurposing (or to be thrown away - gasp!) Baking is set on the back-burner as temps cross into the 100s. The stack of papers waiting to be filed turns skyscraper. (Not to mention all the dust and dirt and fingerprints and crumbs from all the comin' and goin' of 3 boys.) So, daily I read these words to refocus:

No empty-nest mama looks around and wishes 

she did one more load of laundry.

~ Ann Voskamp

Our days have been full and loud. The hose of visiting with friends and family is on full-blast. And, we are soaking it in! Someday I may learn how to keep on top of the laundry and the rest of life. But when given a choice, the laundry can wait. 

  

I'm thinking that when we look back on these days, we won't remember whether or not our laundry was put away. (Most likely, not put away :)
But the lady doing synchronized swimming in the lake - that is a memory we will never forget.

Jump in and enjoy it, friends!
Each new day offers another opportunity.
The sun rises and hands us a new beginning. 
May Love be priority. 
Peace become something we work for. 
And Joy, let it take over!

Let joy live loud in your soul. 

~ Ann Voskamp