I’ve been absent lately—please forgive me, dear readers! This time of year brings with it seasonal depression and a bit of chaos, but I’m here! There’s lots of life updates to come, including progress on therapies for our youngest, school for the big kids, and more.

It’s been a while, dear reader, and I’m back! This season of life has put blogging on the back burner, but recently I’ve heard from so many of you how parts of our story has been encouraging to you, and I find myself thinking perhaps this is the motivation I need to step it up.

If you missed the last few updates, here’s a quick recap: we had a baby in 2020, lived through 2+ years of global pandemic (anyone else?!), and have generally been just trying to chug along putting one foot in front of the other, searching for the next right step of obedience when the world feels hard and life feels overwhelming. What is time, am I right?!

“There are a lot of reasons to wear a mask, even if you hate it.” Eighteen months in, and still having these hard discussions with people. I think the frustration I feel is due to the inconsistency in messaging. When I take a step back and reevaluate, I feel frustrated by my own lack of control, and lately, the feeling that my safety net has betrayed our highest calling in the interest of a divisive political issue.

I’ve written about Advent resources before, and social media is full of things to buy and do this time of year, so I’m sure there’s no shortage of information being thrown at you from one avenue or another. This year has been full of all different kinds of challenges due largely to the coronavirus pandemic and the ways it has changed many facets of every day life. As I was lamenting with some friends about the ways that social distancing has robbed* me of some of the joy of this season, I got to thinking about Advent.