Hi Reader,
I've been sitting on the porch more than usual lately, and not because it's particularly restful — more because it's where I go to think.
And lately there's a lot to think through.
So today I thought I'd skip the tidy, polished topic and just tell you what's actually taking up space in my head. Maybe some of it's taking up space in yours too.
Finances. Our personal money and the business's. We're still working toward the day my husband can leave construction behind — it has served us well these last 20+ years, but he's tired, we're pushing 50, and I'd like to spend more time with him.
That takes real, unglamorous money math. Budgets. Spreadsheets. Praying over numbers some nights.
Food. Specifically, how to feed our family well without a grocery budget that keeps pace with grocery prices. Healthy eating on a not-so-big budget is a puzzle I'm still solving, one meal plan at a time.
Health. Nutrition is part of it, but if I'm honest, I also need to deal with the weight that has continued to creep up the last few years. Not for a number on a scale — for energy, for feeling like myself again, and to one day go scuba diving with our Katie girl on the coast.
Simplifying. This one stings a little to admit. I'm in year three of trying to simplify our life, and some days it feels like I've made real progress — and other days it feels like things got more complicated and I'm wondering if it's even possible to simplify.
Maybe that's just how it goes. Maybe you have to climb before you can coast downhill. I'm choosing to believe the downhill side is still coming.
I know nothing I've shared are problems with solutions; no wrapped up with a bow gifts today. I just don't have five-step solutions today.
What I do have is this: the honest truth that grace over perfection isn't only for a messy kitchen or an unfolded laundry pile — it's for the bigger stuff too. The financial stress, the body that's changing, the simplifying that keeps un-simplifying itself.
If any of this is hitting close to home for you, I see you. We're figuring it out together, one porch conversation at a time.
I'd like to know what topics are taking up space in your mind...let me know below or just hit reply to this email.
