rewrite this title Week 21: A Peek Into This Past Week + What I’m Reading, Listening to, and Watching!

Guess what this past week was??? Our kids’ last week of school!!! I’m so excited! I’ve worked hard the past month to set things up for success so we can have a calm, fun, and memorable summer!

I got to help with Field Day at Kierstyn & Micah’s school on Tuesday! There were so many fun water games + a water balloon/water gun fight!

Kierstyn had come home from Field Day last year saying, “Mom, all the moms came to help and you didn’t! Can you please come next year?”

And so I made sure to sign up this year and I really had such a great time! I love how our kids help encourage us outside our comfort zones!

If you couldn’t tell, Kierstyn had a great time at Field Day!

Kindergarten graduation day!! Micah (3) came with Jesse and me and when they called Kierstyn’s name and she walked across the stage he proudly proclaimed, “There goes our daughter!” 🤣🤣

This girl has grown by leaps and bounds this year — learning to read chapter books, learning basic multiplication and division, learning to become such a big helper (she’s now helping with laundry and dishes and can do a lot of basic cooking), being such a huge advocate for David, and learning how to make phone calls, learning so many verses, poems, and songs… she has a voracious appetite for understanding the world and is always asking questions about science, theology, geography, current events, and more. She has big dreams and hopes for the future and I can’t wait to see where this next year takes her!

I’m also excited to get lots of extra time with her over the summer – she wants to learn cursive and Spanish and read as many chapter books as she can.

Someone asked me this past week how we build strong relationships with our older kids even though we don’t homeschool. Here are some ways we do this:

-Looking for opportunities to have deep conversations with our kids. We are often debating current events and talking about things from a Biblical lens. We encourage our kids to really think about what they believe and why they believe it. We don’t want them to just believe whatever we believe.

-We talk about how God is working in our lives and invite them in to seeing the goodness and faithfulness of God.

-We read good books to them (when they are younger) and pay attention to the influences in their lives through media/friends. We have a lot of conversations around what constitutes good influences, standing alone, making wise decisions.

-We build relationships of trust so we can have the hard conversations when necessary. We invest a lot of time just being with our kids so that when there’s a need to address something, we can do it based upon a foundation of love and trust.

-We talk on the phone with our older kids often when they are driving and then try to always be available for conversations when they are home. We also try to plan a few fun outings/activities as a family every month.

My biggest advice to develop strong family bonds is to have fun with your kids. Care deeply about their world and interest. Make it clear by your actions and attitude that you love hanging out with them. People tend to love to hang out with those who love to hang out with them! If you are always talking about how difficult your kids are, how challenging parenting is, and how tired you are… well, there’s a good chance your kids are going to pick up on that attitude.

Speaking of homeschooling, while our kids go to traditional schools, we always do some homeschooling over the summer. We’re doing a mashup of Kindergarten and Pre-K and Micah and Kierstyn are loving it!

We me up with Kate and her kids last week and I had to laugh as I tried to push the stroller and had six kids all around me (Kierstyn is sitting behind the stroller!)

Micah has been struggling recently with being afraid. He doesn’t want to go into a room by himself and is often saying, “I’m scared.”

He had been so confident and self-sufficient so this came out of the blue, however…

I know that kids often go through seasons where they feel like this (hey, adults do, too!) and the best thing I can do is not panic and just keep gently encouraging him to step outside his comfort zone.

Since he’s three, we are doing this in very simple ways…

So I’ve been reminding him often of what’s true (“You are a big boy! You are brave!”) and then giving him little opportunities to practice being brave. (“You can go into the closet to get your toy and I will be right out here the whole time.”)

I believe the best way to become more courageous, is to do the thing that scares you. The more you face your fear head on and walk through it, the more you build your brave muscles and the more you rewire the pathways of your brain that have made you believe you can’t do something or it’s really scary.

If we can start helping our kids practice this when they are little, it will be easier for them as they grow up!

So we practice bravery at our house. We talk about it. And we try to model for our kids doing things that scare us regularly so they can see us exercising our courage muscles, too.

I wasn’t sure if any of this practicing and talking about things was making a difference for Micah until Saturday night.

He was getting ready to go to bed and he wanted a drink before bed. I told him he could go get one and I’d be right here close by waiting for him. Well, guess what he did??

He walked into the kitchen by himself and got himself a drink – while no one was out there.

And then he came back in and excitedly proclaimed — without me saying anything — “I was so brave, Mama!”

I proceeded to tell him that he absolutely was and that I was so proud of him. Then, I told him that he had so much more brave inside of him that was just waiting to come out.

When I said this, it was like a lightbulb went off for him and then he kept repeating and and tapping his chest, “I have so much brave inside of me that is waiting to come out.”

Silas and Kaitlynn got home a little while later and came to tell him goodnight (our older kids always come tell the younger ones goodnight — it’s the sweetest!), Micah proudly told them, “I have so much brave inside of me!” And I could tell he actually believed it.

I share this story because I think someone reading this right now needs to be reminded of this, too.

I don’t know what you are scared of right now (we all have things that cause us to feel fear!), but I want to remind you that you, too, have so much brave inside of you just waiting to come out.

And the more your face your fears and exercise your courage muscles the stronger they will get!

Speaking of brave: running is one way I’m challenging myself outside my comfort zone! I had believed the lie for years that I’m not athletic and I let it keep me from even trying. Y’all – I ran 7.5 miles yesterday!!! And I’m just getting started.

When I’m running, it literally feels like I’m facing those lies head on and punching them in the face and being like, “Take that, long-held lie, will ya? You don’t get to be the boss of me anymore!”

We are helping with childcare for our single friend who is fostering and we are just LOVING having a baby here some of the time. Watching all of our kids love on her is just the sweetest!

I was holding baby girl in the ERGO and David saw and then I put him in the ERGO and he absolutely loved it. He used to spend hours in it — and it felt like he missed it. He just kept snuggling and holding my hand and it was the cutest.

I wore this dress the other day and SO many people commented on it and asked me where I got it from. Stitch Fix recently sent me a box of clothes and this was in it and I absolutely love it! It’s Market & Spruce Katie Smocked Waist Gingham Dress from Stitch Fix.

If you haven’t gotten a fix from Stitch Fix before, you can get $30 off your first box + no styling fee! You could request this dress in your box, only keep it, and get a GREAT deal on it!!

Books I Finished This Past Week

Even After This – I fell in love with the quirky characters in this book and their deep loss and pain. There were a few parts that felt a tiny far-fetched, but multiple parts that made me laugh out loud and other parts that tugged on my heart. I immediately wanted to read the next book in the series after finishing this – but it doesn’t come out until October!

The Correspondent – this starts out slowly (it’s an epistolary novel) but ends up being deeply moving. I really found it meaningful and would definitely recommend it. I’ve heard that the audiobook is very well-narrated.

The Bright Years – This one is slow moving and explores the underbelly and fall-out of addiction in a really raw and real way. It’s also not from a Christian perspective and is gritty, but I thought there were a lot of really redeeming perspectives and insight in it to help us better understand the weight of woundedness that so many carry and how it can impact their everyday lives in ways we can’t imagine.

What I Watched This Past Week

We watched the first season of Hope Valley 1874 this past week – and by “we”, I mean Micah, Kierstyn, and me. They fell in love with When Calls the Heart with me so they were excited to watch this. If you love When Calls the Heart, you will likely enjoy the show. I think the characters need to develop some more, but am hoping that happens in the next season!

(Our younger kids don’t really watch any kids’ shows right now – except Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood – so they enjoy shows like this with me. We’ve found that by limiting their shows to things that aren’t all bright and animated and flashy, it’s made a huge difference in their overall behavior, attitudes, and creativity. I can’t explain the science; just telling you that’s what we’ve found!)

What I Listened To This Past Week

Project Hail Mary — I have such mixed feelings on this one. There were some really beautiful parts relating to friendship and sacrifice, some genuinely funny parts, and the audiobook narration was really well done, but I just couldn’t get past the glaring theological issues I had with the entire premise, even though I know it’s sci-fi and not from a Christian perspective. And I know I’m very much in the minority here, but just being honest. However, I learned a lot of science-related things, the book really made me think, and I feel like it would be fascinating to read with teens and discuss from a theological and Biblical worldview and how a premise devoid of the Gospel leaves such a gaping hole.

This Week on the Podcast: Our Glamping Adventure

Jesse and I reflect on our recent glamping trip on this week’s podcast. It was an anniversary trip that Jesse had secretly planned and that nearly didn’t happen! Hear all about how, after finally figuring out childcare for the kids, we were ready to leave when everything unraveled all at once: sore throats, emergency doctor appointments, positive strep tests, and even an unexpected COVID diagnosis.

We suddenly found ourselves trying to decide whether to cancel a trip we had been looking forward to for months while also making sure everyone at home would be okay. Thankfully, the Airbnb hosts were unbelievably kind and let us reschedule which turned out to be the best thing that could’ve happened!

What waited for us a few months later was truly one of the most unique places I have ever stayed. Jesse booked this incredible glamping dome tucked into the Tennessee hills overlooking Center Hill Lake, and the entire place felt almost unreal, with clear curved walls open to the sky, decks hanging over the hillside, a hot tub in the middle of nature, and a shower that somehow made me feel like I was outside while still enjoying modern comforts.

Listen in as we talk about the hilariously overheated first hour after arriving, the clever sprinkler system that cooled the dome down, and why we immediately understood why people become obsessed with glamping. We also share the quieter parts of the trip that ended up meaning the most: playing Scrabble, watching the sunrise over the water, hiking down to the lake, sitting around the fire with nowhere else to be, and realizing how rare it is to experience true quiet. There was no packed itinerary, no distractions – just space to talk, laugh, process life, and reconnect after years of constant responsibilities.

Also, because apparently every memorable trip needs at least one disaster, we also tell the story of how Jesse managed to put a massive scrape down the side of my car while leaving the property, something that I will probably reference forever considering my long history of being the one who usually hits things.

Click here to listen to this episode.

In Case You Missed It – Links From This Week

How We Went to Magic Kingdom on a Budget — So many people asked me for more details on how we managed to go to Disney without spending thousands of dollars and what suggestions I have for how to make the most of a Disney trip. This post is a compilation of details on our one-day adventure to Magic Kingdom. Plus, I share some tips I’ve learned for ways to save money and to make the most of your time at Disney.

Report Card Freebies and Deals for Students in 2026 — The school year is wrapping up which means final grades are on the way! A bunch of restaurants, including Krispy Kreme, Chick-fil-A, Sonic, Culver’s, and more are rewarding students for achieving good grades. Check out this post for all the details.

The Sweetest Video of David — 5 years ago when we said yes to fostering David, little did we know that he’d become our forever son… or that this week we’d see him loving on another foster baby in the sweetest way. Watching David care so much about our friend’s foster baby is the most beautifully heartwarming thing. Check out the video here!