7 Things {Black & White Edition}

1. If you ever feel like you’re a terrible parent then watching your kids come up with the Top 25 Names for Barf will renew all sense of possible parental failure.  It was the best/most hilarious thing watching Harper, Hudson and Solomon coming up with this list.  They even broke out a thesaurus.  My favorite was a close tie between “ralph” and “regurgitate”.  Kids are the best!

2. This guy has allergies like nobody’s business…peanuts, dairy, dogs, cats and pretty much EVERYTHING outside including grass.  WHAT?!?!?!  Week after week he gets 3 allergy shots and takes it like a defeated champ 🙂  They hurt…his arm hurts…and inevitably his arm is quite swollen afterwards and he leaves with an ice pack strapped to his little bicep.  Could not love him more and his allergy ridden body more.

3. Our nephew Cooper made us an aunt and uncle.  He’s now only one year away from being a bonafide adult.  To say we like him would be the greatest of understatements.  He is kind and funny and loves our kiddos so well.  We use to play games of hide-n-seek, have sleepovers, craft our hearts out and give crab kisses with him.  Now he plays games and loves on our kiddos and chats with them in between making all the fancy coffees.  We are all surely the luckiest to have him in our lives.

4. Do you need a most delicious and easy treat for the holiday season?  Then look no further than the beloved, but forgotten & underrated Snickerdoodle.  There are a few desserts which bring about certain feelings and snickerdoodles are one of them for me.  I am confident Angel Food Cake is the closest thing to manna and Snickerdoodles are what clouds taste like.  Cook time should be 8 minutes tops…give them a few minutes to set…and then bite into what you can only assume those fluffy beauties in the sky surely taste like.  Easily double the recipe and share with people you want to make like you 🙂

5. Thes two are kindred spirits.  Harper has had the toughest year and Meiya just gets it.  They understand each other on a freakishly sweet level and they have plans to travel the world together…China and Swaziland being at the top of their list.  They dream up wild beautiful worlds, have their own language & writing code and create until their fingers tire.  It is one of my greatest joys watching their relationship be what it is.

6. Marriage is hard.  If someone ever told me it was easy I would look them in the eye and declare them a liar 🙂  And I think it’s suppose to be because we’re two sinners living under one roof doing life together.  Losing a child together has been so difficult.  It is not easy to watch Josh Kelley grieve and I know it’s not easy for him to watch me grieve.  We tell each other how sorry we are all the time for Everett dying.  Not that it’s one of our faults, but because we know the weight and sadness and pain associated with our boy being in heaven and not here among us.  Josh is by far my favorite human and his heart and gift of humor keep me afloat daily.  There’s not another person I’d want to walk this road with.  Just call me lucky.

And 7. Watching our children grieve the loss of their little brother has been excruciating.  We we’re all of 0% prepared for helping them navigate this road.  And while some days I want to cover my ears and run for the hills, I know this is one of my greatest honors to help them move through this the best we can.  Every last one of us are in therapy and I’ll never ever ever be ashamed of that.  And I hope our kids are never ashamed of that either.  Instead I hope they feel pride in their hard work and perseverance to grow and heal.  Our world is becoming more open and accepting of those who are in therapy and/or counseling and rightly so, if we have a leaky faucet or broken toilet I call a plumber to help fix them, so I’ll never feel shame or embarrassment for reaching out to trusted professionals to help us maneuver and heal our own brokenness.

Hope your week is off to a decent start.  We all had a rough weekend so we’re welcoming in this week with anticipation of hope and kindness.

5 Comments

  1. Meggan mcfaden says:

    Love! Thank you for being brave and letting us have a little peak into your lives. Praying continually. Looking for a rainbow piniata ornament for our tree to honor Everett and y’all and to Prompt us to pray for you all. You are loved. You are doing great.

  2. ♥️

  3. Libby parnell says:

    So glad you guys are getting the help you need from a professional therapist. You are so right to get those precious children to therapy. It’s too much for you and Josh to try to help them alone while dealing with your own grief work. Praying for your sweet family.

  4. What a brave crew! Love the truth that is apart of each of these. <3

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  1. […] her class and I was thrilled with how simple it was.  She asked for a waffle tower for breakfast, snickerdoodles to share with her friends at school, our go-to crockpot chicken noodle soup for dinner and our […]

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