October 2021

  QUOTE OF THE MONTH: 

“The great triumph of the "best life now" paradigm was that it neatly summarized the promises of an American wellness industry: everything is possible if you will only believe.  Every year billions of dollars are pumped into a wellness industry defined by the theory that we can be perfected... But I cannot outwork or outpace or outpray my cancer.  I can't dispel it with a can-do attitude..."

~Kate Bowler, No Cure for Being Human

OCTOBER GRATITUDE LIST

• My Home Study being complete! =)
• Blake and Wendy's wedding
• Finally getting to see Carter again (and watching him and T-man play football)
• A smooth refinance and closing process
  
• Dinner with the Moss fam at their place
• Dinner with Kristin W. at Olive Garden
  
• Car shopping with the fam this afternoon
  
• Halloween Trunk-or-Treat fun with the Wilsons, Mosses, and Shoemakers tonight!
  

What was life-draining this month?

• Feeling more lonely than usual at the beginning of the month
• Having the rental car for over two weeks while they haven't actually started the repair work on my car yet (not a huge deal, but kinda frustrating)
  

What was life-giving this month?

• Lindsay's encouragement on adoption
  
• Hearing the "not guilty" verdict at the end of our trial
  
• Cleaning and then hosting a movie/pizza night
• Enjoying my Christmas decor during Peloton workouts =)
  
• The entire gratitude list above. ❤
  

HAPPY LISTS

I Read:  

• Mostly other blogs and Facebook posts

I Listened To:

• Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (KJV Translation)
• No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) by Kate Bowler
• Everybody Fights (So Why Not Get Better at It) by Penn and Kim Holderness
• The Path Between Us: An Enneagram Journey to Healthy Relationships by Suzanne Stabile
• Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire by Jen Hatmaker
  
• The Power of Showing Up: How Parental Presence Shapes Who our Kids Become and How Their Brains Get Wired by Daniel Siegel and Tina Bryson
  
• All my usual favorite podcasts!

I Watched:  

• Blue Bloods season 10 on Paramount Plus
• Doug Judy episodes of Brooklyn 99
• No Time to Die (the latest James Bond movie) 
  

I Made:  

• A profile on an adoption-matching website
• Built a new cube shelf that I love
  
• Decorated my lovely Christmas house (with Mom's assistance)! lol
  
• Took headshots for Lindsay
• Wrote a letter to David (dealing with major post-COVID issues)
  

 

*This recap was inspired by Emily Freeman's The Next Right Thing Journal, and I'm writing one for each month of 2021!