October was filled with joys and surprises and I’ll still be glad to see the back of it.
Loving
We’re finally seeing some progress on our home addition! We’re still a few months out from completion but it’s exciting to finally see things start to take shape. Demo is finished, new concrete has been poured and the framing has begun along with roof work. (The part I didn’t love was that there have been two major problems so far that have exceeded our planned budget. We’re hopeful it will work out in the end but it’s been quite a month.)
Reading
I’m now finished with The Half Blood Prince and have started The Deathly Hallows. But I have had a take a few breaks because I’m finding myself oddly anxious and upset by some of the darker elements. (I literally cried near the end of Half Blood Prince even though this is the fourth or fifth time I’m reading it.)
I’ve also been working my way through the Sweater Weather series. (Thanks for the recommendation Anita Ojeda!)
Learning
We had another unexpected job loss this month so I’m relearning how to trust God through an uncertain season. Yes, you did read that right! We are knee deep in a major home addition/renovation and we lost our primary income source. Whew, not the best timing. But we have faced harder things before and most days are feeling confident and moving forward in faith. But there are definitely a lot of details up in the air.
Eating
Homemade spicy cheese dip! I wanted a salty snack but we’ve been trying to avoid buying non-essentials right now. I already had tortilla chips so I thought I’d throw some cheese, a splash of milk in the microwave and see what I got. The texture was actually great, and then I just stirred in some taco seasoning. Not the healthiest option but I throw some tomatoes in there to get a veggie as well.
We’re also having a little fun getting creative with our freezer stash and seeing what kind of creative meals we can come up with. I regularly freeze potato skins when I make mashed potatoes (I bake rather than boil them), so as we try to empty the freezer we’ve been making lots of loaded potato skins too.
That’s a wrap on October and despite all the weird upheaval, I’m actually looking forward to see what November holds. There is still a lot of uncertainty but I’m trying to focus on being excited about what God is going to do next rather than worried about what else might go wrong.
Congrats on seeing progress with the renovation! All the background and prep work (and expense) that is important but where you don’t actually see anything can be hard…but then things start happening! So sorry about the job loss. Will definitely say a prayer that God leads exactly where your family is supposed to be –
Thank you, Jennifer! All prayers are appreciated.