Spring break, glorious spring break!
I love teaching, I do. I love working with my students and colleagues. I love books and folders and office supplies and discussing books with kids and teaching them to how to use technology and all of the things. I also love getting a break from teaching. I love having lunch with my husband and going shopping with my sister and being the manager of my own days. And, of course, I love having extra time to read! Since I had time that is not always as readily available to me, I finished my second book of the #yearof50books during spring break! This read, recommended by one of my favorite writers, is a non-fiction book about letting go of things that get in our way when it comes to serving God and the people He created. Book #2 is...Falling Free: Rescued From the Life I Always Wanted by Shannan Martin. The freedom of LESS is such a theme through the Martin family story. God does so much in our lives when we free ourselves from the world's MORE. I enjoyed reading about the risks they took as well as how they redefined their idea of family, downsized their "stuff", and gathered more often with people. The value of relationships cannot be diminished, and the Martins certainly value relationships over things. At the end of one chapter she says, "...the shortest routes to relationships are carved when everyone takes two giant steps past the gates of their comfort and toward each other." This concept is something I'm working out for myself. I value people and know I have so much to learn from others. Inviting people into my home is something I want to do often, but it makes me anxious: Are things clean enough? What do I fix? What if someone's allergic to something? What if I mess up? What do we talk about? On and ON my thoughts race. What's funny is that if someone else had these same concerns and told me, I know the advice I would give them: People aren't here to inspect how clean your house is. If you're not sure what to fix, ask your guests if they have any favorite things. Or make your favorite thing to introduce it to another family! Same for the allergies..just ask! If you mess up, handle it with grace and humor. It will make a good story! Talk about life. Conversation will flow. If not, there's always a family-friendly list of trending topics on Twitter. (Kidding.) As I continue to grow as a wife, I want to be a person that people feel comfortable coming to as a safe space. I want our home to be a place where others always feel welcome (even if the place is a mess). I love imagining the laughter and dishes clinking as everyone sits down to a cozy meal! --- Check out Shannan's blog here to learn more about her family, her life, her story, and her bathrooms. (Sounds strange, I know, but she's written blog posts about them and they are cute!) --- Book #3 is already in progress! This fiction novel is written in letters, so I'm enjoying the difference in style from my first two reads. Do you have any tips or stories for me as I work to be more intentional about inviting people into our home? Share them in the comments! Wonderfully Yours, Kristin
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AuthorI'm Kristin. A Christian, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend. Archives
October 2017
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