Open Letters {11}

Dear Doctor's Office,

I am glad that you exist when we need you BUT I really hope we don't meet again anytime soon. Two times in 24 hours was enough for us!

Sincerely, The Morgans

Dear Fall Temps, 

Where did you go? I like the 50s, 60s and 70s. Not so much the 80s. 

Love, The Girl who is DONE sweating!

Dear Mason, 

6 days until you are TWO! AH!!

Love, Your Shocked Mom

Dear Drivers, 

Once again, just a reminder, the blinker is there for a reason. 

KTHANKSBYE!

Dear MOPS, 

PHEW! I was glad to see you Wednesday. What a crazy and emotional week we all had last week. You offered just the support I needed. 

Love, Me

Dear Bed, 

After these long days which have included more work (for me) than usual, you are SOOOO inviting! 

I appreciate that! 

Love, The person who sleeps on your left side. ;-)

Dear Husband, 

You are awesome! I'm not sure I remember to tell you enough but it's true nonetheless!

Love, Your Wife

Rare Bird by Anna Whiston Donaldson {A Book Review}

Rare Bird: A Memoir of Loss and Love by Anna Whiston-Donaldson was a book I had not heard of until I saw it listed for review. After reading the brief synopsis of the book and since we recently experienced a loss of our own, I couldn't help but request this book. 

Rare Bird was a book I couldn't put down. Whiston-Donaldson shares her story about when her son passed away in a freak accident. She openly and rawly shares about her thought process and her grief process from the moment she hears about her son's death until nearly two years later. 

I LOVED this book. I was so touched by the openness of Whiston-Donaldson's story. She didn't hold back. She shared her emotions, good and bad. I feel like so often when someone goes through a tough situation when you ask how they are, they respond "Fine."Anna talks about how she responded differently to different people and how she would respond in her head versus what came out of her mouth at times. 

I also really appreciated that Whiston-Donaldson wrote about her faith in God, how it was her guide during the beginning of her grief as well as how it was hard to hold on to at times. I know in our own experience, while we know God is guiding us, there are still times where it is hard to trust him. And that's just being honest. Anna was honest throughout the whole book and I loved that. 

If you have experienced loss in your life or someone close to you has, especially an unexpected loss, this book would be a great encouragement for you. 

As a side note, I read online that Whiston-Donaldson just found out she is pregnant at 46 years old with a sweet boy. :)

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

The Photograph by Beverly Lewis {A Book Review}

I have read a few of Beverly Lewis' books in the past and I enjoyed them so I picked this one up to check it out. 

You guys, it took me a sweet forever to get through this book. The storyline of The Photograph is slow to develop and I honest felt like it was just plain boring. 

Not one chapter of this book held my attention for long. Once I completed it, I still wasn't exactly sure of the whole point of the book and felt like I had wasted a bit of my time. 

I know this isn't a full review like I normally write but honestly, this is all I've got. This book was just blah for me. 

**I received this book for free from Bethany House in exchange for my honest review.**

Dear Mary by Sarah Jakes {A Book Review}

I was intrigued when I saw this title, Dear Mary: Lessons from the Mother of Jesus for the Modern Mom, by Sarah Jakes. I have often looked toward Mary when I think about my mothering/parenting because I know and believe her parenting was unique. 

I have some positive and negative thoughts about this book. I'll start with the negatives. The title is very misleading to me. The title makes me think that I'm going to read plenty of scripture and a modern day take, opinion and/or commentary on that scripture. However, I felt like Sarah essentially wrote letters to Mary trying to relate her (Sarah's) situation and circumstances to Mary's situation and circumstances. 

The book was very much about Sarah's story of becoming a mother at a very young age and the situations she has gone through.  I did feel at a point that the book became a little redundant and boring to me. 

The positives to this book are that Sarah's story is a good story. Her testimony looks to God and shows the ways he has provided and cared for her during her tough mothering situation. Sarah writes well and it shows in her book even if it did become slightly repetitive. 

I also love that Sarah doesn't degrade her story and her situation. She had it rough. Decisions she made caused that to be so but she constantly shows God's hand in that. 

I think overall that this book is a good read but the title is misleading. 

**I received this book from Bethany House in exchange for my honest review.**

The Morgan's Movements {Mid-October 2015}

Wow, there are only 9 days left in October now! AH! 

Let's recap mid-October! 

One morning while riding in the car, Mason did some SERIOUS reading. :)

We enjoyed a quick (thanks to a stomach ache for me) visit to a new park one afternoon. 

Mason has an old Dick Tracey lunch box that was Matt's and it contains a gazillion animals. We looked at all of them! 

Dressed like Daddy. :)

Snuggles with Momma

Our playgroup had a fun craft playdate and Mason was all about the paint. 

I love him so. 

Daddy met us for a fun lunch. We were all happy about that! 

One evening when I headed to work, Matt sent me this pictures. Mason was obviously a fan of his dinner. 

A busy dinner makes for gooooood snuggles, too! 

Then my heart burst! :) 

We found this cute shirt on consignment for $1 and Mason looks so grown in it! 

But he's still my little fella :) Sticker fun proves that. 

Reading his book on the living room floor. So sweet. 

More cuteness in his new shirt. :)

Mason loves the keys and one afternoon he figured out how to get them into the trunk key hole. 

We strolled around downtown seeing all of the sights one Wednesday while Matt was with the youth group at church. 

I was able to work about 6 hours one day last week and Mason stayed with Jenn, Skylar and Emma. He was helping Emma with her daily tasks. :)

We have had some beautiful weather and Mason has loved it so much! 

This kid will use anything as a hat! 

A comb and a book make for perfect items for a car ride. 

We got to go to Kindergym again and we even had our sweet buddy, Anna, there, too! 

After Kindergym, we went to Cici's for lunch. A friend sent us a coupon that was BOGO buffets so we were happy campers! 

This guy does lounging WELL!

Pointing out the airplane. 

We tried to do something fun for dinner one afternoon and let Mason eat in the living room while we had a football party. He leaned back hard and....oops! He fell backwards. He wasn't hurt and we all got a fun laugh out of it. 

Sunday morning was BEAUTIFUL! and we had to get a few pictures together. 

Like Father, Like Son...hands in pockets. :)

Sunday afternoon brought a local fall fest and we enjoyed the low-key event. It was just right for us. Mason could run about and he even won a cupcake! 

Silly string! 

Monday morning brought a quick stomach "blah" for Matt and Mason and I were his nurses. 

We had fun with playdoh and we also played with stickers and crayons. It was a fun morning. 

Hmm...food in hair? What a shock? 

We all took a nap Monday afternoon and Mason was ready to go after! 

That evening, I pulled a muscle (who knows how) in my back and while I laid on the heating pad, Matt took Mason outside and they had fun in Matt's truck, too. I'm pretty sure every single button had been pushed. 

Tuesday morning was GOOD! Mason and I started out the day with some sillies. :)

Ready to go! 

Last year for Mason's birthday, we decided to wrap his birthday presents in the newspaper from the day he was born (11/1/13). I decided to continue that for this year. We made a stop by the newspaper office to pick up the paper from 11/1/14. Mason was owning it! 

We had a fun afternoon playdate with our buddies, Anna & Emily. Trampolines are fun! 

The H family lives out in the country so Mason loved all of the space to run around! 

After our  playdate, I headed to work and super-dad headed home with Mason for evening tasks. Mason was patiently waiting and reading while Matt made dinner. 

YUMMY! Red beans, rice and sausage with cornbread. 

The evening fell apart at work with various things but I looked out the window and saw these deer and I couldn't help but smile. :)

Mid-October brought good and challenging time but These are the days, for sure. :)