Hike It Baby 30 September '18

Another Hike It Baby Challenge on record!! Last challenge I was so focused on the mileage that I more than doubled the challenge goal. This time, being that I have Ellie involved in three other groups alongside Hike It Baby to get her toes wet in all sorts of adventures, it was harder for me to make the big hikes I love and enjoy because of the days of the week they fell on. However, I am thankful that stroller walks outside with our friends still count towards our mileage. This time, knowing our schedules would be different than back in January when the last challenge commenced, I wanted to focus on just being as present as possible for the sake of keeping community with this special family of mama friends and babies. The big hikes are so good for my physical state, but the strolls are so good for my mental state. Every hike, no matter the shape and form, the time and the distance, the location or the weather, makes a beautiful impact on both myself as an individual, as Emily, as a wife, and as a mother, and to Ellie as a growing, strong, fierce, and mighty little girl. These mamas all come from different places in many ways. Each of their perspectives, and more importantly their smiles and hugs for both me and my baby girl, are what make the "hard to get out the door" mornings into amazing days.

So my personal challenge was to make the 30 miles, and to offer grace to myself in the time I had available to get out there currently, and to just focus on soaking up my good friends' good vibes.

Stats for September:

47.95 miles
2450 minutes outside
Infinite amount of laughs and smiles
:)
Love you my little Hiking family! So so much!

Beechwood Farms, A Pumpkin Tradition

For the past two fall seasons, The Three E's have made Beechwood Farms their Pick of the Pumpkin Patches. (As well as for all farm needs and fun).

I love it there because of the beauty, the Christ centered customer service, care, and farming. Each and every person on the farm, no matter the role they play, has treated my family like cherished treasure, no matter if it is the busiest day yet, or a day when everybody else is at school and work and Ellie and I want to enjoy the crops and the the market they have.

It was wild to think this was already our second trip taking Ellie to pick out her pumpkin. Last year, she was barely big enough for her baby carrier, and she couldn't do much. This year, Ellie had an opinion about which pumpkins she chose. She loved the hay ride, train ride, horse rides, and the picnic we had on the grounds. She spent 15 minutes saying hello to goats and begging me to put her in the cage with them. "No Ellie, you are not a goat." Inserts foot to high rung on chain linked fence...."Ok Ellie, stop being a smartie and stop climbing. Rude." Lol!! She is so stinking determined with all that she does! Flicker was going to find a way to run away with the goats. Her goal of the day.

Ellie picked pumpkins and walked with them cradled in her arms against her chest and tummy, proud as could be, and accomplished. What a joy to watch the baby grow up in the same special place year after year.

Now the pumpkins adorn our new front porch and Ellie and Eric both helped me decorate with them.

Ellie will visit Beechwood Farms again this month with her Hike it Baby crew for a pumpkin picking fun day!

Ellie will be involved in a bajillion fall and Halloween activities, but this is one of my very most favorite things we do!

OUR Home

Well. If you have known me, or Eric and I as a unit over the last five years, then you know well by now that even when Eric and I first started dating, knowing we wanted to be married almost immediately, that we wanted to eventually sell Eric's home, and create something of our own. We looked for homes then, we dreamed, and we had ideas. Then we put those dreams into motion, sold our home, God provided land, God gave us OUR home. It took 4.5 years of earnest prayers, heartbreak, pining for something we couldn't even see, much patience, and loving teamwork. But we did it by the grace of God.

Neither of us had an emotional connection to the house we first lived in together. It was never "ours"....Ellie only lived there for three months, herself. Heck, as much as we hated the living conditions of the rental home we spent 10 months in, it was more like home than the beautiful and nice home we left. Ellie hit all her big milestones in the rental. It was our first big endeavor together as a couple. It was a waiting place for our home.

And now I can finally sit here in the living room I dreamed of always, and type to you dear ones, that God is ever present. It is not in the least bit "turmoil" to live in a gorgeous home that just happens to not be a house you love. It is not "turmoil" to endure negative living situations and surroundings while you build a home God allowed and provided. It is not "turmoil" to walk one day in the shoes I wear that again, God Himself provided. I have seen true and raw turmoil. In this country and outside of this country. People who are thankful to find even a covering over their head, clothes for their backs, and water safe to drink. I have seen turmoil. My story is NOT one of turmoil. I was blessed with too much grace from God the moment I was born and allowed to live a full meaningful life.

But, living in a situation that is not what you desire (figuratively or realistically) can be a bit like being in the doldrums and being in that period of waiting. Waiting on something you know all the details of is hard enough. Waiting on something you can only dream of is near agony. Especially when it is your surrounding daily environment and you want your family to be in a place that belongs to ....well....your family. God made me wait. God has always made me wait. I believe it is His favorite personal lesson for me. I always always always am made to wait just beyond the point of heartbreaking aggravation faithfully on God's perfect will. He swoops in to set me free just as my strength is failing...I fall on Him. But, even when I am to a point I feel crumbled, I still thank God. No matter what it is about...not just waiting on a home for my family....anything, children, a job, an important answer, truth, or understanding beyond human understanding.

In this case, I saw God take plots of land away from me. Homes away from me. Give others land I thought I wanted. I saw God provide me with His words. I felt God write them on my heart. I felt God acting out His promises. I saw God's promises come to fruition. Through tears, heartbreaks, and doubt. God always had planned where the Three E's should live. He has much to do here through us. Many to bless in these walls. He gave to us so that we may give to others, so that we may glorify Him. HE GAVE. He took away--- so that He could give the perfect home. God gives His children free will to make their own choices, however; if we are truly His children, seeking His will, we will find His will, even when it doesn't look or feel like we think it should. And this will of God's is always incomparably better than we had planned for ourselves. The light of the truth of His will is always bright. God made us wait, suffer in the waiting, and then He delivered. We will not forget. And what He delivered was what we pined for, only so much better than we imagined for our own selves!

What a blessing to be in my first HOME with my best friend husband, and best friend daughter. To see a clean slate washed clean and given to us by Jesus, just like our hearts are done to by Jesus. This home is filled with the Holy Spirit, Praise God. Never shall I forget His words on our frames, under our foundation. Blessed be His Name. This is a perfect temporary Home until we enter our true Forever Home, with Him.