• This weekend we snagged a room with a view for a little getaway. If you haven’t gotten away with your spouse in a while, can I encourage you to do so? I know there are kids and bills and responsibilities and all sorts of other things, but goodness, is it important. It’ll keep for 24 hours while you get away and reconnect. I share it often, but repetition helps it sink in; on good advice, we try to aim for a date per week, a night away a month, a weekend getaway a quarter, and a vacation a year. It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive—sometimes it’s just a Jeep ride to the pasture with intentional conversation or grabbing dinner while the boy is with his grandparents. We are so grateful to have family nearby who happily watches him so we can take time together. However, if you don’t have that, find a family you can trade off with. We did that for quite some while several years back, and the kids enjoyed it almost more than the parents did! What can you pen-in today to do with your spouse in the next two weeks? (Tangible goals are key!)
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    This weekend we snagged a room with a view for a little getaway. If you haven’t gotten away with your spouse in a while, can I encourage you to do so? I know there are kids and bills and responsibilities and all sorts of other things, but goodness, is it important. It’ll keep for 24 hours while you get away and reconnect. I share it often, but repetition helps it sink in; on good advice, we try to aim for a date per week, a night away a month, a weekend getaway a quarter, and a vacation a year. It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive—sometimes it’s just a Jeep ride to the pasture with intentional conversation or grabbing dinner while the boy is with his grandparents. We are so grateful to have family nearby who happily watches him so we can take time together. However, if you don’t have that, find a family you can trade off with. We did that for quite some while several years back, and the kids enjoyed it almost more than the parents did! What can you pen-in today to do with your spouse in the next two weeks? (Tangible goals are key!)
  • When I started my blog in 2010, my main intention was to share pregnancy progress and eventually baby milestones for friends and family that weren’t front row for then-Baby Gray’s daily details. I blogged five days a week for years, “met” some sweet internet friends—some who have become real life friends and advocates as the years have gone on, and found community in a place it was lacking for me as a then-work-from-home mom. As time has gone by, my little place on the web has changed, and so has my focus. Now, I mostly talk marriage, adoption, or Type One mixed in with tips and daily life. I rarely get in a full blog post, but a snippet here and there via social media. I now feel compelled to share because the Lord has curated this space for me to help others—even if it’s just one person—through what He shows and teaches me. However, I do feel like it’s important to note, that while I do share quite a bit, I am highly aware that I am sharing on a public platform. I take care to be cautious when sharing anything that contains information that is someone else’s story, other than mine—including (but not limited to) my husband and our son. Sometimes I write from the deep trenches where the Lord has us waiting. Other times, I feel Him lead me to hold off on the story until it’s fleshed out a little more. Every time, though, it’s real and from my heart. No masks, no shame. My desire is for Jesus to flow through me in such a way that love and kindness exude. (Also, I’ll never not think it’s cool when people stop my husband to ask him if he’s “Mr. Gray;” if you’re a reader and you see us out, don’t be a stranger.) #thursdaythoughts #satxbloggers #community #TGMserve
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    When I started my blog in 2010, my main intention was to share pregnancy progress and eventually baby milestones for friends and family that weren’t front row for then-Baby Gray’s daily details. I blogged five days a week for years, “met” some sweet internet friends—some who have become real life friends and advocates as the years have gone on, and found community in a place it was lacking for me as a then-work-from-home mom. As time has gone by, my little place on the web has changed, and so has my focus. Now, I mostly talk marriage, adoption, or Type One mixed in with tips and daily life. I rarely get in a full blog post, but a snippet here and there via social media. I now feel compelled to share because the Lord has curated this space for me to help others—even if it’s just one person—through what He shows and teaches me. However, I do feel like it’s important to note, that while I do share quite a bit, I am highly aware that I am sharing on a public platform. I take care to be cautious when sharing anything that contains information that is someone else’s story, other than mine—including (but not limited to) my husband and our son. Sometimes I write from the deep trenches where the Lord has us waiting. Other times, I feel Him lead me to hold off on the story until it’s fleshed out a little more. Every time, though, it’s real and from my heart. No masks, no shame. My desire is for Jesus to flow through me in such a way that love and kindness exude. (Also, I’ll never not think it’s cool when people stop my husband to ask him if he’s “Mr. Gray;” if you’re a reader and you see us out, don’t be a stranger.) #thursdaythoughts #satxbloggers #community #TGMserve
  • Having ourselves a little @2tartsbakery date at home—not on purpose, but because we managed to get out of town with not enough insulin left in his pen to cover his treat. Typically, we have an extra syringe in his bag as well to pull insulin his pen can’t expel, but we didn’t have that, either. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Roll with the punches. Do the best you can. We try to allow him as much of a “normal” life as possible while still keeping him safe and healthy. If I’m being totally honest, had we been out with friends and not just our little family, we would have let him have it and treated the high when we got home. Since it was just us, though, we grabbed it all to-go, cranked Harry Potter up in the car, and make the journey home first. This kid takes great care of himself and makes life with Type One seem easy. We’ll continue to work to bring awareness and pray for a cure. #BTHOtypeone
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    Having ourselves a little @2tartsbakery date at home—not on purpose, but because we managed to get out of town with not enough insulin left in his pen to cover his treat. Typically, we have an extra syringe in his bag as well to pull insulin his pen can’t expel, but we didn’t have that, either. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Roll with the punches. Do the best you can. We try to allow him as much of a “normal” life as possible while still keeping him safe and healthy. If I’m being totally honest, had we been out with friends and not just our little family, we would have let him have it and treated the high when we got home. Since it was just us, though, we grabbed it all to-go, cranked Harry Potter up in the car, and make the journey home first. This kid takes great care of himself and makes life with Type One seem easy. We’ll continue to work to bring awareness and pray for a cure. #BTHOtypeone
  • Hello! Hello! It’s the first #fridayintroductions of 2019, and I wanted to say hi! 👋🏻 I’m Jolie, curator of this little space on the Internet. I’ve been married to my high school sweetheart for just over twelve years (dating eighteen today—wow; we’re gettin’ old). This week has been lots of talk of goals, resolutions, word(s) of the year, and the like. My word this year is serve, and I am always excited to see where God takes us through the word He points me to. Already this morning it has shone through in a scripture where I hadn’t seen it before. Most of the time when we put a God-lens on things, we begin to see them from a new angle. What can you turn on its head today and see a new way? Where can you find a solution where you have only been seeing a problem? Like I tell my son and my students, flip the puzzle upside down—look at it a new way. Happy Friday, friends! (PS: Car Line Confessions 🚗🚗 will return to Facebook live next week!) #TGMserve
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    Hello! Hello! It’s the first #fridayintroductions of 2019, and I wanted to say hi! 👋🏻 I’m Jolie, curator of this little space on the Internet. I’ve been married to my high school sweetheart for just over twelve years (dating eighteen today—wow; we’re gettin’ old). This week has been lots of talk of goals, resolutions, word(s) of the year, and the like. My word this year is serve, and I am always excited to see where God takes us through the word He points me to. Already this morning it has shone through in a scripture where I hadn’t seen it before. Most of the time when we put a God-lens on things, we begin to see them from a new angle. What can you turn on its head today and see a new way? Where can you find a solution where you have only been seeing a problem? Like I tell my son and my students, flip the puzzle upside down—look at it a new way. Happy Friday, friends! (PS: Car Line Confessions 🚗🚗 will return to Facebook live next week!) #TGMserve
  • Serve. It’s something we talk about often in our family. And just in the last week or so, I’ve felt like it’s supposed to be my focus for 2019. A while ago, the boy was talking to a friend (who has come to our church a time or two), and he said, “It’s our church where we serve.” It was the best way he knew how to explain that it was our home church—it’s where our time goes as well. I want to go beyond that, though—to serve others in my every day actions. Truly, I would like to position myself in such a way that serving is my immediate reaction to a situation. Jesus came to serve. To love. That’s what I want to emulate. “Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people,” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6:6-7‬ NIV
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    Serve. It’s something we talk about often in our family. And just in the last week or so, I’ve felt like it’s supposed to be my focus for 2019. A while ago, the boy was talking to a friend (who has come to our church a time or two), and he said, “It’s our church where we serve.” It was the best way he knew how to explain that it was our home church—it’s where our time goes as well. I want to go beyond that, though—to serve others in my every day actions. Truly, I would like to position myself in such a way that serving is my immediate reaction to a situation. Jesus came to serve. To love. That’s what I want to emulate. “Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people,” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6:6-7‬ NIV
  • Wishing you a wonderful 2019! Happy New Year! 🎉🎉🎉
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    Wishing you a wonderful 2019! Happy New Year! 🎉🎉🎉