Life Updates
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Catching Up with the Doyles
In my last post, I promised a life update. A lot has changed for our family in the last couple of months! If you’re mostly here for book reviews or homeschooling posts, this might not interest you as much. If that’s you, normal content is coming soon! If you’re interested in hearing about what our little family is up to, read on! The biggest news is that we moved! In case you didn’t know, we were living in Southern Illinois. In terms of ministry, we were doing Bible studies with college students in our home. We lived there for 3 years and absolutely loved every moment of it. Peter was working…
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Claire’s Willy Wonka Birthday Party
My daughter is 7 years old. SEVEN! I’m not sure how in the world that happened, but here we are. Those of you that know me well know that I enjoy party planning. And, of course, there always needs to be a theme. It’s even better if it’s a themed based on a book! The last party I planned was her 5th birthday party (Charlotte’s Web themed, in case you were wondering). Last year, we had just moved to our current town and didn’t really know anyone, so we tried to make her birthday as special as possible, but didn’t have a party. One of our favorite authors is Roald…
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Mid-Year Homeschool Update [First Grade]
Hey, everyone! I gave a tiny update in my catching up post (you can read that here, if you’re interested). I promised a more indepth update soon. It’s not as soon as I wanted it to be, but here it is! (If you’re interested in my beginning of the year post, check that out here) (If you’re interested in why we decided to homeschool, you can read a post about that here) What’s Been Working Well Routine While it’s not playing out the way I might’ve hoped, we are settled into a good routine. In my beginning of the year post, I really wanted to try to get lessons done in the morning. For kindergarten, we had always done lessons after lunch. We’ve met those two routines in the middle. Right now, we typically begin school late…
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Catching Up – A 2018 Life Update
I’ve been so focused on posting about Christmas lately. I suppose that makes sense since Christmas is only a few days away … how did that happen? I am so unprepared this year. I used to be done with Christmas shopping before December, but we just finished last night. I feel like I get worse every year. Please, tell I’m not the only one! This Christmas season has been a bit strange. It’s the first one in a very long time that we haven’t been in ministry at an existing church. It feels different, but not necessarily bad. It’s definitely a slower season, but I’m not complaining about that one…
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Ways Our Family Makes Christmastime Special
Ah, Christmastime. If you’re a parent, you’re probably always looking for ways to make this season even more magical and special. In the past, our family has always done advent calendars. We began this tradition when Claire was two years old. I made an advent calendar to hang on the wall and each day had a Christmas activity and a Scripture to read. Fast forward a few years to 2017. I hung up the advent calendar, but we rarely opened the envelopes. Last Christmas was a very stressful season for our family, so that was probably part of the issue, but I also think it was difficult to maintain a…
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Our Favorite Christmas Books
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First Grade, Here We Come!
Time flies when you’re having fun. I can’t believe Claire is in first grade! This is our second year homeschooling (third, if you count preschool). I love that Claire is so excited to start school. (If you’re curious as to why we homeschool, you can check out that post here) Our initial plan was to continue school throughout the summer (but probably a lightened version with reading lessons, math, read alouds, piano practice and nature studies). Summers are hot in the Midwest (not as hot as those of you in the South), so there’s not a ton of playing outside. I’d rather have the flexibility to take time off in…
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Monday Menu Planning – Week 5
It’s been almost a month since I have posted a menu! Honestly, I have not been doing a great job of sticking to (or even planning) menus lately. While we were moving, I had some leftover meals in the freezer and those were absolute God sends. I highly recommend prepping some frozen meals before moving gets too crazy, so you can still eat healthy, delicious meals. It will help you to feel your best (because, let’s face it, fast food every night makes you feel icky) and will save your wallet as well! Other than that, we just had salads, frozen veggie burgers from Aldi and easy to grab things…
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What Love Looks Like
Ten years. A whole decade. A third of my life. That’s how long Peter and I have been married. At first it seemed easy to dismiss. After all, I know a lot of people who have been married for much longer than I have. But then I look at society around me and realize that many marriages don’t make it to the 10 year mark, especially for people who marry so young (I was 19 and Peter was 20). I have jokingly said that once I hit the ten year mark, I can confidently say that I will know half of one thing about marriage. There’s some truth to that…
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Big News …
And, no, I’m not pregnant 😜 I referenced in my last post that I was sticking to quick/easy/crockpot meals, because there’s a lot going on right now. I promised I’d share more about that, so here I am making good on that promise. On May 20th, Peter resigned from his pastoral position at our current church. We felt the Lord had brought us here for a season and very specific purpose. That purpose has been accomplished and the season is ending. Our last Sunday here will be June 3rd. So, what’s next? We are planting a church in IL! We are so excited. We have been prayerfully trying to reach…
