Back to school dinner 2024

This last Friday, we had our annual back to school dinner!  This tradition is so special to us.  We have done it since Ryder went to preschool.  We make a fun dinner, and pray over our year: Teachers and faculty, fellow students, friends, team mates... We choose a verse that marks the year for us. We pray over each other as well. 

The kids each lead the prayer time for each other… The absolute sweetest!

We chose this verse: 

"The Lord your God will fight for you, you need only be still..."

Exodus 14:14

We loved thinking of the things that each year brings, conflicts that we might have to "fight": relationships (with friends or teachers), feelings of perfectionism or anxious thoughts or subjects that are hard to navigate, peer pressures, and potentially over all feelings of inadequacy... There can be these feelings to be constantly doing and fighting and pushing... This verse is a prayer for our kids that they would know that God has gone before them and that He fights battles on our behalf, that the only thing they have to do is know that he is God and that they just need to be still.  There is so much peace when you realize that that sometimes the heavy things that you are carrying were never things you were meant to pick up in the first place... I love that we get to live life with Christ and I LOVE that He goes with them into each day, each school year...

Registered

Both kids are registered for this new school year!

Eden is all ready for 7th grade…

How do we have a high school freshman? 

resilience

 This last Monday, Ryder had a crash on his road bike on his way to his high school soccer practice.  He had road rash from head to toe and a broken wrist, a loose tooth, and a banged up helmet which told me things could have been so much worse!

He did not have the intention to start high school with an arm brace and a fat lip, but he has had the best attitude and taken it all in stride.  I'm so proud of this kid… 

work

 The sky walking into work:

I love the moment to breathe before heading into all that waited for me.

A weekend tournament for our girl...

This last weekend, Eden's team was invited to play in the Surf Cup in Oceanside.  She was SO excited!

She even got some time in the field out of the goal!

The team made it to semi-finals in Del Mar but we lost in PKs. This tournament Eden played in the field and she really had so much fun! We are so proud of our girl and her team!

A summer evening...

We made amazing burgers and had an outdoor movie.  

It felt like such a fun summer evening.  As summer is coming to a close, I am savoring every moment we have together like this... 

Cousins and

Our babies are growing up so fast… We took our annual cousins photo. Here is 2012:

And here we are in 2024. Time sure is flying!

We also took a photo: