On Saturday, our family had one of the best days in recent memory. The weather was perfect – 75 and blue sky sunny. We started with beignets down the road from our house, then browsed at the flea market and NC State vet school’s open house (June got to pet lots of doggies!). We drove the long way to Merritt’s for lunch so June could nap in the car, then had ice cream in Fearrington’s Adirondack chairs. After playing in the grass and watching the cows, we headed home for dinner on the sidewalk of our town’s picturesque main street. Then it was bath, jams, and time for bed.

More of that, April, please: simplicity, sun, and my sweet family!

What I read in March:
— Born Standing Up (Steve Martin’s biography, though sadly it didn’t cover the Father of the Bride years!)
— Parenting (I liked this book a lot. There were a few things he said that angered me, but most of it was good. However, I really wished that he had given more good examples – he gave lots of examples of bad conversations and the wrong way to do things (most exaggerated), but it would have been SO much more helpful if he had given good examples of how to do the things he was recommending! I’d love to hear if anyone else has read this and agreed.)
— A Lantern in Her Hand (a 1928 novel about a pioneer woman, given to me by Sam for my birthday)
— Books I’m reading throughout the year: The Power of a Praying Wife and The Lifegiving Home

Revisiting my goals for March:
Offer an impromptu prayer at dinner instead of our standard blessing (hands-down the best thing we did this month! Will be continuing indefinitely.)
Get back into my habit of reading the Bible before bed and prayer journaling
Fill out the first month in my prayer journal (this has been challenging, so I’m trying something different for April…)
Do a complete organization sweep and purge of our loft (got some work done, but definitely not a clean sweep)
Complete as much of June’s baby book as I can
Confirm the location and month of John’s anniversary trip (moving this to next month because it is a must-do!)
Confirm our next camping destination
Watch the premiere of HGTV’s Home Town

April goals:
— Confirm the location and month of John’s anniversary trip
— Pick strawberries
— Make Jenny’s popovers and strawberry jam for a Saturday breakfast
— Try Bill Hybels’ prayer journaling practice from “Too Busy Not to Pray”
— Travel to Alabama and Mississippi – my first time being away from June overnight
— Visit Duke Gardens or the WRAL Azalea Gardens
— Celebrate Easter with joy
— Finish a complete organization sweep and purge of our loft
— Research patio furniture – hoping our backyard construction will be done by the end of the month!

As a reminder, here are my 2017 guideposts. If you’ve posted your goals somewhere, I’d love to see – or just drop them in the comments!