July

So much life seems to happen during this hot and sticky month ... and this time around was no exception. This month was flying home for 4^th of July festivities with the family, sticky hugs and kisses from nephews, wedding dress shopping with all the girls on an early Saturday morning, sitting around the family kitchen table for coffee and conversations, everyone squishing into the pew for Sunday mass, visiting the little church where we’ll get married in the spring, wiffleball tournaments, fireworks bursting overhead on the family lawn, running through O’Hare trying to catch our connecting flight, a hard goodbye and watching the fiancé leave for a month-long training maneuvers, coming home from work to find Lizzie in my apartment, running down to NYC for the day,  keeping the phone close by just in case that spotty call came through, house-hunting and exploring foreclosed properties, coffee dates, spray paint and pinterest projects, battling the urge to come home and curl up on the couch to instead go for late night runs through the neighborhood, trying yet again to stay faithful to a daily prayer routine, relying on Blessed is She for daily devotions, late-night library book reading, and trying to lean into a grace a little bit more each day...