Hello Monday - Hello Blogging

 

Good Monday Morning!  My phone tells me that we are already in WEEK 13 of 2026 - wow!!  And we are at the end of Q1 at work - unbelievable.  Time is flying by!!  

Linking up with Sarah and Holly this morning - although I haven't been blogging, I do still enjoy reading what others are up to :)

We made one of our favorite meal last night - none of the kids could come over to enjoy it, but Tom's parents were here as were their landlords, our framily, Tommy & Barbara.  We've pretty much got this meal down - it takes awhile to prep but then all goes together pretty easily.  The blackstone makes it easy!  

The shrimp are the last to go on - I still do the rice inside.  

Yesterday was a steller day for food - Stephen had come over at 7 a.m. Saturday morning to make 6 racks of ribs for his men's group - he left a couple for us - 

We pulled that first rack out and pretty much ate it at the counter just like that - ha!  We took what was left of that one to the Bells and they mentioned on the way to church yesterday how much they enjoyed them so we asked them to come back after they changed to finish up the second rack with us.  Stephen and Tom have gotten this recipe/technique down perfectly!

Terrible picture, but a memory all the same - my tennis partner and I got to play outdoors Friday and Saturday to kick off our USTA season here in East Tennessee!!

Friday morning we played here - it was a beautiful day!!  I had taken the day off work because it had been a LONG one and our match was smack dab in the middle of the day so it wasn't worth it to try and work "around" tennis.  I know, I have a great job that lets me manipulate my time like that :). I don't disagree.  I'm sure I'm coming back to a LOT today but that's o.k.  I work with a super team and two weeks ago it was mainly just two of us when the other two took time off for Spring Break - it all evens out.

I sent this screenshot to my sister Friday after my match - I picked up my phone and this was my wallpaper (or lock screen or whatever it's called).  They had had to make the difficult decision to put Charlie Brown down the night before - he was a beloved dog and lived a FULL life of 18 years.  He just kept going and going. . .he was born around Thanksgiving in 2007 to one of our neighbors who had picked up a (pregnant) stray.  He was named by them and we decided that we might like to try having a dog in our lives again.  He just didn't work out for "us" - the kids were still too little and he was a LOT. . .my sister decided that she loved him so we took him up to Ohio and her family were "his people" from then on.  

This is him and his sister Lizzie four years ago. . .I'm sure Lizzie really misses him :(

I took this out of something Annie F. Downs recently wrote on Substack.  I'm going through a period of searching and asking for an answer/direction and know that this is an outwardly, human way to really seek the Lord and His Will.  Someone in the comments wondered if this was a way of "manipulating" God, but I don't think so - it's a way, to me, of taking something OUT of my life so I can hear God's voice in that space.  In this case it's not a food fast for me, rather a time I am honoring God by saying "no" to something I enjoy to pointedly spend more time with Him.  I'm sure He'd answer regardless, but I want to be alert to His promptings, not miss it, so I'm more acutely aware of Him and His direction.  It's the waiting that's hard, right?  I want to know the answer but experience has taught me that sometimes the wait is for the other person/situation/readiness. . .so. . .here we are.

A few days prior I had seen and captured this by Melanie Shankle so clearly I am on a journey.  

All these words to say, it's not that I've grown "bored" of blogging or don't have much to say (ha!) but I'm finding different ways to spend the time I used to spend doing this.  The reasons for this blog have varied over different seasons of my life - right now it's not fitting in very well in any way.  I love these weekend catch-ups, still find myself looking for favorites throughout the week to blog Friday Favorites, enjoy answering Joyce's Wednesday HodgePodge and other random link-ups that you ladies point me toward during the month.  I just think it is all a little too much and I should be concentrating on other things right now.  Again, waiting to see what those "things" are, but they don't seem to be in this world.  

I prefer being a creator over a consumer, but as I've mentioned, my current job is FULL of creating all.day.long (even just six months ago it was more leading/facilitating/serving) so this (me writing) is no longer a "fun" outlet - more just "another thing" to do each day.  I hate that my job is taking the joy away from my life, but I do like the people I am working with and am learning so much about the industry (banking) that I am not unhappy - just readjusting things right now with no expectation as to what the outcome will be. 

I have been doing this since 2009 - I don't think I'll ever "stop" - I also don't think I'll ever be the consistent blogger that I appreciate out of those on my sidebar that I continually check in with!  Seasons of Life and all, y'know :)

Who knows?  Maybe I'll be back this week - ha!  I just want to take it off my "mental list" that "I need to blog". . .I want to find a place in my life for this where it becomes a rhythm and has a purpose.  I'm thankful for the hundreds of memories I've captured here for sure, including the one above - these are the lives that are growing and changing that *I* get to cheer on in real life right now!!!

Love,

Jenni