Kids have been looking for this annual fundraising event “Books vs Badges” basketball game!

My bride-to-be friend came over to my house today and we spent all day making a flower wand for her flower girl and a flower crown for her puppy. 

Can’t wait til her wedding!

After the service we went for some delicious Greek food with friends.

We’re having friends over tonight to hang out.

Made these delicious spinach and artichoke dip in a bread bowl.

Great casual day with friends…it was a perfect day.:)

We are at our new location and it feels amazing! Praise God!

Andrew ushering on the first day.

My Sunday school kiddos. Love these kids!

I feel privileged to have been given the opportunity to design our new sanctuary room in our new church building we are about to move in next week. It’s been a great learning experience for me as I’ve never done anything like this before. I just kept hoping and praying that I don’t mess anything up along the way. I’m so thankful for the great support, help, and encouragement by my church during this process. 

I got to work with our very own carpenter Gary to design this cross and I am just so thrilled.

Today I got to go to his workshop to help build stage walls. Had a blast working with him and his wife. Look at this cute couple! 

I learned how to use staple gun. 🙂

Chloe’s invited to her friend’s birthday party at Pinot’s Palette.

Chloe’s masterpiece 

Happy Happy birthday sweet girl!~ My quiet Chloe sang her hearts out, wishing her happy birthday! 🙂

Kids are so psyched and they have been counting days. They were super happy to see me at pick-up (even though I always did on Tuesdays and Fridays before), but I guess todays special because they know they’ll never have to go to AfterCare again!

We spontaneously decided to go to Blended bowls for some yummy açaí bowls to celebrate my early retirement. 🙂

Now that I’m home I plan to make up for all the play dates they couldn’t do before…

Today I closed a chapter in my life. I resigned from my job after working full-time for 13+ years as a director/designer. It was a tough decision that I struggled with and prayed about for several months and after going through all kinds of emotions, I finally decided to let it go… This was a choice we made as a family when we decided to “simplify” our lives. As much as I would like to think I was good at balancing my kids and my career, the truth was, I was not… I was too busy, doing too many things and was always on the go, rushing my kids along. I chose to take a few steps back and reprioritize my life. It’s nerve-wracking to think that I’m letting go of a career I’ve been building for 21 years, but I came to realize the most important job I needed to be best at is being a mom and a wife.
I have been so blessed to do what I love for a living and met so many wonderful people in my industry who became my closest friends. As much as I’m sad, I’m also excited to relax a little, spend more quality time with my family and most excited about driving kids to school in my pjs tomorrow morning!

I’ll miss this place…

Celebratory lunch with my co-workers. Cheers!
I’ll be working with them as a consultant. 😉

I had an amazing night hanging out with these beautiful ladies, sharing each of our grace stories over delicious meal. Thank you Susan for having us over!