Sobremesa Stories

Letting stories unfold around the table

Womanly Wednesday: A Guest Post On Infant Loss and Infidelity

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Thanks for stopping by for this week’s Womanly Wednesday!  This is one of my favorite parts of the week where different women bravely and vulnerably share their stories.  If you know Aly Voigt, this week’s guest poster,  you know that she is one of the bravest, strongest women in the whole world.  In the last three years  her world has just about fallen apart, and the way she has continued to honestly pursue the Lord in her grief and her joys is beautiful.  It’s an honor to have her sharing her story on the blog today.  Read more by Aly and her story on her blog, Sookie Jane! 

I wasn’t allowed to date until I was sixteen. Sixteen in my book meant sixteen. Not sixteen and one month or even sixteen and one week. It was on the very day that I turned sixteen that we went on our first date. My heart was done for. Signed, sealed, and delivered.

Aly Womanly Wednesday Profile

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Why I’m Scared To Say I’m “Creative”

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If you had asked me to describe myself as a child, I probably would have chosen one word: smart. I was a part of my elementary school’s gifted program and did Honors/AP classes all the way up until I went to Davidson, a college known for its nerdiness and crazy-hard academics. For most of my life I’ve identified myself as hard-working, intelligent, and a perfectionist at just about everything. In other words…I’d probably say I was pretty nerdy.

But creative? Definitely not one of the words I’d use to describe myself.

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Five On Friday: Lazy Days And House Projects

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Hello, hello! I hope you all had a wonderful week and are excited to jump into another fun summer weekend (hopefully filled with yummy food and sweet time with friends and family).  After ten days of traveling, we spent this week hanging out at home and spending time with our KC family we hadn’t seen in a while.  Weeks like this make me so grateful to have a job with natural breaks for rest and recovery before starting up another year.  Just another great reason to be a teacher, right?

Anyway, here are five updates and other fun things from our week!

1) Gorgeous Couple Pics

When we were in California, we had the chance to do a quick couples photo shoot with my best friend and college roommate, Haley of Haley George Photography.  She posted the pics this week and I love love love them! She took pictures of me in college, photographed Jordan’s proposal and our engagement pictures, and has taken pictures of us in so many different seasons.  Thanks to this girl, our life will always be very well-documented! Thanks for some lovely pictures, Hales! You can check out the rest of the pictures on Haley’s blog!

Five on Friday Lazy Days Photo Shoot 2

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Womanly Wednesday: A Guest Post On Being Authentic

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Thanks for stopping by for this week’s Womanly Wednesday!  This is one of my favorite parts of the week where different women bravely and vulnerably share their stories.  Olivia-Grace (aka OG, aka THE OG) is a friend of mine from Davidson College, and even though she’s a year or two younger, I’ve learned so much from her deep, thoughtful , and wise heart.  She is one of the best listeners I’ve ever met and has the most contagious giggle in the whole world.  I LOVE her words here today and am so impressed by the woman she is.  Enjoy! 

We may have never met, but I already care what you think of me.

Womanly Wednesday Olivia Grace Profile Picture

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10 Delicious Spaghetti Squash Recipes

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Back when we first got married, Jordan and I toyed with the idea of following the Paleo diet (click here for more information about Paleo eating if you aren’t familiar with it!).  As I grew more confident in my cooking skills, I tried to make Paleo meals, desserts, and all sorts of other goodies.  While we’ve since moved away from being strictly Paleo, we do still eat a diet with more proteins, fruits, and veggies and try to limit grains and such.

But there is one thing from our brief Paleo stint that has stuck with us and still makes its way into our dinners a few times a month. It’s one of my husband’s favorites, and when a friend recently asked him his favorite thing about marriage, he responded with when I cook this item.  What is this mystery item we love so much?

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What To Do After An Argument With Your Spouse

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Before Jordan and I got married, we did pre-marital counseling with a couple from our church.  They were wonderful – high school sweethearts from Louisiana who’d been married many years (and who had raised a few kiddos, one of whom was a close friend of Jordan’s).  They made us laugh, they listened and asked us good questions, and they gave us lots of good advice and stories about what to expect and do in our first years of marriage.

Although lots of things they said stuck with us, one of the most important things we learned from them was about what to do after an argument with your spouse.  They said they’d done this for many years, and it helped them to keep fighting for their marriage through all the ups and downs.  What was the one piece of advice they gave us?

After every argument or conflict of any kind, we had to find a way to PLAY together.

What To Do After An Argument With Your Spouse

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Five on Friday: Travel Adventures

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Hi all! I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve been in a blogging groove since hubby and I have been traveling for the last two weeks.  I’ve missed sharing with you all and reading/hearing your stories, projects, and ideas, and can’t wait to jump back into blogging now that we’re home and have a few weeks left of summer break!

Anyway…here are five random updates from our last two weeks!

1) All-Inclusive Goodness in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

In case you missed my post earlier this week on our trip, we spent four days in Mexico! It was so fun to have endless Banana Mamas, coconut margaritas, and all sorts of other food and drink deliciousness handed to us for four straight days.  Even though I still probably would choose an adventure over a vacation, we loved our time in Mexico (and have some pretty epic sunburns to prove it, despite the five pounds of sunscreen we applied.  #gringos)

Playa Del Carmen Sunbathing

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How To Make A Ribbon Garland (For Less Than $20!)

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After heading to Mexico last week, Jordan and I flew to California for my younger brother’s wedding.  My brother and his fiancee met in middle school and got married on their seven-year anniversary.  How awesome is that? It’s one of my favorite things in the world to tell that story to my middle-schoolers and then remind them that they could be sitting next to their future spouse.  Gets ’em every time.

Anyway, when we arrived, my understandably overwhelmed mama asked me to take on decorating for the rehearsal dinner.  They were doing a more casual dinner at a local park and wanted a few things to dress up the park shelter and make it a bit cuter.  I spent an hour wandering through Hobby Lobby (one of my favorite pastimes and my husband’s least favorite pastimes) and threw anything burlap, gingham, and lace into the cart that I could.  And y’all, it all turned out so cute!

Ribbon Garland Instagram

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Womanly Wednesday: A Guest Post on Finding Hope In Illness

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Welcome to this week’s Womanly Wednesday!  This week’s post is by the lovely Liz Sievert (formerly Liz Powell).  I met Liz through a church small group last year and was immediately struck by how friendly, caring, and pretty much hilarious she is.  She has a steady wisdom to her, the kind of wisdom that comes when someone has wrestled deeply with the Lord about who she is and come to the hard-won conclusion that she is fully known and deeply loved no matter what. It has been a joy to get to know Liz these last few years and it is an honor to have her sharing her words on the blog today!  Also, be sure to check out Liz’s blog for more beautiful stories about her everyday adventures in life, faith, and marriage.

“Wholeness is brokenness owned and thereby healed.”  -Brennan Manning

Womanly Wednesday Hope In Physical Brokenness Bride

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Playa Del Carmen, Mexico: Our First All-Inclusive Vacation

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Like I shared in my post last week on adventures versus vacations, I’ve always been a fan of adventures. I love the silly moments, the brushes with new people and cultures and foods, and all the ways adventurous trips stretch you, grow you, and give you great memories.

When Jordan and I headed to Mexico this past week for four nights in an all-inclusive resort outside of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, I was a little nervous. I’m not the best at resting, and was worried that with nothing on the calendar but sunbathing and eating I’d get a little restless.  But y’all….it was a lot of fun!

Playa Del Carmen Hammocks

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