Sobremesa Stories

The Top Six Womanly Wednesday Posts of 2015

December 2, 2015 By Lauren

When I started this blog back in April, I dreamed it would be a place where women could gather round the table and share their hearts, stories, and lives in real and beautiful ways. I dreamed that it would be a place where women could talk about the struggles they wrestle with on a daily basis so that other women could come out of the silence and breathe a sigh of relief as they admitted, “Me too.”

One of my favorite ways I’ve seen this unfold this year is in my Womanly Wednesday guest post series. Since May, I’ve had over 25 different women share their stories on Wednesdays, opening up their hearts so other people wouldn’t feel alone. I have continually been amazed not only by the beautiful words these women have shared, but also by how you readers have responded. These posts have gotten hundreds of shares, thousands of views, and so many supportive, encouraging comments. This guest post series has been one of my favorite parts of blogging so far, and I’m so grateful to all of you who’ve participated.

I have loved EVERY post that has been shared in this series, but today, I’m rounding up the six posts that have gotten the most views and shares since I started the series in May. And just to clarify…I’m not playing favorites here. I took these straight from my blog analytics about which posts had the most total views in 2015! I really did love every post I got the honor of sharing this year and couldn’t possibly pick favorites based just on my own preferences. If you haven’t read these six posts or the rest of them, you need to check them out! So much goodness here, my friends.

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5 Lessons Learned In 5 Years of Dating And Marriage (An Anniversary Post)

November 30, 2015 By Lauren

Five years ago this past weekend (Thanksgiving 2010, to be exact), I hopped on a plane to visit a boy from Kansas City who I’d met a few months before while making milkshakes in a Young Life camp snack bar. Lots of late-night conversations, some awkward almost-hand-holding, and one lakeside, starlit first kiss later, we started dating (you can read the rest of our love story here).

It’s crazy to look back on these five years and see all the ways God has shaped us, delighted us, broken us, and used our relationship to draw us deeper into Him and into each other. Dating and marrying Jordan is the best thing I’ve done and I wouldn’t trade our story for the world, but it definitely hasn’t been easy. I write pretty frequently about marriage in this space because while I think it’s beautiful and wonderful, my own experience (and the stories of so many women I know) have shown me over and over again that it’s also really freaking hard.

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Womanly Wednesday: A Guest Post On Body Image Struggles

November 25, 2015 By Lauren

Welcome to this week’s Womanly Wednesday! This week, my sweet friend Maegan is sharing about what it’s looked like to wrestle with body image throughout her weight loss journey. She frames her struggle beautifully in the context of our hearts and God’s heart for us and it’s an honor to have her story on the blog today!

For as long as I can remember, I have struggled with my weight. When I was little, it was cute, because who doesn’t love little chubby kids? As I got older, though, and realized it wasn’t just cute “baby fat” that I had, it became a problem for me.

I knew I was bigger than the other girls in my class. I never got bullied for it and still had lots of friends, but it was something that I was constantly aware of. I have always walked into a room and immediately done a scan to see if I’m the biggest person in it. If I saw someone heavier, I would sigh with relief and feel better about myself. I would even, sometimes, try to stand near that person to make myself look better.

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Mocha Pecan Pie Recipe

November 24, 2015 By Lauren

As a kid, I was about as shy as they come. Family gatherings like Thanksgiving and Christmas were actually introvert heaven for my younger self because I would sit around the table with the adults for hours, quietly listening and observing as their glasses clinked, they scraped plates of mocha pecan pie, and they shared well-loved stories with punch lines and innuendos that were just one step above my little blonde head.

That time spent around the table after a meal, laughing, sharing, and scraping crumbs off sticky plates actually has a name in Spanish – la sobremesa. I love the idea of that time around the table so much that I named my blog after it (you can read about that here)! And Thanksgiving around my Aunt Bess’s table will always be what comes to mind when I think of that image of la sobremesa.

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Six Month Pregnancy Update

November 23, 2015 By Lauren

Holy moly, this pregnancy feels like it’s been flying now that the fall is in full swing (and winter is rapidly approaching). This past weekend marked 24 weeks, or six months, of pregnancy and I can’t believe that we are just about four months away from meeting our little man (assuming he doesn’t decide to make an early appearance). Here’s a few updates on how the pregnancy’s been going so far!

Nursery Updates

Now that Jordan’s done with cross-country, we’ve jumped full force into some nesting! We took everything out of the baby room (including Olive’s kennel – she was VERY confused) and knocked out painting it last weekend. We have a pretty good system down where I cut in around the windows, ceiling, etc, and Jordan does the roller. We painted the walls a beautiful, cool shade of pale gray (like everything else in our house, I know – see our home tour here for evidence).

My backwards cap wearing partner in crime (and his coffee)

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Five on Friday: Sick Days and Lots of Painting

November 20, 2015 By Lauren

With Thanksgiving and a short week next week (followed by just THREE weeks until Christmas break!), this week has felt a bit slow. I know sometimes those weeks are necessary because they force us to take a breath, slow down, and not let time fly by us, but it was definitely a long one. I’m grateful for lazy nights, sick days, and the time to heal when our bodies wave the white flag of surrender!

1) Sick Days

In my four years of teaching, I don’t know that I’ve taken a single sick day. I hate making sub plans and usually feel like it’s easier to just tough it out and rest when I get home. But I got knocked out by some sort of yucky cold this week and that combined with pregnancy (aka the fact that I can’t take my favorite cold medicines of choice due to this whole growing a human thing) meant I had to give in and take a day off. I spent the day on the couch reading, blogging, and doing lots and lots of grading. I’m still feeling a bit under the weather but I’m glad I gave myself some space to recover. And snuggle my sleepy puppy, of course.

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Refugees, Batman, And Loving When We’re Afraid

November 19, 2015 By Lauren

I’m about to break one of the biggest blogging rules I set for myself when I started blogging: Don’t post about anything political or controversial.

But can I be honest with you all? My heart has been breaking over all the states loudly claiming that they will no longer accept Syrian refugees in the wake of the horrific attacks in Paris. And even though my platform on this blog is by no means huge, I want to use it to share about things I believe in, things that matter to me and to the world we live in.

Whatever faith tradition (or lack of faith tradition) you hold to be true, I can almost guarantee that somewhere in your belief system it emphasizes the value of human life: not just the value of people born here in the States who share our language and culture, but boys and girls and men and women everywhere. And friends, the sweet brothers and sisters who share our humanity and our hearts are hurting.

(source)

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Womanly Wednesday: Having A Parent With Cancer

November 18, 2015 By Lauren

Welcome to this week’s Womanly Wednesday! Today’s guest poster, Sierra, is a dear friend with whom I led Young Life at Davidson. She is one of the most thoughtful, loving, and wise people I know and when she offered to share about what it’s been like to walk through cancer with her dad, I jumped at the chance to share her story. Sierra, your heart is beautiful and I’m honored to join the many people praying for your dad’s health and joy.

On a beautiful, warm Friday in June, I was at a friend’s house, getting ready for her rehearsal dinner. As one of the bridesmaids, I moved from room to room upstairs, pulling on my dress, doing my makeup, asking a friend to help with my hair. I held my phone close, waiting for a call from my parents with the results from a biopsy my dad had gotten earlier that week. They had assured me that it was probably nothing. The friends I had told echoed them, certain that it was just a lump and nothing to worry about.

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The One Question To Ask When You Feel Insecure

November 16, 2015 By Lauren

When I wrestle with shame and insecurity, it’s never just one simple negative thought that goes away on its own. My mind starts spinning with the negative thoughts that I’m too much, too emotional, too needy, or not good enough. The voices echo in my head until I start to feel like I’ll never measure up to my own expectations or the expectations of those around me, and the shame is overwhelming.

In college this was a huge struggle for me and I had several panic attacks in my freshman and sophomore year when the insecurities got overwhelming. I felt trapped and hopeless to ever break free of the cycle. How could I turn off those negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones? How could I cling to the truths I knew were true about myself when the lies that I’m too much or not good enough were so much easier to believe?

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Five on Friday: House Projects and Awesome Husbands

November 13, 2015 By Lauren

With cross-country winding down and some of our commitments slowing as the holidays approach, this week felt a lot more open. We only have about seven weeks until Christmas (what in the world?) and then the baby countdown really starts, so it was fun to feel our schedules slowing down a bit this week. I’m grateful for my husband, my puppy, and the beautiful home that we are slowly preparing to welcome our sweet baby Caleb into (you can read my letter explaining his name here)!

1) The End Of A Season

I’ve mentioned this a few times, but my husband coached high school cross-country this fall. He’s had 6:00 AM morning practice almost every morning since Memorial Day, afternoon practices that went until dinnertime most nights, and lots and lots of Saturday meets. And this past weekend, his runners rocked it at State, officially ending their season! It’s been so fun to see him jump into coaching this year. He loves his students so well and is so intentional in the ways he coaches them, both as runners and as men. He’s well on his way to becoming Coach Taylor and I’m pretty happy to be his Tami!