Oct. 4. I think its officially fall. It’s 52*, there’s pumpkin bread in the oven (that my fabulous roommate is making) filling the house with the most delicious smell. The front door is open and I’m wrapped up in a blanket watching my favorite Saturday morning show, Trisha’s Southern Kitchen. Trisha Yearwood, country music and simple southern cooking. What’s not to love!?

A motorcycle just flew by on my street and my mind was instantly transported back to four-wheeler riding with my cousins. We didn’t have a lot growing up, but we had each other and both my aunt and uncle and my grandparents had four-wheelers. Most of my childhood memories are of being in Ellijay with my cousins. Spring, summer, fall and winter, in the creek, through the barn, down back roads through the mountains. My sister and I would hop on the back of a four-wheeler and hold on to one of our cousins for dear life. It was so fun! Bugs smacking us in the face and all.

Me and Lorie – 1984 & 2014

Last weekend, I went to the Garth Brooks concert with those cousins. I posted a picture on instagram and underneath it wrote “God sets the lonely in families…and the family in families too.” I can’t get that thought out of my head. It must be true, right? My mom is my mom. My dad, my dad. Sister, cousins, granny, aunts, and uncles – they’re my family. I’m a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a niece, a granddaughter. God set me in my family and I have a role to play, and you know what? I haven’t been playing that role. At some point, I made the decision to place less value on that role. There’s this phrase I’ve been using a lot lately, mainly in a work context – “what you spend time on is where you place value.” Turns out its true for the rest of life as well.

There‘s a lot to say about living out of who you are, not what you do. Being vs doing. Doing flowing out of being, not the other way around. We’re sons and daughters of God first. Before we’re changing the world, or raising families, or being great leaders, or whatever it is that He’s called us to, we’re children who have a Father first. We have an inheritance, but we also have a heritage.

Can’t wait to go to my granny’s house next weekend.

Surprising Juliette on her first field trip this week

He is the Anchor.