I am officially writing my first blog post as a new homeowner! Y'all, this journey to home ownership is such a beautiful story in patience, faith, trust, and God's faithfulness and provision. I am bubbling over and can't wait to share the full story with you soon.

In my eyes, you just can't beat fireworks on the lake for the Fourth. I'm so grateful for my small Tennessee hometown that puts on one of the best fireworks shows I've seen.

We closed on our house August 5, and that is the primary reason I'm coming to you with the second edition of mid-month goals! With all the activity revolving around buying the house, I just wasn't able to get my goal setting or posting done by the first of the month, and I chose to have grace for myself. I've realized sometimes it's best to embrace the moment, accept the season I'm in, and make it happen the best I can.

July days on the lake in East Tennessee.

Speaking of grace and seasons, you may notice The LovingKind looks a little different than before. I created a new homepage and updated the site navigation. The homepage used to be the blog, but I've decided to slow down my writing in this season. With the help of a friend, I realized I was putting too much pressure on myself to do it all, and decided to give myself the space to really invest where my heart has been leading me.

We are renovating our new home and that is an important investment of our hearts and our time (2015 goal #2) right now. In addition, I have been craving to spend more time illustrating and developing meaningful products to share with you through The LovingKind. I absolutely love writing here and will continue to do so, just at a different pace for a while. I will still post goals every month as well as other things in between, but I'm saying "no" to pressure and trying to force too many things at once.

My hope is that leaning into this season will bring joy and meaning. To put it more directly, I hope to cultivate a home environment where love for family and friends will abound, and to create inspiring new products that make people's lives better. Thanks, as always, for sharing in the journey. Also, I hope you'll join me on Instagram where I'm sharing house progress among other things!

You may remember Sarah as our wedding photographer, and since then, she has become such a dear, dear friend! We loved having her and her husband Brent in Birmingham for a visit last month!

July Goals Progress

Write four blog posts (I wrote two not four, but also changed my site to better reflect and support my current season)
Close on our home! (If you've ever bought a home, you know you can't always control the timing of accomplishing this, and our closing got bumped from July to August. I'm so excited for next month's post where this goal will be checked off!)
~~Host Sarah and Brent in Birmingham~~
Send 30th birthday party invitations (they weren't printed in time for July, but you may see this goal come up in August!)
~~Watercolor~~
~~Celebrate July 4th with family~~

Standing monthly goals

Send July birthday cards
Write Woody a love note
~~Goals blog post~~
~~Budget party with Woody~~

August Goals

The numbers beside each monthly goal indicate the corresponding yearly goal.

Celebrate my 30th birthday in a meaningful way (12,33)
Close on our home! Hooray!!! (1)
Develop new products for September Pop-up Shop (5,6,7,10)
Complete groom card for custom order (7,10)
Celebrate Dad's birthday (25,33)
Focus on home renovation projects with intention and heart (2)
Continue tidying process with Woody (46)
Speak on goal setting at The Orchard (32,35)

Standing monthly goals
Goals blog post
Budget party with Woody