reading – listening – eating

we just got back from a family vacation celebrating my parents’ 50th (almost) wedding anniversary to Roatan Island, Honduras.
it was AMAZING!
i will blog the photos and info about it all soon.
for a beach trip i try to always bring a new book.
the night before we left i went to walmart for all the last minute things (mike&ike’s, new backpack, sunglasses, sunscreen, etc) and i grabbed “The Glass Castle”.

Someone had mentioned it earlier that week and i recalled that i’d meant to see the movie last year but never did.
i brought it on the trip and finished it – I LOVED it!
i didn’t even realize it was a memoir since i didn’t read the back!  My mom had read it so she told me that as i was almost done with it.
it made it even better to realize it was true!
and i see now that it’s right there on the cover “A MEMOIR” but I was too focused on relaxing at the beach to see it.

i listened to Jen Hatmaker’s podcast last week with Becca Stevens from Thistle Farms.
soooo good!
definitely listen to this one!
here’s a video about Thistle Farms:
https://youtu.be/I_y4BniKBso

and i listened to Mom Struggling Well podcast with Sara Hagerty.
totally worth the listen!
🙂
i was struggling that day with some confusing feelings about foster care and some of their dialogue wondering and aching for the time they missed with their adopted kiddos before they were in their families reminded me how important caring for kids in the “inbetween” times is.  How they need to be loved in a BIG way even if it’s a short stay.  i was grateful for those reminders.

i made this recently and we decided it was really just goulash in soup form.
but we also hadn’t had goulash in…. forever.
it was yummy!  🙂
Beef & Macaroni Soup