Share 4 Somethings

    It is absolutely surreal that October is almost over.  We have had the busiest week and honestly I'm just about to crash!  So I decided to sit down, rest a bit and join a party that is hosted by one of my favorite bloggers!  I LOVE Jenn's blog, and this linkup is always one of my favorites.  

  If you caught my blog about leaving blogger, but didn't catch the one about deciding to stay, I will leave it up a bit.  I have decided that blogging is good for me, and after several days away from instagram, I don't know why I ever questioned it?  But I digress.  I'm excited to Share 4 somethings for October!  This months themes were; some things we loved, some things we learned, some things that went well, and some things we let go of this month.   :)  So here we go!  I also decided to share on Talking about it Tuesday since this month was kind of a big deal :) visit the party and join the fun!!

   This month, I have LOVED all of the new and exciting experiences I've had with my family!  We visited our first NFL game early in the month, and we ended the month at the NC State Fair!  We had never been before, and my daughter is officially an NC State Fair blue ribbon holder!  We had the BEST time at both of these events, and I'm so so thankful we got to experience this during October!

We are all actually divided among our favorite team, but my son has LOVED the Dolphins since he was a little guy, and they hadn't been to Carolina in YEARS, so we were happy to cheer for them :)  Even my husband who is a long time Panthers fan wore a Miami shirt that day!  Carolina won, but we weren't that sad since we love them too :)

And the State Fair was NOTHING short of amazing....

Something I learned...

    I struggled a lot this month with going back and forth with blogging... but God was really amazing in revealing to me that it was a sweet hobby.  I had so many new sweet followers and many left such encouraging comments when I was confused.  After I finally gave in and decided to just allow myself to enjoy this hobby, it really warmed my heart.  I'm so thankful that there are bloggers around who care enough to read, to comment and to encourage.  I'm so so thankful for that, and you'll never know how I needed it this month!

  I also learned that I can be one of those early to bed, early to rise kinda girls!  The last three nights I've been in bed around 9:30 and up before 7!  I'm so proud of myself lol.  I had to do this for the fair and for an event that we had at church, but God showed me that I could do this and make it!  I am so appreciative of that!

Some things that went well...

  The state fair went VERY well!  My girl won a ribbon in each class that she was in!  I was SO proud of her!  And she looked so beautiful I cried when she went into the arena for the first time.  We never had a ton of money when she was young but we worked so hard to make her dreams of horseback riding come true.  She grew up mostly only able to take bi-weekly lessons and sometimes we would have to get her grandparents to help her pay for them.  But through all those years, the Bible college years, and the years we barely made it, her Daddy and I worked so hard to make it happen for her.  

   Now we are in a much better place financially, and she works as well- so she's' a member of a stable and can ride whenever she wants, has an amazing trainer who loves her like she's her family, and has a group of friends who ride with her.  But everytime I see her I'll remember sitting in the car for three hours because her lessons were almost an hour away lol.  I'll remember all those hours standing at barns with my boys being little.  I'll remember her Daddy always trying to get to know all the horses at all the barns she rode at- and know that we worked hard and made our little girls dreams come true.  And she knows that too- and is so thankful- which is the best part :)  It was so worth it- every single moment of it.

    So when I see this beautiful young lady....

                                           

I'll always remember this little girl, and how much she's ALWAYS loved horses :)  

Also we hosted a ladies event that went amazing!  We had ton of food and over 40 ladies attend our

ladies brunch this morning!  It went really really well!

Some things we let go of....

   I feel like I let go of a lot of pride...  I was really honest here on my blog and that scared me a little, but I was so encouraged that I did!  Nobody made me feel belittled and that was amazing.  It's hard sometimes to put yourself out there, but I'm very glad that I did!

  I think I also let go of some expectation of myself.  I remembered that I'm one person and I'm doing my best, and that's what matters!  

It was SO fun linking up with you today!  I can't wait to read all of your responses!  Thanks Jenn for hosting!