It's newsletter time... and my love/hate relationship with the Olympics

Coffee, sunshine, and good books. Three things that bring new life to a hard day. (That, and Jesus). #motherhoodandjaneausten #notesfromabluebike I'm working right now on my first newsletter.

It's going out a bit later than I had hoped, but it's finally almost ready and I wanted to make sure you didn't miss it if you've been wanting to sign up.

The newsletter is like a secret blog post that doesn't get published on the blog, like a personal note from me to you. I might share favorite products with you, update you on what I'm reading or projects I'm working on, give you special Pinterest tips, and maybe share what I got for my birthday, to name a few things.

Just think of it as an extra, behind-the-scenes portion of what you see on the blog reserved for my most special readers and friends.

You're all welcome to check it out-- simply click here to sign up.

When you do, you'll receive my little printable prayer calendar, a little gift I created for you and me to help us be in prayer for the community around us. Just don't forget to click the confirmation email that goes out to you, both to officially get on the list and receive the printable.

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Olympics and pom-pom making a la @rebagough.  #pinteresttoreallife

The Olympics have pretty much ruined my blog over the last week. We've been up late every night to watch them-- we are sports fans in general, but there's just something about the Olympics that we love, something that keeps us up till almost midnight every night for two weeks.

All that to say, I hope to get back to my regular rhythm in the next week that includes early morning writing and evening publishing time. In the meantime, you can always pop in on Facebook or on Instagram to connect with me.

A few more Olympic-ish notes

“Will you make your challenges your excuse or your story?”

I listened to a podcast this week, a nice Olympic analogy, that really spoke to me, inspired me and may have actually had me tearing up in the car on the way to the park. Thank you, Kat, for the encouragement. I'll be mulling over for weeks to come I'm sure how I can weave my challenges into my story here on the blog.

In case you missed it, the mini-documentary on Jessica Long's journey to meet her Russian birthfamily was incredibly moving.

And my friend Amy's look behind the glitz of the Olympics was sobering.

One bowl oatmeal blender pancakes {gluten-free}

From old tablecloth to BBQ cover {a repurposing tutorial}