Seriously.

Yin.

2012-01-29T16:17:00.000-05:00

I love this man. Photography by the lovely Lauren Thorn So merch that I actually lerve him. He is my polar opposite. He is the east to my west. He operates in a way that is completely foreign to me. Sometimes we're shocked when we find out we like the same item or food. He is the yin to my yang. I think I'll keep him around.

Lerve.

2012-01-26T05:40:00.000-05:00

This photo speaks volumes. I lerve my lerve, Christacular. Lauren Thorn Photography

2012-01-25T18:30:00.000-05:00

There is a scene from the movie Centerstage (cheesy movie/guilty pleasure) in which a dancer was entirely frustrated with the way things were going. Her instructor told her (in a nutshell) to take it back to the barre and to work it out there. Stop worrying about the routines and steps--but to center herself at the barre. To find her answers at the barre. Sometimes it takes a lot of junk to

For when you're discouraged.

2012-01-23T17:49:00.000-05:00

Maybe someone was a tad snippy. Maybe they broke your heart. Maybe you were cut off in traffic. Maybe it is terminal. Maybe you didn't get the part. Maybe you made a really bad decision. Maybe someone else did it better. Maybe your clothes don't fit right. Maybe someone said something not very nice. At all. Maybe you're just having an off day. . .week. . . month. . . year. . . Maybe you

Get in Line.

2012-01-16T08:37:00.000-05:00

I spend a lot of my days telling my children at school to "get in line." It's the sole way of transportation in the school building--to line up, stop talking, get behind so and so, and stop pushing. Teachers always talk of having this box with buttons and audible preprogrammed instructions to help us save our voices (1. Get in line. 2. Stop talking. 3. Raise your hand. 4. Be quiet.)

Community.

2012-01-14T13:01:00.000-05:00

Community. We need those people in our lives who center us, who hold us together, who laugh and cry with us. We're not meant to be here on our own. We're not meant to isolate ourselves. We're not meant to spend life without a community. We are social creatures. We need interaction. We cannot be solely dependent on ourselves. I tend to describe myself as independent and self-sufficient.

Space.

2012-01-08T15:15:00.000-05:00

I like a little space. I don't like people all up on me when we're sitting at a restaurant. I don't like it when retail stores have their clothing racks too close together. I don't like it when I'm at the movie theater and someone I don't know sits rightnexttome. I get the heebies when even people I love get all up in my business for too long. My kids at school are trained to not sit to

I'm on the way. . .

2012-01-07T09:41:00.000-05:00

but I've still got so much further to climb. Diet started last weekend. Time to cleanse the temple a little. Nothing like a little SB phase 1 to rock your body. Oh, carbs and fruit. How I miss thee. Exercise started this week. Thanks to my lerve and his elves I've got some Zumba classes to attend a few days a week. Shake those pounds away. Feel the burn. Practice counting joy instead

Can We Please. . .

2012-01-05T21:12:00.000-05:00

just get one of these? Otherwise, Ms. Nature, enough with your 19 degrees of sunshine. Tease.

2012.

2012-01-02T20:52:00.000-05:00

I wonder what you have hidden up in your sleeve? Lauren Thorn Photography

Forgiveness.

2012-01-01T18:32:00.000-05:00

Sometimes it takes a little wallowing to recognize how deep and wide His forgiveness is. Recognizing your failures can strip away many layers. And you may find more mess before it gets better. And you realize how much you truly need the One who Saves. And when you finally sort through the baggage you've been carrying, you finally feel. . . free.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T20:25:00.001-05:00

It's so festive at our house this evening. Lazy afternoon resulting in laundry and lounging in pajamas. Kids in bed by 7:15pm. Well, sort of. . . Lily had a nose pain that needed "medicine"--instead she got a good nose blowing. And then a friendly reminder to go to bed. Chris and I are relaxing on the couch watching Grimm. It's an interesting show--sort of fairy tales meets Law & Order.

JHS, ECU, and Band/Music Peeps

2011-12-28T21:01:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone--just wanted to give a quick shout out to all of you who know Bryant and Janae Copeland. Their sweet baby girl, Clark, has kept them hopping with her overwhelming cuteness and her pesky GI issues that have a mind of their own. The Copelands have been in and out of UNCCH hospital since August. If you know the Copelands personally, you know it's always going to be a big adventure

New Year.

2011-12-27T08:25:00.002-05:00

After the presents are finally unwrapped. After the food has been prepared, presented, and devoured. After the house limps its way back to normal under the few remaining presents and scraps of paper and tape and some boxes and stuff that needs to find new homes. When you've shopped the day-after sales and were mildly disappointed that all you found were exactly two rolls of paper for next

And just like that

2011-12-25T22:31:00.000-05:00

Christmas has come and gone for yet another year. I can hardly believe it's done. But despite spider bites which required an urgent care visit (so festive to have a red and black wound on your thigh), Buster's garbage gut vomiting episodes of foulest proportions, last minute hustles and bustles, head colds, and very sleepy eyes. . . It has been a very merry weekend. And I have been reminded

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T08:40:00.000-05:00

May your days be merry and bright. . . Lauren Thorn Photography With love, The Averysxoxxo

A Labor Of Love

2011-12-24T17:00:00.000-05:00

So Long, Moses.

2011-12-24T08:18:00.000-05:00

Oh my heavens, with all of the hustle and bustle of this week I haven't had time to adequately sit down and blog about one of my most wonderful holiday experiences this season. A few weeks ago Katie McKinney asked Chris and I to join them (Katie and Greg, her lerve muffin) when they went to see Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God: The True Tall Tale of the Coming of Christ in Durham. Of

T-minus 2 Days. . .

2011-12-23T14:53:00.000-05:00

It's almost here!!! Lauren Thorn Photography T-minus two days. . .

The Gift of Anxiety

2011-12-22T09:57:00.000-05:00

This time of year seems to pull it out of us in so many ways. Even the best intentions and plans and meaningful activities can pull us in so many directions that we feel tired and frustrated and down. I know our calendar has pulled us in multiple directions since December 1st. We've had so many activities, performances, trips, and once we threw in a terrible head cold, it has all become one

Guest Posting!

2011-12-20T21:06:00.000-05:00

Find me over at Christ's Church's blog today talking about one of my most favorite Christmas songs this year. Can you guess what it is? Here's a hint. . . What songs are you listening to this holiday season?

Only about a month ago. . .

2011-12-15T21:27:00.000-05:00

Remember this post? The one in which I was talking about how I was leaning towards "less is more" and not becoming overly committed? I really meant it when I wrote it. Seriously. I meant every. single. word. However, sometimes you can't avoid an overly-booked calendar of events. Between work, church, and family commitments it's been a whirlwind in the Avery house for the past two weeks.

Just a small, small taste. . .

2011-12-11T14:17:00.000-05:00

Of the glorious photos taken last week by our sweet friend, Lauren! We love them!

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Days

2011-12-03T08:37:00.000-05:00

I had my fair share of them this past week. I'm not sure if you ever read that book as a child, but it was always one of my favorites. This week I seemed pressed on every side, in every situation, in every place, with every person I came into contact with. It's all too interesting that the fires were stoked a little after this post, isn't it? LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE! (literally) But this

he is a liar.

2011-11-30T20:58:00.000-05:00

I meet with a lovely group of ladies once a month. We're currently reading through Emily P. Freeman's Grace for the Good Girl. I've loved meeting with these ladies and talking through some serious issues for all of the good girls out there. You have no idea how insane women's brains and emotions can be until you sit down with a group of good girls. And you thought the bad girls were bad. . .