We’ve been pretty consistent in our trips to the Farmers Market and we all get excited about it every Friday. The girls enjoy getting out (so do I!) and picking out some fresh fruit and lunch. We usually pick up fresh hummus and pita bread. We even did it in the rain last week!  Our Farmers Market isn’t as spectacular as the one at the Ferry Building in SF. It’s actually 1/8 of that size, but it’s got a couple vendors with organic produce, so we’ll take it.

Our circle of friends and family are all still going through freshness of Danika’s passing, and one friend, Julian, wrote this on his facebook page… “I must admit, I always found Danika more or less intimidating. Is it weird to think a girl half your size as intimidating? She was, as I remember, willful, maybe headstrong. The crown jewel of the Tibayan clan. The first girl. Save for a few summers in my Vacation Bible School class, I watched her grow up largely indirectly. She would happen to be there and so would I. Still that night Melody and I prayed for her, I sobbed. At 17, I want to say it was too soon, she was too young, had so much of her life ahead of her. I want to grieve that she never got the chance to have so many of the opportunities we associate with a full life. Then I remember heaven. For Christians, our fullest life isn’t here. While we praise God for our time here, we do our work faithfully, we want to be in heaven, in God’s presence, to rest in His arms totally fulfilled. “Better is one day in your courts, than a thousand elsewhere,” the psalmist says. If Jesus is my joy, heaven is my home. I still ache for her family, but there is comfort in knowing that the hope that has delivered countless other Christians through hardship and loss leads them now. For those who put their faith in Jesus, the one whom death could not conquer, the one whom the grave could not hold, and the one by whom death loses its sting, there is only life ahead. PTLJ.”

That was beautifully written and well-said.

This week’s learned, links, and thanksgivings…

Sometimes you just gotta suck it up and get help. I’m learning that slowly.

Soulie’s 3! Suddenly, it seems she speaks a bit more clearly. She didn’t really start talking until the age of 2 and a half.

I was so encouraged with the boldness and urgency that was in the message PJ, our pastor and Danika’s uncle, shared at her funeral.

The girls are excited we finally started decorating for Christmas. The tree is up!

My sister’s wedding was featured on 100 layer Cake along with some exciting news that her and her husband have teamed up with Max Wanger and they are now his associate photographers and are part of Max and Friends.

Ben’s birthday is on Tuesday. I honestly don’t know what we’re doing yet. Must figure something out quick!

Love this pretty DIY pinecones by Katie.

Love Joy’s Reindeer and Snow creation. Her pillows are also quite beautiful!

I’m making a bunch of these to put around the house.

I want to try and make this lavender ice cream recipe.

As we were singing worship during the funeral service yesterday, the line that moved me to tears was, “He gives and takes away. My heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be thy name!” Death is hard, but to see our friends still praising God’s name throughout this difficult circumstance deeply encourages my soul. I know God is using this for something even greater than we will ever know.