We had so much fun celebrating Christ’s Resurrection this past Sunday, so much so that I slept in until 9 on Monday morning. The day started off gathering with our church family and my soul needed that refreshing. Then, we headed to Ben’s side of the family. They spoiled the girls with Easter baskets and an egg hunt. It was an extra special Easter with Ben’s fam because it will likely be our last Easter in that house as his cousins will be relocating to Texas. We’re excited for their new house and adventures in retirement, but we will miss having them here in California. Ben and I have so many memories at that house, so it will definitely be hard once they officially move out. Until then, we will savor every celebration and time we get with them here.

After stuffing ourselves silly there, we headed to my parent’s to get stuffed even more. The girls even had another egg hunt there too! Family is definitely a gift and as our girls get older, we appreciate family more and more. It takes a village to raise a family, and we are thankful for our church family and family that pour out love into the lives of our girls. We’ve especially felt it in the trials we’ve gone through this past year. Resurrection Sunday is definitely a day to celebrate grace upon grace. We are so undeserving, but yet Christ so selflessly and generously gave His life for us. It sounds so simple to say all we need to do is repent and believe, but it is simple because Christ already did the difficult work. All we need to do is see how beautifully Holy God is, see our sinful condition and what Jesus did for us. Then, repent and trust Jesus. Everything else that follows is an outpour of knowing who Jesus really is. We have hope, even when life is dark, because of Christ.

Ben and I have been talking a lot in recent weeks about this season of our life. Out of diapers, no more nap schedules, and everyone (almost everyone) can wipe their own butts. It’s a great season, not better than those baby years, but just a different season. We’ve had the up and onward mentality and look forward to what comes next in these tween/teen years. I’ve started mentally making plans of going back to school to get my masters and joining the corporate workforce once Glow goes off to college, or envisioning what I’d love Wovenfolk to eventually become. I go back and forth between wanting to pursue something creative or joining the regular 9-5ers. I think I’d be happy with either, though Ben thinks I’d only be happy with a creative job. We’re also not in a rush for the next thing and trying our best to savor the here and now.

As much as we make plans, we don’t know exactly what the future holds either. All Ben and I can do with our plans is hold them with open hands. We’ve never felt that open hand faith as much as we do now in this season of life. Sometimes, when you think you have it all planned out, life (God) throws curve balls too. And though difficult at first, those curve balls end up making sense later (and we’re all the better because of them). When I look at Ben, I still see that young couple that fell in love working at the GAP, and I can’t believe how far we’ve come. We aren’t those same people, we’ve grown so much and it’s overflowed into 4 little ones. At 20 and 27, we were so blindly in love. After 16 years together, there’s a lot we’ve weathered and seen, and we still have yet to weather and see. At 36 and 43, we’re seasoned, but still new, and our love is far from blind. We’ve seen the ugly sins of both our hearts, but we both still choose to do this together. Together is how we will continue as we commit to God any plans we have, but still stay open to plot twists God may give.

These pictures of from my brother’s wedding day this past Sunday. I love seeing this picture of the girls and imagining one day they’ll be dressed up to support each other in their own weddings. They’re such (sometimes stubborn) sweethearts and I love them so much.

what i’m wearing: dress & shoes, vintage. on true and brave: eyelet dress, target. similar shoes, target. soul and glow: eyelet dress, old navy. shoes, old navy. I added a satin ribbon on each dress to dress it up a little. 

I’m certainly no fashion blogger, but I do love fashion and getting dressed every day. I enjoy expressing myself through clothes. My style isn’t super funky, but I just know what I like, and I’ll always prefer vintage to new. I wanted to share a few styles I’ve pinned lately that are inspiring me. Clearly, I like long dresses and jumpsuits.

Pinterest has so much inspiration and my fave things to pin are fashion, decor, & food. Follow along with all my pins here.

{top to bottom: co pre fall 2018 via vogue. caron callahan jumpsuit. pink jumpsuit via oroborostore. penny sage dress via lisa says gah. joanna dress via marah hoffman.}

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

Found a cool, vintage, denim jumpsuit. I’m a sucker for anything denim. Good finds always make me dance.

Sweet Easter basket stuffers from Kinoko Kids.

Everlane’s got underwear coming out on Monday and I’m excited to check it out.

My brother gets married tomorrow! Woot! He’s the last one.

Basket lovers… Ms. Tips has some good a good spring bag here.

I think my silly girls would like this Don’t Laugh Joke Book Challenge in their Easter baskets.

A rebuke to my heart and a call to shift my perspective in this article, “Parenting Means Wrestling Demons.”

So thankful for the community God has given. Our families and friends are such a gift. I’m thankful for this every week.

Many things have been weighing on my heart this week. The idea of comfort, suffering, eternity, and dying to self. God’s been doing a doozy in our lives, but while it’s crazy now, it’s for our good and we can trust God even when we don’t get it.

Can’t wait to see my brother walk down the aisle tomorrow. It will be so different being on the groom side, since I’m always used to my sisters getting married. It was so different for my parents too. My dad usually waits at the end of the line, but now that get to see it unfold from the beginning. Happy weekending, friends!

Growing up, my parents had an open door policy (they still do). We always had people at our house and people staying with us. My mom is the epitome of hospitality and serving others in her home is her love language. I loved it growing up because our home was the hang out place. I had friends over all the time and they would stay until the early hours of the morning hanging out. Not only that, my mom’s cooking is the best, so not only did everyone have a place to hang out, but she made sure everyone was fed. All the while, being a working mother (she’s a nurse), she definitely has multi-tasking down. And sometimes, when my friends had problems, my parents were their listening ears too. It’s something Ben and I have admired about my parents, but have never been able to adopt ourselves.

Part of it is that Ben and I are much more introverted than my parents. We are also much more routine. My parents are spontaneous people and rules and schedules confine them, whereas I can’t thrive without a plan or schedule. Also, it’s typically a cultural thing for Filipinos to be so open and community minded, and this is where we have a bit of culture clash.

I was at a party the other day, with my parents and friends, and one friend told my mom, “Auntie Lolet, anytime you want to invite me over, I’m free.”

My mom replied, “You know we have an open door policy, just come over.”

Laughing, my friend said, “What happened to Ruby? She didn’t get that.”

Lovingly, my mom responded, “She’s getting there.”

And it’s true. I’m slowly getting there. It looks a little different from how my parents practiced it, but Ben and I are getting there. About a year ago, Ben and I shared the load with some others in our church family and we rotated hosting a family of 4, who did not have a home, in our homes for a couple months. In the fall, my parents came to live with us a several weeks while their house was getting remodeled. Then, this past winter, we were so encouraged by another family that took in an elderly gentleman battling cancer, who we used to go to church with, and had him over for a couple weekends. Most recently, we took in a friend of a friend, who was struggling with some things, and they’re currently living with us. You might not be able to pop in our home and hang out until the wee hours, but God’s been slowly breaking down our walls and teaching us how to love others with what He’s given us (and ultimately all of what we have belongs to Him). We certainly can be generous because God’s been generous with us.

I share this not to boast (far from it), but to encourage that if you hospitality is an area you want to grow in (but are scared or don’t know what to do), don’t lose hope! Keep being open to what it really means to love others and let God do the work in your heart. I still wish I had my mom’s natural giftedness in this area, but I’m thankful that God keeps molding and growing me and Ben. I love this article “Would You Let a Stranger Live With You?” and its call to live out our faith with Christ as our prize.

Did you grow up with an open door policy? Do you have one now?