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Truly Yours, Jen

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The World Will Never Quite Be the Same

Tragedy and Grief

To My Friend Who Would Rather Not Do Christmas This Holiday Season

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Hi there! I’m Jen, and I am so glad you are here. I write about faith, family, parenting, friendship, forgiveness, and my own struggles and joys in life (with a few recipes and decorating tips thrown in for fun). I hope my writing is like reading a letter from a friend, and that it brings you encouragement. Life is messy. We are all a little messy. Thankfully, God loves us through it all. Thank you for being here!
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Truly Yours, Jen – Jennifer Thompson, Writer

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Happiest of Birthdays to you, my beautiful girl. M

Happiest of Birthdays to you, my beautiful girl. May you always know how loved you are, and that the world is filled with endless possibilities and adventures waiting to be explored. Follow your dreams and always be true to who you are. I am so proud of you and thank God for making me your mom. 💗💗

Date day with my little buddy yesterday. And he’

Date day with my little buddy yesterday. And he’s pretty proud of the fact that he ate 17 pieces of sushi. Yep. 17. And he will most definitely tell you all about it if you happen to see him. 🙌💗

Tomorrow is a new day 💗

Tomorrow is a new day 💗

Who’s the happiest Aunt in the whole wide world

Who’s the happiest Aunt in the whole wide world right now?
Me. It’s me. 💗

Every year, at Christmas time, we make homemade su

Every year, at Christmas time, we make homemade sugar cookies. The dough is made. The colors are mixed in the icing. The dough is rolled out and cut into shapes of all sizes and kinds.

It’s a wonderful tradition.

But this year, we didn’t get to it.

We decided as a family we would rather do the other baking. Honestly, we don’t love to eat the sugar cookies - we just enjoy making them. We all acknowledged our plates were full and agreed we were forcing something that just wasn’t meant to be this year.

So we crossed it off the list.
We let it go.

I thought a lot about Christmas cards. We haven’t sent them for a couple of years and I really had hoped to mail them this year.

But it just didn’t happen.
We were already over budget for the holiday, and time was running out.

So we crossed it off the list.
We let it go.

And today, as I look around at the decorations still up all around the house, I am letting it go.
They will come down soon enough.

There are seasons in our life that are more busy and hectic and I am learning just because I’ve done things a certain way before, doesn’t mean I need to always do them that way.

Sometimes, we need to let things go - even the good things - to make space for rest and peace and joy in our lives.

Next year, we may ice cookies and send out cards and the decorations may be put away sooner than later, but not this year.

And I’m totally okay with it.

I’m learning to let things go.
I’m learning to be okay with saying no and setting boundaries and limits.

It isn’t always easy, but it’s necessary. For me. For my family.

Because the more I give myself permission to let things go, the more space I make to enjoy the things we are doing.

And the more space I make, the more peace I feel.

While I was on a trip to Atlanta with my daughter,

While I was on a trip to Atlanta with my daughter, my husband sent me this pic of our high schooler putting together a puzzle with her friends. Their goal was to complete it before the weekend was over, and something about this whole thing just makes me really happy.

Growing up, I was always told, “You are who you hang with” and I know I’m biased, but I think these kids are pretty awesome. 💗

💗 (From @imnatashasmith )

💗

(From @imnatashasmith )

There is much joy to be found in seeing our childr

There is much joy to be found in seeing our children do the things they love.

Being on this trip, with these middle school students - watching them perform and sing and act and cheer one another on has been such a joy.

Some say middle schoolers are moody and challenging, but aren’t we all sometimes?

I know I definitely have my moments.

This age group is one of my very favorites.

They aren’t little and they aren’t yet big.

They are in the middle.

They are figuring out who they are and what they like and where they fit in.

Being here with my daughter, and this group, - seeing them do what they love and give it their all has been such a joy.

It’s a weekend I will never forget.
@juniortheaterfestival

#jtf #makingmemories #musicaltheatre

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