My dear photographer Angie gifted us photos in the last days as a family of three {technically four with Peaches- ha!} to remember these moments. Holding our daughter while feeling our son kick is something I truly never want to forget, and I know these photos will help me keep that memory fresh in my mind.

I took last week off from blogging and from sharing content on my social media channels. I, along with the rest of the world, felt heavy, emotional, and heartbroken. I shared some thoughts here, but I just didn’t feel right coming on COF to share family photos. It felt trivial. So, so trivial. I muted myself. I have to say, spending a week absorbing content from POC, in prayer, and in fruitful conversations was the absolute best way to spend our last week as a family of three. Instead of pushing out content, I was able to look deep inside our actions as parents, as humans, and as brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul and I were able to stay up late each night discussing how we could be more intentional allies to the Black community both in our home and professionally. We firmly believe the best work we can do is in raising our children, but like so much of the world, we know we have much to learn, much to listen to, and much to act on.

My mind is racing with ideas for the blog from sharing diverse brands I love to a motherhood series I’m in the beginning planning phase with. And while everything online feels so immediate, I want to note that I am taking maternity leave for this sweet baby boy. He deserves a mom that is fully present and I know it will be quite the adjustment to two with balancing work. Much of the content you will see over the summer has been pre-photographed and requested by you as readers. I’ll be honest, I don’t want the momentum from this week to stop. I want us to all keep growing in humility, compassion, and love. I want to see the fruit from this! But I recognize that I am taking maternity leave starting today, so if I’m slow to respond to an e-mail, a comment, a question, or implementation of new brand introductions it is not intentional.

For now, I’m going to rock my children and raise them to love your babies just as Christ loves us. So to each and every reader, thank you for reading my blog, thank you for supporting my family, and thank you for being such a huge part of our life.