catching up

I hope you are enjoying this fall weather as much as we are!

Last Friday, Henry and I went to spend the morning with his cousins, Emma and Marshall. Martin, my sister-in-law, went to San Francisco to visit with her sister to just had a baby, so was in need of help staying with the kiddos. Henry loves his cousins {and I love my niece and nephew}, so it was an easy decision!

I have been super behind lately in the little things I like to keep up with. One of which is enjoying my monthly subscription to Real Simple. I got to finish looking through the November issue a couple nights ago and absolutely loved this story, The God Box. It's the story of a daughter finding 10 small boxes of her mothers that held scraps of paper with prayers to the Lord. As a child, she and her brother could put requests or worries in the box as well - the only condition was total surrender. If you have a minute, read this story. You won't regret it.

Meet my God box. I love the idea of Henry finding a container full of little notes to God on his behalf. I found this treasure while I was out doing a little Christmas shopping {that's right} at Ten Thousand Villages. This shop carries items that are handmade from around the world and pays fair prices to their artists. A very cool mission. This basket was handmade in Bangladesh.

In other Christmas shopping news, don't tell Henry, but these little goodies will find their way into his stocking. The bell is also from Ten Thousand Villages and was handmade in Burkina Faso {where?!}.