(By the way, I hope you’ve been enjoying this series!!)

Let’s be honest. I have a tendency to over-deliver!! 

I’ve revisited this update multiple times trying to turn it into something bigger than it needs to be. 

But that’s kind of the theme this week… realizing that sometimes, less is more.

This week was supposed to be a week “off” of KJP work, and while it wasn’t 100% that way…a lighter week was really wonderful!

Here’s a look at what this week has taught me…and where I am right now.

Personally: A Birthday, a Break, and Life-Giving Friends

Michael turned 39 this week, and we made space to celebrate!!

We spent an evening in Charlottesville for dinner with our best friends—friends who have walked through so many seasons of life with us. 

Once upon a time, we saw each other every other weekend. Now? We both have four kids, and between owning a wedding venue (them) and starting a school (us), we’re lucky if we see each other a few times a year.

But getting away and reconnecting with them reminded me of something so important:

You need people in your life who are life-givers.

That’s a phrase we use often with our kids and in our own friendships.

A life-giving person builds you up, encourages you, makes you feel lighter—not drained. 

The opposite? 

A life-sucker. We’ve all met those people too.

Being with people who are honest, hopeful, and joy-filled (even when life is hard) was such a gift this week. It reminded me how powerful community really is!

Spiritually: Stuck Means Stop (and Pray)

I had a few moments this week where I sat down to work on a creative project and felt completely stuck.

And every time that happened, I felt this quiet invitation:

“Pause. Journal. Bring it to Me.”

So I did.

And that practice (pausing to pray and process) was something I don’t usually make time for in my regular rhythm. 

This week gave me space to realize how much I need that time with the Lord, especially when I’m creatively blocked or emotionally overwhelmed.

It wasn’t a big, profound spiritual breakthrough. It was simple, but really needed.

Professionally: A Year-Long Project That Won’t Let Go

If you’ve followed our story, you know we’ve been working for over a year to secure a piece of land for the future campus of Acton Academy West End.

And if you’ve really been following… 

You also know it has been the most up-and-down, hurdle-filled, rollercoaster of a project we’ve ever pursued!

This week? 

One of our biggest hurdles that we wrote off as DONE came back to life.

Again!

Suddenly we have a potential solution! 

We’re still a long way off…Probably fifty more hurdles to go… 

But the fact that we’re still in it, still showing up, still believing in this dream?

That’s something I’m proud of.

Persistence. Resilience. Stamina.

And I keep telling myself: the day it actually happens will be one of the sweetest victories of our lives.

Where I Am

This week wasn’t flashy.

It wasn’t full of giant wins.

But it was full of little things that matter:

• Celebrating someone I love
• Reconnecting with people who pour into us
• Saying yes to rest
• Saying yes to stillness
• Saying yes to not giving up on the dream
• A magical birthday dinner in the woods
• Michael & Evy’s date night (making this a priority post-Breakthrough!) 
• And a very real moment of humility in the garden aisle (shocker: our seedlings didn’t make it )

This week, I’m grateful for every one of those little moments that bring steadiness in the middle of everything else that can sometimes feel so uncertain.

And for that, I’m grateful.