Day 4,237

The hand of the diligent will rule,

But the lazy hand will be put to forced labor.

Proverbs 12:24

Day 4,210

(Let) The word of Christ richly dwell within you

"Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing on another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father."

Ephesians 4:16-17

Day 4,187

The Conley Strings

Band name suggestions?! 

Our current family favorite band to listen to and watch on Youtube is The Petersen Family--a group of four children (1 boy, 3 girls) and their mom! Their children are grown now, but they've been playing together for years and our kids LOVE learning from them!

And, it wouldn't be a Tuesday if not for Fresh Market meat sale day!

Day 4,165

The Workin Conleys 

Ok, slackers. Back to work!

Hey! Up, mister! That is NOT work!

Alright girl, that's what I'm talking about, Louie!

Yeah ladies! Cleaning machines, even at their friends' house!

Boys, hey! That's not cleaning!!

Ok, ok, just a short break though!



That's what I'm talking about--get back to it, boy!

Day 3,713

The Season of So Much Learning and Growing 

Spotted: cat lady at the baseball game!

And a third baseman making plays!

Our Marlins team is still winless this season BUT they’re making significant progress and learning all about the reality of losing respectfully and with dignity, which will hopefully serve them well as they age. 

In other not-so-surprising news, Adam and I have been seriously considering purchasing a small home while we wait for our home to be built on The Property. With all the moves this year, we’re particularly motivated to have somewhere to just…be. Friday night, Adam found this tiny little house on Zillow. It had been listed for only 14 minutes, so he called the lady that night but received no answer. Saturday, the realtor called him back and scheduled a showing at 4. So, we went to check it out and decided we probably wanted to buy it. Problem is, the Florida market is crazy right now and houses are being swooped up almost immediately after being listed. Not wanting to make a split second decision though, we took the night to really consider putting an offer in…



What do you guys think about maybe buying a super tiny tiny home?! 

Noted. 

Day 3,694

The Fourth ALDS Game

It started off like any best morning—an OFFICIALLY FREE Covid household, ready to explore the world again after an extensive hiatus, AND of course, Fruity Pebbles to celebrate!

A fresh Bub-made coffee to top it off!

Adam has been working out with the taxi squad team as he gets back into pitching form (even though he was never out of it because he never had actual symptoms), and this time, he came home in his workout outfit—something we only get to see in the off-season. The kids went nuts over how good he looks in all that Rays gear! Or was that just me? ;) 

We spent the day in the pool and packing more and more items for our upcoming move. Monday night’s game was a must-win in order to play game 5 to determine the winner of the ALDS, so we’d been preparing to have to live in potentially three different places up until Monday. 

We played our hearts out. 

Came in. Cooked, colored, and put on the game. 



We were as excited as a group of Covid-sidelined Conleys could be while we watched the drama unfold on a team we’ve so enjoyed being apart of. Unfortunately, we lost to the Red Sox and Daddy’s season is officially over. 

More to come in the days ahead, and though we’re bummed how it ended (in more ways than one), we have so much to be thankful for, so much to reflect on, so many blessings through so many unmet expectations, and my goodness, we’re excited to be home with all our people. Stuart, church family, we’re coming for ya! 

Rays family, we’ve only known you barely one season,  but what you have created in St. Pete (and Durham!!) is absolutely incredible. We are thankful that of all the teams we could’ve played for this year (Japan included!), we ended up exactly where we never knew we wanted to be. The Lord is kind. 

 Rays Up!

Day 3,692

The Year of Endless Packing

It’s that time again…

We say goodbye to the Pineapple Palace on Thursday, so we got a headstart on packing, just to make our lives a little easier in the days ahead. With the uncertainty of the postseason, we rented this house for one month and will live in a hotel for the remainder of the season if we make it past the ALDS. If not, we secured a month to month rental home in Stuart for November that we’ll live in until our barn is completed…whenever that happens. 

Until then, it’s business as usual here. The girls have been incredibly helpful lately, wanting to participate in all things big girl…which I am so thankful for. They’re getting a bit restless with their quarantine, but IT’S ALMOST OVER!!!

:)

Day 3,678

The AL East Champions

It was the first time ever—in the history of the Conley family—that we’d get the opportunity to celebrate alongside our championship team. Because Saturday night, the Rays clinched our place atop the NL East division as *the* Champions when we beat the Miami Marlins in our 96th win of the season!! We’re heading into October and the postseason with the best American League record and are excited for new experiences and many more wins! What an incredible team! Rays up!!

Unfortunately for us though, our plans of attending the celebrations post game and celebrating our victory alongside the fans and the team and the families and our friends were cut short in the sixth inning when we had to leave the game unexpectedly. More on that later (everyone is ok and we’re still on the team), but we instead had to watch our guys clinch first place from our Airbnb couch, while teary eyed babes tried their best to understand why we couldn’t be there for “the party.” Choked up and disappointed, we reminded those precious little sad faces that regardless of our circumstances, we’d choose to be content and trust the Lord. As we’ve said all year long—especially over the last six months—the timing of the Lord is specific, purposeful, and intimate to our lives and we both recognize that and trust Him increasingly more because of all the ways He’s proved that to us in the past. I must only look back very recently to be reminded of how intricately God is involved in the lives of His people. And so, whether on the couch or on the field or wherever we find ourselves to be, we will pursue contentment and rejoice in God’s timing because His ways are always better than ours. 

Day 3,658

The Last Tampa Trip

We checked out of our Airbnb at 10AM on Wednesday (Mom got four hours of sleep woo!), stopped to say goodbye to The Property (we can’t wait to share the land with you, peacocks!), ate breakfast with Gammy (you’re a treasure!), went and bought a new phone (salt water is no joke—be warned it’ll kill your mother board)

said goodbye, and headed West. 

Daddy played his last game of a ten-game road series while we drove to our new home in St. Pete for the month. 

I think Bearett must have read 15 books on the way, including the Wizard of Oz which claimed the title of his favorite. This boy continues to be enthralled by his ability to get lost in stories, of which I am so excited about! His love for reading is incredible and though I’m still not sure exactly how it happened, I’m just so happy it did!

Hello Central Florida!



And hello Pineapple Palace!

We are home for the month!