Parties

 One things I've really loved about our new home is being able to host people. I have come to learn that it is more of a state of mind/heart than anything. You can host someone just as welcomingly in an apartment as in a mansion; it is all about the attitude. However, it does help to have a little more space. While I haven't taken pictures of everything, we had a lot of special guests over in the month of April, including an Easter party, Carrie's 25th birthday, and Bob's staff over for lunch. We have quickly realized we don't have enough chairs, but everyone is generous and it has not been a problem. All of these pictures are from Carrie's birthday.

 I made these banner flags and was originally going to add letters on them to say "Happy Birthday" but decided not to so I can use them for any occasion.

 For Carrie's birthday, we each contributed cupcakes which are her favorite. I tried an orange dreamsicle recipe and it turned out delicious. All of the others are pictured below. I love potluck type parties because 1) it takes the pressure off the hostess (in this case me) 2) you get to taste everyone's best and since I love to share and try a little of everything, this is perfect. Our chalkboard table has been so fun to play with. We get to label different food items, and people like to draw on it and write notes when they finish eating. It entertains both children and adults alike!

 The birthday girl with all of her cupcakes and her new awesome haircut!

 Friends to celebrate with... You can't really tell in this picture but our backyard is by no means in good shape. It has lots of grass, well weeds really, to cut, but is very unlevel and was not planned out very well. That has not stopped Bob from playing Bocce ball on it though. You know, lawn bowling? It actually makes for an exciting game since it is so unpredictable. When we have people over, most of the time the guys end up playing.

Humble Garden

I've wanted a garden for a long time. I love the idea of walking to your yard and picking what you need for dinner. Because our house is in progress and I am sure always will be, the thought of actually planting a real garden and deciding in what part of our yard to do so was absolutely overwhelming, so we decided this year on a potted garden. We heard for the first time this year about the tradition of planting on Good Friday as a symbol of Christ going in the ground and of course that He resurrected and brings us new life. So we shopped for vegetables we thought were manageable (and had already started growing rather than coming from a seed) and planted away. For this year, we decided to limit ourselves to Romaine lettuce, two types of tomatoes, bell peppers, and jalapenos. We were also given a cucumber plant. We've already started eating some of the lettuce and the tomatoes are budding quite nicely. It is so neat to witness the growth and life of these plants in season and how quickly they do so. As we get better at this and make time for it, I really want to add some fruits and maybe trees eventually. My next plan is blueberries in the fall. My ultimate dream is to have a backyard full of all sorts of fruit trees that I can pick and make jam with, as well as a clothes line to dry clothes, and lots of kiddos running around. One step at a time though, and right now these few potted vegetables are enough for me.

Preparation

It is  3:24 a.m., not a time I usually witness nor am up to tell about. I have been awake since 1 and got out of bed at 2:45 to get a snack and get my mind off not sleeping, and all the other things running through my mind like what kind of curtains to buy and accent colors for the nursery. Things I don't really want to be thinking about at 3:24, because I want to be sleeping!

Our culture is strange in the ways that we prepare for something monumental. We have been so blessed and gifted by others giving to us in this season to welcome a new little one into our home. We have so may new material things that the babe will need (and others are not needs but I guess satisfy wants). We have prepared for the birth by taking classes and reading books, talking to others and asking advice. But really, how do you emotionally and spiritually prepare to have a new soul enter your life--and one you are responsible to foster?

Bob and I have been married nearly 7 years and the Lord has worked tremendously in each of our hearts weeding out much of the gunk, giving us new experiences in which to know him and ourselves, to grow and change. But there is still so much there, so much more I thought would be different by the time I became a parent, so much pain and pockets I hoped would be changed in me. Graciously, the Lord has reminded me lately that the best way to be a good parent is to allow him to work in me. Reading multiple books and learning different strategies may have some helpful outcomes, but it will be my own personal growth that will help me to be present and compassionate and faithful to the life of our child. I am sobered by the reality that is before me. I am tired already--tired because I can't sleep and tired because I fret so much about things that I can't control. I guess it is all part of the preparation. For me, every step of the journey has been one of surrender and it continues to be that way. It never ceases to amaze me that becoming an adult means more of  a realization that you have less control than you thought you would. That surrender is still incredibly scary to me but really leads me into knowing God.

So, the baby is quickly on its way (less than 6 weeks to go!) and I won't be prepared. Which I am sure you already knew, because how could one be prepared for that? But apparently I am a slow learner, and am just realizing that the best preparation for me is to realize that I will not be prepared. I will not have it all together; I will not know what I am doing. And that is okay--sort of--or, I guess I want it to be okay.

8 months!

We are in love and can't wait to welcome this little one soon! School's almost over, so after that I have lots of picture uploading and catching up to do!

Baby Shower

Here are a few pics from my CA baby shower (more details at the bottom). Above is the blanket Bob's mom made for the little one. She cross-stitched every little detail. What handy work!
Below is the special matching blanket my grandma made nearly 29 years ago. I had this blanket as a child (the picture is of me on it) and apparently my grandma had made two of them. My aunt was going through my grandma's things a while back and found this, saving it for our little one. The blessing is that my grandma passed away just a few weeks ago so it was extra special to receive this now.

Here are many of the people at the shower. A few escaped before we could get the picture!

My mama and I (Grandma Mindy or Gramindy as I call her)

Sweet Diane

The lovely Amy and baby bumpBob's mom and aunt

The decor

My lovely friends Amy and Diane threw me a baby shower in California. It was so fun to celebrate with long-time friends and family. I still cannot believe that there is a real life inside of me and it was so fun to receive clothes and little things to remind me of that fact. It is so wonderful to be pregnant and have so many people that you love rally around you. I was also very blessed to receive many gift cards that I will use to purchase things that I will need from my registry or in the future. I was so overwhelmed when registering and with all that had to do with baby that it felt nice to receive gift cards so I know that I can hold on to them and see what I will really need. I am trying to keep everything simple and not obtain too much STUFF! Thank you all so much for blessing me and my little one. Much love to you!

A few of my favorite things

Well, we finally moved into our house last weekend. Thanks to some wonderful helping friends, we got things moved and organized in most places really quickly. There are still very many finishing touches that we will continue to do, but overall it is livable and beautiful. Bob has worked so hard over the past 5 months and the fruits of his efforts have really paid off. We are ready to get settled and become more focused on planning for our little one. I will post more pictures as rooms become more complete, but here are some of my favorite things that make my house feel like home to me:
1. The chalkboard table that I made--I will write more about it in the next post. It turned out exactly as I had imagined.

Here is another angle. We bought those two new chairs from Ikea and are using a bench on the other side that my parents bought me from Pottery Barn when we first got married. We had been using it as a coffee table previously.

2. The pantry. I didn't take a full picture inside, which I will have to in the future, but it is the size of a small room. It is bigger than a closet and I could get lost in there. I told Bob if he can't find me to come search in there because I may just be standing there mezmorized.

3. The fireplace and mantle. I have always wanted a fireplace with a mantle to decorate. Thanks to my awesomely gifted brother, I have these beautiful frames and pictures that he took.
4. The kitchen! It is big and dreamy and since I spend most of my time in there, I am very glad that I love it. 5. The laundry room. I love red. I still do. However, in the first house we lived I completely overdid it with reds and got sick of it for a few years. Now I have learned to just accent and the laundry room is a good place to do that. I am still looking for my cute curtain to go in here. The laundry room is downstairs off the kitchen, which at first I wasn't sure of because I thought it would make sense for it to be upstairs with all of the bedrooms. However, I realized when at the Devaults that when I am downstairs all day, I tend to forget about the laundry I am doing, so now I am glad to have it nearby.

6. Our bedroom. There is so much natural light coming in and I love how the color turned out. I still need to paint that dresser black to match our other furniture, but that chair by the window with my favorite pillow in the world makes me so happy. So do the daffodils.

7. Monogrammed towel hooks. Bob and I each have one so we choose the correct towel.

8. Our bathroom. It is so nice to have different sinks and a toilet off of the rest of the room. We have a huge bathtub and a separate shower and it is so nice. We also have a hole in the wall. Like that? It was there when we bought it but we are going to put a medicine cabinet there--this weekend I hope!

More than anything, we realize how much we have been given by others in the past few months while we worked on our home--a place to live, patience, help on our house, emotional support, and friendship. We really desire to use our home to offer to others and work on our hospitality. Thanks for all of you who have been a help to us in this process. We couldn't have done it without you!

2 plus1 makes 3!

We're having a baby! This picture is from last week so we are officially halfway there today, praise the Lord! We are due on our 7 year anniversary, June 26 and couldn't be more happy. This is baby's first picture at 7 weeks. It is that little dot in the black abyss. We found out we were pregnant in October.

This is baby's picture at 20 weeks. Can you believe how beautiful? We have decided to wait until baby's birth day to find out the gender. What an awesome surprise it will be!

These are the precious footprints as seen from below. We are completely in love already.

And on another good note, we are planning on moving into our house in 2 weeks! Woo-hoo! Putting some final touches on it and after 5 months of hard work (mostly by Bob), we will get to enjoy it!

Growing old together

My brother is an awesome photographer, so every time we are together I beg for free shoots from him. This is one of my favorites, of Bob and I on my parents' porch...growing old together.

Grey hair

So my body wants to keep reminding me that I am almost thirty. I have a lone grey hair that has been with me for months now. I decided not to pull it out because it keeps me humble and reminds me of my mortality, which I do need a lot of reminding of. It really is a good spiritual practice for me. Anyway, today was the last straw when I was trying on sunglasses at Target and I look in the mirror and the singular atrocity was standing straight up. "I don't need that much humility," thought I as I attempted to pluck it right there. However, rather than succombing to being pulled out like a weed, the hair decided to curl. So now I have a lone curly gray hair on the top of my head, reminding me of my humility, mortality, and that I will ultimately be defeated by age. Encouraging, right?

Merry Christmas

So this is what we've been up to lately:creating a home. Our dear friends Kristina and Sean have spent nearly every weekend with us in the past couple of months working on our house and providing us with company. Walt and Sandra, who we are living with, have done the same. We are overwhelmed by their generosity.

Here Sean is pictured tearing out the subfloor in the the entryway. There was a 10 by 10 foot wood floor when you first walked in and since we are replacing it, Bob thought it would be a quick tear-up job. However, the wood was glued down and proved to be a frustrating problem. They ended up tearing up and replacing the plywood since it was easier.

Below: Okay, so our wood flooring is beautiful. Bob has already installed a ton of it, but for some reason I don't have a good picture. Here is the first strip being laid. I love it and it is going to transform our house. It really is amazing all Bob can do. It is fun for me to watch him work. This is where having a perfectionist for a husband can pay off! This is our dining room.

Below is the pink room being transformed. Today I painted it a very light blue color. Light blue is a stretch for us (as you can see most else is some version of tan), but it is the guest room so we are trying something new and figure if we don't love it, that's fine since we won't really hang out in it. The chair will go in there eventually so we wanted to make sure it matched.
The lovely Sean and Kristina. And the lovely Bob. And the lovely gold chandelier. Right.
Our master bedroom! I love how it turned out. We picked a gray color and we both love it. We painted the bathroom the same.
I changed all the doorknobs from gold to rusted bronze or whatever it is called. That cost a pretty penny. Luckily I had gift cards, but it really has transformed the whole house. It's the details, as any girl knows.
We had our kitchen cabinets painted white and I added knobs since those had been stolen by the people who moved out. Good riddance and thanks, since they were probably gold anyway. It looks like a whole new kitchen. We will probably have to wait a few months to get granite counter tops because we have been spending so much money and can live without them.
Bob added beadboard to the breakfast nook and did such a good job. It transforms the room. Another beautiful gold chandelier.

So those are probably the biggest changes. I am finishing painting the rooms and Bob is working on the wood flooring, then we will add carpet upstairs and will hopefully be in by the end of January. I can't wait to add little details and color since my palate is like a blank slate.

With all this work, it has been hard for us to really prepare for the holidays. Bob wanted to work all weekend, but I told him we HAVE to take Christmas off! We are looking forward to spending some time at church, relaxing, and eating good food with the Devaults. Then off to CA to celebrate my dad's 70th!

Merry Christmas.