5th Annual LaConnor Trip

This past weekend was Matt's & my 5th annual Memorial Weekend trip to our friends' LaConnor cabin. I love this cabin- so relaxing! We spent the weekend reading, walking on the beach, eating at our favorite bakery (Calico Cupboard- who's cinnamon rolls are rated in 2nd place on my national cinnamon roll rating system. Because they're my favorite food, it's quite the competitive system, let me tell you!), shopping at our favorite little bookstore, kayaking, watching movies & antique shopping. It was perfect! Both of our parents came up for a portion of the weekend, too.

Above is a pic of Matt modeling some galoshes- he loves exploring the beach in these boots every year! Below are some random wild turkeys we found wandering around town!- crazy, huh?

On Monday, when the weather was best- Dad, Matt & I kayaked out to the island in the middle of our bay.


Matt & I in a double.

My dad paddling ahead

Matt, really loving it :)

Some Fun Finds

This past week I went to the Richmond Beach Garage Sales & my favorite neighborhood thrift store. Here are some of my favorites of the things I found:

I bought the wrought iron holder above awhile ago, but now I found this great vintage gardening book and cut up some of the pages to display in it.

At my favorite thrift store I found all of these great children's books! These are some of my old favorites and I was so excited to find them for 25 and 50 cents each! You can never have too many children's books for when the little one comes (this from the girl who's very first word as a baby wasn't mommy or daddy, but "book").

I got this chandelier for FREE at a garage sale. It just needs some peices & then I thought it would be perfect in the nursery!

What are some of your favorite children's books - so I can keep an eye out for more good ones?

Catching You Up (Installment #2)

The view of the summer foliage outside of our window

The past few months have been full of huge decisions to be made... and made quickly! It's been a bit of a whirlwind, but as I said before, I'm trusting that it will all come together.

When I found out that I was pregnant, one of the first questions that rose to mind was, "What does this mean for my job?" I always knew that I would need to quit my youth pastor position once I got pregnany- I had just been planning on having at least 1 more year of it until then. I've always known that I didn't want to try to work fulltime with a baby and the church offered to let me keep my position on a half-time basis, but I knew that there was no way that would work. It wouldn't be fair to the program or the students, and with all of the crazy hours and weekend trips, it wouldn't be fair to my growing family.

So, I decided to relinquish my position and as soon as I did, everything started moving SO quickly at work. They've since found an interim replacement for the next year & have mapped out a new part-time position for me in another ministry area, so that I can still stay on staff. The beautiful part of all of this is that a lot of the responsibilities of my new position (which I start in the fall) can be done from home- so it sounds very flexible!

I'm excited for this change and relieved that things seem to be working out. But, I'm also anticipating really missing my ministry with the youth. That's been my passion for the past 5 years! There are definite aspects I won't miss! But, when I spend time with the students and reflect on all that I see in them (although sometimes you really have to dig for it), I know that I'll miss seeing them on a regular basis and watching them grow.

So, I'm excited for this new phase in life and I'm excited to really appreciate these last few months of my job-to soak in the moments with students! Now, we just have to tackle the decision of where to live (more on that in the next installment :)

Catching You Up (Installment #1)

I'm so sorry that I've been such a blogging slacker lately- things have just been crazy! This unexpected blessing of getting ready for a baby in the fall has kind of turned our life upside down! But it's all exciting & it's all coming together...and there's so much to share, I think I might have to do it in installments.

First of all, shortly after my last post - right about the time I hit the 12 week mark- my personal energy crisis made a 180 degree transformation! It was as if I walked through a doorway into the land of normalcy again! I just woke up one morning craving coffee (which I hadn't wanted at all for over 2 months- and, if you know me & my 3-4 cup a day habit, you know this wasn't normal). Then all day long I thought I was going to bounce off the walls! Suddenly I had enough energy to work long days again - I worked until 6pm without even noticing it. Foods started appealing more, my nausea was gone, and best of all- I started noticing the beauty around me again & being able to do things to soak it in (vs. collapsing on the couch in front of the tv- for the 2 months prior). I love it! I'm loving my job again (more on new job developments later) and feel much more capable of enjoying this incredible life experience.

I still feel completely unprepared to be a parent- emotionally, physically, financially. But Matt, who's the most laid-back husband & perfectly balances out my tendency to worry things to death, keeps reassuring me that "it will all come together". And I just need to trust in that & enjoy the process!

Catching You Up

I thought I'd take a minute to catch you up on the previous post & to apologize for/explain my recent blogging hiatus.

The announcement you all saw on my last post was a huge surprise to us when we found out! We had been thinking of trying to start a family in another year or so, but were completely shocked when we found out that it would be a lot sooner than we planned! So shocked in fact that I took 3 different pregnancy tests - that's right ...3 (and yes, I did buy 3 different brands just to be sure-I know, I'm a total dork)! But it was true and I'm in my 12th week now, and we are excited (overwhelmed... but excited).

The reason I haven't been blogging very regularly is twofold- 1. most of what my mind's been occupied with is this coming baby (both joy & worry), but we wanted to keep it a secret until after the first appointment. And 2. no one ever warned me how TIRED I'd be in the first trimester!! I don't just mean tired like "I'm sorta sleepy"- but tired like "I do not seem to possess the human energy needed to get me through a normal 8-hour work day without having to immediately take a nap and lie around the rest of the evening, and still barely stay awake until 9pm!" Needless to say, it's been a huge adjustment, since I'm used to filling my entire day and evening with plans, and I just haven't been able to find the energy to sit upright at my computer after work (sad, I know!) Which also explains the collage journal hiatus- I haven't wanted to sit up & use the energy needed to actually cut & paste things (but I did update that blog today).

I did have one moment of inspiration & made the following 2 collages of color inspiration for the nursery if the baby turns out to be a girl (which I won't lie...I am hoping for)