I've been just a little quiet....

But with very good reason!! Not only did we move into a new home this year, (YES!!) have to undergo a bit of reconstruction in our living room - because of water damage, had some fun decorating our new home (though I don't feel anywhere NEAR settled yet... with time..)

Just a couple of my wintery touches... ;) 

 BUT our family has had a HUGE surprise!! Something I never expected to happen...

Yes!!! I am expecting!!!! I am in the second trimester, and though morning sickness wasn't too bad, I'm happy to be feeling much better and to be getting some energy back!!

At 19 weeks this past Thursday, I'm finally starting to "pop" a bit and am enjoying my little bump! ;) I have felt a few little flutters, but am excited to really start feeling my little one!!

It was such a surprise to find out that The Lord has sent our next little one to us this way! We were starting to discuss getting geared up for the next adoption! ;) (I had been feeling a bit of "baby fever.") And while we thought we'd wait til our active, very busy toddler was just a tad bit older, God has other plans, and His plans are perfect!! (Even though this Matron of Honor is due just two days before her dear sister's wedding!! YES! God does have quite the sense of humor!!) ;)

So, just a little "catch up" post on my blog... And I've got a few book reviews to catch up on as well. ;) I've been a bit remiss on a couple of my programs and I don't want to be disqualified. It takes me a while to get through a book these days for some strange reason!! :P

A bit of news and a book review!!

I'll start out with the news... our family is sooo excited! We have a contract on a house! It is a beautiful house with lots of room for our family, for us to (once again... finally) be able to entertain guests, and with a backyard for our little girl to have room to run!! I'm eager for that closing date to get here, but I've been keeping very busy with packing! Can you believe it's been almost two years since we sold our last home? I'm sooo ready to be in a home again!! And we are thrilled to be able to move into the neighborhood that we have dreamed about for years! (it just feels like home!) :) Prayers are very much appreciated though... that all will go well and that the transition will be smooth. :) In the mean time, I have a cute little helper!!! :)

A second item of news, my friends Brittany and Jenny have started a great new blog: Chapel Cottage Chicks!!! I love they're vintage cottage style, and I am working on getting them to make a "house call" after we get settled a bit!! ;)

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And now for the book review: I saw this book and thought, what a fun book to review for the 4th! So what better time to (finally) get this review posted! ;) I grew up with the Berenstain Bears as I'm sure many of you did as well. Both Stan and Jan Berenstain have passed away, but their son Mike continues to write and illustrate new books. These new books, under the Living Light series, are based on Christian principles! (you can read a bit more in this article.) So now, these favorite bears aren't just cute stories, but they are helping kids learn about God!

God Bless Our Country is a very fun book that has a brief overview of our country's history. I love that the illustrations are in part bear versions of famous paintings from America's history (including Washington crossing the Delaware and the signers of the Declaration of Independence.) Is it a history book? no... but it is a fun introduction to our nation's beginning appropriate for young children.

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Thanks to BookLook for the review copy... my opinions are my own. :)

NOT a book review

Goodness... I just looked at my blog and realized like every post for the past almost six months has been a book review...  I really DO more than just read, but who has the time for blogging nowadays? Some do, I know! Just not me, evidently... But I shall try. If there's anyone out there that still reads this. :)

What have I been up to? my #1 job is this little (but growing fast) girl!

She's sooo much fun and learning so much! She loves her books, music, play phones and Baby Signing time. She loves people! So much fun to go to the store because she loves to say "HI!" to everyone we meet... several times! ;) How is it even possible that 17 months has passed already? She is an amazing girl! But yes.... she does keep me quite busy. If she is awake, she is moving. ;)

My second (naptime) job is my business! I love my work as a Lilla Rose Independent Consultant! Mostly I do what I can during naptimes (or occasionally after kiddo is in bed.) I don't have huge requirements to keep my consultant status and if I have a very busy time, my job will be right where I left it. And it's such an amazing product that it sells itself! I did my first vendor event last week with my mom and a young friend (she was our hair model!). We had a lot of fun and got to introduce Lilla Rose to our community. :)

A third thing that is happening is, quite frankly, something that ISN'T. We are still. in. our. apartment. sigh... We ARE very blessed! We live in an older, but VERY well maintained complex with an excellent staff! (Our little one loves going to the office to say hi! And they have known her since she was born!) ;) But apartment living is just that. Apartment living. We have neighbors above us with pets - very sweet neighbors - but it is still close quarters. We're not so much "looking" for a house as we are "waiting" for a house. We are ready in every way to buy our long term home, but our home has yet to open up. I know God is working things out in His perfect timing, but sometimes it's hard to wait - especially when you don't see anything happening... But we keep trusting and praying for His will for our little family.

Ah... what else? VBS planning, helping mom with her recital last week, gearing up to plan my sister's wedding... EEEK!!! my baby sister is engaged!!! So happy for her! ;) And many, other things that just keep happening. I reckon you'd just call it life! :) So yes... I do something besides read books...

A Very Eventful Summer

We have had very busy, but blessed summer!! I don't even know where to start. It has flown by so fast! (and yes, I realize that the "summer" isn't technically over, but with September here and everyone back to school - including my sister - it sure feels like fall is around the corner!)

June:
My sister finally made it home from college after (almost) traveling the nation coast to coast! :)

Our little Joy turned 6 months old!

We celebrated Father's Day with Mark's family a week early. I love this family picture! (Taken on my in-law's front porch.) 

We celebrated Mark's first Father's Day! 

And of course, a very busy VBS week! Joy's first Vacation Bible School! Doesn't she make the cutest little pirate? :) 

July was probably our most eventful month all year!! 

First another holiday with our little girl! These "firsts" are so much fun!!

The next day she turned 7 months old!!!

A couple of weeks later Tuesday July 15, 2014, was a day we've been looking forward to for YEARS!! Our baby girl became officially OURS!!! What a very special day!!! SO much joy! :)

We were so glad to have so many of our family and friends here for that extra special day! 

Then the following Sunday was another very special day!! We dedicated our Joy to the Lord and promised to raise her according to God's Word and to teach her about Jesus!

In August we took a trip to our church's family camp, once again in beautiful Dickson, TN.
It was wonderful visiting with so many of our friends and family (although the time there is never long enough...)

I got an early birthday gift while I was there! My dear friend Brittany "snapped a few" pictures of our baby girl! ;) She took Joy's official 8 month pictures as well as some beautiful pictures of Joy in her special dedication dress! (Mark's aunt made the dress years ago and almost all of the girls in that family have been dedicated in it!)

Our baby girl is growing and changing so very fast right now! She started crawling right about the time we went to camp, and now is working on walking! She'll be up and running before too long! She's got her first tooth (or teeth?? she's already working on her third one in about that many weeks!) and she's now sleeping in her own room.

Spring Time Fun!

Wow! It's hard to believe it's the last day of May! Time has been flying by so quickly and our little girl is growing so fast!!! I wanted to post an picture update... beware, many pictures coming! I also don't want this to be entirely a book review blog! (Books DO help me keep my sanity and relax, and it certainly is nice to get them free, but that isn't the only reason to have this blog!) :)

We've certainly had an eventful spring! Our little girl is growing and changing so fast! It's hard to keep up - and hard for my back to keep up... "Little" Joy weighs 20 pounds! ;) But thankfully, the Lord gives strength for what we need! And little girl LOVES being held! Not necessarily cuddled.... but held. heehee!! I'm not sure where to start, so I'll just give some highlights from the past three months. :)
March:
My grandmother came down for her annual visit - which turned into something more permanent! She is now living with my parents and we are enjoying having her close! Joy loves "NeeNee!" March was a crazy month weather wise, beautiful day one day and ice the next! But spring did eventually come and we got to enjoy our local spring flower festival a bit! Some of our friends were "belles" for the trails and Joy enjoyed visiting! ;)

 

April:

Her first Easter!!! So fun to celebrate with our little one!  Such a happy girl - most of the time!! She is very strong and loves to jump when held!

May:
Oh, goodness.... the most eventful month this year!! So proud of my hubby! He graduated with his Master's degree!!! We are also so glad that he now has more time to spend with us!! ;)

It was also wonderful to visit with a good (life long) friend and for her to meet our girl and me to meet her twins!! So glad we could fit a visit in with Melissa!!

And my first Mother's Day as a mommy! Such a special day!!

 

Joy has been growing so fast!! And changing so much!! She has....

Eaten her first official food: 

Avocado in her mesh feeder.

She is also learning to pick up food and eat it. (For those wondering, we are trying the "Baby-Led Weaning" route to feeding her.)

 

 

She has also started sitting up! (This was kindof a surprise discovery for me... a friend's baby a bit younger than her started sitting and I wondered if she could. Low and behold, she can!) heehee!! 

She's so proud!

She has also got her first little "bug." So hard to see her not feeling well, but she is getting better now and we are SO very blessed that she is so healthy!!

On Memorial Day she had her first pigtails!! I about died from the cuteness! ;)

So that's just a bit of our world over here!! Yes, most of our life does revolve around baby, but Mark and I are trying to be sure and fit in some time to connect as a couple - we celebrated our nine year anniversary this week! So blessed with my wonderful husband!!

Days of Christmas

The past few Decembers I have enjoyed getting a picture up each day leading up to Christmas. This is turning out to be a very eventful year for our little family (and no, still no baby yet... She seems to be quite satisfied with her spot at the moment..) ;) So I'm not sure I'll get pics up each day - I'm already a day behind - but I will try to share a bit of our celebrating.

My decorating is more simple than usual. While I do miss our full sized tree, it was nice to get the decorating done so quickly. I do have our small tree up. 

I had to take a trip to Hobby Lobby for some garland for the mantle. Most of my Christmas boxes are rather buried in storage (including some I thought I had seperated... So much for Christmas mugs.) I did decorate a little differently on the mantle. I bought a few things to match our little Coca-Cola tree. I love this little snowflake owl!!

Hope everyone's December is off to a great start!! 

Checking in and a Quick book Review

Well, I feel like I kind of left everyone hanging over here. Sorry about that! My brain has been very full... getting ready to bring a little one into our home! What a big job, and most couples have a bit more time to prepare. Mark and I are so very grateful for God's provisions in the last few weeks! So many blessings! And now we are eagerly waiting for baby's arrival!

So, yes, with everything going on, my blog has taken the back burner. (including Finished Object Friday... sorry about that!) Not sure I'll be really back on track for a while, but I'm sure you understand. I will be posting an adoption update, hopefully rather soon! :)

I do have a couple of books waiting for me to review them, and I want to get caught up on that before things get really busy... :)

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When picking books for review, I usually stick with authors that I know, just because I want to be sure that I will enjoy the book that I am reading as well as making sure I actually get it read! :) I am glad that I branched out in reading "The Governess of Highland Hall." I really enjoyed reading this book! I love the setting - an English manor about the turn of the century and the characters were all well done. Julia has recently returned to England after serving with her family as a missionary to India. She does all she can to serve the family at the manor including helping save the estate from financial ruin. Her efforts are not in vain and she wins over the heart of the widowed master of the estate, Sir William Ramsey.

I thought that the author did a wonderful job with the setting. I also liked that all the characters were believable (I don't like it when fictional children are portrayed as little adults) and each character was dynamic - they all changed and grew as the story progressed. I thought it would take me a while to get through this book, but frankly I had a hard time putting it down!

Thanks to Blogging for Books for this review copy. My opinions are my own.
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One more quick review: "Messiah: Origin" is an illustrated telling of the first part of Jesus's life. It starts with the first chapter of John in the Prologue and continues telling the story of Jesus's first years on earth until his baptism and the beginning of His ministry.

I saw this book in a store a while back and was interested to take a closer look. I was very pleased. I like the fact that there are so many ways now that get the Bible story out there... this book is more of a graphic novel than a regular Bible story book and as such would appeal to a bit older children - preteen and on up to teens. I do recommend it to an older age group and would also recommend for a parent to look it over first. There was one illustration that I have a bit of a concern about - a slight modesty issue and probably not a problem for most people. I just feel the need to mention it to be a totally honest review. In all, it is a different way to present the story of Christ's coming to earth and I enjoyed reading it.

Thanks to Booksneeze for the review copy. My opinions are my own.

Exciting news!

We have an exciting announcement to make!!! 

Last week, we were selected by a birth mom to be the parents of her baby girl!!! Little one is due at the end of November, so we may even have a baby by Thanksgiving! (What a wonderful blessing to be thankful for!!) Please pray for us as we make preparations. Most parents have about nine months, but we have a few short weeks. Of course, we do have several necessary items, but as adoptive parents there is other prep such as finishing a homestudy update for our apartment and gathering the funding we will need to have at placement. This post explains what happens next in our adoption story (starting about the 3rd paragraph.) You all have been so supportive in our adoption journey, we are excited to finally have this news to share with you all!

My "settling in" has understandable been derailed just a bit... well, that and refocused! While we have made some progress in that department, I've also been doing some sorting and washing!! 

31 days... Of getting settled.

Well, 31 more or less... We'll see if I  actually post each of the 31 days in October... Wait! Can it really be October already??? What an adventure the past couple of months has been!!

We are moved into an apartment! That in and of itself has been a journey. I won't give you the long version, but the short version is that God provided a very nice apartment in the complex that Mark and I lived our first year of marriage. 

That's the good part... The hard part has been trying to fit from a three bedroom house with two living areas, into a two bedroom apartment. It is a very daunting task. 

However, I thought if I brought you all along with me this month as I make some effort in getting us settled, that it would inspire me to just keep plodding! And it will be fun to look back on what we have accomplished. And, hey, maybe you even have some tips for me! I'll take any help I can get!! 

First off, I wanted to start with a pretty picture:

The welcome mat I bought before we even moved out of our home, and I saved it for our apartment. The burlap wreath is the same one from last year. That has been one of my most used projects, I do believe! 

Not pictured above: the beautiful mum from my parents to really cheer up my front door! But here it is... It's really starting to bloom out! 

That's the fun part... The NOT so fun part is what it still going on inside... 

(And will you believe it when I say, that is an AFTER shot from Saturday??? Yipes! Inspiration needed ASAP!) 

So it may be baby steps at times, but I will try to post a progress photo every day... Except probably Sundays, that IS a day of rest, after all. ;) 

Chari Tree Chat: Birthday Celebrations!

Many of you may remember that this time of year is very busy for my family. My sister, dad and myself all have birthdays within one week's time! (She has said that it is a bit harder than Christmas in some ways... Everyone wants their own celebration!) :)

Angie starts us off at the end of August. Of course, with her back at Bible college, we celebrated a bit early.

For my birthday, I kind of invited us over to visit some friends in the DFW area... Ok, so maybe "kinda" isn't the word... I DID invite us over... Isn't it wonderful to have the kind of friends that let you do that? We visited the Perot museum and really enjoyed touring that!

Loved the bird section and the gem and mineral section!

One of my favorite parts was the musical staircase! (I would love to return some day when we have kids old enough to enjoy it... Preferably not on Labor Day weekend...)

Then we had a lovely lasagna dinner with baked Alaska for dessert! Yummy!! 

Sunday, my actual birthday - the 1st - we had dinner at another dear friend's home! 

And Sunday night, mom surprised me by inviting yet more friends over! So much fun to celebrate with so many close friends and family!

The next Tuesday was my dad's birthday. We surprised him by arranging for several friends to meet us at a local barbecue place! Fun times! 

So yes, busy times!! But very fun!!! Thanks to all of you who made my birthday special!!! And a big shoot out to my Mom for making sure each of us has a special birthday. Every. Year!! 

We have found a bit of time to sneak in a little project.... Come back Friday! (And yes, FOF WILL be on time... The post is already written and scheduled!! ;) 

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Last but certainly not least, please pray for my friend Erin. She had brain surgery Wednesday to remove a tumor. Thankfully the doctor is "99%" sure it isn't cancer! She is having some difficulty after such an intense surgery. I know she will appreciate your prayers! 

Book Review: Into the Whirlwind (Plus a small life update!)

Yes, I have thought several times that the title of this books is quite appropriate for this season of our lives! It does feel as though we are living in a whirlwind, but we are hanging in there!! We closed on our home and are living temporarily with my parents until our apartment is ready for us in just a few more weeks. :) We are so happy for answered prayer in selling our house. It does seem very strange not to be living there, but we do sense God's leadership and working through the process. Below is a picture collage I made up that chronicles our move.

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Note: Per Bethany House Book Reviewer guidelines, the book review can be found in it's own post here.