Monday, October 11, 2010

Tomorrow

So, tomorrow is the big day. We are getting induced. Crazy. I have so many emotions and thoughts running through my head right now. Please keep us in your prayers. We are very excited! And nervous!!!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

I'm It!

I got tagged by Sarah, so I get to answer these fun questions. :)

1. What is your favorite season?
Ooh! :) Well, I would have to answer this for the two places I've lived, because the answers differ depending on where I'm living at the time. If I'm in Texas, my favorite season is late autumn when the leaves are finally turning and the air is crisp. I just love wearing sweaters! If I'm in South Dakota, I would say that early summer is my favorite time of year. It is perfectly warm during the day and beautifully cool at night. You get the best of the warm weather while still being able to sit around an outdoor fireplace at night.

2. Congrats! You've won TWO shopping sprees! $1,000 to Target and $1,000 to Home Depot. How will you use it?
I LOVE this question, Sarah! I would probably want to wait to cash these in until we know (or can tell you, hint, hint) more about where we will be when Marc graduates in December. Because I wouldn't want to beautify our house and then leave it! But, I would probably use some of the Home Depot money to get power tools. I want a table saw, a circular saw, a Drimmel and maybe a drill press. I don't know if I can even get all that for $1,000, but in my dream world I can. :)

The Target gift card would probably be spent on new bedding and accessories for the house as well as just using some of it to buy our everyday needs so we can relax a bit with the new baby coming. I would also use some of the Target money for a new wardrobe once I lose the baby weight. :)

3. You have to quickly leave your house (and not go back), and can only take 5 things with you (humans not included, but animals are). What would you take?
I'm unclear as to whether I need to grab my lovely humans, but as long as they are taken care of I would grab our wedding pictures, my meme (blanket from when I was a baby), my cell phone, our computer and my purse.

4. Perfect fall Saturday . . . stay around the house for football and projects or go spend the day out?
This one depends on the day. I am going to cheat and say that I would probably prefer to go out for a bit and then spend the majority of the day at home with projects and my hubby. I like getting out of the house for a little while each day.

5. Routine or spontaneity?
Spontaneity! But I feel like spontaneity is a spice in life and it can be exhausting if you use it all the time, so you have to use it wisely.

6. What is your favorite desert?
Pretty much anything with chocolate. But if I'm going out, my favorite is Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie at Chilli's. So. good.

7. Best moment of your life.
Marrying my husband and best friend. But I have a feeling I'll be making a new favorite memory later this week when I see our baby for the first time. :)

8. Where have you seen/experienced God this week?
This week has been really good for me. I've been forced to take a step back out of my normal routine and spend some time intentionally preparing for the huge life change that is coming next week. I think I've experienced God the most in watching the way my husband has stepped up to take care of me and things around the house since I am being forced to take it easy. It has been a blessing to watch him love on me and it reminds me of the way I need to let God love on me rather than trying to do everything myself. I also received a very timely book in the mail from a far-away friend and that blessed me more than she'll know. :)

Now I get to tag people! :) If you see your name and blog address below, answer these questions on your blog! And be sure to let me know so I can check out what you write!

1. What are five things in life you have not yet experienced that you definitely want to experience?
2. If you could be from anywhere in the world other than your hometown, where would you be from and why?
3. What scares you?
4. What is one vice that you know you could never give up?
5. What is the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
6. If you could do life all over again and only change one thing, what would you change?
7. Who was your favorite celebrity as a child?
8. What is your mission?

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

"Maternity Leave"

While I'm on "maternity leave," I've noticed that I have a lot of zeal for the idea of creating things. I readily admit that, thus far, I have had no follow-through. In fact, napping has been just about the only thing I've continued to follow-through on over the last few days. But, I guess that is the point of this whole "leave" thing, right?

On a personal note, my blood pressure is a little high. It is borderline high right now. In fact, it is exactly the threshold of "high" blood pressure in pregnancy. So, because of that, they haven't put me on total bedrest, they just told me to take it easy. So, I am free to craft all I want. The problem is finding the motivation to want to be crafty. Especially since our space is kind of crazy right now with the move and all the extra baby stuff.

But, if I ever get to these inspirational projects, I wanted to collect them here so I don't forget what it was that was oh so inspiring to a 38 week pregnant lady. :)

I will do my best to update you if I ever get around to any of these great projects. But, even if I don't, perhaps the list will inspire you!


1.

3.
Gathered Clutch from Noodlehead
(although I think I would just use them as purse organizers)

4.

Book Review: Somewhere to Belong


Somewhere to Belong is a fiction novel by Judith Miller. It centers around a young woman named Johanna Ilg who has lived in the Amana villages in Iowa her entire life. The Amana people are very similar to an Amish or Hutterite group. Johanna has grown up living a simple life and has always been very comfortable with that simplicity.

Berta Schumacher is a young, vivacious woman who comes to Amana with her family thinking that it is a short trip when, in fact, her family has decided to relocate to the Amana colonies. This does not sit well with Berta who takes pride in her worldly possessions and enjoys the freedom of flirting with boys and having unlimited personal freedom. But for her parents, the colonies are exactly what they need to feel like Berta is being kept safe away from outside influences.

As Johanna gets to know Berta and is placed in charge of her difficult adjustment into life in the colonies, Johanna begins to see that life outside the colonies might not be as threatening as she originally believed. And Berta begins to see that life inside the colonies might hold more excitement than she hoped.

But Berta and Johanna's family situations hold much more than either of them bargained for, and the story takes many unexpected and exciting twists and turns as the girls learn more about the secrets that families keep.

The story was interesting for me. I had some trouble getting into the novel early on, but once I got to know the characters it was an exciting read. I look forward to possibly reading other books in Miller's Daughters of Amana series. Overall, I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Note for Full Disclosure: While I do not receive any monetary compensation for my book reviews, I am provided with free complimentary copies of each book. That being said, this review is completely my own, and free from the influence of Bethany House Book Publishers.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Book Review: Free Book


I finished reading this book quite a while ago and have been holding off on reviewing it. Why, you might ask? Well, I just didn't have the passion to get my thoughts together on the subject.

Free Book is a book by Brian Tome. It focuses on freedom in and through Christianity. And it focuses on the ways that we willingly give up that freedom through religious piety, rules and restrictions.

To give you a better glimpse into the type of book we are dealing with, the complete title is Free Book: I am a fanatic about freedom. I'm tired of seeing people beaten down by the world's systems and by religion. God's offering real freedom. Get yours. Yep. That's the full title. I think that the title is important because it betrays a little bit of the edgy, new-church, hipster Christianity vibe that I feel Tome spends way too much time trying to kindle. I mean, you shouldn't have to try to be hip, you should just be hip, right?

The whole book felt a little like an exercise in someone trying to channel their inner Rob Bell. I was "over it' by the end of the first few pages.

I'm all about freedom and I'm all about the subject of this book. In fact, I completely agree with Tome that modern Christianity has become too religious and rule-driven and has lost the spirit of freedom that Christ intended. But, even though we agree, I still struggled through this book.

All in all I give it a 2 out of 5 stars. Harsh, maybe, but I just felt tired after reading this book, not energized. And any book that includes "coming at you hard" in the title is pretty much never going to get a 5 out of 5 from me.

Note for Full Disclosure: While I do not receive any monetary compensation for my book reviews, I am provided with free complimentary copies of each book. That being said, this review is completely my own, and free from the influence of Thomas Nelson Book Publishers.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Bootylicious Mrs. Meyer's Monkey Farts

I knew that post title would make you want to read this, right? :) It has been a while, but I'm not even going to apologize even though I am feeling a little remorse. This has been a crazy few months. I have a feeling I might be saying that for the rest of my life! :)

Today I was put on bedrest by my OB. I'm pretty bummed because, being a "doer," it makes me crazy to think about sitting for any extended period of time. And by extended period of time I mean, anything more than a few hours. :)

I have a feeling this blog might see a little more action in the coming days and perhaps weeks if this whole bedrest thing continues. But, I make no promises. I will just do my best to update this when possible without making it another to-do list item. And that is super hard for a to-do list person like me.

On that note, I leave you with several random things:

I love the smell of Mrs. Meyer's countertop cleaner. I also love that it does a good job cleaning and contains natural ingredients. Mrs. Meyer's PR people, if you're out there reading this blog you should definitely give me some free product to review. I think it would be great to try out your baby products...hint, hint.



I love this candle I have. The scent is called Monkey Farts. :) It smells like carmel and banana and vanilla and butterscotch and is just plain heavenly. It is from a local candle company, but I'll try to scrounge up the info during one of my many trips from the bed/couch to the bathroom.
UPDATE: Here is the website if you want their info. You can't order online, but you can email her to order. :)

Did you know that a part of me cringes every time I write an emoticon or an exclamation mark? Really, it does. :) ! :) But I haven't yet found a way to assuredly convey the sassyness of my tone without the use of these silly marks.

Our Lifegroup, which is kind of like a bible study where we have fellowship and eat dinner once a week, has one sweet little member who just turned three. His name is Syler. Sy's parents have been in Lifegroup with us for over four years. This means that Syler has been in Lifegroup with us since he was in-utero. We have taught Syler many things over the past three years; our high point was teaching him to crawl. However, last night we may have topped that. Last night, the lifegroup taught Syler to say "bootylicious." It probably wasn't the right thing to do, but at the time it seemed like a really good idea. And BOY was it funny! He walked all over the house saying, "Bootylicious" with PERFECT diction. This may just become one of my favorite Lifegroup memories. If you want to see sweet Sy and his awesome parents, go to www.beingtherichardsons.com.

We took our prego pictures this week with our dear friend Mallory Kulak. She is one talented photographer! I can't wait to get our photos back from her. :)
 
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