Christmas Decorations

This is my favorite time of year!  It’s a time for seeing friends from far away, getting extra time with family, and decking the halls with festive decorations.  I love seeing the sparkling of the lights and the warmth it brings to the chilly winter weather.  We collect ornaments from all of our trips and I love remembering those experiences each year as we hang them on the tree.  The past two years have also been special since my parents gave me my childhood advent calendar and nativity set for our home.  They are both such beautiful reminders of the incredible gift of our Savior and the anticipation of such a blessed event.  I can’t wait for these items to become part of our family traditions as well.  We laughed that next year a lot of our breakables will remain in storage so we enjoyed having them out this year!  

Packing for the Hospital

I think this has been the activity that has made it feel the most real that soon we’ll be heading to the hospital to meet our little one.  Having never experienced this it’s hard to know what I’ll want or need but thanks to tons of mommy blogs I hope we did a decent job packing.  The last step is installing the car seats which we’re doing this afternoon!

It’s countdown time!

I can’t believe we are in the final 27 days of pregnancy and less than a month from meeting our baby girl!  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t starting to get a little nervous about delivery but my excitement outweighs my nerves and I just pray it stays that way!

Christmas Party

This year I was a bit nervous about hosting such a big event at 33 weeks pregnant.  Thankfully we were able to have all the food catered and got help with the house cleaning.  I took a late afternoon nap and saved my 200 mg of caffeine for post nap so I could stay up and enjoy time with friends.  It worked like a charm and I was able to enjoy the whole night.  The photo booth was a big hit again and it was so heartwarming to catch up with friends that we love so dearly.  There is no better feeling in the world than seeing your home filled with smiling faces of the people you love!  

 

Nursery Update

Designing and decorating the nursery has been a ton of fun!  We knew early on regardless of the gender that we wanted the walls to be a calming color and for the décor to be whimsical.  Babies love bright colors but I wanted that to come mainly through toys and clothes.  After the showers we were really able to put the finishing touches on the room and now we are just waiting on our precious baby girl to arrive.  The cloud bookshelves and her mobile are my favorite.  Not only because they bring the hot air balloon and whimsical feel to life but because they were made by Kyle’s dad (the shelves) and my mom (the mobile).  

Here is a bonus picture of the playroom area we set up in another room upstairs.

Open Palm

I saw this quote on Facebook today and it is simple and so true.  “Anxiety depends on the future and depression depends on the past.”  I’m trying to focus on being present in the current moment.  I want to appreciate each stage of this moment.  I am praying that I will be able to appreciate each day whether it’s related to work, relationships, or our soon to be expanding family.  In small group this week Tracie mentioned living life with an open palm.  Learning to trust in what is in your life in the current moment without holding on too tightly to what you have now or being distracted by reaching for something else in the future.  It is the natural cycle of life that things will come and go.  I need to recognize that I am not in control and appreciate all that I can about my life exactly as it is right now.  I will always have the instinct to plan ahead but I am currently praying for a contented and joyful spirit.  Here are a few verses I’ve been praying that relate to this exact sentiment and struggle. 

Matthew 6:25-26
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Philippians 4:12-13
12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

1 Timothy 6:6-7
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.

Goodbyes are Hard

I am continuing to realize that adult friendships are about cherishing the amount of time you have in the same place as people.  We have so many friendships that have profoundly impacted our lives.  Some we have been lucky enough to live within an hour of them for most or all of that time.  Others we are lucky enough to get for a season before they move to another state to move back closer to family or for an exciting job opportunity.  Thankfully with social media and cell phones you never really lose those people but you do lose the chance to see them regularly and share little everyday moments of life with them.  We found out a couple Sundays ago that one of the couples in our small group will be moving up north to Pennsylvania for his job.  This is one of the couples we started our current small group with and that we’ve grown very close to over the past year or so.  During worship in the 11 AM service I felt tears welling up and I felt that familiar pit in my stomach.  The selfish feeling that wants to keep people I love in close proximity to me for as long as possible.  The anxiety of what it means for our small group and us personally and how much we’ll miss them.  As I processed the news and after some time passed I also felt thankfulness for the time we have had with them and excitement for them and how God will use them in their new community. 

I am trying to dwell in the thankfulness and the excitement for their new adventures.  And remind myself that this means they get to make new friends who they’ll impact and influence as deeply as they have us.  It also means we’ll have space in our lives to invite in new people to share our lives with.  I will still cry big fat tears when they move and will miss seeing them in small group but I know with complete certainty that God will watch after them and that they’ll soar in their next chapter.  Goodbyes are hard but I’ll enjoy witnessing their story unfold from afar and cherish the times in the future however brief where we get to visit with one another!