Working on the nursery

I will admit it, Isaiah's nursery was complete by around 25 weeks. So here I sit at almost 34 weeks and I am still piecing Isabella's room together one tiny bit at a time. Here are some glimpses of what is to come.

It all started with a quilt!  My Grannie made this quilt the year I was born. I was given one (which now rests inside my pillowcase and barely looks like a quilt) and my aunt stored the other one. Thank goodness!  I was given this one about ten years ago and have always hoped for a little girl to pass it along to. 
 

Wall color on left. Valspar grand hotel mackinac blue. 

Next on the list was a mirror. Every little girl needs a glamorous mirror to fix her hair in and priss and primp in!  I love Home Goods and yeah for crystals!

Speaking of hair, we needed a place to store and sort Isabella's growing collection of hair bows so mommy got crafty. Found a picture frame at Hobby Lobby and ribbon at Michael's. Add a little hot glue and you are good to go. 

I found this gorgeous fabric and knew I wanted curtains made. Can't wait to get them finished and hung (FYI I am not making them since I don't sew, but my super talented friend Erica is). I also found some curtain rods with crystals knobs at lowes for $10. Woohoo. 

I wanted some art that tied in with the quilt so my sweet mom made that her mission. I love what she found. And might I add, another great deal since they were 50% off!

The birds nest is made out of hymnal sheet music which I love even more since my mom played the piano at church when I was younger. 

No room in our house is complete without a cross or two. I'm kind of obsessed with them. 

Now on to lighting. I have been hunting for the perfect chandelier and have yet to find the right one but here are some of my inspiration pieces. 

The last one is my favorite, and in true jenny fashion, the most expensive. 

It's all coming together now I just have to start hanging things instead of piling them up. Ha!  Tomorrow we welcome week 34. Love you Isabella and can't wait to meet you!  This week at our weigh in you were 5 pounds and in the 40th percentile. Please keep it in that range and don't follow in your brothers footsteps. He weighed 9.5 pounds. Yowza!

Roosting

Over Thanksgiving break we spent two days at the cabin. It was so nice to get away and be a bum in nature!  The views are priceless. We had a great time being together as a family, exploring nature, sitting by the fire, shooting guns, eating and watching football. 

Isaiah was collecting rocks and brought them in to cappys work bench. He examined them under the light and needed his "special gwasses". He cracks me up. 

This view never gets old. I love when all the leaves fall and we have such great views of the water. 

Just a boy and his dad!

Thanksgiving

This year our great friends, the Blichers, joined us for turkey day. They were in our small group in Florida and it was so wonderful to spend the week with them and sweet baby Bryce. We had an awesome visit and always enjoy our time with them. We ate, played and slept a lot (well Megan and I were early to bed most nights hahahaha). 

A little exploration at the children's museum of Memphis. 

Gobble gobble it's turkey day. Complete with turkey, gravy, green beans, potatoes, squash casserole, dressing, pumpkin pie and pecan pie. Yum yum. 

A day spent at the Memphis zoo is always a fun time. 

And before they left they were able to witness the chaos, I mean joy, that is hauling out the Christmas decor and decking the halls!

We love you Mike, Megan and Bryce. So thankful we were able to celebrate with y'all. Thanks for making the trip to Memphis!  We are so blessed that God put you in our lives. Now, come back!  

Ten Years

On November 22 Mike and I celebrated 10 years of marriage. I cannot believe it has already been 10 years. So much has happened in that time and I am so blessed that I have had him standing beside me the whole time. 

Mike took the day off work so after dropping Isaiah off at school we headed to Brother Junipers for breakfast. This place does not disappoint!  

After stuffing our bellies we did a little Chriatmas shopping and the. Headed over to the gun range for a little target practice. 

It really was a fun way to spend the day. As much as we love doing things with Isaiah and as a family it was so wonderful to have uninterrupted conversations and just enjoy the quiet moments together. I thank God every day for this amazing man He put in my path. I love you Michael! 

29 weeks

This pregnancy is going by so fast. We are down to the last ten weeks. Crazy!  I am getting super excited about Isabella's shower that some of my super sweet and special girlfriends are hostessing together. 

This past weekend was our last free weekend until after Christmas (which kind of gives me anxiety just thinking about it) so my awesome parents volunteered to spend the weekend with Isaiah while we got things done for the baby. I cleaned out and organized two closets, got all baby things down from attic and reassembled them and washed them, washed two loads of baby clothes (forgot how much I love the smell of baby detergent), moved Isaiah's dresser to the nursery and brought in his new big boy dresser (thank you for your help David) and my amazing hubby painted the nursery. He still has to finish up some trim work but I just love the color we chose. 

I can't wait to get the finishing touches together and share the final product. 

Boo!

Halloween this year was so much fun. Isaiah got to pick out his own Halloween costume. Hulk Smash!

It rained a lot that day but luckily it cleared out just in time to head over to the Harrison's for pizza, treats and friends. Isaiah loved running from house to house with all the big kids. He was a pro. 

Afterwards we headed home with a full bucket of candy. Our neighborhood had just gotten cranked up and Isaiah was ready for round two. I stayed back to pass out candy and Isaiah went out with mike only to return with a second full bucket of candy. Yum!

Trick or treat y'all!

Thankful

So I first have to begin with a confession: Yesterday we cheated on High Point and visited at Harvest church. Harvest is led by Kennon Vaughn. Kennon is a super passionate guy and he also heads up Downline Ministry in Memphis. What a treat it was to hear him speak and share his heart on missions. Thanks so much for the invite, Natalie! "If God answered ALL of your prayers TODAY how would the WORLD be a better place and radically changed for CHRIST?" This was a question he challenged us with. It definitely struck a chord with me when he said it but I have spent some time reflecting on it more this morning. We live in a culture that is very self centered and self driven. We grow up with access to so many "extras" in life. Most of us in America don't know what it is like to truly have NEEDS that are not met (shelter, clothing, medical care, food). More importantly we are free to worship and serve our God with NO persecution. (And I don't mean the judgements of others around you, I mean toss you in jail and throw away the key for worshipping God kind of persecution.) Whether you are a believer or a non-believer you are lucky enough to be able to voice that freely in our country. I am so thankful that I can go anywhere to worship and praise my God for all the things He has done for me and all the ways I see him moving and working in our broken world. I worked in my journal this morning and quickly realized that if all of MY prayers were answered in one swoop only a small percentage of people would receive the blessing. My prayers are so narrow and so focused on the world I live in. The new testament tells us to "go and make disciples of ALL nations". I'm not even focused on my nation (unless there is the nation of Jenny hahahahaha). My answered prayers would affect my family, my community, my friends and loved ones that I pray for, myself, and my future daughter/son in laws. Kennon spoke a lot about global missions and I will be honest with you, I don't think we are all called to pack our bags right now and go share the Word in a nation where most have never heard about Christ. I think that we are all called to serve in different places, at different capacities at different times and stages of life. However we can all serve a global mission just by praying. There is so much power in prayer and you can do it from anywhere. Here are two websites he shared to help with global prayers: http://www.ivpress.com/operationworld/ and prayercast.com How would your prayers change the world?