anticipation of spring

All of these spring-like days have me really anticipating spring and summer!

Honestly, this winter has not been very "wintery", but still, I am SO ready for sunshine!

This weekend we took a little trip to Charlotte and the weather was absolutely gorgeous!

(more on our trip later this week).

Today, it is sunny and in the 50's...Thursday it is supposed to warm up to 60's! Way to go WV weather! You are making me so happy!

So, what am I looking forward to most about summer??

Here are a few things...



Daffodils, bike rides, beach vacation, fresh fruits and veggies (from my little garden...which I have just started from seeds or the local farmer's market), and swinging. I love going to the play ground and playing...this year will be more fun because we will actually have a child to take with us (and people won't think we are crazy grown-ups playing on the play ground!)

What do you look forward to the most about spring and summer? I'd love to hear!

Happy Tuesday!

Looking forward to the rest of this week and celebrating its special moments with you!

road trip love

We aren't as spontaneous as some of you people, but on Monday we made the decision to take a little trip this weekend. Just one night away since we haven't really been away since a visit to my sister's back in October! So this morning we are off!

I absolutely adore road trips! Don't get me wrong, flying is great too (especially for those long distances...like visit Papa Call in Florida) but I've always enjoyed road trips with the hubs. When we were dating we drove from Chicago to Little Rock, making a pit stop in Memphis, then drove from Little Rock to Charleston! Whew! Talk about a trip. We were in the car for hours and I'm pretty sure that's how we fell in love...so bring on the road trip! 

Some of my favorites about road trips are...

1. Being unplugged (neither of us have Smartphones) from the internet for hours at a time.

2. Talking...about everything!

3. Coffee stops! We don't have a drive-thru Starbucks here (I know...horrific!) so we when get to make a pit stop for coffee it just seems like a big deal. 

4.  Jammin'...we LOVE music and listen to it basically the whole trip

5. Sleep! I typically don't drive much so I get a little extra sleep on road trips usually...and this Mama definitely needs some extra zz's every once in a while!

6. Sudoku--I can actually do more than one puzzle without feeling guilty--like I should be doing something else! 

Those are just a few reasons! 

I should actually be finishing packing, but decided to spare a few minutes for you, my lovely readers. 

What are your favorite things about road trips?? Comment and let me know! I'd love to hear!

let the weekend begin...

I love beginning my weekend by reflecting over the last week

with my phone photos--Insta Friday! :)

 Last Saturday was really nice. Michael gave me a little bit of time in the morning

to be alone, so I went (in the snow) to a local coffee shop/bookstore and got an Almond Milk latte.

Delicious!

One morning driving to campus the sun was coming up over the hills...

it was beautiful and I really tried to capture it, but my dirty windshield didn't help things. :)

Happy Valentine's Day! 

My man knows me so well! 

I finished my last Sudoku book a while back and have been really wanting another one! 

YAY!

Our tiny Valentine celebrating her first Valentine's Day :)

Valentine flowers

Pink Tulips for Mama

a minuet bouquet for Little E

all from Papa--Thank you Papa! 

They are beautiful, still, after 3 days! 

Tea light holders that I made for Little E's party. 

Baby food jars re-purposed with a  little help from tissue paper, modge podge,

doilies, and yarn. 

Now its time to Fill in the Blank! 

1.  The love of my life is   Jesus and Michael James.

2.   Falling in love is   an amazing journey. I still look back at our date-ship period with awe and wonder. It was such a fun and exciting season of life.

3.  Marriage is   hard, but fun and worth every ounce of effort. There are times when its easy, but there are hard spells too. 

4. The longest relationship I've ever had was  this one! almost 4 years married and a little over a year of date-ship/engagement period. That's practically 5 years of my life...WOW!

5. The key to a good relationship is  deep connection and communication. Serving each other is key too.

6. I feel loved when   someone (usually the hubs) helps with things around the house. It can be as simple as changing a diaper after I've been home all day changing them! Or making breakfast and coffee so that I can get moving! :)

7.  My favorite quote about love is  "Falling in love again isn't so much about communicating better, but about connecting deeper" Ann Voskamp's blog from a few days ago.

Valentine Wishes

Wishing you a 

Happy Valentine's Day! 

May you celebrate with those you love...and chocolate (of course). 

Here are some vintage Valentines that I found.

Aren't they the cutest? 

I thought you might enjoy look at them as much as I did. :)

snowy saturday

add snow falling outside and you'll have my morning. 

The hubs graciously has given me a few hours this morning at a local coffee shop where I am enjoying

1. an almond milk vanilla latte

2. soft music

3. along time

#3 is definitely the most needed. 

I've had a busy week with a busy little girl (by busy I mean into everything). It has been exhausting and I needed time to regroup and relax. So, a big THANK YOU to my hubby for giving me some time for that this morning. 

Reading 1,000 Gifts while sipping my  latte. I'm on my second trip through this book and it only gets better! 

My you recognize the gifts in your weekend...in every moment. 

Blessings.

fill it in!

First of all, let me say that if you haven't participated in Fill in the Blank Friday you are missing out! It is so much fun! I am always excited to see what the week's blanks are!

1.  I started my blog because   I wanted a place to share my thoughts, recipes, ideas, pictures, and etsy shop. I love reading blogs and thought it would be fun! 

2.   One thing I love seeing on other blogs   real life experiences and open-ness. Posts that tell the not-so-rosey side of the story...but aren't negative...just truthful. Those are the most encouraging ones for me.

3.  Something I love about blogging   connecting. I have just recently been able to connect with some other bloggers, and it is fantastic. I hope to continue to do so!

4. A favorite blog post of mine is probably  the one I posted on Wednesday because it is an expression of where I am...where we are as a family. Its honest.

5. Something my friends in real life know about me that I've never before mentioned on my blog is   ??? honestly I'm drawing a big blank on this one...maybe I will come back to it.

6.  My new favorite blogs to read are  not necessarily new. I love A Holy Experience (mostly because I love her book)! SimpleMom is another fav--love her book too! There are loads of others that I like...life on leroy, the pleated poppy, callgirl designs (that's my sister). 

7.  Some things I tend to avoid doing on my blog are   sharing too much personal stuff. Is that bad? Or good? I'm not sure yet. I don't want to make my life seem perfect, but I don't want to be negative either. Hmm...something to consider.

bakeries and daughter dates :)

I don't know about where you live, but I have gotten spoiled over the past week.

Our weather has been absolutely a.m.a.z.i.n.g.

(that is until yesterday, when winter decided it wanted to make an appearance). 

Little E and I have taken advantage of the beautiful sunshine & warmer temps this week.

Here are some photos of our week. 

(sorry some are so blurry...these are from my phone and apparently they reduced in size when I was transferring them making the larger version rather blurry...hope you can get the idea though).

I'm linking up again at Life on Leroy & Life Rearranged

 Scenes like this make me love our little city. 

We took a walk along the river on a sunny day...Monday I think. She slept :) 

 This sight--towels hanging in the sun to dry--just made me smile. 

Hopefully the people who live here didn't see this crazy lady taking a photo of their laundry, but I just HAD to!

Last Saturday we celebrated my Granny's 75th birthday.

If you know our family, you know that we can't have a birthday (or wedding for that matter)

without a cake from Spring Hill Bakery. 

E and I drove by and decided to pick up the cake for my mom (since it was on our way) and I swear, heaven will smell like a bakery--I just know it!

Little E's face was priceless when we walked in. Her eyes were so big and her mouth just dropped open. Yep, she's definitely my daughter :)

The women in our family have an obsession when it comes to Spring Hill's hotdog pastries (chocolate drizzle ones of course). Little E seems to be no exception.

The ladies in there were so sweet too! They carried the cake to my car for me since it would have been hard carrying that and Little E. They also offered E a free doughnut hole, but since we think she may have a dairy allergy we had to politely decline--although I know she would have adored it...who wouldn't?!?

So this picture is really for my mom. See, my dad is a huge sports fan. Football mainly, but basketball and baseball too. When the Reds built their new stadium, my dad and his friend cut their old seats out of the old stadium and they are still sitting in the garage at my parent's house. 

We were on a walk through a nearby neighborhood and saw this. It seems they also got some stadium seats. Only difference is they are displaying theirs for everyone to see rather than hiding them in the garage. Mom--maybe you need to put yours in your front yard ;)

Tuesday was a blessed day. I got to campus to find out that all of my classes were cancelled! Instead of picking E up at 3:30, I was able to get her at noon. We took advantage of the sunshine and went to the park for a bit. At first she didn't like the swing, but when she got going, she loved it. 

I loved it! 

This week we did so many fun things together. Partly because she is growing up and able to do more, and partly because it was so nice and warm out. I'm excited for what summer will hold for us! 

Weatherman is forecasting snow for today and tomorrow so we will be inside most of the time. The hubs is playing in a church basketball tournament tonight and tomorrow and we are ready to cheer him on! 

Oh! I just signed up for my first craft show! It is next month and I am super excited about it. I am really hoping that my etsy shop will benefit from some local exposure. Sewing/crafting with a wee one is a little difficult, but I'm hoping to make it work. If you haven't, check out my etsy shop (there's a link under the tab at the top of the page). I'd love some input from those of you who are pro-crafters :)

Blessings on your Friday!

lady in waiting

Ever feel like you are just playing a waiting game?

I do

all.the.time.

Okay, so may not constantly, but pretty frequently. 

Many of you do not know our current situation, but my hubs has a degree from Moody Bible Institute and feels called to be a full-time ministry man, particularly in church planting. He is currently receiving more training through our church's Academy of Biblical and Theological studies. I am currently finished my Elementary Education degree that I've been working on for decades, years (like 5). Because of my schooling needs we are here in our home state of West Virginia. We are part of an amazing church, but God simply has not placed us in a ministry position at this point. Not that there haven't been opportunities, but because we have felt that those opportunities were not what would bring God the most glory in our lives. They would require too much compromise on our part (theologically, practically, etc). 

It's hard--all of this waiting. 

We definitely expected our lives to be different at this point. 

We expected...

me to be finished with school

hubs to be fulfilling his passion (ministry) full-time

not to be living on a teeny-tiny income

to be doing something exciting

but...

this is what God planned for us, even though we didn't expect it. 

We've talked much about these things over the past few days, and prayed through them. You know what? Psalm 37 says, 

"Trust in the Lord, and do good, dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act."

If that isn't exciting, I don't really know what is! 

Hard--yes, worth it--yes! 

Trusting is hard stuff. But He's calling us to be faithful in the here and now. 

When our delight is in Him (not in our expectations or our circumstances) our hearts will desire what He gives. Our hearts will desire what He desires for us. 

When we commit our ways to Him--HE will act. We won't have to strive to attain our calling, He will do it.

We are free to live the lives He has called us to 

right now.

So here's to living...

here's to waiting...

not waiting on expectations, not waiting to live, but waiting on 

God

and his plan.

Love, 

lady in waiting...family in waiting

hooray for weekends :)

Ahhh! Its finally here!

Welcome Saturday!

I've missed you!

This weekend is shaping up to be busy one here at our place. We have good friends over last night for game and were up later than usual. Hubs has class at The Academy of Biblical and Theological Studies here in Charleston, Granny's birthday celebration is today, we're helping my Dad out with a little surprise, and I'm heading to my mom's this morning to work on some crafties for E's birthday party. Tomorrow is church, a meeting, and then the Super Bowl! Not much down time, but we are SO looking forward to being together as a family over the next few days and spending time with people we love.

Have you ever heard of Six Sisters' Stuff?? I just found it this week, and I am really enjoying it! The recipes on there look delicious and my Pinterest is full of them :) Anyway, today I'm linking up my "Welcome the Love" post from Wednesday at their Strut Your Stuff Saturday linky party. Head on over there to check out all the great crafts, recipes, etc.

I hope you are able to enjoy some rest time this weekend! 
Thanks for stopping by today! Be sure to drop in sometime next week to see what else is happening here. Who knows--you may get to take a peek at some of the crafts I'm getting together today for our little birthday gathering next month! 
Happy Weekending!

fill in the blank

I'm linking up with The Little Things We Do today for our weekly
"fill in the blank friday"

1.   If money wasn't an issue, the first thing I'd cross of my life list is     adoption! The hubs and I have really been wanting to adopt, but at this point in our lives it just isn't possible. We have started an "adoption fund" though and are looking for ways to make it happen as soon as possible.

2.    BBQ sauce on my baked potato     is something I like that other people think is weird.

3.  If my life were a movie right now, the title would be     "Soul Amnesia" because it seems like God has to keep teaching me the same things over and over and over.. .

4.  Three things I am looking forward to this month are     Valentine's Day    ,    not being as tight with the budget since we paid off one of our major debts yesterday!   and     getting everything ready for  E's birthday party next month.

5.  My favorite song to sing in the shower is  ??? I usually just enjoy the quiet of the moment...that's hard to come by when you have a little one in the house (especially when she's a jabber box like mine) :) .

6.  If I found out that the production of     Special K Chocolately Delight cereal    was ending this month, I'd go out and buy as much as I could tomorrow.

7.  One thing I'll never grow tired of is    family time...spending evenings with my hubs and little girl (even if we are just browsing at Target)  .

week in photos

You are going to be SO proud of me! If you recall, last week I was completely lazy busy and did not even bother taking a single photo with my phone to share with you all! This week was different! I took so many photos this week (with my phone and my camera) that is don't even know where to begin!

Let's start with my phone pics for the Insta-Friday link up, shall we?

 Bedtime snuggles with me girl

Family movie night this week was the Winnie the Pooh movie--I have to admit that Little E didn't even watch it, but its okay for us adults to be kinds every now and then.

The movie was super cute and recommended by my sister

 The weather has been so beautiful here this week! I couldn't resist taking a picture of my shadow

on this beautiful sunny day while I was walking to my next class. 

 Monday I went to a local antique mall with my friend Elizabeth and her little girl.

There were SO many little treasure there...here's a little peek :)

 Valentine's Day mantle decoration

Recycling day! I have been taking our recycling to the center one day a week. Actually I could probably do it more as it seems to get out of hand quickly. The hubs helped me on Wednesday morning and we got it all loaded in the car and dropped off!

I'm also linking up with Life on Leroy for a "week in photos" post! 

Would you join me? This is Alli's first linky party--so let's make it a hit! :)

You've already gotten the basic gist of my week, but here's some more details.

This is about how our mornings go.

Coffee, Bible reading, journal-ing, and Hubs' studying for class.

There he is!

That handsome man of mine working hard on his academy class.

Monday I made bread (I usually do about once a week)

It was delicious and I ate about half the loaf all by myself :)

These two photos are simply a sneak peek into a future post. I can't go into any details right now,

but let's just say I've been working on a Valentine for someone very special. ;)

I've already told you about our beautiful weather. 

I love seeing the sunshine streaming in my windows in the afternoon.

Monday's antique mall finds! 

I got the green table cloth and 4 napkins for $7.50,

the orangey napkins were 4 for 50cents! 

Talk about a deal!

I love pitchers...this one was only $3 at the antique mall and I simply couldn't resist!

Our recycling center! I only photographed the entrance because the rest of the place

is unsightly! I guess that's what I should expect with people's garbage that is being recycled all over the place.

Wow! That was a ton of pictures in just one post!

Hope you enjoyed it! 

I'm also hoping to link up at The Little Things We Do

for a fun fill-in-the-blank post! Check back later for that one :) 

Happy Friday!