Hillary's NWA shower

Tonight we had Hillary's NW AR shower at my house. It was a lot of fun and Hillary got a lot of nice things. (Warning - lots of pictures to follow)

The drink area. I have gotten a lot of use out of my drink dispenser so far. I've made this same punch for several showers and it's really good. All you do is take a couple of bags of frozen mixed berries (or any kind you like). Blend it up in a blender to a liquid form and add several spoonfuls of sugar and then add any liquid you like. I use rasberry ginger ale - but I'm sure plain or Sprite would work as well.


Hillary's wedding colors are green and black. I got these petit fours with her new monogram.
The food table - besides the petit fours, bunco buns and fruit kabobs - I had some mini quiches and Shannon brought spinach dip and queso and salsa from her family's restaurant Bizy's.

Laurie and Katie and Katie's baby Paige

Shannon and her step-mom

Hillary's sister and mom (they read my blog so I want to give them a special "hello"!!!)

Hillary opening her gifts

Hillary and Katie

Hillary and her hostesses (minus our friend Megan who lives in NC) - Laurie, Hillary, me and Shannon
Hillary gave us the cutest hostess gifts EVER - monogrammed umbrellas. I absolutely love it but I can't use it because I don't want it to get wet. ha!
Hillary also gave me an early present for baby H! These burp cloths are ADORABLE!!!!!!

I'm just so glad to see Hillary getting married soon. I prayed for her for a long time to find a husband and God out did himself on this one! She's marrying a great guy. But of course - he's getting a great girl! Now I just can't wait for the wedding! :-)

Shower Food

I thought I would share with you one recipe and one food idea from my shower tomorrow night.

One of my favorite little party foods is something my mom calls "Bunco Buns" or you could call them "Party Sandwiches" or just about anything you want to call them but they are so yummy!

You need:
1 pkg 24 party rolls (or I used 2 pkgs of 12 dinner rolls)
1/2 stick butter, melted
4 tablespoons poppy seeds
4 tablespoons mustard
4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Sliced ham
Swiss cheese

In a bowl - mix together the butter, poppy seeds, mustard and Worcestershire sauce.

Spread sauce on both sides of rolls and put a piece of ham and cheese on each

Cover and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until cheese melts. Best if served warm!!!!

Since it's summer - I thought it would be fun to make fruit kabobs. There is a place in town that has the BEST poppyseed dressing and I'm going to serve that with these. I thought it would be a fun way to serve summer fruit!

My country tis of thee

My weekend report isn't too interesting. I had a lot on our agenda but didn't make it to most of the agenda. Yesterday morning we had choir practice because today was our Patriotic service and we needed an extra practice for all the special music we were doing. Today was the last time our choir will sing in church for six weeks. The choir gets a break every summer and we won't have practice either. I'm excited for a break - but sad also. I have been in the choir for a year now and I have loved every minute of it. It's even better than I had hoped it would be. And I made it a whole year without someone kicking me out for singing off key. ha! I'm just sorry I waited so long to join. We had a really good patriotic service today. It always makes me cry because I'm so thankful to live in American and so thankful for all of those who have served to give me freedom.
Yesterday we had two cookouts to go to and I made it to none. Our Sunday School class had a cookout/pool party in honor of our friend's Ashley and Bart and their new adopted son. I wanted to go so badly but I was SOOOOO sick yesterday that all I could do was lay on the couch all day long. Ashley and Bart shared their testimony in Sunday School today about deciding to adopt from Russia and all about their experience. I was ready to book a flight to Russia this afternoon and bring home a child.
After college - when Laurie and I lived together - we were in a singles Sunday School class for several years and we had the sweetest teacher. Well, she organized a reunion cookout for yesterday also. We had really wanted to go but between Laurie having a brand new baby and me sick as can be - we decided to not go. Scott and Steve went out to eat at Outback since neither one of us could go out.
It's such a beautiful day and I've been trying to enjoy it. My main goal today is to get my house ready and food ready for a wedding shower I'm throwing for Hillary tomorrow night. I'm so excited about it!
Hope ya'll had a great weekend! Sorry for my lack of pictures.

Every Heartbeat belongs to you!

We went today to hear the heartbeat. It was a little scary at first because my doctor used that thing that goes on your stomach to get the heartbeat and she couldn't find one. She kept saying "now - don't freak out" and I was trying really hard not to. My sweet friend, Catherine, had given me the wonderful verse "He who began a good work in you - will be faithful to complete it" (Phil 1:6) and I have repeated that over and over for the last two weeks. (Actually I kept singing that old Steve Green song - does anyone know what I'm talking about?)
So we moved into an ultrasound room and I was scared to death until I saw this pop up on the screen:
And there is our sweet little baby. It's upside down so the head is at the bottom and the body is at the top. We could see the heartbeat. We didn't get to hear it but this was so much better. I asked my doctor (who told me I could call her by her first name - ha!) what the heartbeat was and she said around 150 - and she said if I was thinking girl I might be right. :-) But it could just as well be a boy and we will be thrilled either way! I cried so hard when I saw this on the screen.
My due date is actually a day earlier (when I thought it should be) - so it's January 12th!
After my appointment - I headed to a lunch shower for a girl in my office. She is having a baby boy at the end of July. I got the petit fours - little rattles and booties!

We had a nice lunch and she got some cute things.
Yesterday, I got home to find a package from Heather. She sent me a journal, a cute notepad and a really neat book. She also sent me a "faith" ornament and a lovely card. Thank you soooooo much Heather! That was EXTREMELY thoughtful!!!!!! I love everything!

Everything is better when it's shared!

So I have to share with ya'll a cool story.

This is my friend Jenna. Jenna and I attend the same church and we just got to know each other back at the end of March. A few of our mutual friends wanted us to meet because we had been through the same thing. She and her husband had been trying for a few years, had tried fertility options for a year, she had miscarried once and they had recently been told they would have to do In Vitro. So we met for lunch and I told her how we had just planned a trip to hawaii to get away and relax so we could take a break and she said "well - we are going to hawaii a week after you!" It was nice to have a friend in real life who understood.
So we didn't talk for almost a month because we were gone and then they were gone and then I hated to call her because I didn't want to upset her with my news. So I kept putting off calling her. And then a week or so ago, my friend Rachel (who was one of the only people I had shared my news with) called and said " Guess what? Jenna just called and she is pregnant too. But she wants to know what she should do because she doesn't want to call you and upset you with her news." ha! God is funny!
So I called her and told her that we were BOTH pregnant! We both found out we were pregnant before we left for Hawaii!!! We are due 5 days apart!!!! It's so fun to have someone to go through this with. I just thought that was really amazing. And God had put it on Jenna's heart to pray for me for almost a year before she even knew what my name was. And I had been praying for her for a while even though I only knew her by name because I knew she had been going through infertility.
So I got to cross Jenna off my list of girls I'm praying for to have a baby. I have crossed off 6 names in the last 6 months. It's awesome to see prayers answered and I expect the same for all the rest of the people on my list!!!!

On a totally different note - I've had FOUR of you who live in same area with me e-mail me recently and tell me you have seen me in stores or restaurants and wanted to say hi but didn't. I just want to say that if you EVER see me anywhere - PLEASE say hi!!!!! I wish I could meet everyone in person so I would LOVE to meet you! I promise I won't make you feel crazy!!!

New Life

Our friends Mike and Kacy had their little boy, Wells Michael, yesterday morning. We were so excited for them. We went after work to visit them in the hospital and we ran into our friends Guy and Julie in the parking lot so we all four got to go up and visit.

Mike and little Wells

Kacy and her sweet boy. I am already trying to match up him and Sarah Kate. They are only 10 days apart and their daddies both went to Mississippi State and their mommas are from south Arkansas so I feel like it would be a match made in heaven. Unless of course we have a daughter and Wells decides he likes younger women - and then Sarah Kate will have a fight on her hands. (if we have a son - he couldn't date SK - because Scott and Laurie are cousins. This IS Arkansas - but I don't think that's a good idea. ha!)
And speaking of new life - we had a beautiful Japanese maple tree in our front landscaping and last spring it bloomed so pretty and then we had a freak snow in April and it just completely killed the tree. I thought it would come back to life and I kept waiting and waiting and we finally gave up.
So we decided to get a new tree and we got a Crepe Myrtle tree. I LOVE crepe myrtles. This one is a natchez variety - so it has white flowers. I love the pink flowered ones but I thought it would clash with our red house. I mean you have to accessorize correctly. ha!

What is your favorite kind of tree or plant? I also LOVE Magnolia trees and we have a minature one in our landscaping that I bought a few years ago. It makes me feel so southern.

What I've been up to

First of all - thank you SO VERY MUCH for all of your wonderful comments! I am so overwhelmed with all of the things you have written and how many of you took time to leave comments. I have treasured every single word you have written and I will probably go back and re-read those comments 100 times. I plan to somehow print them all out to keep in my baby book. Most of all - I'm completely blown away by how many "strangers" have been praying for me. THANK YOU! You have no idea how much that means to me. Something I said a lot in my prayers over the last year was "God, I know we have a lot of people praying for us - PLEASE hear them. I know in your word that you say when two or more ask anything in your name - that it will be answered" and I claimed that promise over and over. I believe that we have to claim the promises God has given us in His word. He knows our needs - but He wants to hear us ask for them so we can see His hand and give Him the glory when He answers them.

Last Sunday, on Father's day - our associate pastor did something very different for our church. He started by talking about our senior pastor who just had surgery on his arm after tearing his bicep. This came right after he a time when he has been recovering from surgery on his foot and his wife needs back surgery and is still recovering from cancer. He said our pastor was just really down and in pain and we needed to be praying for him. Then he went on to name several other families in our church who are hurting - a lady who was recently diagnosed with a very scary illness, a faithful member who is one of my friend's dads who has Lou Gehrig's disease and is dying, a family who's daughter has cerebal palsy and needs a surgery their insurance won't pay for .........and our pastor said he just felt led to ask anyone who was in pain physically or emotionally and just needed prayer to come forward so we could pray for them. I didn't expect more than a hand ful of people to go up front but probably 1/3 of our church went to the altar. It was a very emotional time for me because I was overwhelmed with how many people in our church were hurting and just how important it is to make a list of needs and pray over them. I was also overcome with emotion when I thought about how 3 months ago - I would have wanted to go down there to have prayer because I was in so much emotional pain over not being able to have a child and I just suddenly was so overwhelmed with thankfulness that God answered my prayers. I don't deserve for him to have answered me but He did anyway.

NOW - what have I been up to that I couldn't blog about - these are some things I wanted to share about but couldn't until now:

This is Scott and I (and Dawson) the day we shared the news with my parents. We drove over on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and surprised them. I'm pretty sure they knew something was up when we showed up on their doorstep. I had framed our ultrasound picture and wrapped it up and we told them we brought them something from Hawaii. As soon as they opened it - they both started sobbing.

Here they are crying some more. I'm pretty sure they cried the whole three or four hours we were there. My parents are emotional people - I guess that's where I get it.
They are SOOOOO excited. They have wanted to be grandparents for such a long time. I think this has been harder on them than it has been on us.
This weekend we finally got to tell Scott's parents. We wanted to tell them in person and we knew we would be seeing them this past weekend so we tried to wait. We got there on Friday night and went out to eat and to play minature golf and got ice cream and didn't get back to the condo until 11. So it was so late when we told them and I was so tired that I didn't even think to take a picture of their reaction. We gave them a picture just like my parents and they were sooo excited. It was so fun to tell both of our parents.
My mom sent me a box of baby goodies and something I loved was she sent me the pregnancy journal she kept with me. It's so sweet to read what she was thinking when she was pregnant with me. What's not so sweet is that what she weighed when she delivered me was what I weighed pre-pregnancy. But she was 10 years younger than me and several inches shorter than me (I'm trying to justify here). She also sent me my own pregnancy journal and I've had fun trying to record all the events!
I spilled the news to a fellow blogger, Jenna, a little early and she sent me two precious onesies - I had to show you this one - I knew ya'll would love it as much as I did!
My aunt Linda and uncle Bob sent me this razorback outfit and sippy cup. I'm sure our child will have a lot of HOG wear!

Thank you again for your sweet responses but especially for your prayers!

P.S. Heather is doing a giveaway on her blog - you have to go check it out!

Tis So Sweet To Trust in Jesus

Two years ago we started trying to start a family. We got pregnant very easily and then miscarried just as quickly. So we kept trying but nothing happened. After a year – we sought medical help and I started on fertility drugs and tried a few different procedures. Because of my age – we moved things along quickly.


In March – we met with a fertility specialist from Little Rock and we were told that our only hope was to do in vitro and even then our chances were 50/50 and it really didn’t paint that rosy of a picture for us. I left that appointment feeling lower than I have ever been. I was devastated. I remember calling my mom and crying and just saying over and over “I just don’t know what to do”.


So we decided to take a break. The past year had been a horrible roller coaster of emotions and I just needed a rest. So we planned a dream vacation in Hawaii and I knew after some R&R and the beach – either we would get pregnant or I would have clarity of what to do next. I didn’t have a peace about in vitro and I didn’t have a peace about adoption. But I also knew that I would never feel complete without children.


So in April – not only did we take a break from focusing on trying but I took a break from TV and the internet. I needed to take all of my time and spend it with Scott and with Jesus. I needed it to be quiet so I could hear Him speak. At the time we were doing “Experiencing God” in our Sunday School classes and our chapter that week was on FAITH. I also had been praying for God to give me a book of the Bible to focus on that week and He kept saying “Hebrews”. And in Hebrews – there is a chapter that speaks of all the men in the Bible who had great faith and because of their faith – God did amazing things. During this time – I started to feel this peace and joy come over me that I could not explain except to know that God was holding my hand and whispering “Wait on me – have faith that I can do anything”.

Three days before we left for Hawaii – I took a test.

God is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine. Eph 3:20

I can’t even begin to tell you how shocked we were. But I know how big my God is. I also know how many of you have prayed for us for so long and I will never begin to be able to show you my gratitude.
I have prayed for the past few months that when I got pregnant – that God would get all the glory – and He did it in such a way that only HE and HE alone can be the reason.

I almost hate to share this news because I know there are so many of you who will read this and be happy for me but your heart will hurt because you are still waiting for your turn. I pray that I will give you some hope. I hope you know that there are so many of you that I am praying for daily by name and I pray for all others to cover any I don’t know of. I hope that all of you who are moms will commit yourself to pray for those who aren’t and are having trouble. It’s one of the worst pains in the world to not be able to get pregnant. It’s a grief that few will understand. I know that my infertility wasn’t near as long as some of you have waited – know that I still have faith that God WILL do a work in you also. Please don’t give up hope.

Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 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 do this. Psalms 37: 3-5
I am almost 11 weeks and due on January 13th . We are overjoyed at God’s blessings. I have been very tired and very sick but just like I said when I wrote my post about Mother’s Day – even in my sickness – I thank Him. I am so thankful that God is entrusting us with a child.

We had one ultrasound at 6 weeks because my levels were so high my doctor thought I might be having TWINS! (there is just one!) My doctor and nurse (both are girls my age and I ADORE them) hugged both of us and cried as we saw the ultrasound. It was one of the best moments of my life.

We had planned to wait until after this Friday to tell everyone because that is when we will hear the heartbeat – but people were starting to ask questions and we just couldn’t keep it in any longer. Also – if you don’t mind – I would covet your prayers for us on Friday that everything would be okay. I feel deep in my soul that it will be.

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. Romans 4: 18 – 22
I’m thankful that our God still does miracles! I’m thankful He hears and answers our prayers. He doesn’t need medicine or doctors or for the economy to change to answer our prayers. He created the universe – can’t we believe that anything is possible with Him? All He needs is for us to put our complete trust in Him.

Jesus, Jesus, How I Trust HIM
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er
Jesus, Jesus, PRECIOUS Jesus

O FOR GRACE TO TRUST HIM MORE!

My wild and crazy life

It's been a bad blogging week for me. But the thing is the last few days have been the kind of days that are VERY hard to try and make interesting on my blog. Unless you want to hear about me sitting at work all day (I did try to include a picture of me in my very messy office) (and yes I totally did that with my self timer)

and then coming home to do laundry (those pictures would be riveting) and then maybe eating a little dinner, scanning the channels for ANYTHING to watch, finding nothing so watching all the Paula Deen episodes I've DVR'd this week and dreaming of things to cook, and then going to bed at 9. Yes - all kinds of blogging material out of days like that. :-)
We do have a fun weekend planned. Scott's parents and his aunt, uncle and cousin are all coming to Branson to stay for a week starting Friday so we are going over to spend the weekend with them. They haven't had any kind of vacation in years so I'm glad they are getting away and it should be a fun time. I'm just hoping to hit the Banana Republic outlet - other than that - I'm happy with whatever we do. It should give me a few things to blog about next week!!! :-)

Ballard Makeover

I want to let you in on a little secret. Okay two secrets.

I'm not a big fan of pottery barn. Gasp! I mean their stuff is okay - it's just not my favorite thing.

I am, instead, a HUGE, ENORMOUS fan of Ballard Designs. If you don't get their catalog - go to the website and sign up. They have the best stuff. I would like one of everything please.

I got our living room rug there and I love it. It's indoor/outdoor so it was much cheaper than a normal big rug and if you drop something on it - don't worry - it wipes up amazingly well! I could take it out back and hose it off if I needed to. Love it! I also got our living room drapes there but you can't really see them.
I got this little side table and table cloth at Ballard. The top overlay is just material that matches our living room drapes. I have every intention of hemming it and sewing on this great fringe I bought a million years ago if I have ever learn how to sew. ha!
I got our dining room red drapes at Ballard
And this great monogrammed chair cover for my office there.

I am telling you all this so I can let you in on my next secret - they are doing a $25,000 giveaway. You could win $25,000 worth of stuff from them AND a consultation with a decorator from Southern Accents. I'm thinking I could empty out my house and just start over if I win. And I am determined to win which makes me wonder why I am telling you???? ha!

So go here and enter today. If you win - you better at least give me a $500 gift card!

Monday

I got to have lunch today with two of my friends, Jenna and Rachel, at chili's. Of course - I forgot to take pics but we had a great time and I had one of my two favorites there - Quesadilla Explosion Salad. SO GOOD! (My other favorite is of course - quesadillas).

Preppy mama tagged me with a blog award! That was so sweet!

She said it was for blogs who bring you happiness and inspiration. So I thought I would list just a few blogs that do that for me:

Caroline is one of the most Godly young women I have ever "met". She is amazing and I wish I had another brother that she could marry so she would be my sister-in-law. If you know any Godly guys with a heart for missions - please send them her way. She is going to make someone a wonderful wife one day.

Meredith always inspires me to be a good mother. Her family has some great traditions that are old fashioned and simple in the best way possible - they remind me of how I grew up. I love to read her blog.

Julie is someone who inspires me with her faith, kindness and hope. She is an amazing, Godly woman.

Leigh Ann is a friend in real life who blogs but she is probably one of the sweetest people you will ever meet in your life. She has an equally sweet husband and two precious children. I am so glad she started blogging so we can be better in touch after all these years.

Annalee has a blog that I just love to visit. She has the cutest, most creative posts and she has the biggest smile - I would just guess that she has to be so fun in person.

Betsy is the cutest lady and is such a neat mom. She has four teenagers/almost grown kids and they are all beautiful. She seems like such a warm person and is very involved in her church that reminds me so much of my own church. I love her blog also.

Those are just a few of the blogs that make me happy and inspire me. If I tagged you - feel free to pass the award on!!!!

Going to the Chapel

Can I just tell you that this weekend has been a lot of fun but I am WORN OUT!

Friday night was the lingerie shower and it was a lot of fun. Here is our table full of yummy goodness. Some of Mandy's friends made all of the food and everything was so good. We had fruit salsa - so yum! I will get the recipe and post it soon!
I made the punch and got the petit fours. Aren't these the cutest bra and panties cakes you have ever seen? I thought they turned out so cute!!!!
This is the groom's sister, Aimee, and her best friend Jennifer. We were tri chis together at OBU and they had to throw up the X's for me for old times. We were hoping we would get to join up in the tri chi circle and sing the song to Mandy (who was a tri chi too) but it didn't happen. So sad.
Jennifer, Kenley and Elizabeth. A fun thing happened to us - while most of the girls were in the kitchen after opening gifts I looked behind my couch and saw this ENORMOUS toad. I mean huge. I was too shaken up to take the picture. I screamed at K&E to come help me and brave Elizabeth (the most girly girl I know) scooped it up in a bag and took it outside. I spent the rest of the night wondering how on earth such a HUGE frog got in my house and I was VERY concerned about it. I found out this morning from the Mother of the Bride that one of the groom's friends put it in a bag that was coming to the party as a joke - hoping it would jump out at Mandy. Well, the joke was on me.

The girls playing a shower game

The bride and some of her OBU friends. Thanks for all of your great shower suggestions - I found the cutest nightgown at Old Navy. It covered all the basis for me. She got a lot of really nice stuff.

Here is the bride and groom today - Mandy looked so beautiful

Her huge, beautiful cake

I thought this was a neat groom's cake

My sweet friend Elizabeth and I ended up being in charge of the food somehow. It was a very stressful job. Pretty much our entire church came to the wedding and it was a huge job trying to get all the food and drinks out and staying replenished. We were pretty much in the kitchen the whole afternoon. I told her at one point that I felt like we were Laverne and Shirley trying to set up a wedding reception (if only you could have seen us and some of the things we were trying to do). She made it fun.
This is our "we are EXHAUSTED" pose! I got to meet a sweet girl, Rachel, at the wedding. She reads my blog and I wanted to give her a shout out! I wanted to take my picture with her so I could post it on here but it never happened.
Scott and I got Shogun to go (one of our favorites) and I am about to go get in bed and read magazines! :-)