3 weeks to go and a completed nursery!

  Happy Monday!
Sorry it has been a while but work has been pretty busy, personal life has been busy and well I do have a baby to prepare for! I can't remember all the fun things that have happened in between but amazingly I remember the post where I was talking about how we had 6 weeks to go and I wanted them to go by fast. God answered my prayers as we're halfway through that and now only have 3 weeks to go! It is pretty incredible that I found out I was pregnant at 4 weeks and I have made it through now where I only have 3 left. We have 99.9% finished the nursery so here is the finished product... Enjoy!

Here is the overall room view that shows most everything! The stool is going to be recovered but everything else is as it will be when Hutton comes home. Thanks to some very special people, Lil Conoly for the beautiful valance and curtains and Vanessa Rhodes for the bumper pads! A special thanks to my husband for working so hard with me to get it finished and to my liking :)

This is the opposite view and inside the closet are all of the many things people have blessed us with for sweet Hutton! We can't thank everyone enough for the clothes, diapers, wipes, toys, books, blankets, and more!

And there is the sweet boy's bed!

A Different Kind of Wednesday...

  I am changing it up a little bit this Wednesday and featuring Happy Birthday for our song for the week in honor of my awesome brother in law Tripp's 19th birthday! We love you Tripp!

Also, on Tripp's 18th birthday Chris and I made the trip a little north of Birmingham to bring home our first born son :) Jacks! We love you and are so glad you've been a part of our family for a year now! Daddy is enjoying taking lots of pictures of Jacks with his new camera!

Monday and Motherhood

 I made it through 1 of the 6 weeks so now we're down to a max of 5 until Hutton is with us! We have a fun and exciting week ahead of us so I think this one will go by fast as well. Plus, I have a feeling that this time next week I may be showing you a 100% COMPLETE nursery! I'm very excited and it is coming together even better than I envisioned. Anyway, for all you moms on this Monday...

P.S.- Tune in tomorrow! We're attending my awesome brother-in-law's signing ceremony and then going to dinner for his birthday and I'm pretty sure Chris is going to take some pics and I'll be able to post them tomorrow!

Happy Friday!

In all honesty, I've had somewhat of a rough up and down week but it is coming down to a nice close. I'm feeling better, I have had a productive day at work, I enjoyed a fun baby shower at Chris' work, I have a date night with the hubbs tonight and it is now public knowledge that I get to be an AuNt again! 5 1/2 years ago I was blessed with becoming an aunt to my brother's sweet daughter Cadence and now Chris's sister Sara and her husband Tyler have a little bun in the oven due August 15th!

Hutton will be so excited to have a cousin 6 months apart! I'm directing you to her blog so you can see the pic of the little Caldwell baby!

Congratulations Sara and Tyler! Chris and I are so thrilled and can't wait to meet him/her!

6 weeks... Impatient Me!

  I'm very impatient. It is probably my greatest fault. When I want to do something, I want to do it then. When I want to eat something, I want to eat it then. When I want to talk to someone, I want to talk to them then. You get the point. So when I tell you I'm ready for Hutton to be here... I'm ready for him to be here YESTERDAY!

I have 6 weeks left (max). So what I tend to do when I'm really impatient and wanting something to get here sooner is I make lists and find ways to make myself busy with the waiting. So my newest thing is to look at those 6 weeks I have left and think about the highlights of those weeks...

Jan. 9-15th

ReAlLy busy week at work*Friends over for National Championship*Nursery getting closer to finished*Childbirth class*Small group starts back*Wednesday night church dinners start back*Doctor's Appointment*Baby shower at Chris' work*Baby shower for a friend on Saturday*Possibly sit down and try to figure out my sewing machine*Deep clean the house*Finish thank you notes from my first baby shower*Church on Sunday*Sweet brother in law Tripp in town so dinner for his birthday*

Jan. 16th-22nd

Relatively busy week at work*Childbirth class*Dinner at church*Small Group*Baby shower at my work*Mani/Pedi day for me*Take dinner to friends who just had a sweet baby girl*Nursery completion deadline*Church on Sunday*Leading youth small group Sunday night*May schedule a girl's night*Hopefully a date night with the hubbs to go see War Horse*Thank you notes for work showers*

Jan. 23rd-29th

Childbirth Class*Dinner at church*Rhema Bible Study at church*Small Group*Doctor's Appointment*Miss Alabama Pageant*Figure out how to put car seat in/out of car*Put pack and play up in our room*Pack hospital bag*Sweet friend Luv's birthday*Church on Sunday*May schedule a day with my mom*Youth small group on Sunday*

Jan. 30th-Feb. 5th

Busy week at work*Last childbirth class*Dinner at church*Small Group*Doctor's Appointment*Do taxes*Date night with the hubbs*Superbowl Sunday*Possibly Bridal show with my friend Melissa*Decorate for Valentines Day*Hopefully dinner for brother in law Tyler's birthday*

Feb. 6th-12th

Really busy week at work*Dinner at church*Small Group*Doctor's Appointment*UNC v. Duke game*St. James Youth Auction*Relaxing weekend at home with the hubbs*Church on Sunday*Youth small group on Sunday*

Feb. 13th-19th

SUPER busy week at work*Survive and Thrive (big work event)*My favorite 4 year old's birthday*Dinner at church*Small group*Valentines Day*Sweet friend Abbey's birthday*Church on Sunday*

That's it... the wait is over! I can get through those 6 weeks right :)

Had to share...

Happy Friday! Boy am I glad we made it to Friday... Chris and I have a lot of work to do on the house this weekend as Hutton's arrival becomes closer and closer! 

A facebook friend that also happens to be pregnant with a boy due about 2 weeks after me posted a link to this and I couldn't possibly blog about anything else today but had to share this...

25 Rules for Mom's with Sons

If you have a son, it will probably make you cry. If you're hormonal pregnant with a little boy it will definitely make you cry. Hey, if you're a mom or soon to be mom to anyone it will probably make you tear up a bit. But, its a good read for this Friday morning.

Spiritual Focus and Commitment

  I was just browsing around the internet today and ran across this article on Lifeway's website and had to share...

Consider your ways in the New Year

by Don Whitney

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP) - Once, when the people of God had become careless in their relationship with Him, the Lord rebuked them through the prophet Haggai. "Consider your ways!" (Haggai 1:5) he declared, urging them to reflect on some of the things happening to them and to evaluate their slipshod spirituality in light of what God had told them.

Even those most faithful to God occasionally need to pause and think about the direction of their lives. It's so easy to bump along from one busy week to another without ever stopping to ponder where we're going and where we should be going.

The beginning of a new year is an ideal time to stop, look up and get our bearings. For starters, here are 31 questions to ask prayerfully in the presence of God as you "Consider your ways." Think on the entire list at one sitting, or answer one question each day for a month.

1. What's one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?
2. What's the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?
3. What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?
4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?
5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?
6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?
7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?
8. What's the most important way you will, by God's grace, try to make this year different from last year?
9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?
10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in 10 years? In eternity?
11. What's the most important decision you need to make this year?
12. What area of your life most needs simplifying, and what's one way you could simplify in that area?
13. What's the most important need you feel burdened to meet this year?
14. What habit would you most like to establish this year?
15. Who do you most want to encourage this year?
16. What is your most important financial goal this year, and what is the most important step you can take toward achieving it?
17. What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your work life this year?
18. What's one new way you could be a blessing to your pastor (or to another who ministers to you) this year?
19. What's one thing you could do this year to enrich the spiritual legacy you will leave to your children and grandchildren?
20. What book, in addition to the Bible, do you most want to read this year?
21. What one thing do you most regret about last year, and what will you do about it this year?
22. What single blessing from God do you want to seek most earnestly this year?
23. In what area of your life do you most need growth, and what will you do about it this year?
24. What's the most important trip you want to take this year?
25. What skill do you most want to learn or improve this year?
26. To what need or ministry will you try to give an unprecedented amount this year?
27. What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your commute this year?
28. What one biblical doctrine do you most want to understand better this year, and what will you do about it?
29. If those who know you best gave you one piece of advice, what would they say? Would they be right? What will you do about it?
30. What's the most important new item you want to buy this year?
31. In what area of your life do you most need change, and what will you do about it this year?

The value of many of these questions is not in their profundity, but in the simple fact that they bring an issue or commitment into focus. For example, just by articulating which person you most want to encourage this year, you will be more likely to remember to encourage that person than if you hadn't considered the question.

If you've found these questions helpful, you might want to put them someplace - in a day planner, PDA, calendar, bulletin board, etc. - where you can review them more frequently than once a year.

So let's evaluate our lives, make plans and goals, and live this new year with biblical diligence, remembering that, "The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage" (Proverbs 21:5). But in all things let's also remember our dependence on our King who said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

Donald S. Whitney is Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality Senior Associate Dean of the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky.

Ten things on Thursdays

  Ten things on my agenda for 2012...

1~ Rely on God's wisdom and guidance to be the best Mommy I can be!

2~ Rely on God's wisdom and guidance to give me the energy to continue to be the wife I'm called to be, a great dog mom, and keep a comfortable home with food on the table

3~ Even with a busier schedule make sure to find that time for God each day so that I don't attempt to do it all myself

4~ Learn to use my sewing machine that I have had for 3 months :) Thanks sweet husband!

5~ Decorate for every holiday... yes Valentines Day, St. Patricks Day, Easter, Birthdays, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and of course Christmas!

6~ Brighten up our kitchen... paint cabinets? new countertops and backsplash? paint the pantry door?

7~ Paint our bedroom dresser with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

This is my inspiration although they are using it as a buffet!

8~ Learn to use and take lots of pictures on our new camera... We have a perfect subject this year!

9- Organize our small laundry nook and add some excitement to it!

10~ Write more songs

Worship Wednesdays

  I just had to post this song today because I'm in love with it and wanted to listen to it myself...Sadly no video for you because I can't seem to find a good one of her actually singing it!

Kim Walker
"I Surrender"

There is no love, sweeter than the love You pour on me.
There is no song, sweeter than the song You sing to me.
There is no place, that I would rather be,
Than here at Your feet, laying down everything.

All to You, I surrender,
Everything, every part of me.
All to You, I surrender,
All of my dreams, all of me.

If worship's like perfume, I'll pour mine out on You.
For there is none as deserving of my love like You.
So take my hand and draw me into You,
I want to be swept away, lost in love for You.

No turning back, I've made up my mind,
I'm giving all of my life this time.

Your love makes it worth it,
Your love makes it worth it all,
Your love makes it worth it all.

Happy Happy New Year!

  So yes I must admit I was a total slacker on the whole blogging throughout December thing! It just got the best of me and was so busy that I felt like I never had time to catch up and actually blog. Well now its January and a new year so on the 3rd of December I will start it off right!

I thought I would start the new year off by recapping what a year 2011 was by listing 11 of my highlights of 2011 in no particular order...

1- 1st Anniversary... Well we did it :) Chris and I finished out a whole first year of marriage. We beat out Kim Kardashian. No seriously though, you do go through some adjustments that first year and I am more in love now than I was the day I married him. We got to celebrate by spending a long weekend in St. Simons. Perfection!

2- Becoming a family of three... I bet you all thought I was talking about finding out I was pregnant! Haha, actually on January 18th we welcomed in our Havanese Puppy Jacks and yes I count him as a full on family member. I cannot tell you the amount of joy he has brought us over the last year.

3- Finding out we would be a family of four... Okay here is that finding out I was pregnant part! This was quite a surprise as many of you know but we have truly discovered over the last 29 weeks since we found out that God's timing is perfect. We can't wait to welcome sweet Hutton into this world in 7 weeks or less :)

4- Wizarding World of Harry Potter... Yep- I'm one of those. Now I don't want to get into any type of conversation whether Harry Potter is good or bad. All I can say is I grew up for it and take it for what it is, fictional books and movies that just entertain me. In March, Chris took me on a short trip to Orlando and I got to do the whole Harry Potter world and had a BLAST!

5- Bahamas... In early March even before Harry Potter world I went with some sweet friends and spiritual mentors for a long weekend in the Bahamas. I can tell you without a doubt I've never felt God's presence more in a place than I did those few days. I'm not even sure how to explain it but I came back a better wife, worker, friend, daughter and feeling more renewed than ever before. Hmmm... return trip? I'm so thankful for those sweet friends that experienced that with me.

6- Roughing it... Well, it doesn't really count as roughing it but in February we went with our friends Clay and Melissa up to Mt. Cheaha for the weekend. It was just a relaxing weekend of a little hiking (maybe an exaggeration), food, fun, music, and Catch Phrase! Now 2012 will bring their wedding and we can't wait to share in that excitement with them!

7- Highlights for some sweet people in our life... Some of our friends had some really special moments in the last year that we were able to enjoy with them. My precious friend Aletha married her high school love Bo Mann and they are enjoying married life together! Our friends Brad and Rachel brought home their long awaited and prayed for second daughter Amelia home from Uganda in February. What a special blessing it was to have their family of four together! We also had some other friends JW and KC bring home their sweet little second daughter Zoe home from Ethiopia! Two sweet friends Ty and Kimberly got married in October and we were able to celebrate in that occasion with them! On December 21st, our sweet friends Matt and April Damato welcomed their little boy Lucas into this world! There's more... two of my Melissa friends got engaged and will be getting marred in 2012! Congrats to Clay and Melissa and John and Melissa! And in December we also found out some exciting news that is still a secret :) I think that is all... if I missed anything please please forgive me!!

Aletha and Bo in their coffee shop in St. Simons- Wake Up Coffee Co.!

8- Together... In April of this year the women's ministry of our church put on an exciting event to bring the women of our church together. It was called Together... Pray Love Act. I was in on the planning for this event and had a blast helping plan it as well as seeing God's faithfulness as it all came together. They are also planning another special event for this year and I pray that God will give the women of St. James an incredible experience and reveal himself to them in new ways!

9- 25th Birthday... Trips are always fun, trips with friends and your spouse are even better! We spent a long weekend with our friends the Goode's and the Freeman's at the beach for my 25th birthday. It is just extra special because you get to be with both your spouse and some of your besties all at the same time!

10- Paseo... Chris and I spent our actual anniversary weekend at Paseo which is a spiritual retreat. I really can't go into detail about the experience except say that it started out slow but ended up really blowing us away :) If you are interested in learning more or going yourself... let me know!

11- It's a Boy/Baby Shower... I will combine these so that I don't take up so many things with info about Hutton! Well we had two fun parties that involved Hutton this year. Late summer we found out we were having a BOY and threw a gender reveal party at our house to announce the news that Hutton Whatley would be joining our fam. Then in December, a sweet group of friends threw an amazing baby shower for me. I was honored by all the people that came to support us as well as so blessed by the beautiful gifts they gave. A special thank you to my sweet friend Mary for opening up her home!

Okay, I said I would only do 11 things because it was 2011 but I had to add 1 more. I also started an awesome new job in August that I love! I am now the Director of the Montgomery Area Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy which is a project of the Gift of Life Foundation.

2011 surely did bring us many blessings and I have a feeling 2012 has some awesome things in store. On Thursday, I'll tell you about my excitement and ideas for 2012!