3.26.2016

My goodness, it's been a while since I've posted. I have been a little busy with a couple things in our life...

For one thing, there's a bit of news I've not mentioned here yet and that is...we are expecting!

We just entered the 7th month and it's been such fun to feel our little guy thumping and bumping around. I will really miss that part of pregnancy (it's my favorite part!), but will gladly exchange it for a newborn in my arms. Natasha is beyond excited and can't believe she's really going to be a big sister.

The other big event that has been taking up much more of my time than being pregnant (I mean with that, all I do is live life carrying around a very small person everywhere I go) is, that we bought a house and have moved!

We have lived in many locations in our 8 years of marriage. Even a total of 9 months in other countries. Renting the whole time. But now, we have a place to call our own. It has almost 2 acres of land with a lovely yard for exploration and a garage, which we have missed in these northern snowy winters. Daniel has a nook in the finished basement for his office, which takes the laptop off our dining room table, and gives him a little more space. My sewing room is at one end of the basement as well and doesn't share rooms with the guest bedroom anymore.

We didn't move to gain more space because of our little babe coming though...we had been talking about moving for a while now, and the time simply was right. We told ourselves our previous home wasn't a location we wanted to be for 4 years, and that self-imposed deadline would be up in May. So we kind of had to do something about it. 

I think the thing I love the most is that it's really ours. I can paint and change anything I want and not check in with a landlord first. So, paint I did. First the master bedroom, then the dining room, shown below. The purple in both rooms was simply not me and I'm very pleased with the new "Snowbound" colored walls, thanks to Sherwin Williams and friends and family who helped paint. Fortunately we finished before moving in and I can't say how wonderful that is.

The backyard is beautiful in the foggy mornings and Natasha loves running up and down the hills out front, or learning to skip rope out back. The yard is fantastic. Our previous yard was basically a sandbox with weeds, but this one has real grass and it's so thick it's almost like carpet.

 We have been here almost 3 weeks and are slowly but surely making it ours and creating memories. I will be sharing more of my fun with decorating as we go along.

This is a fun weekend for us since today is my favorite guy's birthday...

(Flashback to this past summer when I shot with film. I really should do this more often. Even a picture a week would be more than what I do now. Hmmm...I'll think about that more.)

And tomorrow, is Easter. I grew up having an Easter basket and going on egg hunts, but all the while knowing the Easter bunny was not the bearer of such gifts nor the real reason for this holiday. I want to instill the same mindset with Natasha, yet I like to have little spring/Easter traditions for her to remember too. We've never done an Easter basket with her, but when I saw demibrooke's idea of Spring Baskets, I thought it was the perfect way to celebrate spring and keep Easter for celebrating Christ. So last Sunday, which happened to be Palm Sunday as well as the first day of spring, Natasha found a little goodie bag at her spot for breakfast. 

She spotted some bathtub crayons in Target the other day, so I knew she'd like those. The paint palette is something I picked up at Hobby Lobby so we won't have to use paper plates for paint projects anymore, and of course, what's a spring goodie bag without a bit of chocolate? Dark, of course. The bag itself was something I refashioned out of a thrifted linen skirt, a couple years ago or so. 

We colored eggs last week for fun as well. For the first time I tried natural dyes with foods. MUCH more time consuming, but fun for a change. Natasha painted a few eggs too. I always buy the cheapest, lousiest quality, white shelled eggs to hard boil and dye since we won't be eating them. 

Yay for 98 cents per dozen at Easter time.

Come this time of year I'm always struck with my inadequacy of God's love and I stand in awe that he did come to earth for me. 

Even while we were yet sinners. In our mess, our unworthiness and even while we were enemies of God, he came for us. Romans 5:6-11 was my focus the other day, and I still can't get it out of my mind. For a good reason too.

William Temple puts it in a simple phrase: 

"My worth is what I am worth to God, 

and that is a marvelous great deal, 

for Christ died for me."