The Results are in...

Thursday was our anatomy ultrasound appointment, and most importantly, we are so thankful that God gave us a very healthy report, thus far! It's amazing to me what they can "rule out" disorder-wise with all the measurements that they take. Technology can be a beautiful thing:) I'm totally one of those patients that quizzes the tech the entire way through. "Did you see this? Was there anything wrong with that? How's the heart?" But then after all of that, we found out what our beautiful baby is...boy or girl. Except that we didn't find out:) We know but we don't know! We had her tell us when it was coming then to have us look away so that she could write it down on a note card and put it in an envelope for us. Trey is getting dedicated at church on Sunday and many of our family members are coming to celebrate, so we thought it would be a fun way to include them, by having them surprise us with the results!

After much thought about "the perfect" way to find out (without copying exactly some of the very cute ideas I'd heard), we decided that we'd pick out two outfits, and they will wrap the appropriate one for us to open after lunch. The thrill of the surprise has been so fun, and having this envelope sitting right here is so tempting, but I love surprises WAY too much to spoil it:) We had a fun little family outing today to target to find a couple of sweet little outfits for the "Big Reveal".

We did have a serious close call yesterday when Trey was opening some mail and I heard him open a second envelope, and out of the corner of my eye I saw that he had busted into "The Surprise Envelope"! I freaked out and shouted, "NOOOOOOOO!!!" So I ran upstairs and closed my eyes the entire time I shoved the card back into the new envelope--haha, phew, that was close! Anyway, we'll be sure to let you know!

Garden Update

I just finished this entire post and it didn't save anything-grrr. So, let's try this again.

We had the most fun this weekend building our new Square Foot Garden! We've been researching and reading up on it for the past several weeks and have continued to be inspired by Emily and GW's very successful gardening over the last couple of years, so we've been very eager to get started. Takes a little bit of prep to get your SFG going, but it's supposed to pay off big time in the long run:)

All our supplies ready to go!

Our "power" drill is a P.O.P (Piece of POOP!) so my big, strong man hand-drilled the whole thing! We constructed a 4 x 4 box out of untreated wood because treated wood will mess with your soil and crops. We also used 1x8" boards, but I think 1x6" would have been good too. Maybe next time.

We covered the bottom of our box with weed fabric to cut back on the upkeep.

Next is the lattice top to divide out each square foot section for the different crops.

Here we are combining our Mel's Mix soil composed of compost, peat moss, and vermiculite. Can you tell that we had to wait till after Trey went down for this part?:)

And Walah! Project Complete:)

I forgot to take a picture after we'd planted our veggies the next day, so I'll just tell you what's in each square. Can't wait to show you the results (and see them for myself!). We've got oregano, basil, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, red leaf lettuce, roma tomatoes, celebrity tomatoes, lavender, zucchini, squash, cantaloupe, green bell peppers, red bell peppers, and watermelon!

I go out to check out the progress multiple times a day, but I haven't seen anything yet;) A watched pot never boils, I suppose;)

Going Green

It's funny how our interests change season to season. Using the Barnes & Noble magazine stand as my indicator of change, I can remember each transition. In college, I dreamed of my perfect man and that perfect wedding day (no need waiting till the last minute to get the details in order, right?), so I poured myself over every wedding magazine. I still love a good wedding spread, but my thoughts moved to design and decor after Shaun and I had a house of our own. What's our style? How can we make it ours on a shoestring? The challenge is so fun:)

My latest focus has become our garden--or my visions of our garden, so far. This one hasn't been as natural of a transition for me. Mom has the green thumb in our family, and for some reason I have managed to kill every living plant I've every owned. But I'm determined that this will change. I'm excited about gorgeous blooming flowers, but I'm more excited about getting our vegetable garden up and running. Fueled by my desire to grow delicious food that we planted and harvested with our own two hands, but even more so by my increasing disgust at the fact that I feel like we have to choose between eating fresh and healthy or on target with our budget. ugh!

So...last year, I got a roma tomato plant and a basil plant. Loved having both, but the summer heat burned them up and I harvested one lone tomato and eventually lost my herbs:(

With even more enthusiasm this year to get multiple crops going, I had to pull back my zeal. As of now, I have gotten some red leaf lettuce, which experimentally I planted in a window box, and SUCCESS!!

The First Harvest!

Our lettuce has been the most productive so far, but we have a small basil plant with several more seedlings trying their hardest to grow, cherry tomatoes in the works, and a neighbor just brought up a green bean plant:) We're on our way!

We are in the process of researching the Square-Foot Gardening method, so we'll be sure to update you on that as it comes together.

Master Bath Mini-Makeover

A couple weeks ago, Shaun and I had the hankerin' to do a little home decorating. The challenge was to pick a space that we could see a noticeable update with a very small budget. Our goal was $50, we went over a bit, but with only $75 we gave our master bath a "Spa-inspired" mini-makeover:)

Our vision for our bathroom is the relaxed and luxurious feeling we get from "the Vitality Room" at the Ritz Carlton in Charlotte. I just love walking into a spa. I don't even need to be having any treatments, and I feel so relaxed. This is our hope at some point.

Thanks to good ol' Garden Ridge we stretched our $75 and were able to get a great hanging shower caddy that tidied up our shower space, a faux-wood shower rod and curtain hooks, a botanical print celadon curtain, a cozy bath rug (that kinda reminds me of a sea anemone), a beautiful impressionistic painting of a willow tree, and last but not least, my little potted moss creations:) Super simple, but I couldn't find anything like it for the price I wanted to pay in the "floral" section at the store, so I thought it would be easy enough to just add our own natural element to the countertop.

We've got some bigger, more dramatic ideas for this space, but this was a fun Saturday project.

One of my favorite people from my college days is Mrs. Sara-Beth Noll. It makes me smile just to think of her and all of her sweetness. I have truly loved getting "reacquainted" with the Noll family through their blog the last several months, and I just wanted to share one of her most recent posts and thoughts that I had while reading. Well, I can't take credit. I'm sure that the Spirit put them there, so, perhaps He'll use this to make you think about it too:)

Just in time you don't get a chance to read her post (which you should), then I'll tell you that they have been going thru the process of adoption, and Sara-Beth has been generous enough to share her thoughts and feelings throughout. It has certainly opened my eyes to the world of adoption, and I'm so thankful for her openness. This particular post is about their family Easter and the joys of the day, yet the ache in her heart knowing that she is missing her boys. The waiting is very hard. A dear friend (and veteran of adoption) of hers gives some amazing counsel. Part of which she directs SB's attention to the direct parallel to OUR adoption into Christ's family. Wow! So what follows are my thoughts and comments to Sara-Beth in response...

"Thank you, Sara-Beth, for always being so honest and open with your heart thru this whole process. Never knowing anyone personally who has gone thru the process, I have never really understood everything that surrounds it. Thank you.

I also wanted to thank you for making me think about OUR adoption into God's family. What a beautiful and heartbreaking picture of God's heart yearning for me to turn to Him completely. Though He knew that I'd come running back to Him (and the role you would play;) ), each day of waiting and watching His daughter make mistake after mistake without Him must have been so hard for Him. I am in such need of these reminders because as intimate of a relationship that I know God wants with us, I think that in my mind I have such a hard time believing that He would feel that way about me."

Now being a mom, God has been more than gracious, in the insight He's given me to the Father-daughter relationship I have with Him. I am tearing up thinking of the intense love I have for Trey and for baby #2, and am then in awe and disbelief that I can't even comprehend how much greater God's love is for me.