Friday, September 30, 2011

Fabulous Friday

Although I am "retired," I still love Fridays.  It means my husband is done with his work week and that we get to sleep in together and just relax...well after the house remodel is done. 

We are off to a dinner tonight to meet with a young lady who an entire organization was founded from.  The organization is Remember Nhu (www.remembernhu.org) and they fight child sex trafficking in four SE Asian countries. The couple quit their successful jobs, sold their successful company, take no pay from the organization, and simply live to fight for those who don't have anyone to fight for them.  So beautiful and convicting.  

Nhu is a girl that was rescued and Carl and Laurie have now adopted her as their own daughter-you should watch the video (you will cry).





Tomorrow is remodeling (hubby actually took today off for that as well). Sunday is remodeling.  And thankfully we get a lovely dose of Jesus on Saturday night at church :)  Should be a lovely weekend.

I am thankful this Friday for all that God is doing and I pray I am aware at every moment of who He is and the beauty He wants to reveal to me.  I have come to realize that SO MANY of my prayers have been answered-in ways more beautiful than I ever imagined (husband, house, who God is to me, a baby, our families loving one another, etc.)

What beauty is He revealing to you?

May we all have the ability to find Him in our busy lives-that He provided for us.

xoxo, Anna N


Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Heart quatrefoil.

I am still sore...well I am recovering but wow-painting takes some interesting muscles. I figured I had painted 20 hours in three days.  And I am tired of white, desperately tired of pink (seriously, I wish we could find what kind of paint that horrible pink was throughout the whole house because it has taken 3-4 coats to cover it), and so ready for patterns/colors/etc.

Hence: quatrefoil.

I am off to the Depot to look for wallpaper, or stencils, or whatever might strike my fancy.  Here are some pics of things that I have found that I HEART.  Pictures to come from this MAJOR (thought to be moderate) remodel.

This below I will not do...this seriously must've taken 40 hours.  But wallpaper...there is an idea!


I love this room-all of it.


Or maybe I will go find some fabric and see if my old trick of steaming it to a wall will work.  Yes, I have tried it and it worked (at one time).  Love this print. Classic.


Also, two websites for you lovelies to check out:

www.houzz.com

www.decorpad.com 

xoxo, Anna N

Monday, September 26, 2011

Hope.

I just read this on another young lady's blog and thought it needed to be reposted:

"...and what my Dad told me growing up proved to be absolutely true - "Don't think about what he's going to be like too much; you don't need to. The Lord has already taken care of it. He has someone far better than you can even imagine.""


Amen. Sisters-believe this and live like you believe it.  You will be the brightest thing in the room :)


xoxo, Anna (who's husband is far, far, far better than I ever dreamed of...and I was a GREAT dreamer)


PS: Did I ever mention how much my husband loves to dance. LOVES.  Look at that joy! 
I love it.



Friday, September 23, 2011

Pregnant.

Friendly friends!


Happy Friday!


A little update on the last two weeks (also known as the 20th and 21st week of having a wee one growing)!  I love how my friend Echo gives updates and thought maybe I should do the same!


1) I spilled on myself today. It seems as though I have grown so fast that I don't recognize the belly that is now there. I don't think you can see the stain but I haven't spilled in yeeeeaaaars.
See? There is a SHELF now...also known as a bumpy bib, ball, our wee one, spill spot, etc.
2) I love sleeping on my side, always have, but it is so weird to have this extra space that I have to adjust for every time I roll over.

3) I still have no cravings. Didn't have morning sickness/nausea.  Feeling quite blessed.  I loved reduced-fat Oreos before and I still love them.

4) I do still get up 2-3 times/night to use the restroom.

5) My chest is way too large for my likings and I have learned that I was quite content with the little I had before (not complaining just so not used to it).

6) My husband loves my body pregnant and it makes me feel so beautiful :) 

7) I still don't want to know the sex of our baby. At all.  Not even an inkling, a smidgin, an ounce.  It is one of the few surprises life affords and I can't wait for the moment when Dr. Stewart says, "You have a ?!" I mean talk about an ethereal moment.  Plus, I am not the hugest fan of pink (except for bubble gum pink).

19 weeks to go with the wee one on the inside! Still cannot believe God knows how to do this. You could give me 200 lifetimes and I wouldn't come up with the brilliance of the human body.  Let alone from conception.

xoxo, Anna N

*off to Nuestra Cocina (a must, must, must PDX eatery) with the hubby and the Wagners!!! Then onto an entire weekend of de/construction :) Pics Monday!




Deconstruction.

Just a few pics from some "tearing apart" that has been done since last Thursday.  You should see the TO DO list-pretty crazy.

God bless the Comers who brought us dinner the first night (carpet tear-out night)!

Color wheels-how are there so many "whites"????


This is quite possibly one of the cheapest light fixtures but highly entertaining...it will be replaced with a chandelier.

Prego attempting to cut up carpet and padding.

All gone!

The CREW moved in and did a wonder on that atrium. It does help that all of our parents love to garden...

1966 linoleum. Vintage.

Of course the linoleum was under the wood floors.

Anybody want a HUGE fan palm? Seriously.

Court and Juanita tearing it up.

My mom is always this joyful to be helping.

New homeowners/deconstructors.

The joy on everyones' faces when the saw came out was priceless.

Filled the 40 yard dumpster!

It was mom's birthday and all she wanted to do was cut something down!

Yes-the CREW.

Upper cabinet-gone.  Grease-found. Lots of it.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Cookies. A baby. A house. Love.

We got to see our wee one!  

Please note the bicep in the photo :)  I kind of hope for the wee one's sake it is a boy because husband's muscles were already shining through.  Oh, and the little one weighed a pound (the average is 10-12 ounces at that date)...  Baby must love Thai food and pizza.  Glad to see the baby isn't afraid to eat!

We were also blessed to have both of our parents (more affectionately now known as grandparents) to the ultrasound.  It was so beautiful and I think both of our moms were about done-in with how excited they were :) 

Our little one did a flip for us, too.  And a few bicycles just to show it knows how to use its legs. 

Updates on the belly: it keeps growing!  My stomach muscles definitely felt it this last weekend while I was trying to launch stuff into the 40 yard dumpster (now full) in front of our new home.  Apparently they  feel like they have stretched enough in two weeks...  Pic below.


And growing...and growing...and growing...  

Also- WE HAVE A HOUSE!!! The style is called a "Rummer" (google if so inclined) and we are loving it.  They are basically homes with really open floor plans built in the 60s and centered around an atrium.  Love it. And LOVE our neighbors :) 









The house needs quite a bit of work so next came the family demolition event :)  Pics to be posted tomorrow once I get them out of lightroom.  Praise be to the LORD for such an amazing family and friends who helped us tear up all the flooring, some walls, trees/bushes, strip cabinets, take out around 100 screws/nails/hooks, etc.  

And cookies.  Please go make this recipe-you will make lots of friends :)  They are super chewy and amazing if you only leave them in for 15 minutes...off to go take them to our bank (Umpqua-world's best bank)!  With milk of course. They seriously sent us a gorgeous flower arrangement (below) because they found out we were pregnant and bought a house...we will miss those guys that work there.

There might be a bite taken out of the one in the back (oh, and my milk to the side).

So beautiful!  xo, the peops at Umpqua
xoxo, Anna N

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

"What Men Really Want"

I found this through some meandering through www.goodwomenproject.com and "wow."  ALL should read what this guy writes about. I am always telling my girlfriends to wait and then men desire so much more than we think (meaning past sex, lust, "hotness", etc. ).  

Please, please, please go this link and encourage all men you know that the true desires of their heart are real. That there is a God who created man in His image for His glory and for insane beauty-beauty that is comprehended when God is taken for who He is and we saw ourselves in His reflection.

I recently had a conversation with a lovely lady who said she went on a date with a guy who was rather "physical."  She said she wasn't that type and didn't want that to be central to a relationship and that she desired more. He teared up.  I believe his soul knew that he wanted more but his flesh told him it wasn't worth waiting for...

I know seeing myself in His eyes changed my life.  I am often asked why I tell people to have higher standards (not mulah, friends, I am talking about character) and this alone is the reason.  I know who I was created to be and I feel ALL have that desire within them that they were created for something so much more.

A fashion post.

As you have likely noted, I rarely post anything on fashion. I worked in clothing for so many years and to be honest, as much as I love it, it kind of lost its charm (plus I used to be addicted to shopping and thus the caution).  

However, in the midst of things no longer fitting (my "top" has gone up three sizes)...I have been searching for eek...maternity...items.  Crazy.  Seriously. I already have a long torso so what I used to define as long no longer works with the wee one taking up a daily increase in space.

Good news is: I found amazing things for people who aren't preggo in my search!  Found myself at Kohls and discovered the Lauren Conrad and Daisy Fuentes line (not to mention Vera) and they are priced so well.  I will show three-just to get you looking and then you will have to check it out for yourself.  So inexpensive and quite savvy. I will be awaiting next spring for any of these items.

Oh, and here is the solo item I found for pants for myself (Old Navy).

Charmeuse capris: $20.00


Mainly posted this because I love the couch...and her top...and the pillows...and the hedge.

Miss Daisy's line. $33.60 on sale!


LC Skirt- $35.90 on sale!


And this lovely. LC- $44.80
xoxo, Anna N

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

20 weeks- Oh wee one.

Here is a pic of the sudden real estate development in my abdomen.  He/she is totally welcome to the neighborhood.  

The top two are from two weeks ago (please note the sudden difference in stomach).  This beautiful wee one sure found some extra room in the last two weeks!  We have not only been able to feel the wee one but also see him/her move!  So amazing...fearfully and wonderfully being made in my own body. Ridiculously fantastic.  

God-so can't believe you came up with this-totally brilliant. Oh, and thank you for loving him/her before he/she was formed.

18 weeks.

Um-not sure. I like chandeliers?  Oh, gosh, I LOVE our place.



2.0. weeks. Do stripes make it look smaller? Ehhh....

If you are a little gentleman: I pray you are just like your daddy: fiercely handsome, overly kind, perfectly tender, God fearing, and faithful.

If you are a little lady: I pray you are kind, compassionate, patient, just like Jesus, gracious, all-together-lovely, and smile at everyone.

Off to get a cashier's check for the new house!  And then coffee dates, signing Escrow papers, dinner with sis and Linne, and then handsome time.

xoxo, Anna N

Friday, September 09, 2011

Rejection.


Rejection:

I recently saw a post on one of my girlfriend's pages that said that the author of "The Help," Kathryn Stockett, was rejected over 70 times with her book idea.  Of course, many of us likely know where she is now and what happened with the book-turned-movie.  

We all know what rejection means: it is the act of being denied, refused, thrown back, etc.  What I find fascinating is what it means in the scientific realm (geeking out here for a bit). 

Rejection for the body means: an immune response in which foreign tissue (as of a skingraft or transplanted organ) is attacked by immune system components (as antibodies, T cells, and macrophages) of the recipient organism. 

Funny-somehow it is "built" into us what we are not supposed to want/have unless it is especially made for us.  For instance, in order for a transplant to work you must have matching MHCs (major histocompatibility complexes) as well as matching antibodies and blood type (just to list a few).  

I call this "grace."  I firmly believe God knows what is best for us and will reward those who wait for Him (even if we don't want to and are faced with rejection again and again).

I wasn't a girl that was asked out a ton and I certainly experienced rejection.  But looking back: I truly have the most beautiful life that I couldn't have even dreamt of because of God's grace (what the world might call "Rejection").  

I want all of you to know that when you are rejected, look toward hope because I know God builds up walls around us to protect us and although sometimes it hurts at first, I promise you the reward will wipe you off your feet.

Rejection = Grace.

Off to go spend the weekend with my amazing husband (it only takes one right man asking you out), our five month-in-process wee-one, our family and the guests of what will be a beautiful wedding in Sisters!

All my love, Anna N 

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

The Harlot-what is our price?

This is from 3.5 years ago and something that still speaks to me.  We can all sell our souls for some price and trust me, just thinking of it in that way will hopefully make you a little more aware to all of the "buyers" in the market.  




The Harlot-what is our price?Sunday, January 27th, 2008

Maybe I will do something lighter next time-

I love books. However, my love is often only for the ones that you can pick up and finish in two days. My attention span is short; if it is not captured in the first chapter the book will go directly to sitting on my night stand with the large collection of “Page 20 somethings.” These are the books that I attempted to get into but stopped reading due to lack of charm, interest, etc. I usually have about five sitting on the stand at a time, secretly hoping that I will one day make it past the first 20 pages. A few of the current Page 20 Somethings include: The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire (700 pages and written in the late 1700s…”gripping” isn’t necessarily the first word that comes to mind), When the Fairy Dust Settles (part of a book club at this time), and The Marshall Plan (a friend wrote this one).

Let me get to the book for which this title is dedicated. The book is called “Redeeming Love” by Francine Collins. I am sure that many of you have heard of it and possibly even read it. I started it at 11pm on Saturday night and finished by Monday morning. If it wasn’t for the fact that I am not that charming on less than six hours of sleep, I would have finished it all the first night.

I am not too sure how to even start the write up because I am still sorting through all of the emotion that I felt by just turning page after page. I hope none of us ever have to experience the heartache necessary to find God’s love that was portrayed so vividly in this book.

Quick summation: Angel was a young girl sold into prostitution after her mother died (her mother was a prostitute as well). She was so hardened that she never cried or even tried to escape. In fact, she often went back to this way of life because it was all that she had known. She was only aware of a place where love was evil and feelings were meant to never be discussed or better yet, felt. The book is modeled after the Bible book, Hosea, in which Hosea is told to marry a prostitute (and keep going back and rescuing her). The man in the book is told by God to go into the brothel and take her out and marry her. He is a strong Christian man and spent years with her rescuing her from the depravity she was drawn back to.

I thought when I started reading this book that I would sympathize with the man, who was always trying to remove someone from all of the hurt of the world (women are fixers). Instead, my heart actually felt what this girl was going through. Oddly, she was a prostitute sold into the industry at the age of eight and had endured her every bone being sold at the cost and pleasure another. And I felt what she felt: to the very core of my being.

I am not a prostitute/harlot/hooker/etc., but I know what it is like to sell myself at the cost of my invaluable dignity.

We have all been a harlot to this world. We have all sold ourselves for some price at the cost of our very soul; hopefully not at the cost of physical abuse and torment at the same time. We all seem to forget that the devil does not walk around with horns on his head, cackling, and leading us into places that are on fire and marked by eternal darkness. He attracts us with shopping malls, lust (at the time the thoughts might include “what does one night matter?”), colorful magazines that not only purchase our thoughts but turn them around into an arsenal for the devil (sex is on at least 9 out of 10 of the covers of the top magazines), and wealth. Wealth will purchase a soul better than all of the others combined. How many happy people have you seen who have had a ton of plastic surgery or what about those driving the new BMW 7 series/Range Rover/etc.? Seriously, go do your own analysis on that one.  The price is way too high.

Where in all of this are we able to keep a pure heart without growing hardened to everyone around us? Where do we gain discretion, wisdom, morale, and standards if that is the last thing that the world has to offer? In fact, the world mocks those attributes more than it frowns upon STDs, open sex and divorce.  I have met many people that have spent years figuring it out on their own and they are still searching, still wanting, still desiring something that they know their soul is yearning for. A seemingly insatiable desire...

The closer I draw to God, the more I realize that He is the ONLY one that can buy us back from this world. I honestly have no idea how people who do not believe in God make it through this world…I consider myself to be personable, determined, independent, etc., and with all of those attributes I couldn’t imagine a world without Him. I don’t go to this world for support because it has never filled me. I can to Forever 21 everyday of my life and will still come home and want more-not because there is anything new but because I was not fulfilled. I can travel the world and experience everything other cultures have to offer and I can still come home and feel alone in my own home.
{*Inserted today: I spent years seeking after men just to have affirmation from a man.  Fortunately, by God's grace, I didn't have a million pursuers and I had to deal more readily with the rejection (which I now consider God's ABUNDANT GRACE-look at my husband :)) than I did with figuring out who to date. I sold myself and often would drink to gain courage just to find myself trying to gain attention from someone in a way that my heart didn't even desire.  I put my soul on the market.  Fortunately, God pulled it off a few years ago and my ENTIRE life changed.  God became my redeemer, not some man.  And through Him being my redeemer, I met the most beautiful, handsome, intelligent, gracious, tender man I have ever, will ever, know.}
I am a harlot (in regards to selling my soul), bought only by Jesus’ death on the cross. The only way he could rescue any of us was to offer 100% forgiveness…99% would leave way too much left to apologize about on a daily basis. I was bought by the blood of Jesus on the cross and I will never understand why He thought I was worth it.

Remaining in wonder I will attempt to live my life knowing that I must honor someone who loves me at the cost of His own life.

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Weekend preview.

Since I haven't conquered Lightroom and cr2 (Raw) files yet, here are just a few from the weekend.  It was full of two beautiful weddings, tons of flowers, a lovely dinner with family and some good girl time and husband time.

Oh-and have you seen "The Help?" Wowsers.

You guessed it-my sister was taking these. She is a genius.

My husband loves to have awkward staring contests with me-this is how it ALWAYS goes.

Our little wee one is in there! 5 months in one week!

I promise I will post more once I figure out that program!!!  xoxo, Anna N


Off to celebrate hubby's birthday here!



Thursday, September 01, 2011

Week of Lists: My favorite blessings.

1. Grace. Totally Undeserved. 

(I should've noted that once I discovered my name meant "grace.")

2. My husband-who loves me in a way that moves me to tears whenever I think upon it. So unconditional. And he loves Disneyland. And he gets more handsome every day.



3. My new 12-piece antique brushed gold silverware set :) Momentary materialism.



4. Knowing my Maker: maybe not knowing all He is doing but just knowing Him-and being Known.


"Faith is deliberate confidence in the
character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time."
Oswald Chambers


5. Pinterest. Yes.  It is lovely.

My boards are here :)

6. Our family



7. My friends




8. America. I cry every time I hear the Star Spangled Banner. Every time.

9. My Little and her faith.


10.  Our baby.  I pray he/she has the character of my husband.
  *I am humbled to steward this life-beyond humbled.