Sunday, June 24, 2012

Happy unofficial friends day.

I tear up just writing this.  I have the most beautiful friends in the world.  I sat with one of my dearest girlfriends the other day (the one who had her daughter 3 days before Ruth) and seriously teared up just talking to her because not only do I cherish her sooo much (her heart, her thoughts, her wisdom) but she fills me up when I am with her.

I have so many of those friends and I am so blessed. Friends that I often tear up when I am around because they either bring my joy to the surface and thus tears or we talk about the harder things in life and we cry together.

I am humbled. I am not deserving of any of them: my high school girls, my mom friends, my Bachelorette pad lovelies, the lovelies I have met at/through church, people I meet in Starbucks/Freddies/walking, etc.

Thank you for loving me and showing the abundance of God's grace to one who is not worthy of the love she feels showered upon her.

A preview from last weekend...


All my love.

And more.

Anna

Oh-and husband, thank you for being my best friend.  

Song of Songs 5:16 

He is altogether lovely. This is my lover, this my friend. 
Amen.

I would post pics but I have too many amazing friends and I would hate to leave anyone out :) Hence, the hubby pic...

Extraordinary.

So much. I have 700 pics from last weekend: the sunsets, the horse rides, the jeep rides, the views from a cliff 6k feet high, the beautiful friends, the boating, the sunshine, the awesome clouds, the celebration of fathers, the beauty of no cell service, dirt, dirt roads, views abundant, God's insane creation.

Extraordinary.

And our daughter: spellbinding.

Will post some pics soon: I have over 11000 pics on my computer right now and also no storage space left on blogger :)

I guess that means life is super duper beautiful.

Halle-lujah.


And her stare could melt any broken heart-I promise :)  

Friday, June 15, 2012

Happy Daddy's Day

...to two of the greatest men I have ever known.

My dad:  he didn't have a good father.  I am sure many of you have the same story. Yet he chose to live  a different story. One that blessed us and changed our lives and set a standard so high (and it one day led me to my amazing husband/daddy of our little girl). Thank you for being a God-fearing man and loving us so well.

My husband: what can I say? I love you more than I thought humanly possible and thank you for loving me (and all of my faults).  Thank you also for loving our daughter the way you do. It is no wonder she lights up when you enter a room...so does her mom.



Wednesday, June 13, 2012

A million things. And Memorial Getaway

I have a million things (I have said a million times I don't exaggerate :)) that I want to post about.  Everything from marriage, to the two months after Ruth was born, to the birth story, to redemption, to the buyer's remorse I often suffer from, to house projects, etc.

I think I have too many things.  And thus, I end up starting about a million drafts and then never posting them.

So in the mean time, until I get a handle on what I feel people out there really need to read/see/hear, here are some pics from our recent activities.

PS: Any suggestions on external harddrives?  I am thinking we are going to go for a desktop versus a portable one but not sure.  Thoughts?

Just the little home Miss CC Banister won for the weekend.

The gents entertaining our wee one. 

Hottie Carla and BF Nate

Hottie Carla and Hottie Courtney-they love to match

The ladies: we were celebrating Micah's Birthday! (She has Ruthie)

Boys will be boys.  And these ones are way too much fun. 

The ultimate picture of this weekend. 


I feel like we always look a little tired now... 

Lisa and Carlita 

Auntie Meggie's gorgeous hair. We are so blessed by her...

Our little family :) 

Some of the ladies from the weekend (there were 8 of us at one point)

Most of the gents.

She likes to eat this little lion. Well she just likes to chew on anything...her clothes, hair, arms, etc. 

Thoughts on what to post about?

Thursday, June 07, 2012

Cheating: a repost.

So I have a lot of "more meaningful" posts from a ways back and this was one that I just reread that really moved me.

We are all looking to belong.  Somewhere. Some people will accept "anywhere."  I hope you all are wanting something much better than just being accepted "anywhere." You are worth it.  You are worth it (in Hebrew writings they repeat things if they really want to get a point across).

Just had to add this since us girls really need pictures in order to read anything :)




October 2010


I saw a man today with a sign that said, "Homeless." That was it. Nothing else. One word. One word described everything in his life.

I sat there thinking…if I were to have a sign for my life, what would it be?  I didn't come up with anything of grandeur but I would hope it would be "servant" or "helpmate" or "passionate…" But I realized that my self-obsessed moments lead none of the such and leave me, in my heart, "homeless." It is at those moments of self-obsession that I take my heart and mind off of my Creator and lose my sense of home, where I am really ending up at, after this amazing, but ever-so-brief, stint here.



My husband, who is one of the most God-fearing men I have ever met, often prays one of the most beautiful things. "Lord, may you show people what they are searching for and unable to find."  The craziest thing is that we are all "homeless."  It is beyond clear that this world is broken: every part of it.  Nature, people, animals; something is off.  I think that "homeless" man summed it up best when he in large black marker stated it on a sign. We weren't made for this world. Even people I know that don't know how beautiful God is (once you desire to know more about Him) know that there is something more. There has to be.  The brokenness (girls at three years of age being sold into sex-trafficking…yes, that is the correct number)is too overwhelming for this to be worth it. There is something much, much bigger. And if we live for our real home here, it just might come crashing into our "homelessness" and rescue all of us with our big signs. 




One of the craziest thoughts came to me recently (I am in the car by myself a lot): we can live without God, we can't die without Him.




He loves us. A ton. Ton. Ton. Ton. To the 324th.



The most powerful moment I have ever been a part of was in Starbucks (shocking, I know) where I was overhearing a conversation between what sounded to be a pastor and a young girl (early 20s) saying all of the reasons she thought God was wrong.  For some reason I set my coffee down, stood up, walked over to her, asked for permission to pause their conversation, and just said, "God is madly in love with you.  I think you need to know that."  That was it. But it was like God for a brief moment made me His real estate agent and I got to tell someone that I know where their real home is (oh, and it is free).


And again, have you seen the colors out this time of year?!?!?! Eek! I am beside myself with joy.  

Hope this moves you.  Moves you closer to feeling at home.

xoxo, Anna N

PS: We are off to heaven on earth next Saturday...halle-lujah.



Monday, June 04, 2012

Not even ready.

So I follow this blog titled "The Southern Eclectic." She seriously looks like one of those ladies that just pops out cute little people, continues to be a rockstar wife and did I mention-she also has a fashion line.

Well today she posted something that made me feel like she just might be more human :) Possibly. I seriously laughed so hard at this article she found all centered around people thinking they are ready for a wee one.

And I promise you, my daughter is worth all of it.  All of it.  Including the three nights last week where she woke up nearly every hour, on the hour, and then decided to stay awake for three hours of it.  And yes, she is almost four months.  But each day is full of her making me laugh so hard because she squeals, laughs, smiles like no other, etc.

Without further ado, here is the link to the original article and here is the paraphrase.  I promise you, if you are a mother, you will seriously laugh out loud (LOL for the original text messagers, AIMers).




"Look, you're not ready to have a baby. 

You're probably in your late twenties or early thirties, and you've gotten some stuff figured out, and now you're pretty sure you're "almost ready" to have a baby. But a baby is the ultimate, cosmic limit-tester of all ultimate cosmic limits, and no matter what you do to prepare, you will still find yourself thrown for a loop. 

You think you're ready because you have a dog? Ugh, sorry, but no. If you want your dog to help you prepare you for an actual human baby, it only works if you have the worst dog in the universe. It has to be, like, only trainable on Thursdays and it must never eat the first three types of food you offer it. Doesn't sound like any dogs I know! 

If you want to get ready for a baby, take my advice, and do the opposite of fun stuff. I'm not saying babies aren't fun, but it's not the kind of fun for which you need any practice. In fact, if I were selling my own Baby Squad Fitness Program for Actual Baby Readiness, it would come with the following drills/regimen for the entire year prior to conception. (Yes, conception! Yes, a year! Not doing anything fun while already pregnant is not actually all that hard and therefore not true readiness training).

  • Practice wrestling a large, slippery fish three times a week.
  • Wake up every two hours at night, punch yourself in the face, walk around for 28 minutes pleading in gibberish. Go back to "sleep." Repeat.
  • Socialize with friends in 18-second increments.
  • Practice asking for the check, boxing up your food and exiting a restaurant in under sixty seconds - two bites into the meal.
  • Watch 38% of any film or television show. Never see the ending or resolution.
  • Read the same three paragraphs of a novel once every two weeks; fall asleep.
  • Shower every three to five days, but only for two minutes.
  • Hire a makeup artist to make you look up to 10 years older. Look at yourself in the mirror, then laugh, cry, laugh, cry, laugh, cry. Do not go get a drink
  • Pack two additional bags of random stuff to carry with you every time you leave the house.
  • Stand around a tennis court and catch fly balls with one hand for two hours a day while also preparing a peanut butter sandwich.
  • Practice wrestling aforementioned large, slippery fish, then dress it in seasonally appropriate outfit, including hat and/or jacket. Then go back, remove all clothing, and apply sunscreen. Re-dress fish. 
  • Make 24 hours of baby-crying audio. Hit play the moment you take a phone call, fire up your computer, or begin speaking any sentences to another human that contain important or useful information.

I can speak from first-hand experience, all the above only scratches the surface.

But then you realize you have a BABY...and you are a mother...and who cares if you're not ready? It's all worth it."


Epic, huh? And it is ALL true. 

Praise God He gives us ladies something extra during these times because otherwise there might be many, many, many fewer people :)

xoxo, Anna N