Mommy makeup musts

Mommy makeup musts by annajnorman featuring face moisturizers

Face moisturizer
olay.com

Laura Mercier long wearing foundation
sephora.com

Tarte creme blush
beauty.com

Tarte shimmer face powder
tartecosmetics.com

Benefit eyelash curler
$26 - debenhams.com

drugstore.com
drugstore.com

Mommy makeup musts

Mommy makeup musts by annajnorman featuring a creme blush

Face moisturizer / Laura Mercier long wearing foundation / Tarte creme blush / Tarte shimmer face powder / Benefit eyelash curler, $26 / Wallpaper / drugstore.com

The most humbling experience.

I am typing this with only one hand so it will be shorter (Miss Ruth is asleep in my lap).

I have never experienced hard work like this coupled with complete self sacrifice. It's the command we are supposed to live by: serve others, love the Lord...this takes both of those to a whole new level.

I have never lacked confidence like I have in the last almost two weeks. It is most certainly not the most intuitive process (future moms, know this. It will help a lot to know this is something you work hard at and learn).  The hormones (I had the easiest pregnancy with no emotional variances) coupled with her tears have just led me to an abundance of tears and multiple embraces from the most beautiful husband/father in the world.

As each day passes, with the grace of God and the knowledge that He did indeed make me to be her mother, coupled with amazing mothers and a husband who filled our room with candles the other night just when I thought I would have to collapse, things continue to fall into their beautiful place.

I have added single parents to my prayer list as well as I have been given a much larger heart for the orphan who doesn't have parents at all.

The beauty of who she is, who my husband is as a father, and how amazing God is to setup something in this world as beautiful as motherhood, has left me in awe (so have our mothers who have each spent the night for quite a few nights).

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." 

(I did much better at my one handed typing then anticipated! PS: thank you for all of your sweet, encouraging comments...super blessed by all of you)

So proud of her double chin already!  She eats well :)  Oh, and she is a perfect mix between Matt and I's baby pics.  Thank you, Micah for the pink tutu. Matt picked an all pink outfit the other day complete with the tutu.

Miss Morgan, Miss Emma, Miss Anna and Miss Ruth (future best friends only three days apart)

What a feeling.

Impossible without our beautiful mothers. They just happen to love each other to pieces, too :)

xoxo, Mama Anna and baby Girl (Miss Ruth)

PS: Baby, thank you for everything. I thought I loved you tons two weeks ago...I had no idea how much more I could adore and respect you in such a short period of time.  God sure blessed me with you.

PPS: Ladies- marry someone you want to be just like not someone you hope will be more like you. (just thought of this today and how true it really is)

Ruth Charlotte Norman.

I can't even write this without tearing up so it will be short.

I have never been so in love with God, my husband and another human as I am now.

It was (and still kind of is) the hardest thing that I could have never even imagined and for some crazy beautiful reason, the makes the magnitude that much more significant.

Praise God for mothers who have answered calls at 2am and come over and helped with the incredible newness of all of this.

She is beautiful and we are beyond blessed and praise God that somehow (I have no idea) He dreamed up something as beautiful as birth and babies.

Birth story to come-still recovering from the quite insane nature of it all :)

Ruth Charlotte Norman

Born: February 8th, 2012

Time: 4:35pm

Weight: 7lbs 15 oz

Height: 20.5 inches

PS: You can follow us on Instagram (well mainly you can follow pictures of our lovely daughter): sotrulylovely

xoxo, Anna & Ruth (and a husband smitten by a little girl)

A beautiful life.

This is a little (but long) post about waiting, beautiful things, great people and amazing grace. 

Why am I posting about this now? 

Answer: I want our daughter (if this is a girl), to marry a man just like her father.  And if we have a son, I want our son to be just like my husband.  Entirely.

Beautiful. Life.


Dear Ladies in waiting:

This has so been on my heart recently.  You see, I had the most amazing life up to the point my husband and I started dating.  I always said I wanted to marry someone that changed my life for the better and gave me a reason to transition from so many amazing things.  

I had the time of my life (I also LOVE my life now) before Matt and I started dating in October of 2009.  I lived with the most amazing women, in the most beautiful home, went to an amazing church, traveled the world, and was truly content. I was romanced by God everyday and really, I have never had standards set or raised in such a way as those few precious years.  

I decided to start walking with God back in 2007. I know a lot of people knew me as a "Christian" before that but lets be honest, I didn't know God at all.  I was good at knowing all of the "religious" things but really had no relationship with Him.  I didn't realize how much He loved me, how much beauty He saw in me, what plans He held for my future, and how He knew my heart.  I was "religious," like probably 90% of America.  But, as this nation has proven, "religion" does nothing for you other than give you a box to check off and a few specific cards to buy at certain times of the year.  There was something much more that God wanted me to know.

Coming to know who Jesus really was, that He is our saviour and one who shows us grace and truth and above all else, forgiveness, radically rocked my world.  My girlfriends thought my standards were high before and then I decided to actually accept Jesus into my life...that is when they skyrocketed.  My friends often ask why I am the only woman who tells them to raise their standards when everyone else tells them to lower them-it is because I have experienced what the Maker of my heart can do when I pray for big things and because of that, how could I ever want anything less for each one of you??? (If you have ever read this blog before, you know how MADLY IN LOVE I am with my husband...and my standards were through the roof for this one).

So here is my wisdom for you:  

1. Find out who God is.  He made you, He knows you, and there is nothing more beautiful in this world than BEING KNOWN. (you can ask me any questions about this) 

2. Get amazing girlfriends. I mean legit, solid, "I want to be like you" girlfriends.  

3. Live with these girls. 


4. Volunteer. No better time to serve others than now. It changed my life dramatically.

5. Seek God for your husband-not the bars, classes, etc. (I tried that: it cost me a lot of money and dignity).  

6. Find a man that you respect more every moment you spend with him.  Men become who you say and feel they are.  Date men that want to be greater men (and men that answer to God, not to man)

7. Don't live with a man, or sleep with him, before you stand before God and your witnesses and vow to love each other and say "NO MATTER WHAT".   I know people think that helps with the chance of not getting a divorce but stats still show that more people get divorced who live together first than people who don't.  This life is about faith and it is high time someone believed that you were the person that they would wait for the skies to fall for.  Sex is awesome-let it be captivated in marriage with your hot husband who said, "I promise to love you no matter what."  

I love knowing that my husband is the only one who has ever fully had all of me (I was 29 when we got married).

I know these are "old-fashioned" but I promise you, it is the loveliest "fashioning" I have ever experienced.

I hope this encourages all of you. I know many don't agree but I say this out of a girl who's heart has experienced real love and who's heart has experienced "something else."  Great love is all encompassing, passionate, sacrificial, all-knowing, "rock my world," sort of love.  


I want our daughters, if we have them, to believe this wholeheartedly. That they are worth it.

Please wait for it and let God romance you and set seemingly impossible standards.  ALL of my "impossibles" came true.  

"With God, all things are possible."  

Amen, sisters.

PS: My hot husband just did this:

And he even made me buy OPI :) If you know me well, you know I don't own one bottle of nail polish (literally, none) and had to go out and buy nail polish remover.  He thought I needed red nails for Christmas and wanted to help me.

Babe- I somehow love you more today than I did yesterday.  Thank you for loving me better than I thought humanly possible.  I love you smuch.

xoxo, Anna N

From a pure heart.

I have been more than honored to know my Little for almost four years (next March).  She is by far the most beautiful 16 year old I have ever encountered and my husband and I are always speaking of how amazing her walk through life is (in the midst of quite a few trials) at such a young age. 

She has all of the things that I desire our children to have: a love for God and a desire to know Him, a seriously deep beauty, conviction, passion, faithfulness (how beautiful in a 16 year old!), and dreams.

Here is something she just wrote that I thought I would share to hopefully encourage each of you "to be more child-like."

Lesley-you are one of the greatest gifts God has ever shown me.  It makes me tear up to think that He brought you into my life because you have entirely blessed and convicted me to live differently.  Thank you.

"All people have dreams they want to achieve or the majority of us do .A few days ago I was laying in bed and I realized how I didn't really know what to do with my life. I strangely sat in my room and started asking god what was my calling.. Surgery was something that I always found interesting.I remember being the age of twelve or thirteen and watching television shows on surgery! I have always been a fan of science. Though I figured that being a surgeon would be cool after becoming one what was I going to do? Later on that night I watched a video called Remember Nhu (www.remembernhu.org).This was my inspiration. As all people's callings should be based upon my heart was calling me to love people and help them. A summery of my dreams/calling.

I want to become a heart surgeon and use all the money to make or support organizations to fight against sex trafficking in other countries.Its horrible how these girls get treated and don't get to choice who they want to lose their virginity to.This is important because they are terribly broken and need god. I then want to buy a house and adopt or at least help all orphans and foster kids and teach them about gods unconditional love. I would rather adopt them all and become their mom but I don't really know.Furthermore I want to build a church or help build one in some other country.Most importantly become and be a women more of god I want to extremely love. 

I know this dream of mine is quite big. Some people even think impossible but with god and ambition nothing is.I've realized it's easier to have ambition for doing something if your doing it for someone else than yourself.In this case I'm doing it for him. I made the LORD almighty a promise a couple weeks ago on making a change in this world and I am going to do so.I am going to try.After all it took 1,OOO tries to finally create a light bulb(:

Now I would dearly love for you to try and live out your dreams.It might be put aside for a while because of family, problems, marriage and children not that any of these things are bad.Its important to know that it's okay as long as you return working on your goals, people after a period of time give up. Achieving them or trying to is what counts."

As Timothy Keller so eloquently states: "No child dreams of sitting in a cubicle when they grow up. They dream of changing the world. There is a mission."

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!

Week of Lists: Things that leave me in awe.

Or a few of my favorite things...nothing like things that leave you in wonder.

Our dad took this photo of a daisy-pretty ridiculously detailed...

1. Squirrels on electric cable.  Talk about balance.

2. The way my husband loves me.

3. The petals on a peony. Or any flower for that matter.

4. The way of a storm.

5. How a beautiful flower turns into an apple, peach, pear, etc.

6. How a baby starts out as two people. Pick wisely.

7. Jesus and what He stood for (See #10)

8. Fields of grass/straw/mustard seed. Rolling hills.

9. How beauty always trumps pain.

10. Stories of forgiveness/redemption.

11. The color turquoise. And yellow. And stripes...oh yes, stripes.

12. How eternity is built into the soul of every person.

13.  Oak trees. In a field.

14. Crying with a friend.

15. Grace.

16. The joy my sister has.

17. My friends-totally unconditional.

18. The love of my parents.

19. 60 second nail polish.

20. Logistics.

21. Books you can't put down.

22. People's stories.

23. Movies like Pollyanna, Anne of Green Gables/Avonlea and Pride & Prejudice

Best verses to sum this up: Psalm 139:1-6

¹ You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. ² You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. ³ You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. ⁴ Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. ⁵ You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,    too lofty for me to attain.

What things totally move you?  Make you wonder?  It is kind of like the "glad game."

Week of lists: What I will always fight for.

This is huge.  All of this is huge. I am tenacious and have lessened over the years but there are certain things that I pray I never stop being passionate about.  And please, if I ever try to justify something and change what is written below because of a situation, PLEASE call me out on it.

So I know a gun doesn't describe fighting super well but you get the picture...PS: I was shooting at basalt rock-tough chick.

PS: For the record, I strongly dislike real fighting (you know, WWF stuff).

Things I will always fight for:

1) Standards. I will always be the girlfriend to tell you to raise your standards. Not the ridiculous ones like, "-make $2M a year, have bright blue eyes/6'4"/Italian, etc" but the real ones: a man worthy of respect, someone you are attracted to, someone who challenges you, someone who will fight for you, someone who sees you as the wonder that God created you to be.  Plus, standards help other people step up and sometimes people want to be told they were/are meant to be something great :)

2) Marriage.  I will always fight for this. Why? It reflects a relationship that God created and because of that it is BEYOND sacred.  Meaning, don't mess with it.  I know my husband and I will experience hard times but I pray you will always fight with me on this (even if I ever start to make situational remarks).  My heart will ALWAYS be for reconciliation.  I have seen the power of forgiveness (read "Same Kind of Different As Me") and I want to experience that beauty throughout my life.  Seriously, go read that book.

3) Forgiveness.  Again, read the book above. True story. Then read this post.

4) Fathers.   Being Fathers. Men, being men.  I meet with four different women who didn't really have fathers and just this last Saturday night I prayed with two different ladies who's fathers are continuing who their fathers were (alcohol and abuse).  Please, if you are a man, make that your goal to be a man of courage and to love your wife and your children as Jesus loves us.  You will change the world through your home.  I have a fantastic dad-but his dad wasn't at all.  My dad changed their legacy.

5) Beauty. I want people to know what this world was created to be and why that crazy desire in our hearts for beauty never ceases and is insatiable.  It penetrates every chasm of our being because we were created as beauty-in the eyes of God. May we never cease to see it: in everything.

What are things that you would fight for?  What statutes do you have that you want others to make sure you maintain, even when the waters are rough?

xoxo, Anna (and baby)

PS: We are 18 weeks! And wow, I can feel this little one! I think our baby is secretly a ninja.

Glacier-for sure.

Here are a few photos from the second part of our anniversary trip. Also-please go to the national parks. You will love them! And I say that objectively...

Oh, and we are 16 weeks now! I will start showing photos when they are consistent-one day I have a little pouch and the next it is gone.  I would say the best word is "thickening" as babycenter.com so eloquently states. (My husband thinks they shouldn't tell women they are thickening-he thinks it alludes to pudding.  Update: I wrote this yesterday and by the afternoon, the bump was in town.  Legit. For reals.

Hope you all had an amazing weekend and enjoyed the half days of sunshine.  Apparently it is a new weather trend...kind of like half-day kindergarten.

Yes, he is that hot.  

Oh, deer!

Banff. For R-E-A-L.

Matt and I got back from our road trip (ridiculously awesome thing to do for a one year anniversary) this Wednesday and had such an incredible time.  We were so in awe the entire time by 1) perfect weather. Seriously, 75 degrees-perfect blue skies with polite white puffy clouds. Crazy how prayer works... 2) God's creation.  It is unfathomable in every aspect how astounding His majesty is.  Unfathomable. 3) Marriage: the beauty that time affords and the depth to which you can really respect and love someone.

Here are a few shots from the trip (just Banff in this one).  I also brainstormed different topics while on the trip for future little blogs.  Oh, and did I mention within the last two weeks we pretty much (Lord willing) bought a home? Oh, and we are 15 weeks pregnant.  I think we should get a puppy, too.

Lake Louise.  The most beautiful water.

On a 4.4 mile hike up to the Plain of Six Glaciers.

PS: We didn't stay at the Fairmont in the background. It is crazy awesome.

What happens when friends aren't traveling with you and random people take the photos.

And of course, the sunsets were like this every night-both parks.

Lake Moraine.  Another ridiculous view.

The view from the top of Sulphur Mountain, Banff.

My artsy husband.

Crazy.  Don't you appreciate the perfect marshmallow parade?

Glacier (fluffy clouds abound, glaciers and gorgeous water once again...and a snow hike!) to come.

xoxo, Anna N