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)

Ikea.

This afternoon I am going to Ikea...again  I hadn't been there in at least two years (I think) but I am need of some inspiration of some modern sort :)  Shocking. I know.

I am also getting rid of stuff before the move and selling things such as: the Kitchenaid Pro mixer (sold), the Kitchenaid 12 cup processor, the juicer (almost sold), glasses, etc.

10 days.  Really?!?!  Oh shoot..I should probably get going.  And maybe I should start packing.

PS: Go buy the Matt Hammitt CD and listen to "All of Me." It is a song written about finding out their little boy had a severe heart defect while in the womb and realizing that it stopped him from fully pouring every bit of his heart into loving that baby.  It is so beautiful.

I am going to make a sign for the baby's wall that says: "You are going to have all of us. You are going to have all our love."

{PS} Funny how God works: the one thing I didn't want in a home was something modern and the one thing Matt didn't want was to live in the suburbs.  Here is to God knowing where we should be better than we do :) 10 days until a modern home in the burbs. Love you, baby.

Hallelujah.

xoxo, Anna N (future baby mama)

Waiting. Again.

I met with a dear friend today and we were talking about blogging and since she is an encourager, I left there feeling that I needed to be better at this "blog" thing.  I am trying to post things from years ago because 1) It proves God's faithfulness. 2) It shows the importance of being earnest in what you know is a better way.


Here it is.  Another blast from over three and a half years ago.  I wrote this long before Matt and I met/got married/etc.  It is SO worth it.  


*Note the "antiquated" references to an IPOD and movies coming to DVD (netflix!).  

Enough not said.

Worth the wait: great love.

It's amazing to think of all of the things that we are willing to wait for in life. Let me just make a list to reiterate the point (feel free to add):
1) a new I-Pod
2) a new Nintendo/Wii/Xbox/PSP, etc.
3) a vacation
4) a movie
5) a movie to come out on DVD
6) a sporting event
7) 401k/roth/hedge fund maturation
7) ...

We are able to wait for quite a few things that we know will provide more pleasure, excitement, money, and fulfillment. Myself, being 27 years old as of last week, has seen so many people wait for so many things. Sadly, there is one thing that very few people wait for.

Great love.

That's right. Not just “love”-the one you see on Friends or any other large sitcom, but "great" love. Also, not the one that I have often replaced with lust: the first time you see someone that is completely wrong for you but you are greatly attracted to that person. I can’t tell you how many times I have tried to make those lustful situations become a great nothing. (Word for the wise: you can only make something great if there is something to work with.)

I have always believed in it because I was raised in a family that followed after the greatest illustrator and perfector of this great love, Jesus Christ. Whether or not you believe, I can promise you that a belief in Jesus definitely raises your standards and rests your head very softly on your pillow every night knowing that grace is new every morning. My parents taught unconditional love and more importantly, practiced it. So many people enter relationships to have just "love." Something like great love seems to be too much to wait for and the risk is apparently high because it involves time (in a plastic surgery sensitive society, time and gravity seem to be our enemies). I guess we wait for the new IPOD, XBox, sporting event, etc. because we know it will eventually come. There is proof in the marketing that it will be there one day.

The marketing I follow is a slight bit different. It is an antiquated yet modern book that holds in itself 66 other books on that same subject, Great Love. The Bible, something old that holds something new for any heart that is willing to find it. We are an instant gratification society: probably the reason that sex tends to constitute a relationship (don’t worry, that will be touched on later). The Bible talks about this amazing, sacrificial, unconditional, unexplainable love for thousands of pages with personal “great love” letters from the Great God.

I have my doubts in this wait for Great Love but that is only because this world doesn’t know how to believe in anything. Luckily, my doubts are overshadowed by faith. Sometimes I try to create love (not great love, just love), from nothing at all because I want to feel that emotion. Of course, settling for just love leaves me with just that. Nothing “great,” just love by itself in a normal, everyday world sort of way. It is in those moments where I have to pray hard and remind myself why I wait for this thing called Great Love. I wait because I don't think the Bible would exist if this idea of Great Love was not real. Also, I believe in greatness because it is part of a system: below average, average, great. Well, trust me, I will wait for the best of the best even if it takes all of my time. I will travel the world, take any job I want, make great friends, fall in love with fashion trends, read and pray my way through a great life that will hopefully, one day, be interrupted by Great Love.

It does exist. I don’t read the fairy tales just because it was something to do when I was young…I STILL read them because reaching for something great makes my life close to ethereal. I have seen certain friends that have this Great Love and it makes love look punitive in comparison.

My story is written by God’s highly capable hands and in such craftsmanship, “Great” is the only thing that is allowed.

Greatness is great. Average is average. I am not a brain surgeon but I am pretty sure I would choose the former versus the latter.

“Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.” Hans Christian Andersen.

Are you willing to live it?

Almost here...one year!!!

One Year.

It is official-this Sunday, July 24th, my husband and I will be celebrating our one year anniversary!  I don't have words to express, at least those that would satiate the feelings, of how much love I feel towards this man.  Ladies-wait for something great (remember "good" is the enemy of "great").  I never knew, nor was I quite sure that I believed, that you could actually fall more in love with someone everyday.  Now I know it as fact and am constantly caught up in the greatness of God and who He gave me to be my husband, partner, best friend, lover, and lifemate.

Babe- I always remember John Mark saying that you "don't marry someone you can live with but marry someone you can't live without." You are the one I cannot be without.  You make me a better person everyday. You constantly know me, love me and care for me in a way that I have only seen the story of Jesus reflect.  You are my superman and the most beautiful human being I know.  You are everything I dreamed of (and I am a dreamer) and somehow a million times more beautiful and right in real life.

Thank you for the greatest year of my life.  The sheer unconditional nature of your love has brought me to tears so many times and I praise Jesus I get to spend my life with a man as tender and strong (and hot) as you.  I hope our baby is just like you in every single way. 

Ephesians 3:21  Now unto Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think.

Amen.