Amendment 26

When Anna and I started this blog two years ago, we wanted this to be a place where we could share what was going on in our lives and the various things God was placing on our hearts. We never intended this (and still don't) to be a controversial, confrontational, political, or anything of the sort type of blog. In fact, writing this post kinda makes me sweat a little because it's such a hot button issue right now. But at this particular time, the thing that weighs heavy on my heart just happens to be a very controversial topic.

Proverbs 31:8 "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute."

If you have watched the news lately or been on facebook, you know that Amendment 26 has been the center of many stories, arguments, and disagreements. I should say, at this point, if you are reading this and are pro-choice, then we have a fundamental difference in beliefs. You will probably not agree with anything I say. I write this more for the "pro-life" proponents who are against this vote. To make it clear, the actual wording of what we are voting on is as follows:

"Initiative 26 would amend the Mississippi Constitution to define the word

'person' or 'persons', as those terms are used in Article III of the state constitution,

to include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the

functional equivalent thereof."

That's it. This particular vote is as simple as a matter of what you believe. When does life begin? Does it begin at the moment of conception? As a follower of Jesus Christ and a believer in the inerrant Word of God, I need to look no further than scripture itself to determine my vote.

Psalm 139:13 "For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother's womb."

Psalm 139:15-16 "My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began."

Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

Isaiah 44:2 "This is what the Lord says-He who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you..."

Isaiah 44:24 "This is what the LORD says-your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb..."

It absolutely breaks my heart to hear friends, "pro-life" voters, and fellow followers of Christ believe the lies surrounding this issue. First of all, the vote is on how this amendment is worded. It is to protect the precious lives of unborn children, and that is it. This is not a vote to ban birth control or IVF. It is a vote to ban abortion....the murder of the voiceless and innocent. I am not naive to the possible repercussions to this amendment. I realize that some forms of birth control may eventually be affected. Do I believe that at any point Mississippi will actually do away with all birth control? No. I think that is HIGHLY unlikely. The forms that might come into question (dare I say?) should be questioned. As far as IVF goes, this is an industry that needs more regulation. This bill could change the methodology by which it is done. It might mean that fewer embryos are harvested, resulting in fewer and fewer unused embryos. Again, it is highly unlikely that IVF will ever be banned.

I have heard several arguments claiming this vote will criminalize mothers who miscarry. This is so utterly ridiculous that it does not deserve the dignity of a response. Another area of concern for several voters is abortion in cases of rape or incest. While situations like this are unimaginably difficult, truth does not change in hard circumstances. Please hear my heart...I am, in no way, being cavalier about the pain and difficulty of a woman faced with such. I cannot even begin to comprehend. But I do know that God alone is the giver and sustainer of life. And I fully believe that no child and no pregnancy is an accident. Even the times when it is so hard to understand, God still values that precious life.

I know have made several, albeit probably weak, arguments on reasons to vote yes. But for me personally, and anyone who is a child of God, the scripture is our final authority. And the Bible is very clear. God gives life, and He is the only one with the right to take it away. At the end of the day, if every single one of these arguments come to fruition, my vote will still be yes. God values life, and because of that, so should we. If we say we are pro-life, how can we not vote to save it? If you believe in the Word of God, then you believe life begins when you are "formless." There is not much shape to little person at conception, but God is "knitting him together" and "planning his days before a single one of them began." God alone knows what is going on inside of a womb. He alone sees it. He alone plans it. Who are we to say that life is not worthy?

Like I said before, if all birth control is banned and "unwanted" pregnancy rates soar, I will still answer to God alone for my vote. I will vote for what I know to be right, and trust our loving, good, and infinitely wise Father for the outcome. Isn't His plan always best? Because of that truth, we need not fear any possible repercussions from voting yes.

Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."

Letting Go

Days old

I can’t believe the last time I blogged was before I had Lucy Kate! Well, I do have a seven-month old. Maybe that’s a good excuse. Haha! Life has been gloriously different- and busy since she came into our lives. As I type this now, I am watching her on the monitor rolling around and crying, so I know this blog will take me longer to write than I wanted! Since I last wrote, I quit my awesome job, and now I stay at home with my baby—an even more awesome job, and I seriously love it!

In the past seven months, I have thought a lot about Lucy Kate’s precious little life, and I have been amazed at how quickly these past few months have gone. I don’t think I adequately prepared my heart for the quick changes babies go through. My tiny baby who, just a few months ago, couldn’t even hold up her own head is now pulling herself up to stand! And the little one whose cry in the middle of the night would quickly awake me because she couldn’t go three hours without being nursed, now soundly sleeps 12 hours at night. And the clothes in her closet that were way too big and I thought would never fit, have now been in a storage bin for 4 months because they are way too small. And the tiny voice that I so wondered (but could hardly imagine) the sound, now babbles all the time. And my hand that felt like it would never be free of holding the pacie in her mouth is no longer needed (for that) because she can do it just fine on her own. And my sweet baby that depended solely on me for food now eats dinner every night in her highchair. I know a baby can’t stay a baby forever… I just wish they could be a baby for a little longer!

At every stage of her life, we will have to face moments of her getting bigger and us letting her go a little. Right now- our “letting go” is sending her to her own room to sleep. For the past seven months, she has slept in a crib in the same room as Nathan and me at night. I have loved, loved it, but now I know it is time to send her on her own little way ACROSS the house (I am still struggling with it)! :/ As silly as it may seem, a part of me is very sad to see this stage of her life pass. However, I know that it is a small step in the process of a lifetime of letting her go. But that is God’s plan. He gave her to us to train her, teach her, love her, and let her go to be the person He planned for her to be. We are just the blessed ones He chose to help her along in the process.

I hope I never take any stage of her life or time I have with her for granted. Twenty years will be here before I know it, and one day she will be experiencing this incredible bond with her own little ones. Well.. hopefully not in TWENTY years. J

Lucy Kate 7 months

Homeschooling....two weeks in and still alive!

So....I have been on this little homeschooling journey for two weeks, and so far, we are still loving it!!! Lily is doing beautifully, and she seems to really enjoy it. We are currently reading James and the Giant Peach. It was one of my favorites when I was little and is proving the same for Lily. I wasn't sure how she would do with a book that had chapters and no pictures, but it is going over VERY well. It's probably that active little imagination!

I thought I would give a short little list about random things I've learned during the past two weeks. Yes, I know. It's only been two weeks....But oh well. I didn't have any other topic to blog about.

1. My day MUST start in the Bible and with prayer. It sets the mood for the entire day. I am literally a mess without it. Coffee, my bible, and a comfy chair is the most important part of my day. I have not always been very disciplined about it, sad to say. But God is gracefully and patiently showing me how utterly horrible I can be without His constant fellowship.

2. I CANNOT quickly check Pinterest before starting "school." I think I mentioned it before, but it is quite addictive. Must.pin.later. :/

3. Okay, I already knew this one. But my kids can really get on my nerves sometimes. I love them to pieces. And I also want to pull my hair out around 4:00pm. Some days have been so wonderful. Others days....well...I really feel dropping Lily off at the bus stop. :) She is just at such an argumentative stage! I'm reaping...I know, mom.

4. I love watching my kids finally "get" something. It is really neat to be the one who explains something to them and then see that little light bulb go off.

5. Me + Math = no. I am afraid that Lily may have inherited the "dumb with numbers" gene from me. I'm kinda nervous....And I'm also really glad I married an engineer. I mean, I can do Kindergarten math. But if we stick with this through fractions, I will resign as her math teacher. Patrick will have to take over.

6. Flexibility is the key to homeschooling. Or at least in my house.

7. I really look forward to my lunch time Diet Coke. I always have. Though maybe just a little more now.

8. Glitter is so stinkin' messy!!!

9. Apparently, messages tied to balloons was nice in theory. But they must have landed in the ocean. Or in some mean person's yard who refuses to humor my five year old and send us a postcard.

10. Recess is still my favorite subject.

I'm BA-ACK!!

It has been entirely too long since I last blogged. I bet you thought this sad little blog was over. But you will be pleased to know that I still have many quite uninteresting things to post. Get excited. :) ha!

Anyway, things have been kinda busy around here this past summer. Anna moved into a new house, and we have been busy with several projects. I have done a complete overhaul on my house. And I have also been wasting an inordinate amount of time on Pinterest. I'm sure everyone has heard of it, but I was kinda late jumping on that bandwagon. I am now, however, completely addicted. It's bad. And good. And so, so bad....

My latest venture, though, just started this past Monday. For those of you who don't know, I decided to homeschool the girls. I need to start out by saying that if you were to have asked me five years ago if this would be a part of my future, I would have laughed.in.your.face. But God has a way of bringing things to pass that we least expect. I had never even considered homeschooling. I just assumed that I would walk Lily into Kindergarten one day and spend the whole rest of the day in bed crying like most normal moms. It was so a "non-thought" for me that I never (up until three or so years ago) even prayed about it. However, God led us to a different church and new friends, and a little seed was planted in my heart. We began to pray about it. I think most of my first prayers started out like "I sorta kinda feel like MAYBE this is something I should consider, but PLEASE, GOD, tell me no." I wanted to have a complete peace about sending Lily and Evie to school. However, the more I prayed, the less peace I felt. Ugh.... My prayer genuinely began to evolve at this point. When I started praying "Thy will be done", I started to truly grasp the verse "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." My delight was going to be in doing HIS will, not mine. And you know what? He completely and utterly gave my heart a new desire. I WANTED to homeschool. Did I feel completely ill-equipped? Yep. Do I still? Um...yes. I'm a college graduate, and I've always felt like I was "smart enough." But teaching a five year old? Yeah, that terrifies me. I mean, I am responsible for her learning to read, write, do math (major eek!), and a million other little things. It's probably a good thing that I feel this way. It keeps me constantly in prayer and constantly leaning on the Lord to show me the way. And let's face it: I would royally mess my children up if I had to go it alone. **I need to put a disclaimer: This is a decision that God was calling my family to do. We are taking it year by year. I..in NO way.. think that public school is bad. His leading for your family can and will look differently than it does for mine. So please hear no condemnation whatsoever. Also...please join me in praying that He will not want me to continue homeschooling through high school. Algebra and I do NOT get along. haha!**

All of that huge explanation to say that we "officially" started this week! Yay! It's been a great and fun week (for the most part). We started out by having a "Lily starts Kindergarten" party. I decorated the dining room, and Patrick went to get balloons. She woke up to a table full of books and school supplies, a terribly ugly poster with glitter (I'm sooo not artsy), and sprinkle pancakes. As you can see below, Evie thought she was starting Kindergarten too. By the way, the pictures are kinda out of order. Sorry.

We made postcards to go on the balloons. We wrote a bible

verse and our address. Hopefully, someone far away found them

and will send us a postcard back telling us where it landed.

My sweet five year old Lily. She was so excited.

Getting ready to release our balloons.

We looked at a map and made a hypothesis on where the balloons

would land. We had different variables to consider. Before you

go thinking my children are brilliant and have the best teacher

because they understand what a hypothesis is, you should

know they got it from watching entirely too much Dinosaur Train.

I seriously considered letting PBS teach them this year. Highly

educational programming, y'all!

I guessed Louisiana. Evie pointed to Texas. Lily

guessed Disney World. Imagine that.

What's the first day of Kindergarten without a little finger paint?

Naturally, the finger paint led to playing in the water hose. Hey, I

homeschool. It's allowed.

Making cookies....so cute.

Decorating cookies...

Okay, I know what everyone is probably thinking. Did they actually learn anything?? Yes. In between the pictures we did bible, phonics, writing, reading, and math. It was a great day. I love the creativity of each day that homeschooling allows. We took a popsicle break mid-morning just because we could. The day wasn't all wonderful, though. I started out by praying over our morning, and I specifically prayed that Evie would have a cooperative spirit. If you know Evie, then you know she is my strong-willed, passionate child. I pray this prayer for her a lot. Anyway, I guess God thought I needed a laugh. Because the first thing she did when she woke up was murder a baby bird. We had a found an abandoned bird's nest at my parents and brought it home for observation. There was a little, tiny egg in there, and we had high hopes of seeing it hatch. Well, Evie escaped out of the house while Patrick was taking the trash out. She walked right over to the nest, picked the egg up, and squished it between her fingers. It pretty much exploded all over her. Her hair, her clothes, her skin.....and it was THE.MOST.HORRIBLE.SMELL.EVER. Pretty sure it was never going to actually hatch. It had to be rotten. She went straight to the bath where I spent the better part of the morning washing and rewashing her hair. FYI- dead baby bird yolk is a hard smell to get out.

So there you have it....our first official homeschooling day. Not all glamorous. But I laid my head on my pillow that night knowing I was EXACTLY where God intended me to be. I am fully aware that it will not all be fun and not every day will be great. This week has already proven that. In fact, I am sick today with a nasty summer cold. It's all I can do keep my head up. Fortunately, homeschooling allows for a flexible schedule. Praise the Lord. I'll keep you somewhat posted on how things are going. And if you see us out in public, don't be shocked if we are wearing bonnets and blue jean jumpers..... haha.....jk. Homeschooling has a come a loooonnngggg way.

A hard week...

Early Monday morning, our sweet Mama Dot went home to be with the Lord. These past few days have been very hard for our family, and I know there are some really sad days ahead. We rejoice knowing she is in the presence of Jesus, but oh how she will be missed here. Please remember my family, particularly my mom and her siblings, in your prayers. She was so precious to us.

Mama Dot swinging with the girls. She loved that swing!

Visiting Leo the lion. Mama Dot is the reason my Lily loves lions.

She has been taking her grandchildren and now

great grandchildren to visit UNA's mascot for years.

Mama Dot with her cat, Josie. This picture makes me laugh every

time I look at it. She was never a cat person, but this little stray

found it's way to her back door. She has loved him ever since. Yes,

the cat is male. Lily named the cat after her BFF before we realized

it was not a female. The name just stuck.

Mama Dot with Evie. I am so grateful that she met my two girls.

She loved them, but "peapod" held a special place in her heart.

Mama Dot with Lucy Kate. We are so, so blessed that she

had the opportunity to meet her. God's timing is so good.

She stayed with my mom for the last month of her life, and she

had precious time to just hold and rock LK. They both loved it.

I love this picture. A sweet new baby at the beginning of life,

and my sweet grandmother closer to the end.

"..The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;

blessed be the name of the LORD" Job 1:21

This picture is so tiny that you probably won't be able to see it.

I cannot figure out how to make it bigger. But I just love this

shot of Anna and Mama Dot. I think it says so much about her.

Good Friday

Tomorrow is Good Friday... yay! I am excited because Patrick is off work, and we have fun plans to spend the day as a family. We will probably dye some easter eggs, play outside, and just enjoy the sunshine. We also plan to take my little lion loving children to see Disney's new movie "African Cats." Lily is extremely excited about this. I know I really don't need to do much more to encourage her crazy obsession with lions, but I just can't help myself. She finds them fascinating....so I oblige.

All of that above is great, and I am looking quite forward to it. But in the midst of it all, I want to make sure that my family stays in a spirit of thanksgiving and prayer. I cannot just go about tomorrow as if it is any other day off for Patrick. It's not. In fact, tomorrow is everything.

"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Corinthians 5:21

I'm posting a short little video from youtube. It's a part of a sermon from David Platt. I hope you can find time to watch it. He does an amazing job of truly explaining the sacrifice Christ made.

Click here

I hope everyone has a wonderful Good Friday! It is good indeed.

A plug for a plug-in

It's Spring!!! Yay!! Fall and Spring are my two favorite times of year, and other than some pesky allergies, I am just loving this weather! I wake up, open all of the windows in my house, and find every excuse in the world to avoid housework so I can go outside with Lily and Evie and soak up the amazingness that is a sunny, 70 degrees day. I know all too soon that it will be really, really HOT and really, really HUMID. Oh well, I guess that's what you get for living in the south.

Anyway, not much has been going on lately. Just enjoying life... But I wanted to do a quick little post and give all of my many readers a link to buy the most awesome product ever. Okay, I really don't have that many readers. But I promise I'm not lying about the product. I'm having a basket party for my best friend, Jenna. She sales Scentsy, and if you do not have one, you are missing out. I love mine! You buy a warmer, plug it in, and then put in a little block of the ridiculously good smelling scent. You can leave it on ALL day long, and I promise the smell will fill your whole house. It's great! They have some really good, fresh, clean new spring scents that I love. I am sorry for the shameless plug, but I would feel guilty if I didn't give you the chance to buy the best thing ever. ;) Click here to shop. When you get to the page, just click on my basket party. I promise you will love them!

Also, my house is back on the FSBO market. So I totally understand if you can't get a Scentsy because you need to save money to buy my wonderful house:) But if you don't buy my house, then at least make yours smell nice. ha!

You have GOT to be kidding me....

Okay peeps, remember my last post? The one about my missing crackers. Yeah, well....the food company/people are out to get me again. I'm beginning to think this is nothing short of a conspiracy to completely turn my lunch world upside down. You know how I eat the same thing everyday? (sandwich, crackers, 100 cal pack...sometimes I throw in an apple--to keep the doctor away, of course) Anyway, you are not gonna believe this. Get ready-- I can now no longer find my Keebler Grasshopper Cookies in the 100 calorie pack. Not at Kroger, not at Target. I am on the verge of panic. I realize there are wayyyyy more important things in the world than my daily dose of yummy, minty, crunchy chocolate. But still....it hurts. Plus, I genuinely find it odd that now TWO of my lunchtime staples have disappeared. I can find no plausible explanation other than it must be the end times. If they take away my diet coke.... well, I can't even go there.

Bring them back!!!

I am on a mission. For about four years now, I have been in love. I mean....seriously, the object of my affection has been a daily part of my life. Every morning, I would long for eleven o'clock....that special time when my world would light up at the mere sight of my darling obsession.

I'm talking about Kellogg's All Bran Wheat Crackers in Garlic Herb flavor. My turkey sandwich, crackers, and diet coke make me one happy woman. But for the past several months, they have been MIA. I go to Kroger, and there -among all the HUGE selection of crackers- my favorite is nowhere to be found. I have taken comfort in the fact that Target still carries them. But alas, I can no longer find them at Target. I'm grieving. I have even written Kellogg's a letter expressing my undying love for the fiber-filled, flavorful amazingness. But so far, I have had to settle for Wheat Thins. No offense to Nabisco, but I just don't LOVE them. I only like them. So please.....join me in protesting to Kellogg's, Kroger, Target, and everywhere else....BRING THEM BACK!!!

This is me with my crackers.
This is me without my crackers.

Posted by Corrie....a hopeless fiber lover.

Quickly...

Hey blog readers! I just wanted to do a very short little post today. I have many more planned :) My goal is to become a better blogger. Or at least a more frequent one. But this past month has been kinda crazy. With the debut of Miss Lucy Kate Rucker, we have all been quite busy loving on that precious baby. Can I just say that I adore her? From the moment I saw that little head come out with the enormous amount of black hair, I just fell in love. I never thought I could love another baby so quickly other than my own. But oh, she has just captured her Aunt Coco's heart!

Anyway, as wonderful as little LK is, this post is about another Lucy. I came across this blog through some friends on Facebook and have been keeping up with the precious family's journey as their little five year old was just diagnosed with brain cancer. I want to share the link with you and ask you to fervently pray for them. I don't know them, but my heart aches for little Lucy and her parents. I cannot begin to imagine what they are going through. It sends shivers down my spine to even think about one of my children being in that situation.... so young and fighting for her life. I am going to post the link to her blog, and I hope that you will pray with me for this family. They have been so heavy on my heart. But God is in the business of answering prayers! I am praying for complete healing for this little girl, comfort beyond comprehension for her family, and that God be glorified in sweet Lucy's life. No matter what happens, God is GOOD. I pray they can cling to that hope when everything in them wants to scream otherwise.

Click here to read her story

Long time...

Hi blog readers! It has been forever since I (Corrie) have posted. Somehow life just seems to get in the way of this little blog. But that's okay! I have a lot of things I want to post soon, but I thought I'd just spend this one catching up. Really, there's hasn't been too much happening around here, save the anxious/excited/can-hardly-sleep wait on baby Lucy Kate. I know Anna has shared her thoughts about it all, but I feel the need to give you an update from MY perspective :)

First off, words cannot even begin to describe how excited I am about meeting my niece. I have been wanting to hold this baby before she was even conceived. You can ask Anna, I am bugging the stink out of her with my daily/hourly questions of "has anything changed? Any contractions? Pain?" When I say hourly, unfortunately, that is a pretty literal statement. The anticipation is killing me!! I can't wait to see her and hold her and tell her how much her Aunt Coco loves her! I am going to be one of FIVE amazing aunts, so I am going to have to step up my game so I can be her favorite. haha!....just kidding to all other aunts who might reading this:) I'll just say this- Lucy Kate is going to be one loved baby girl.

Other than meeting Lucy Kate, I am beyond thrilled for Anna and Nathan to experience parenthood. There is nothing in the world that compares to those first few days in the hospital when you just fall head over heels in love with this precious gift. It is just the most incredible time as a family. I loved it, and I can't wait for them to have this special time with their daughter. It's especially wonderful because at the hospital, people wait on you hand and foot. They can take your baby to the nursery for some much needed sleep, people come and dote on you, and the world is just perfect. Then you go home....which brings me to my third point.

As wonderful as motherhood is, there is no denying its difficulty. Especially those first sleep-deprived, exhausting weeks/months. Even getting up with my babies at midnight, I truly cherished those moments. They were so precious and sweet...and so short. And that's what you have to remind yourself of at four a.m. Because you.are.so.tired. I used to pray "Lord, give me the strength to get through this and somehow enjoy it in the process." And He faithfully did. Some of my best memories of Lily and Evie at that age are the times I spent singing, nursing, and rocking them to sleep in the dark, quiet early morning hours. It's wonderful. And hard. And amazing. And enough to make you cry. And thank God for the precious blessing of actually having that baby to rock and hold. And also plead with God to please make this baby stop crying. When it comes down to it, there is nothing better in the world. Those hard moments will be over before you blink, and then you will wake up with a one year old. There are women all over the world who would long for nothing more than to get up and pace the floors with a screaming baby in their arms.

So that is what I am looking forward to the most: Anna (and Nathan) getting to experience the absolute JOY of one of God's sweetest gifts. My advice is to cherish every minute. It goes so fast. And when you are tired and can barely keep your eyes open, just praise God for Lucy Kate. Praise Him for healthy lungs that can scream so loud. Praise Him for her waking up at all hours to eat. It means she's a growing baby girl. Praise Him when you feel you just can't go on another minute....because He will give you what you need to care perfectly for her. Some of my most desperate and heartfelt prayers came after Evie was born. I would be exhausted, and she would be wide awake at three a.m. I knew I would be getting up with a two year old in a matter of hours, and I would think "there's just no way I can do this." But HIS strength is made perfect in my weakness, and somehow, I managed. I would hold her and think - this is LIFE, and I love it.

Last but not least, I would be remiss if I didn't say that I am looking forward to watching Anna change all those diapers, clean up spit-up, chase after a crawling/walking/crazy baby, and all of the other totally unexpected things that go along with motherhood. Because just as most (or all) of first time expectant mothers are, she.doesn't.have.a.clue. I can't wait to sit back and laugh. haha!!:) I'll leave you with a few quotes from Anna to prove my point:

"How hard can it be? If she wakes up, I'll just nurse her and lay her back down. I mean, why would a baby cry for no reason at all?"

" I have thirty newborn diapers, so that should last for a pretty long time."

me- "Anna, those might last four days..."

"WHAT?? Are you kidding me? They go that much?"

Preparing for Lucy Kate

I cannot believe I am 3 short weeks away from meeting my sweet baby girl! There are no words to express how excited I am! I try to describe it like --- it feels like Christmas Eve every day- with the anticipation and excitement you feel on that day (or am I the only adult that still gets that way? haha) But obviously, this is even bigger and better than that!

I'm not going to lie though, the closer it gets, the more nervous I am becoming! Nathan and I are in an unusual situation bringing a child into this world. Here is my long explanation as to why:

Did I ever mention, this incredible blessing was a big surprise for us?? Well, we had intended on waiting to have children until after he graduated. We have moved so much since we got married (for Nathan's school: Hernando, Jackson, MS, Memphis), and we were finally back in the area. This past June, we moved into an adorable apartment in Collierville- we didn't want to try to buy a house on my little teacher's salary, so we decided to move into a one-bedroom apartment until May. THREE weeks after moving in, we found out we were pregnant! I also became very sick... It is hard for me to even think back to this summer. One thing that really started bothering me while I was sick was the smell of our apartment. It didn't so much bother me before because it wasn't a nasty smell. It was just a strong (chemical-like?) smell. However, it did not help my situation at all once I became sick. So often, I would throw up after just breathing in the smell. It was rough, and the thought of living with that smell for a year made me crazy. One weekend, I came up with the idea to spend the night at my parent's house, just to see if it made me feel better. One weekend turned into one week, and one week turned into one month... and so on. Nathan and I, realizing I might never be able to go back to the apartment and tiring of paying rent to a place we weren't using, decided to get out of our lease, haul all of our stuff to storage, and settle in with my parents until May. No, it is not the most ideal situation at all, but luckily, we get along great with my parents, and they are being extremely gracious about us being there. They are even giving us their master bedroom so we will have more space for the baby!

Even though I have come to terms with the fact that my first baby will not have a beautiful nursery until we move into a house (in a few short months:) ), it is still really hard for me. All I want to do is set up her room and everything that goes in it! I am trying to get everything together for her nursery anyway, and that does make me feel a little better. I am having her bedding made. We bought Lucy Kate a beautiful dresser and rocking chair, and I have a sweet bassinet waiting on her. Last night, a dear friend of mine, Hollie, came over and we organized a big closet in my parent's house. Now, I have a pretty big space cleared out to hang all of Lucy Kate's clothes! We are making due here! haha!

Below are some pictures of what we have set up for her so far... they aren't really in any order, and I cannot wait to make her a real nursery!!

Nathan is putting together the swing

Rocker/sleeper that is just waiting for my sweet baby!

LK's stroller. The car seat is already packed in our car!

Picture frame for LK's wall- love it!

Bench for the nursery.. I am currently looking for the perfect fabric for pillows. I am in love with this piece of furniture!

Beautiful hang-thing from my mom for LK's room

LK's bassinet

LK's rocker... I'm having a pillow made for it. The pink toile (on the blanket) is the fabric in her bedding- also being made.

This is Lucy Kate's dresser. It was a bubblegum pink, and I painted it. It is still not completely finished, I still have to age the pink.