A year ago today...

Elora Grace was born at 8:44am.

After 30 hours of labor and about an hour of pushing, I couldn't believe I had actually done it.

When she was born I didn't feel overwhelmed with love like everyone said I would. I felt surprised. Surprised that she really was in there all that time; surprised that I had really given birth; surprised that it was true what they say, when your baby is in your arms you totally forget all the pain (yes, you remember it shortly thereafter, but it's all worth it).

I know it's weird to think that surprise is the emotion that came over me at that moment, but I was really in awe of our Creator. It was hard to imagine a real little person being knit together for 9 months (okay, it was more like 10 months, but who's counting?) in my womb, but there she was. It was hard to imagine my body going through all that it did to bring this little person in to the world, but it was made to do that. It was hard to believe that after so many sleepless nights and hours of laboring, I would actually have the energy to push for an hour, but I did. It was hard to imagine a person going from being in water all their life to breathing air, but she did it perfectly without any help.

I think flowing out of my surprise was praise. There is a phrase in a song that I've been thinking about more lately and I think it sums up what happened at Elora's birth. It says, "every blessing You pour out, I'll turn back to praise." With the blessing of Elora, my heart was immediately turned to God in praise for what He had done. He had blessed us with a healthy baby and a safe delivery, and my heart was in awe of Him.

I can't believe that was a year ago. I can't believe my baby has already turned in to a toddler. I'm pretty sure she's going to master running this week or next. I am still praising the Lord for the blessing and challenge that she is to us. She was given to us by God's great grace towards us. And she remains ours through His grace alone.

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl. We love you, Elora Grace.

A year ago today....

I looked like this...

And I was in pain, lots and lots of pain. But it was the good kind of pain, the kind of pain that has a purpose. I mostly just walked around the house and that's all I remember.

Finally around 6pm things started to get serious...

Change is Good

So, the last few weeks have been a little crazy. We'd been presented with a few opportunities and although they looked good, we had a lot to consider before jumping in. There was a week when all we did after dinner was discuss these things. It was a lot of serious adult conversation, sometimes I just felt like I wanted to stop being responsible and move back in with my parents so they could make the hard decisions for me.

Then I realized that I love being a wife and mom and I can't believe I have the privilege of being a partner to such a godly man and that we get to be responsible for our family. Speaking of Corey, we celebrated our 4th anniversary 4 days ago!! Let's take a break from our regularly scheduled post to look at us 4 years and 4 days ago...

Unfortunately I am the worst ever and haven't gotten my wedding photos yet. So these are from my father in law.

Okay, back to the post...

So, after much discussion we have decided that we're making some changes. First, Corey is taking a new job. This job totally came out of the blue and we are very excited about it. But also feeling a little weird that he won't be doing what he's done for all but 3.5 months of our marriage. It took about 3 weeks to decide about this, but it seems good and he starts November 1st! For now he's working like crazy to get things ready to hand over at his current job.

The second change we'll be making is a move. This new job would have been about 50 minutes from home and we're kind of growing out of our current place. So, like the job, a new place found us, and I love it. One of my favorite features is a 3rd bedroom that will be a sewing room!! Oh, and there's a dishwasher. Oh! And our own laundry room inside. Oh! And...okay, there's a lot of great features and I'm very excited for more space!

I think the hardest part of making these decisions is that we love our current landlords and Corey's boss. Both are great friends and it seems hard to "leave" them but it is for our best I believe. And we aren't leaving them because we will still see them often and especially after our time with them, we'll have a special relationship. So now, we're moving in to another friend's rental and Corey will be working with a friend he's had since high school, I guess we like to keep things personal! :)

We're excited about the changes and what the Lord is doing with our lives!

The Ruffle Skirt

I recently saw some really cute skirts that were just all full of ruffles. Whenever I see really cute (really expensive) boutique type items, I am inspired to make one for a fraction of the cost. So, inspired by a $55 skirt, here is my $6 version

Several people have asked for a tutorial for this, and I'm working on it! I've never made a tutorial before so I'm trying to figure it all out, but I'm really excited because that means I get to make more of these skirts.

Come back so you can make your own for the pretty bitty in your life :)