Welcome Fall and Rest

We made it through September! More will come on last month {and pictures of course!}. Jon and I are entering October feeling accomplished, but in need of rest and time together.

A couple of things about rest that have been heavy on my heart over the past few weeks:

• God made it holy! 
• I think we've all heard to rest because, after all, God rested. Not only did God rest but he also blessed and sanctified it! 
• {Genesis 2:2-3 -- By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that He had done.}
• It's one of the 10 commandments. 
• This may sound silly, but it's easy for me to forget that resting is a command! It's not something that it is simply good for the soul and your relationship with God.
• Read Exodus... it's full of the importance of Sabbath. 
• Time spent with my Creator is essential.
• The more I push into Him and abide in Him, the more I learn about Him and His goodness, mercy, substance, desire for me, love, grace, story, etc., etc.
• I just feel better.
• I am a better person when I give myself rest physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I am not as grumpy. My body doesn't ache... and neither does my heart. 
• I can continue to give of myself.
• It's months like these {we were only home 1 of the 5 weekends in September} that I remember how little I have to offer when I push myself too far. It's obvious that God knew what he was doing when he commanded us to rest... how can we continue to love others well when we are too drained?

So, as Jon and I continue to learn how to rest {even when we find ourselves in the middle of a busy month}, my question(s) for all of you is how are you resting? What would say is your best "rest" experience? How did you create a rhythm/discipline of routine resting? 

All Other Things August 2012!

Another August has come and gone. Here are a few randoms from a month that we love.

I helped out in our church nursery two Wenesdays of the month. Below is sweet Landon. We played "freeze tag" {which was really him yelling"freeze!" "okayyy nowwww GO!"}. What a sweet little blessing he was in a room full of kiddos of all ages. He was definitely the life of the party that night. Visit Jenn's blog here -- she is Landon's mom and has a wonderful blog full of precious little writings that will certainly warm your heart!

Dakota spent a lot of time under the bed. He usually only does this when it is storming, but it may be turning into his new spot.

On the way home from our little trip to Lexington, we spotted this beauty and reminder of God's grace. {sigh}

Dakota got a bath. He hates baths. {if you can't tell from this scowl}

 This week was Accounting Week for me at work. We were spoiled with bagels, candy, pizza, and cupcakes. YUM!

I was also promoted to a supervisor! I am now the Medicare Advantage and Billing Process Supervisor. I am really looking forward to this wonderful opportunity and advancement. Jon bought me flowers and wrote a little note for me one afternoon when I came home from work to congratulate me.

We took Dakota to a park off Rutherford Road and let him run around for a little while. He needed it and so did we!

Sweet Olivia

My mom and I hosted a baby shower for sweet little Olivia's arrival on 8/25/12. Brooke {olivia's mom} put together all of the flower's for our wedding. It was simple way for me to give back to Brooke for all of her hard work! Baby Olivia is now 2 months old and we decided to put together a little shower to welcome her to the world and provide Brooke with a few gifts to help her along in providing for her precious little addition!

The shower was held at mom and dad's house around brunch time. We served a delicious spread of quiche, breakfast casserole, fruit, cream cheese danish, cupcakes, and cake. We played a memory game and a word scramble game. When each guest arrived they received a little pink felt diaper. In one of the diapers was a hershey kiss. At a certain point of the shower, each guest opened her diaper and whoever had the poopy diaper won! We also had a little photo booth set up for a little extra fun.

I don't have pictures from the actual shower {I took all of those on my mom's camera}; just know we had such a good time and loved doing this for Brooke! Update 9/5/12! Mom e-mailed pictures!

Fran had the poopy diaper! :)

Alyssa {Brooke's oldest}, Mom holding sweet Olivia {don't you love her lips! ;)}, and Brooke!

mom and me

everyone who came!

the memory game {put a hodge podge of baby items in the middle of a table, cover with fabric, reveal for only 1 minute to allow guests to memorize as many items as possible, cover, guests have 1 minute to write down as many as items as they can, whoever remembers the most, wins!

forgot to take a picture of the cake before it was cut!

I do have some tutorials of how to make some of the fun little crafts things I put together for the shower.

My gift to Brooke and Olivia was a diaper wreath.

the finished product

start with your wreath frame, 2 packs of diapers, and ribbon

thread the a layer of diapers through the middle of the wreath frame {two per section}

bunch and tie the two diapers together

the wreath after the first layer

wrap the second layer of diapers around the outside of the wreath

tie & bunch two diapers together

with both layers {40 diapers total; 20 size 4, 20 size 3}; add a little stuffed animal, pacifier, or rattle

I used the left over diapers from each pack to make little diaper center pieces.

roll each diaper and rubber band them together

tie ribbon around the diapers to hide the rubber band

Poopy Diaper Game:

cut felt squares

fold square to make a triangle

fold up the middle corner to touch the top of the triangle

fold in the left side of triangle to center

fold right corner to meet the center

use a safety pin to hold the diaper together

thread ribbon to make a necklace for each guest to wear when they arrive

{Add the Hershey kiss at step one before folding the square into a triangle}

We had a sign at the mail box to show guests where to come.

 

We also had another sign leading to my parent's guest house. We had the driveway lined with balloons and sign that said "follow the balloons".

Ben and Maegan Wedding Shower!

The weekend of 8/18, Jon and I went to Lexington for Ben and Maegan's wedding shower. We stayed with Jon's parents. The shower was so fun and we thoroughly enjoyed being able to celebrate such a wonderful occasion for these two. They tie the knot 9/29! We cannot wait!

Saturday afternoon, Jon and I enjoyed a little lunch treat at Zesto's. This was my first time eating there -- it was quite yummy. We also went to visit Julianna at Starbucks. She treated us to a Refresher and cake pops!

The shower was held at Ben's parent's home in Lexington.

Ben's nephew made them a really sweet card!

our gift!

julianna's gift -- so sweet; vintage glasses in a cute little basket

a book of Ben's mom's best recipes - hey, meg, think you can share some of those?? haha ;

)

cutting the cake practice ;)

yes, yes we do love cookies!

cute couple!

let the Friday Night Lights impersonations begin!

Jonny was Buddy Garrity -- Jon was Matt Saracen

I always forget how tall Ben is...

Jonny, Ben, Jon

What a great little weekend get-a-away to Lexington. Thank you mom and dad Harris for always hosting us when we come!

Jon and his parents

us. :)