Counting down the days.......

It appears the countdown is officially on til baby #2 makes his/her arrival. I have a 35 week check up today and as much as I don't like dilation checks...I do hope the doctor offers to do one! I doubt any dilation is happening but ya never know!:) Lots has been going on in our small Piney Grove life here in South Carolina. I say lots but it may very well be just in my head and not much is actually going on but may be boring to others haha. Like.....

1. Last week I had a fun birthday...whoop whoop big 27! The day started off with my loving husband cooking me breakfast....and might I add..it was a WHOPPING meal. Complete with a huge omlette, sausage, and toast:) I love Austin so. very. much! Then we took the hour drive to Myrtle Beach and ate lunch at a little hole in the wall BBQ place...yum, always seem to be the best places to eat!....then we walked on the beach and Annie Ruth did NOT want to leave. I should have thought to pack her swimsuit b/c it was truly a sunny day and it would have been better for her to dirty that up than the clothes she had on. Next time! Anyway....the rest of the day was good too...just hung out with my sweet family:)

2. One of my birthday gifts was a hammock. Glorious I tell you. Probably one of the best gifts I have received!

3. Right before my birthday last week, we visited Ikea in Charlotte, NC and we have to make another trip possibly tomorrow (saturday) or next week. This time....I think we shall visit Trader Joes and The Cheesecake Factory:)

4. I hung out with a friend this week. Thank you sweet Jesus. That always helps pass the week quickly when I have a playdate....for Annie Ruth and me:)

5. We are about to switch to cloth diapers.....ummmmm yeah. Hope it goes well. I was reminded this week through talking to friends that with 2 babies happening, we are going to spending way more money on diapers than we really need to. Therefore....I will start Annie Ruth with cloth diapers and then after a few months start the new baby on them. Save that money honey!!

6. God is so faithful. I must remind myself of this every day. I have been listening to more and more Sovereign Grace songs which totally bless me every time I do. I have always loved this group but lately their words have been just what I needed to hear.

Every day I think about blogging but obviously there is a little girl who requires my time much more than this blogging stuff. And I love her so much. So....maybe....possibly...I can blog a little more often. But we shall see:)

Homemade Granola

I know everyone probably has their favorite kind of homemade granola but I am seriously ADDICTED to this recipe! I could eat a whole batch....better not though!:) Anyway here is the recipe for the best granola ever!!

you can add nuts if you want..I didn't but its probably good:)

spread evenly on parchment paper and bake.

NOTE: I would bake the granola longer than 15 minutes to get it a little "brown"...more like 20 or 25 minutes

Once its baked and dried then chop it up and seal in an air tight container. 

Pair your granola with yogurt of your choice! This is my absolutely favorite yogurt of all time!!  Vanilla..not plain!

Enjoy!

S'more bites

Felt like baking on this Monday afternoon so here is what came about....yumm

Cinnamon

For some reason the smell on my mind right now is cinnamon.....I think it is because at Jacki's house last week she put a stick of cinnamon in a pot of water and just turned up the heat on the stove and it smelled up the whole house!....I did that on Saturday and it smelled great in my kitchen:) So thanks Jacki!

Today Annie Ruth need to get out and go somewhere. Not sure where but we are in need of getting out of this house. Annie Ruth really needs a 15 month check up and I admit I'm a little behind but I managed to call the pediatrician we chose last week and they said to bring in her records and they would review them before they allow her to be seen??...weird was my first thought. But then I figured they must need to do this in order to make sure they are fit to see her and not another particular doc. So we may just ride to Florence today....its a 45 min drive but I figure the quicker I bring them the records the quicker we can schedule an appt. I am also in the mood to go to Hobby Lobby since I got a gift card for Christmas I have not used yet. Also.. I am in the mood to go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and just look around. So we may go there..still up in the air though:)

Annie Ruth got up once again at 5am today..actually it was more like 4:45 but whatever..its the same thing. So its a great morning to blog. She is watching Veggie Tales and I am sipping on some Quills Coffee which came in the mail from our BFG back in Louisville, KY! I used to love going to Quills...good memories made there:)

I am way behind on my bible reading plan. I wanted so badly to do good his new year and read my four chapters everyday like I was supposed to but it hasn't been happening. I shouldn't beat myself up about it but just cheerfully read the Word when I can:)....I am really enjoying reading the four different chapters though. Yesterday Austin and I sat in our big living room in the front of the house and spent some good...quiet....time reading our bibles. Thus..I caught up on reading..that is..started with the actual date of yesterday but haven't quite read all the chapters that I missed. Will get around to that soon. God is good! Peace out

Our Trip Up North!

Annie Ruth and I set off last Sunday, January 20th to see my one of my best friends, Jacki Manley. A lady from my church went with us and we all had a great ride up there. I dropped Mrs. Miller off at her sister's house near Washington D.C. and drove the other hour and 15 minutes to Jacki's home. I had a GREAT time hanging out with Jacki, although Annie Ruth got sick and had a runny nose and cough and threw up on Tuesday after we went to Chocolate World in Hershey, PA....alas..it was STILL FUN! We chatted and had lots of laughs and watched our kids play with each other and ate some good food made by Jacki and went to Target (wooohooooo!!), Hershey to see her parents and go to the fabulous chocolate world where the chocolate was endless:)...and just enjoyed one another's company:) Here are some pics...although I wish now I had have taken more pics but oh well

The babes watching either Mickey Mouse or Thomas:) They sure are cute!

Tyndale loved Annie Ruth's cow hat haha

Jacki and I and our babies at Chocolate World in Hershey, PA

favorite and best:)

chocolate, CHOCOLATE, everywhere!! Took this pic for Austin b/c he loves Reeses so much

we will miss you Jacki and Tyndale!!

It snowed the morning I left..so pretty!

Thank you sweet Manley's for hosting Annie Ruth and me:) We miss you already and enjoyed hanging out with each of you!

Baby names!!

We have officially picked out our two names for the baby! Since we don't know what we are having we have settled on one boy name and one girl name! We sat around at breakfast this morning discussing it....we actually haven't discussed it in a while so I brought it up and thankfully Austin was in the "mood" to discuss it:) After about an hour of talking (not the whole time about baby names haha) we finally got the names nailed down!! Yay!!!!!!! 

I cannot say exactly what they are but I will put them on here in blanks and you can try to figure them out for yourself:) They both start with "J"

Boy: J----- L--- Wynn

Girl: J------ M--- Wynn

 Thats all ya gettin for now until June!

SOUTHERN

THIS....

PLUS THIS......

EQUALS.....

                                                                           

THIS!!!!

                                                                               

One of my FAVORITE southern, home cooked meals! Collard greens, homemade cornbread, sweet potatoes, and sweet tea! YUMMMM. I am not gonna lie...there is a little bit of pride in my heart towards the south. Being southern runs in my blood.......something about the southern hospitality, the sweet tea, the way everyone says "YA'll", the pure joy one gets when they walk into a pecan orchard, hahaha I don't know but I have always loved living in the south. Oh and don't get me started on the country music...that twangy stuff will never get out of my system for some reason!...there are some good country songs still around:)

However...this is not my home, heaven is. I don't want to relish in the temporary life here on earth, I would rather long to see my Father and be walking streets of gold instead of tall grass in a field. For now, I am thankful the Lord gave me a simple way of life.....and no matter where the Lord takes me on this journey in life, I will always be glad He planted my roots deep in the south:)

Cheers!

Hump Day

Our week so far has been pretty good.... We did have a case of the Mondays 2 days ago and we ended up staying in our pjs until late afternoon. Sad...I know..oh well. Here is a little pic of Annie Ruth playing in her tent on Monday

And...here is my little angel sleeping so sweetly during one of her naps on Tuesday.......I just love how her little butt is always stuck up in the air:)

This is one of my addictions during this pregnancy..actually...any liquid I seem to be addicted to. For some reason, I really like to drink lots of fluid during this pregnancy. Guess thats a good thing! Anyway...Gatorade is definitely a yummy thirst quencher..all flavors:)

Yesterday, my sweet husband took me to get pizza for lunch in which my love for him always grows larger every time he gets pizza for me:) I could literally eat pizza for every meal (I think) during this pregnancy! Thankfully there is some leftovers for lunch! We started this week off sort of busy: on Monday, Austin had a deacons meeting at church. He came home that night with some good news! We had talked about going to The Gospel Coalition conference in Orlando in April but then we ruled it out after talking about it for some while b/c we didn't think it was financially what we should be doing at that particular point, however, Austin brought it up before the deacons on Monday night and they totally thought it would be a good idea for him to go!...And on top of that they are going to pay for all of it, gas included! Praise the Lord! Yeah!! This will encourage Austin so much to get spiritually fed by other pastors and teachers that he loves! As a bonus, our friends The Mitchams live in Orlando, FL so we are going to stay with them! We look forward to this fun trip in early April:)
Last night, Tuesday, we had a WMU/Brotherhood meeting at church with dinner at 6pm then the meeting followed after. We were home by 7:30...those people know how to eat, have a good time, and have a meeting all within an hour and a half! Oh and some lady at our church fixed a lemon cake...YUMMY! But I may have taken a little too much home...3 pieces..in which were all eaten by me at breakfast this morning. Yikes! Must remember to calm down on the sweets......

This morning started out with our screaming daughter waking up at 4am...I am not entirely sure why she wakes up this early, lately. Teething?....Probably. And well..after she wouldn't fall back asleep we all decided to get up at 6am. Good Wednesday morning world! Then my heart became a little discontented about certain things that I shared with Austin....its always good getting stuff off my chest and sharing it with him. He gets me. He puts me in my place. He always knows just what to say....my goodness

Annie Ruth is currently taking her first nap of the day. She is still taking 2 naps a day: one at around 9am then another around 3pm. Her naps usually last about 2+ hours each! So I take advantage of this time to read the Word, blog, clean the house, shower, etc. Today we are going to visit a lady from the church at 4pm. Yesterday we visited another lady from our church. People really do LOVE when you come visit them:)

Colossians 3:17 just popped in my head and I believe I need to feast on it today! Cheers!

Learning So Much

After going to church last night, I realized that I am going to be learning A LOT as a pastor's wife! No need to go into major detail but I will say...God is teaching me to "love God and love people" and everything else will fall into place. Also...He is helping me learn to be quick to listen, and slow to speak:) This beautiful Thursday morning, I got up and was just really needing to find a quiet place, with coffee of course!, where I could really rest at the feet of Jesus. I was desperately needing time in the Word. So I got up and by 6:30am had asked my loving husband if he would mind watching Annie Ruth for about 2 hours while I drove the 45 minute drive to Krispy Kreme and spent some time with God. He graciously said yes (although he was a little concerned as to why I would want to actually drive 45 minutes); today was just one of those mornings where I needed to take a drive.....AND..I needed 2 doughnuts!:)

I had a good time at KK and brought Austin back a yummy doughnut (since, after all, he is soooo good to me all the time!). I left feeling refreshed and when I came back home I felt as though I could get through anything the day thew my way! Today has actually been a great day...I made a big pot of homemade chicken noodle soup thanks to Rachel Marshman's recipe. It...was...delicious!! It's possible that I added a little too much butter...but like my friend once told me..."a little butter never hurt nobody":) Haha

Last night my husband blessed me by telling me he was very glad I had this Maryland trip planned to see my best friend, Jacki Manley. He said he could tell I really needed this...and boy do I ever!....I am in serious need of girl time and basically time with another pastor's wife who is walking through some of the same things I am walking through. So I leave in one week from this Sunday!

Peace out

New blog!

OK...today I, along with my super awesome husband, have figured out how to create a blog on blogspot! I had previously been using wordpress but was getting very frustrated with their layout techniques (nothing is cute on there!). 

So I am starting fresh on blogging on here! Today has been a wonderful day so far! I got up and got to Skype with my parents and took them on a tour of our home, outside. The weather felt great..crisp..cold..yes! Anyway...I have sat here all morning in the kitchen figuring out computer stuff and to the left of me there are a pile of dishes in the sink and behind me in the laundry room there are mounds of dirty clothes/towels..HOWEVER...i did manage to put a load of laundry on earlier...:) In my robe it is almost 12pm and I need to get on the ball but would rather blog instead. 

This Friday...I am really looking forward to meeting another stay-at-home mom who just moved here to SC with her husband from Las Vegas. They planted a church there for 5.5 years and are now back in SC (their "home") to plant a church in the local area. I am STOKED about meeting her! As a plus..she has 2 little girls..perfect for my social butterfly, Annie Ruth!:)

New years goal: to read the Bible through in a year. I have been sticking to this and am praying the Lord opens my heart more this year so He can pour into it and out can pour forth more of His glory!

Have a lovely day! Cheers