today is SUCH an exciting day! for my birthday this year, matt has allowed me to purchase a sewing machine, all the tools needed, and signed me up for a sewing class! i cannot even wait!

updates:

- closing in on four more weeks til baby emery is here. we toured our hospital this morning. it is nothing short of breath-taking...







...did i mention they offer mani/pedi's and a spa service here? as well as a 4 course meal for Matt and I before we leave? hello.

- came home to find that the crib bedding we ordered 3 months ago will not be arriving. back to searching. i am one sad girl.

- yesterday was the baby dedications at church. its my favorite sunday of the month. i cried. matt tapped a drum beat on my shoulder with his thumb the whole time. he really gets into it.

- i am really big. like, REALLY big. sometimes i just don't even know what to do with myself. but i do not enjoy being this large. i do know that. my little heart is full of emotion these days. i'm going to be a mom in a month.

woah.

"It's the greatness of God that inspires us and amazes us when we see it. But its the goodness of God that humbles us. That breaks us and brings us to our knees. The goodness and the greatness of God must go hand in hand. A great God who is not good is merely just a God to be feared. He's the God of legalism. He's the God of rules and religion. That God is not a loving God. That God is out to get you - and many of you have known that God for a long time. But a good God who is not great is really nothing more than hallmark sentimentality and nice little slogans and bumper stickers. That is not a powerful God. We like this warm and fuzzy God, but He doesn't have the power. Our God is actually a God who is good AND great. A God who CAN and a God who CARES. Unlimited power but unconditional love. That is who God is. We should live in and expect God to be both good and great."

-Jarrett Stevens

in less than 48 hours, i will be home. i can hardly contain my excitement. its been one whole year!

my beautiful parents.. and then my sisters.. who will always be prettier than me.

update:

today was a good day for a goodwill trip! i scored on a few sets of cute coffee mugs.. now my mom and dad will have regular sized coffee cups to drink from when they're here. apparently the ones we had were too big! oh!..and i found a vase for one of our white shelves.

matt and i will be flying to indiana in TWO WEEKS to spend five days with my family. it has been an entire year since i've been there with them. i'm so glad for the time away and even more happy that matt will get to come with me! and did i mention the middle sis is graduating from HIGH SCHOOL tomorrow? still haven't come to grips with that.

one of my best friends hopped on a plane yesterday to columbia for a year. though she was a 4 hour trip away normally, and i only saw here a few times a semester, i am going to miss her immensely. still can't believe she actually did it. love you, girl. can't wait to see all of your brown babies.

we are STILL unpacking in our new house. i think i might be about 90% done. starting to see a teeny tiny light at the end of this forever-long tunnel.

in the pregnancy world, i still continue to feel SO good every day. i definitely have the occasional fit when my cute size 6 jeans won't button.. or let the tears flow over something silly on our way into a restaurant to eat dinner (those are matts favorite times).. and i may or may not be eating us out of house and home...BUT i am feeling good :) hah.

and lastly, i've been going through alllllll of our photos, trying to clean out our iphoto because our poor lappy is running out of room. i came across some oldies...but they're so good/funny/happy:

if you know me well at all, you know i could easily spend my entire lives earnings blowing every penny on etsy.com.

and for the past 2 months, the most stressful (believe it or not) thing about this entire pregnancy has been settling on crib bedding for little bebe. i have searched online for hours upon hours feeling nothing but dissatisfied with the choices at hand. until one day, i decided to search "crib bedding" on etsy. and as of about 2 hours ago, i'd like to officially declare that i have found it!

the girl i found on etsy sews custom crib bedding. a 4 pc set including a sheet, bumper, skirt, and baby quilt. the best part? you get to choose every single piece of fabric! so congratulations, you get a sneak peek at the beautiful fabrics i've chosen for our little girl!

my second favorite tiny box ever received - next to my pretty engagement ring. the key to our new home!