Surprise Visit

Did you ever pray for something while completely believing it wouldn't really happen? Yeah, I'm guilty, but wow is it a lovely surprise! After my dear dear friend Noelle gave birth to her beautiful baby girl Hazel, I prayed that God would make a way for me to go visit. A week or so later, I find out that a generous and super kind person wanted to fly me down to see them in South Carolina. I was shocked, which showed my lack of faith, and extremely grateful. It was such a sweet little break to be around my friend during this precious new season of life. 

 Having a little one fall asleep on my shoulder definitely woke up all the little "mommy desires" inside that hadn't been already. I can't believe how quickly I'm going to have a sweet bundle to cuddle.

 I almost forgot that visiting the Peters meant seeing my darling little rat friend, Cranford, again. I loved how he would peak out from under my big belly when I held him in my lap.

 Wool socks, fire blazing, Cranford nibbling sunflower seeds in the background, Hazel snoozing in her bouncer, and Noelle and I watching a TV series about British midwives in the 1950s while sipping tea. It was a lovely time.

 We explored the funky city of Asheville while Hazel snoozed in her moby wrap.

 We took some walks and enjoyed the lingering fall foliage.

It was a delightful visit and I feel oh so blessed and thankful. Now I feel even more ready to welcome my son into the world. I can't wait!

I love my job

Ever since flower season ended, my mentor has 'hired me' to keep up with all her different websites she has for her businesses. It's a fun and challenging job for me since I wouldn't really consider myself tech-savvy. Today I was given a very fun task. Her golden retriever just had some puppies and she wanted to post some adds for them online. So, I wrangled each one of them up, tried to keep track of who was who with their color-coded collars, and took little portraits. It was so much fun, but a very challenging subject to photograph. They wiggle around so much!

A Fond Farewell to October

Is it too late for one more October celebration post? Nah, I don't think so.

Here's just a few more pictures to re-cap some of the fall festivities.

Jake and I had to stop and take pictures of these vibrant trees. That firey orangy red color is amazing!

These are pictures from a hike we took at the Middle Creek wildlife preserve. Growing up I made many memories here with my Dad, so it was neat to bring Jake there and share in the beauty!

Every year my mom and my sisters get together and make homemade applesauce. Now that I'm finally living in the same state as them, I got to go in on it! Colton worked really hard to turn the crank.

Jake and I took a weekend trip to my family's cabin with my parents. Jake had a lot of fun learning how to use the blow gun and we hiked around the beautiful woods in our orange gear. We relaxed, warmed ourselves by the wood stove, and ate tasty food. The perfect cabin trip!

And, we finally had a craft time at our apartment again. It was much needed. Everyone did something different; painting, drawing, crocheting, baking and flower arranging! It was so much fun. And, the great thing about having Jadah around on craft day is that you get to eat whatever she makes! That's definitely a highlight for me. Earlier that day, Jake and I did a delivery to a wedding for my mentor's flower business. When we left we had a bunch of extra flowers and my lovely mentor told me to have fun with them and do whatever I wanted. Arranging flowers is so relaxing and enjoyable to me. I made 5 arrangements and gave 4 of them away. Flowers have a special way of brightening up life, and I love sharing that with others.

Wow, October was such a lovely month. It flew by like always, but I feel like we made the most of it. November is pretty amazing as well, and many of our pumpkins are still holding up nicely and keeping our apartment fall-like. With the big change of becoming a mommy right around the corner, I feel a heightened awareness of soaking in every moment of this season. I think I'll look back on this pregnancy with fondness and I'm really thankful for that.