Before and after pictures, living room

A couple months ago we were blessed with a little cash related to property taxes and being in our house for a year. So we decided to fulfill something we'd been wanting to do and purchase some new living room furniture, namely, something that fit into our space a little better. We had previously been blessed with hand-me-down (free) furniture from friends and family. Although we were more than grateful to have these pieces up until now, we looking forward to getting something that fit with our life a little better. And since we hoped to not get anything else for a long time, especially since baby stuff will probably always trump other uses for cash in the future, we decided to get a new sofa. So here are the before and after pics...

By the time this picture was taken, we had already rearranged our sofa and chair. They were normally in the opposite positions. Either way, it was crowded. And of course, the ottoman was paired with the chair and coffee table with the sofa (unlike their positions featured in this picture).

Our sectional took a while after we purchased it to get to Portland and then delivered to our house. We gave our previous furniture (except the coffee table) to some friends who were able to pick it up right before the sectional was delivered. We were glad to only live a few days without living room furniture. We sure missed it!!

My cousin Alysun said the best way to re-decorate is to go shopping in your own home. I love that idea! We brought a shelf from up in our guestroom downstairs into the living room and swapped the dining room rug with the living room rug and got the look we wanted! The tv stand still needs to be updated and the pictures move around (we'll do that in the next few weeks).

Although it's taken us time to adjust to the new sectional, we LOVE how well it fits in our space and how comfy it is! We even had a couple friends over and comfortably fit 4 of us on there for a movie. We also love how much extra space is now in our living area so that we have more room for the baby and accessories. The only final piece we might add is a rocking chair, but the jury is still out on that one.

Projects, before and after pics, and preg pictures

My parents and Christina were here a couple weeks ago and we made BRILLIANT progress on some updates to our place. Mostly some re-organizing that we wanted to do before the baby comes. Mark and I LOVE the improvements and still have a few small things to do before we can post all our before and after pictures. Here are the projects we got done:

- office addition to kitchen nook (pictures below)

- updating the dining room with furniture pieces that no longer fit in the kitchen nook and new pictures

- setting up the nursery including furniture and some decorations

- re-organizing the garage with shelving and some "man space"

- spray painted some frames and selected pictures for about 15 frames that I hung in the stairwell

- put and organized an armoire in our guestroom with all my craft stuff that used to be stored in the nursery room. Although Barb helped me do this a few days before my parents arrived.

- a bunch of other small things

Enjoy the pics!

Kitchen Nook

Before, view from the hall door way.

View from the kitchen.

View from the entry way.

Tall view from the hall door way.

AFTER view from the entry way.

View from the kitchen. Love the new valance!

View from hall door way.

Side view from hall door way. I LOVE my new office area! Love the cube shelves, the desk, having my filing downstairs, a space for my computer (it fits in the desk drawer with the charger going directly into the drawer) and just having a space to take care of things. It's also fun to have a window right there. I keep the blinds and window open during the day. We also got a charger/holder for our phones so they no longer rest on the kitchen counter. In fact, many of these things used to be on the kitchen counter, including mail that needed to be sorted or filed.

Mom sewing the curtains for the nursery.

Dad and Christina hanging the curtain rod in the kitchen. Sadly, these are the only 2 pictures I took the entire time they were here. We had a great time with them!! It was fun to have more people in our house for a week and although we thought we were ready to have our house back to ourselves, we really missed everyone the first night we were on our own again.

Me before heading out to coordinate a wedding on 9/14. 26 weeks exactly! Thanks to my friend Adri for the fantastic maternity loaner clothes! They've helped me out a ton! In fact, I think I dress better now that I'm pregnant than before and I've been thankful to not run out of cute clothes for weddings and rehearsals this summer. I coordinated a wedding yesterday and have only 1 more to go before I break for the baby.

The belly. Mark thinks it's quite cute and entertaining. Especially the fact that my belly button is quickly losing it's "inny" quality.

The beginning of one dream normally means the end of another

I sat in a meeting at the end of my work day today and realized that with this beloved child I'm excited to welcome into the world in 3 months, (which is absolutely a dream I've had forever!) it means the end of another dream.

Being a mother is probably the only most consistent dream I've ever had. I'm scared to death but thrilled to be entering this phase of my life. But as I sat in this meeting tonight I realized that it means the end of any career dreams I may have had for... a long time (by choice, of course, I realize I could be a mother who also works a full-time job, but I really don't want to).

The reality is that I've almost never had career dreams. I've never known what I wanted to be or had any real aspirations. Which might explain why I never really made it very far ;) The only thing I ever imagined being while growing up, was a wife and mother. When I hit my early twenties and began to realize that dream may not come true very soon, I started thinking of some other options. I clung to Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourselves in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." And nearly fell over when I finally realized that the "desires of my heart" may not mean what I thought they did. So I started re-examining my heart looking for other desires God may have put there (I was otherwise quite focused on my desire for a husband). I found a huge desire to serve, work with students, and plan events. All of these desires had a perfect piece in my life during the past 9 years (although I didn't realize the truth about that verse until probably 5 years ago).

A little over 3 years ago, after I turned 25 and bought myself the Mustang that I claimed was my substitute for a man, I met my husband. A year later we got married and have been married for almost 2 wonderful years! One of my greatest desires (although not filling everything within me, as it shouldn't) was beautifully met in a way better than I had dreamed!

One and a half years ago I got what I had thought was my dream job... coordinating events for a church which combined my love for event planning (still not sure where this came from) and my love for the church. However, 6 months later the job ended with the first of several rounds of budget cuts. I found myself in a part-time position with the same church that I dearly love, doing something that I'm reasonably good at but doesn't satisfy nearly any of my passions or gifts (although I'd like to think you can learn to be passionate about some things you wouldn't have otherwise).

So I sat in a meeting tonight realizing that I don't contribute in many ways to what is happening in the ministry I work with. Although I do my job well and I'm highly valued among my team (I never doubt this fact, they are fantastic people!), my role is 95% tasks. I don't doubt that it serves people, frees others up to focus on volunteers and relationships, but its not "me". I'm thankful that God has given me an opportunity to serve in this role because I accepted it, embraced it, and have not looked back, trusting that this is where God has placed me. I love the people I work with, enjoy my job, and take delights in things as simple as completing a task more efficiently than the week before.

I've wanted to have a baby so badly! After my part-time position started I suggested to my husband that a baby would fit naturally into my now free life and schedule. We took some time to think about it and eventually got started ;) After 8 challenging months, we got our wish. A little girl, who even though I don't know her, wouldn't trade her for all the amazing careers in the world! At the same time, I know that I'm loosing a dream. Which is funny because I never would have thought my desire to "do something" would even remotely hold a candle to having a baby, but I think I learned to love these desires that I didn't understand. The ones God revealed to me when I realized that him giving me the "desires of my heart" may not be a husband and children.

Of course, I don't see myself living as a mother who spends her days tending to her children and home (not that there's anything wrong with that). I'm too social for that. I look forward to probably joining a mom's group and looking for ways to help organize events or something of that nature. Maybe not right away, but eventually, if the opportunity arises.

So back to the meeting. I sat there tonight and realized how for the past year I haven't been living out the dream or really any desire I thought I had. At least not the one that I might have imagined I might be living. Walking back to my office I thought about how having a baby is one of my longest hopes and desires and I'm so thankful that it's finally happening (even though I'm scared out of my mind, appropriately so), I have to acknowledge that I'm a little sad that this means a few dreams and desires may not be realized or at least put to the side for a long time.

I am curious about how God will weave together all I've done and what's ahead into whatever I'll be doing in the future. On some level I love the burn he puts inside me to ooze my creative juices. Wedding coordinating and event planning on the side have definitely helped to satisfy these areas when my career wasn't it. And the "burn" has definitely gotten less intense with the baby on the way. But I know that even that desire won't be squelched for too long before I'm looking for the next thing, constantly working to make sure it's not in place of God. Besides, isn't the burn supposed to help bring us closer to Him? That's probably the one thing I miss about being single, the burn was so intense!

I think I used 'dream' and 'desire' interchangably. As I mentioned, I never really had a dream of anything career wise, but did have other desires in my heart when I started looking around for them.

Home again...

We are home from our 8 days in Alaska. It was a super fun trip!! We got home this morning at 9am. In addition to the odd constant daylight situation, flights also depart at odd hours so we left on a flight at 2:30am this morning with a short layover in Seattle. Barb picked us up and we went to breakfast and then home for a long nap before transitioning into getting some things done. So far I've done a bunch of online price shopping for baby furniture and bedding (apparently I enjoy the "hunt"), have been working on laundry, got all my pictures loaded online, watched a movie while eating a pizza dinner with Mark and now... writing a blog.

Here are some pics from the week:

Breakfast the first morning. We all flew in after midnight the night before, slept in and then enjoyed a yummy breakfast at a local place before heading to the lake.

Mark on the jet ski. We all enjoyed a few spins!

I was the "spotter" on a ride with Sara as she pulled Christina on the tube so I rode backwards. It was fun!! The dog jumped on after we got back. She liked to ride on the jet ski. It was super cute!

BBQ dinner on the 4th up at the lake.

The gang working on the roof on the second day. They worked half a day on Monday and then all day on Tuesday and finished in time for the mandatory quiet time starting at 10pm.

Our roof completion celebratory dinner at Moose's Tooth.

Mark, Mom, Christina and I wandered around Anchorage the day after the roof job. Mom and I did a bit of maternity and baby clothes shopping. Before that we visiting the Captain Cook hotel that Mark remembered from when he was in Anchorage at 5 or 6 years old. This is a painting that was in the basement. Captain Cook was from the town in England that Mark's mom is from.

The day before we left JR, Molly, Mark and me went on a day long cruise from Seward, AK and saw sea otters, seals, a HUGE glacier and the big thing was a humpback whale. It was SOO cool!! And other than throwing up off the back of the boat, it was a great end to the trip! I'm really not sure why the throw up thing happened. I've never done that on a movie vehicle or boat before and didn't even feel that queasy. We are blaming it on being pregnant (even though I haven't thrown up from that either).

The last day we all didn't fly out until around 1-2:30am so we slept in, had a late breakfast, showered, packed, enjoyed a late lunch at Chili's and a small tour around town before going back to Jared and Sara's for a long nap and then just hanging out until we all left. It wasn't very dark until we were leaving for the airport at 1pm. Still so weird!

And that was our Alaskan vacation.

Now back to real life, 4 weddings in 3 weeks, and a huge motivation to get cracking on preparing for the baby. Super excited about that part! She's kicking and moving a bunch and now that we've reached 21 weeks, I feel like I can start making progress on the preparations. Mom and Dad come out the first week of August and I hope to get mom's help organizing around my house a little so I can keep up with things better when I have a little one to care for.

Roofing in Anchorage, Alaska

Well, I'm not roofing. But the rest of the family is currently laboring on the roof of my younger brother's house. It's Dad, JR & Molly, Jared & Sara, Christina and my wonderful husband. They've been up there since a few minutes before the shingles arrived, around 9:30 this morning, and other than a break for a quesadillas lunch that mom and I made from leftovers, they have been hard at work!!

There are a couple good things about roofing in Alaska. For one, the weather doesn't get too hot. It's warmer than normal here but still pretty comfortable, unless you are working on top of a roof in the sun, in which case it's probably a little too warm. The other nice thing is that it conveniently stays light late into the evening. We can't work all night however, because there are mandatory quiet hours. So we wrapped up phase 1 last night right before 10pm.

On the subject of lighting, it's pretty crazy to have it light so late... it actually never gets completely dark. You go to bed at dusk and even in the middle of the night (which I know well since I have to pee once or twice a night), it's bright outside! Crazy! It's nice but really throws off your idea of what time it might be. We got back to my brother's the other night at 9pm and instead of winding down for bed, we made dinner and watched a movie. You don't realize the time until you look at the clock. It's a fun thing to experience though.

Mark and I are trying to figure out how to spend our last few days here in AK. We arrived around 12:15am Friday morning, 15 minutes before JR, Molly and Christina. We came back to Jared and Sara's and slept until we felt like getting up. We had a great breakfast at a local hot spot (which didn't "look" like the type of place you might call a hot spot in Portland) and then got ready to head to Sara'a family's cabin on Nancy Lake where we enjoyed 2 days of boating, jet skiing (which are called "personal water craft"), tubing, etc. You wouldn't think these are things you'd enjoy while in Alaska, but we did! Like I said, the weather was unusually warm so Sunday afternoon before packing up we all enjoyed a nice chilly dip in the water (without wet suits), which was extremely refreshing! And don't worry, I didn't tube or do the more rigorious activities. After all, I want to keep this child in it's currently location a little longer.

On the way home we did what is apparently the traditional stop at Millers for HUGE soft serve ice cream cones. I had quite the time with mine chocolate dipped and melting all over me. But it was worth it.

Yesterday the roofing started. Mom and Dad (who rode the Harley from Billings, MT) arrived at Jared and Sara's just after we finished cleaning up from a late breakfast. I think dad was surprised to see us all still in our pjs ;) We hung out for a short bit before breaking out lunch and then some of the crew started in on tearing off the roof while others of us ran errands. It was slightly comical as dad arrived ready to work (several hours ahead of what he'd communicated) and the rest of us, not having gotten the memo he would be arriving early, were far from ready to begin the roof work. So we had a funny half hour as dad, being very single minded, got started on the roof and the rest of us tried to mentally transition to the new task at hand, early though it may be!

Like I said before, I'm not roofing. Mom and I are designated kitchen crew. I'm (understandably) not allowed on the roof in my pregnant condition. And Mom brought too nice of clothes to work in. Well, not really. She's good in the kitchen and manages to stay busy doing things around the house, even though there isn't much to do around the house. Personally, I can't say that I mind being the inside crew as I'm near the bathroom and I hate heights, even if it's only 1 story and not overly steep. We go check on the roofers regularly and make sure they have water, gatorade, or whatever else they may need.

Like I said, Mark and I are trying to figure out how to spend our last few days as the roofing project is estimated to finish late this afternoon (there is a celebratory dinner scheduled at Moose's Tooth) and then we're free to spend the last 3 days as we please. We all leave between 1 or 2am on Saturday morning with Dad and Christina heading out on the bike Thursday afternoon. Apparently the most popular organized activities are day cruises to see marine wildlife and glaciers, or train trips to nearby towns. Both of which are reasonably spendy. So I'll hopefully blog again in time to tell you what we ended up doing.

Roofing may not the be the type of Alaskan vacation that people dream of but spending 5-7 days with family on a bonding activity like roofing your brothers house, with some play days thrown in, is sort of a Friesen type thing to do. And I like my family, so am enjoying my Alaskan vacation.

Thoughts on being pregnant...so far

I wrote this post a week or 2 ago and am just now putting on the finishing touches and posting. So here you are.

- I've come to discover that the ugly rumor you hope is true when you are pregnant, is NOT true!! Let me clarify, you cannot eat whatever you want when you are pregnant. Unless you are one of those women who can't put on weight. I was SHOCKED the past few times I stupidly stepped on the scale. I'm not even sure how you can put on so much weight in such a short amount of time! And I certainly don't feel like I was eating enough to justify that kind of weight gain! I've now decided NOT to step on the scale between Dr appointments. I already only eat when I'm hungry, eat more fruit and veggies then ever before and otherwise try and be smart. NOTE: after I wrote this blog, I had a Dr appointment in which I weighed in at a more reasonable weight than I had thought. So that was cool. This no longer seems as stressful as it had before. Of course those additional hormones don't help anything.

- I decided this morning that I love my child but have been confused about whether or not I really love it because I don't have a face attached yet. But I'm getting to know it's kicks, it's bounces on my bladder, and would be devestated if anything happened to THIS baby! So I think that's love. I can't picture myself cuddling a slimy 9lb anything I just shot out of "there" but I'm pretty sure that when I get to meet the one that has been growing inside my belly I'll be nothing short of enamored with it. And if not, we have a life time to connect! But I am relieved to realize that I love THIS child! Even though I have no idea who he/she is.

- Wondering why I haven't blogged in forever? I'm so dead tired by the time we finish dinner that I rarely make it more than another hour before I'm asleep on the couch! Mark is gracious enough to clean up most nights and I'll sometimes sleep until he takes me to bed or I'll wake up after an hour and work on a few things, but am otherwise down for the count. This week I have aspirations of cleaning the house BEFORE dinner a couple nights. I think the motivation of cleaning to get food will help me out.

- Part of what is contributing to my lack of blogging and tiredness is my schedule. For the past 6 weeks or so I've been picking up extra hours at work to cover for another admin who left. And the past 2 weeks I was working even more hours to cover for my boss who was gone. Next week things will be back to normal, which will be nice since I'm falling behind in life.

- The anticipation of a new being in our home is motivating me to get a little more organized. I'm hoping I can make some necessary changes with my mom's help when she's here in August. I'm ITCHING to make some adjustments and improvements on our little place. The $$ part always scares me though.

- Yes, we are finding out what we are having and will be able to tell people in a couple weeks. It's VERY excited and strange that there are only 2 options. I have no "feeling" either way but will be excited to attach a gender to the little one. Although I still can't kick the habit of calling it "the kid". For some reason it seems too strange for me to be expecting my very own baby. So calling it "the kid" is nice a middle groun ;)

Lest this post makes it seem like I'm upset or bitter or something about elements of being pregnant, I'm NOT!! From what I'm hearing, I'm actually having a pretty comfortable pregnancy. All the first trimester symptoms of nausea, food aversions, sensitivty to smell, etc are all gone and other than being more tired, peeing all the time, and a growing belly, not much is different. I am EXTREMELY thankful to be perculating this baby. I keep thinking of the months it took us to get here and how much I've dreamed of this phase of my life and am just so thankful for my husband, our little condo, and this little one. This isn't exactly what I had imagined it would be (I think I pictured us with more money), but I wouldn't trade our life for anything!!

My life these days

I think I'll blog more now that I shared the news in our life. Not to let you in on my secret, but if there's something going on I can't freely talk about then I sometimes can't talk at all, at least on my blog. 

So back to the subject of this blog, my life these days...

- Today I coordinated my 3rd wedding in 6 weeks. Today's wedding was really fun with a very sweet couple. I'm discovering that weddings are not always the best time to meet couples, they tend to be stressed and tense. No big hairy stories to share yet except for the Ethiopian wedding I did 3 weddings ago. The sister of the groom arriving that morning and insisting on changing the stage layout, the entire wedding party and bride and groom, showed up an hour late for the ceremony, and a few other random things made that one by far the most interesting! But overall I'm really enjoying it and always have 1 or 2 things after each one that I would have done differently. I was really impressed with the ushers at the wedding today! Actually, everyone was really nice. It's sometimes hard for me to remember that this is their one big day when it's simply one of 10 weddings I have on my calendar. Actually, I have like 8 more scheduled through October then I'll take a break to have the kid.

- Last Friday I worked the Third Day show (see pic above). It was super fun!! Third Day is my all time favorite Christian group EVER, I have every single one of their albums and every song they sang was familiar. My boss, Janet Fraser, volunteered and since I got to be in charge of the VIP line and a few other things I put her on fun jobs where she got to be around the group and have a backstage pass. It was fun!!

- Because of an admin leaving at work recently I've had the opportunity to pick up some extra hours until they hire a replacement. Although I like the extra money, I've really been missing my Tuesday and Thursday mornings at home. But it's worth it. Although this kid is making me pretty tired lately and I used to take short naps on those mornings, which I haven't been able to do. 

- Speaking of Tuesday and Thursdays, I normally workout with Trisha on those mornings. We meet at 6am at either the gym or Nike campus. We are supposed to workout another day a week but haven't made it in the past few weeks. Running has gotten SO much harder!! Not sure if it's the extra pounds I've put on or not going very often but I'm really feeling it!

- I did a Demarle party a couple weeks ago and have another one scheduled next Thursday. I LOVE being able to get myself more product! That's the deal I struck with Mark, I do the parties and he lets me spend my money on more product ;) The last party was so successful I got to invest in a new pan. All the product from the party arrived the other day and I haven't opened it up yet, but I'm looking forward to testing my new pan out out! It's only 1 pan, but I've heard nothing but really great things!!

- Last weekend Mark and I were able to spend Saturday and Sunday in Seattle for Mark's niece's 1st birthday party. Very fun!! Tegan is SO cute and it was fun to see the family. It's also kind of fun to see Michelle's friends as their families are expanding over the years we've been around for the girls' birthday parties. Of course, we also spent Sunday celebrating Mother's Day with the family. We had a yummy brunch at Marie Callendars before heading home. 

- Although we had to cancel our planned annual beach weekend, we have a couple more trips planned this year. I'm going to visit my friend Marla in June for 4 days. In July Mark and I are joining my family for a week in Alaska. My brother Jared lives there so we're excited to see people and get to see more of Alaska. They'll still be in the light-all-night season so that will be interesting! In August we're taking a week vacation to North Carolina to visit Mark's family. And before you think we have loads of money to blow, which couldn't be further from the truth, we are using frequent flyer miles for both trips (my parents are helping with the Alaska one, they are very generous with their kids) and we're visiting family to help keep costs down. We decided to use our miles before they expire and the baby comes and the Alaska trip was a fun add-on we couldn't turn down!

- I'm VERY excited for spring/summer to come and stick. This morning I bought some plants and pots with Barb and look forward to trying to grow a tomato plant in a pot on our back porch. It gets good afternoon/evening sun so I'm hopeful! I really miss being able to do the big gardens like I used to at Barb's house. But they were also a lot of work. 

- I have grown out of my jeans. Not really because I have a growing baby but because I have a growing body. For our photo shoot (see previous post) I wore my newest jeans and only got away with it because my loose sweater concealed my muffin top. Hah! Last week Barb saved me with a few pairs of jeans that she doesn't wear any more. That 1 size sure makes a difference!! I'll be honest that I'm seriously freaked out about getting the weight off at the end, so am trying to be a little careful but also realistic. I'm looking forward to when the baby grows enough I can start wearing maternity clothes and not just clothes to accommodate my expanding thighs and hips.

This was really long and probably not very interesting to some of you, but if you were wondering what's going on in my life, now you know!