Stretchhhhh

This is a normal mid-nap stretch performed by our very own Mr. Finn.

Rub eyes...

Stretch...

And back asleep...

Martha Stewart's Friend's Sister's Cousin's Niece

That's what I called myself for a day a couple weeks ago.

I've really enjoyed looking at Do-It-Yourself blogs recently. They inspire me to want to be like Martha Stewart around the house, although I shouldn't even put our names in same sentence. But I did have a little spare time around the New Year, so I ventured out and tried my first DIY project: our guest room's headboard.

Sidenote (everyone should expect these by now, hopefully): Brace yourself. This is pretty wild. This headboard was our next door neighbor's (Rhett) childhood headboard in Greenville. Yes, the headboard he had as a child eventually ended up next door to him in our house. 
This is the adventure of the headboard and how it ended up in our home...
My husband, Jeremy (who did not know Rhett before we moved in next door), got it from his parents' house.
His parents got it from Jeremy's friend, Seth, who lived with his parents during his college clinicals.
Seth got it from his friend, Matt, during college.
Matt got it from Rhett, his college roommate.
Is that not crazy?! What the heck are the odds that you would end up with your neighbor's childhood bed???

Oh yeah, I also went to high school with Rhett and I went to elementary, middle (even carpooled throughout middle school) and high school with his wife, Jodi. Now we live 20 feet from each other in Charleston. Pretty cool, huh?

OK, back on track.

We had people pretty steadily living with us for the first couple years of our marriage, so we didn't really have a chance to set up a proper guest room. Now that we don't foresee anyone living with us in the near future, I wanted to finally set it up. However, we're on a tighter budget, so we couldn't buy new furniture or paint anytime soon. (That was my excuse for not painting, at least.) So...enter my attempt at a DIY revamp with what we had.

Here is the headboard in its original Rhett's-childhood-glory:

After a few hours of sanding and painting with leftover paint from Finn's room, this is how it turned out:

And here it is in the guestroom. I also recovered the lamp shade with $1 fabric from Walmart:

So, there she is, my first DIY'er. We'll see what's going to be next.

A Most Favorite

One of my very favorite artists is Brooke Fraser. She's the singer/songwriter behind many of Hillsong's songs we often sing, such as:
Hosanna
Lead Me to the Cross
Desert Song
None But Jesus
You'll Come
I Will Exalt You
At the Cross

She also does her own thing independently of Hillsong and came out with an amazing album this fall named Flags. Since Christians have the Creator of the universe living inside us, don't you think we should also have the most inspired & creative music? This album has both.

The title track from the album has been on constant repeat for me over these last few months. Flags breaks your heart but also encourages with hope. It's a continuation of a song on her previous album called Albertine, which was written after a trip to Rwanda. In Albertine she has a statement that resonates for anyone who has witnessed injustice:

Now that I have seen, I am responsible. Faith without deeds is dead.

So in writing Flags as a follow-up song she says: Why are things the way they are? Why do bad things happen to good people and undeserving people? Flags is my answer to that and my answer is I don't know.

I don't know why a good man will fall while the wicked one stands.
I don't know why the innocents fall while the monsters still stand.
I don't know why the little ones thirst.

But then she concludes the song with what gives us peace and perseverance and assurance that one day things will be set back to good in the midst of having no idea why certain evils happen. This is what we cling to.

You who mourn will be comforted
You who hunger will hunger no more
All the last shall be first
Of this I am sure.

I love the honesty, humility, truth and passion in this song.

Flags - Brooke Fraser


Ok, so now if you're in somber mood and want to be in a happy one, here is another one of my most favorite songs; possibly my very favorite. It's a song about loving someone, but it's not "lovesongy." It's so catchy. I promise you'll be in a good mood after this. If you have kids, you'll want to put this on and dance around the kitchen with them.

Something in the Water - Brooke Fraser


Last but not least, if you want to help those who can't get a basic life-sustaining need filled, such as clean water, please consider donating to the following cause. Through what God has provided us, we can put action to our faith and be a blessing & answer to an immediate demand of those much less fortunate in this life.
Brooke's 27th Birthday - Charity Water

Trusting

Lord,
  What You will.
    How You will.
      When You will.
| John Newton |

Big Weekend!

A couple milestones happened last weekend for Finn.
He began eating solid food.
He rolled over.

This is how the food happened:
Finn: Mom, I'm so bored with this bottle-only stuff. May I have something else, please?
(See, he already has great manners)

Me: Sure! How does rice cereal sound? If you like that, I'll give you some of our sweet potatoes later.
Finn: Yay!

Round 1: Rice Cereal.

Round 2: Sweet Potatoes

Me: So, how did you like the potatoes?
Finn: Not good, mom. Not good.

Finn: Just kidding!

This is how he rolled over:
Please keep in mind a few things: I was not actually there, he had the same clothes on during the roll, he was in his crib and was fussy. Other that, this is exactly how it was.

What will be next?

Laughter is The Best Medicine

This is good for my soul.

I put Finn on our bed while I ran his bath water. I came in while he was playing with his hands and grabbed the camera.

Apparently playing with his hands must have made him giddy.

Can't you just hear the laughter? If not, you can listen to this!

Proud Moment, Part 2

Here is another very proud moment of Finn from Jeremy. Once again, it is because he was rockin' a t-shirt of one of his favorite bands.

And while we're on the subject of my two favorite guys, here they are at Finn's four-month doctor's visit (More shots. Sniffle, sniffle). We still have a big boy on our hands. He weighed in at 18lbs. 4 oz and 27.5". This puts him in the 95% for weight and off the charts for height. Good thing those human growth steroids have been working. We are banking on him to be our retirement plan when he's a pro football player. I'm kidding, I'm kidding!

Watch Out!

It looks like Finn has his first crush on an older girl! He was smiling, laughing and reaching out to one of our favorite little girls, Reagan, at church this Sunday.

Reagan may be his babysitter one day and we'll have lots of funny, embarrassing stories to tell if he keeps acting this way.