"I Made That!" Monday: The Softest Baby Bed on Earth

Potato Soup in Bread Bowls and a creamy Pudding dessert specifically requested by Mommy... and it was delicious!

Each guest decorated a onesie for the baby.

My newest little Love will be making it's debut in a month or so, and it was time to celebrate! My brother and his wife were not planning on finding out the gender of the baby until the birth, but she ended up needing to have a sonogram so the secret was tucked away in an envelope for them to open if they felt the need to do so. And there are a few of us who were a bit excited about this, and even more once it was revealed at the shower that IT's a SHE! I'd have been just as excited for a little boy baby as well, but now I know just exactly the kinds of things to be stocking up on for Baby.

For one of the shower gifts, several of us chipped in for a little basket and bedding. I had planned on making a quilt, but then I found the SOFTEST fabric on Earth and decided to go another route. My sister had told me they were decorating with a blue and brown palette, so when the softest fabric on Earth was also the perfect color it was purchased and was a complete win-win situation.

I'm very excited for this little lady to get here and to see what she adds to the mix as she will be the FOURTH female added to my brother's world... hahahaha oh, I love it so much. And him. 

{He is an INCREDIBLE dad... it makes me tear up just writing that because he seriously is just such a great dad.} She will definitely be loved so much.

The 2012 HANDMADE SWAP

Lately...

It's been an interesting few weeks here lately...

For the last several months I haven't really felt like myself. I wasn't handling things the way I would normally handle things and just felt like a completely different person. So, I finally went to the Doctor. Blood tests came back fine, nothing too out of the ordinary except... oh yeah, he felt a mass on the right side of my abdomen and scheduled a sonogram to figure out what it was. The sonogram was almost a week later, and then the results weren't given to me until many days later than that. It was agony. However, the results came back fine with the sonogram as well. So, we figured out what it wasn't... but still no word on what it IS. I'm scheduled to see a specialist this next month to figure some things out, and hopefully we will. In that time though, it's as if a little reset button was pushed in my head and I all of a sudden was just back. It's very strange and so very interesting how our bodies work.

Through it all though, we were still working and creating and enjoying the beautiful Kansas days (which at times were slightly too warm for my taste in October)...

The girls are loving their school work and their minds are amazing to me. It's incredible how much they soak in... I am loving it as well.

My friend, Erin, made an Asian Coleslaw for Book Club and it was unbelievable. I loved it and gave it my own little twist (and by twist, I mean I put it in a egg roll wrap and flash-fried it to a golden, crispy beauty!) and I crave it daily. Perhaps a recipe will be shared soon.

That sandwich is just pretty. Those tomatoes are from my Grandma's garden and were the juiciest, most perfect things I've ever tasted.

My beautiful camera bag that my sister made me was also one of the things stolen in The Great Thievery and the one that I would like to replace it with is still over $300. So, needless to say that is still not an option when I can easily make something just as practical... but even more beautiful. That's an old purse that I had in my in-house Thrift Shop, aka the basement, which was given new life with some foam and Chevron stripes.

DIY Mercury Glass... coming soon... possibly.

So much to catch up posting about: a Baby Shower where it was revealed that I am having another NEICE!!!, a beautiful family photo session, a HANDMADE SWAP, and more to come this next weekend!

Heart Of My Own Heart, Whatever Befall...

I've mentioned my love for the music of The Lower Lights before; their version of Be Thou My Vision has been on the forefront of my mind lately.






Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou My Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought; by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul's Shelter; Thou my High Tower;
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise;
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always;
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven's joys, O bright Heaven's Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.


It is a beautiful Autumn day here and we are soaking in the wonderfulness of it.
Have a lovely week.

My Most Favorite Part

First a short announcement: I have a camera, and a Mac (and I specify this as I have been working on a PC for the last few weeks which I am SO thankful to have had, but HALLELUJAH I HAVE A MAC AGAIN!)! I am complete (more on this in the future as well).

I'm ending this little series on Love with my most favorite verses of the chapter.

"it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things;
believes all things;
hopes all things;
endures all things."

And I'll just throw the next one in for good measure... "Love never fails...".

The first verse in this section is a reminder to me that I don't have to love, like, or even tolerate wrongdoing, but I can rejoice in truth, that's actually what Love calls me to do. I don't have to believe the lies that someone else believes that enables them to behave or act in a way that is wrong, evil, or even wicked.

What I can do is practice patience.
I can be kind.
I can plead with everything in me that I would be covered in humility and that it would spill out of me allowing me to empathize with the ill soul in my path.
I can rejoice in the truth that Love bears all things; believes all things; hopes all things; endures all things... and I, Nicole, don't have to. I can, and NEED, to practice each of those things, but I am not Love. Love can only work through me. And Love never fails.

Whew!

These haven't just been posts for me, just something to write about. It rarely ever is. I've been walking through these words. I've been testing them and feeling them. And it's been hard, and wonderful. This post has certainly been one that has shaken the depths of my own soul. My Mother-in-law used to say, "Ooh, I wish I could just shake her/him!" and it always made me kind of giggle... but I get it. Sometimes you need a good shake.