Outdoor Baby Shower

Saturday night turned out to be a perfect evening for an outdoor shower. God was definitely pouring favor out with how the weather has been up and down (it even rained earlier in the day) and it was a beautiful, peaceful night. I'm so glad we could celebrate a new life that will be born next month! My sister-in-law, Lindsay, is pregnant with her 4th baby. 

I love parties. I especially enjoy throwing them. It's so fun to plan and put together. I know it was her 4th baby and why not celebrate?! A life is a life and why only celebrate for the first baby?! Although we haven't done it for all the pregnancies, this will probably happen each one after, now. It was a private, family shower just to celebrate the life of little Roger Douglas Jacobs.  

The decor turned out better than I envisioned! I used ribbon, lanterns, wooden centerpieces, with mason jars and flowers from trees at my in-laws house. It was a gorgeous setting. I knew the party would be perfect at their home. I'm so glad they let us "kids" use their stuff like it's our own and are always open to things...I have great in-laws.

I am now collecting party decor items and got the lanterns and the amazing centerpieces for free, from friends who no longer had use for them. Apparently I love planning parties so much I need to keep things on hand for any type of party I want to create (book club party night??). Who knows, maybe I'll start planning parties on the side in the future....ha.

Anyways, here was the set-up....bird themed outdoor shower. 

The Menu consisted of...

Appetizer- Garden Veggie Dip (Recipe), Fruit Skewers

Main Course- Burger in a Nest or Chickadee Wrap

Sides- Bird Seed (rice), grilled veggies

Dessert- Dirt Pudding

Drinks- Fresh Lemonade and an Orange Lemonade (Recipe, I just omitted lime)

I wanted the menu to be light, healthy (of course), tasty and reflect birds. That's why I named things that had to do with birds and outdoors. I think it turned out delicious and it's nice to get full (or stuffed) but not feel terrible later. Win, win :)

As a little surprise, I had Lindsay come early and have some maternity photos taken of her (thank you Rebecca and Erik!!!). They turned out beautiful. 

Another fun thing was this bird house diaper cake. I bought the bird house and asked my cousin, Angie, to paint it. Of course she went above and beyond and did a fabulous job! Thanks Ang!

I am also learning that part of planning a party is recognizing the help you need, and I had FABULOUS help. I really couldn't have pulled it off (especially stress-free like I was) without asking people to help you with tasks. So thank you Mama, Papa, Rebecca and Erik, Jenner, and Angie. They helped provide the food, set-up, pictures, bird house, energy, and love needed for this! I love you all and appreciate how great you made this shower. 

And to my sis, Lindsay, I'm so excited for Roger's arrival and I love you. Thank you for letting me throw a little shower to celebrate, you deserved it!

"He will cover you with His feathers and under His wings you will find refuge."

Psalm 91:4

Overtraining

Brittle nails, thinned hair, fatigue, mood swings, forgetfulness/brain fog, menstrual cycle changes, joint pain, tendonitis, block in my weight training, and mild constipation are all things I have been experiencing lately. I know things change as you age....but I'm only 26 years old. Ha. So I'm looking into things on how to get my body functioning more normally again. 

My sweet girls. I love them so much.

It can be frustrating to experience some of these things that seem minor or maybe "normal" to others but when you add them up, it's a little list. So I've been taking a step back to gain perspective and see what things I may or may not be doing to help/hinder these things. I spoke with a doctor and nutritionist, and she first recommended it potentially being my thyroid. Yup, those are all on the list for your thyroid being off. 

God is showing me how to grow through this. Just realizing something may be "off" with my body has raised anxious thoughts, doubts, fears, etc and I just have had to take time to figure out why I go to these things. It's a good road, a road that is leading me closer to the Father's love and helping me stand firm that my identity and trust is in Christ. It's amazing how we are like layers of an onion. You peel back one to find another layer God wants to peel, and so on. 

Sleepover fun with Abby's cousin, Marie.

Anyways, with that, I am also looking at areas of my life that may be contributing to this potential issue (thyroid) or issues as a whole. So here are some steps I am taking...

- Getting my hormones checked. Went and had blood drawn yesterday.

- Not been eating sweets/desserts for this whole month (with 2 exceptions)

- Minimal wheat consumption

- Going to start some new/extra supplements such as magnesium, fish oil, and possibly some different essential oils

I was researching overtraining and there are 2 types. Sympathetic and Parasympathetic. Sympathetic deals with excessive hours in a gym/training. Well, that's not me. I exercise an average of 5 days a week but it's 30-45 minutes. Parasympathetic is intense training plus a more intense lifestyle. So not taking breaks during the day, not sleeping enough at night. Hmmm. Well I have been busier with projects, events, etc and not sleeping as well at night for various reasons. I realized I was literally going from the time I woke up till bed time, plus exercising in between with heavy weights. 

So here's what I am doing activity wise....

- Stopped heavy weight training

- Doing yoga once a week

- spending more time with my girls relaxing during the day

- resting more just in general

- deep breathing exercises

- Protein shakes after workouts (so many benefits)

- Extended stretching after intense workouts

- Spending more time reading and resting with God

I am enjoying this journey of slowing down. God is revealing things to me and speaking in new ways. I grew up with parents who are constantly going. Slow is not in my Dad's vocabulary. It's neat to see things about myself and to listen to what God is saying to me. Please pray with me on this journey. I'm excited to see what God has in store. 

Relaxing date night with my husband :)

"For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah" (Psalm 62:5-8 ESV)

Sugar Fast

So we own a coffee shop (The Living Room Coffee House). I'm there a lot, obviously. 

Yeah, with Rise and Roll doughnuts, cookies, cupcakes and more delicious treats. I've been splurging a little too much on these things....

Plus, we have family events multiple times a month lately, which usually comes with dessert. 

I don't want sweets to control me. So I felt that I needed to fast from them the whole month of May. Cold turkey to get it out of my system. I feel better health wise as well. 

I'm 7 days into this and it's going well. Except for the cookies sitting in my kitchen that are for the coffee shop. But I've refrained. Plus we celebrated my sister, Lindsay's birthday over the weekend and I did not eat cake and ice cream. Woot! 

God is giving me perspective in this journey. I keep asking Him to search my heart and turn my desires to Him, in several areas. It's a process to orient your life around God continually. I'm thankful for His grace and power! 

I'll keep you updated. 7 days in and staying strong plus I'm in heavy weights right now as well. Getting ready for the summer :) 

A Changing Kitchen

Another project done! We were ready for a new set of table and chairs that was more comfortable and would fit us better. You're seeing the first phase. We plan to add something that I am excited about and change something else...you'll just have to wait and see what changes get made! :)

I like pinterest. It is very helpful in giving me pictures and diy tips for the vision I have in my head. It gives me ideas and new things I have never thought of. So it definitely played a role in capturing what I wanted to do in this space. 

We considered buying a new set from a store but after looking at prices, decided to first look at Craigslist. Honestly, I have decorated most of my house by turning old things into new, so why change the theme yet? We bought this solid wood table and chairs for $80.00. That's it. So awesome. But this is how it looked when we purchased it. 

They actually had done the hardest part, sanding! Most everything was sanded down. But I did some extra sanding on everything (I hate sanding). Then painting, more sanding, polyurethane, more sanding, etc. Worth the hard work. 

I read a book called Organized Simplicity (great book) and it talked about having less things in your house, of course, and ways to organize. But she touched on something I hadn't thought about which is a family mission statement. And part of ours is making our home a place for people to come that we can invest in, love on, and share Jesus with. So each thing I transform has in mind people. This table is a catalyst of that because the chairs are more comfy, there's a little bit more space, and our future plans for the space will be able to seat more people. So I'm very excited about the upcoming project!

Before...

After...

There you have it! Stay tuned for more fun changes to this space :)