boat song

love.

If you were a boat, my darling

A boat, my darling

I'd be the wind at your back

If you were afraid, my darling

Afraid, my darling

I'd be the courage you lack

If you were a bird, then I'd be a tree

And you would come home, my darling, to me

If you were asleep, then I'd be a dream

Wherever you are, that's where my heart will be

Oh, do you know we belong together?

Oh, do you know my heart is yours?

If you were the ocean, I'd be the sand

If you were a song, I'd be the band

If you were the stars, then I'd be the moon

A light in the dark, my darling, for you

Oh, do you know we belong together?

Oh, do you know my heart is yours?

Oh, do you know we belong together?

Oh, do you know my heart is yours?

Oh, do you know we belong together?

Oh, do you know my heart is yours?

- JJ Heller

what a year can bring

I am stealing this idea from my friend Gaby and giving her credit because I told her I would! :)

2011 in Review
January marked the one year anniversary of starting the adoption process. We were discouraged, and yet had so much hope for that route. God had different things in my mind, we just didn't know it yet.

February is the month that took me to Honduras, Eric to Costa Rica, and renewed my passion for mission work. I wrote about it a lot. It's also the month we conceived for the first time in our 4.5 year marriage.

March is the month I came home from Honduras. It's the month that we learned of our conception and felt God's presence in our lives in a new and different way. God also taught me a lot about anxiety this month.

April was a slow month in blog land for me, but not in my personal life. I did post a little about infertility.

May was a big month. I turned 26 and was incredibly depressed. I had to say goodbye to my first child. God taught me a very important lesson on the body of Christ.

June was the month my sweet husband turned 28. God blessed me immensely and unexpectedly with another mission trip to Costa Rica, a balm to my broken and confused heart.

July brought our FIVE year anniversary! It also brought our decision to stop pursuing foster-to-adopt.

August was the month that God taught me a lot about identity. We conceived our second child, unbeknownst to us. I also got this spiffy new blog ;)

In September I guest posted on Held, and we learned of the sweet baby growing inside me. 

In October I had a lot of blog problems and switched back to blogger! Love blogger. We also announced our pregnancy to you and the world ;) I also had to say good-bye to my grandmother.

November came with highs and lows. I told you the name we chose for our first baby on her estimated due date. I also entered into my second trimester with the baby girl I now carry.

December brought the excitement and anticipation of finding out the sex of our sweet baby. We celebrated the best birthday in the world, JESUS'!

What did 2011 have for you? I have to say, this year was a roller coaster of emotions that surpasses the others by a landslide. But we have SEEN God work, we have tasted his goodness and experienced pieces of His magnificent plan. We wouldn't trade 2011 - heartaches and joys - for anything.

it's a...

There were a total of 53 votes on my little poll for boy or girl! 30 of you said girl, while the other 23 believed a baby boy was in our future! Believe me when I say there were some STRONG opinions on both sides :) You all made this a lot of fun for us! But more importantly, we so appreciate the prayers on behalf of our little one.

We are beyond blessed to announce that...

Majority wins! Now for names, nursery, and all that jazz!!!

sometimes it's ok to pick sides

Well friends there is some intense debate among family/friends/blog friends as to whether Baby Evans is sugar and spice or snips and snails. So I am setting up a poll (see right side of blog) for you all to cast your vote!

To help you along, here is how I compare to some old wives tales about gender:

I crave sour/salty.
My hair is full and thick.
I had morning sickness (but it was at night and now it's gone)
Chinese gender predictor said boy.
I would say my "bump" is more low than high.
The heart rate is consistently in the 155-165 range.

My intuition says boy but Eric says girl! Honestly, we really don't care either way. Healthy is way more important. My doctor did agree to do the gender scan on December 20th, I'll be almost 19 weeks then. We will get the technician to put the results in a card for us to open on Christmas morning! (Or evening, I am notoriously impatient!)

Mostly I am just excited to see our sweet little one via ultrasound for the second time. It will be almost 11 weeks since we saw him/her the first time. I, for one, am very glad God has blessed us with the knowledge of this technology.

I'll let you guys all know the results shortly after Christmas!!! Now go vote ;)

blogging boosts egos

I love awards. There, I said it. I didn't get any superlatives in high school so winning just feels good ;)

The Liebster Award spotlights up and coming bloggers who generally have less than 200 followers. Upon receipt of the Liebster Award, there are a few very simple rules:
1. Copy and paste the award on your blog
2. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you
3. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
4. Hope that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.

A big thank you to one of my favorite bloggers (who just happens to have one of the most adorable children on the planet) Grace @ Chois-R-Us!

Now for my picks!
1. Taylor @ On My Front Porch Looking In
2. Jenn @ Life's Little Details
3. Eric @ Everything Matters Today (is it cheating to give one to my husband? I don't care, he rocks!)
4. Jess @ When the Music Fades
5. Deb @ Chosen Ones
 
Spread the award love people!

if you've ever owned a dachshund

We have a miniature dachshund. Her name is Maggie. We have had her since we got back from our honeymoon, over 5 years ago. To say she is stubborn is an understatement. She is a self-proclaimed princess. She is insane. She has eaten 4 times the amount of chocolate that should have killed her (don't ask) and a half dozen Krispy Kreme donuts, yet here she lies breathing next to me. I may or may not refer to her as "the little bad one" on a daily basis. I am fairly convinced she has no soul because she knows when she does bad things and she just.doesn't.care. But I do love this crazy dog.

Anyway, if you have ever owned a dachshund...these are for you:

Do you have any funny dachshund-related gear?

sunday smorgasbord

1. I haven't blogged in a while, I'm sorry!
2. I am 11 weeks and 2 days today :)
3. I am not ready for Christmas. I haven't even thought about buying presents. Ugh.
4. I am ready for Thanksgiving. No presents, just good food and family and friends!
5. I have eager friends who would like to discuss baby names. My mind won't go there until I know a gender.
6. I am team blue all the way. Eric is not. Neither are most of my friends, haha!
7. I learned Saturday that I am a face painting BEAST.
8. I have so much laundry to do it's comical. As in, I laugh when I think about it.
9. My grandmother passed away the day after our ultrasound. I am still pretty devastated. More on that soon.
10. Sometimes you just need a good random brain dump post to kickstart your blogging again! (hint hint to some of my scarce bloggy friends!)
11. I AM SO IN LOVE WITH JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh how pinteresting

It's my new addiction.

Pinterest.

Hours of enjoyment totally useful fun! Join, pin, follow, love.

things we all do

I just found this site

Things We All Do

...and wasted a LOT of time. It's way fun. Please find #232 and #143. Yup that's me. And because it's fun to call out your spouse, Eric is #183.

doppleganger of yore

So remember my doppleganger post? Guess what! I have another one, except she is from my past. Well, not technically. She is in the present but my doppleganger is from the past!

She's flippin cute too, if I do say so myself. Meet mini-me:




Oh and here I am about 3 years old (insert awwwwwwww here):

Similar, no? I showed my mom and she confirmed it. She also said that the eeriest part is how serious she is...I might have been a little serious as a child.Where did that go?

ch ch ch changes

So my mom might have a been a little bit of a David Bowie nut...anyway.

The title doesn't lie. There are BIG changes coming to this little blog (some of you may have realized I upgraded to a .com already, but that's nothing in the grand scheme of things). I will ask you all to pray, however, that I let God decide/guide the direction of this blog. After all, it's sole existence should be to glorify him.

Here's the fun part for you! You may be part of the supercooltotallyexclusive design selection committee. I know. WAY exciting! You're welcome.

Stay tuned, same bat time, same bat channel (for now!)

ineedthesemorethanair

I might be a little dramatic, but seriously, if someone in blogland wants to donate to the heatherneedstoms fund...

They are calculus Toms!
Toms.
In red.
With calculus.
One for one.
Be still my beating math teacher heart.

doppleganger

So I have never been told I look like any celebrity out there, ever.

Until the other day when Rachel left this:

So I did some googling and I think this is who she means:

Anjelah Johnson

To which I have to say...THANK YOU she is beautiful, but I'm not so sure of the resemblance ;) What do you think?

My husband is the real star of this post, however. He gets "you look like ________" all the time. His top two right now:

 

David Spade

Eric Foreman

But the other day a friend (who has never met my husband, I met him on my Honduras trip) asked if Eric had ever been in movies, because he look just like this guy:

Jack McBrayer

I think he is way better looking than any celebrity ;)

hot stuff!!!

this cute couple i know...

So my only regret about my wedding day is the fact that their are like 3 pictures of me and my husband together alone.

Yeah.

So my wonderfully talented friend Casey of Blissful Photography (who has been there for us from the beginning) is a budding photographer, and she took some amazingly beautiful shots of us the other day. Hey, it only took almost 5 years to get some pro photos!

Teaser:

Check some more of them out here!

(and hire her if you are in the SC area!!!)

happy birthday, my love

it's my party

Well, it's my birthday. I thought I'd let you all celebrate with me with this video. My dad sings this to me every.single.year. since I was born. You're welcome.

stumble upon

"Holy addiction Batman!"

I am warning you, if you click the link below it is completely and totally not my fault if you spend 4 or 5 straight hours there. I think this website might seriously be able to read my mind!

It takes you all of about 5 minutes to fill out a little worksheet claiming what your interests are.

I checked off about 15 things on the list including items like music, Christianity, food, and dogs. In a matter of minutes Stumble Upon had found me the most delicious dessert recipe I have ever seen, a recipe for homemade chapstick (hello!!!) and this cheeky adorable video.

Stumble Upon, you had me at hello. (and chocolate...)

Go.
Enjoy.
And don't blame me when your husband walks in the door and asks "what's for dinner?" while you are sitting in your pj's.

StumbleUpon.com

ode to the cadbury creme egg

Hands down the best Easter candy of.all.time.

My addiction to these delicious little only-out-once-a-year treats started way back in my childhood (thanks Mom) and rivals that of my cherry chapstick addiction and my over-abundance of dashes when writing.

Things I have learned about the egg:
I love them.
I buy them as soon as they are in stores (usually a month before Easter) and I eat one a day until Easter.
One is enough, they are very sweet! Ok, sometimes two.
People have strong opinions one way or another on the egg. They either love them or hate them. Not much in-between!
They were first manufactured in 1923!
The proper way to eat one is to break it in half, lick the goo out, then eat the chocolate. It's all about etiquette people. 
They are delicious.

So what's your favorite Easter candy? And no dissin' the egg.

this is the stuff

45 in a 35
Sirens and fines 
while I'm running behind...

This may or may not describe a typical day in my life. Just sayin' ;)

on stranger tides

Have I ever mentioned that I am a HUGEMONGOUS Pirates of the Caribbean fan? I have a serious addiction. They are some of the very few movies I can watch overandoverandover again! And numero cuatro is coming out MAY 20TH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah. Color me e.c.s.t.a.t.i.c.

You're welcome.