lyrics that fill my soul

When I am traveling for work, I more often than not end up crashing at my parent's place. Thanks to the blessing of a very busy wedding season, I have had the opportunity to join my family for church almost regularly this summer. I've loved being able to enjoy a service away from home and meet people and feel a part of another community away from my own. My sister's family and my parents all go to Lifepoint Church in Fredericksburg and I love how similar it is to my home church, Blue Ridge Community. The best part (in my opinion) is that they sing a lot of the same worship songs and I can simply close my eyes and feel at home while singing along.

Yesterday morning at Lifepoint, we were led to sing Chris Tomlin's "Our God." As the song played and we sang along, I started thinking about how deeply rooted the words of the song are in my soul. It occurred to me that no matter what chapter I am in in my life, the words of this song fill me with pure joy. When I am struggling or feeling hopeless, I am reminded "...our God is Greater... our God is Stronger." When I feel on top of the world and life couldn't be better, still, I am reminded "If our God is for us, then who could ever stop us?"

Yesterday morning... I found myself in a place of joy... that place where you feel on top of the world and full of life. I am so very thankful for the abundant blessings the Lord has given me and my family. As this song played and I sang along, I paused for a moment and my prayer immediately became that of... "please let everyone understand this truth."

Water you turned into wine, opened the eyes of the blind there's no one like you none like You! Into the darkness you shine out of the ashes we rise there's no one like you none like You! Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other. Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God! Our God!

Into the darkness you shine out of the ashes we rise there's no one like you none like You! Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other. Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God! Our God! Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other. Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God! Our God!

And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us. And if our God is with us, then what could stand against. And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us. And if our God is with us, then what could stand against. What could stand against.

a list

So what do you do when you haven't blogged in a long time but you still have writer's block? You make a list, of course! Here are some things going on around here:

• I am wrapping up my summer shooting schedule and moving into the fall! I have kept sessions and weddings very limited this fall due to the pregnancy and I am really looking forward to the break ahead.
• I am super excited about my baby showers coming up! (Hopefully I'll get some pictures posted of them.)
• I plan to start kicking into high gear with my business blog posting some of my favorite sessions and weddings from 2011.
• We are spending lots of cuddle time with the puppies because they don't know it yet, but it looks like we may have Red back in the house for another 6 weeks or so. Tommy's got a big race he's training for and he has really missed his running buddy. The race is November 5th (a 50 miler! I am so proud!), so Red will be back home with my mom just in time for the baby to arrive!
• I am seeing a chiropractor for the first time in my life. The experience is.... interesting. But I think it's helping!
• If you follow me on Pinterest you may have caught on to my recent Crossfit obsession. I guess the bigger I get, the more I crave to be smaller. I have spent some time building up inspiration boards for Crossfit and the Paleo diet and I already have on my calendar for January 16th, 2012 to return to Crossfit. And Tommy has already laughed at me for that one. :)
• Oh! I got a new mommy mobile! But, that one deserves a post of its own. I'll share pictures and details with you all soon.
• Tommy left this morning for his two week AT with the National Guard. That means it's time for me to pull out the autumn decor and transform our house from summer to fall. So fun! I'll be doing that in the next two weeks.

Turns out making a list helps me come up with new blog post ideas. Sweet! I'm headed out of town for the weekend to work and attend my baby shower (again, SO excited!) so I'll check in again next week.

Have a great weekend, friends!

the last bit of summer

It's true... fall is right around the corner. I love fall. It's fresh (weather), exciting (football) and full of holidays and events to look forward to (and not to beat a dead horse, but also our BABY!). However... I'm not there yet. Not today.

This week we are stretching out our summer with a week at the beach house. Tommy's 30th birthday was last week and in an attempt to go above and beyond for this milestone year, I planned a surprise beach week and invited all of his friends to join us. So we're here for the week and we have lots of friendly faces dropping in to visit for a few days here and there. As I type this Tommy is out on the ocean in a sailboat with his friend Dave. Success!

I have spent the past few days sitting on the beach reading, doing a little work here and there, and enjoying lots of bubble baths. :)

Oh... and taking pictures, of course. Here are two of my favs (the one on the left was taken from inside of the car):

I'm excited about fall (always am), but I'm soaking up the rays right now... soaking up these last few weeks of life with just me and my man. <3

accountability

I am so tired of the go go go. I am exhausted with my addiction to constantly receive new information.

I am embarrassed by my self-imposed ADD.

I am worn out by my inability to just be.

When I share this with friends and I tell them my plan, they ask me "What will you do during all those hours you spend nursing your baby?" Well, I am not quite sure yet. But I'll tell you what I won't be doing.

I won't be browsing Facebook.

I won't be watching TV shows that feed my addiction to drama.

Hopefully I don't be watching/observing/participating in anything digital.

I hope, instead, to spend that time praying for my precious babe, smelling his/her hair, and maybe... just maybe sitting still and finding contentment in doing just that.

do you need to get off of facebook?

hello, my name is liz and I am a cloth diapering addict

Oh yes... I am a proud cloth diapering mama-to-be! I had read that it was easy to get addicted to the world of cloth diapers... but I honestly didn't think it would happen before the baby was even here!

Well, lo and behold... I already have my newborn cloth diapering stash ready to go. With the exception of some accessories (wipes, diaper rash cream, etc) I am set to begin our cloth diapering adventure. Unfortunately, this also means that I should need to stop buying diapers. So sad. I have had a lot of fun shopping for good deals and unboxing the sweetest little diapers as they come in the mail!

So here is what I've got so far:

THE NEWBORN STASH 8 kissaluvs size 0 fitted diapers 12 swaddlebees organic cotton fitted diapers 6 organic caboose fitted diapers 12 GMD newborn prefolds 6 nappies newborn covers 2 kissa's wool lover diaper cover (soon to come)

AFTER NEWBORN STASH 12 kissaluvs size 1 fitted diapers 6 pooters bamboo one-size fitted diapers

I am leaving plenty of room to grow the after-newborn-stash until after the baby is here and I can buy some fun gender appropriate diapers. It's hard to know at this time what diapers will be my favorites (depending on how they fit the baby), but I can tell you right now that my favorites so far are the Swaddlebees. They are fluffy, and soft, and look super absorbent! And clearly I have a place in my heart for the fitted diapers... I just love that they look like disposables but we can reuse them and not toss our money in the trash day after day. Makes me feel good. :)

So there's a quick peek into our not-so-mainstream plans of parenting. (Although cloth diapering is gaining in popularity by leaps and bounds!) I plan on writing a little more in depth about cloth diapering once we get a routine going and I have actually started the experience. So stay tuned!