Whoa!

Two posts in one day...you can definitely tell it's a snow day! Ha!

* Please note the use of exclamation points in the rest of this post.

A few posts ago I said that I had some exciting news that was not my own to share. Well the secret is out!

My best friend Audra is pregnant! Her baby is a blueberry...she is due in September!

We laughed at her wedding that we wanted to be pregnant together! Well I suppose this is closest we could ever come!

Let me preface this by saying, I believe that God knew I needed a little cushion for her news.

The day I got the call for our baby, I of course immediately called Audra to tell her. I could not wait to ask what she thought and get her opinion. I of course am bawling because my news is the best news I had received in long long time. Then she tells me she is pregnant and I just lose it. I fully believe God knew what I needed long before I did!

I am so happy for her! I can not wait to meet that little peanut! I love you Audra, you will make an amazing mother!

*told you I was a little out of control with the exclamation points!

See...it's a sickness...

Practice

Thanks everyone for the wonderful well wishes. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

Artie and I are truly blessed beyond belief. The road has been hard....but it could have been harder. There were days when the sadness was so bad that I did not know how I could make it through the day. There were days when I questioned God and his plan, it is human nature. Thankfully I have Artie who would give me the encouragement I needed to pick myself up. He has always been the little voice in my ear reminding me to trust God. I am here to tell you that is hard for a control freak. So anyway....

Thursday night Artie and I babysat our pastor's boys! Twin 6 year olds=FUN!!! We had a blast and were sad when we had to put them to bed. Artie took this pic of us with his phone...we had them so wound up (Sorry Jody) that we feared they would not go to sleep.

We decided it was great practice for later on down the road.

Well it has snowed again! Artie and I have planned to just stay in all weekend. Artie went to the store and we are all stocked up on yummy snacks and food. I have several craft projects planned. I also have about 5 loads of laundry to do...just keepin it real folks. Anytime it snows I always want to tackle craft projects. What do you all like to do when snowed in?

I am SUPER excited that tonight is the Miss American Pageant on TLC. Ahhhh! I love it. I am a traditional southern girl and like sparkles, big hair, big bows, monograms and pageants. So I can not wait to know the results.

I everyone has a wonderful weekend. I am sure I will post about the Miss America Pageant tonight or tomorrow...Go Miss Tennessee!

A medium Shrimp

I have probably started this post a hundred times in the past 2 days.

This verse says it better than I EVER could:

I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.

1 Samuel 1:27

Artie and I are proud to announce that we will become parents later this year!! We will be adopting a baby around the 1st of August and we are thrilled!

This could have only been designed by God. Artie and I can not understand how UNBELIEVABLY blessed we are. The past two days we have just been looking at each other in disbelief. I have been walking around in a big pink fluffy cloud. A fluffy cloud filled with kittens and puppies. And cotton candy and snickers bars. The best two days of my life. YOU HAVE NO IDEA!

I can not wait to share the journey with you. August seems so far away.

I have some others news that I am equally excited about but I can not say what it is yet...as it is not my good news to share!!!

Right now the baby is almost 13 weeks along and the heart beat is at 160 bpm. The doc says everything looks great! So I looked up all the info for a 13 week old baby and learned that our sweet pea is the size of a medium shrimp. Ha! It also has fingerprints now. Amazing.

Photo borrowed from www.babycenter.com

I am sure it is the cutest medium sized shrimp there is!

Artie and I decided to take a stroll through Babies R Us tonight. Oh my. Overwhelming is probably an understatement. I am so glad we have lots of support and lots of advice givers.

We will be announcing it at church this Sunday and I can not wait. I know we have had lots of prayer since the beginning of this journey. Our church family will be pleased as punch...we will be getting a new Sunday School student soon! Hehe.

Have a great week everyone!!

The big news...

...is coming!

I promise.

But I will give you a hint....

1 Samuel 1:27

Ornaments

I have been meaning to post a pic of these cuties! (sorry for the pic quality) These are the ornaments I made for Valentine's Day! I want to make a few more but just have not had the time. I think they turned out precious and I can not wait to make them for EVERY HOLIDAY!! Watch out Memorial Day!

I have been a busy girl cutting music for majorette tryouts. There are 9 girls trying out and I have about 5 of the songs done....pray I can finish the rest before my eyeballs cross. My poor husband has to listen to me play the same part of the songs over and over. Ha!

Suzan and I have been working at the store this past week. We have been getting ready to reopen in February, re-decorating trees, and anxiously awaiting all the new pretties to come in!

Ahhhh! It makes me so happy on the inside! I can not wait to show you photos!

Please be in prayer for some really exciting things that are happening. I will be able to reveal more at a later date..but now you shall remain in suspense! Muuhahahahahah! Ahem

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Children's Sermon

Today our pastor was talking about when Jesus changed water into wine at the wedding. Well he gathered all the children in the front of the church to tell them the story. Pastor Rick was in the middle when one of the little boys spoke up "Jesus should have turned the water into Sunny D!" The whole church cracked up. I just about peed on myself.

Today was a long day.

The track ball on the crackberry broke (like a month ago). Since I live in the boonies, it takes an act of congress to get to the Verizon store. (except not really..I pass one on the way to church) Well Verizon sent me a new phone and I finally took it by to have it switched over. Do you know how hard it is to use a blackberry with no track ball? INSANELY DIFFICULT! Why I did it for so long I will never know. Anyway....Artie and I waited in the Verizon store for over an hour today. It made the day seem really long, just standing and standing and standing. Ugh. But it is fixed and my phone is working great!

Afterwards Artie and I went to the grocery store and were very distracted. I think we were both tired. At one point we found ourselves just standing their talking to each other...not moving...not shopping. Just. Standing. Artie looked at me and I laughed because we were just so out of it.

Does anyone else notice how between Halloween and Easter it is like CANDY CENTRAL at the grocery store? I mean seriously.

Ok. I think that is it for the random post.

A little more Christmas

Just kidding. I really did finish putting away all of my Christmas things today. Every last one of them...I hate to see them go. I also like how nice and tidy things look when it is all gone.

Anyway.

I have yet to share with you one of my favorite gifts this year. I have really been looking at this Dayspring.com nativity candle holder.

I love it. It is actually on sale now so I might just go ahead and buy it! Ha! I love the idea and think that is something you can leave out year round. Well this year my Pastor, his wife Jody and their twins Noah and Drew bought me this (I am their Sunday School teacher)

Isn't it beautiful? And it is hand made!! So it now has a permanent place in my living room. Love it!

As a little present to ourselves for finishing all the paperwork I ordered us this:

It came today and I was thrilled. I can not wait to gift it to our son or daughter one day. It is the most beautiful book ever. It is written just like a storybook. Listen to what the very first page says:

"Go wrote, "I love you"- he wrote it in the sky, and on the earth, and under the sea. He wrote his message everywhere! Because God created everything in his world to reflect him like a mirror - to show us what he is like, to help us know him, to make our hearts sing.

The way a kitten chases her tail. The way red poppies grow wild.

The way a dolphin swims.

And God put it into words, too, and wrote it in a book called the Bible"

Ahhh! I love it. I find myself getting lost in the story.

I finished my little Valentine's Day craft today. I will post some pictures tomorrow. It turned out better than I thought they would. Artie even said they were "cute". Ha! I hope everyone had a great Saturday!

Happy Birthday Callie

Happy Birthday Callie Santel!

My good friend Rebecca gave birth today to a 7lb 15oz little bundle of joy! She is too cute for words. Sweet and snuggley. I could have just eaten her up....except that eating babies is bad.

Cute wreath her sis in law made

Look at all that hair!!

Those chubby little cheeks!

Loving the big bow!

Some really amazing things are happening. Please be in prayer for all who are involved.

Stay tuned...

"Places where grace is soon to be so amazing

They may be unfulfilled, they may be unrestored

But when anything that’s shattered is laid before the Lord

Just watch and see it will not be

Unredeemed"

Selah

Unredeemed

It's time

Look what is still gracing the Allen household.

It's bad...I know. I just get so busy right after Christmas and I can not find the time to take it down. I will be taking it down tomorrow....I promise. Maybe.

Good news!

Our paperwork has been finalized!! Completed! Donezo!! (did I really just say that?)

Which means that now we wait. (As the Final Jeopardy theme plays)

It is a HUGE GINORMOUS weight off our shoulders. Kind of...

I have started a new craft project! My husband is somewhere rolling his eyes. When I do a craft project it tends to take over our house. This is why I have a craft room...to keep the mess to a minimum. Well this is a MORE messy craft and it needs to be done in the kitchen. So I have little piles of things all over the kitchen.

And this is hanging over our kitchen sink....

Once I get the final product finished I will post pictures of it! It is a little something I am working up for Valentine's Day. But I guess I need to take down the Christmas tree before I put up another holiday's decor.

So any who.

I can not wait until Thursday...Baby Callie is coming!!!

The big Market post!!

I feel like I have been gone for months. I have spent all morning catching up on the happenings of the blog world. Our hotel (which was lovely) did not have free wifi (NOT LOVELY!). It was terrible....I wanted to update daily while we were there. Not so much. So now you get one BIG post!

First I was sick the entire time we were at market this year. It was not fun. Mainly because you just have to suck it up and get over it. There is no time to be sick.

I think we picked a lot of really wonderful things this year. We picked up a few new brands and I can not wait to start getting things in. Unfortunately the new things will not be here until the summer. Sad.

We also got to meet a lot of the designers from some of our favorite brands.

Here are some photos...

This is Steven from Glitterville

(He lives in Knoxville!)

Suzan and I with Mark Roberts

Here Suzan and I are with the 2 designers of Christopher Radko.

We are also with our rep from the company and the lady who does EVERYTHING! Ha!

I have a really funny story about these people but you kind of had to be there for it to be funny.

We ate some really delicious food. Next door to our hotel there was a restaurant that had HUGE pieces of cake. They were delicious!

Suzan and I ate all of this!

My favorite new company that we are working with this year is Cody Foster. I just can not tell you how precious the things are. Seriously. They are all vintage and cute. There is actually a little vintage looking house that has a PINK POODLE in front! I totally ordered one for myself! Love it.

Hmm...Oh I almost forgot. Suzan and I totally got lost trying to find the Cheesecake Factory. I forgot the gps in the hotel room. I really thought I remembered how to get there.

Not so much.

An hour and a half later we finally made. After making a complete circle around Atlanta, we stopped at a fed ex for the number to get directions. (The track ball on my blackberry is not working and so I can not use my browser...so I could not look it up myself.) So we were rejoicing once we actually made it!

I think that is it.

I hope everyone is thawing out after the south's deep freeze!

Addiction

Hi. My name is Heather and I am a ribbon addict. I. Just. Can't. Help. Myself. Look what I found the other day.

HOW CUTE ARE THESE?

These little cuties will go and be with their new friends....these guys....

and..um..these.
Meanwhile...I leave for market bright and early in the morning. I must tell you that I have to pray and pray and pray to not buy a million bolts of ribbon while I'm there. OH THE TEMPATIONS I WILL INCUR!

Did anyone watch the bachelor last night? UGH...how do they find some of these women? Seriously. I just feel embarrassed for them. "You can land your plane on my landing strip any day" That pretty much tops my list of what not to say on a first date. I wonder if she was watching last night and cringing?

I really should be doing laundry but instead I am watching the biggest loser. I cry every episode! I am really pumped about this season and the pink team! They are from my hometown and I am pulling for them all the way!!! (She also gets her hair cut where I get my hair cut!) OK. I will post tomorrow night once we get back to the room. We might go to The Cheesecake Factory tomorrow night! (if our brain is not turning in circles) Suzan has never been and I though it would be super fun to go!!!

Snow

Well it is snowing today. I hope it doesn't mess with the roads because I have a few errands to run! I really do love snow but now that Christmas is almost over (Epiphany is on Wednesday) I am ready for a little warmer weather.

I was going through pictures the other day and found the pictures from our last anniversary trip! Look at what a difference a year makes. I showed Artie and he said we will take one every year to see how we age! So here you go...

Meanwhile....I am trying to decide what to wear to market this year. It is quite a challenge because you want to be comfortable but look nice all at the same time. I guess it is not so much the clothes but the shoes. I have a love for cute shoes...but cute shoes are not great to walk in for 10 hour days. So I will continue to rack my brain until I figure out a solution. Ugh!

Ok...it is snowing harder. I better get up and run out before I get stuck! Have a great day everyone!

Market!

I can not tell you how excited I am about this upcoming week! Right after Christmas every year Suzan and I go to Americasmart in Atlanta to buy new pretty things for the shop. It is exciting but also very exhausting. I went to Suzan's yesterday to get our game plan ready. We have already made appointments with several of our favorite vendors but we wanted to look for new vendors to carry. Well I took my camera over to practice on her puppy Morpheus and I got this great shot. I love it...ha!

I will be leaving on Wednesday and will try to post while I am there. I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

An anniversary and a bowl game

This is a rather long post...I apologize ahead of time.

Artie and I just got home from a wonderful trip to Atlanta! As most of you know, my husband is the world's largest University of Tennessee fan there ever was. For Christmas this year I bought him tickets to the Peach Bowl Chic-fil-a Bowl. (The bowl that UT was playing in) He was really surprised and so very excited. On Wednesday we headed down so we could celebrate our anniversary as well! My sweet husband took me to The Cheesecake Factory! I can not tell you how much I loved going there when we lived in Nashville. He was incredibly crowded with all the fans coming in. Luckily we were a party of 2 and only waited about 30 minutes! I ate my usual fare of orange chicken with sticky rice and Artie had fish tacos. We were so full we got our cheesecake to go!

Here we are before The Cheesecake Factory

The next day Artie and I got up, ate breakfast and headed to Lenox mall to kill some time. We had a great time just walking around. I thought it would be funny to take him into Neiman Marcus and browse the shoe section. It actually made him mad. He has the biggest heart...he told me we had to leave because he could not be in a place where people bought $2500 dollar shoes. Especially since we just finished the adoption classes and saw first hand how people can't keep their children because they have no money for food. It really has opened our eyes to many things. So we headed back to the hotel to change for the game.

Here we are before the big game

We took the subway and headed to the game. Our first stop was the pep rally. Artie and I decided that we wanted to be in the front row for the Vol Walk (when the players walk through to go to the game). I grabbed a spot and stood there for almost 2 hours! Ha! I knew it meant a lot for him to be able to see the players come through. While we waiting I saw some great things...first this guy and his checker board shorts...

Then this guy brought his checker board coveralls! Oh my!

Here are people lined up waiting on the players

And then the band started playing and we knew it was time! The crowd was pumped and so were we. So here come the players and since we are on the front row we give each player a high five. I must say that it was so fun seeing them all up close. Artie was beyond thrilled. I have pictures of all the players as they walked by but I have no idea who they are. But....this guy I know!

Lane Kiffin!

(That is my husband's hand in the left corner of the picture)

ERIC BERRY!!!!! AHHHHHH!

(again with my husband's hand)

Right before the game they dropped down little cows with parachutes with free chic-fil-a cards attached. The only problem was that some of the parachutes didn't open and came flying at people like little kamikaze cows. It was kinda funny to see every ducking trying to avoid the cows!

Look who we sat across from! I can't believe they actually spotted me!

Look at all the orange!

Here they come!!

We sat next to best people! Ha...We sat in the section that had mostly students and we had a blast. The guy next to us was D*R*U*N*K and his form of language through out the whole game was flipping the other team off. When we would score he would grab Artie and myself for a big hug and give us high fives. At one point he started passing around a coke bottle (it was definitely not coke) and had the people behind us drink. I turned around and asked if they knew the guy and the they did not! He was just sharing in his excitement I suppose. It was wild. The people in front of us were so intoxicated that they were passing out. HA! I really wanted a picture of Artie and myself at the game but Artie told me not to let anyone touch my camera. You do not want to hand your brand new camera to a drunk person so I had to survey the prospects. There was a girl behind us who did not seem as intoxicated as everyone else and so I asked. I know Artie was cringing the whole time but we got our picture! My camera also made it safely back into my hands without any damage.

At the game

After the game we got back on the subway and headed to our hotel. Oh the subway! Someone had gotten sick in the car we had to get in. Needless to say it was a very LONG ride back. Once we got to the hotel it was about 15 min until midnight. Artie and I grabbed some to go food and watched the ball drop snacking in our room.

We had a great trip but I was really glad to get home! I have a great month planned and I am ready to get it started! (Market is calling my name, Baby Callie we are ready to snuggle you and my quilt is ready to be finished!)