Long time

I know I'm doing a horrible job keeping up with this blog. I've been very busy. I've finally gotten into a good routine with Andrew that includes doing Laundry, cleaning our apartment, and staying on top of it all. For the longest time everything was just once in awhile, when I'd get the chance... :)

Andrew is growing and growing. He's calls my "mom" and that's the only word he seems to say regularly. I think it's because he has so many aunts and uncles to talk for him. :)

I'm now 29 1/2 weeks along. This baby is so different from Andrew. It is more active, and definitely has a stronger personality. I'm so curious to meet this Little One and see if it's a boy or a girl. I had a dream it was a beautiful little girl we named Bethany (which is one of our top 2 girl names) and so I'm thinking that somewhere in my future is a little Bethany. :) I really don't care whether we have a boy or a girl. I'll be excited either way. I want a girl mostly for Scott because he really wants a girl, but either way, we'll be super excited!!!!

Thanksgiving is in two days and last Friday we decorated for Christmas. Before you go judging me, we are leaving in 10 days for a 2 week book tour getting home 1 week before Christmas, so we decided that we wanted to enjoy our place decorated for Christmas, especially since I won't be leaving everything up until the end of January like last year because once New Year comes, I'll be kicking into high "Baby Prep" mode. :) Less than 11 weeks until my due date, I'm so excited!!!!

Just a little "tid bit" for you....

I've been studyin Proverbs 31 and this verse just keeps popping out at me.

"She seeketh wool, and flax and worketh willingly with her hands." Proverbs 31:13
A virtuous woman works willingly with her hands. How often do we do what we need to do because we need to do it without a willing heart? I've noticed that the more I look at what I need to do with a willing, cheerful, eager attitude, the easier it is to do it. It also usually turns out to be more rewarding as well.

I know this wasn't long, but it's something. :) Now I need to get off the computer and go work on Christmas gifts. I'm trying to finish everything (as much as possible) before we leave for our trip.

Niagara Falls, NY

Finally, here is the long-awaited post...

Niagara Falls was BEAUTIFUL! We drove up to New York on Friday. The scenery on our way there was beautiful as well, even though it started raining at some point and rained the rest of the day. What a perfect time for travelling, this last month has been. As we've been travelling through Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York (which included parts of Pennsylvania as we crossed the border for awhile) we've travelled over many mountains and the trees are changing their colors. The bright Red, Yellow, Gold, Orange, Brick red/brown, and still Green leaves have made for very pleasant travelling. It is impossible to describe the beauty in all the scenery we've seen. We serve an AWESOME Creator!

(Notice the Falls directly to the left of the Rainbow, in the background)

Our original plan was to visit the Falls Friday evening when we got up there, but we got a later start in the morning than we had planned, and by the time we got to the area, it was almost dark and it was pouring. We spent the night in an "interesting" motel. :) It was pretty dingy but it was cheap, we were tired and we figured we'd stay at a nice hotel on Saturday night (which we did, and it had a heated pool and jacuzzi! :) ). So we decided that we'd go to bed early and get up to go to the falls for 8am. We didn't have to be at the book signing in Buffalo (20 minutes away) until Noon, so we had 4 hours!

On our way to the Falls we ate the rest of the fruit I had brought from the day before, and we figured we'd stop for breakfast after we had gotten our fill of the Falls. :) I brought my little "Point & Shoot" and Scott brought his nice Camera with all his nice lenses! Scott took a couple hundred pictures and they all are beautiful, but I haven't put any of those on my computer yet, so you'll have to be satisfied with the ones from my camera for now. Scott did post a few pic's on his blog though.

There was a constant rainbow the entire time we were there. And, you could see both ends of the Rainbow! It was breathtaking! :)

When we woke up in the morning, it was cloudy out and looked like it might start raining any minute, but nothing was going to stop us from going, so we headed out. As we started driving, the sun started breaking through the clouds, and by the time we parked our car, the sun was shining brightly and the clouds we starting to completely disappear. By the time we left it was cloudy again, but we felt so blessed that the Lord gave us bright blue skies, and let us see the Falls in all its splendor!

In this picture (below) you can see the mist rising up from the Falls behind me. When you walked down the "steps" in the second picture below, it was as if you were walking into the rain (but there were ZERO clouds in the sky), because of the mist.

We had to do a lot of walking to get to the "observation walks" (below) but I LOVED it! Because it had rained during the night, the Sun was shining through the trees, and you could smell the freshly fallen, damp leaves. I love that smell! Fall is my favorite season, and walking through the park that morning, I was reminded of all the reasons why I love it! :) We know our God is an awesome God and His creation is incredible, but we couldn't stop talking about it as we were walking to the Falls and then again on our way back to the car.

This was another "Fall" (or whatever you would call it) that you can see from where all the above pictures were taken.


Here's my handsome Husband doing one of his favorite things.... taking good pictures! (He's really good at doing it too! :) )

As for other news, we are completely out of the apartment. We gave the keys back yesterday. Our storage unit that seemed so big when we got it, is now completely stuffed! I still have some stuff to organize, here at my parents. Some of the things that I brought over here are stuff that I didn't have time to organize and consolodate before we left the apartment, so I will be working on that this week, as well as going through the stuff of mine that is still here from when I got married. It's great to be spending more time with my Family right now. I'm really going to miss them while we're gone, but I know it will go by quickly. :)

We are enjoying a quiet weekend, the only weekend for some time that we have had no book signings. We left it open because of the moving, and we're so glad we did! Not having the apartment now, is a relief because we're another big step closer to leaving for the tour. We're so excited! We can't wait! We leave in less than 4 weeks now.

I hope you all had a great weekend too!

Now here's a question for all my blog readers: What is the most beautiful place you've been to, or the most beautiful day you remember?

Leave a comment with your answer! :)

I'm so happy!!!

Attention to all blog readers::::: I am now Mrs. Scott Appleton! The wedding was beautiful! And the Honeymoon was just wonderful! Lots of pictures coming, but for now I must go home and straighten our apartment before my husband comes home. :)

Sweet dreams....

5 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!

There is so much to do, and so little time. :) I only have a second to post here, but I just HAD to update the countdown! :) Please keep us all in prayer as we work on everything this week and try not to get stressed out, and emotions are running high. Thank you! :)

5 days!!!! Wow! I can hardly wait! :) The apartment looks great except for the bedroom which at the moment is full of stuff that needs to be organized. :)

More soon.....

Only 9 Days Now! :)

Yesterday Scott and I were busy working on some wedding (ceremony) stuff. We decided later in the afternoon that we were going to go see the new Night At The Museum (great movie, by the way. Better than the first one.) with Brian and James. We had to go run a couple errands, so we decided to all meet at the apartment. Then when we realized what time it was and everything, we decided to make supper at the apartment too. I LOVE being in our apartment! I had so much fun making soup and biscuits, and asking Scott what he preferred for different things. And, we did manage to get all the dishes washed, dryed, and put away before we left for the movie. Scott really enjoyed sitting in the living room talking, while I was cooking. It was great! :)

Today we have another full day. We have to finish our ceremony details, get the oil in my car changed (it's been 6,200 miles since the last one, oops), have the emissions done on my car, hopefully take my dress to the Cleaner's (if we can find one that will do it), Scott has to go in to work for 1 hour for some safety class, so I'll be heading over to Target to get some stuff for the apartment, and then we have to meet with our Pastor to go over the wedding details. Oh, and we also need to move more stuff into the apartment and more stuff into the Storage Unit that we have. May all my readers have a wonderful, and blessed day!

2 WEEKS!!!

Only 14 days left. I'm so excited. We can't wait. :) I went grocery shopping for the first time yesterday so there would be some food in the apartment when Scott moves in on Monday (seeing as I only had Brown Rice, Oats, Popcorn, Brown Sugar, and Spices in there :) ). It was lots of fun however I lost my grocery list somewhere in the store, before I had started doing my grocery shopping. So I had to try and remember everything, but I at least got the essentials, including some Strawberry yogurt for my Man to take to work (it was on sale, and it's his favorite flavor). I know this is another short post, but we have a full day today.

How many days left?

Only 16!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everything is coming together. The Bridesmaids dresses are completely done. We have to work on the favors, but everything is coming together. My Mom and I just finished making sure the beading was all secure on my dress before sending it to the cleaner's this weekend to be cleaned and pressed and then hung in my room all laid out with a sheet over it, until the wedding.

I'm working on a post on the apartment, and the progression of everything, but I still haven't uploaded all the photos yet, but it is in the works. :)

Can you say. . .

36 Days!!!!!!

That's right, only 36 days left. That is, 35 days, 10 hours, and 25 minutes until I will be Scott's wife! :) Everything is moving right along. I just finished tagging all the boutonnieres for the Groomsmen. I'm working on the Seating chart (which is close to half-way done) and my Sister-in-law-to-be has started taking care of part of the favors for me (she is such a great sister and friend).

The book is doing great, and we finally have the Hardcover Edition It looks so great, and it is so rewarding for my Man to have the Hardcover. :)

Scott's parents bought us a Glider/Rocking chair last week and we moved it into the apartment on Wednesday. Scott really likes it, and I know he will do lots of writing in it. :) On Thursday we went and found the perfect couch (well, loveseat, that is) for our little place. We can't wait to get it moved in.

I am also starting out on a new venture as a PartyLite Consultant. I am so excited. My starter show is next Friday. I'm going to try to do 6 shows by the end of this month, before the wedding. :)

So yes, I am very busy. I am most excited this coming week because I get to watch my little nephew for a few hours. He is getting so big already. and is absolutely adorable! :) It is so amazing to me how God's design is so intricate and how a little baby can be so small, and yet grow so quickly. How anyone can believe that we "evolved from monkeys (or something else)" is far beyond me. There are miracles everywhere, that everyone sees, that if they just took a moment, they would realize just how AMAZING God is. I can't help but just stand in awe of my Awesome God.

The Book

Here is my very happy Man. Why is he so happy, you may ask? Because he received the long awaited, much anticipated, package today. What was in this package? The fruit of 5 years of time, work, and labor. I was nearly as excited as he was when we recieved the call on our way home from visiting a Library. And wouldn't you know, we got stuck behind a very slow mini van right after receiving the call, all the way home (of course, since I was driving, I decided to have a little fun and after pulling into his driveway, went very slowly for a minute, only a minute though, as I was dying to see the package too. :)). So, drum roll, please......

. . .

Here it is:

The proof is here! There is a great picture of it over on My Man's Blog. It looks great! As you can imagine, we are VERY excited!

And here he is, examining all his hard work and how well everything came together. :)

On another note: We got the keys to our apartment this week. I start cleaning with two of my closest friends on Wednesday (I'll try to remember to take out my camera). I can't wait! Right after we got the keys, we went to make copies so I could have a set. Naturally Scott had to put them on his key ring right away, and since it's *our* place, I needed to get my own set right away too. :) That night, after dinner we took our parents to see it. They thought it was "cute," "perfect for us." We're already trying to figure out where we're going to put everything. It is a lot of fun though, and thankfully we have a few months to figure everything out (although they are going to be very busy months, at that).

Praise the Lord!!!!

We got an apartment!!!! We didn't realize it at first, but God timed everything perfectly. Now I can work on the major cleaning during March (before anything goes in) and then not have to worry about it, come April and May while we're working on making the 9 dresses for the Flower Girl and Bridesmaids and altering my dress among all the other wedding things that we are going to have to do. The apartment is maybe 10 minutes from Scott's parent's house and 15 minutes from my family's house. And, it is closer to work for Scott (another Praise!). We go to get the keys this week. I am so excited. It seems kind of "surreal" as my Mom would say. I've already made out a long cleaning list, room to room. The kitchen and living room is one room. Half is carpeted, and the other half is linoleum. The counters/cabinets are all along one wall. It has lots of counter space (which is a "biggy" for me) and lots of cabinets too! It's small, but it's perfect for us! :) I'm already planning on how I want to set up things. The only pieces of furniture we need are a couch or love seat and an arm chair. God has already provided us with a bed, dining room set, coffee table and end table. We also already have bureaus and a desk.

I just finished printing off our Wedding Invitations (and response cards). They look great and now we have a whole month to fill out the envelopes.

My youngest sister is getting baptized tonight (Praise the Lord!). She's the last one of the seven of us. My youngest brother was baptized a few weeks back, and it is so exciting to see how even though they're young, they not only understand about salvation, but about baptism too.