"I love my house; I love my nest; In all the world; My nest is best!" excerpt from The Best Nest.

Nesting (my current state): refers to an instinct or urge in expectant animals to prepare a home for the upcoming newborn(s). It is found in a variety of animals (both mammals and birds) including humans.

Do you remember reading The Best Nest by P.D. Eastman as a child?  This Random House Young Reader book was a favorite of mine in 3rd grade.  I know, it just shouts advanced reader, doesn't it?!  Actually, the reason I loved this book had nothing to do with the context of the story, but at that stage in my childhood I was thrilled with anything that had to do with art, and I was quite obsessed with tracing.... everything... including these lovely little birds..... weird. I know.

My cookbooks. New and Old and Inspiring!

Well fast forward 20 years and you have a woman who still is pretty fond of these sweet little creatures [when they remain outdoors and away from reeking havoc on a good hair day].  But get beyond that, go deeper, and you arrive at my ever so delighted heart.  Over the past couple of weeks I have begun to embrace God's design of nesting.  Some of it relates to our preparation for our little baby, some of it is just plain simple a passion of mine of home making.  It began with working on a playroom, then grew into an early Saturday morning baking muffins (I'll share the recipes below!) for our neighbors, and has traveled into the beginning stages of creating a nursery and getting back into the kitchen to make cupcakes for Valentine's Day.  What a beautiful thing community can be.  Going door to door to get out of our hibernated state to actually SEE our neighbors and to offer a simple gift that said I'm glad it's you who lives near us was a chance for us to hopefully thaw out the chill of winter that drives us to be brief and closed up and offer an opportunity to build something more significant.  

I've also spent a lot, A LOT of time looking online at different bedding sets for the nursery, traveling over to Target and BabiesRUs to just peek at the baby stuff, and ordering fabric swatches gives me butterflies!  I was so stinkin tempted to park in the "Expectant Mom's" parking spot at BRU...but bashfully I chose another spot.  How silly?!  I don't know why I just didn't park there?  Oh well, my giddiness was over taken with the worry that someone might say "hey why are you parking there? You don't look like you're pregnant".   Ha!  Next time, I'll just pull right in there with a beaming smile across my face :)   Anyway, I found one the other day that was really cute, and well, after many nights of showing Justin countless "ideas", he saw this one and agreed it was a good pick!   I like that Justin's got a sense of design preference for our home--at times I get a bit feisty when we're both arguing for what we like, but I honestly do enjoy that he's interested in having a style for our home too.  Our criteria was pretty picky: NOTHING themey, NOTHING uber classic, we wanted it to be modern, but not overkill and something that can grow with our son.  After grazing oodles of websites, blogs, etc, here's what we picked out:  

It's from JJ Cole and it's called Blue Bullseye.  I ordered  it from Amazon on Tuesday night and it arrived today (thanks Amazon Prime!)!  The walls in our baby's room were a jaw dropping teal green with hunter green some kind of special effects stuff when we first moved in....sadly those had to go!  As we wrap up our bathroom project, my mind is already brewing up lots of ideas for this little boy's nursery.  It'll be a lot of fun to work on that space!  

Speaking of Referrals, some wonderful news was brought to a couple in the CHI family!  This past week a family was given a referral of a precious little 9 month old boy. We're INSPIRED, reFUELed and so, so stinkin happy for this family!!  For the past 2 months, referrals slowed down and for a moment (or many moments) I found myself running to the Lord with lots of anxiety over this waiting stage.  I imagine I wasn't alone with the other families who are on this adventure too.  Our Amazing Creator has opened the door again.  And with that thrilling news for the family mentioned above, it became thrilling news for us because it now means we're #18.!!!  yay!!!  I wish we lived near these families, because I would just love, love, love to share in their joy and watch how God makes each of these situations special & unique.  The CHI Ethiopia team must have a blast getting to make that incredible phone call to a family with their referral!  What a beautiful love-strung message from our Father to a expecting mommy and daddy for Valentine's Day! Below you'll find the recipes and some pictures from the fun that's been happening in our kitchen and in our home with crafts......

For each of the recipes, I chose to use both blueberries and blackberries and added whet germ into the dry ingredients.  Recipe 1 (raw sugar topping), Recipe 2 (strudel topping, yum), Recipe 3 (raw sugar topping or strudel topping..great idea using blueberry jam! it was innovative!)

 Gluten Free and simply delicious!  If I could eat cupcakes all the time, I'd go GF just for these!  They are Red Velvet Cupcakes with Creme Cheese Topping.

 Packing up the goodies to go bless our neighbors with some love!

  I was recently introduced to Money Saving Mom (check this out--if you're not following, you soon will be!) and along came this cute Valentine Rosette Wreath.  I love crafts, and so I set out to get the materials and make it clear that cupid had landed!  It was really easy and Justin was even super sweet to help me roll the rosettes one afternoon while watching HGTV :)