To say that I’m enjoying homemaker life is a bit of an understatement.

I have always loved baking, probably because I love eating sweet things. But there was never enough time when I was working full-time. Or rather, never enough time to really enjoy the process. I was always baking late at night for some event happening the next day… when I should’ve been sleeping. And not getting sleep is all cool when you’re a teenager, but after adulthood, sleep is a necessity. Less sleep = general crankiness.

Now I’m baking because I want to, because I have time and because it brings joy to others (and myself at the same time!).
As we are settling into the autumn season, I am in peach-and-apple season overdrive. There’s a steady thought train of “I love fall! I love fall so much more than I ever did before! Why was I always a summer fan? Fall is the best!!” Autumn means creating my own pumpkin spice lattes (thanks to this recipe!), walking through dying-yet-colorful leaves, breaking out my leather riding boots, finding the boxes of sweaters, slow-cooking butternut squash, drinking fresh-pressed apple cider from the farmer’s market, wrapping up in blankets in the morning and then throwing open doors in the afternoon. Autumn means soup love and hot drink love and baking love.

Now that I’m home, being a homemaker, you might find me slinging around flour in the early-morning hours… while the light is still blue and grey and the sun is still hiding. Or maybe in the afternoon, when my kitchen curtains glow golden from the slanted sunlight. I hum and sing old Third Day songs and then old hymns and sometimes I mutter to the cat as he walks by (he’s only curious about food when I open a can of tuna). I talk on the phone… though not too much when measuring ingredients, because I tend to forget something important.
But I did this recipe right… loved it.. and now I’m sharing it with you!

Peach Upside-Down Cake is the fall cousin of pineapple upside-down cake. Peaches need more respect, because they are deeeeelicious. Because I pretty much followed this recipe to a T, and it worked out great for me, I’m just gonna send you over to the source. Check out Peach Upside-Down Cake from userealbutter.com. And definitely use real butter. It changes everything. ;)

When life is made of little and big challenges, sometimes ya just gotta rejoice in the little victories. Some of these victories are to-do list victories, or frugal living victories (this is what happy-homemakers do to keep their hard-working husbands happy--- keep the budget low!), or baby prep victories, or just Life-Is-Good victories. Enjoy!

~ A friend sent me a coupon code for another FREE Shutterfly 8x8 photobook! Now our New Orleans babymoon / third anniversary trip book is complete and on its way to my happy hands… for just the cost of shipping!

~ One dollar Amish butternut squash + a slow-cooker soup recipe waiting to be made. Nothing says wonderful autumn like squash!

~ A newly painted baby nursery / guest room. Transformed from an aqua-bluish (old roommate’s room!) color to a more neutral tan color called “Imperial Sands.” (Note: I love reading the descriptive terms on paint colors!). The nursery is painted and nothing else done, but I’m holding onto that paint victory! :)

~ Portraits done for a wiggly-squiggly three-month-old nephew and his smiles are worth their weight in gold. *sigh* Babies are so great. (note: retired from professional photography, but I make exceptions for blood relatives. Mostly because they don’t laugh too much when I fall over because I’m 7 1/2 months pregnant and my balance right now is waaay crazy!).

~ Two pairs of maternity skinny jeans (oxymoron, anyone?) in the mail to me for a grand total of $2.48. This is amazing, because I actually cried over the weekend because my ankles were cold. Maybe pregnancy hormones… buuuut it’s fall and I have capris and skirts, but no jeans that fit this pregnant body. So today, I ordered jeans… using a gift card, a coupon code + a standard free shipping offer. Now we just get to see if I ordered the correct size. #firstworldpregnancyproblems

~ Childbirth class homework this week includes practicing “labor comfort measures.” Brandon gets to give me a massage every day! Yay! I LOVE THIS HOMEWORK!

~ I organized the silverware drawer, because I’m slowing making my way through organizing the whole kitchen. Now I smile whenever I open the silverware drawer. Yes, I am happy because of the little things.

~ Also organized the baking supplies, spices and cookbooks cabinets in my kitchen... which is approximately 1/3 of my cupboard space... In the process, I climbed up on a chair (is that a bad thing?) and threw away nearly three trash bags of old cooking magazines, garage sale cookbooks and food that was waaaaaaaay past its expiration date. #dontmesswiththedeclutteringpregnantwoman

And that’s the end for now.
What are your little victories?  #Rejoicewiththemthatrejoice

It’s been quite a tumultuous summer for my family. We’d had great highs and great lows, difficulties and beautiful life changes. There’s been babies (being born and soon-to-be-born), and deaths, traveling and moving, happiness and sadness, trial and triumph. All these things mixed together to be quite the burdens to bear and changes to navigate.

Don’t get me wrong --- this is LIFE. This is what happens in the world we live in. Things change, people change, people arrive and people leave. Life continues like a river – ever flowing, ever bending, ever changing… Holding too tightly to our same-kind-of-lives can make transitions even more difficult.
It’s like loving babies (which I do). We love them… and then they grow to be mobile toddlers, and inquisitive kindergarteners, and then all of the sudden, they’re nearly ten years old with lightning-quick wits and one wonders --- how did this happen? (as I wonder about my nieces and nephews: they grow so fast!). The changes are hard, because we love the current season… and then, we are surprised by a new season – a new life change – a new challenge – a new trial to endure.

I have become very contemplative over the last week. My family gathered at the homestead (as we call my parents’ house up on the mountain) for a family picnic. There was delicious food and lots of laughter, little children running here and there, a newish baby nephew being passed around with delight, candles to be blown out for a belated birthday celebration for my mom. It was all loud and lively and altogether lovely. It may have been the first time we had gathered in many months --- perhaps since Christmastime. And I cherished the moments.

Dear “Uncle Brandon” and I spent our time chasing little rays of sunshine who run very fast and love to climb things and teeter at the top of toddler slides and play in mud puddles and kick a kickball until they fall over. Brandon observed, “most of interacting with children is just making sure they don’t injure themselves.” And how true it is (see the photo above where Brandon stands between a small one and the crest of a hill).

And then I (slightly worn out) sat on an outside bench and cheerleaded the most hilarious game of baseball between Uncle Brandon--- as all-time pitcher--- and a parade of young nieces and nephew who cheerfully dubbed themselves “the Auntie Nomis” (yes, after me! I did not realize I was quite so popular). I’m sure there were multitudes of rules being broken and I was amazed at how the pitcher moved forward and backward according to the ages of the current batters. And how little ones had to be reminded to run (though sometimes they just got to first base and sat down)… and in the end, the ‘Auntie Nomis’ won by a ridiculous margin – something like 38 to 1! How Uncle Brandon got 1 point without ever batting is beyond me... And then there was hot chocolate to chase away the newly autumnish chill in the air. And watching Penn State football on the TV together, because now that PSU is back in bowl eligibility, it is so much more interesting! :)

Golden days can happen anytime, but I particularly enjoyed this autumn family picnic. There’s something about grabbing onto little smiles, the pleasures, the moments of joy, and remembering them when life is tough.

Ya know what is amazing? Organization. I’m now a super-fan of organization. I have been overwhelmingly amazed by what I’m getting done in these weeks/months before baby comes. Things that I have been putting off for years and always brushed to the side because of priorities (*cough*overcommitment*cough*). Like changing my last name on my vehicle registration…. ummm.. after three years of marriage. Like looking into life insurance. Like organizing the personal financial files, so it’s no longer a pile of papers on the desk. Like cleaning parts of my house that have not seen a scrub-brush since I bought it, oh, FIVE years ago. Basically, to summarize, this is a ridiculously-awesome-season of life. I just finished organizing my personal computer files into folders in “My Documents” instead of random shortcuts sprinkled across the screen. Organization makes my life so much better!!!!

One of my favorite pastimes lately is digital scrapbooking through Shutterfly. Taking pictures is fun and sharing them on social media is fun, too, but there’s something very special about holding-seeing-touching those pictures combined with words as a personal journal of our family memories. So I’ve been spending some time organizing our family photos (I’m determined to take my photographic bent and apply it to our family life, instead of being the photographer who takes photos of everyone else & not their family). I’ve been gradually scrapbooking the years of our marriage and it’s so fun!

My most recent “organization” brainstorm involved special travel scrapbooks. I was having a difficult time deciding how to organize our travels/family vacations. Should I attempt to just choose my favorite photos from a week of vacation and scrapbook them in a couple pages in our yearly scrapbook? If I did that, there wouldn’t be room for the stories and little silly things that make vacation memories fun to read. Should I make entirely separate photo-books for vacations? But then, I wasn’t sure I’d fill a whole big 12x12 photobook (my normal size for yearly family scrapbooks). And then, there’s the whole saving-money thing. My brainstorm was this: I’d design vacation photo-books in the 8x8 photo book size and then whenever Shutterfly decides to offer a FREE 8x8 20-page photobook coupon code --- I’d order….

Wouldn’t you know it? But not even a WEEK after I had this brilliant brainstorm, I had finished a little photo-book of this Smoky Mountains vacation that we took in the beginning of May and then, there popped up a FREE coupon code! (For the Shutterfly fans, the coupon code is still valid for a few more days! Check it out!). My photo book is on its way, just for the cost of shipping…. I’M SO EXCITED.

In the meantime, don’t you wanna know how our Smoky Mountain vaca went?

So there are LOTS of photos in this post. Keep in mind that we were travelling from Pennsylvania to Arkansas for Brandon’s summer internship, so aside from packing our car full of everything we needed for the summer, we also packed for vacation… and stopped in Gatlinburg, TN, for a week of rest-and-relaxation.

We got to Tennessee on my very first Mother’s Day (at that time, I was 14 weeks pregnant! Seems so long ago now!), so my request was a milkshake. We couldn’t find one, so we settled for a frappucino. I was happy! (though I look tired in this picture… not sure why? Maybe just travelling tiredness) :)


We love using Homeaway to find vacation rentals. They are generally cheaper and more well-equipped than hotels, and since we LOVE quiet, privacy and the ability to make some meals in our vacation home (to save money & because restaurant food is often not-very-healthy, so we limit that), it’s a perfect option.

We found a one bedroom condo up on a mountain above Gatlinburg, with spectacular balcony views!

When we arrived, Brandon was incredulous: “How do you FIND these places?!?” That made me very happy! I’m the travel planner and researcher of the family, and so I love to get a winning vaca rental like this one. Makes my little soul rejoice!

I was especially enthralled with the living room’s window-seat. I spent quite a few hours there reading, thinking and napping over the course of the week….



Some of our favorite moments were enjoying the beautiful sunrises with coffee in hand, wrapped in blankets on the balcony.


While I call this a vacation, it was actually more like a half-vacation. Brandon was still working twenty hours per week remotely (and he continued to do that over the summer in addition to his full-time internship). We considered it a necessary sacrifice, because vacations are a luxury item. I just used the time that he was working to read or journal or think or plan.. or nap, because pregnant women need more sleep. It’s a proven fact. :P Also, combined with the rainy May weather and us coming off a very exhausting spring college semester schedule, we welcomed the extra time in our little condo for resting.

When we *did* leave our little condo, it was for hiking!! This was a tiny little (popular) trail up to Clingman’s Dome, the highest point in the park. With views in all directions, it was definitely worth the long drive and exhausting walk to the top. This is the walk where I figured out that I really wasn’t in very good shape (it motivated us to work out almost daily over the summer! Nobody likes being out-of-shape!).


When we weren’t hiking…. I was looking at maps. It’s a family problem. My family loooooooves maps. My dad loves maps, especially hiking trails maps. Especially hiking trails in the Great Smoky mountains! One of my favorite parts about travelling to the Great Smokies is that I have so many childhood memories there. On family road trips, we tended to stop in the Smoky Mountains once a year or so, on our way to or from Texas or the national swimming pool show (our family vacations were often combined with Dad’s business travel, because we were homeschooled and we could do that!).

Our second hike involved waterfalls!




So did you know that May is allergy season in Tennessee? Did you know that my husband is allergic to something in ragweed? Keeping those things in mind, let me tell you about the scenic drive that we went on. One of my favorite places in the national park is a scenic loop road called “Cades Cove.” Sometimes the whole road is closed so that only bicyclists can enjoy the scenery without cars. We sadly decided *not* to bring our bicycles (not enough room in the car), so we did the driving tour…

I brought along the camera (of course) and the tripod to snap a few pretty photos of us together…



And then poor Brandon started sniffling and sneezing something FIERCE, and I figured it out. We were standing in a field full of grasses and ragweed… Oops. Good thing the rest of the scenic drive could be enjoyed from the car. I jumped out to take a few pictures, but mostly we kept the windows closed and counted wildlife sightings from the car.


Just to illustrate how close we were to the wildlife… that’s our open car door.


As a great happy ending to my story about allergies, Brandon recovered quickly after I stopped making him breathe near fields of grass. And we closed our scenic drive with the most delicious BBQ meal possible! And there were hush puppies! I love them!

Rainy days abounded during our vacation. I can’t say that I minded sitting on the window seat in our condo and listening to the raindrops fall down the windows. When the fog rolls in over the mountains, there is a certain aura of mystery that is strikingly beautiful.

The rain meant that our plan to conquer Mount LeConte (and see the pack llamas!) was nixed. We’re just not hardcore hikers with rain gear. Instead we browsed through the visitors center, staring at stuffed dead animals, reading signs, buying postcards, watching the informational documentary… where we learned that the Smoky Mountains are considered a ‘temperate rain forest.’ Considering the torrential downpour that halted our last attempt at hiking… we believe that!

And then we came home and ate s’mores. Why not? It’s vacation. :D

The other parts of our vacation included eating too-expensive-but-still-delightful pizza in Gatlinburg, walking around the little town streets, a pancake breakfast, viewing Thomas Kinkade paintings together, finding a redbox to rent movies (finally saw Frozen! and a more somber-but-still-great movie – The Book Thief! and a few more oldies-but-goodies).

I still think that my favorite part of vacation is being able to spend 24 hours a day with my husband. I married him ‘cause I loooooove him… and truly enjoy our time together. Our conversation, our silence, our seriousness, our sillyness, our work and our play. Marriage is wonderful. :)

Here are a few last mountain views! I hope you enjoyed seeing our vacation, just as much as I enjoyed sharing it!


Little balcony, we will miss you.

Hey y’all! There’s a baby in there! He’s a-moving and shaking all the time these days. I think it’s the most-fun-thing-ever to watch my belly move! Pregnancy is a really cool and really weird phenomenon (all at the same time). A little human being growing in my belly? So strange. So amazing. So ridiculously awesome.

So I’ll give a little update for the friends & family… we’re finally back at home and it’s wonderful. I have officially launched into “baby preparation” mode. While I still don’t own a scrap of baby clothing (yet), we’ve been gifted with an amazing stroller and car seat so we’re pretty much ready, right? :D Hehe. We did have a fun little interlude of mall walking over the weekend. It was too hot/muggy to walk outside, so we window-shopped by looking at cute little baby clothes. And shoes. Which are adorable, but about .0001% practical (from what I’ve heard) and considering the $25 price tag, I think my children are going barefoot forever. I will be raising pioneer children --- of the hardy variety. :P

Baby Nursery.  I like that my Narnian baby nursery vision is coming together in my head—though not yet in the room. Also, I saw some top-secret baby shower decoration ideas that someone is working on and they just thrilled my soul… not to mention, made everything start to feel so real! I went home and started getting busy with my own list of nursery décor purchases. But first --- we paint the room. Sometime.

Pregnancy Symptoms. Current symptoms include general roundness, heartburn and the inability to get off of my very-low-couch. Poor little thing is a very old secondhand couch, and it can’t help that it is defective and a bit bowed where I usually sit. So I have officially moved my normal reading & laptop writing seat to the living room glider. If only to keep myself from being irritated by the necessity of rolling, turning and grunting to stand up…. In general, my pregnancy is going very well. Measuring right on, keeping the weight in a good range and feeling GREAT. I really cannot complain in the least. :) At least, now that I’ve finished the cleaning extravaganza, I can’t complain. :D

Cravings & Other Deliciousness. You could say that I craved whoopie pies? But really, we were gonna buy them at the farmer’s market last weekend and the absence of a baking vendor distressed me so much that I walked into a pole with my head. It hurt.. but made a funny story for later. I redeemed myself this week by finding, buying and eating whoopie pies (well, one was for Brandon) and therefore mostly forgetting about my walking-into-poles moment… The newest food-related pregnancy phenomenon is the very-small-state of my stomach. I am hungry A LOT, but full very quickly and then frustrated when I can’t finish my delicious food. I know, I know. #firstworldproblems

Thoughts on Times of Transition. I have had a lot more thinking time these days, and more moments to consider the changes going on in my life. This is truly one of my biggest life transitions to date. Going from single to married was huuuuuge, of course, and because of who I married and our joint devotion to the ministry of the home, our marriage is the foundation for the decision for me to be a full-time homemaker. In the three years of our marriage thus far, we were making preparations --- relational, financial, educational, etc. for this season. And so I feel like going from working-full-time to staying home with babies + becoming a full-time homemaker is almost the biggest thing that’s ever happened to me. And quite honestly, one of the best things ever! Side note: Knowing that something will be difficult doesn’t have to diminish the enthusiasm that I have for it. :)

The process of transition is unsettling. People don’t like change. They don’t like it for how weird it feels and how it changes the status quo and how it makes waves in the peaceful pond of their existence. Perhaps I’m feeling a bit more like I’m rowing this boat of change in our lives and I’m having fun feeling the movements and the waves that precipitate the arrival of our wee babe…. so I don’t feel “drowned” (to go along with my metaphor) by the dramatic changes in my lifestyle --- from not working outside the home, to stepping back any church/ministry obligations, to taking over the day-to-day management of our finances, to not really seeing a lot of people because I’m not going to a job, etc. I am stepping into the blessing that someone once eloquently called “the hidden season of motherhood.” It’s something like a great disappearance (though not quite so dramatic as prior to the Internet age --- where I still have a bloggy/facebook/social media presence), and sometimes these kinds of transition can be difficult.

How am I preparing for this hidden season? Lots of reading. Lots of thinking. Lots of meditating about what the Bible says about motherhood/parenting/*gasp* gender roles. I just finished rereading “Dare to Discipline” by Dr. James Dobson. I’m a big fan of that book --- for the balanced approach that he has to discipline. There’s a way to discipline children right and there’s a way to discipline children wrong, and I think children’s souls are far too valuable to get it wrong. (at this moment, my windows are open and the nice breeze is blowing in… but also the sounds of loud-and-obnoxious yelling. The only good thing is that the neighbor folks are yelling at their dogs – not children – but still, it’s no fun to listen to).

I will say that I am feeling profoundly grateful for God’s provision through a hard-working and genius husband who puts priority on this new season of my life. Without his encouragement, protection and complete support, I know that life would be rough. This is why you should a) talk about gender roles before marriage, and b) marry someone who thinks like you do. (that’s for all the single lady readers!! Talking about EVERYTHING during the dating/engagement season is absolutely paramount! The best way to not have conflict about the important stuff is to agree beforehand!).

Because I mean, wow. If I thought marriage was good before… being married and pregnant with the love of my life, it’s pretty darn spectacular.