A Tour of Levi's Nursery!

With my due date just around the corner, it has been a pretty important job getting Levi's nursery set up!    Moving to a different state in my 7th month of pregnancy was not (and still is not) an easy task...but thanks to a lot of help and patience along with God's provision and grace, we are slowly getting settled here in Birmingham.

I just turned 37 weeks today...but 3 weeks sounds like forever now that I have officially arrived at the more-than-uncomfortable state.  But the waiting will all be worth it once I get to see this little guy face to face.

I must say that none of this could have been done without my sweet husband.  Thank you, Buster for painting the walls, hanging all the artwork, putting the crib together, moving furniture around a dozen times, and for your hard work getting that ceiling fan installed.  You are the best husband EVER.  Here are some pictures from our newly finished nursery:

The canvas in the middle will have a verse painted on it...not sure what verse yet though!  And the 2 frames will hopefully have some wonderful shots by our newborn photographer, Rebecca Long (she's going to be great!)


My amazing mom made the bedding for the crib--including the sheets!  And our friends Andy and Melanie are graciously letting us use their son's crib for Levi!

My dad did this painting of me on a tire swing long time ago...think it fits perfect in the nursery!

This beautiful blanket was hand-knitted by a wonderful friend, Angela McInnis.  I LOVE her.

Our awesome Lazy-boy chair:-)  I'm expecting to spend lots of time in it!

Notice the changing table...It came from an antique store in Hattiesburg (thanks Mary Allison and Drew for finding it!) and then was painted and distressed by Whitney Sephton.  Its my favorite piece of furniture in the nursery!

This "van wagon" was made by my Dad for my first Christmas.  A couple of years ago at Christmas he re-finished and re-gifted it for us to have for our future children!

Notice the plate tag: Marion, Alabama (where I was born); PTL 365 (Praising the Lord 365 days a year) and 11/85...my birth month and year.

The wardrobe was also a piece of furniture I grew up with in my room.

 This beautiful piece was made by my dear friend, Kimsey.  I LOVE it because every time I look at it I think of our friendship and how grateful I am for her.  She has an Etsy shop where she sells pieces like this:  Check it out here (DesignsbyKimsey)

Kimsey also made the frame with the door knobs  (perfect for hanging diaper bag or towels!) My sweet husband made the shelf so I could put some cool decorations on display!

This canvas will have a Bible verse on it...soon!

The "Levi" sign was made by my sweet sister, Kristin...who also happens to have an Etsy shop. (Check it out here!)

My old books from when I was a little girl!

Gift from Uncle Drew and Aunt Mary Allison!

Levi Michael Leach

Dad designed this wall hanging...and Mom quilted it.  I have some talented family!

Can't wait to meet this little fella!

Thanks for taking the time to tour Levi's nursery!  3 weeks and counting!

BIG Life Changes

I cannot believe that my last post was at Christmas!  And so MUCH has happened since then for sure!

Just a recap:

We found out we were pregnant on December 8th...told the family on Christmas day:-)

After a year of seeking the Lord in prayer about moving to Birmingham to be apart of Renovate Church ( a church being planted in the Crestwood area of B-ham), we put our house on the market at the end of Spring Break.

We sold our house less than 2 weeks later after only 2 couples looked at it!

Found a house in Birmingham we liked (after spending a day looking at 16 houses!) in mid-April.

We closed on our house in Pearl on Aril 27th (the day after our 4 year anniversary!) and moved in with Kyle and Whitney.

For 8 weeks, we lived with the Sephtons...Closed on our house in B-ham on May 25th and officially moved the weekend of June 15th.  (By the way, Buster's job was able to transfer him to B-ham which was a HUGE blessing.  He started work here the 18th--no break!)

And NOW we are trying to get settled here in our new house (well new OLD house) before Levi Michael Leach arrives.  I am currently 35 weeks pregnant and he's coming whether we're ready or not. It became super real to us the other night when we had a tour of the hospital.  I am going to deliver at UAB which is right down the road from our house.

Its overwhelming what all needs to be done...but not as overwhelming as this whole year has been with selling and buying a house and moving...ALL while being pregnant.  I will post before-after pictures later of our house in progress.  But for now, the most important thing is getting the nursery finished!

I got the door-hanger for the hospital finished yesterday and am really happy with it:

And here is a sneak peak of the bedding for the crib!  (hasn't been set up yet!)

More to come very soon!

The True Meaning of Christmas

Christmas is just around the corner--how could we not know?  Wal-mart already has its Christmas tree up...Of course, Hobby Lobby has had Christmas decor out since August...Holiday commercials are already playing on TV.  Its hard to not be reminded that the holidays are near~

My resolution for this Christmas season is to remember above all else---the REAL reason we celebrate.  The gift of our Savior and what his birth meant for the whole world.  Salvation.  Redemption.  Eternal Life.  Life is created by and for Him...and the best news we could ever hear is that he has created us with purpose: Bringing glory to His name!  Living our life in complete surrender because of how much he loves us... He is the reason we celebrate Christmas.

The last couple of years I started creating Christmas ornaments that communicate the true meaning of the season.  This year I decided to make an ornament of Baby Jesus in the manger...here is the finished product!  I am very pleased with the way it turned out--and how it keeps the theme of the ornaments I made in the previous years. 

The Nativity is the very first ornament I made--Christmas 2009.

Here is the one I made in 2010...the 3 Wise Men.

I'm excited about the tradition of making these ornaments every year...I'm hoping to create an ornament that tells part of the story each Christmas.

I would love for all of my followers to own one of each of these ornaments!  If you are interested in purchasing one, please go to my Etsy and I will be glad to send one to you just in time decorating for Christmas!

Happy early Thanksgiving and Happy Birthday to my dad--the most amazing Father in the world!

Wooden Collage Art for the Hegi Family

Several months ago, some really good friends of me and Buster's, Morgan and Drew, commissioned me to create a piece of art for their wall in their dining room.  Of course I am always up for a challenge!  Drew and Morgan were so amazing to let me run with some ideas and be creative.  The only things they were really interested in were colors to match their color scheme in their house and they wanted it to be abstract.  Before I came up with the idea, Morgan also showed me some other examples of art created from wood and it really helped inspire me.

SO I spent a day at the Old House Depot gathering supplies and picking out pieces of wood along with old hardware I thought would fit together.  One of the workers asked what I was looking for and when I told him I was creating a piece of art from old wood, he looked at me funny.  I don't think he believed I knew what I was doing.  So in response to his confused expression, I said, "I will know it when I see it!"

I was so excited with the pieces I found so when I got home I played around with arranging the pieces and here is what I came up with:

Then I got approval from Morgan and Drew on the arrangement.  Next step--paint the pieces!  They have a lot of bright colors in their house...reds, oranges, greens, blues.  I really loved the blue piece of wood towards the bottom left side so I decided to leave it as it was.  Since their wall is light blue I thought it would help bring all the other colors together.

Here is the finished piece!  I incorporated colors that would contrast well with the blue piece of wood which is the center of interest.  The blue vines were painted on last to help bring unity and at the same time provide something organic in the midst of geometric shapes.  I put it on my wall to take pictures and didn't want to take it down!  

Here are a few pictures of what the piece looks like on Morgan and Drew's wall.  Notice how the blue wall and white table help make the colors stand out!  Morgan, nice choice of table decor too--the flowers and place-mats go perfect with all the bright colors!

I can't go without giving MAJOR props to someone who helped me tremendously in putting all of this together---Thanks to my AMAZING husband who helped do all of the "construction" and who also helped "install" the piece to the wall.  I couldn't have done it without you!

Thanks Morgan and Drew--for letting me have this awesome opportunity!  I had so much fun!

So glad fall is here...