Friday, December 20, 2013

A Misty Plum Holiday

"I used to think being a kid on Christmas was the best thing ever, but it turns out having kids on Christmas is! " - Growing a Jewel



It's the calm before the storm, the Friday before Christmas... baby sleeps, husband works, and the family hasn't arrived yet. I want to take some time to just jot down a little about these past few months. 

Crazy is the best word to describe it. After Thanksgiving came and went Brandon and I felt for the first time that we could truly just zone out a little and enjoy our new home. Wow! Un-freakin-real! We own yet another home, yet this house will be our abode till otherwise. Hopefully our kids will have the stories and adventures of the cul-de-sac on Misty Plum Court in the sweet Mullbery Village. The woods behind our home will be the forest of many many adventures and explorations. Our back porch will be filled with laughter and sweet times with friends and family, and our rooms will be full of the great stories of the Fancher's upbringing. These walls will be filled with laughter... oh, what memories await us in this place. 

It felt odd being here for the first month. I'm not used to wood floors or more than two rooms to put things in. I felt lost.... I felt cold. Yet... a new rug, a fireplace, an 8 ft Christmas tree and a new light fixture sure made "cozy" it's home. 

We love our cottage. In fact we adore it. 





We went to a tree farm this year and cut down our own tree. It was super sweet. Next year though, we will be looking much closer to make sure a spider egg nest hasn't found its home in our tree. And that is all I will say about that.




I remember last Christmas being the first magic of having a little child to show Christmas to. This year it's sweeter, and I'm sure next year will be even sweeter with two kids--one who is fully engaged in Christmas. Laef is sweet as pie... he grows teeth like he grows hair, and I can't make it stop. I love looking back through last year's magic and how it was more for me and Brandon than it was for even Laef. Seeing Laef run through the Christmas tree farm and having to chase him was pure joy. He loves yanking the stuffed ornaments off the tree and hiding the glittery ones. He oohs and aahs over everything shining and sparkly and is wowed by all the new. 









I attempted to let Laef make his own wrapping paper. We did pretty well.... maybe.... Let's just say I'm not the mom that loves crafts and messes.



In other news... I'm now (still) married to a handsome stunning man who is now in his 30's. Yep... Brandon hit 30 this year. He is a remarkable dad and husband.


Yesterday I took Laef to see the bear orchestra in uptown Charlotte. It's like 25 robot bears who look like they are playing instruments. Laef looooved it.  





So I wanted to share a few photos of our home. Granted we have been here about a month and a half... so I can't wait to paint and make it more my own. But I wanted to show it off a little...




Below to the right is going to be our office room. Right now it's a guest bedroom... ;D




I will post photos of our bedrooms later.. ;D

So we also wanted to share probably the most exciting news this month.... yes... we found out what our new/next upcoming Fancher's role is going to be.....


Yes... its true... I am still the queen of the Fancher cottage. Boys! Boys! Boys! Can I just say how relieved I felt when Brandon exclaimed in the ultrasound room, "I think I see something sticking up there... is that what I think it is?" oh yes.... Thank you, Lord... My heart was so so so thrilled to find out that Laef will have a brother. 

About a month ago I had a crazy sweet dream that made me so happy. In the dream my friend knew what I was having (she had seen the ultrasound before me) and she said, "Are you ready to find out?" and I was like "Yes! Tell me..." and she said "It's a boy... but God told me to tell you something.... He is giving you a boy not to prove anything to anyone but specifically this is for Laef. He need's a brother and a best friend." 

So that was the information I had gotten a month ago, along with a million people telling me it would be a girl. 

We bought Laef a teepee for Christmas and his room is huge. It will be the perfect play room for my boys and I am so thrilled to have boys. 

As far as Christmas goes.... I will post this on Christmas day after I have revealed the gender of baby Fancher #2 to my family members. We are currently in Ohio having Christmas with my Grandma. I have my fingers crossed for a white Christmas in my Grandma's 100 year old home in Conneaut, Ohio on Lake Erie. My favorite Christmases and summers were spent with my Grandma. She was/is the best at making the holidays and my childhood magic. I wanted Laef to spend a Christmas there while everyone was in good health. I'm so excited for her to meet him. 

Well.... not much else. I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season and that you see all the people you love dearly this season. 

I will try to post again soon, for my massive amount of followers. ;D lol. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

A little longer...

"I'd like to stay with you a little longer..." - Jenn Johnson


A few weeks back I went to put my washed off pregnancy pee sticks in my large plastic "Memory Box" which is like a freakin' boat anchor and I realized I couldn't get anything else in there. "Gosh..looks like I can't have any more memories.... or I need to purge my memory." haha. So I spent a few hours and attempted to make a quick run through of all the childhood paper letters folded in fun shapes along with dozens and dozens of journals the last 12 years. I have every movie stub I've ever been too. (I know, I know... odd right?) I'm not a pack rat at all, I keep my "memories" in a box and leave it stuffed in the back of my closet. The problem is, if there were a fire, I couldn't get the box out the door because it's too heavy. haha. 

Anywho... So I find tons of letters, papers, badges, notebooks, and messy handwritten chord charts from my days of playing a grand piano in Mott Auditorium for hours on end when I lived in Pasadena, CA during The Call School days. Every now and then I would lead worship, but for the most part I spent hours filling a ginormous room full of worship all alone. Those are some of my sweetest teen/early adult memories. 

Inside the box was a handwritten chord chart to Jenn Johnson's "A Little Longer" song. It was to me the song that played on repeat as my friends/deans and I would lay face down and weep for hours on end. Every now and then I would get up and do a ballet dance to the song, but for the most part I cried and cried as I heard this song. Why? Because I had never heard of doing "nothing" before the Lord. My walk with Jesus up to my days in Pasadena were filled with everything I should be "doing" for Jesus. "Do it for Jesus..." "Jesus wants you to do this." "Jesus likes it when you do this or that." My life was all about my striving to please. "To please Jesus is the way to be loved by him." 

So the first time I heard the Song of Solomon message--that Jesus loved me because he loved me, and that he didn't define me by my works or shortcomings but instead by the cry of my heart--I'll never forget the tears that poured from my eyes in classroom "U1." It messed up my soul (in a wonderful way.)

So when this song came out... it was like hearing truth. 




So with all that background story.... I sat and played this song on my piano for the first time since "The Call School". So ten years.... yeah.... And this song was so perfect for how I've been feeling lately. I've been so so overwhelmed with all the massive change going on in our lives. They are beautiful changes, but so much of it is filling my soul with the unknown. When Jenn sings "Let the housework go... the kids can wait another minute..." See... I didn't know how that felt ten years ago. But today, I sat at my piano and cried like a baby as I felt what it feels like to be overwhelmed and to know that "nothing" is all Jesus wants from my heart. I don't have to pray prayers of "Help me." or.... even "Thank you." He just wants my silence, my small break of minutes. Even if my kid is screaming...turning my ear toward him. Leaning into love, just for a moment. I can find him, and it's sweet and it's perfect, and it's right. 

So.... with all of that. The last almost seven weeks have been a whirlwind. Even though there was a vacation thrown in the middle of all of this, it still feels like its been a non-stop flow of emotion. Day after day, week after week... busy, busy, busy.... omg!

Laef is growing and just this week walking more than he is crawling. It's super sweet to hold his hand and watch him kick the leaves as we walk the sidewalks down our almost past memory neighborhood. 

We're buying a house, and we close Friday. I can't believe it. 3-4 months ago before we knew we were pregnant I spotted this house and said "I want that one!" and didn't realize it was for sale. The week after we found out we were pregnant we started the pursuit of getting the house, and it's been a roller coaster of emotion. We would be close to getting it and then hurdle after hurdle would come up. I still feel like I can't be excited until I have the keys in my hand. So if all goes well up to Friday, we will move in this weekend. 

Here is my sweet new cottage- 






And here are some photos of my cruise, in case you haven't seen it on fb already- 














It was pretty amazing. We went with our some of our best friends/neighbors and some of their family members. The Bahamas always rocks our world. 

Laef is good, growing more teethe.... we just went through a teething week last week, and between first trimester dry heaving and Laef yelling at me, I could have thrown him, but I didn't. ;) (Aren't I a good mom?) Poor boy, he didn't eat hardly anything for a week, so it was great when it finally passed, and He is back to eating everything and wanting to eat always. 




My friend, Claire Ryser, took a few photos of Laef and me....  












I'll keep you all posted more on life as the holidays roll around and we say goodbye to 704 Heritage Pkwy. (We are renting it out.)

I'm looking forward to feeling like the ground under my feet isn't shifting. 

Also we got to see the newest addition to our family. Yes...  here "he/she" is... 

I'm 11 weeks pregnant and not horribly sick, but very sensitive. I'm glad I have like 2.5 weeks left till the 2nd trimester. I've had a few scares and I'm ready to have the first trimester over. 

Till later on.... Thanks for reading.