Giveaway!

I am so excited to share one of my new favorite hobbies with all of you!  I have recently gotten into digital scrapbooking, and before you let it scare you away, it's SUPER easy to do if you use the right stuff!  I've been using this digital scrapbooking software from My Memories, and it makes me look incredibly talented without much effort (and isn't that what we all want?!)!

I've started a scrapbook for Liam, and all I have to do once I finish it is get it printed wherever I choose!  It's so much easier than it should be, but I'm getting really excited as it keeps coming along.

It's great because I don't have to do the cut outs and spend all of the money on scrapbooking materials (the scrapbooking kits are so cheap), and I don't have scrapbooking stuff sitting everywhere in my house each time I want to work on it!

Look at some of the pages I've made for my baby book using the software:

The great news is that My Memories is allowing me to give away a copy of their scrapbook software for FREE!
I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it!  It's a very easy to use software, and you can even make other things beyond scrapbooks!  It is more user-friendly than photoshop, and especially suited for scrapbooking, even if you do have photoshop.

Also, it's perfect for holiday time - gifts, cards, or anything else you can think of!

How to enter:
Go to mymemories.com and tell me which  scrapbook kit is your favorite. (1 entry)
Follow my blog. (1 entry)
Post about this on your blog. (2 entries)
Twitter about this giveaway, and make sure to mention @sarahannrogers (1 entry)


Leave a comment letting me know what you did, and I'll tally up your entries!

Also, just for being a reader of bon mot, you get a 10 dollar off code for the software from My Memories that you can find in my sidebar.  Feel free to share this with your friends and family!

Anxious Peace

I am quite the emotional person.  My mom says that when I was little, I could cry on demand (I'm almost 100% sure that I'm have retained that skill into adulthood).  Needless to say, in my relationship with God, I have had to learn what is my emotion and my flesh and what is a move of God in my spirit.  Sometimes it's easy, and sometimes it's not.

In the past year, as we have tried to figure a lot out for our little family, I have experienced such a hurricane of emotions that even sometimes I feel as if I am overwhelming myself.  At times, I have poured out my tears to the Lord, asking him that if He made me, why couldn't He give me more ability to put my emotions aside?

I did not get many answers, except for this:
God uses my emotions as part of His process.

The ultimate example: Jesus.  Though I do not pretend to equalize myself with God, He is the perfect example.  His sacrifice on the cross is the basis of everything I believe, everything I base my life on.  Yet even Jesus, in His perfection, recognized that the task was hard.  He asked God to change the situation if there was any other way, but there wasn't.  Luke 22:44 says that Jesus was in "such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood."  This is not my idea of peace.  Yet God strengthened Him, and aren't we all so very thankful that Jesus went through with it?

As women especially, we are incredibly tempted to allow our emotions to govern our peace.  Yet sometimes, we will feel anxiety amidst God's peace.  Yet if we recognize this and let Him use it, then our emotional weakness can be a conduit through which He shows His own strength.

Thank goodness I don't have to have it all together, because I'm pretty sure that is never going to really happen.

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.  -2 Corinthians 12:9

25 Weeks!

How far along: 25 weeks

Baby size: A loaf of bread!  ...Over 13 inches and 2 pounds!

Sleep: Sleep is going relatively well.  It's not bad, but it's not the most amazing sleep I've ever gotten in my life.

Movement: I watch my stomach move daily.  I have an app on my phone that allows me to count kicks (you're supposed to get 10 in at least 2 hours).  This morning, this baby moved 10 times in 47 seconds.  This is pretty much how it is all of the time.  I think he's supposed to sleep sometime, but I don't know?  I wonder if this means anything about how he'll be as a little boy...

Food cravings/aversions: I haven't had many cravings.  I am super happy that Starbucks has reintroduced the Peppermint Mocha, though.  Don't tell my midwife that I have had three this week.

Pregnancy Symptoms: I cried the other day sending one of my best friends a sweet, sappy message on Facebook the other day.  Like, cried.  And it was embarrassing.  What was worse, somehow, the message never got sent.  So my emotional efforts were not super effective.  Like many other things I do these days.  I was talking to my mom about the shower at the birthing center, you know, that it has a seat.  And it came out like this: "In the shower, mom, there's a hotel.  It's awesome."

What I miss:  My brain.  I like the usual clarity.  

What I'm looking forward to:  The holidays!  I'm so excited to have our little man inside of me for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Milestones: I keep nesting.  I don't think that's a milestone, but I fully understand now.  And I hope I don't take it too the extreme, which shouldn't be a problem, because I'm never extreme with anything.

Best moment this week:  Taking the time to fix my hair.  It's something small, but it made me feel relaxed and put together.

Moments with Billy:  Baby Liam adores his dad.  If he stops kicking for any amount of time, and Billy starts talking or touching my stomach, the baby gets incredibly excited.  I love that Billy has this influence already.

Mental Capasity... Capacitee... Ugh.

My brain is at complete overload.
I've accidentally put dirty dishes in the refrigerator, overbooked my poor husband and myself for different things on the same night, and said some pretty funny things, especially when I'm tired.

Seriously, if you could see me typing this, you would giggle at how many times I'm backspacing and correcting things.

Maybe it's God's way of humbling me.

Maybe it's my body's way of telling me to stop thinking so much.

Or maybe I'm going absolutely insane, and my poor baby will have a mom who can't finish sentences.

How is it that I feel completely out of it, yet simply blissful all at the same time?  I am loving the fall weather, accessorizing with scarves and a large, round belly, and I even relish being able to experience every odd ache because I know a little baby comes along with it.

I hope he looks like Billy.

See?  I'm rambling.  I'll stop.  Just tell me I'm not crazy, please.

PS - This is our life sometimes lately.  Poor, poor, poor Billy:

Come back later this week for a very cool giveaway.  At least, I think it's cool.