What's in a Name?

Inevitably, one of the main questions people ask when they find out you are pregnant is, "What will you name the baby?" Before we knew what we were having, Jared and I made a list of boy and girl names that we liked. After we found out we were expecting a girl, we decided pretty quickly on a name. I was a little hesitant to commit to a name so quickly, but Jared knew it was perfect and he was right! We had been discussing a bunch of different girl names, and we both liked names that had "Bella" in them. (No, not because of Twilight! Although I do love me some Twilight.) We wanted something a little more unique than Isabella or Anabella, especially since there are a lot of Bella babies lately! We found the name Arabella, and thought it was so pretty, but the meaning of the name is actually what sealed the deal. While there is some debate as to where the name Arabella comes from, the Latin origin of the name means "answered prayer" or "beautiful altar." Arabella is certainly an answer to our prayers, and we love that her name will reflect that. We had already talked about Faith as her middle name. (you can read about that here), so after that the decision was easy! Our baby girl will be Arabella Faith Parham. I'm sure she will have nicknames- probably a million of them thanks to her daddy!- but I love her name and what it means to us, and I can't wait to share that with her one day!

Nursery

So the nursery is finally finished- at least for now!- so I thought it was time to share! I did a lot of DIY'ing in the nursery, which I am honestly so proud of. No, it's not perfect, but I love that I was able to put such thought and time into making a special place for our baby girl. So, without further ado, here are the pictures.

 Her room is really small, so it was pretty much impossible to get a picture of everything all together. Here is a shot from the doorway looking in.

 The crib is the Graco Lauren crib, but I got it on Craigslist with the mattress for almost half the price! The chandelier was a not-so-pretty brass one that we had taken down in another room. I spray-painted it pink, and now it's fit for a princess!

Wall decal from Expressing You's shop on Etsy. Quilt I made using the Bloom Quilt pattern from Amy Butler. It's hard to see so I may do a more detailed post about it, but we all (all three of us that read this!) know my blogging history so don't count on it too much!

 I agonized over finding a chair for the nursery. They are all either so expensive or look very uncomfortable, and the room is so small I wasn't sure how a bigger chair would fit. I knew I needed a place to nurse and rock Arabella- or just to even sit and read books when she is a little bigger, though. My mom was looking to make some space at her house, and just happened to have the perfect chair! It was dark brown with a green cushion, so I just painted it and recovered the chair and made a new cushion. LOVE it! Thank you Mom and Dad! The shelf and lamp are things we already had in another room (from Target), and the faux wood blinds and white curtain panel are from Target as well.

 Collage of art above her changing table. Jared painted the ballet slippers and ballerina, which are probably my favorite things in the room. I need to take a better picture-they are beautiful! Arabella is one lucky girl to have such a talented daddy! The lower left frame holds this print that I downloaded from Lay Baby Lay, the bird at the top is this print that I received as a gift from my sweet friend Stephanie (this is actually just a printed copy of it until the real thing comes in, but I love it!, I made the "sweet pea" print at the top and the two small white ones at the bottom right (I'll try to take a better picture, but one says her name and the meaning and the other has 1 Samuel 1:27, and finally the ballet shoes were mine when I was 12 and I just hung them with some ribbon from an empty frame. Most of the frames are just painted thrift store frames from Goodwill.

 The dresser that I found and painted. You can read about it here. In the corner, there is just a small garbage can and little hamper.

 The armoire is something we already had in another room (from Craigslist). There is no closet in the room (it was used as an office by the previous homeowners), so we brought it in as extra storage for hanging clothes and other things!

 Diaper cakes from her Aunt Amy and Sally!

 This photo needs some explanation. For some reason, the door to the nursery just will not stay all the way open, so I made a doorstop using this pattern out of leftover fabric from her chair and quilt.

And finally, this is the outfit Arabella will wear home from the hospital. My daddy bought it for me to wear home when I was born, and I can't wait for her to wear it, too!

So that's the nursery! If there are any last minute updates, I will try to share them, too!

First Things First

Ok...so I have to start this post by saying I am probably the worst blogger in the world- I haven't blogged since January! I am going to try to do better, though! I have fun nursery pictures to share, but first I wanted to talk about something a little different.

Our church, Highpoint, is in the process of buying the building we are meeting in, and, as a result, our pastor has been preaching on tithing the past couple of weeks. I know most people normally shy away from this topic or are, at the least, bored by it, but it has really been a great series and I am learning so much. We were given the book, The Blessed Life, to read through each week during the series. I was a little skeptical at first, but God has really already taught me so much through the first few chapters.
While I really appreciate the lessons the book teaches on financial success and security in God's eyes (especially right now as we are about to have a baby and paying taxes and everything!), but I am really learning something even more important (I think) than that.

Chapter two of the book is titled God Must Be First, and it discusses how the very first of your income should go to God- because it belongs to Him already. While we have all heard this, at least if we have been in church for any length of time, it goes further than that. In Exodus 13:2, God says,

2"(A)Sanctify to Me every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the sons of Israel, both of man and beast; it belongs to Me."

Every firstborn belongs to God. In fact, God says that the firstborn belongs to Him 16 times in the Bible. That means the first of everything we have, including our money, is His. However, God wasn't talking about money here. He literally meant the firstborn. As we are so close to having our baby girl, I want to make sure that we are fully giving her to Jesus. He has blessed us with this precious baby, and the very least we can do is give her back to Him. She is already His anyway! What a sweet and comforting thought! Now, where this chapter really hit home with me is when it talks about Jesus being God's tithe. I had never thought of this before. God gave his first (and only) Son for us. It was his tithe to us. In the old testament, every firstborn was either sacrificed, or if it was considered imperfect, redeemed. God redeemed the Israelites with the firstborn of the Egyptians during the first Passover. We are imperfect. God redeemed us with His Son, His Firstborn. If God did this for us, how can refuse to give the first of our everything to Him?

With all that being said, I pray that every day Jared and I will strive to give Arabella to Jesus. I do not fully know how, but I do know that we must seek Him and make Him first in our own lives so that her life is also totally given up to Him. The book goes on to teach how our tithe is either blessed(along with the other 90% of all that we have) or cursed. I certainly pray that Arabella's life with be filled beyond capacity with blessing, and that the same will be true of any more children God decides to bless us with. She is our tithe, and she belongs to God.