Baby Name Challenge Tag

It looks like there is a new tag going around! (I feel like a writer created this one as she was researching, but didn't name it the "Writer's Name Challenge" so that there would be more people filling it out ;).) As I was reading through the first one I saw, I was thinking, this looks hard (because, the wonderful thing about Bri is that she's completely indecisive. I'm probably going to make my future husband write the names we chose on the birth certificate, too, that way if the child hates it, *I'm* not the one who committed. I am so mean. And indecisive.). I got tagged twice, and I could have turned it down once, but not twice, that's just too rude, haha, so I am attempting to pretend I am decisive (you can let me know how good I am at that in a few minutes, hahaha). And also, with a new little brother in the house, we have been talking about names a lot over here, and so I thought it would be a fun time to fill it out if I am going to ;).

I was tagged by both Maddy from Little Bit of Sunshine and Dominika from Walking in the Sonshine (yep, two rays of sunshine <3!), and no matter how hard this one is for me, I am honored that you both thought of me girls, truly!

Actually, I kind of feel like the three of us have an unspoken understanding that we're "safe" bloggers to tag because we know that the other two are "okay" with tags, haha, and that's kind of a friendly thing to have in the blogeshere, right?!

Sooooooo, here it goes!

R U L E S:

Answer the questions
Tag three friends


1.What are your favorite boy and girl name from the top 100 of the year?

Boy: Ethan (#17). Actually, several on this list are cute and I might mention them later, but I'll just go with that one, because I remember it being the first boy's name I really liked (although, for reasons since then, I am not sure I will ever use it, which is sad).
Girl: I'll go with Autumn (#75). There are too many cute ones to choose from, but I have always loved Autumn as a name. Autumn is such a pretty word anyway! But the use of it would be limited, because you would have to have a girl baby in the six weeks of true fall to use it. Like the name Noelle. I feel like you can only use that name if your daughter is born December 1-25.


2.What are your least favorite boy and girl name from the top 100 of the year?

Boy: Sebastian (#22). Not because the name itself is terrible, but I have to ask, has any baby ever LOOKED like a Sebastian? Maybe if you could find a cute nickname until he "grew into it"... but nicknames are my thing and I am having a hard time finding one, so I have my doubts that this could be a baby name ;).
Girl: Either Kennedy (#58) or Quinn (#76). I have nothing against the names per say, but they don't sound as feminine as I would lean for, and so I wouldn't pick them.


3. If you have twins, what would you name them?

Well... I could go with bible names that are associated with each other.
Boy + Boy: David + Jonathan (actually, I would totally do that one).
Boy + Girl: Moses + Miriam.
Girl + Girl: Mary + Martha.


4. If you could change your name to anything, what would you change it to?

I like my name and the reasoning behind it, so I wouldn't want to change it. But I did ask to be called Ella when I was little, because I felt like Ella made a sensible nickname for Ambrielle, and I loved the book "All-of-a-Kind Family". Tori called me Ella for a day, and then that was it, because my Dad heard and asked if I didn't like the nickname Bri any more and I thought I hurt his feelings, which was not my intent... haha.


5. If you had four children, boys or girls, all with the same letter, what would their names be?

I am never going with the same letter theme, haha. Buuuuuuut...
1. Ida
2. Isaiah
3. Isabelle
4. Iris
Sure. I just picked 3 names to go with Ida, hahaha ;). Iris and Isabelle are beautiful, but probably wouldn't fit with other names I would use, so this is purely for fun ;). .


6. What is your favorite animal inspired name?

Boy: Wolf.
Girl: Wren.
But I would never use animal names, haha. They are fun in books, but I feel like they are dangerous in real life (I feel like these children would be the most likely to with they had gotten boring normal names).

7. What is your favorite colored inspired name?

Boy: Ash.
Girl: Hazel.


8.  What are your top three favorite boy names?*

1. Caleb.
2. William (not nicknamed Bill. Because why?).
3. Jeremiah.


9. What are your top three favorite girl names?*

1. Adelina.
2. Hosanna.
3. Elizabeth.
*Top favorites meaning "first 3 favorites that come to mind", obviously, right ;)?


10. What is your favorite month inspired name?

Boy: August
Girl: May


11. Choose a name from a movie.

I am drawing a complete blank on movies that even hold normal (read: not obviously movie-inspired) but cute names... hahahaha.
Boy: Eh, Albert from "The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry". I don't particularly love this name, but I do love this character because he's hilarious (and I love the fact that he wasn't even supposed to be a big part of the movie), so, sure... haha.
Girl: Arwen is not normal, but it is beautiful. I will not bother to spend the time explaining where it came from, as it's so obviously movie-inspired I expect you to know ;).


12. Choose a name that is already in your family.

Boy: Probably Daniel. Tori has claimed Robert, so that's out ;).
Girl: LaVon. It's a traditional requirement I refuse to break. Tradition!


13. Choose a name from a book.

Boy: Theo, "The Bishop's Shadow". Unfortunately I am not as partial to the name Theodore, so I don't know how that would work out, haha.
Girl: Leslie, "Anne's House of Dreams". I would never wish Leslie's life on anyone, but I think the name is beautiful!

And I shall tag a few writing bloggers I know, because they can chalk filling this tag up to doing research for future stories, right ;)?!
-Micaiah from Notebooks and Novels. (She just got one of her stories published, how neat is that?!)
-Jane from Jane Maree. (So much enthusiasm on this blog!)
-Danielle from Life is Like a Book. (I literally just found her blog through a comment she left me, so hi, Danielle!)

Had you heard of this tag yet? What was your favorite name from my answers? What are some names you would have chosen to use instead?

Rejoicing in Hope,
Bri

P.S... who wants to see another picture of Isaac, because he's adorable <3?

Grateful Hearts ✽ Joyful Laughter

Issac Charles Lee

August 10th, 2018

9 lbs. 6 oz.

22.75 inches long

Precious gift from God <3

Our little Issac arrived mid-morning last Friday <3. Mama and Baby are doing well, and we are all so thrilled for this new little brother! He is such a content little guy... and he snuggles so well! Mama says he has a very definite pattern; over the past couple months, she has noticed that he is always most active in the morning and in the first little bit after we children go to bed; and that hasn't changed a bit since he's been born!

 He is such an alert little guy. Look at those eyes <3. I love him so much. He just looks all around with those big eyes whenever he is awake - he is sleeping or observing, there seems to be no in between. If ever a baby were intentionally taking the world in, it's this little (big) guy!

And yes, Baby Bear stuck <3. Noah was so confused the first time Baby was called Issac... then he must have just assumed that Issac was a totally different baby, because then the next time we called him Baby Bear, THAT confused Noah... oops, haha. Noah has been so gentle and protective and accepting of him, it has been adorable!

We think Issac looks the most like Josiah, but he has such dark, dark blue eyes that look like Peter's when he was a baby, that we won't be surprised if his eyes end up brown. Mama also says she's seen Andrew in him at times, but for the most part, he looks like Siah... in fact, Mama called Josiah Winnie-the-Pooh SO often when he was a baby, because she felt like he looked like him... she had forgotten about this when I heard her tell Issac last night, "You look like Winnie-the-Pooh right now." Too funny.

We are so grateful for the Lord's protection over Mama and Issac, for the prayers of all our dear friends, and for the joy little Issac has given us. Issac has already met most of our extended family, and had two photo shoots, so lots more pictures will be shared in the future ;). But for now, I just wanted to share our little gift with all of you, and our family rejoices in the kindness of the Lord <3.

Rejoicing in Hope,
Bri

P.S.... go check out this post :D!

On My Book Shelf ✽ Girl Defined + Little Life Moments

Good afternoon everyone! I hope your day has been wonderful and that your week has been blessed! It's hard for me to believe it's already Wednesday for some reason. But I am here to talk about lots of little things of varying importance, for anybody who would like to discuss them with me ;)!

You may have heard of this book before... it was actually really big in the circle of blogs I read for several months, but I was late to the trend, as usual ;). (My tbr list is so long... Mama bought this book like a year ago and I just finished it, hahaha...) It has a gorgeous cover (and interior, actually - the design is so pretty!) When I finally got around to reading it, I had heard enough people mention it that I knew that it was either really, really good, or I was going to be disappointed to find that it was way under the standard I had been told it hit ;). But having finished it, I can say: it was really, really good.

Within 24 hours, I had gone through the first 4 chapters (considering I wasn't skipping the study section and bible studies always seem to take me a while to go through, this is definitely saying something for this book!) Reading through the first chapter I kind of felt like it was going to fall short... until I was hit with a bombshell that I hadn't expected, and then I instantly became excited to go through the rest! I had heard a lot about this book in the context of biblical self image and modesty, and really didn't expect much more from it through most of the first chapter, but then there was just one little sentence that jumped out at me (I think it might have even been in the study questions, not the actual chapter!) about finding our identity in Christ or in... well, literally anything other than Christ, and I got a glimpse of just how deep this book was going to delve, and it truly made me stop and think, and then I couldn't wait to get into the rest of it! This book covered so much... loving the Lord with your whole heart, using your time wisely, finding your identity not in what other's think of you but it who God has called you to be, living bravely for Christ, the jobs a girl could take on (do you think they were able to give an answer that would work for everyone without knowing their circumstances? It was the best way to answer that question I have seen!), how we have been placed here "for such a time as this", and yes, modesty and self-image... directly and indirectly, it dealt with SO much, and I loved it.

Kristen and Bethany write like they are right there, with plenty of stories of their own shortcomings to encourage you that they've been here and they know; but they have also been blessed to see the truth, and they want to share it with all the other woman out there. I truly loved going through this book... it was such an encouraging read, but more than that, it was refreshing. I am going to say that 95% of everything in this book is something that I have thought through in the past. But looked at from a new perspective, it wasn't redundant at all. And it's sisterly advice "spurs on to good works"; whether this is new to you or you are well versed in these matters, whether you are working steadily or are feeling discouraged. It was easy to read, but deep to think through, and I honestly look forward to reading it again! It's definitely going to be one of the top books I recommend after this :)!

(For those of you who wanted to know when I shared the Undivided study, yes, this book (as Undivided did) uses more bible translations than the KJV when sharing verses. I read the ESV and HCSB along with the KJV habitually, so this wasn't a problem for me, but for those of you who's conscience would be hurt by this, I didn't want to accidentally deceive you by not bringing it up. When a translation that I don't feel is the best is shared in a book, I know I can always look it up in my own bible to "rightly divide the word" for myself; if you think that you can do that, I still wholeheartedly recommend this book, because it is such a blessing!)

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In other little news from today...
Noah this afternoon woke up from his nap and yelled for me. I came to lay down with him, and he gave me the tightest squeeze, gave a sleepy smile, and told me, "Oh, so comfortable. It's not 4 o'clocks yet." And went back to sleep <3.
For the curious, "4 o'clocks" means nap time is over. He may get up at 4 o'clock... sometimes he tried to test us by telling us it is 4 o'clocks ahead of time ;). Unfortunately, unlike him, we can read a clock ;). But this is the first time he has voluntarily said it was NOT 4 o'clock just to get to stay at nap time, I found it adorable.

I'm working on a new "thing" for the shop today :D! Daddy suggested this one, and I have to say, I love it. As soon as he suggested it I knew 1. It needed artwork. 2. I wanted it to be a chalkboard (although, now that I have finished the design, I also really want to make a happy, colorful canvas one, so, we'll have to see about that!). So last night, I sat down and freehanded a sketch of an ice cream cone, and today I dug out a chalkboard! I had some issues with my photoshop which was frustrating, but once it cooperated, I loved how the design turned out :D! This was actually my first time using the graphite transfer method on a chalkboard, and it IS possible, soooooo... lots more ideas just opened up where chalkboards are concerned. *wheels turning* And what does everyone else think? Should I add hearts around the ice cream cone, or not? Here's the original sketch...

And I am ridiculously pleased with how that fast draft turned out. I am no artist, y'all, so forgive me my excitement. But I pulled up a pinterest sheet of ice cream doodles and combined about three to make that ^. Peter was sitting beside me, pointing out all the mistakes I was making ("THAT ice cream cone doesn't have a cherry!!!" - he told me I must not know what I was doing, hahaha), but when I finished my pencil sketch and started tracing over it with a permanent marker so it would show up well in photoshop, he goes, "Woahhhhhh, you are a good tracer though!!!" We all have our skills ;).

Speaking of the shop... Under The Tapestry is celebrating 3 years on Friday, and I am holding a contest on my FB page and running sales all week long to celebrate :)! So you'll want to check those out here and here.

How is your week going? Have you read "Girl Defined"? If so, what was your favorite thing about this book? Would you add hearts around the ice cream cone? And are you going to join in Under The Tapestry's contest :D?!

Rejoicing in Hope,
Bri <3

Looking Back at July ✽ Little Moments

Happy August, everyone! I hope your July was wonderful and that this new month will hold lots of blessings for each of you! Life was busy and full in July, and now we are all just wondering when Baby Bear will choose to grace us with his presence ;). Here's a little look at our month...

One night while Mama and Daddy went on a date, I had the little ones make personalized pizzas for supper. It made quite the impression on them. Abbi especially talks about it constantly, and I would say it was definitely a memory maker for them, haha!

Abbi made her pizza shaped like a stocking on accident, lol!

I wuv him <3. He woke up early and came to snuggle me in bed while I did my bible reading, but by the time I was ready to get up he was fast asleep again :).

We were gifted these chairs by a kind couple at church who are moving, so sweet!

Peter drew the kissy-face emoji from memory after seeing it once as I scrolled through instagram. Too cute!

Mama and I have been crafting half the month; she took up fabric stamping (so awesome!), and I have been working on a baby blanket for 3 weeks... hopefully just two more days worth of work to do there! I kind of had a goal to finish in less than 40 days, which is, I think, my current record for how diligent I was on getting one from start to finish. I'm not a very competitive person except against myself, then I am ruthless, haha! But I'm not going to share any pictures, we'll get some with baby eventually ;).

Our garden... haha. Well, the bell peppers and tomato plants started flowering. But it's so late now, I doubt that it really does much good. But, as Bethi says, we did better than last year! We've got three cucumbers that are quite big, and we harvested a whole basil plant (which is currently drying in the dehydrator, and it smells delicious, but it's taking so loooonnnnnng, haha!). Last year we got three basil leaves. And Bethi lost them. This year is, sadly, an improvement. We had such a great garden before we moved to VA, it's sad!

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Josiah: "I am hiding the dice from Noah. He can't see it way up there!"
Yeah, well neither can you, buddy... haha!

Noah, sitting in the van, about to go into church...
"Get pizza!"
After church:
"Get pizza now!"
*babbles about pizza*
Mama: "What if we don't get pizza?"
Noah, little lips quivering: "Because [translated "but"]. It be tasty."
*pizza for lunch*

Noah, with a caution cone on his head: "I'm a birthday!"
*Mama gives him a real birthday hat for fun*
Noah: "Where's a mirror? I sooooooo cute!"

Abbi: "Noah! It's raining!!!"
Noah: "More whipped cream!"
He typically loves rain, but apparently :whipped cream > rain:.

Also, obviously Noah is the family comedian of the year. You can't beat two year olds. (Sorry, Tori.)

Can we all just agree that if you clean the play kitchen set at church and there AREN'T toy cars in the oven, the question begs to be asked, did they even use the nursery last week?

Tori: "Noah calls cardinal birds, caramel birds."
Peter: "...Cardinal birds?...
"...I think I know why...
"...I call them caramel birds, too."

*Me, talking to myself, obviously*
Andrew: "WOULD YOU JUST BE QUIET."
I thought that that habit had died down for some reason, but nope, it's totally still buried in there, and it's resurfacing full force. Honestly it annoys me too when I notice, but it's just so involuntary, lol.

Also, does anyone else find themselves making a conscientious decision to Stop. Singing. In. Their. Head. and breath a sigh of relief when everything is quiet for two minutes before you start again...accidentally? Or no? Is that just me?

Noah, pointing to a cucumber; "Cucomoe!"

Abbi: "We've loved each other all our lives."
"Except you were MISSING for eleven years of my life, and it was sad."
Abbi: "But we have always loved each other in our hearts, even when we didn't know it..."

Abbi and Emmi, pretending to be indian princesses, walk past our organization station:
Emmi: "Ooo! You have a morning schedule! Not many tribes have those."

Josiah, when Tori asked if he liked salsa chicken: "No, but I just keep on eatin' it. And when it spices me, I have to take a big drink."

Andrew: "I didn't want to take my belt to bed with me! I might swallow it while I slept." (???)
Tori: "And then every time you would open your mouth to sing, you would start... BELTING."

Josiah explaining "Duck, duck goose": "You sit, and we'll goose you."

Bethi: "You don't get points for doing nothing."
I mean, she was being sarcastic, but that's a great life lesson right there. Thanks, Bethi.

While mourning the fact that the first baby cucumber I found was eaten by bugs, two much bigger cucumbers were growing and I never even knew it, I was so surprised when I found them, haha.

Noah is only too young for coffee when he wears this shirt....

...If he is wearing literally any other shirt, he says he is big enough. It's hilarious. I will tell him, "You're too young for coffee!!!" and he looks down at his shirt to see whether he is too young today, or not.

I'm turning on the dehydrator for basil...
?!?!?!?!?!
"It won't turn on."
*checks plug*
"Ohhhhhh, good."
*plugs it in* *turns it on*
"It still won't start. Where is the manual? Maybe I forgot something.... nope. Oh dear. Wait a minute... I bet..."
...
"Yep. Y'all, I plugged in the coffee pot."

I take a video of Noah telling me what his "Dino-mite Dude" shirt says, because it's cute, and he asks to see it.
After it's over, he tells me, giggling, "That was Noah. Noah talking like a baby." Like he doesn't talk all day long like a baby for obvious reasons... like, um, being a baby ;).

Abbi and Emmi celebrated Christmas in July... with an umbrella tree, a precious moments figurine, and air cocoa with candy canes in a Christmas cup, hahaha!

Tori, while I edit this post... ""Are you laughing at your own blog?"
Me: "Cardinal Birds?... I think I know why..."

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These knitted washcloths are available in Under the Tapestry :)! I was asked to sell these by a knit-washcloth-fan, and I have several sets available! And Under the Tapestry celebrates it's 3 year opening anniversary on August 10th! How would y'all like to see that celebrated :)? I have some ideas, but I am still finalizing things, so I am open to suggestions!

I also impulse free-handed this little mouse for Noah one night. He had been carrying around a baby's first laptop just to play with the little "computer mouse" on it. So I thought, I bet he'd like one without the laptop attached, and that evening I crocheted it up on the fly in a little over an hour. I finished it after he went to sleep, which made me sad, because I had told him I was making something for him... but then he woke up being carried to bed, and I was like, "Hey Noah..."... and when he saw it, he gasped and grinned from ear to ear, and it was just precious! I told Bethi, "That was worth it!!!", to which Noah replied, "Yeah, Merphett," and shoved the mouse in her face, so now this little guy is called Merphett the Mouse, and the pattern for him is going to be up on Under The Tapestry Handcrafts soon!

And here are the posts I shared on Forget Not His Benefits this month, in case you missed them :).

Life Lately

Undivided: A Study in 1st Samuel 

Whereas it was in Your Heart

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How was your month :)?! Any ideas for Under The Tapestry's 3rd "birthday"? What are you looking forward to in August :)? Many blessings to each of you in our precious Lord and Savior!

Rejoicing in Hope,
Bri :)