After last week crawled by in anticipation of learning Baby Bergman’s gender and sharing the news with our families, which had me so exuberant that I was also completely strung out, this week was a welcome return to normalcy. Have you experienced weeks like that? I remember another one being the week of my wedding. I was overjoyed and delighted and so full of anticipation, and because of the excitement and also the pressure for these to be some of the happiest days of my life, every emotion felt extreme—mountaintop highs and end-of-the-world lows. I’m glad to be resting back somewhere in the middle.

This week was also one of creativity and the refinement of big ideas, of inspiration and scribbling notes and attempting to capture the ideas before they flew right back out of my head. I’m grateful to love a God who is by nature creative (and joyful in that creativity), and that He lets me be a part of His art. It reminds me of a father out in his workshop or studio or office, who invites the curious child in to sit on His lap, learn from Him, and create alongside Him. It’s beautifully intimate and loving that we get to be creators along with the Father.

Here are some other things I’m grateful for and loving this week.

Cultivating Gratitude

Baby Bergman is a girl! Clearly, I would love and treasure this little one either way, but I can’t wait for all things dresses and ruffles and hair bows.

A husband who lets me vent about body-image issues and my ever-expanding thighs, and then who doesn’t call me a hypocrite when I reach for the ice cream.

Creative direction. See above.

Jane Austen books and their movie adaptations. There’s no better way to spend a girls’ night.

The anticipation that comes right before a long-awaited trip. Dan and I are heading to Colorado in two weeks to rent a cabin with my college girlfriends and their husbands, and my soul is desperately in need of their companionship, even just a for a few fun-filled days and late nights of laughter.

Sharing Love

There’s nothing I can say about this post except to quote these brilliant, beautiful words: “If following your dream means that you will live fully alive, then you have no choice but to do it.”

Before I started blogging, I had no idea how much I would come to love other bloggers. Here’s why we need one another.

I’m already starting to learn how much motherhood means letting go of expectations and being kind to yourself just through pregnancy, and I’m sure I’ll hit more huge learning curves along this whole journey.

Creating your wedding guest list is one of the toughest parts of wedding planning. It definitely helps to set some clear rules up front.

My mouth is watering over these Greek-inspired dinner party recipes (especially that tzatziki sauce!).