I think we just made the best deal EVER!!

I am an avid follower of http://www.craigslist.com/. It's a nifty site that you can pretty much find ANYTHING that you are looking for. It lists garage sales in your area, estate sales and just general items that people have for sale. I am currently in furniture seeking mode, so I have been checking it daily trying to find a few very specific pieces. We are in dire need of a dining room table...right now we eat off of TV trays in our nice big living room. It's not bad when you have a fire in the fireplace, but it does make candle lit dinners a bit difficult.

We also need a new couch and accent chairs. I'm leaning toward leather, but don't really like the price tag associated with it. So that's where Craiglist comes in. I check each day and scroll through all the new listings just hoping for that really good deal.

As far as a dining set goes, I have very specific qualities I'm looking for. First, I would like a pub height table. I would also like it to have a hidden leaf...no need to go searching for said leaf when company comes. I would really like a cherry finish, but I can pretty much work with any color...it might just require more work on our part. And lastly, I would really like it to be solid wood...none of this veneer stuff. I want it to be good and solid...we tend to be a bit hard on furniture.

So yesterday here I was searching on Craigslist and I came across a posting for a pub height table with 6 stools....and a hidden leaf. There was a picture listed, but you couldn't really make out much. So I made a quick call and we decided to go see it last night.

(Insert glorious music here) When we walked in and saw the table I knew right away....this was THE ONE! It is THE table that I have been dreaming of. It's beautiful...and it was only $200...WITH the 6 stools included. Seriously, God gave us this table. I had prayed about it and He blessed us. And to top it all off...the sweet people we bought it from also delivered it to our house for us...we didn't even have to rent a truck.

It's SUPER heavy...the legs alone weigh about 30 pounds each. The woman's son had gotten some type of stain on the table top, so she stripped it down to bare wood. She was going to re stain it cherry like the rest of the set, but just never got around to it. So I think I'm going to re stain it a glossy black to match the rest of our kitchen. So the legs and trim will be cherry and the top black... We have black iron light fixtures in the kitchen along with cherry cabinetry...I think it's going to be fun to make this beautiful dining set our own. I kept walking in to the kitchen last night just to look at it... I'm so proud that we waited on the Lord. We had gone looking at several furniture stores, but we never found anything that we just loved.

And what we did find was ridiculously priced. So I started praying and thrifty shopping. I think I've been to every garage sale, Church rummage sale, and Craigslist posting out there. And low and behold we finally found THE ONE.

It's quite a lesson for me....to wait upon the lord. And I don't really know why I still get amazed when God works through our obedience... He always blesses you when you're faithful. It's become a little game for Bill and I, to give a little more here and there to see what God does. I can remember watching my parents write checks to the Lord all the while knowing it was the last they had in the bank...but not worrying because they knew God would bless them, that He would provide. And I'm here to tell you, that is THE TRUTH.

Bill and I did a little experiment not too long ago. We write our tithe checks every two weeks...that's how often we get paid, so we tithe accordingly. Well, Bill had accidentally written tithe checks two weeks in a row.... and we talked about it and decided to just let it ride. And I actually said, "oh don't worry honey, if there's one person I don't want to short, it's God. So let's just make that an extra gift to God. He says to test Him in this, so let's do and see what happens".

Now all the while I was saying this I was thinking to myself....I don't really see how God could bless us with any extra money... We don't have any refunds coming and there's really nothing for Him to use. But in spite of that, I wanted to see what God would do. And within a week, we got a check in the mail. I honestly thought it was a joke. We got a $500 check for some type of insurance refund that we had overpaid when we bought our house.

Some might say that was just a coincidence....but I know better.

No seriously...you didn't notice that???

Let me start out by saying how much I love my husband...he's a true blessing, but that man is NOT observant. I've spent the last week cleaning the living room and preparing to get down and dirty with the decorating. So this weekend I've been rummaging through all my decorative items that I packed back in Chicago. And low and behold I find JUST what I've been looking for....my two matching vases that will be PERFECT for the fireplace mantel.

I get everything cleaned up and put up and am just dying for my husband to get home....I mean the entire living room is transformed now that it's been decorated. It really looks like a lived in house now.

So I wait....and for those of you who know me, you know it wasn't patiently :-) And in walks my sweet, CLUELESS husband. We say hello and I start getting dinner organized...all the while I'm watching him like a hawk, just WAITING for him to say something about the BEAUTIFUL living room.

Twenty minutes go by...still nothing. He's telling me about his day, etc....I even see him look around the room....specifically at the fireplace, and still NOTHING.

Forty-five minutes go by and I've had it.....so I say, "HONEY! What do you think of the living room?" And what do you think he said???..... "What about it?"

I look at him as if he's lost ALL his marbles and I ask him, "What do you mean WHAT ABOUT IT??" "Did you not notice that it looks completely different?? It's now clean and decorated."

And my wonderful husband looks right at me and says, "oh sorry honey, I thought it always looked like this."

SERIOULSY! How could he POSSIBLY think it had ALWAYS looked like that?!?! But that just goes to show you how truly different men and women are.

We truly speak different languages. And I'm learning to LOVE the differences between us. We truly cannot understand each other sometimes, but it's SOOOO much fun trying to figure the other out. We have learned to just laugh when Venus and Mars rear their ugly heads. And I have to say, I don't ever want to know EVERYTHING about my husband...that little bit of mystery provides just the right amount of spice :-)

Murphy can FINALLY navigate the stairs...

We're moved in....sort of

Ok, so we got all moved in on Saturday....after FOURTEEN HOURS!!! Yes, you heard me....FOURTEEN HOURS!!! But honestly, we have a LOT of stuff. When I moved from Chicago, I purged a TON of junk, but my husband....bless his heart..he's a natural born pack rat. So, we've made a friendly call to our neighborhood Goodwill and they're going to be picking up the junk...and I hope that someone gets good use out of it.

And so now we're surrounded by a sea of boxes...there are boxes EVERYWHERE!! It's a daunting task to unpack all those boxes, but we've taken to just getting through one box at a time. Otherwise the sheer quantity is enough to do me in :-)

We've put up a few curtains so that we don't scare the neighbors, and we're slowly but surely making our beautiful house feel like a home. I'm overwhelmed sometimes with how blessed I feel. Here we are, newlyweds and we already have this beautiful home to live in. I'm so thankful and I praise the Lord for being faithful even when I'm not. He loves me in spite of myself...thank HEAVENS for that :-) ....otherwise I'd be up a creek.

Our hilarious little puppy is enjoying his new home as well....we had tried and tried to get Murphy to go up and down the stairs on his own, but he was just too scared. So the other night I put the leash on him and walked him up the stairs. Then Bill did the same and walked him down the stairs. So now our funny little puppy barks his way down the stairs...it's as if he's saying, "I think I can...I think I can". He's soo cute :-) I got it on video and hope to post it as soon as I can find my transfer cord. Sometimes I call him up the stairs just so I can watch him walk down them....actually he slides down more than walks...but you get the picture :-)

Ooops.....

Ah...well today, I scalped my husband. Back when we were dating, we bought a pair of nice hair clippers and I started cutting Bill's hair. It's not too terribly hard, and you would think it would be almost impossible to mess up.

Not so...It's actually quite easy. This evening as I was finishing up his hair and making the final trims around his ears, I tripped....and cut a nice round circle on the side of his head...all the way to the skin. "Oooops!!" There was no option other than to shave his head. ....otherwise he'd walk around looking like he had a terrible case of ring worm.

So now my poor sweet husband has no hair....and looks as if he recently enlisted in the military. But he took it all in stride.....in fact, he's quite fond of the look. I usually like to keep his hair a bit long....and he prefers to keep it short. So now he's gone and gotten his way...maybe a bit more than he bargained for. But oh well :-)

At least it will grow back....we hope :-)

The many joys of life.....

Do you ever have those moments where things are just so ridiculous that you just have to laugh. I mean, you really just have to take a moment and release all of that built up tension in one BIG hearty laugh.

I had one of those days yesterday....it's basically been a whole week building up to the "cake icing" yesterday. Let me begin at the beginning.

Since Bill and I got married, we have spent about $5000 on our cars. Now, it's not as if we have old clunkers....We have a 2002 Toyota Camry and a 2001 Ford Focus. I think it's just been that both cars have reached their "needy" points at the same time...not terribly fun when you're trying to buy a house and add nifty new things to it such as furniture...but at least we're blessed with vehicles that usually run and AAA for when they don't.

About 3 weeks ago we were at a movie and had noticed that one of the rear tires on the Camry was a bit low...so on our way to the movie we stopped and put some air in the tire...just to be safe. Well then, when we come out of the movie we have a flat. But no problem, we got the tire changed and went along our merry way.

Then last week I needed to make a quick trip to the grocery store, I ran out to hop in the Focus, and realized I had a flat tire. I run in to tell my husband and then hopped in the Camry. No problem...my husband got the tire changed and we fixed it the next day.

Then on Thursday, Bill went to get in the Focus to get some gas and it started acting CRAZY!!! I mean it was sputtering and backfiring...quite honestly, you would have thought the car was possessed. So we immediately call our mechanic and he tells us that if we hurry and get the car in, they might be able to fix it before the July 4th holiday. So we did...Bill drove the Focus and I followed him to the mechanic....all I said was, "honey, DO NOT STOP for ANYTHING!!!" I figured that as long as we could keep rolling we would make it...

So we get to the mechanic and they put the car on the machine to figure out what's wrong with it. They keep it for 4 hours and we go and pick it up. And then $157.00 later they nicely tell us that there is nothing wrong with it that they can find. .....Really!!??!! Did you DRIVE the car???

So then last night my husband calls me at work and tells me that the car is DEAD...completely DEAD. It won't start, the lights won't turn on...NOTHING! Which of course means that we have a dead battery. SO we load up the old battery and take it to Auto Zone.....by this point I am not taking a chance. I want them to test that dad-blame battery to make sure that it's really dead.

They do and sure enough, deader than a doornail. So we purchase our new battery and are now happily driving two healthy cars once again....

Sometimes you just have to laugh....it doesn't help to get uptight or upset about it...it's become a bit of an adventure to drive our cars...we never know what's next :-)

Life in Louisville.....

I wanted to start by including a few pics from our day. I was one of those brides who wasn't really keen on having a wedding.....and my husband was adamant that we were. So I conceded...since I knew it was so important to him....and boy am I glad I did. Our wedding day was SOOO incredibly special. It was full of laughter, tears and way too many sweet moments to count.

And now I've been a wife for almost 2 months...and I could not be happier. My husband is a true gift from the Lord. We recently finished up a Bible study called, "Love and Respect" by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. This Bible study is a MUST for anyone who is married, engaged, or even dating. As a woman, I know how important love is in a relationship, but I never knew how important respect was to a man. In fact, to a man, respect is MORE important than love.....yes, you heard me right. To a man, his need for respect supersedes his need to be loved. Now as a woman, this is a foreign concept. We, as women, would rather be anything than unloved. We crave love like we crave breath. But that need does not hold true in the same way for a man. AMAZING!!! ....but true.

And as a woman, I didn't know what it was to respect a man, particularly my husband. I found myself acting in disrespectful ways without even realizing it. I could come across as disrespectful to my husband just by the tone of my voice...go figure. Don't get me wrong, I am by NO MEANS an expert...I mean I've only been married for two months. But we joined this study with several couples ranging in married lengths from 45 years to 2 years and they all said the same thing.....this study changed the way they spoke to one another...it changed their whole behavior toward each other.

So, if you get a chance...if you have a spare minute, check out this study....it's truly an eye opening experience.

We're getting MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so apparently I've jumped quite a few spaces ahead... :)

Well, Bill and I actually got officially engaged on Easter weekend. We love to hike and go camping and were home visiting Bill's family Easter weekend. Well, we had hiked to the top of a large hill and Bill had called me over under the guise of asking me a question...I knew he was talking, but I was focused on a tag on my shirt that was driving me batty....I wasn't aware of a word he said until he went down on one knee....that caught my attention but I was still unsure...thinking to myself, "is he doing what I THINK he's doing????....surely not!!!". Oh but he was!! He then asked me to marry him and after many happy tears I answered with a resounding....YES!!!!

We're actually getting married on May 17th of THIS YEAR!!!! The reason for the rush is that my brother has enlisted in the Air Force and ships out on June 1st, so if i wanted him at my wedding it had to be soon...so May 17th it is.

So, please pray that all goes well and that we are able to get all taken care of before the big day.

My sweetie

Here's a pic us at New years. I spent a week in Louisville for the holidays...it was GREAT! I've met LOTS of family and friends, but we're flying to Orlando to meet his mom and step-father on Valentines...I'm nervous ;-)