Catch up of 2011!

So this has been a crazy wonderful year for Chad and I and we are amazed by God's faithfulness.

January started with us putting our house on the market.  We began the real estate endeavor with lots of prospects and an offer but unfortunately the buyer wasn't able to buy our house.  With all of the hits on our house, we began looking for new residence.  We fell in love with a house less than a mile away and put an offer on it.
For Chad's 28th B-day I surprised him with a weekend getaway to Wilmington and while we were in route we got the verbal confirmation that our offer had been accepted on our dream house.

February: February was filled with showings and our very first married Valentine's day...We celebrated by me working night shift but that's a step up from our last Valentine's day in which Chad had the flu and a fever of 104 :)  I can't wait til next year!

March: We closed on our new house!!!!  The people who used to own it were mural painters so we inherited some of them.

 These reminded us of prison bars!

 Look the 50" TV they left for us, which has now been relocated to a new room.

 Our kitchen was a pale green which reminded us of baby food.  But we do love the white cabinets :)

 Our dining room has words written around the border.  Now it is a catch all for boxes.  (We're a work in progress)

 So at first glance the blue jay mural might seem pretty.  What you can't see is that the mural and the bricks are set in while the rest of the wall is covered with this 1/2" texture.
I went to home depot to see if we could just fill in the mural and brick spots with the same texture but they stopped making said texture circe 1999.  Bummer.  I tried to sand it away but the texture just ate my sandpaper.
Enter my handy hubby and his #1 help Justin Johns.
Props to those boys.  In the span of a few short hours, one trip to Home Depot, rescuing the shop vac hose from the duct work and a few good laughs, they had knocked the old wall out and built me a new one.
I was "unfortunately" at work the whole time so I couldn't help. They did a great job!  Behold the power of men and tools :)

 This is the master bedroom.  The neutral was a little pukey and that mirror was surrounded by-you guessed it-another painted mural.

 There is a little alcove off our our bedroom in which this vanity lives.

 Oh the murals.  Chad loves it.  Someday our children will love it.  I think it is a little sensory overload but it will help in my application for wife of the year that I let Chad keep it.  (Kidding of course)

 This will be our guest room.  I love the built ins and the fun shades of green.

 More guest room.  This is in the process of being painted.

 This room is currently serving as my "office/craft room/quiet time space/place holder til we have babies and this becomes a nursery"

 This is Chad's office.  He just moved to working from home.  Something I LOVE especially on days when I'm off and we can get lunch together. (And the extrovert in me loves having a warm body near by at all times.)

And his office has a nice window to our wooded back yard.  We are so excited to make this house our home and use it to welcome lots of guests.  

April: What a month! It was filled with painting, de-popcorning the ceilings (thanks for the tools and advice Tricia and Dave)  Moving several loads and Chad setting up his home office.  I also joined a Bible study with a few girls from Providence and I am so excited to learn more about Jesus and grow closer to them.  We also got  to see Blake and Amanda get married in a beautiful wedding of two beautiful people.  If your wedding could withstand a tornado, I know your marriage can withstand anything.  

May: Praise the LORD!  Our old house sold.  We are so thankful that the Lord provided a buyer in His perfect timing.  We just left the lawyer's office this morning and officially signed over the deed.  We are ELATED.  We also made a trip to Charlottesville last weekend.  It was so amazing to catch up with old friends with Chi Alpha.  Pastor Horner at Providence Baptist Church mentioned a few weeks ago that he advised us to write a thank you note to those who helped us come to know Christ.  

I learned about Jesus before UVA, I just thought I had my life under control, but I would let God (creator of the Universe) know if I needed any help.  Pride much? Check!  Well UVA, issues with food, poor choices with boys and an indecision about my future had a really quick way of humbling me.  I was at a pretty low point spiritually when some amazing ladies and gents at a floor hockey game invited me to a prayer group. So I went the following week-that was the first time I felt people invested in Christ.  I just remember walking in and there was the Rent soundtrack playing.  These girls had never met me before but asked me real questions about my hopes, dreams, fears and loves.  I also joined a small group.  The combination of an upbringing with Biblical teachings, incredible ladies who took an interest in me and a solid Bible study group led by gifted teachers renewed my passion for Jesus.  The next year I was lucky enough to lead a Core Group with one of the smartest ladies I know.  (What is it about red heads that make them really good teachers and really good friends)  It was just great to be back in Charlottesville and I'm very grateful for the ladies who took the time to love me the way Jesus did.  Do life like Romans 12 tells us to mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice.  Thank you ladies for caring about me and for giving me a shoulder to cry on and those good laughs that make your sides hurt.  As we begin to get a little more settled, I'll try to get those thank you notes out.  

Chad-the greatest man of all time-is putting the final coat of paint on the guest room right now and we have plenty of room if any of you would like to come visit.  Or for the Raleigh-ites-our door is always open :)  (Not literally-safety first, people)