Giving Thanks

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.

Psalm 107:1

I have a lot to be thankful for this year. Even though it has been one of the most trying years of my life, it has been one full of many blessings. I've learned to always look at the light at the end of the tunnel, even if the light is as small as a laser pointer. There is always a light, and things could always be worse. These are some things I'm incredibly thankful for...

My husband.

I am thankful to have Glenn as a husband. He strives every day to be the man God has called him to be. He is most definitely the head of my household and I am so thankful to be blessed with a man like him. I respect him and it's easy to respect a man of God. I'm just so thankful he has chosen that path and works so hard to be the man he is meant to be.

My pets.

My pets have been my loving children and filled a void I had in my heart most of this year. We got Falkor in the spring when the PCOS diagnosis was getting worse and I didn't see much hope for me. Having a puppy helped put more joy in my heart than I could have asked for. My other pets have been wonderful, too. Yumi is the only problem child I have, but even she is one of the most loving cats I've ever seen. My pets humble me and love me unconditionally... I'm thankful to have them and to be taught the value of love through them. (Note: Falkor is now much bigger than the above photo... I'm talkin' 102 lbs at 9 months old, but he's my big baby!)

Our house.

Glenn and I worked very hard on the house all year... back in January, we didn't even have a floor! Since then we have renovated the entire upstairs and only have a few minor things left, plus the nursery. Eventually I'd like to redo the floors in the bedrooms, but that will come in time. I'm thankful that we got such an incredible deal on this house and that we can stay here for many years to come. There is room to expand and for our family to grow. We are very blessed with this house.

My Pregnancy.

It really is a miracle. I didn't exactly expect it to happen this year... the way things were looking, we were going to have to stop in October for the rest of the year, save some money, and pick up with more aggressive fertility treatment in January. Now I'm so thankful that I can say I will be 6 months pregnant in early January. Sometimes it still doesn't seem real, but now I am starting to feel a little more movement.

I'm thankful for a lot in my life, but this year these are the things that come to mind the most. I've been looking forward to being pregnant for Thanksgiving because I will get to devour more food than ever. What makes it even better is that baby will be size of a sweet potato the week of Thanksgiving. Is it morbid if I inhale 3x my body weight in sweet potatoes next week?

1005 Shiloh Drive

If you haven't heard the good news already, Glenn and I are buying our first house!!

It's a 3 BR, 2 BA home in Springfield, 4 miles from White House. For all you out-of-towners, that means it's about 25 miles north of downtown Nashville. It has a large basement and 2-car garage. It's on an acre lot, with a fenced backyard and big screened in porch that takes up nearly the whole back of the house...
The upstairs living area is 1,400+ square feet, the basement is 500. There is a lot of space and a lot of potential for long-term stay. Of course, we got the house for way less than what it's worth. Unfortunate for the seller, but very fortunate for us! Along with the house, they're installing a new AC/Heat unit for us. In exchange, we upped our offer on the house by 1/2 of what the price was the for new unit. It's no extra money out of pocket for us, and a very little difference in our monthly mortgage payment.

The house is going to get a bit of a make over as well. First thing, we're painting the foyer, living room, dining room, kitchen, and down the hall. We're also having to paint the living room ceiling. We're tearing up the carpet in the living room, dining room, and down the hall and replacing it with Peruvian Walnut laminate wood. Sounds expensive, but we're only paying $1.49/square foot. We're also tiling the kitchen floor. I bought all the tile, materials, etc from someone on Craigslist for only $250. We need some new blinds, drapes, light fixtures, and other little things that we can replace over time. We're so excited to see the transformation of the house and will definitely share those with you guys. The bedrooms will have to wait; we're focusing on changing the things people see regularly. The bathrooms already have really nice slate floors... I wish the seller had taken time to do the same floors in the kitchen as well! That's okay though... the tile I got is very pretty and I can't wait to see it all finished.

We get the keys to 1005 Shiloh Drive on December 17 at 10:00 a.m. and of course, we are so completely stoked that it's less than a week away. We've been dreaming of owning our own home for a while now and the time is finally here. Everything is falling into place perfectly and we couldn't be more thankful.

Glenn's parents are giving us their stove so now all we have to get is the refrigerator and washer/drier set. I'm planning on splurging a little on the fridge, being that I LOVE to cook masses of food and need the space to store it. I'll be searching Craigslist in the meantime for the washer/drier set.

We couldn't be happier right now. This new house is going to be the best Christmas present ever.