Home Sweet Home

Friday afternoon, Stephen and I went to look at a house that is probably .1 miles from our apartment that we absolutely fell in love with!

Stats of House on Honey Grove Road (what a sweet name!):
1450 sq. ft.
3br
2ba
2-car garage
10x10 mud room
spacious kitchen
beautiful covered back deck with fan
carpet in the bedrooms!

We plan to make an offer on it in a couple of weeks. This is a great starter home and it needs virtually no work done to it since it's brand new! Probably the only thing would be cleaning out all the dust and everything, but I don't mind that! We had to do that with our apartment.

God is surely to thank for this! We both feel this was a God-thing, so we pray His favor and Will in this. :)

Thanksgiving Lunch: The Office Style

Today is the day we have our Thanksgiving lunch at work. We have Calhoun's cater the main dishes like turkey, ham, rolls, etc. and then have the employees bring side dishes and desserts. What a spledid week this will be! I can't say I am not looking forward to this feast because that would be LYING!

Today is also the day we are having our office's United Way campaign kick-off. We'll just be talking briefly before we eat. And apparently Mike Hamilton, UT Men's Athletic Director, will be here to talk about United Way. Also a local news station, WATE, will supposedly be here as well.

It's going to be a good day!

Video for Operation Christmas Child

Be inspired and make a difference!

Operation Christmas Child

For many years, my church family has been quite involved with Samaritan's Purse: Operation Christmas Child. What is Operation Christmas Child? It is where individuals, families, churches, and other organizations can come together to make a difference in the lives of many children around the world by taking shoe boxes and filling them with (acceptable) goodies, toys, hygeine essentials, and school supplies for Christmas. Samaritan's Purse takes all of the shoe boxes and ships them internationally to kids to can't/don't have a Christmas. By doing this, it gives these children a hope and also have a chance to receive the most beautiful gift of all: the message of Jesus Christ!

This year, Stephen and I did a shoe box for a girl 5-9 years old. One really cool thing now is Samaritan's Purse gives you an option if you want to follow where your shoebox is going! We definitely did that!

I look forward to tracking where our box is going. Lord, we bless that little girl that receives our box. That you would fill her with Your love, grace, joy, and peace. You are her strength. May she grow up to be a beautiful, healthy women of God who is on fire for you!

If you would like to learn more, check out samaritanspurse.org

Our Wedding Vows

I thought I would share Stephen and I's vows because...well....I want to! I got these vows from Jason Illian's wedding back in 2007. He was on the Bachelorette and was a virgin when he got married a few years ago. Him and his wife Alisha, have 2 beautiful children!

Here they are:

Vows - Stephen(groom)

When I say I love you,

I’m not just making you my wife,

I’m making you my best friend,

My last dance, my only hope, and forever lover.

When I say I love you,

I’m not claiming to have all the answers,

I’m praying that together

We’ll ask all the right questions.

When I say I love you,

I’m not just expressing a feeling,

I’m solidifying a commitment

And I’ll spend my whole life to proving it to you.

When I say I love you,

I’m not repeating “'til death do us part,"

I’m promising to be with you forever

In this life and the life to come.

When I say I love you,

I’m not just voicing mere words

I’m expressing how I’ve been surprised, challenged, engaged

And humbled—realizing that soul mates really do exist.

When I say I love you,

I’m not giving you human love

I’m pouring out God’s unconditional, sacrificial love

Dying to self, in hope that I can better serve you and honor you.

Abby, you are an undeserved blessing, a gift from God, and a dream realized. Much of my heart is closed to everyone in this world—but I open it to you. I don’t know what the future holds, but I know that I don’t have one without you. Just know that when I say I love you, I love you.

Vows – Abby (bride)

When I say I love you,

I’m not just making you my husband,

I’m making you my strong tower,

The family leader, my heart’s protector, and my goodnight kiss

When I say I love you,

I’m not just standing before family and friends,

I’m kneeling before Christ our Savior

Praying that His grace will knit our lives together

When I say I love you,

I’m not just adding your last name,

I’m subtracting our loneliness, dividing our sorrows

And multiplying our joys so that two can become one

When I say I love you,

I’m not asking you to make me whole,

I’m asking you to stay focused on God

And through His power and will, together we’ll be made holy

When I say I love you,

I’m not expecting happily ever after,

I’m preparing to hike the mountaintops and the valleys,

Swim through the joys and the sorrows, battle the good times and the bad

To make a life with you

When I say I love you,

I don’t want a big house or a fancy car

I just want to live in your arms and touch your heart

And dream bigger dreams than we could do separately

Stephen, you are the man of my dreams—a real-life knight in shining armor. My heart is never experienced such peace, and I never feel closer to God than I do when I’m with you. I may not be perfect, but I believe that we fit perfectly together. Just know that when I say I love you, I love you.

187 Days / 4511 Hours / 270701 Minutes

I have been married this amount of time. Almost 7 months! I still can't believe that I am married. Stephen and I will joke around because we stop in the middle of anything sometimes to say "Guess what? We're married." It's quite funny. Have you have had one of those moments that your just like, "Woah."? When I say it, I don't mean it in a bad way. It is an amazing experience!

So with this being said, I have had quite a few people ask me: "So how's married life?" Let me just go ahead and answer this question:

I love, Love, LOVE married life! Since the moment I said "When I say I love you..." I haven't regretted one milisecond of it. Has it been challenging? Yes. Is it lots of work? Yes. Is it worth it? Heck yes! Stephen and I have had our fights (some worse than others) and we have also had some amazing moments together. It takes quite a bit of communication in a marriage to make it work. And especially God and His Holy Spirit guiding us. Let me just tell you there is nothing more sexy than seeing your husband or wife worshipping and praying to God! It makes me love him even more because he takes the time to spend that time with God.

No matter if you have been married 7 months or 70 years, you will ALWAYS learn something new from and about your spouse. For example, we feel that the Lord is wanting us to buy a house now and when we went to go see the one on Double Tree Road which was over 2300 sq. ft., that made him nervous about having that much space. I on the other hand was excited with all the posilibilities it had and all the different things I can do to design/decorate it!

I have also learned that there will be misunderstandings. This correlates with the paragraph above too because men and women do not think the same way. There will be times that Stephen will send me an e-mail or a text about something and I totally interpreted it a different way and vice versa.

Another thing I have learned is that no matter what miscommunications, "discussions," etc we have had, we know we love each other. I know that if we have a disagreement that neither one of us are going to leave or walk out. We are each others constants. :)

So in closing, I love being married to Stephen. He is my heart's desire and my best friend. I love making him laugh and seeing the sparkle in his eyes when he talks about his dreams, goals, and aspirations. And even when he talks about banking. :)

Blessings,

Abby

Possibilities

I dwell in Possibility—
A fairer House than Prose—
More numerous of Windows—
Superior—for Doors—

Of Chambers as the Cedars—
Impregnable of Eye—
And for an Everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky—

Of Visitors—the fairest—
For Occupation—This—

The spreading wide of narrow Hands

To gather Paradise—

~Emily Dickinson

Possibilities. I love possibilities. I dwell in posibility. But above all that, I can do anything through Christ who strengthens me. Without Him, NOTHING is possible. I am thankful that I have Him.

In the movie "The Last Holiday" with Queen Latifah, she made a Possibilities Book. When I was younger, I would get bridal magazines and plan my dream wedding. It got to the point where I had too many magazines and I needed to consolidate. What I did was out of each magazine I tore out the things that I liked and pasted it into a big blank scrapbook. When I finished over a period of several months, I had filled up the entire book and also almost 1/2 of another one! The first book is so big that the binding came off. I plan to keep it for my daughter(s) to look at and get inspired. And it's a great memory.

I have been thinking of starting two more Posibilities Book - one for my creative side and the other for home decor. I might just end up doing the creative one though. We shall see! I kind of view the Posibilities Book as a way to creatively put down your dreams, aspirations, goals, ideas, thoughts, and everything else on paper. I know the Lord has put a creative theme in me and I need to get it out! Sometimes I wouldn't have done anything creative/crafty for a while that I have to just sit down and do it before I explode or lose what I was thinking. It definitely helps when you can put it on paper.

Do you have a Possibilities Book? If so, what do you see possible?

Blessings,

Abby

Dream Closet

Can I say, "DREAM CLOSET" ?!? This is a pretty fantastic walk-in beaudoix (sp?). The proud owner of this piece of heaven is Megan of Honey We're Home. You go girl! :)

Here she is in all her glory. Yes, it's okay to cry.

A Gem

While I was doing my normal routine of checking out Better After's Blog, I stumbled across a true gem of a blog. This blog, Playing Sublimely, is so awesome! I absolutely love her sense of style, wit, and just her overall positive attitude. What an incredibly sweet, godly family. Amy, you are a true inspiration to me! :)

I still can't get over how beautiful her house is!!! From the inside out!

Here are some before/after photos:

Before

After

Here is the inside stair/foyer area. Stunning!

Before

After

Look at this architectural detail of the arched hallway

I can't say enough of how much I love these front doors

I can just imagine the grandeur, warmth, and love pouring out of this home. And it feels like a home. Thank you Amy for letting me "in" to your home!

Blessings,

Abby

Wanted: A House

I am hoping we will have a final word today whether we are going to make an offer on the house or not. We called last night and found out that if we want any concessions as far as the price, we would have to use Carrington Mortgage Services for our loans. And if we wanted to go with someone else for our loan, we forfeit all concessions. This is so incredibly stupid!

What we have decided to do is if they won't accept another pre-approval letter from our own lender, we will walk and find another house. Granted, I really love this house, but I want what God wants and that is the best thing I could ever want, need or have.

We trust God completely!

Double Tree - Update

I just got off the phone with Robert, our realtor, about trying to get ahold of the mortgage people to get an approval letter to even make an offer on the house. He had talked with the realtor the house was listed with and he had the info that we needed it, but never gave it to him. I just got it and couldn't get ahold of him. Plus, we just found out that there is another offer that is being put together that they haven't been able to get the approval letter either. Needless to say we are feverishly trying to get our letter and make an offer!

I am praying the Lord's will and favor in this. Either way, we know this is a God thing. :)

Will keep you posted.

Lone Tree to Double Tree

This past week has been quite interesting. Last Wednesday our realtor, Robert, tried to call me completely out of the blue. We haven't really talked with him in months since we decided we wanted to stay in an apartment for a while longer until we could save up some money and pay off debt. After he called and left a voicemail, he sent me an e-mail requesting that I look at the house he sent. Apparently the price had dropped by $40K and he said this was the best deal he has seen in West Knox. So, I looked at the house he sent and it is incredible!

Here are the stats:

2358 sq. ft.

4 br

2-1/2 ba

2-car garage

Fenced backyard with shed-like building

Incredibly safe, quite, upkept neighborhood

Asking Price: $145,900

To be honest, I really loved this house! So, I told Stephen and we decided it would be at least worth going to look at. So, on Sunday we went with my parents, my "grandparents," and Robert. After taking a thorough look around, it appears that everything that needs to be fixed is all cosmetic. This house is valued at $201, 000 and if we just update the kitchen and bathrooms, it would already be worth more than what we paid for it! If we get this house, we would never have to move unless we have like a dozen kids (which I don't necessarily see happening!).

And the best part about it is that I have always wanted a place that I could design and decorate. This is my chance, my project! I am so excited! I plan to blog about it. :)

PS. This is truly a God-thing because we weren't expecting to buy a house right now. And everything seems like a go with it. Praise God! :)

Thankful Poem

There is so much to be thankful for
in every closed and opened door,
For my eyes cannot see what lies ahead,
But my God is the Guide instead.

For when trials come and trials go,
I will always forever know
With a gentle touch and lamp in hand,
He leads me through this dark-filled land.

I walk not alone but together with Him
Even through the roads that are dim.
For every step and every stride,
Is for His glory and not for mine.

So with my eyes I keep on You,
Looking back I will not do.
For forward is the way to go,
Because You chose this path I know.