Thankful.

I can't believe it's already December. Thanksgiving has come and gone.  I'm not trying to be a cheeseball but this year I looked at Thanksgiving with an entirely new appreciation.  2012 has been a year with many challenges but also with many blessings.

A few weeks after we moved into our new house, we learned I was pregnant! We are beyond overjoyed and thank God everyday for this blessing He has given us. Drew and I decided that we would wait until after my first doctor’s appointment at 9 weeks to tell our family. My birthday happened to fall right around that time, so we planned a fun dinner at Parker House with our families to share the exciting news.  The weekend before our scheduled dinner, Drew’s mom had a brain aneurysm. She was rushed to UMC. Drew told his mom the news when she arrived at the ER as the doctors were preparing her for surgery. This was certainly not how we had planned to share the news. It took me awhile to understand, but I am finally beginning to see that perhaps God had a plan much greater than ours. Perhaps the timing for us to share the news with Drew’s mom ended up being exactly what she needed to find the strength to make it through the surgery and then continue to fight towards recovery. After 17 days in the NSICU, Debbie was moved to an intermediate rehab facility where she spent several weeks. She was then moved to Methodist Rehab, a more structured rehab facility here in Jackson, and now is at a rehabilitation center in Vicksburg. She is a miracle. That's all I can really say.   It has been a long road and she still has a long road of recovery ahead of her, but if there's one thing I know about my mother-in-law, it's the passion and enthusiasm she has for life. She's a fighter, and I know that God will continue to take care of her just as He did during those 17 days she spent in NSICU.

We spent Thanksgiving in Vicksburg this year. Debbie was able to leave the rehab facility for a few days to come home. As we set around the table to say the blessing, I felt overwhelmed with thanks. Thankful for our sweet baby who I have yet to meet but already love with all my heart, thankful to have my mother-in-law sitting at the table beside me, thankful that she will be able to meet her granddaughter, thankful for Drew for more reasons than I could ever list, thankful for our family and friends who love us and help us through the tough times and thankful that our baby girl will have so many people who love her.

K

There's No Place Like Home

Drew and I are finally homeowners again.  We moved into our new house in May. And while it was very nice not having a mortgage payment for a few months while we were shacking up in Vicksburg, I am overjoyed to have our own space again. You see, being the OCD person that I can tend to be, I need to know that all of my “things” are in the proper place. This is something that Drew has grown to deal with love when it comes to living together. It drove me crazy to have some things in storage, some at my parents’ house and then some in Vicksburg. I felt like I just couldn't get organized. But now we’re all settled into our new abode. And by settled I mean we have moved in and unpacked most of the boxes but still have yet to order real blinds, hang pictures, curtains and the list goes on. Why did I think we were just going to move in and have everything magically look like a page from the Pottery Barn catalog? As Drew says, we’ll get there. I envy the patience he possesses. For now, here’s a pic of our new place. It’s good to be home!