New House, Goodwill Finds and a Growing Luke!

Hey all! Well, to say we've had lots going on lately is a bit of an understatement. We found out a little over a month ago that I was accepted to begin nursing school this fall, which is a HUGE praise and something that we are incredibly thankful for. A few weeks before we received this exciting news, we started throwing around the idea of becoming "house hunters" for the first time. After all, it is one of our favorite shows on HGTV. :) So, after some praying and seeking advice from our friends and family, we started putting what we've learned from our late night family friendly t.v. show to use! The process of looking for a home has been fairly pleasant overall and the Lord has been faithful to close doors and open them where He has seen fit. We couldn't be more excited with the home that He has chosen for us! We are set to close on our first home on June 6th! We definitely have our work cut out for us for the next few months (or year!) with the renovations we hope/need to make, but we know that's just part of making it our "own". :) I will post more pictures once we move, but for now, here it is!

Our kitchen in the new house is a bit odd shaped. There is a separate dining room where we will have a full sized table, but as far as the kitchen goes, there is room for something, but not a full sized table by any means. Aaron and I began looking at options for kitchen islands, with the thoughts that we would eventually just probably have one custom made for us later on down the road. Wouldn't you know, however, that I would find one that I just LOVE while Aaron and I were out and about one day at an antique store here in Griffin?! Seeing that we are buying a house, we have most certainly put ourselves on a spending FREEZE on items that we don't necessarily need at this point. So, I knew there was no way we could purchase this kitchen island that has so much character and that I immediately fell in love with. I had this table on my mind non-stop after seeing it. I was trying to come up with a million different ideas of what I could sell, etc. so that we could purchase this table. Aaron told me I sounded like him trying to figure out how he was going to buy an iPad! He gets giddy and excited over buying iPad's...I get giddy and excited over buying beautiful blue kitchen islands! Several days later after talking things over with Aaron, I went back to the antique store to see if I could bargain with the owner to lower the price - I failed because she had actually just lowered it by almost $90. She did inform me, however, of the store's lay-a-way plan and after lots of thought, Aaron decided that I would never be able to look at another kitchen island again without comparing it to this one. Take a look at our new (but old!) soon-to-be kitchen island that we are in the process of purchasing! It is going go perfectly with the colors and cottage type feel that we are going to be going with in our new kitchen!

I also wanted to share with you a GREAT Goodwill find that I ran upon several weeks ago. We have been looking for a bedside table for Aaron's side of the bed since we've been married and have always come away disappointed with not finding one we like that is reasonably priced. I immediately called Aaron from the store as soon as I saw this to ask if he minded me buying it (again, we're on a major spending freeze!). After hanging up w/ Aaron, a fellow shopper approached me and assured me that I was getting an amazing deal in this little table. He told me that it was indeed an antique, that he had two tables at home just like this one, and that they were worth over $100. Check out my little deal...only paid a little over $8 for it and I can't wait to refinish it!

(please excuse all the boxes in the background...if you could only see the rest of our "packed up" apartment right now!)

And last, but certainly not least, I leave you with a quick update on my little man, Luke. Last week, Luke completed his first year of PreK. He has grown to love and enjoy his time at school and making new friends. I can't believe how big he's getting - but I must say, the older he gets, the more fun he gets! I love him more and more each day - even if we are 100 miles apart! Both of our families are doing well. Please keep both Aaron's grandmother and my grandfather in your prayers. They've both had their own health issues arise this week but are both in good hands!

Luke's first day of preschool this year!

Luke's last day of preschool this year! Don't you just love how he crosses his legs?!?

Cute thing. :)