One Year Later-from Mommy

Here we are, one year later! We've made it to the one year mark in our new home and our new life. We have so much to be thankful for: so many special people we've left behind as well as our nearby family and new friends who are all great blessings to us.  Last January 7, Jeff was finishing a harrowing cross-country drive from his parents' house, and Jonathan and I were finishing that leg of the journey by plane.  My mom had been here at our house to direct the movers as they brought in our stuff, and the new neighbors were wondering who in the world had enough stuff to fill a big rig's trailer.  (Don't worry, our stuff shared the trailer with other families, too!)  Special thanks to my mom for enduring that day.

I took lots of "before" pictures and promised to post them, but I didn't at the time...so here are some of our favorites.

Walking in...

The living room (which is now red!)

The kitchen.  This is the first room in our house that I painted.  I got started on painting last January and I'm almost done now.  I have one wall left to do, and that last wall (behind our bed) is taking me a long time to tackle.

Jonathan's room

Sweet sleep!

What we've since called "the yellow bedroom" that is now set up as a nursery

another favorite picture taken the 8th.  Unpacking was a huge job!

We also had a backyard to discover.  You can see here how much Jonathan's play structure leaned.  Thanks so much, John and Cheryl, for helping Jeff to fix it up!

We knew the first year would be a big adjustment, and it sure was, but we are so thankful for all the ways that God has taken care of us-particularly having our family nearby, having old friends and family come to visit, and all the new people we've met that we're thankful to count as our friends.  We're thankful for all of you!