Welcome Home

Getting ready to deliver the wreaths

Hello all! Merry (belated) Christmas and happy New Year! Hope you are having a joyful holiday season!

Life has been quite busy lately, but mostly in a good way. Our regional route has been mainly uneventful, but we did have the honor of running a load of wreaths for Wreaths Across America, all the way from northern Maine to Chattanooga, Tennessee! It was quite an adventure getting up to Maine, and we were blessed to slip in and out again in between storms. We took the load down to Georgia, spent some time at company headquarters with the corporate people, and then delivered our wreaths to the Chattanooga National Cemetery early on a Saturday morning. Unfortunately, we weren't able to stay for the ceremony of laying the wreaths, but it was still quite an honor to transport them.

Holding the keys!

Some of you know that we have been in the process of buying a house. Well, after over a year of searching, and two months' hassle over a mortgage, we finally closed on the house, took possession, and moved in - all on December 23rd! That's right, we signed closing papers in the morning, loaded up the Uhaul in the afternoon, and moved everything into the house that evening.

My wonderful in-laws have been so kind and helpful - my hubby's parents helped clean the house, and they and my brother-in-law helped unload the moving truck. They have also helped with many little projects around the house. We spent Christmas day with them as well. It's wonderful having them close by now!

Pretty new mailbox!

The first few days after moving to a new place are always busy, but we have accomplished so much in the past three days. Not only have we unpacked all the essentials and much of the non-essential stuff, set up furniture, etc., but we've also made several improvements and made it more our own. We bought and installed a new front door, door casing, and front and back door knobs and locks; we changed several of the light fixtures and nearly all of the light bulbs; pulled out the dilapidated old mailbox and put a beautiful new mailbox in; completely re-coated the master bathroom shower; set up the master bedroom and furnished the guest bathroom; changed out old air and water filters, and cleaned years of dust, calcium deposits, rust, and grime out of the house. Needless to say, we're a little worn out!

I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have our own place, our very own house. And not only is it our own house, it's also our own property - six acres of property, in fact! We have big plans and dreams for that land (think garden, chickens, pigs, cows...), but there will be time for all that in the future. In the meantime, it's just so wonderful to come home to our own place, sleep in our own bed, cook in our own kitchen, dream our dreams...

I pray peace for each of you during this holiday season, and that the new year brings a fresh start and renewed life to you. Merry Christmas, happy New Year, and best of luck to you!