I Can't Stop Smiling.

Furnish our apartment- check.

       Have you ever felt so blessed that you just couldn't express it adequately? That's exactly how I feel today. 

       Our quest for furniture began even before we were engaged. Josh and I and our parents all knew that it was only a matter of time before he popped the question, so we were keeping our eyes open for good deals on furniture. The weekend before we got engaged, I was garage sale-ing with my mom and aunt and picked up this beautiful leather chair for a really good price! 

        Then, a few weeks later, after we got engaged, we found this cute little table on Craigslist, and Josh was able to pick it up and move it into his apartment. 

          But then it stopped. No matter how much I looked, it seemed I could never find what we wanted for a price that would work for us. Or, if I did, it sold before I could get to it or it was too far away or we couldn't find transportation for it. 

         I started to get discouraged. So we took a break from looking and moved our thoughts to other things. But as the days ticked by and we could see the wedding getting closer (91 days now!!!), we knew that we needed to find some furnishings if we didn't want to move into an empty apartment. So at the beginning of February, I posted this. We asked people to help, and then we prayed. 

        Someone offered us a metal bed frame...someone else offered us a rocking chair...others said that they would keep an eye out for stuff for us...these things were great and we were (and still are!) thankful for them. But I was still discouraged. Why did everything have to cost so much? Would I ever get things to make our apartment feel like home? You're all probably thinking "but Ashley, it hasn't even been a full month since then yet!" And it's true. But I can be impatient. God's been teaching me patience a lot this past year and a half, and He's taught me more of that through this furniture process. 

        And so we continued to pray and trust God. And I decided to be content with whatever came our way. "Dressers," I decided, "If we can only get dressers, I can live without the rest for now." 

        So when my friend Olivia sent me an email telling me that her great-uncle ran a furniture bank and wanted to help us, I was excited. And I was still only thinking dressers. What a huge blessing it would be just to get them! 

        My dad got some time off of work yesterday, and we rented a truck and drove to the furniture bank. I got to pick out some furniture from their selection and I was incredibly blessed by their ministry at this place. Their mission is to share the gospel and they wanted to help us out since Josh will be going to seminary. They loaded up the things I had picked out and then prayed for Josh and I before we left. I was so excited with the things that I got!!! 

This dresser I had picked out for myself- there's also a pretty mirror that goes with it . . .But it's actually going to go in our spare room now- I'll explain that later in the post. 

The matching night stand :) This will also go in the guest room.

This armoire could either be used as a TV stand or a dresser of sorts- yesterday the plan was for Josh to use it as his dresser, but we've now decided that it'll be in our living room for our TV :D

We also got this set of tables for our living room! 

Sofa table . . .

End table . . .

 The coffee table is heavy and was behind some other stuff so I couldn't quite get to it well enough to get a good picture :P 

           Ok, so now to the next part of the story. Yesterday, after I got back with my new furniture, I found out from my friend, Kate, that someone she knows had some bedroom furniture that they were willing to give us since they no longer needed it. We still had the Uhaul for the rest of the day and part of the next, so dad and I decided to go take a look. This morning we got up went to get it. 

          It's so much more than I could have ever asked for!!!! It's such a beautiful set and it all matches!!! I love matching bedroom sets, but I had come to the conclusion that our bedroom was going to have bits and pieces of stuff and I would be content with that. Never did I dream I'd have this beautiful set to call my own! :D

This'll be my dresser- I'm going to get new knobs for the outside drawers, but other than that, I love it and plan on leaving it just the way it is! 

And here's the mirror that goes with it . . .

Josh's dresser- sorry for the blurriness. Again, new knobs on the top of this one :) 

And I just love these two little nightstands!!! 

            O, and this is really neat too! My neighbors gave me this head/footboard a few months ago, and it's been sitting in the basement. I'd forgotten what it looked like. So when we brought the new furniture home today, and my mom mentioned this headboard, I remembered the color as being different and told her that it wouldn't match. But she pulled a drawer out of one of the dressers and brought it into this storage room and put it next to the headboard. And guess what? It matches perfectly! 

         We also got two tall bookshelves and a metal bed frame! So that completes everything that was on our list of furniture (combined with his couch and bed, and the desks that we already have) except for the china cabinet, which really wasn't a necessity and just something I'll be keeping an eye out for once we get to Charlotte. 

         I probably used an excessive amount of exclamation marks in this post ;) But honestly, I don't really care...I'm just so happy and blessed! Mom said earlier, "Ashley, you're on cloud 9 today!" and I replied with, "I know, and I just love being here!"

         I can't wait to move these things to Charlotte in a few months and set up my own home with my husband!

         Yesterday and today have been such a reminder of God's faithfulness and goodness to me. I am blessed beyond measure by His love and still He pours out more blessings upon me! As I was thinking of this on and off yesterday and today, I've been brought to tears more than once. God is so good. 

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!"