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!"

Angela Hopkins | Maternity Photos

This post is loooooong overdue. Especially considering the fact that the two little ones that once grew inside Angela are now 5 months old! Like I said, long overdue.

But, late is better than never. So here's to my beautiful friend, Angela, her wonderful husband Peter, and their precious twins, Sebastian and Katharina. 

 Isn't she the most beautiful pregnant woman you ever saw?

Our First Valentine's Day

When Josh was visiting this past weekend, we celebrated Valentine's Day early. 

(As a result he couldn't figure out when he was at the store yesterday why in the world people would be buying Valentine's Day gifts after Valentine's Day . . . until he remembered that we hadn't actually celebrated on THE day :P)

We enjoyed dinner out at the Rosewood Grill in Hudson. After dinner we gave each other gifts and headed to play glow in the dark mini golf! We'd debated on going to see a movie, but mini golf was much more fun since we could talk and laugh throughout rather than having to be quiet (we're not very good at being quiet :P). 

Josh gave me the sweetest, most thoughtful gifts. First he picked me up from school on Friday with a dozen multicolored roses and chocolates. 

On Saturday after dinner, he gave me this beautiful Willow Tree figurine. 

My favorite gift that he gave me!

Inside this card was a folded up piece of paper. It was a list that he'd written a few years ago of the qualities that he wanted in a wife . . . and he went through the list and told me how I met those qualities. It was so sweet! 

He knows me so well . . . this Dress Barn gift card will probably be used to 

buy a new dress for the honeymoon :D 

Best Valentine's Day ever? I think so!!!

Oh, and pardon the picture quality. These were all taken with my point and shoot camera- I'm currently awaiting the arrival of my new SLR camera :D

I'm on a quest...

...to find reasonably priced furniture for our soon to be home in Charlotte :D

Unfortunately, that's been a whole lot harder to do than I was expecting. So, I thought I'd ask my wonderful blog readers for their input/help. If any of you have or know of anyone who has furniture that they are looking to part with for a good price or give away to a poor, helpless, soon to be seminary couple (haha!), I'd love to hear about it!

We're really open to anything, but the things on our list that we are really in need of right now are:
-dressers for both of us
-nightstands
-end/coffee tables
-A china hutch or some sort of cabinet to hold serveware
-book shelves (*sighs* Josh has WAY too many books :P)
-queen size metal bed frame

Any furniture in any condition would be ever so welcome...I love painting or refinishing things that are a little rough around the edges, so to speak :D

Oh, and guess who's here this weekend?!!?! 

Just A $5 Dessert | Our Story Part V

                   Check out the first four parts of our story before you read this one! 

• Part 1- First Impressions
• Part 2- Second Chances
• Part 3- Love At Third Sight
• Part 4- Four Sweet Months

Now we're back to the beginning
It's just a feeling and no one knows yet
But just because they can't feel it too
Doesn't mean that you have to forget

______________________________

Ashley:

      It had been over a month since I had last talked to Josh, and I was so confused.  Had I done or said something to upset him? Was he tired of talking to me? Why hadn't he given me any indication that he didn't want to talk to me anymore?
      My dear friend, Angela, and I had made plans to spend an afternoon and evening together on September 20th. After much debate about what we wanted to do with ourselves, we decided to head to Legacy Village to window shop and get dinner and dessert at the Cheesecake factory.
      During dinner I told Angela some of my frustrations about my communication with Josh. She and her husband, Peter, had communicated long distance on facebook before their courtship, so she understood the complications of it.
     "Couldn't you just come up with something to talk to him about to spur the conversation on a little bit? Like, at the end of October you could wish him a Happy Reformation Day, or something like that."
      "But the end of October is SO far away!"
      Not able to come up with a good solution, we began to look through the dessert menu. All the different kinds of cheesecake looked delicious!
      "There's a red-velvet cheesecake in here. Josh told me that's his favorite kind of cake."
      "Well then, why don't you get it and then you can tell him that you tried it?!"
      I laughed. "It might work. It would at least be something to talk about. But no. I can't do that. That'd be silly. What if I didn't even like it?" I talked and reasoned myself out of it, and settled on Oreo Cookie cheesecake, one of my favorites.
      The waiter came to our table and asked what we would like. Angela ordered a slice of Double Chocolate (YUM!) and then the waiter turned and looked at me
      "And what can I get for you?"
       I smiled and opened my mouth to respond. I had every intention of telling him that I'd like that delicious Oreo cheesecake. But instead I heard myself say, "I'll take red-velvet, please."
      Angela, on the other side of the table, just about lost it. As the waiter walked away with our orders, we both burst out laughing. I couldn't believe I'd just done that! 
       Fortunately for me, when our after dinner treats came, the red-velvet cheesecake was delicious! And since I had done the difficult part and ordered that particular dessert AND ate it AND loved it, I had to tell Josh about it. So back to Angela and Peter's house we went where I logged into my facebook and sent him a quick message:
      "I had red velvet cheesecake tonight and it was SO good! Thanks for the suggestion ;)" (yes, I really did put a winking face :O).
      And, O! I was so happy when I wasn't in suspense for very long. When I got home that evening, there was a response waiting for me that just about made my insides leap for joy. Josh told me that he was glad there was another red-velvet fan in the world, apologized for not responding to my last post, and filled me in on the fact that he had just been promoted at work. 
       Well, it was just a $5 dessert, but it was so much more. That dessert started up a whole new conversation for Josh and I, one that, despite it's challenges, never really stopped. But now I'm getting ahead of myself. You'll just have to wait for part 6 to hear more about that... ;)

________________________________

Joshua:

        The days between Ashley's and my last Facebook post had been busy ones for me. I continued to pray about Ashley. And I was praying about my calling – I knew I was called to go back to seminary eventually, but also sensed that I needed to keep working. A leadership position became open at my job, and I applied and interviewed for it that September. 

        On September 20, I found out that I got the promotion. But what really made me smile that night was that I also got a Facebook message from Ashley! My heart jumped as I read her short but meaningful message: “Just thought I'd let you know that I had red-velvet cheesecake tonight and it was SOOOO good! Thanks for the recommendation ;)”

       After reading her message, I realized that not talking to Ashley wasn't going to help any. The feelings I had for her and the qualities I admired in her hadn't changed, and I just felt stupid for not responding to her before. I was still attracted to her sweetness: she remembered my favorite kind of cake and had tried it. I was still attracted to her fun, joyful personality: her all CAPS delight in the cake and her winky smiley face. (Yes, that was a winner!)  And most importantly, even though I had been silent...she was still my friend. 

       And to top it all off, that big news in my life? I knew that I really wanted to share it with Ashley. She really had become an important friend to me. Our conversations over the summer had not been a passing fad. 

      I replied to Ashley that I was glad she enjoyed it, and apologized for not responding. I told her that I had been cutting back on my Facebook time...which was true. What I couldn't tell her was that it was because I was trying to figure out what to do with my feelings for her! I did share with her some of the responsibilities and perks of my new job, and that I was glad there was one more red-velvet fan in the world.

       I knew that night that while I still thought I should take my time to get to know Ashley, silence wasn't an option. Those messages on September 20^th began a new conversation between us. As Ashley told me how the beginning of nursing school was going, and I filled her in more about my new job and told her I would pray for her, I realized again how much I enjoyed talking to this young woman...and that though I wanted to take it slow, I didn't want our conversation to end...