Home Sweet Home

We have found our first home!  It is a cute little 2 bedroom one bath duplex with vaulted ceilings in the living room and a patio about the size of a door mat in the back :) We just love it!!  And don't worry...I have pictures!

Street view

View of living room when you come in the front door

Looking into kitchen from living room
 (excuse my purse and other junk that I tossed on the bar)

Kitchen (Aren't the cabinets cute?)

View from kitchen into living room 

Bedroom #1 (This will be our bedroom)

Bedroom #2 (This will be our office/guest room)

Bathroom

We are so excited to get it all set up!  I will definitely post pictures once Brian gets settled in and we put our "touch" on it.  Brian is very excited to explore the design possibilities and figure out what our "couple style" is (don't fret, I'm being sarcastic ;) ).

We are renting from the sweetest couple too!  When Brian got the voicemail that they had selected us, the husband said "Well partner, I look forward to meeting you both."  Then, when Brian called back to tell them that we wanted it, his precious wife went on and on about how excited they are to rent to us and how she had hoped that we would choose them and made sure that Brian told me "hello" for her.  They are allowing us to paint the walls a neutral color to make it more of a home and even agreed to hold the place for a couple of weeks so that we could get everything in order before Brian moves in.  They are such a blessing!

We are so thankful for this answered prayer!  God continues to amaze us with His provisions as we continue to seek his plan for our life together.

WE HAVE OUR OWN PLACE!!!!  :)

-Rachel

Christmases

Brian and I were BEYOND blessed this Christmas.  Seriously.  Our families are out of control.  However, we are not complaining...in fact, here is a screenshot of Brian's Facebook status on Christmas...

He thinks that he is hilarious (and he kind of is ;) ).

We were able to hit all of the major holiday events for both of our families, which is quite a feat.  We celebrated with Brian's dad and stepmom on a Saturday in December in Springfield along with two of his brothers and one of his nieces. It was a great day of present opening, bowling, two great meals, and lots of catching up.  After Brian got out of school for Christmas break, we flew to Colorado to celebrate with his mom, stepdad, sisters, brother-in-law, one of his brothers, many nieces and nephews, aunts, uncles, and grandmas (I don't think I left out anyone...I hope)!  It was a fun few days of celebrating the holiday, shopping, eating, opening presents, holding babies, playing with kids, and chatting.  It's so great that Brian's family is so talkative...it allows me to fit right in ;).  We stayed through Christmas morning and then took a flight back to Tulsa that afternoon so that we could make it to my family's Christmas celebration (including another wonderful meal, more presents, family game time, and more great conversations with my grandparents, 99-year old great-grandmother, aunt and uncle, cousins, parents, and brother) that evening.  After the big family celebration, we went back to my house and opened presents with just my parents and brother.  Whew, can you believe we pulled it off??  And can you believe how blessed we are to have so many wonderful family members to celebrate Christmas with?  We consider ourselves to be greatly blessed and hope to be able to share the Christmas season with all of our family as much as we can in the future.

One of the best parts of this Christmas for us was that we did not have to split and go separate ways in order to make it to all holiday celebrations, we were able to go to each event together, which was wonderful!

And just for good measure, a few photos :)

The ornament my mom got for me to remember
the Christmas that Brian and I were engaged

Instagram of Brian and I at the Denver airport on Christmas Day
(no we really aren't quite that pasty, it's the filter...or at least, we hope it is ;) )

Enjoying a fancy McDonald's Christmas lunch
on the drive back to Joplin after our flight

Merry Christmas!!

-Rachel