Mo-vember to Remember

November has been another crazy month for us. Between working and trying to make our house our home (on a budget), we have had our hands really full! Chris decided to participate in "No Shave November" this month, so it's been funny to watch him progress to full blown redneck :)

 

Chris has been wanting to go to Corsair Distillery, so we headed downtown one afternoon for a fun tour and tasting.  It is in the old Marathon Car Plant, so the building in itself is very cool to look at.

 

 

I LOVE Ikea, and ever since we moved into our house I have been wanting to make a trip down to Atlanta to shop til I drop! Mom and I met Kim in Chattanooga and we all drove down together. While I lived in Atlanta a few years ago, I had heard lots about a restaurant called the Varsity, but had never made it out there. We stopped there for lunch. It is a super cute building, with decent food for a good price. Fun!

 

The Corks, the Minks, and The Gardners all decided since we live in Hendersonville now, that Sunday night dinners would be an amazing idea. We hosted the first one and it was so much fun! My work had our Christmas party at my manager's new house. It was nice to be able to relax with everybody and enjoy some good food! I was also blessed to get to spend time with my mom seeing the Rockettes! Now I just have to figure out how to make my legs look like theirs.

 

 

I had the privilege of going to read and craft with a kindergarten class. We read "The Hungry Caterpillar" and then made our own caterpillars eating our favorite foods. It was our year for Thanksgiving with my family, so we had a pretty chill day. Chris had to work at 3, so we had an early lunch and then Mom and I put up her Christmas tree and watched Monster's Inc and Monster's University. We had some wintery mix last week and Zeppelin enjoyed running around like a banshee in the backyard.

 

 

Chris's family came in to town to celebrate Thanksgiving with us as well. We enjoyed dinner as a family at Chop House, and then on Saturday, we took them to the Corvette Factory in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was so much fun, and Dan was like a kid in a candy store!

 

As you can see, Chris's beard has grown significantly since the beginning of the month. I am ready for December 1st so it can all come off!

 

 

As we head into the Christmas season, I can't help but think of how blessed we are. We both have jobs, we have a new house, we are both covered by the precious blood of Jesus, we both got to know my sweet Mamaw and learn from her how to trust Jesus through all things, and we get to spend the rest of this crazy life together. I have never been more thankful for the people we get to walk through life with and I am excited to spend the next few weeks celebrating the real reason for the season.

 

 

 

One Month of Crazy

October was one of the most insane months of my life. We started the month by closing on our house, I went to California, and then we painted, moved, cleaned, and worked on making our new house our home. I am so thankful for my parents and in-laws for helping us get set up and moved! I will begin posting pictures soon!

 

For our anniversary, we had decided to not do anything big. We both worked and were planning on going to a nice dinner downtown. I made it two work, started feeling pretty horrible, and within 30 minutes, I was doubled over in pain. Chris had to take me to the emergency room, where it was determined I was passing a kidney stone...NO FUN! We enjoyed a pepperoni roll for dinner and just relaxed most of the day. I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband who stayed with me the whole day and took great care of me.

 

Besides working on the house, we haven't done much the rest of the month. We celebrated Halloween at work by dressing up as the Wizard of Oz characters...so much fun!

 

 

We had our first trick or treaters and it was way fun! Can't wait to celebrate many more holidays in our new home!

 

I am so thankful for all of the good things that happened in October, and I am also thankful that I am confident that God will work all the things that weren't so great into something good!

It Is Well With My Soul

October 2 was a day I had been planning and excited about for over 6 weeks. Chris and I were supposed to be closing on our house. All of that changed when I had to fly to California for Mamaw's funeral. My sweet husband had to sign all of the mortgage paperwork for himself and me. I am so thankful for all he did to make sure everything went off without a hitch. We are officially homeowners!

 

That Wednesday morning, I headed out to Los Angeles. I met Mom and Dad at the LAX airport and Michelle picked us up. We drove over to Cora's to freshen up for the viewing and to visit for a few minutes. Afterwards, we headed over to Papaw's house to meet up with the family. It is such an amazing blessing that our entire family was able to make it in for the viewing.

 

The mortuary where the viewing was held was so perfect. It had a gorgeous indoor garden and two nice TVs that played an absolutely perfect slideshow Michelle made. I had the privilege of walking arm and arm with Papaw to see Mamaw. She looked so beautiful and peaceful. So many people came by to pay their respects and many others sent such pretty arrangements. We had such a good time telling stories and hearing all the different ways both Mamaw and Papaw had blessed so many others.



 

This is one of my favorite pictures of Mamaw from the slideshow.

 

 

I love these two of Mamaw and Pawpaw...they look so happy and in love!

 

 

After the viewing, everyone headed to dinner. I could tell Papaw was tired, so I asked him if he would take me on a date to El Pollo Loco...with our third wheel Uncle Gary! It was such an amazingly sweet time with the two of them.

 

Thursday we spent most of the day around the house, just spending time together as family. I believe it is such a testament of Mamaw and Papaw's love that we had 8 people staying in a small house, and 12 people spending time there, and there were no fights, arguments, nothing. It was a beautiful time of togetherness. When it was time to head to the church, we all went over together, prayed as a family, and then celebrated Mamaw's life! It was such a perfect ceremony and is exactly what Mamaw would have wanted. 

 

On Friday, we spent time going through Mamaw's clothes and jewelry. It was definitely difficult, but we found over $250 she had stuffed in different purses, so Mamaw was buying dinner. We also found a box with every breakfast note Papaw had written her, which is another testament to their love. Later I realized that one of the three necklaces I chose was the necklace she wore to our wedding...such a sweet God thing!

 

We headed out to Laguna Beach to take family pictures. It was an absolutely perfect day and it was so fun. I am so glad that we were all able to celebrate Mamaw's life and spend some time together.

 

 

Recreation of a picture from our trip to DC together as kids!

 

 

I love my sweet family!

 

I am so thankful I was able to make it to California to be with my family. It is truly a blessing to have such an amazing family and I am so glad we were all there together. Mamaw was such a special person and I will miss her until I get to dance on the streets of gold with her!

Dancing In Heaven

On Sunday September 29, my sweet Mamaw left her frail and failing body here on earth and stepped into Heaven to meet her Savior. It has been a very rough roller coaster of emotions as I know she was ready, but selfishly I still wish she were here. I already miss her sweet voice on the phone and her positive  outlook on life. Mamaw has left such a legacy of love and joy and I am excited to celebrate her life with my family later this week.

 

 

 

Crazy Blessed

These past few weeks have been pretty uneventful in the Gardner household. Between packing, getting stuff set up to be turned on(electric, water, etc), and work, we have been in the daily grind. We did take Zeppelin on a hike the weekend before last. It was a nice hike but long. Zeppelin was dead by the end!

This past week, my parents went to California to visit my sister and my dad's parents. My mom's parents haven't been doing so well so Chris and I stayed at the house with them to help out. It was definitely an interesting week, but overall it was good. 

Today was a rough day though. My Grandpa got rushed to the emergency room and he has some pretty scary things going on. While we are sitting in the ER, my dad tells me that my Mamaw is going down very fast and she is ready to go to Heaven. While I know that she would be better off, it is still so hard! I know God has a plan and I am just praying for us to be strong and feel His arms supporting us during this crazy time. 

I am so crazy blessed to be 25 years old and still have all 4 of my grandparents. They have all had such a major impact on my life and I can't imagine life without them.