Now I can share!!!!!!!

We are HOMEOWNERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is so crazy to say. Goodbye rent check..Hello house payment!

For the past three months, Joel and I have been going CRAZY about this house!! We didn't share this news a lot of people, in case it didn't go through, but now we can! woo hoo!
Background: The house was in Probate (which means the owners died and didn't leave a will). The seller excepted our offer..but it had to go to court in front of a Judge to be approved. The day of the court, anyone could go and outbid us (I know, doesn't seem right, but thats how it goes!) So, yesterday the lawyer,my mom, dad, myself and our Realtors went to the Los Angeles courthouse at 8:30am. Our case was first. Our lawyer got up and asked if anyone was there to outbid the house on Chester St. My heart stopped....but no one came forward! Praise GOD! The judge approved our offer and said our names...and then the house was ours!!

Details: The house is in Paramount (where I grew up). It is down the street from our church (E.R.C) and down a few blocks from my parents, grandparents, sister and soon my brother! The house has 5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. There are 3 bedrooms upstairs and 2 bedroom downstairs. We decided we are going to fix the whole downstairs first, then start working upstairs. Before we move in, we are going to knock down a wall, scrap the ceilings, re-do the kitchen...put in new flooring, paint and do molding. I am so thankful that Joel and his brother Jason can do 95% of the work! We are excited to get in and get dirty! There is a huge backyard, which Joel is in LOVE with (If you know Joel, ya know he loves to work outside and landscape!)

What I've learned: We are very excited about it. We, and a lot of other people, have been praying that if its God's will, then it will happen. I've been learning a lot about being patient and relying that God's will is the best. It was funny because yesterday I was thinking of what bible verse as my status. I instantly thought of "All things work together for good to those who love the Lord." I thought this verse was perfect...because I love the Lord and I thought maybe all things will work together for good. Easy enough, right? Well, I couldn't remember where it was found, so I Google it. To my surprise...the verse I thought I knew so well wasn't complete. Romans 8:28 says: "All things work together for good to those who love the lord, ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE."

This is a pretty huge part that I forgot. According to HIS purpose. If its in HIS will, then all things will work together for good to those who love him.

All in all, this has been such a long, stressful, but good experience! We cannot to build this house into a God fearing home, raise kids, make memories, and welcome family and friends in! :)

i LOVE updates!

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd update everyone on my life thus far!

First of all...holy cow..Christmas is this NEXT WEEK! It feels like yesterday at this time I was finishing student teaching and Biola and preparing to be a substitute teacher! Craazy!

Ok...I'm not gonna lie...I am totally, undeniably, loving Twilight. Now, I should give you some background. I told myself there is no way I would like this vampire stuff...sci fi is so not my thing. My mom saw the movie and said it was good. I was a little doubtful but her taste in things is pretty similar to mine, so I said to myself, what the heck. I started slow and watched The Vampire Diaries on the CW...and it quickly became my secret obsession. So...I watch Twilight and instantly fell in love. So, swallowing my pride, I borrowed the books and am reading them. I'm only on book 1 but am liking it so much more than the movie!

Moving on...my 24th birthday has come and gone!! Sadly...24 is no different that 23..but I am SO thankful for another year! Joel, being the romantic guy that he is, planned a little get-a-way for us. We had to stay local b/c of a Christmas party, but he took me to the Embassy Suites in Anaheim for the weekend. We had happy hour every night...went to downtown Disney..and relaxed! It was so nice to get away for a little bit :)


We are VERY excited for this Christmas season...not only for Christmas, family, Jesus, and parties....but for the cruise we are going on!!! Our family leave the 27th for a 7 day cruise to Mexico for my Grandparent's 50th Wedding Anniversary! We are looking forward to celebrating with our family and having a great time!

I think that's it for the updates...except I have to share the CUTEST pic of my niece. She just started smiling this past week and she is the cutest thing ever :)

Hopefully my updates will be more frequent! Until then, make it a great day or not, the choice is yours!

Only what the eye can see...