home.

things are finally coming together! a couple of weekends ago craig and i spent an entire day just working on house projects. i finally put away the stacks of all my work papers and books, and craig made a mason jar planter for the wall (which i'll be using for candy canes, candles, and twine to decorate for christmas).

we also repurposed a huge old frame to hang some wedding photos with clothespins, and filled it and some other wooden frames with wedding and honeymoon photos.

we need to get photos of other people so every frame doesn't have a picture of us in it.

i'll try to do a post to give a little tour of our home...soon.

this past friday we had our good friends, the reeds, over for dinner- officially our first guests at our new place!

(ransom is flying, not being squished. just fyi.)

i cooked up some coconut lime chicken with sweet potato fries and zucchini tots, and as is our tradition, we ended up making some chocolate chip cookies on a whim. (really, a great recipe! some of the better chocolate chip cookies i've had.)

nevermind the fact that it took us all weekend to finish doing the dishes :) our new house lacks a dishwasher...but craig probably does more of them than i do!

this weekend we also FINALLY went shopping for some bedding! success. with all our macy's giftcards from the wedding we got a white quilt, matching shams, and a bedskirt. still on the scout for some sheets.

and with all that, home is starting to feel a bit more like home! now that most of the essentials in place, hopefully i can decorate some for christmas, especially since the month of working weekends is now over. (thank goodness.) we might even get a little tree and put a few lights up!

i'm excited for this advent season. this past saturday we got together with several friends to talk about how Jesus is the embodiment of the hope that we have. we spent time reading some scripture that talks about hope, and how it is tangibly applicable to us. what was most impactful to me is the fact that knowing truth brings hope, and hope allows us to be bold, because it is grounded in something eternal.

with this new season we started a new series at church, meaning that the previous sunday was the end of the esther series, the book that we've been working through for the past few months. the series closed in a way that definitely challenged me. the book of esther ends with the people of God celebrating their deliverance from what was to be a seemingly unavoidable slaughter. they were able to defend themselves and were victorious, but then returned to the life that they had, life under a terrible king who, on top of that, raised their taxes. what our pastor pointed out is that they after their victory they still had plenty of reasons to despair, but they chose to celebrate. all too often i choose to despair over the little things that aren't perfect rather than celebrate the grace that i have in Jesus. i get caught up in how i wish things were rather than celebrating the blessings that are very present in my life.

so with the coming season of advent, i want to CELEBRATE. celebrate the fact that Jesus has come, and that he is coming again someday. celebrate the fact that he has redeemed me and given me purpose, joy, and hope. celebrate the fact that he has blessed me with a husband who knows and seeks Him, and who loves me second only to God. celebrate the fact that even in difficult times God is purposeful to refine us and allow us to know him more.

love,
tracey