Christmas music time!  I have been eagerly awaiting Christmas music season for months.  As soon as we left the Thanksgiving dinner table, you better bet that I started busting out the carols.  I just love them.

Has anyone heard the Chris Botti Christmas cd?  Pure loveliness.

I lost a lot of my Christmas music when my hard drive did something weird, so I’m trying to build my collection back up.  My parents gave me an iTunes card for my birthday in October that I hid and have been saving for such a time as this.

I bought A Very She & Him Christmas!  Oh yeah.  I’m pretty much in love with Zooey Deschanel.  She’s just so adorable.  And her tv show New Girl?  Hysterical.  Timothy and I watch it and laugh until our bellies hurt.

I love this Christmas album.  It’s really chill and mellow.  It’s the perfect cd to listen to while it’s snowing outside, you’re cuddled up with hot chocolate and blankets, and you’re knitting away.

I’m hoping to be able to get the Michael Buble Christmas cd somehow.  I’ve heard that it’s amazing! What about you guys?  What are some of your favorite Christmas songs/albums?  Did you all wait until after Thanksgiving to bust them out?

~Whitney 

Yowza.  What a mind-blowing weekend.

Last week we were in Nashville at the amazing Opryland hotel for NYC  - aka National Youth Convention.  It was an amazing week full of church services, youth groups, old and new friends, and celebrating Thanksgiving with mini pumpkin pies.

Timothy and I just had the best time.  I’ve been looking forward to it all year!  And this year we were surprised with a balcony room!  I’ve been going to NYC in Opryland every other year for my entire life and have never had a balcony room.  It was like a life goal I never knew I had.

Timothy had to drag me off the balcony Saturday morning so we could get back home!

We rushed home and met his Mom, Nonnie, and brother at our house for dinner.  They came down to be with us for the weekend.  Right before dinner, however, tragedy struck.

Timothy’s laptop broke.

Background story?  His MacBook Pro is five years old.  It has been taken apart, reworked, fixed, fixed again, and prayed over numerous times.  The last time was about a week ago.  It was making the loudest noise – so loud that it would wake me up in the middle of the night!  It was horrid.  Timothy researched how to fix it and ended up taking it apart and cleaning the fans.  He needed some WD-40 to grease up the blades, but we didn’t have any.  So he used the next best thing – anointing oil.  Ha!  That just cracked me up.

Well his experiment completely worked and his laptop chugged away like a dream.  But Saturday?  His screen broke.  And it was completely 100% unfixable.  His laptop is our livelihood!  Needless to say, I was flipping out.  There was no way we’d be able to afford a new laptop.  But God worked a miracle.  Timothy’s Nonnie (grandmother) did the most mind-blowing thing.

Ummm … yeah.  So that happened!  It still hasn’t even sunk in yet.  It was like tragedy to miracle in a matter of hours.

And then Sunday?  Wow.  It was a very special day for Timothy and I.

Timothy was appointed as Associate Pastor at our church!  Which makes me an Associate Pastor’s wife.  Which is craziness!  Good craziness, but craziness nonetheless.

Timothy and I have dreamed of working in the ministry since our dating days.  We’ve always known that it was our ultimate goal.  Timothy even started his own business so he could have the flexibility to be available at our church.  To see our dreams coming to pass is just unexplainable.  I was crying all Sunday evening.

I’m so proud of my husband.  He has worked very hard to provide for our family.  He gave up jobs that were easy and payed well so he could be available at our church.  He started his own business, has worked countless hours developing it, carried the responsibility and burden of making sure we were taken care of financially, sacrificed to make ends meet, and has never once complained or lost faith in God.  And he’s just so handsome.

All in all, it was the weekend to beat all other weekends.  I’m still basking in the afterglow.

~Whitney

I have way too much to be thankful for.  God has just blessed me with more blessings than I can even begin to number.

I’m married to the most wonderful man in the universe.  My best friend, teammate, and sometimes polar opposite.  If I would have hand picked all the qualities I wanted my husband to have, it wouldn’t come close to being as amazing as Timothy.  God knew exactly what I needed.

I have the best family I could ask for.  An amazing, supportive church family.  Friends that absolutely rock out.   A sweet little trailer full of love.  Two paid off cars (never knew how big of a deal that was until I started paying bills!).  Food on the table … and when it’s not on the table I have a lovely mother who is constantly inviting us over for dinner.  Ha!  A job that I absolutely love.  And a joy that is deep inside.  What more could I ever ask for?

Today I’m oh so thankful.  Oh so thankful to God for His many blessings.  What are you thankful for?

~Whitney