We were convinced we were having a boy. We wanted a boy. We constantly thought about a boy. We were already calling him Jack.

Tuesday, we found out we’re having a girl.

I couldn’t be happier!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that our little baby has a gender and a name, I have never been more excited. I want to meet her immediately. I want to hold her, cover her with kisses and make her giggle uncontrollably. We are having a little GIRL!!!

Our blue-room plans have changed to pink. Jack has turned to Kate. Visions of trucks and leggos have turned into baby dolls and ribbons. I’ll take her shopping, braid her hair and paint her nails. We’ll read stories of princesses and watch the Little Mermaid. Awww… the joy of girls.

I can already see Andrew’s heart melting. Oh little Kate is going to have him wrapped around her finger in a heartbeat!

And here she is! Our little Kate…

I know it’s been forever since you’ve seen a post out of me. Uploading photos doesn’t take a whole lot of effort or creativity so here it goes. This is my best friend Lauren and her fiance, Ryan, who are some of our closest friends. They met at PBA and are getting married in the PBA chapel. They came down this weekend for a wedding and I was able to snap some engagement photos for them. Of course, it rained the entire time. So we made the best of it and turned the umbrella into a cute little prop. Here are some of my favorites.

What a great day! It started out at 6 am and then by 10, the seats were filled with over 1,500 people. A new venue gave us a ton of new faces and I’m exited to see the impact of today even months down the road. We had around 80 volunteers that showed up to serve and I know we were all blown away by the hearts of so many people who call Calvary Jupiter their church home. Here are just a couple shots to give you an idea of today:

So I’ve seen this on a couple blogs and just had to do it. I love my husband and wanted to see how much I know about him. I think I might have him do a guest blog after this to tell you how many I got right And this picture just makes me laugh.

1. He’s sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen?
His ideal would be a Sunday afternoon final round of golf with Tiger Woods about to win a major

2. You’re out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
Salad? haha. The only salad he really likes to eat is Caesar. So therefore, I answer Caesar dressing.

3. What’s one food he doesn’t like ?
Broccoli. It must have an insane amount of cheese on it. And oh, we can’t forget chili pods.

4. You go out to eat. What drink does he order?
A beer or a coke or sweet tea depending on where we are

5. Where did he go to high school?
Palm Beach Gardens

6. What size shoe does he wear?
10 1/2

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be?
Golf balls

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich?
Just plain ol’ meat and cheese on white bread. Turkey is usually the meat of choice when he’s trying to be healthy. But he loves a good chicken tender sub from Publix

9. What would he eat every day if he could?
Spaghetti or steak

10. What is his favorite cereal?
Raisin Nut Bran

11. What would he never wear?
A bow tie

12. What is his favorite sports team?
It better be UK or else we’re done 

13. Who did he vote for?
McCain

14. Who is his best friend?
Me

15. What is something you ask him to do that he wishes you wouldn’t do?
I’m being very honest when I say this, but he rarely ever complains if I ask him to do anything so I’m not even sure

16. What is his heritage?
He is a mutt but I think mostly Irish? (I could get this one wrong)

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake?
Funfetti all the way

18. Did he play sports in high school?
Golf

19. What could he spend hours doing?
Playing golf

20. What is one unique talent he has?
He does a great Jim Carey impression

Ok, so these are way overdue. But I didn’t want to put up any pictures until we had the before and after done! We still have some work to do. We don’t have any pictures or art on the wall and we still have to make it a little warmer and “our own” with some decorative touches, but you’ll get the picture with these photos. We’ve painted cabinets, painted 3 different rooms, knocked down a wall, installed new appliances and put in hardwood floors. We haven’t gotten to the other two bedrooms yet or the guest bathroom. The other bedrooms are just cosmetic things. We want to paint and get some new furniture. But the guest bathroom needs a new vanity, toilet and tile. So that will be our next big project. These were taken with my phone too, so the pictures aren’t the best quality.

Living Room Before:

Living Room After:

Kitchen Before:

Kitchen After:

This is the wall we knocked down from the kitchen into the dining room.

Dining Room Before

Dining Room After:

Bedroom Before:

Bedroom After:

It’s easy to look back on the past year and regurgitate all the significant moments and events that happened. But what’s the use if you haven’t learned anything from those times? There is one word that sums up the bulk of what God has taught me this year: FAITH.

I thank God everyday for community. I have witnessed so many close lives around us stand in faith when the circumstances they were facing screamed at them to do otherwise. Here a just a few of the faith stories that have impacted my life in a significant way this year.

I watched Bryon and Susan give glory and praise to God through every step of their darkness and pain. Then I helped them move into a beautiful apartment back in South Florida last month. They’re now back home with their gorgeous new daughter.

I saw Chris and Penny stand solid in their calling to adopt two children from Russia even when easier opportunities presented themselves again and again. Through two years of waiting and false expectations, I watched their boys walk through a Miami terminal this year, finally home.

I heard of my uncle’s sudden and unexpected divorce and saw his pain that came with being alone. I watched him give up his life to God and then witnessed what God does best: change a life. He’s now a man of incredible trust and faith.

I saw my close friend go through two miscarriages in a matter 0f 6 months. I watched her and her husband give everything up to God and in return be blessed with an amazing, healthy new pregnancy.

I joined with the church staff and pastors as we fasted and prayed for a building that seemed unlikely and financially risky. Then, we worshipped together August 24th in our new buidling: exactly 11 years to the day of Calvary Jupiter’s first Sunday.

I watched and joined with my parents as we prayed for a complete healing of my dad’s knee after his replacement surgery. After more than half a year of immobility and surgeries, God healed him when the odds were stacked against it. He’s walking more and moving more at age 52 then he was at age 32.

I’ve even watched my own husband step out into the unknown. Going through interim manager training last year meant that Chick-fil-a could place us anywhere in the country for any length of time. But we trusted and knew that God was in control. 5 months later, Andrew stepped into his very own store as the owner/operator.

And this year is already calling for new steps of faith. And I have learned to face them head on, fully believing, trusting and speaking God’s promises. These are some of the verses that have become so precious to me this year and I claim them as we pray about some specific things that God has laid on our heart.

2 Corinthians 4: 13, “But have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed therefore I spoke.’ We also believe, therefore we also speak.”

Hebrews 11:11, “Since she considered Him faithful who had promised.”

Luke 1:45, “And blessed is she who believed there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”

Mark 11:24, “Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them and they will be granted you.”

Romans 4:20-21, “Yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.”

I want my faith to grow deeper and wider in 2009. If nothing else, may this next year be a greater year of faith for me.

Ok, so I have to brag on my husband a little bit. Though most of you have already heard this story before, it is definitely blog worthy.

I’ve really been missing my family. It’s been May since I’ve seen most of them, and they are all together for Christmas in Kentucky. This being Andrew’s first year as an operator in a mall store didn’t really conduce to travelling during the Christmas season. So, here we are. Stuck in a house without a tree or decorations since we were supposed to be in our new house by now. We didn’t see the point in getting our decorations out only to pack them back in a box a day or two later.

So it’s been kind of a tough Christmas. Monday night, we get home from looking at Christmas lights with some friends and Andrew wants to go to bed at like 9:30 which is a rarity for him. He had to get up really early and was exhausted already. I think I remember his alarm going off around 5 the next morning but didn’t pay much attention. I went back to sleep until around 7:15. Then I opened the door of our bedroom to an amazing surprise. There was a tree, complete with lights, stockings hung and the entire living room decorated for Christmas! My mouth just hung wide open. I looked at Andrew at the kitchen table and didn’t even know what to say! Finally, I said “It’s a Christmas miracle!”

My amazing and wonderful husband got up at 5, went to Walgreens to buy a tree, assembled it and decorated the entire living room before I got up that morning! It really did turn things around for me. Though I still miss my parents and brother and sister-in-law it is so comforting to know I have a husband who cares about me so much. So here’s a little picture for you. Andrew is playing Mario Kart in case you were wondering what he’s doing

If I remember correctly, I wrote a blogpost around this time last year about moving. Except last year I was at home alone for 5 weeks packing up the house while Andrew was at Operator Training!

This year it’s a whole different scenario…

We started looking to buy our first house about a month ago. We were set on staying in the Jupiter area but after a little more thought and prayer we ventured up to the Palm City area. It’s close to 95 and the turnpike and a lot closer to Andrew’s store. We went up to Palm City about 2 weeks ago and fell in love with the 3rd house we saw. And the most amazing part about it was the price! We couldn’t believe the deal we could potentially end up getting.

We walked in and were greeted by this awesome, older lady who was selling the house (Mitsy). We immediately clicked and ended up chatting most of the time we were there. She is a Christian and was super excited about the potential of a young, Christian couple buying her house. She had dropped the price $50,000 2 days before we looked at it! She already had one offer on the table and I think ended up having 3-4 offers total. Mitsy told her Realtor she really wanted us to have it. So even though there was at least one higher offer than ours, she accepted ours!

What a God thing.

We feel truly blessed as we are going to have about $50,000 of immediate equity in the house. Everything is brand new too: the roof, ac, water heater, hurricane shutters. It’s a great, safe neighborhood and Andrew’s favorite part: we’re on the 18th hole of a golf course.

Since Mitsy accepted our offer, she has already called me twice. One time to just say, “Happy Thanksgiving!” and then I chatted with her for about 20 minutes today. She just wanted to know if we had any questions or wanted to look at the house again and see if she could do anything for us. It’s really been an unreal process as far as first-time home buying goes. I told Mitsy as soon as we were settled in we were going to have her over for dinner. I have a feeling she might become a sort of surrogate great grandmother to our kids someday! Haha.. she is only moving about 2 miles down the road.

We should close in about 2-3 weeks. This blog post is a total distraction of the fact that I have an entire house to pack up. At least this time I’ve got Andrew to help me!

These are some pictures I took recently of the beautiful Thompson kids.

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