Blessings of 2010

Looking back on my blog posts, it looks like I let a whole year go by without a single post. We certainly had an eventful year, and I though it would be fun to review some of the highlights. It also helps to serve as a reminder for me of God's goodness as I record the ways in which He has blessed us in the past year.

1. Hudson Michael
Let's just start with the obvious. We are so thankful for our little boy. We waited many years for the right timing to start our family. Praying for a child has been top on my prayer list for a long time. There were times where I was not sure it was ever going to work out for us, but we decided to take a step of faith and trust that God would provide for us, and He has. I am so thankful that I finally get to be a mommy to my precious son.

2. A Healthy Pregnancy and Delivery
I don't know that all of you know, but one of the low points for us in 2010 was suffering a miscarriage in early March. It was heartbreaking to say the least, and when I got pregnant again with Hudson, I was in near constant fear that I would lose another one. However, God blessed me with a wonderful pregnancy. I had minimal morning sickness and felt pretty good through most of my 9 months. I got rear ended when I was only about about 12 weeks along, which was scary, but praise God, I wasn't injured and Hudson was fine.

3. A Wonderful Church Family
Last fall, we felt God calling us away from the church we've attended since we moved to Iowa City. This was a scary thing, as we really did not want to leave the friends we made. Especially for me, with a new baby only a few months away, it seemed like really poor timing. However, it was clear that God had something new for us.

We were able to quickly find a new church home in Veritas church, which is a new church plant to Iowa City from Cornerstone Church in Ames. Mike and I went to Cornerstone for the year we were still in Ames after we got married. We are really enjoying being a part of this community. We joined up with a connection group and met some really awesome people. We look forward to going to church every Sunday and always end up staying at our connection group later than we plan! We've been loved on by our friends making meals for us after Hudson's birth. I am completely confident that God has us where He wants us.

4. A Comfortable and Affordable Home
In the fall of 2009 we ended up leaving the apartment we'd rented since we moved to Iowa City after we had some flooding issues. We thought we had found a great place to move into, but I unfortunately it turned out to be terrible. We had the worst landlord and spent our entire time there battling with him to fix stuff (like the heat or the 3 missing kitchen drawers) with no success. We also had some pretty interesting neighbors, and I don't mean that in a good way.

We searched high and low for a new place to move to that had the space we needed and fit our budget, but we were not having much luck. But finally we found the perfect place for us. We live in a great neighborhood, we have a good landlord, and we have much more space- enough for Mike to have a designated office. We are very thankful to be living here.

5. A Free Piano
I have wanted a piano for so long! I learned to play guitar specifically because it was easier to play a portable instrument while I was in college, but I really missed playing piano. I would play at home or at friend's homes whenever I got the chance. Last spring I started looking at pianos on Craigslist, just to see what kind of deals were out there. We didn't really have the budget for a piano, but I looked anyways, just in case there was some sort of miraculous deal.

Well, crazily enough, there was a miraculous deal- a free piano!! It was in Des Moines, and I had no idea where we'd put it (especially since we didn't know where we were going to be living yet), but I sent it to Mike anyway, thinking that maybe there was a miniscule chance we could get it. Mike told me he thought it looked nice, but asked where we'd put it. I didn't know, so I resigned myself to the fact that the piano would have to wait. Later that night Mike and I were driving somewhere and out of the blue he turned to me and told me that we needed to figure out what we were going to do with our new piano! I was so happy I cried. Turns out Mike was the first of many people to call. The lady had tried selling it earlier without much luck, so decided to just list it for free. It is a nice piano, definitely not what you would expect for a free piano. It's in good shape, it plays nice, it looks nice, and we have a perfect spot for it in our home!! I play nearly every day, I just love it!

6. A Snowblower
Even though we rent, since we've lived in duplexes, we have been responsible for lawn care and snow removal. We've had our share of snowy winters and shovelling is really not all that much fun. We knew we were thinking about starting a family, so if I was pregnant, I would not be able to help shovel and Mike has a bad back.

So with that in mind, we decided to look at purchasing a snow blower. I found a great deal on a used, but in excellent condition snow blower at a garage sale that summer. Turns out that last winter we didn't use it since we moved and the place we moved to the landlord was reponsible for snow removal. So we kept ahold of it and moved it with us to the new house.

The first big snow we had this year Mike got up early to take care of the driveway. When he came inside I asked him how the snowblower was, but he told me he didn't know since it was no longer in our garage. That's right, somehow it was stolen out of our garage!! I was so sad. I just couldn't believe someone would do that, and I felt bad for Mike, as there was no way I could help him out at 8 months pregnant. Plus, I knew we did not have the budget to buy a new one this winter.

Well again, God is awesome because he provided a brand new snowblower for us. While we were still in the hospital after Hudson's birth, we got a big snowstorm. I worried how we would get it shovelled, but tried not to think about it. Mike had gone home to grab a couple things and told me that when he got there, someone had cleared our driveway for us! How nice! Well, when we went to leave after discharging on Christmas Eve, he handed me a card and told me the rest of the story. When he went home, he had found a note on the door with keys in it. And in our garage, was a brand new snow blower!! With a lock on it!! I burst in to tears and cried the whole way home from the hospital. We don't know who gave us the snow blower, but we are so thankful for our wonderful friends! This seriously was such an awesome blessing to us (especially after just going through Snowmageddon 2011)!


2010 definitely had some low points for us, but overall, we see God's blessings to us are far more than we deserve. He has been so good, and I know that we can trust Him for more blessings to come in 2011!