Weekend Recap {and Grace Upon Grace}

Recap:
One. We celebrated my mom and sister's birthday with dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, balloons, cake, presents, cards, and the movies! They were both born on the same day!

Two. My sister and I watched all of DWTS episodes from this season (except for the very first one). Our favorites are Derek and Amy! They are so DANG cute! I really love everybody who is left, but I would love for Amy and Derek to win!

Three. We watched the season finale of Eric & Jessie on Sunday night and oh my word they are the cutest! They really inspire me to have that kind of marriage with Joshua.

Favorites from the week:
7 Things You Learn Your First Year of Marriage. So funny and so true! Written by the husband's perspective.
On Laundry & Love Stories. This was beautifully written by Shauna Niequist. My aunt-in-law shared it with me a couple days ago. "Cooking and cleaning never built a marriage. But listening and memory-making and looking each other in the eye will." So good.
Lessons from the Hundred-Acre Woods. Was anybody else completely obsessed with Winnie the Pooh growing up? I was. I cannot wait to share the stories of Winnie the Pooh with my babies.
This husky is absolutely gorgeous. Josh wants a husky and I would love one too. Once we can afford to get another dog you better believe we are going to go get us a husky!

I was reading Jordyn's Grace Upon Grace over at her blog She Who Fears. I missed the She Reads Truth devotional on Saturday but Jordyn posted a quote from it that I absolutely love:

"Look around your life. Where do you see the risen Christ today? What needs has He fulfilled that you did not anticipate, did not plan for, did not even know to ask for? Where do you see the fingerprints of His grace and lovingkindness? Sister, He is revealing Himself to you even now, in ways only you can recognize."

The past week has had it's fair share of ups, downs, and in betweens, but God's grace is always abounding, even in the moments that seem like your heart is breaking into a thousand pieces. God endlessly provides for Josh and I, each and every single day. Here are just a few of those graces He's blessing us with this past week:

One. Well, we are FINALLY moving this week back to Nashville! I just love how God answered the desires of my heart when I didn't even think to pray about the possibility of moving back to Nashville. He is so good to His children. He knows the desires of our hearts even when we don't think to tell Him about them.

Two. It may not seem like a big deal, but I've finally (for the most part) gotten to the point where I can get rid of a lot of items that I have been holding onto for whatever reason. It's helping us to simplify our lives and it's especially helping us since we are in the process of moving our items back to Nashville and storing them until we find a place of our own.

Three. I've been having a lot more motivation recently to work out a lot more than I usually do. It feels so refreshing and freeing. I am hoping to begin a regular weekly schedule of working out once I move back to Nashville this week.

Four. We took Ryland to the vet on Friday because of a place on his gum that hasn't healed over the past month or so. The vet said he believes it's a benign growth, but he wants to have it removed and sent to be biopsied. I was thinking that his surgery would cost thousands, but the vet brought the estimate back into the room and the high end of the estimate was only 506 dollars! Praise the Lord! Josh and I will be getting it removed sometime during the summer months so please say a prayer for our little Ryland!