Wedding Gift Extravaganza!

Well, we've officially unpacked everything, unwrapped everything, and moved in everything (well, almost I think!) and the house looks great! Our kitchen probably received the most help (thankfully) from our wonderful friends and we're fully stocked to throw some GREAT dinner parties now... sounds like a good incentive to be our friends, right? I sure hope so!

Our biggest gift, however, would have to be these two (er, three counting the Ottoman I guess) lovely beauties in the living room! Everyone told us that furniture was tough to buy and it would probably take awhile, but I think they forgot who they were talking to. I mean, c'mon- we got engaged in six weeks and found our house in a DAY... couches? That's a cake decision! But considering that Sterling only has three- count 'em- yes, three furniture stores, we narrowed down our selections quite quickly. They are beautiful and quite comfortable... unfortunately, the dogs agree.

Another good use of our wedding funds... furniture for the screen porch. Now is it just me, or is everything cheaper here in the Midwest? Check out what $198 will get you in Sterling, Illinois!

We thought that the set was mismarked in the store, but it wasn't! Over the years I have grown fond of Target and written off Wal-Mart altogether (although in S.Florida, the demographics of a Wal-Mart are generally quite... um... interesting so who can blame me?) but alas! it has recaptured my heart. That little smiley face really does roll back prices!

But anyway, a big thank you goes out to everyone who who was (too) generous with your gifts. Paper thank-you's will be coming to a mailbox near you soon, but in the meantime, please know that we are overwhelmed and incredibly blessed with all of the love you have shown us. And I must say, it was quite the treat coming home to a pile of presents... it felt just like Christmas! But warmer (which after 5 years in Florida is how it should be!).

A Warm Morrison Welcome

Wow... that's all I can say about the welcome we received from the folks here in Morrison. On Tuesday night, our future congregation gathered for our monthly get-together and worship service. I had met a lot of the Morrison gang on previous visits, so it was good to see old faces and meet some new folks. They are all so overwhelmingly pleasant and excited that we're here and they've really made this move easy for us both. After the gathering, it's tradition to go over to the country club for 99 cent tacos (although they've recently raised the price to *gasp* $1.25 each!) and the ENTIRE group headed over... we're talking about 100 people heading over! Little did we know, they had pre-planned a welcome/wedding reception for the two of us complete with dinner for everyone, cakes, gifts, and best of all, a quilt that some of the ladies here had made. It's awesome- everyone signed a square and added their favorite Bible verses (which I look forward to looking up!). And guess what? Yes you guessed it... Kim Mauney definitely asked them if she could learn to quilt. So my new Monday night activities will include becoming a quilter extraordinaire... Illinois State Fair here I come! So life here is good... it's completely different than where we came from, but really great. I start work again on Monday and Josh is now keeping regular hours at his Morrison office so we're looking forward to establishing a bit more of a routine, although I will miss the time off. But for now, we're just enjoying the warm welcome and looking forward to serving these amazing people.

THANK YOU to all of the Morrison folks for the best welcome we could ask for!

Home Sweet Home

SOLD! Even though we closed on the house the week before the wedding, Josh made sure to keep the sign in the front yard. Folks, you are looking at two first time home owners and we couldn't be more proud or excited. Things are finally coming together and we're figuring out where everything goes, even though I continually change my mind. We used some of our wedding gift money to buy a couch and chair for the living room (THANKS!!!) and our biggest battle now is keeping the pups from sleeping on it. Yes, Mom, we need Minnie's chair at the new house!

Everyday the house feels a little more like a cozy little place of our own and it's sinking in that this is our wonderful reality! We are so very blessed. The downstairs is pretty much completely done (pending a few pictures getting hung) and the upstairs still has a long way to go as we figure out closet and drawer space. But even so, Josh has made a video so you can all tour the progress... please ignore the mess!






So that's about it for now... we'll update more on the house as it comes along. And I'm saving all of the painting for when we have company! :) It truly is our home sweet home already. We can't wait until you visit!

We made it!

After 23 straight hours of driving, we are home! We left at about 2:20 AM on Tuesday, June 16th and arrived Wednesday morning around 1:00 AM. We had originally planned on stopping somewhere along the way to sleep, but we were too excited. Not only that, but Teeny was being an angel in the backseat and slept pretty much the whole way, so we thought we'd keep on truckin'! We arrived home at 1 am and Minnie Pearl was SO happy to see us (but even more happy to see her sister). Josh carried me over the threshold and we raced from room to room to see the house. I was AMAZED at how much he had moved in and put away... it looked awesome! It was a perfect start to our lives here in Illinois.

She ran like a dream... Josh painted the back windshield when we stopped for gas

Love the addition on that ring finger

Are we there yet???

FINALLY! But we still had several hours more to go after this!

Minimoon

A BIG thanks to Mark and Sherrie for our friends and family rate at the Westin Diplomat for our "mini-moon"! With the move, we had to put off our honeymoon until next month, but our two night getaway was perfect. THANK YOU!!!

It's Official

It's official... I'm officially a Mauney (well, pending the marriage certificate arriving!). And so I have entered Mauneyland- a magical little world where I get to hang out with my best friend all day everyday, explore a new town, set up a new home, and fully understand what the words "wedded bliss" truly mean. I've never been so happy, felt so blessed, or been so excited to live this life. And since Mauneyland is apparently located in small town, Illinois, I have started this blog to keep family and friends updated on the adventures here. We feel so blessed and so loved to have arrived here and cannot wait to see what this life has in store for us. So welcome to Mauneyland... feel free to come back and visit whenever you'd like.