So there was a slight change of plans. Instead of getting a 1991 Lincoln Continental with 98,000 miles on it, we got a 1990 Lincoln Town Car with 73,000 miles on it.
It has less mileage than the 2004 Hyundai!! I am so glad that God thwarted my misguided plans to control the situation.

I am typing on Tom's "special" computer. The computer's (and here I am blanking on the right name) memory? motherboard? something is completely shot and Dad put Linux on an 8GB flash drive and the computer runs off the flash drive. However, this computer is currently the best one in the house. My computer, a desktop I got six and a half years ago decided that it was tired of running that pesky fan all the time.
I'm sure it's not an entirely difficult thing to fix, but alas, it is not on my list of top priorities.

However, as the title suggests, this pales in comparison to the glee I have been feeling for the last day. Tom and I just found out that a couple from our church has a car they rarely use, a 1991 Lincoln Continental, that they are going to give us. For free. Words simply do not express the gratitude I have for this couple, although I will certainly try to tell them.

These last two months have easily been the most stressful of my life. With the car, the problems with baby, and money issues acting as weights dragging my spirit down to the ground. I have been anxious; I knew that God would provide, that He would make it all work out, but I'll be honest, I didn't know how long that would take, and that scared me. I am so thankful to God that His hand played a wonderful role in getting me here today. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that if I had tried to control this and do it myself, it would not have turned out nearly this well.

And for that, I am in the relaxed, thrilled, glorious, bliss of gratitude.

The other day, we had bunches of errands to run. I had to get home from childbirth class, go to court to get my ticket waived, a visit with the midwife, a visit with the perinatalogist, laundry, groceries and a visit to the natural foods store for homeopathic anti-anxiety remedies. The day began out stressful but every time I walked out to our rental car, I had to smile:

Enterprise wanted to charge us about $60, Thrifty (if you can call it that) wanted $80 for only ONE full day. UHAUL, as you can clearly see, is $19.95 + mileage.

Yay UHAUL!!

I love this shot of baby waving to us. What I can't figure out is if we are looking at a left hand or right (although it does make us think baby will have Tom's wide hands, instead of my narrower ones).

I think this picture of baby's profile is my favorite so far!

Hi baby!! You look a little alien-esque right now, but I am so happy to see you!

So I've been meaning to post pictures for some time now.

This one, I called "Smooshed." It still makes me a little sad, especially since finding a replacement has been so difficult. I'm sure I'll feel much better once I actually have a car. If you look in the bottom left corner you can see the hole that the Jeep's muffler left in my bumper. It's still hard to believe that 6 inches is the difference between a fender bender and a totaled car. *Sigh.*

This next set is all about getting ready for baby. Here you can see Erin and Betty painting the baby's room. And then you can see the semi-finished product. If you are curious, that is the "theme" of our nursery - bright colors, specifically those found in the mobile in the fifth picture.

Now, I also had some more baby pics, but the computer is being most disagreeable. When I can get them to download properly, I'll set them up here for you to see.

Monday, Tom had to walk to work because the buses were closed (stopped? inoperational?) for MLK Jr Day. Since he has to walk by my work to get to his, he stopped in early to surprise me.

This time, he brought me flowers - a potted purple hyacinth. He wanted something that would last longer than the rose he got me for my birthday and he thought they smelled nice for my office.

What was adorable was that he didn't know what kind of flower he had gotten me. When I got all excited that he brought me my favorite flower, he looks at me, puzzled and says "That's hyacinth?!"

They are beautiful and fragance my small office nicely. My only dilemma is that I work in the basement, and there is no sunlight near my office. I've been taking the plant out for a half hour each morning, but I think I'm going to need to take him (don't ask about the pronoun) out for lunch, and I'll probably take him home over the weekend.

I love my husband!

When I went to work this morning, it was in the mid 40's and sprinkling. By 10 am, it had begun to snow. Just flurries, but enough to send this coastal North Carolina town into hysterics. By 11:30am, an official email was sent stating that work would be closed by 12:00pm. We were paid for the rest of the day, so I was happy for the time off to rest. But I couldn't help but laugh. As soon as I got home, I took a picture of the "inclement weather" that caused work to shut down early.

You know, I think I like snow a lot better here in North Carolina.