about time.

Sorry, it is about darn time for an update!  Great things are happening to us this week and we had a wonderful week last week. I am continually reminded of God's faithfulness in knowing the perfect time for things to happy in our lives and for pouring out blessings on our sadly undeserving little lives.

We sold my car this past week. After multiple rounds in the newspaper and on Craigslist, it appears that the third time really is the charm. Sold it to a sweet mom for her teenage sons to drive and to get her back and forth from Cleveland to work. They were excited and kept thanking me and I kept telling them that it was ME that was thankful that they were allowing us to get something different that worked better for us. The son even said "I didn't sleep last night I was so excited!" which blesses me a lot. I have a lot of great memories in that car - from it being a surprise the night my parents bought it for me - Thanks mom and dad! - to doing the long-distance relationship thing with Chad until we finally got married. It's taken me a lot of places and hopefully they will love it as much as I did.

Got to see Harry Potter yesterday. It was a great movie - one of my favorites of the series. However, I am a bit sad that it is over! I absolutely loved the books and wish the story kept going on for much longer but it was fun while it lasted! Now, I can re-read the books again and enjoy them even more!

Then, last night, we went to the Honda dealership to just look at a car and came home with one!! We've been looking at used cars for sooo long and disucssing the details and how much we want to spend and hemming/hawing about things that I am thrilled that it is finally done! And it just happened to work out that we got one the day we sold my car. Talk about Amazing Timing. We got a 2008 Honda Fit and it is - in keeping with tradition - bright red! It gets almost double the miles per gallon that I was getting so hopefully it will be a money saver for us! We've saved and been very thoughtful and were cautious about what we were willing to sell my car for and were blessed with a gift from my mom. All that together means that we were able to pay cash for this car, which we are incredibly proud of. We didn't want another loan - other than our house - and don't like debt hanging over our heads so we are thrilled that when they cash that check we will be debt free on this car!

Lastly, we leave for our trip to the beautiful Turks and Caicos on Saturday of this week! We could not be having a better week though we have a TON of stuff to get done between now and then! Exciting times ahead!!

praise the Lord!

We have a buyer for my car. I am so excited. It means that we can finally start looking at other cars and making a decision about what we will do next. She is going to bring me the money and we will sign the paperwork on Saturday which is good because I need to drive it the rest of the week, including a trip back down to Atlanta. We are even getting pretty close to what we really wanted to see it for so that is good news in itself. So, praise the Lord for His timing.

happy to be home.

Finally back in Chattanooga after so many days away (seems like a lifetime but 5 days about sums it up).  Gwendolen and I are travel weary - feels like we have been in the car for days. We spent the night with my sister and Frannie last night and between their 3 dogs and 4 cats, Gwendolen was super ready to be home. She is taking a well-deserved nap at the moment and I am putting things away from our trip. I'll do a couple of loads of laundry today and tomorrow and anxiously await Chad's return. He will be exhausted and super ready to be home and I will have plenty of smoky laundry to do! I can't tell you how happy I will be to see the guy - the whole theory of "absence makes the heart grow fonder" might actually be true. 16 days apart is far too long...and now I am looking even more forward to getting to spend a week on a tropical island with him. The countdown for that trip starts now - 2 weeks from tomorrow!!  I have a couple of big work things coming up for the next few weeks so at least I will stay busy and not have issues with focusing!

Scuba class tonight for me and the rest of the crew (minus Chad, of course). It isn't as much a training class as it is a test out all of your equipment kind of class. I have some new stuff that I need to use before we go and I will be renting some of the more expensive stuff so I will be using the specific things I will be renting for our trip tonight. Looking forward to a bit more pool time and some hanging out...

Have a couple of people interested in my car. Hope something works out on that front this week!

The Saturn Vue

Ok, folks - I would really like to sell my 2003 Saturn Vue.  Any takers??
Here are the details:
2003 Saturn Vue AWD
4 cyl. (means it gets pretty decent gas mileage for a SUV - 18 city and 24 hwy)
we are asking $5,500 for it but we would negotiate a bit if necessary.

NEW TIRES (Hankook brand - approx $700 value)
NEW A/C compressor (recently installed - $700 value)

Interior and exterior are actually in really good condition - just minor wear and tear that is expected.
CD/FM/AM stereo - all speakers are working

Let me know if you need more info! 
Have a friend that might want to buy it?  Just let me know!

SCUBA lesson #1.

I had my first SCUBA lesson last night with Chad's dad B. It was more of a "get to know the equipment and see if Paula freaks out" sorta lesson but helpful none-the-less. I was super, duper nervous...the idea of being under the water with all that stuff on and the weight of the water on top of me was causing me some serious anxiety. (I've been promised that I can still gon on our fancy diving trip even if I decide snorkelling is more my style.) I actually felt a lot better and calmer than I thought I would.After a few adjustments to the gear,  I felt like I could breath a lot better and much less panicky.  There were a few times when I sort of felt like I was talking myself off a ledge, thinking "don't cry in public" and I think I managed to not make a fool of myself. There were a TON of kids in the pool so they were good distractions - curious, asking dad B a lot of questions, and then telling me that when I went underwater that they would swim around and "be fish" for me to look at. The most difficult part was getting my ears to clear at the bottom of the deep end. Not really knowing what I was doing or how to fix it was frustrating and painful; it is different for everyone and the techniques are varied so I just had to try things until I fixed it and it was sweet relief!  This is apparently the most difficult part for most beginners so it makes me feel a bit better.

My true SCUBA class is this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so I will be learning a lot at a rather quick pace. I wish that dad B was going to be my instructor because I know he is understanding and patient but it will be a friend of his instead. He is going to come and he knows how nervous I am about it so hopefully it will go really well. I think that I am most nervous about getting in the open water to do my checkout dive once we get to the Turks and Caicos. I am totally OK in the pool - love the pool because I know I can only go 10 feet down. The ocean feels so limitless and to be certified you have to stay 20 feet down for 20+ minutes...yikes. Hopefully there will be a sweet someone there to distract me....which there will. Chad is going to be my diving partner for this trip and I can't think of anyone who I would rather have the experience with!

Headed to buy tires for my car today (major ugh!  It is still for sale though!! Any takers now that it will have a new AC and new tires?!? Perfect for your summer travels!!) and then we are having lunch with Chad's family - cookout style for Memorial Day.

P.S. a HUGE Thank you to all the men and women who have selflessly served in our military through the years and still today. To those in my family who have served and those I will never meet, I am so thankful and appreciative of your dedication and willingless to do what it takes so that I can have my freedom. I recognize the sacrifices that are made every day by those brave folks and I know that I live in an amazing, free country because of you.