The Vradenburgh's

My decoration attempts.....

2008-07-08T16:14:00.005-04:00

OUR NEW HOUSE

2008-07-08T14:46:00.009-04:00

Chad & I are so thankful for the wonderful home the Lord has blessed us with--we truly feel overwhelmed & have had to pinch ourselves several times when we talk about it. We want to use it for God's glory as we live here, have others over, and Lord-willing one day raise a family! (for those of you wondering, that was not a sneeky way of making an announcement....I promise!) We have already made some wonderful memories....having family & friends over, meeting some of our friendly neighbors, decorating the house together (Chad was just thrilled about hanging pictures on the wall--I was thanking him the whole time because he did encounter some frustrations along the way, but he did a great job!) Here are a few pictures of the downstairs; I'll try to keep updating it as the rest gets decorated. Feel free to come & visit......

This is the front door & entryway

This is the looking into the living room from the front doorThis is the living room looking from the dining roomChad had this piano for me one day a couple weeks ago when I came home from work--I couldn't believe it! It is so nice to have one again (it was definitely something I took for granted until I didn't have one).Another shot of the living room looking into the dining roomThis baker's rack was given to us by some people in our church. It was hunter green until I took a can of spray paint to it.....I love that stuff! This is looking into the kitchen from the dining room
An up-close shot of the kitchen counter
Our new refrigerator that we got a good deal on from Lowe's Our cute little pantry (you can see the pantry door from the next shot of the kitchen--through the doorway)
This is our backdoor off of the kitchen
Here is a picture of my kitchen window that I love...
Another shot of the fireplace looking through the hallway doorway

July 4th, 2008

2008-07-08T13:48:00.005-04:00

All the yummy food.....

The happy hosts of the party

We all sat in the living room since our table only seats 4 people
The crazy self-timer picture (it was almost 1:00am)
All our friends smiling nicely :)

Melanie & Chad, Forrest & Jessica, Justin

Daniel & Jennifer, Ashley, John & Lindsey

Last year on July 4th I was doing the last of the editing on our wedding programs, and putting together the slideshow for the reception ( I don't even think I saw any fireworks) but this year we got to have some of our friends come over for the evening. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and lots of other yummy food that everyone brought to share. We played some games, watched our very own fireworks display in the backyard (prepared and provided by Forrest & Justin) all the neighbors enjoyed too, and finished up the night with a movie while it was storming outside. But before everyone left we had to take a group picture to capture the memories, so we all gathered around the couch and took 24 pictures until we got the perfect one! I have such great friends to be willing to do that (I know they were all annoyed with me :)We had a great time and hope that our friends did too!

45 East Hackberry Lane

2008-05-27T08:33:00.010-04:00

Here are a few more pictures of the beautiful home that God has blessed us with--we are overwhelmed with gratitude for His goodness to us, and we hope to use this house to bring honor and glory to His name! I will post some more pictures in the near future, after I get some decorations up, so you can see where the furniture will go (although right now most of the upstairs is empty except for boxes :)

The front door and entrywayThe Living Room looking into the Dining Room
The Kitchen
Another shot of the kitchen looking into the Living Room (I love the little window!)

The half-bathroom that is downstairs

The Master Bedroom looking into the Master Bathroom

The Master Bathroom

The Guest Bedroom / Office

(There is another bedroom but it looks just like this one right now)

The Guest Bathroom

The Bonus Room
Another shot of the Bonus Room (aka Chad's UNC room:)
A shot of the entryway from the stairs looking into the Living Room

Our little circular window in the entryway--isn't it adorable ?!?

Our New House!

2008-04-22T11:14:00.002-04:00

45 E Hackberry is the address of our new home! We are very thankful, excited, nervous, etc. about moving into our new house. We've done a lot of driving around in the Raleigh area the past several months and have worked closely with our wonderful realtorand this is the house that we have fallen in love with. On May 15th we will sign the papers and be able to move in. This is actually the only picture I have of it right now, but I'll be posting more soon, and updating on the progress of the move!

A Few More Pictures.....

2008-04-22T10:57:00.009-04:00

Although we were really hoping to see a bear or at least a wild cat, this is the extent of the wildlife we encountered, and actually this first picture is not wildlife :) they are fenced in weird-looking cows--I think they're yaks, but they look like Dr. Seuss characters. The deer was also not very wild, in fact they were very tame--that pictures was not zoomed, they were really close to our car!

A Weekend Getaway!

2008-04-22T09:06:00.014-04:00

A couple weeks ago, my sweet husband decided we were going to take a weekend to go away and be together and not really have a plan. It was so much fun!!! He's been wanting to go and drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway since last fall, and it just hasn't worked out for our schedule until now. We left on Friday after I got off work and drove over to the west side of North Carolina and got on the parkway and started driving. It was so beautiful to see firsthand God's amazing power through His creation!

Although we can only imagine that it is even more magnificent in the fall with the brilliant autumn colors, we loved the peaceful drive and gorgeous sights we saw along the way! We stayed overnight at a hotel in a small town in Virginia and ate dinner at a quaint log house restaurant that was built back in the 1700's and the food was delicious!

We got a pretty good start on Saturday morning to get back on the parkway. We stopped numerous times along the way at the overlooks to take lots of pictures (I have such an amazing husband :), but he can't say anything when I ask about taking pictures because he bought me the camera! We also took the time on Saturday to stop and take one of the trails at one of the peaks. The Peaks of Otter is a hotel that overlooks a lake and a restaurant and giftshop. At the spot is also where you can take a trail to the top of what was once thought to be the highest spot in Viginia (later they discovered there was another peak that was about 200 feet higher). The information about the trail said it should be an hour and a half hike to the top, but we did it in about 40 minutes.....we were so proud of ourselves :) It was a very satisfying feeling, although I was really feeling it for the next 2 days! After the hike we were both very hungry, so we stopped along the way and ate a picnic lunch we had packed.
Chad & I had such a great time just being together and talking and enjoying the amazing views--I'm so thankful that he is so sensitive to making sure that there is still time for romance & spontaneousness in the midst of our busy schedules!

Thanking the Lord for His blessings...

2008-02-27T11:43:00.009-05:00

God has blessed Chad & me so graciously with the wonderful families in which He sovereignly placed us. We were both given the privilege of growing up in Christian homes and we do not ever want to take that for granted. I'm posting a few pictures of each of our families.

For those of you who don't know, God took Chad's mom home to be with Him four years ago. Although I very much wish I could've met her because I've only heard wonderful things about her, I know that God has a divine purpose in all things, and I just look forward to the day when we'll be together in heaven for eternity. A little over 2 years ago, Chad's Dad married a sweet lady, Rachel, who also lost her spouse to an illness. She has been so gracious and a helpful addition to the Vradenburgh family. Chad's dad is a pastor at the church we attend here in Raleigh, and Rachel has been able to be a blessing to him in fulfilling the role as a pastor's wife. She has a daughter named Victoria who is adjusting to having quite a few new siblings now! She is a senior and will be graduating in May and heading off to Bob Jones in the fall.

There were 3 weddings in the year 2007 for the Vradenburgh's: 1-1-07--Chase & Miranda started the year off with a surprise wedding (they got married while he was home on a leave from serving in Iraq). 2-14-07--During Christmas break Cheyenne & Wes announced that they would be married on Valentine's Day in Hawaii where they live. 7-7-07--and finally bringing up the rear, although ours was the one planned for the longest time, Chad & I were married this past summer. Chelsea, the "baby" of the family is working on finishing up her schooling, and she is planning to go into Missions.

As for my family, I'm the oldest of 6 children, so I'm the first to branch off on my own, but Tim is following closely behind because he & Anna Ray are getting married this summer, 8-9-08. Bethany will be graduating from high school this May and she's planning on going to Northland in the fall. My brother, Byron is a sophomore in highschool, my youngest brother, Stewart is in 8th grade, and Natalie the "baby" of our family is in 6th grade and keeping my parents young! My parents are in full time Christian work at Greenville Christian Academy--my dad was principal all through my elementary & high school years. I'm so thankful for my sweet family & I'm glad that I don't live too far away from them now. God has been so good to us & we're thankful for his continual blessings on our lives!

Updating.....Our 1st Christmas

2008-02-27T11:19:00.003-05:00

Because I'm so behind the times, this post is definitely going to be out of order, but I thought it would be nice to post a few pictures of how our apartment looked for our 1st Christmas together as a happily married couple!

The Christmas Ornament Chad gave me when we were engaged in 2006

The Christmas ornament Chad gave me for our 1st married Christmas 2007

Finally.....a new post!

2008-02-25T12:18:00.004-05:00

It is awful that it has been since October since I've posted anything on our blog. A lot has happened and to be honest, it is kind of overwhelming to think about catching up, but I d o want to post a few pictures from on of our most recent endeavors. Some people have heard about this, and have asked for pictures but I have to explain the whole story.
Because Chad has always talked about having a dog once we moved into a house, I knew that eventually this would become a reality, although I didn't know quite how soon. A few weeks ago, his desire for a bloodhound puppy became even stronger, so he decided to do a little shopping online to see what he could find. So, he came to my work one afternoon and t old me that he wanted to go look at something that evening. I quickly figured out what that something was, so we went and saw 4 adorable 6-week old bloodhound puppies. Well, that following Saturday one of them became ours. We named him "Jed" He was so cute and playful, although the trips up and down the stairs from our 3rd floor apartment for potty-training purposes weren't alwa ys enjoyable. We knew that it would be difficult to crate train him with us being away quite a bit, bu t we were willing to do our best. After a few days of having him w ith us, we re aliz ed for both our sake and his, it would be best to find another home for hi m. With our work schedules and Chad trying to finish his schooling a s well as going through the process of finding and buying a house we felt lik e we couldn't spend the time we needed to train him the right way. It was hard to co me to that conclusion because we quickly became attached to him, but we were able to sell him very soon after we posted the ad and we feel like he's i n a good home. Eventually, after we have a yard for him to claim as his own, we want to get another Jed just like the first one, because he was so fun, and a great puppy!

I'm posting some pictures of him because some people have asked and also because he was so adorable--when I look at the pictures I miss him and wish we still had him. Isn't he the cutest puppy you've ever seen?!?

Our Living Space

2007-10-11T10:29:00.001-04:00

Here are a few more pictures from the apartment, it wouldn't let me load anymore on the last post for some reason. Enjoy!

Apartment 303

2007-10-11T09:44:00.000-04:00

Chad & I love living in North Raleigh! We live in an apartment complex in a very convenient location. It is right next to the Doctors office that I work at, so I don't even have to get out on the main road to go to work--I'm so thankful!!! We can also take a side street out of our apartments and basically be in the parking lot of a grocery store--that has been really helpful at times :) We live about 7-10 minutes from our church, and just about anything else that we need. I've had a blast with getting settled in and finding a place for everything in our apartment. We still haven't put anything on the walls, but hopefully I can convince Chad that it's important to do before we move out (I'm just kidding he's offered several times to help me, we just haven't gotten to it yet). These are a few pictures of where we live--we're so blessed with what we have & we don't want to take any of it for granted!

7 . 7 . 07

2007-08-07T16:14:00.000-04:00

July 7th was one of the most exciting days of my life--it truly was a dream come true! For so long, I had been waiting for the day I would get married and it finally happened. I am so thankful for the wonderful man the Lord has given me as a husband--Chad Vradenburgh--he's amazing! Today is the one month anniversary of our wedding and it has flown by--I can't believe it's been 4 weeks, but every day of married life has been incredible! Here are a few pictures of our big day, and I will be posting more, especially when I get back the professional ones.

Chad & Melanie Vradenburgh

2007-08-06T11:01:00.000-04:00

Loving Married Life!

2007-08-06T10:34:00.000-04:00

I know that I'm a little behind times, but I'm finally going to enter the blogging world. Honestly I probably still wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for the fact that I got married one month ago and I want to share with my family and friends about that exciting day! Hopefully I will enjoy this and be good about keeping up-to-date with it. Because I love pictures so much, I do want to share some of my own with the people I love. I hope you enjoy our blog, and I'd love to hear from you if you get a chance to post a message.