A Thrilling Thursday!

Yesterday was a very exciting day in the life of the Cochranes! In the morning, we had someone come over to do some work on our house. It happened to be a couple brothers that went to Sheridan Hills Baptist Church, the church I grew up in. They have their own construction company and they were recommended by a family friend (who happened to be our realtor) and they actually did some work on the outside we had to have done before we were able to close the house.

Anyway, back to the story.

We planned for them to fix some electrical things, including finishing the lights in our built-in entertainment center, fixing some exposed wires on the water heater, and replacing a switch to the light over the sink in the kitchen! We also had them fix our back sliding glass door (which wasn't installed correctly and had a HUGE space where bugs could get in and A/C could get out) and fix the dishwasher so I wouldn't have to wash every dish, every night. (Hallelujah!)

Well, I saw their big truck pull up and then they started pulling things out that they were going to need to do the work on our house. I saw a big box but didn't think too much of it, although I knew we weren't having anything really big done. Here's how our initial conversation went:

Man: Do you use a microwave?

(A little note for understanding: The microwave was the only appliance missing in our kitchen when we moved in, which was a lot better than some of the other houses we looked at, so there was a big blank space over the stove where the microwave should be.)

Me: Oh, yeah, I use a microwave all the time, but we're just using our old countertop one until we can get a new one.

Man: Well, we have this microwave and you can have it if you want it. We don't want to charge you for it; we just want to give it to you.

(At this point, you could pretty much pick my jaw up off the floor. I just remember being totally and completely in shock!!)

Me: (after picking my jaw up off the floor) Are you serious?!

Man: Yes, it's just been sitting in our warehouse and it's brand new. We were doing a remodel on a kitchen and when we installed it the woman decided she didn't like it. She wanted a black one instead. So, it's just been sitting there and we need to get rid of it.

Me: (I'm pretty sure I said something like this but I was still in shock so I don't really remember exactly.) Yeah, sure... we'll take it! Thank you so much!! You have no idea what a huge blessing this is! Thank you!

All day yesterday, I just kept thinking God is so awesome! I don't know why I'm so shocked... I know I probably shouldn't be, but it's not every day you see things like this happen. What a blessing that was!!

Here's a picture of our new microwave!

Doesn't it look awesome?!?!

Then last night...

Matt got a big award at his 10:00pm briefing. My incredible husband was honored as "Officer of the Month" for October! Isn't that awesome?!?

I'm so proud of him (after all, only 12 people each year in his department get this honor, and now he's one of them for 2008!) and I know it made him feel so good, too! You go, babe! Get those bad guys! =o) If you get a chance, ask him sometime to tell you the story that got him this title... it's a good one!

Here's a picture of Matt with the plaque they gave him for Officer of the Month:

... and a closeup of the actual award:

(And on top of that a nice, fat $100 bonus!)