Almost 9 years later...

As soon as Justin and I were married I knew that we would have a piano.  My mom sacrificed to pay for my lessons for eight years and after moving to my first apartment in Utah for college (and away from my piano at home) I immediately missed being able to sit down and play whenever I wanted.  We knew we couldn't buy one while we were still at school because not only did we not have the money, but we knew we'd be moving and a piano is a heavy piece of furniture that requires delicate care when moving.

After moving here to NC a number of things took priority over finding a piano.  Things like buying a second car so we could both get to work, having a baby (!), buying our first house, having another baby, and another, and another.  So here we were - almost nine years and four kids later - when the dream of having a piano was finally realized. :)  (I should note that we had had a couple of 'false hopes' in the past with regards to finding pianos on craigslist... I shudder at the memories...)

We were graciously offered a piano by a couple in our ward looking to make room for their son who was returning from his mission.  I eagerly accepted the offer, but when the piano mover (also in our ward) went to get the piano from them he found that it was in need of much repair and couldn't do the necessary fixes without a lot of time/money.  We just told him to keep it and we'd go back to looking on craigslist or saving our money for a nice used one from the store.  Lo and behold a miracle was in the making!  A few weeks later the piano mover called us and said he had a piano for us.  It had belonged to an elderly woman in Charlotte who had never played it in the 20 years she'd owned it (and she had bought it new!).  It had simply sat in her parlor as an "accessory" piece.    

And so - we welcomed our 'new to us' piano (in perfect condition!) into our home and had it placed exactly where I envisioned a piano sitting when we bought our house 5.5 years ago.  :)

Just after delivery.  Isn't she lovely? :)

And so much fun to decorate for Fall!

I added a little batting for cushion and covered the piano bench to 1.  Protect if from my little monsters and 2.  Make it look pretty.  Mission completed.

The full effect.  Now I just need to practice my seriously rusty skills! :)

We are so thankful for Heavenly Father's hand in every aspect of our lives!  This was truly a long-awaited answer to prayer... :)