2016 has started off on a very happy note for me & my family....and I thought I would share our happiness with you all

The year started fabulously as we added another beloved member to our family - Emma. After losing Ginger (our 4 yr old Neapolitan Mastiff), I thought I couldn't let another dog into my heart. But Emma.....Emma heals the broken bits of my soul and makes me feel like 'me' again. I love that munchkin to death already! With the coming of Emma, I've had to de-prioritize work because it's taking time and training to get the puppy to adjust with our almost 8yr old German Shepherd, Xena. Honestly....I don't mind it one bit

Emma turned lucky for us. We have been looking forward to pick up a new car for over 8 months but were not getting a good buyer for our older SUV. Suddenly, we had a real promising buyer come right to our doorstep (totally unplanned) and he bought our car at whatever rate we quoted! It was awesome! So we have finally bought a far more premium car that I've wanted for 3 yrs....an old dream coming true

The biggest good news was a surprise my husband planned for me and told me about only the day the car came home. We purchased our city apartment in 2009 and had a 20yr mortgage for it. As our financial health got better, we planned to finish off the loan way sooner; our goal was end of 2016. But apparently my husband made some extra bonus and repaid the loan already! As of Jan 2016 - we are 100% debt free and own our house!!!! I am especially excited about this. It seems like just yesterday when we moved to this city and my husband went back to college. We lived in a tiny one room apartment with Xena and were as happy as can be on just my meager salary as a fresher in the architecture industry. But that was Oct'2008, and I am amazed at how far we've come in these years. I feel extremely proud and blessed and feel like I couldn't have asked for a better life.

These days our social life has been dialed back a notch since we don't want to leave the puppy alone for too long. We aren't complaining! We watch a lot of movies at home, I've taken up container-gardening that I enjoy very much, and we do go for long drives with the dogs on weekends. We've had the whole family visit us one by one to meet Emma - my sister & her husband, my mother in law, and my own parents, so we've been busy.

Life's good right now. And I feel very happy and content.

Thanks for reading and for sharing our happiness.