The Move

First of all, is summer really almost over? It has flown by this year. This summer was the first summer in several years that I didn't teach Summer school or I wasn't taking classes at Lamar so I really treasured the time off and tried to just "be" as much as possible. It wasn't all relaxing though. I did move apartments in July. I tried to count all the places that I have lived in since I got my first apartment when I was 18 and I stopped around 15. My poor dad has been the muscles behind most of those moves so this time I hired movers, which by the way is well worth the money especially when you are moving to the second floor!! My mom, dad, and brother still came to help because my brother brought me his washer and dryer to use until he needs it again.

My old apartment packed and ready to be moved.

It was my brother's birthday so we managed to find a space and made a cake and had his birthday presents waiting to surprise him.

I really just had to put this picture because I finally figured out how to focus on an object and make the background blurry...pretty :)

Happy Birthday Glenn!!

 I absolutely love my new apartment! It is a bigger one bedroom with tons of storage and an attached garage. Last summer, when I got my new job in Dallas I only had a short time to get an apartment so I picked my old apartment quickly knowing it was very small but thinking it would be fine and it was for a while :) Then, the walls started feeling like they were caving in on me and I knew I wanted a bigger place when my lease was up this summer.

Here's a look at my new place:



Storage space in the garage

Door coming in from the garage

"Mud" room at the bottom of the stairs. I put my bistro table down here basically just to store it (I am not eating my dinner down here :)

This is actually the space where you would put a table but I eat in the living room on a TV tray so I made it a reading nook. I have always wanted a place with a comfy chair to read and have my quiet time with God in the mornings and I love it. I found the bookshelf on Southeastexas.com and bought it hoping it would work and it fits perfectly!

Kitchen

The living room

Laundry room

My bedroom

I really love my new place and am getting use to the stairs :) I should have amazing calf muscles by this time next year. One thing I am looking forward to about living on the second floor is opening my windows in the Fall. I already love that I can open my blinds and not feel like people are walking by and peeking in. I am so thankful to my dad, brother, and mom for helping with the move and especially to my mom for helping me pack and unpack and making it feel like home!



Memory Lane

When I was home in Beaumont my Grammy brought over a box of old family photos of her when she was a baby and of my Grandfather when they were first married. My Grandfather died of a heart attack when my mom was 5 years old and my Grammy was only 32 years old. She had 4 children at the time and I can't even fathom what she went through. She has been through so much and she will be the first to tell you that if it hadn't been for God's grace she couldn't have made it. She was a stay at home mom and was forced to go and get a job immediately in a day when women in the workplace was not the common. I remember her telling me that her boss told her, "You will not be able to use your children as an excuse for not being here." She did what she had to do and did a great job raising my mom and her brothers as a single mom.

It happened to be Fathers Day when she brought the pictures over and I mentioned that I had never been to my Grandfather's grave. We decided to go out to Port Neches and see it.

Grammy has her plot already reserved next to him which is sweet but a little weird to see her name on the gravestone.

My brother Glenn was named after my Grandfather and his birthday is on July 18 which is the day after my Grandfather died.

Since we were in the area, we drove by two of the homes Grammy and my Grandfather lived in in Nederland. My mom lived here when she was a baby to the time she was 3. My Grandfather had the carport turned into an extra room and it is still that way today.

My Grandparents built this house and this was the house my Grandfather lived in when he died. We sat outside the house and were talking about how we wish we could walk through it. I don't know what got into me but I went to the door and knocked and asked if we could see the house and told them the story about how my Grandparents had built this home 50 years ago and this was the home they lived in when my Grandfather died. An older couple lives there now and they were so sweet and let us come in and see the house. The wife said she would love to be able to go to the house she grew up in and see it so she understood. It was very emotional for my mom and Grammy. I can't imagine all the memories Grammy had there and my mom showed me her old room and much of the house still looked the same although Grammy was disappointed they changed the pink tiles in the master bath :) She was telling us before we went in that they had the most beautiful tile in both the bathrooms but her favorite was the master bath. I have to admit it was a very surreal experience. I kept thinking..these are the halls my Grandfather who I never got to meet walked through. This is the kitchen he cooked in. This is the door he walked out that morning going to work. It was sad but an experience I am grateful for. I am the only grandchild to have seen the inside of the house and most likely will be the only one. I wish I could have brought my camera in and taken pictures but I am sure the owners wouldn't have appreciated that. It would have been great to share the pictures with my uncles, aunts and cousins but maybe they can go by another time and see it. I am so grateful they let us come in and look around. It was extra special that it was on Fathers Day and I know it was sad but also good for Grammy and Mom to go back and see the house. I would love to go back and see the house I grew up in and maybe I will be able to do that one day.

The Boardwallk

I went home to visit my family and friends in Beaumont for a few weeks this summer and one of the things on my "to-do" list was to go to the Kemah Boardwalk. I LOVE crab legs and the boardwalk is the perfect place to sit out on the deck and eat BBQ crablegs. We met my brother and Grammy came too.

While we waited on Glenn to get there we walked around the boardwalk. It was overcast so the weather was perfect and is was not too hot to walk around outside.

Dad played a game.

My dad won this stuffed animal for my classroom!

This is the Kema Boardwalk Beast. I have rode it before and and when you walk off you are soaking wet so we decided to sit that one out.

We ate at Joe's Crab Shack. I worked at the Joe's in Beaumont and the one in Grapevine all through college and it's nice to go back and be the person eating the crabs and not serving them :) After dinner, we decided to ride the wooden roller coaster. I am still not sure why I did because I can get motion sick very easily but surprisingly I was fine. I had not been on a roller coaster in years and I proabably won't be on another one for a while. Someone told us that this roller coater is one of the world's top ten roller costers. I am not sure if that's true or not but if it is that's pretty cool! It was a great day and I am glad I got to see my brother and the crab legs were amazing!

Mother's Day

For Mother's day this year my mom came to Dallas the week after Mother's day so we could go to the SHE Conference at my church with me. The SHE conference is a women's conference and we have been looking forward to it for a while.

I was really excited to hear Christine Caine from Hillsong speak. I love the Hillsong worship team and I have heard Christine speak at a Joyce Meyer conference and she is such a powerful, anointed preacher.

Mom and I at the SHE Conference

One of my favorite parts of the conference was when they gave away a Smart car to a single mom. They had the car parked in the lobby of the church for a few weeks before the conference and the windows were cracked just a little for people to put money in the car. So, the single mom also got a big check with the car! What a blessing for that single mom!

All of the speakers at the conference were so amazing and I am so glad mom was able to come with me. 

Mom stayed the rest of the week with me and we continued to celebrate Mother's Day with shopping and eating at the Mistro Bistro Cafe!

I am so blessed to have my mom as not only my mother but my very best friend! If it weren't for her prayers and love I don't know where I would be today. I love her so much!!

Happy Mother's Day!



Jog for Jon

Last November my friend Carrie's husband, Jon, fell 30 feet out of a deer blind while hunting and broke his back and punctured his lungs. It was a miracle that he survived because he was hunting by himself and laid there for several hours until his friend found him. To make matters worse, Jon had just gone into business for himself and did not have insurance at the time so you can imagine how much the hospital bills were.

Carrie is a first grade teacher at Castle Hills Elementary and the parents and staff at the school helped put together an event called, "Jog for Jon" to raise money for the hospital bills.

Marianne, Carrie, and Me at the Jog for Jon

My mom and dad were in town and my dad came with me.

There was an awesome turnout!

Jon's dad and brother

After the one mile jog (Marianne, dad and I walked) there was live music and all the kids had so much fun dancing.

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Carrie and her class of first graders.

At the end, Carrie and Jon were presented with a $15,144.00 check. Jon gave the sweetest, tear jerking speech and thanked everyone for all their support and love. I was so glad I live here and could be a part of it. I was so touched to see all the families and kids from the school that came out to support them.



Girls Weekend in Dallas

Two of my best friends from Beaumont, Katie and Alecia, came to visit a few weekends ago and I had been looking forward to it for months. When I lived in Beaumont we would get together once a month and go eat and have a girls night so I have missed those nights so much since I left and couldn't wait to see them and catch up.

I took off on Friday and they drove in. After we ate lunch and talked a while we decided to go to the pool at my apartment and lay out. That was actually my first time to go to the pool and it was so nice to relax, talk, and finally enjoy the pool.

On Saturday, we went to the Carrollton Square Downtown. I had never been there but heard it was a fun place to go eat and shop.

We had lunch at the Broadway Bistro Cafe.

It was the perfect girl lunch...pasta and club sandwiches.

Me, Alecia and Katie at The Broadway Bistro Cafe

I love the  wooden staircase in the cafe. 

After lunch we walked around and looked in all the cute shops.

Saturday night we went to The Shops at Legacy and ate at one of my favorite seafood restaurants.

Half Shells Seafood

The Shops at Legacy is a neat area in Plano with boutique shops and restaurants. We shopped, ate and then shopped some more!

It was such a fun weekend! I love these girls and am so glad they were able to come and visit. We always have a great time together, it's just never long enough :)