Adventures in Texas

Since this month is almost over, I figured I should wrap up my posts about Texas. FINALLY!

Our first full day in Texas was pretty relaxing. We spent the morning sleeping and lounging around my uncle's house. We were all still pretty tired from the long trip. We decided this would probably be the only day we had free to ourselves so we decided to take a drive to the next city which is a bit bigger than the small little town my parents moved to. It was really nice and I liked it there. We began shopping for supplies for our adventure in painting while still in my parents new town and continued along the way.

Because the area my parents moved to is so small not every store is in every city, like it pretty much is here (or at least within a reasonable driving distance). So we ended up driving even further to the next city for another store. We ended up going back and forth across the highway on this loop most of the afternoon. We would be in one store and remember we needed something else in another store which would happen to be across the highway. This happened numerous times which was a little confusing. The loops there take some getting used to but this particular loop was under construction at the moment which made things a little more interesting.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end to our days adventures. We headed on our way back "home." Meanwhile, my parents are still getting used to the area and began to "discuss" which way to get back. I chimed in with a brilliant idea of using the GPS. I know, I know, what are they going to do without me. :) I got everything in and gave my dad the next directions and turned it off so as not to wear down my mom's phone.

Then my dad saw a sign. I think we all wish my dad had never seen that sign. Because that sign took us on what seemed like a wild goose chase. When he turned I asked if it was the street I previously told him to turn down. He said he didn't know but that the sign told him to go that way.

Well, I don't think I mentioned this before but my parents basically moved to the south. They are in east Texas not far from Louisiana. And this road we were on wound round and round. We had no idea where we were, there was no signal on the phone for me to look up GPS or even call anyone to see if we were on the right track. And this road went on for what seemed like forever. Meanwhile, the theme song to Deliverance was dancing through my head as we saw lights from the houses we passed deep in the woods. We finally made it out and we were indeed there. But I guarantee my parents won't be taking that route again.

The next day we still were a little lazy and took it easy that morning. But we were soon off to the house for some major painting. We thankfully had a bit of help during the day and a little more help that evening. However, before we got that much needed help that evening we had a bit of an incident. Better yet, I had an incident. Backing up a bit. A few years ago my knee popped out of the socket. It was not a fun experience and had quite the makings for a very embarrassing moment. But I won't get into that this time around. A few months ago my knee did the same as I was getting into bed. Yes, I know. Very strenuous things I'm doing to cause this to happen. So there's a little background for you.

Meanwhile, we're painting this 2400 sq ft house. I was in one of the bathrooms as you guessed it, painting. I had done about as much as I could on the ground and I crawled up on the sink (don't worry it was plenty sturdy for me to be up there) to paint above the mirror. When all of a sudden my knee popped out of the socket. I shrieked. Actually, it was more of a shrill scream. This was made worse by the fact that unlike the other times when my knee just popped right back in place, it wasn't. It stayed out until just before my mom and the rest of the ladies helping us arrived to find out what on earth was going on to make me scream so. Now this was only a few seconds but when you're knee is out of the socket, this is an eternity. It finally popped back in place, thank God.

However, I'm still in this predicament of standing on a sink with only one good leg. There is no where for me to go but down. And down I went. Thankfully, I did not fall completely to the floor, instead I made a nice seat for myself in.the.paint. Yep, I sat in the paint. There was no where else for me to go and I plopped right in the middle of it. My mom came in the room and had to stifle her laughter as she saw me sitting in paint. I myself had to contain from laughing because it hurt too much to laugh. I was in quite the conundrum, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This all took place in a matter of about 30 seconds. But it sure does feel like an eternity as its going on.

I eventually calmed myself down enough to get off the sink and hobble out to the backyard where my mom proceeded to hose me off. I was then restricted to sitting on the tarp the rest of the day, not that there was any real furniture to sit in in the first place. I then spent the next two days sitting on my behind scooting along the walls painting the lower half of the wall.

So as you can see my time in Texas was full of little adventures. That Saturday the truck with my parents things came in. We were thankful to have enough help that it was completely unloaded in only 2 hours (it might have been 1 1/2 hours). Our help then left and my parents and I spent some time getting a few things put together. My dad then told us that we were not going to do anything on the house on Sunday, we were just going to relax. With that we went back to my uncle's for some much needed rest.

Parents New House

Side of the house

Fenced in part of the backyard. (Goes out further than the fence)

Next post I'll finish up my exploits in Texas with a few pictures to make things at least a little more interesting.

Texas or Bust!

I'm finally getting around to writing about my trip to Texas. Hopefully by the time I'm really done with this I will have a few pictures to show as well.

The drive to Texas was long but I really enjoyed the time I spent with my mom alone. We left Sunday morning with a very emotional goodbye to my brother, J.R. and our close friends. Thankfully that first day was an easy drive as we stopped in Phoenix for the evening so we could spend some time with my grandparents. While the drive may have been easy on us, it was not quite so easy on the cats. My parents have two monstrous cats and we had one in each car. Punkin was with us and that girl did not sleep for over 24 hours. Poor thing was bug eyed because she was so tired but too scared to sleep. We were able to get them to eat a little bit but she had us really worried. She eventually fell asleep the next afternoon and she was out for quite some time. We were very thankful for that.

Punkin warming up to the experience of driving.

Patches enjoying the scenery.

Found this just outside of Phoenix on our way to Tucson.

The second day's drive was quite a bit longer than the first. We expected to be on the road 10 hours. It's a long drive but not terrible. Little did we know that that 10 hour drive would really turn into a 12 hour drive. It felt like we would never get there and it seemed like one mishap after another occurred that day. It was probably around 11pm and we had just driven through Odessa and our destination was Midland, so we were almost there. Then a cop pulled out in front of me and he was going WAY below the speed limit. I followed him for a few miles because I didn't want it to seem like I was buzzing around him because I was driving with California plates and if anything is a target on your back that is. So I eased on around him, still not even doing the speed limit (which by the way was painful.) Then my dad followed me around.

The second my dad pulled in front of the cop, his lights went off. We couldn't believe it and we radioed to my dad asking what he had done. He said he didn't know but we soon found out that the light over his licence plate was out and that was the reason for this delay. This wouldn't have been a big deal just a minor inconvenience, however, my dad couldn't find his insurance. That on the other hand created a bigger deal. When we discovered what the problem was my mom tore through her bag, she was a woman on a mission as she searched for their proof of insurance. A few minutes later it was in my dad's hand and we were off with a small warning to get the light fixed.

Our problems that day didn't end there unfortunately. We finally got to the hotel and checked in. We walked into the room and the first thing I saw was one bed. One bed? I had spent the previous night on a pull out couch because that's all that hotel had. I was promised by my mom that this night I would have a bed of my own. So of course the minute I saw that I began to whine. My mom checked our paperwork and went down to straighten out the problem. She discovered that the woman had given us the wrong room (obviously) and that she was glad there hadn't been anyone in the other room. Say what? That would have been a bad bad thing, considering it was about 1 in the morning and we would have been barging in on someone, in Texas, where everyone carries a gun. Ok I'm exaggerating just a bit there but I did see some bikers that day riding along and one of them was carrying a gun. It's funny was a huge difference in culture a few hundred miles makes.

The next morning we woke up early because we had another long day of driving, though thankfully not as long as before. It was on this day that the scenery turned from

this to this.

I was amazed. It was so pretty. There were trees everywhere you looked. All you could see were trees. We finally arrived at my aunt and uncle's house around 5 or 6pm. We were there. We were exhausted. I met their neighbors who are really good close friends with my aunt and uncle. We eventually drove over to my parents new house where we met the people who were are renting it to them. They were still in the process of cleaning out the place, boy did it need to get cleaned out. But that's another story for another post. We were amazed at the size of the not only the house but the property as well. It's absolutely incredible! I'm still in wonder at how far apart all the houses are. There are a total of 3 houses on my parents block and it's a full sized block. Simply incredible.

So that was our drive to Texas. I'll be back hopefully sooner rather than later to talk about my actual time in Texas with my parents.

Faith Filled Steps

The last few weeks have been both physically and emotionally draining for not just me but my entire family. Growing up my family moved from place to place fairly frequently. The longest I have ever lived in one city is 5 years. Very rarely did any of us truly feel like we fit in with our peer groups. Because of that it was always just the four of us and we were ok with that. Needless to say my family is extremely close. Everyone knows every one's business.

When we discovered that my parents were moving it was a pretty difficult thing to come to terms with. In fact, I don't think I completely have yet. It's been more than just hard. It's been one of the hardest things I've had to go through. My mom told me that leaving her kids like this has been the single most difficult thing she has ever done. But she also says that every time she begins having a difficult time God asks her if she trusts Him with us and He reminds her that He has a plan for us.

There is zero doubt in my mind that this move has been completely orchestrated by God. Things have fallen into place too quickly and far too smoothly for it to be anything else. The one thing that has struck me the entire time is that each step along the way has been perfectly aligned. God has not revealed multiple steps but has just laid them out one at a time asking my parents to take just one step of faith at a time. The way in which this position seemed to have come out of nowhere to my parents housing situation has been nothing short of a miracle.

When my parents left Texas over a month ago after their visit, they had nowhere to live. They were unable to find a house while they were there. In the midst of the problem of finding a house, my parents were having difficulty with their mortgage here in California like so many others as my mom hasn't worked in months. However, not even a week after they came back from their trip, one of the couples in the church received news that an older man they had been helping out passed away and because he had no family, he left his house to them. It turns out this house is huge (2400 sq ft on about 1/2 acre) and would be available for my parents to rent (at a rate that was about 1/3 of what they had been previously paying). What an amazing blessing!

Well, there was still the problem of my parents house. My parents desperately wanted to be able to refinance the house at a much lower rate so that J.R. and I could live there and be a lot more comfortable financially. Well, it seems that wasn't quite in God's plan. But we're ok with that. As we were loading up the truck with all my parents belongings a lady came up to the house. She told us she was a realtor and was wondering what my parents were going to do with the house. They told her that they were going to attempt to sell the house. She then informed them that she had a client that was interested in a house in the area and asked if he could come look at the house.

My parents were a little hesitant at first as the house was in a complete mess as we were packing up a truck. The realtor said not to worry and she called her client. Two minutes later he was there looking through the house. Last week the realtor called my mom and told her her client was ready to put in an offer and was just waiting for the for sale sign. That's just not something that happens everyday. We are all in complete awe of how great God is at planning out every single little step and that all he requires is for you to put one foot forward in faith. Incredible.

More on my actual trip to Texas later.