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Life has been going great since the move. You could say we are finally settled.

Living next to sandwich places galore instead of chicken fried steak and fish has probably been good for our health. Plus, the free time that looking for a job has given me allows for a lot of exercise!

Our apartment is finally feeling like home. We never really hung anything up in the old apartment, because everything always fell off of the walls. Fortunately everything seems to be staying in place now! 

A few weeks ago, we got this new chair to help seat all of our friends

And here is the master all decorated

We have stayed busy this past month, catching up with our family and hanging out with friends!

We spent a day celebrating a R@nger's victory a few weeks ago

And I got to enjoy a girl's night in Grapevine

Rainy Day Taco Soup

With all of the rain that we have been getting, and the fact that Mark has a fantasy football draft tonight....I figured I would do some easy comfort food for dinner!

This was my first time to cook this soup, but I have had it quite a few times! It comes from one of the most generous people I know! Anytime she knew life was getting crazy, she would bring us some taco soup! 

It makes alot-enough to share! So when you make it, invite some friends over or take some to a family who may need cheering up! 

Taco Soup 

1 pound hamburger meat

1 onion, chopped

1 pkg. dry Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing seasoning

1 pkg. taco seasoning

3 cans stewed tomatoes 

3 cans Ranch style beans

1 can hominy

1 can whole kernel corn

 

 

In large stew pot, brown meat and add onion.  Add all other ingredients and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer.  Simmer for three hours.  If liquid needs to be added, use one bullion cube and a cup of water.

(This makes a large amount of soup, but we like to have some to share or freeze.)

The Journey Continues!

It feels like all of my posts lately have been about such huge topics in our lives. I think that is just kind of how this summer has been for us.

Hopefully this will be the last post for a while with something "big" in it! You see- we have been quite busy in the few weeks since I last updated....

Yes, on top of all of the other crazy moments, we have packed up all of mine our belongings and relocated. Why? Well, because the husband got an AMAZING job with lots of new opportunities!

Here was the hard part: We had to leave my AMAZING job, the hundreds of kids that had stolen and forever changed my heart, some incredible friends, an awesome church, and family.

So, where does that leave us? That leaves us here- in a new home in the DFWish area. Close to new friends and new family. We can't wait to see where this journey will take us!

Held

Two months is too little.
They let him go.
They had no sudden healing.
To think that providence would
Take a child from his mother while she prays
Is appalling.

Who told us we'd be rescued?
What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares?
We're asking why this happens
To us who have died to live?
It's unfair.

This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we'd be held.

This hand is bitterness.
We want to taste it, let the hatred know our sorrow.
The wise hands opens slowly to lilies of the valley and tomorrow.

This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we'd be held.
 

If hope is born of suffering.
If this is only the beginning.
Can we not wait for one hour watching for our Savior?

This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we'd be held.
-Natalie Grant, Held

Today...

Today was supposed to be a very different day.

Most of you know that we had no intentions of starting a family for quite a few years.

But God's plans were very different than ours.

On June 30, we got some shocking news. Life changing news. Only, at the time we had no clue how much it would change our lives.

2 lines. 1 word. Pregnant. What?! 2 trips to the store. Multiple retests and alot of tears later the joy set it. We were going to be parents. Our best friends and immediate family were the only ones to know. Today was the day we would share it with the world.

We went for our second visit at almost 10 weeks, and we heard the words that no parents-to-be want to hear.

"I am so sorry...Let me go get the Doctor..."

I won't go into all of the details of all of that day....but I will tell you one thing. That day and in the weeks following, my husband was a rock. I am still not sure how I functioned, but my husband was right there beside me every step of the way. I could not have asked for a better partner to walk through this with.

Now that we are on the other side of everything that had to be waited for and gone through, we are sorting through the emotional mess that is left. It is hard to talk about. How do you walk up to someone and say "Hey this happened to me". But I know that it is an important part of healing. It is now a part of our story, of our testimony.  My prayer is that God will use our pain, use this trial to touch the lives of others as they go through the same.

Through this journey, our lives have changed. Not in the way that we thought that they would, but once again-God's plans are always so much bigger and better than ours.  I am so grateful that He does not let my selfishness or stubbornness get in the way of His ways.