Risk

We have been in Texas over a month now, that seems crazy to me. I wanted to shed a little light on, or maybe just get my thoughts out about our move and why we made it.


First of all, I feel like it is important for you to know why we actually wanted to move. We were really content with our lives in Glendale. Denver's job loved him, I had a job for the next school year, our church family and friends were there, and my family was really close. But, shortly after we moved there God started stirring in both our hearts the benefit of having Risk in our lives. Risk has always been a scary word for me.

I like my life planned out in advance, and I want the roadmap to wherever I am going. However, God is not always best served when we are comfortable and our lives are planned to perfection. We didn't know it last March, but our lives would become very comfortable in Glendale. Our community group and our church were challenging us in living intentionally for the gospel of Christ, but the rest of our life was settling down. For us, living our lives intentionally for Christ has come to mean that we are taking that great community we experienced in one place and bringing it somewhere else. We want people to feel that our home is a safe place and a place where Jesus is glorified. That very well could have happened in Glendale, but God chose to do it in Houston.

Many of you know that when we moved, we had a choice between Colorado and Houston. We were very much leaning towards Colorado, in fact, I even flew out there to find us a place to live. We have prayed a lot about this process; about where we would be, the jobs we would have, the relationships we would make, and ultimately our motivations for moving. As we prayed about moving to Colorado, the opportunity to move to Houston was dropped in our lap. Now, if you know us, you know how thrilled we were to be out of the heat, so Houston didn't seem like something that would change our course. However, the more we prayed, the more we felt God leading us to move to Hot, Humid, Houston.

I really do believe that God has something great in store for us in Houston, and despite the difficulties of moving to a strange new city, I am able to see his incredible blessings in our lives everyday. Thank you for praying with and for us as we continue this adventure.

Beer and The Fonz

When you think of my husband what do you think of ?

The Fonz you say? Funny you should say that...as that is exactly how he described himself compared to the other engineers this week. I love that man. Denver, not the fonz.

Speaking of Happy Days in Houston, comes the newfound wastes uses of my time. The first way I have now started spending my time, living with two men and being outnumbered, is watching beer brewing videos. Have you ever had an interest in brewing beer you might ask? Absolutely not. However, I could probably write a fantastic essay about the processes that go into home brewing. Tomorrow, I even get to try my hand at a first batch. Lucky me!! Not only have I been lucky enough to spend my evenings learning about the finer points of beer brewing, but I have also been blessed with a Breaking Bad addiction. Now, I can be quoted on several occasions proclaiming how horrible that show was, and how morally decrepit I thought it. But, what I have not mentioned until now, is it is also quite addicting. Thus is my life living with men.....I sure hope when we are ready to have kids that we have at least one girl....I need an ally :-)

Odd moments of Texas pride...

Texans have weird ways of displaying their pride for their state. I will be sharing them from time to time :) here's the first...

Boxes and Boxing Matches

We learned quickly that Hunter's dog does not like boxes. Every time we picked one up during the move, she would jump and run away. I have to admit, I am feeling a little bit like that dog right now. I start twitching every time I see a remnant of packing tape or boxes. Thankfully, most major moving disasters were averted.

Anyhow, we are now in Texas. We have been Texans for a week now! It is still so surreal, and weird that we no longer live in Arizona, and everything we own is living in a tiny storage unit, and we are living with my brother-in-law. Sometimes, I wonder if this could turn into a weird sitcom.

We are settling in quite nicely. We have tried some of the local flavors....crawfish...spicy but surprisingly good....kolaches....odd, but also quite good. Natalie and I searched out a european bakery and Ikea in our down time from unpacking this week as well.

The most interesting adventure though, came last night...Denver and I were in need of a date, and so we bought a Groupon for what looked like a nice restaurant and followed the GPS directions. We ended up in a hospital parking lot. Then, the boxing match ensued. Denver insisted that I look up directions again, and I insisted that I had looked up directions, and here we were! So, he turns and looks at me, "Well, Erin, We are in a hospital parking lot, unless the restaurant is in the cancer center, we are in the wrong spot." Fine then, I looked them up and sure enough, here we were. It was in fact, behind the cancer center :-) Lesson learned. And the worst part of it all was when we got inside, I got dirty looks for being underdressed. What a night!

Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes! We made it!

Pack and Move

It's an odd experience watching other people pack your things. On one hand, I am so grateful that they are doin this work and not me. Their hands move quicker than a wind up toy bustling around our apartment. On the other hand, my need for control kicks in and I want to know exactly what is in each and every box. O well... I guess this is God teaching me patience and to let go of control. :) Houston, here we come!

J'Aime Paris

10 things I have learned about myself and about Paris…

1. If you look closely, or actually just look around at all. You will realize it is  a very dirty city.
2. Parisians make the best crepes. Period. You can’t beat it. I had one everyday.
3. I am not made to ride a metro system. All the running and scurrying and pushing makes me a nervous wreck.
4. People are apparently supposed to be far too close for comfort on the subway, and it is expected. Sometimes you even get lucky enough to have a couple making out right in your personal bubble, and you can’t move. That’s fun. But what makes it even more fun is when an old man starts hissing and stabbing at them with his umbrella.
5. Notre Dame, The Eiffel Tower, and the Arc de Triomphe are incredible masterpieces.
6. Be ready to walk everywhere, and then walk some more. My leg muscles cramped in places I didn’t know I had muscles.
7. They tell you to beware of pickpockets, but if you are hyper-paranoid like me, you think every person with a foreign accent will try to steal your wallet if you give them a window of opportunity.
8. I love sidewalk cafes! The elegance and beauty of sitting outside in the cool, beautiful weather was stupendous.
9. The French military is not the most polished. We spent 20 minutes at the most painful changing of the guard ceremony ever. No one knew what to do or when to do it, and the policeman standing next to us was laughing at his comrades the whole time.
10. It is a very romantically beautiful city at night. I could have stared at the eiffel tower all lit up like lace in the sky for hours. 

Now we are London bound….

Cheers! 

Get 'er Packed!

Have you ever had the feeling....well...this feeling....

I had that gut wrenching feeling today. Not only am I attempting to prepare our house for the coming move, but also to get packed for our Europe trip to Hunter and Natalie's wedding!! Anyhow, I got everything laid out on the bed according to my list, and as I was pulling everything out I started thinking, "I am so fabulous. I cannot believe I downsized this much." I was patting myself on the back big time until I grabbed the backpack that I had to stuff everything into. "Crap. I need to downsize." However, I would like you all to know that I successfully pulled off the feat of getting two dresses, heels, and seven other outfits complete with hairspray and curling iron into a hiking backpack! I am so excited to leave.

On the other hand... I am coming back to this.... (If your  name is Denver, notice how the guy is packing all the boxes....)

So maybe I'll stay a little while...two weeks? Ya that sounds good. 

The Great State of Texas??

Well folks its that time, time for me to start a blog. I figured it was appropriate since we are moving away from many of our friends and family to start a new adventure in Houston, Texas together.

Not to say this last year and a half has not been full of adventures. We have learned so much about ourselves and each other. For example, I learned that Denver's socks are attracted to everywhere in our house except the laundry basket, and I am really great at sewing pants, if you don't mind that they don't fit you, of course. 

It has really been great, and we are excited to start this new journey together. I will try to update this with our mishaps, I mean, adventures, as we head to Texas! Thanks for all your support friends, and if you ever have the desire to come visit a hot and humid southern city that frequents hurricanes and flooding, just drop us a line and we would love to entertain you.