What’s New With Me?

Sometimes, it’s a lot of fun and quite humorous to read through old drafts of mine. I get to spend some time reflecting how my life has changed and how my life can remain so very constant over the years. For instance, the following draft came from Nov. 2015, and yet, the sentiment is still the same:

I am constantly reminded that I am not actually in control of the life I live. I used to make elaborate lists (for I do so love a good written list) of all the lovely things I would get accomplished in a day. Now I keep a general ‘to-do’ on my phone and get pretty excited when I can tick just one of them off!

For instance, I was going to sit down this morning and update blogland on what is going on with us, but I no sooner had the title typed up and I had a crying 5-year-old at my elbow. He was unable to locate pants in the dark room where his siblings were still sleeping and he needed help.

I still have a youngest child who loves getting ‘help’ from mom in his schoolwork and his life in general. I still enjoy making lists and checking things off that list. I also still owe bogland an update on this crew!

Our family relocated at the very tail end of 2019 to the great state of Texas. We had three years in beautiful Northwest Georgia, hiked the gorgeous trails all around the foothills of the Appalachians, met some amazing people there, but heard God’s call leading us to a town north of Houston.

We really are enjoying the Texas culture and people. This is an incredible place with an incredible history and we have had a blast this past year immersing ourselves into it! There are several things that are so uniquely Texas:

Everything really is bigger in Texas! The biggest surprise for me personally was the very first sunset in Texas. Those beautiful hills and intense tree coverage only allows for a small glimpse of any sunset colors. In Texas, that sky is wide open for the full view of all the beauty God paints in every sunset. I have always loved sunset, and seeing a panorama the first evening here was breathtaking!
Texas is so big, it takes a day to get across Texas. It’s been a learning curve to plan trips driving across Texas because we often spend the first day just trying to get across it. Crazy!
Texas takes donuts very seriously! I do love good pastry and where we live, there are donuts shops on every corner. Light, fluffy, not too sweet, donuts.
Texas has kolache on every corner along with their donuts. For a midwestern girl, seeing the various ‘pigs in a blanket’ in the pastry shops was pretty amusing, until I bit into one…oh yum!!!
There really are cowboy boots and hats everywhere! When I was a waitress in high school, there was a trucker who came to the restaurant and would tell me stories about Texas. It was always a place of awe and wonder, where cowboys roamed and horses ran. We live far enough north of Houston that our little town has tons of pasture land around it, filled with long-horn cattle and horses. Just the other day, outside of our Walmart, were two guys on horseback standing just outside the door of the garden center. It was very cool!
Rodeos are a big deal here! At the tail end of what I consider ‘winter’, Houston hosts a huge rodeo. It’s incredible! We weren’t used to having anything big happening in February, so we missed it. But we will be going this year! The photos we saw sure wet that appetite!
Texas has puts jalapeño in absolutely everything! Most of my family loves this! I tend to be a spice sissy, so I still struggle with it, but Texas is the place to be if you love jalapeño!
The stars at night are big and bright, it’s the truth!

And finally if you are going to spend any length of time in Texas, you’d better learn “Deep in the Heart of Texas”! We have several versions, but I prefer Gene Autry’s.