A Social Network Christmas

I hope you like this as much as I did.

We interrupt this blog for...

everything else apparently.  The original intent here was to upload pictures and stories for the benefit of family; to keep in touch.  Then came Facebook.  It is so much easier.  One-line comments, quick photo uploads, accessible by phone.  But still not the same.  And not all the family is reading either site.  So, what to do?

Maybe I will write our Christmas letter here.

Dear friends and family,

Boy has this year been full.  Sweet Holley survived first grade, had a great summer including trips to the water park, the neighbors pool, and a week in Kansas with Grandma and her cousins. She started second grade in the fall with a new teacher.  I am not sure just how interested she in in school, but she loves music, art, library and PE classes.  Her grades have been good and she is full of energy!  Her 8th birthday was just last week and we celebrated with a party at Main Event, a bowling/gaming/noisy kind of place.

Mike is "the busiest unemployed person I know".  Some of our close friends introduced us to a mission group that cooks and serves meals to hungry and homeless people in Conroe.  Immediately, Mike got involved and help lead our church to taking a prominent role in this ministry and eventually starting a second site that will begin serving in Magnolia in January.  He has also been assisting family ministries with deliveries, shuttling clothing donations between 4 locations in Montgomery County, and quite a bit more.

The big topper is the formation of Missions on Wheels.  He is nearing the finalization of the official paperwork that will allow us to proceed with fund raising and bigger activities.  You can read more about this here and also here.

For summer fun, Mike started the demo of the little porch enclosure and build out of a deck.  With 98-103 degree days, it took him a couple of months, a few hours at a time, but he did a terrific job and we have enjoyed the new outdoor space immensely!

Finally, we survived a layoff from my job - the one that brought us to Houston.  After 3 months I landed a contract role with my former client which was both fun and a relief.  Shortly after that I was contacted for another opportunity which led to my current position, Recruiting Account Manager for an outsourcing firm.  I also get to work from home several days per week.

Mike's folks came to visit over Thanksgiving and helped out with the prep and cooking efforts for the homeless ministry.  It was amazing to see how many people came together to help prepare, cook and serve 13,000 meals on Thanksgiving day.  Now that is going where God is working!

 


In two days we will all load up the car and head to San Antonio for several days and see my family. Dad has endured several more surgeries and Mom and I have some serious "get away and have fun" coming to us.  All in all, God has been very good to us and we are finally feeling settled into our life here.  The weather is awesome, our church family is incredible, we have our health and we could not ask for anything else.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good life!

Want to see God at work? Go where he is.

Mission work has been a growing part of our lives for several years, but this year has really taken off.  Mike is in progress of establishing a non-profit mission ministry and everything about and around it is taking off like fireworks.
This is just one small part of today - where He was.

Hello all,

I decided I'd head over to SOS and help unload a trailer full of coats, jeans and blankets from Life House. After emailing with Miss Betty at Little Twig a few times I was expecting 12 to 15 famiies to come through to pick up clothing (food is distributed out of the West Community Center). Miss Betty had no idea we were showing up, but as with everything God's timing is spot-on. It was a cool morning so I knew the additional coats and blankets would be welcomed..... what I didn't know was that those would be almost the only coats and blankets in the building. As for the expected 12 to 15 families, well, double that..... Almost as if the clients knew much needed items would be rolling in this morning. By the time I left at 1:00 Miss Betty had gone through 26 vouchers (26 families) providing up to six sets of clothing for approximately 150 people. Many being young children from just a couple months old to pre-school age. While I don't know if any are homeless, all are low-income families. We'd fill a shopping cart (with blankets) and take it out and within a couple minutes it was empty. The second cart-full I could only get a few feet out the sorting room door. While Miss Betty tried to limit the number of blankets to match the number of people shown on the voucher, the blankets were so very appriciated. I was again blessed to be able to witness God working at Little Twig today.... From the blankets and coats arriving the same day the cold weather came to SE Texas to twice the number of familes coming to Little Twig this morning to be blessed with the items that were there.

Mike

Helloo????

Is anyone out there?  Even one faithful reader?  Please comment!

What is wrong with this picture?

Do you have an obsession? Or maybe something you just can't let go of?  Ok, that is not the case here, but it sure looks like it.  4 laptops.  And each one has a feature or purpose that cannot be fulfilled by the others.

Do I ever have them all going at once?  Unfortunately, yes.  And today was one of those days.  1 is personal; I was streaming music while I worked.  1 is from my side job, where I was multi-tasking during lunch.  1 is my company laptop and 1 is to access my client.  A soon as I figure out how to update all the calendars at once, I will be happy.  Really.

All or nothing

Why does it seem like we are coasting along happily then life starts to pick up speed, then suddenly it is all or nothing!  This summer has been busy, but nothing out of the ordinary.  Projects around the house, commute to work, slow day, commute home.  La la la.

Then we begin to get involved with a homeless mission and that snowballs into something bigger than anyone envisioned, growing from 8 volunteers to over 50 in just a few weeks with bigger plans already in place to start a 2nd location.  Mike is now leading a youth group on Sundays, building a deck out back, school is in full swing, I am starting my new job on Monday, and it storms in Kansas.  So Mike has been asked to go back to help with damage claims at the same time I am supposed to travel for work for a week... and so on and so forth.

I realized a while back that God was going to do whatever he wanted with me.  This new job is another example - all of my applying and networking when I got laid off was necessary to prepare me for something, but it was never his plan that I would get one of those jobs (including 3 at Hewitt that I could have easily done).  I had to wait, and learn to trust in His timing.  This little stint at BP was a blessing - some extra income and keeping me in the market while building my reputation (references) so I could do the Adecco deal.

But the point was not about me at any time.  I realized that everything that has happened over the last 2 years are for Mike.  He is being led to start a business in ministry providing much needed equipment for relief efforts.  The people he needed to meet are here and God is using me to provide for our other needs.

Jeremiah 29:11  "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

God, I thank you that you are the great Provider, that you see in me what I can handle, what I can become, and that you have chosen me to be a part of your work.  Continue to lead and teach me that I may enable even better things to happen for others, in Your Glory.

Stories worth telling

Danny and Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

The tile is down

Mike finished laying the tile over concrete on the back porch this week.  The grout is drying and he will seal it all over the weekend.  It looks great - there is a red accent tile as a border around all the edges and columns which matches the brick and the red in the star design.  The field is a mottled brown that matches the deck boards, and there is a decorative strip of smaller, lighter colored pieces with some polished glass-looking accents.

He also replaced the standard issue lights with outdoor fans so there is always a breeze when you want one!  Pretty cool.

Home improvements

Previously I mentioned a project underway at our house.  Truthfully it is more like several projects in various stages, but one is getting all of the time and budget at the moment and that is the back porch.  You just GOTTA have a decent porch.  That is where friends hang out, kids play, grillin' is done and world problems are solved on any given evening.

The previous owner used the existing porch as a dog run.  It is not overly big, maybe 6' x 20', and they enclosed it with some quickie half walls and screen, and a cheap storm door on one end.  For a while that served us well as temporary storage while we continued to sort through and unpack moving boxes and garage items.  When that was done and the space was cleared out, it was very clear that this was "wasted" space.  The wall blocked the view of the yard from the living room, giving it all a much smaller and closed in feel.

Phase 1 - The plan.  Mike drew out a really nice plan to build a deck with multiple levels that will provide plenty of room for the delights mentioned above.  His vision includes a fire pit, and mine includes more trees for shade and color.  We decided to do it in phases to make the budget work.  Off to the hardware store to pick out the materials.

Phase 2 - Demolition.  I didn't take any pictures of the screened in porch.  Just envision siding about 36" up and screens all around.  What a difference such a small thing can make!  Just knocking down those walls really brightened the room.

Phase 3 - Framing.  Ok, we never claimed to be the sharpest tools in the shed... starting an outdoor deck project, in July, in southeast Texas?  Now really?  So Mike worked in short hours during what was the coolest parts of the day (80 degrees at 6 a.m. is not very cool in case you are wondering) and started framing.

looking out from the living rm

the remainder of the door

looking toward the house

the first part of the deck

Phase 4 - Tile.  Since the day we moved in Mike wanted to cover the concrete with tile.  The front porch has a pretty slate tile, and the back porch needed something too.  So this week he has been laying tile.  All the practice he got finishing our home in Kansas and laying tile is paying off!  Updated pictures soon :-)

The hummingbirds found us

We have Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, pretty common in the east and gulf coast regions apparently, but fascinating regardless.  I looked them up and this website gave a very accurate description of not only their appearance, but their behavior too.

There is a certain male "bully" who has taken to perching on the feeder hanger and chasing off other interested parties.  If you wait just a few minutes, you are likely to hear the chattering tchew as they battle for the territory.

These are a few pictures of the big guy, who is not too shy to dive bomb you for getting too close :-)

Funny how the "little" things can be so captivating.  lol.  We didn't get hummers at our home in Kansas, although I know peeps who did, so I consider this another perk of the beauty of Texas.

The beauty of a Texas summer

A friend told me today that a Texan is never happy anywhere else.  I think that is basically true.  Kansas had some nice qualities, and I have enjoyed most all other places I have visited, but Texas is by far, the richest and best.

I have to be honest though - I never imagined that Houston would be my destination of choice.  After all, you know what "they" say: crowded, humidity, crime, traffic... and it is all true.  But there is a quality living in the Piney Woods/Gulf Coast region that makes up for the shortcomings.

My first 3 weeks back in my home state last summer were spent in our travel camper, in an RV park, complete with trees, fishing, and internet access.  The days were 100+ degrees, but the nights were too pretty to pass up.  Looking back, it was one of the most enjoyable parts of our transition.

This summer has been even better.  It is still hot (who hasn't been this year!) but I have already learned to appreciate the benefit of the coastal influence on the weather.  While Kansas was burning up without mercy, we have actually been cooler and milder.  When it rains, it feels good; I know I can usually park in the shade of a tree; and at any given time, someone you know is cooking BBQ!

This is a picture I took one morning last week.  Is it more special than any other sunrise? Maybe not, we did have some spectacular sun rises/sets in Kansas, especially during storm season, but the difference is the landscape.  This is the first sunrise photo framed with trees, and not endless miles of flat fields.  Ha Ha!

I simply cannot wait for fall.  School has started and that means football.  We might start going to some of the High School games, and the COWBOYS (2-1 preseason) play this weekend!  Some outside improvement projects are moving along nicely too and I will post more about those soon.

Oh, and it looks like I will be starting a new job/career in the next few weeks.  So much going on!  Thank you God, for everything.

The kitchen got paint!

And it looks GOOD! It went from a dirty off-white to a nice warm Cliff Rock, which nicely coordinates with the Dessert Camel in the living room.  Combined with a new light and table, and it is good enough to live in!

The last decade - the next few years

2006 was the year things started to change.  Mike and I both felt the pull to start attending church again, something neither of us had done since we were young.  After several months at the Goddard United Methodist Church, we became members.  This new church family would become our core group of friends and through the activities and people, we began to see where God had been working in our lives.

We both found Sunday school classes that we liked, and eventually got more involved in other events, like Wednesday night worship, small group on Thursday, and taking on leadership roles.  Holley had an amazing children's pastor and she loved going to church.  Often, as soon as we were in the door she took off to a class or to play with other kids, and we might not see her again for hours.  Getting Rebecca to even walk into the doors was another story altogether.  Her views are a mix of influences from many places, but none of which build a trusting and loving life, in fact resentment, resistance, lying and doubt seem to be the pervading theme that she chose to live by.  I won't go into the depths of personal issues, but there were many and they were deep and the more we sought to understand and live our lives in a Godly way, the more she did the opposite.

Work for Mike had also changed.  Our beloved friend and Chief of Police in Goddard for many years passed away leaving a empty space in hearts and in the community that would not be filled.  The political changes in the police department would not be good and ultimately drove off the officers who cared about doing a good job.  What was left is not worth talking about.  I can't adequately describe this kind of stress, but it becomes unbearable to the point that it affects home and family and all aspects of your life.  So we evaluated our situation and decided that we could afford for Mike to leave the department.  It would be very tight and he would need to find something else, but it was better than living with the anger and abuse he was subjected to.  So in March of 2007, he resigned.

A mission trip to Red Bird Mission in Kentucky had already been planned and he went on that trip, which was a great experience for him.  That, combined with the relief of leaving a job he had not liked for close to a year brought about the beginning of good changes for all of us.  God's timing is interesting, to say the least!

The last decade - 5 years ago

2005 doesn't really seem that long ago, until I try to remember anything about it.  Is that a sign of age? Or something worse? There was a really big ice storm to kick off the year.  Can't say I miss that at all.

It was a good year.  We had several family trips and the Land Cruiser was becoming a "serious"  4-wheeling vehicle.  These pictures are from Disney, OK on South Grand Lake.  This has been one of our favorite places to go: good camping spots, trails for all abilities, rocks, little mud, other stuff nearby (the lake, small town for groceries and supplies, and a good Catfish diner - Crosby's).  Holley is almost 3 and loves being outdoors where she can run freely.  Even today she is hard to keep track of - she knows no boundaries!

Beautiful fall colors in Oklahoma

Becca is a Sophomore in the fall, got her first car which was an Oldsmobile that was passed from her Great-grandmother to Bruce, to Lionel, and to Becca (4 generations!)  Unfortunately, she would be the last to drive it.  Mike and I were at the store on Harry St. when we got the call that she rolled it, on a dirt road near her mother's farm in Valley Center.  I don't need to tell anyone what kind of bat Mike was driving like to get there... but in the end she was not physically hurt, just shaken.  The A-pillar on the driver's side is crushed, but protected her.  Judging from the distance between where she left the road taking out some posts, to where she landed, she was going pretty fast when she lost control.  So thankful God was with her.

At work, I am supporting a different and very challenging client, while also doing the bookkeeping for the store. (Pretty sure I skipped the part where we bought a model train Hobby Store...).  Mike is still working part-time in Goddard and also at the store which will be closing soon.  We can make ends meet, but looking back it was obvious that were were still lacking direction from a better driver.

It has been a while...

since I posted, obviously.  Life was going on and more important at the time.  On February 18 I was told that my position was being eliminated.  Not a complete surprise, but a disappointment in the overall leadership strategy (or lack thereof) given the priorities and activities of the client project I was involved in.

Honestly, I also felt relief for many reasons I won't go into, but not the typical fear and worry that comes with that kind of news.  Instead, I talked to my husband and we both agreed - knew - that God was with us and would stand by us through whatever will come.  Too many things had to fall into place "just so" to bring us where we are, and none of it was chance, so our faith is telling us that God has greater plans for us.

It has been 8 weeks since my departure and I have had several leads and even a couple of interviews, but nothing solid, though I did get a promising phone call today!  Mike is also actively looking to get back into insurance appraisals.  His heart is just not in law enforcement any more.  That is fine with me.

Becca and Shawn broke up, for good this time.  Things had not been good for a while and she decided she needed to change things.  For the first time, she has made a move on her own, and is breaking away from the dependency that seemed to dominate her for so long.    For that, I am very proud of her and want only the best for her in whatever she ends up doing.  She is in NJ, a place she really loved when she was there.  We hope that makes her happy.

I will continue the 10-year journey soon, and also add updates of a more fun and interesting nature.  Until then.

The last decade - 6 years ago

As you can tell from the last several posts, either I can't remember much, or we just didn't really have a "vision" of what we would be doing.  Looking back, it is a little of both.  The events I have mentioned consumed most of our time and attention.  New homes and new babies tend to do that.

2004.  A few new events this year.  In January we all made a short trip to Topeka in recognition of an award Mike and 3 others received for a life-saving act that occurred at the end of '03.  He will downplay his role, but it took all of them doing what they did to save the kid from a car on fire after a roll over.  We got to meet the then Governor Kathleen Sebelius and Rep. Dan Thimesch, as well as tour the capitol building.

   

Then in April, we made a trip to San Antonio during Fiesta and got to enjoy the beautiful spring weather, sight-see at the Alamo and Riverwalk, as well as the San Antonio Zoo and other fun events.  It was a good time for everyone.

Holley turns 2 at the end of the year, and Rebecca is starting to stretch all her limits, and ours.  Raising a teen and a toddler at the same time was both fun and challenging.  And nothing that we did the first time around seemed to apply to the second time, no matter how hard we tried to make that happen.

My job continued in a new direction; I became a work-from-home virtual person.  I began supporting 2 new clients and was going through the second "acquisition" in 3 years.  This time it was for the better - going back to a larger company with many opportunities.  The home office was a wonderful thing and I adjusted to it quickly.

The last decade - 7 years ago

7 years ago. January 2003.  My sister called and asked "When you were pregnant, did you ..."  WHAT? So apparently God didn't think it was funny enough for Mike and I to have a baby (remember, Rebecca was 14) and Kim to get married, but a mere 2 weeks after Holley was born, Kim was pregnant.  Now that's funny!

Other notable events: the Space Shuttle Columbia burned up reentering the earth's atmosphere killing all 7 on board; the invasion of Iraq begins; John Ritter and Johnny Cash both died among many other favorite people.

Rebecca entered High School at Wichita East and began to pursue the International Baccalaureate program.  She was also exposed to the world of Debate & Forensics, which became her passion for the next 4 years and beyond.

I continued to manage recruiting at the bank, though my role was beginning to change as they announced they would repatriate the services they outsourced only 2 years earlier.  Mike was still working for the Goddard P.D. and rebuilding the FJ40 for more off-road adventures.  We continued to make new friends through the Green Country Cruisers and Tornado Alley Cruisers and started branching out.

The last decade - 8 years ago

2002 was "monumental" in a couple of ways.  First, my sister got married.  Maybe not so strange in some families, but my sister was the female bachelor of the family.  I am not sure any of us really thought she would do it, but it happened.

The other miracle was finding out that I was pregnant.  Again, normal for some, but new for us.  We were married 10 years when Holley came in December.  I can remember when we told Mike's family - his Grandparents were visiting from Florida so all the aunts and uncles and cousins were there too.  It was harder on my Mom as they had only been living in Texas a few months, so she made me send her preggo pictures! LOL.

Even though it seemed to last forever (especially that last month), the year flew by without much fanfare.

The last decade - 9 years ago

Nine years ago, we had just celebrated our first Christmas in our new home.  The new yard was seeded and there were only two houses in our entire subdivision.

Mom and Dad decided to move from Wichita to San Antonio, with his job.  That was a big change for all of us as we had been very close over the last couple of years.


I was promoted as Staffing Manager at the bank, and Mike had been working for the Goddard PD for several  years. Of course what most people will remember was the tragedy now known as 9/11.  It shook us all to our roots that anyone could have so much hate as to destroy another people with so much malice.

Our nephew, Seth, was born in October.  Becca was in 6th/7th grade - growing up so fast!

The last decade - 10 years ago

A couple of weeks ago our pastor was talking about what has happened over the past 10 years.  This church has grown remakably and the plans for the future are very exciting.

Mike and I started thinking about that too - where were we 10 years ago, what did we think might happen, what plans did we have, etc.  We agreed it would be fun to capture that, so I am going to put it here - 1 year each day.

10 years ago, it was 2000.  The year of "Y2K", which turned out to be not much of anything in the lives of most people.  We bought our first Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 which launched us on a new path of friends.  Rebecca was 12 years old. That same year we started the adventure of building a new home and moved in around Thanksgiving, our 8th wedding anniversary. 

An amazing weekend!

This past weekend I went on a retreat with a group of ladies from my church.

The location was near perfect, the weather was great, and the time was well planned between groups, private time and activities.  Everyone should be so blessed to experience something like what this weekend was for me.

While I was gone, Mike and Holley went to Bass Pro Shops and the Katy Mills mall.  Holley has deemed is "better" than the one close to us.  I haven't quite figured out why, but I think it had something to do with the Rainforest Cafe.  Guess we will be going back soon! 

More pics of the house

Here are a few more photos of our little place.  These were two of the rooms not suitable to photograph earlier, but thanks to a coat of paint, and some creative maneuvering of boxes from room to room, they are livable now.

For ages I have wanted to get matching end tables, so we finally got something we both like.  These are gigantic planters, with a 24" diameter glass top.  Perfect for this room - they are large enough for these oversized lamps (which may be replaced soon), and the color and texture fit in perfectly.  The cost was only about half of what we would have spent on other wood tables, and that includes the glass.  Pretty cool.  (And yes, we have used the fireplace!)

The dining room feels a little cramped with both the china hutch and the piano, but there is room to walk all the way around the table, and those doors open to the kitchen.  The window faces the front yard, and the next upgrade will be the curtains.

I love that she still believes!