Texas Part 2

I must first apologize to my very best friend Erica who asked me to update and I told her I would do it about two days ago. As you can see it is now Saturday and I am just now getting to my update. So I'm sorry friend, I will do better I promise. You must hold me accountable to this.

I do have a little side note about my best friend Erica, (and yes I must refer to her as my best friend because that is the ONLY way to refer to her) she and I have been on quite a journey in our separate lives and through it all we have always stayed friends. It is a wonderful friendship and I have to admit she is better at it than I am. I love her because she loves me through that. (hmm....I'm babbling) Anyway I just find it ironic how much we have similar in our lives. Our husbands both have jobs that have taken us to different places. Hers a little more adventurous but we were both away from home and that is far enough. We both have two kids. (she had hers two at a time, much braver than I)But what really is amazing to me is that even though we rarely talk about this, we have both made very similar choices in our devotions, bible studies even books that we are reading. I had chosen to follow the read the bible in a year plan, and through her blog found that she did too. We have both done Beth Moore bible studies and both just recently bought her newest book.(I'm sure she is ahead of me in reading though, I haven't actually started) God is so amazing because he has sent us on very similar paths knowing that we could use our experiences to help each other through. Even though we don't talk every day or every month I know that she prays for me and I for her. Who knew that at six years old we had found a life time friendship. I love her! So thanks God for my BEST friend Erica.

Alrighty! Part 2
We had gotten to the house and brought all the boxes in. The day we moved in I started to feel anxious about what we were doing. I didn't know if I could do this I was starting to realize that I only had a few more days left with my parents and then we would be on our own again.
On Saturday, we woke up and were relaxing and doing a little unpacking. The kids were exploring their toys that had been packed away for more than a year. It was like Christmas all over again. (which has now ended by the way, the newness has worn off) Suddenly my mom comes running out of the bathroom yelling "the toilets over flowing" so we run in the bathroom to find water all over the floor. My dad had to go to the store to get a plunger because who knew we'd need one after one day here. Now our little town (God Bless it) has limited stores, we have a walmart and an Ace hardware. So dad goes to walmart gets one and it pretty much falls apart after one plunge. (thanks walmart) So he goes to the hardware store only to find they don't have any. Now this is where God comes into the picture (I mean I realize he's been here the whole time but this is where we see him) the man running the store says wait a minute take mine. He gives us the one that was in their bathroom. (Now that i think this through it really is kind of gross to me but at that point we would have taken anything) DO YOU HEAR ME!! The man gave us his for FREE!!! Where are we?! After a few tries though we find that it is not actually a problem that can be fixed with a plunger. We needed a plumber. So we called our landlord (the best landlord ever!! I love her for many reasons to be told later) She got a plumber out here so fast and he was awesome. It took quite a long time because there were some pipe issues causing other things like sinks and the tub not draining as well.
In the mean time the funny part is that we have one bathroom and my poor mother and I are dying because we have to go to the bathroom and take showers. It really became an emergency when Erin said she had to go because this child waits until the very last second before she wets her pants to go to the bathroom. So I threw some clothes on and we drove to the church, it took us less than a minute to get there. It is very close! So by the time we get back my mom now has to go and the plumber is still here. So she drives to a gas station down the street and apparently made a friend. She came back and said some guy had talked her ear off and she didn't think she was going to get out of there. Everyone is so friendly here, it's like a different world. Definitely different than living in Michigan where people rarely look you in the eye when speaking to you, or staring you down because you're taking to long. ( Sorry Michigan friends, I love you guys just not the state itself. ) After about two hours he finally got it fixed and gave us the good news that "it will probably happen again" he gave us his card with his home and cell number and find that he only lives two streets away from us. Although even if he lived across town it would only be three minutes instead of one. Update: it's been almost two months and everything is still running smoothly.
We are loving Texas more and more every day. The people are wonderful! We have a full freezer and I think we only bought two things that are in it. The rest is meat that was given to us. We have received financial gifts that we fell undeserving of. God has blessed us over and over to let us know that this is where he would have us. We had a revival the second week we were here and it was amazing. God was there and he spoke to Eric and I both about becoming Godly leaders and parents. It is not without it's battles there are days when I can feel satan pulling at me making me feel unworthy in so many ways. There are days when I miss home terribly. What gets me through is that I can walk through every room in my house and be reminded of how much we are loved. Let me just give you the list:
Kitchen: We had a brand new refrigerator waiting for us, that is ours to keep even when we move. Our pastors wife stood in the kitchen with me and helped me unpack all of my dishes.
Living Room: Our furniture was given to us by my aunt. It looks brand new, almost as if it had never been sat on.
There are too many pieces to name that are from my parents.
Aidens room: His bed is from Mimi and Papa. Our pastors son helped my dad put it together the day we moved in.
Erins room: Again help putting the bed together (I'm sorry I don't remember who did that)
Our bedroom: Realizing we had forgotten the bed rails that hold our mattress up, a man in our church went home built us a new set that are stronger than the ones that came with the bed. Another guy at our church helping Eric set our room up with all that heavy furniture.
Bathroom: well you know that story.
It has been an amazing journey and we know that God is here with us. Eric is doing an awesome job with the teens. They love him, he has big crowds on wednesday nights and his Sunday school attendance has grown a little bigger every week. He loves his job and he has changed in so many ways. I know that we have had so many people praying for us. I am thankful for all that we have gone through so that we could be here now.