Housing in Roanoke

The weekend of June 22^nd we went up to Roanoke to look for houses. It was a long and hot experience, and not really that fun.

David got permission to miss school on Friday. It was very helpful to have all day Friday to look. We were in touch with a realtor before we left Austin, but she bailed on us. She had given us a few listings, so we had somewhere to start. After a while of looking around for houses on our own, we realized that the rent price for houses was out of our budget. On to apartment hunting we went.

I feel like it’s expensive to even rent an apartment. By the end of Friday we narrowed it down to two apartment complexes to choose between. We were looking at the floor plans and realized they had the same layout, except in the laundry room. The deciding factor came was the price. One complex had a special going on that made the rent more than $100 cheaper than the other one.

I’m a little sad to be back in an apartment, but I know it’s only temporary. Two and a half years at the longest and I can handle that. :)

 

I’m excited we can have our dog with us in this place! We’ve missed him, but I’m grateful my parents took care of him. 

Isn't Petey cute?

We move to Roanoke July 17^th. Our time in Central Texas is coming to a close so quickly.

David Got a Job

I’m proud to announce that David has accepted a job. He was offered multiple preaching positions, including one in Arkansas, but after a long time of praying and thinking we finally decided.

David is now the Associate Minister for the Roanoke Church of Christ in Roanoke, Texas. This is a two and a half year internship. He will get a lot of hands-on training that you can’t learn in a classroom. This really is a once in a lifetime opportunity for him. It’s going to make him an even better preacher.

David graduates from Southwest School of Bible Studies on Sunday, July 15. We will be moving up to Roanoke either Tuesday or Wednesday that week so we can be at Bible Study on Wednesday night.

The Dallas/Fort Worth area is completely new to both of us. We’ll be kind of far from our families, but we have each other and our church family. I’m just glad we’re still in Texas! 

I’ve already started job searching for myself. I’m hoping to use my public relations degree, but I’m staying open minded since job opportunities are still hard to find. 

Please keep us in your prayers as we travel and transition into this new area and new work.

Our First Wedding Anniversary

Wednesday, May 30 was our first wedding anniversary. I'd say that I've been pretty spoiled this year. David is always so sweet to me. He's really good about showing his appreciation of me. He definitely made me feel like a princess when we celebrated our anniversary!

We got up early the Saturday morning before our anniversary to celebrate the entire day. Our first stop was in Kyle at what David thought was a farmer’s market, but ended up being a flea market. Oops lol

After venturing around the flea market for a bit, we went to lunch in San Marcos at the restaurant where we had our first date. The food seemed extra good that day.

Next stop was the movie theater. We don’t see many movies in the theater anymore because it has gotten ridiculously expensive, so this was a treat for us. We watched “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.” Can you guess that I chose the movie?

Before the evening activities we went home to change. Everything was a secret until we arrived, but David did tell me dinner was business casual attire. We drove to downtown Austin and pulled up to The Driskill Grill. It’s a five star restaurant inside of an old hotel, and we got to sit in a corner booth that has been voted the most romantic seat in Austin for the past few years. The food was amazing! I had filet mignon and David had lamb.

For dessert we went and got coffee downstairs at the café. Coffee is definitely my weakness. Then we walked outside to a horse-drawn carriage. Talk about two of my favorite things happening at the same time. I grew up riding horses, but I’ve never ridden in a carriage. David had it planned ahead of time for our carriage to pass over Town Lake as the sun was setting.

 As if I needed anything else, David gave me a gift as we were passing over the lake. It was a beautiful silver necklace that is in the shape of an old skeleton key with diamonds in it. I love it! And a gift card to Starbucks. The first anniversary gift is paper so he had these cute purple paper flowers inside of my necklace box. I had to catch them before they flew away.

On our way home we stopped by Hey Cupcake to get a scrumptious cupcake. If you’re ever in Austin you should definitely get one. They’re worth the money.
 
I gave David two religious books and one non-religious book that he’s been wanting to read. His favorite gift was a silver shaving set. It’s an old timey one that has the brush to create the lather. He’s enjoyed shaving with it.

It was an amazing day with my sweet husband. He worked hard to plan everything and had me surprised the whole time. I’ll never forget all of the fun we had together celebrating our first year of marriage. I’m such a fortunate woman to have a husband who loves me as much as mine does.

Homemade Cleaners

In an attempt to save us some money, I’ve recently made a few cleaners instead of buying them. I’ve made laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, toilet bowl cleaner and fabric softener. Unfortunately not all of them have been successful.

The laundry detergent is wonderful. I knew it would work well because I got the recipe from a friend. It made a huge batch for about $8 plus the cost of a new container.

The dishwasher detergent was a total fail. After a full washing cycle, food was still visible and it left a cloudy residue on everything. 

The toilet bowl cleaner is just a mixture of vinegar and baking soda. It cleans better than store-bought cleaners, but I have to clean more frequently to keep the water ring away.

Fabric softener is supposed to smell good, right? Well, the recipe I used included vinegar and you could really smell it. David politely asked me to stop using it because he didn’t want to stink. Haha I don’t blame him and I don’t want to stink either.

Not everything worked like I hoped, but I’m glad that I tried them out. The next cleaners I’m going to make when I run out are Shout and Windex.

Family and Friend Time

This week started off with me and David both being sick. By Wednesday we were feeling better, but the house was a disaster. I’m surprised how much of a mess it was after two days of not picking anything up. 

Wednesday night David gave the devotional at Southwest church of Christ. He taught a good lesson about defending against false prophets.

I got to have some fun this week with girl friends. Wednesday I met a college friend in San Marcos for lunch, Thursday I learned more American Sign Language and had dinner with four Christian friends, and Friday I went to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center with a sweet lady from Southwest. I’m glad I got to spend time with other women this week and go to some places out of the ordinary.

Friday we drove to Waller to spend the weekend with my parents. I can’t remember the last time we came home, but it’s been at least two months. Our dog is so happy to see us!

Saturday morning my mom put together a garage sale for her co-worker Susie who has been diagnosed with skin cancer. I helped by making some signs and holding one up at the end of her street. It earned a little bit of money for her, but not a whole lot. She’s been getting chemo treatments and the cancer is shrinking, so that’s great!

Sunday David is preaching at Coldspring church of Christ. My parents and youngest brother drive an hour and a half to worship there with us. I love getting to see them and we really love the congregation.

Time to go watch a movie with David. Have a good evening!

A Blessed Week

This week has been physically tiring, but spiritually uplifting. David and I were able to attend Focal Point Preachers’ Workshop in San Marcos hosted by our home congregation. We heard so many valuable lessons from many great teachers. I really enjoyed the ladies’ lessons. I learned about being a better Christian, mother, wife and teacher. If you want to read a few quotes from the week, look up #FocalPointQuotes on Twitter.

I stated in my last post about writing a press release for Focal Point. I found out that San Marcos Daily Record posted it on their website. Very exciting! Click here if you’d like to read it. Special thanks to my friend Ruby Moore for editing it.

Today has been a very blessed day. My family met in Buda for lunch to celebrate Mother’s Day. After lunch we came down to San Antonio and are spending the night with my in-laws. It’s very rare that we get to see both of our immediate families on the same day, so I’m enjoying it while I can. Both of my moms are wonderful, loving ladies, and also a little on the silly side. We never cease to laugh when we’re together.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms out there. I hope your family does something special for you.

Last Week

Note: I wrote this on Friday but I didn't have internet access to post it.

This week I feel that I’ve been productive as a house wife and got a little practice at being a mom. Our schedule actually wasn’t quite as hectic so I was able to cook dinner at home Monday through Thursday. Woo! It feels good to not spend money on restaurant food. 

On Monday I wrote a press release about the gospel meeting our church is hosting this upcoming Sunday through Wednesday. Everyone is invited to attend at University church of Christ. Sunday’s lessons are at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Wednesday will begin at 7 p.m. and conclude at approximately 8:30 p.m. For more information contact me or visit www.univcofc.com

Tuesday evening I picked up my favorite little five-year-old girl, Ava. She spent the night with me and Wednesday we went to the Austin Nature and Science Center, flew a kite at Zilker Park, ate lunch at Chick-fil-A and played on my landlord’s playground with his grandsons. I really enjoyed having her over. I have to admit that I was a little tired by the time we got home, though. David was really sweet and bought her a gift bag of goodies to play with since we don’t have any children’s toys. He also kept her busy while I had to do a few things around the house. I’m blessed to have him as my husband, especially when we have our own children.

This weekend we’ll be out of town for David’s second round of a try out in east Texas. I hope everyone has a great weekend.