In May, I went down to visit my Husband in San Antonio. We visited this lovely little winery in Gruene (New Braunfels) Texas. This is a photo of the delightful riesling that we ordered! Did you know that there are a bunch of wineries in Texas hill country??!! I was stunned by this!
I had my first Texas Barbeque at Rudy's. It was AMAZING! Fancy isn't it?
We looked at a few houses...Some very promising....
Some not so much....LOL! Those are SPURS on the boots in the hallway in the above picture. This was on a ranch in New Braunfels. I still can't believe I was able to contain my laughter long enough to walk through this house! I wanted to say to the realtor... "I DID mention that I am FROM CHICAGO, right?" Truth be told, the house was charming, and full of "Texas" flair, but there were farm animals, of all kinds all around and PEOPLE were scarce! Still makes me giggle!
We had a garage sale, and I packed and packed and packed! Did I mention that we were moving from my childhood home, that my Parent's have lived in for 25+ years? I PACKED, DONATED, and still we had stuff at the curb a full house length!
The day came to load the truck, My "Little Brother" and his lovely family helped us out in ways I can't even number! I will forever be grateful to them!
My Brother's beautiful family. Michael, my nephew, in the above picture wearing orange, and then Catie, Erin, and Gabriel.
One last look around the house and it all finally sunk in....we were REALLY doing this! My Mom, Dad, kids, and I were all moving to TEXAS?!
Still now, looking at these pictures seems surreal to me. What was once a house full of laughter, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Holidays, Birthday parties, STUFF....LOTS of STUFF, and......MEMORIES....was EMPTY. So strange....growing up there as a child, and bringing my first child home here, I thought we would ALWAYS be here. But God had a different plan,
On June 29th, at about 11 am. We met in our near empty garage (something I have waited my entire life to see) LOL :) for prayer as a family. Finished loading up the trucks, looked at the house one last time and waved to our Dear neighbors who were outside to say "Good-bye" to us.
We were finally on the road to our new home, in Texas.
St. Louis Arch.
There were so many firsts through all of this. Some of the ones that are most memorable for me are....this is the first time I have driven across country with my kids, the first time I personally have driven over 1200 miles, the first time I have driven through the mountains, the first time I have been in Missouri and Arkansas,OH MY WORD....Missouri and Arkansas are incredibly BEAUTIFUL! Most importantly, the first time I have made a leap of faith like this, surrendered completely to God's will and Just followed.......
To see where HE led us, you'll have to come back tomorrow! :)
Blessings!
Paula
One last look around the house and it all finally sunk in....we were REALLY doing this! My Mom, Dad, kids, and I were all moving to TEXAS?!
Still now, looking at these pictures seems surreal to me. What was once a house full of laughter, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Holidays, Birthday parties, STUFF....LOTS of STUFF, and......MEMORIES....was EMPTY. So strange....growing up there as a child, and bringing my first child home here, I thought we would ALWAYS be here. But God had a different plan,
On June 29th, at about 11 am. We met in our near empty garage (something I have waited my entire life to see) LOL :) for prayer as a family. Finished loading up the trucks, looked at the house one last time and waved to our Dear neighbors who were outside to say "Good-bye" to us.
We were finally on the road to our new home, in Texas.
There were so many firsts through all of this. Some of the ones that are most memorable for me are....this is the first time I have driven across country with my kids, the first time I personally have driven over 1200 miles, the first time I have driven through the mountains, the first time I have been in Missouri and Arkansas,OH MY WORD....Missouri and Arkansas are incredibly BEAUTIFUL! Most importantly, the first time I have made a leap of faith like this, surrendered completely to God's will and Just followed.......
To see where HE led us, you'll have to come back tomorrow! :)
Blessings!
Paula
