So Long, Farewell....

Tonight is the last night for our family to spend in Pearland.  I spent the day packing up the remainder of our belongings with Benjamin joining in after he saw a few morning patients.  The rooms of our home now look like this:

We have two trucks and two crews arriving for an early start to load up and spring us forward to our new home!  Tonight, Benjamin and I reminisced about how it was that we even ended up at this house.  Again, God's provision was impeccable.  Even though we are so excited to start a new adventure, we are a little sentimental leaving this house.  It's been a great house and our landlords have been absolutely fantastic.  Thanks to them, we were able to stay in one place for the entire residency + an extra month!  

We have shared dinners with friends, hosted costume parties, dinners with family, and celebrated holidays and birthdays in this house.  It was Winston's first house.  I can still remember that first day of bringing him home like it was yesterday.  These wall have heard stories of our days, laughter, tears, more laughter, music and baby screams!  Lulu has frolicked to and fro in the backyard and we have enjoyed walks to the park.  We are thankful for all of the memories + hundreds more that we were blessed to make.  

Like we did in our first house, Benjamin wrote our names and how long we've lived here on one of the beams in the attic - leaving our mark forever.

Farewell house!  May you be a blessing to the next tenets!

Project 52: Week 26

Moving Day.  What a crazy day... Thanks to Jeffrey for being with me in Allen while Benjamin was waiting for the truck in Pearland.  He was such a trooper enduring the 4 hour delay in the truck arriving and helping me clean the house after the truck was packed.  And in case you are thinking that your eyes are deceiving you, they are not.  There are 4 colors that you are seeing in the photo above: yellow, orange, turquoise and maroon.  No, we did not paint the house before moving into it and yes, this proves that there are people who paint their houses crazy colors like I do!

Project 52: Week 24

Last week only one photo was taken.  It's a bitter sweet photo.  It's our mark on our Allen house.

My dad has written our names in every house that I have ever lived in.  Benjamin and I wanted to start that tradition of sorts as well.  There it is.  In a beam in our attic.  The past weekend was Benjamin's last weekend of normal living in Allen.  I say normal living because I can guarantee that we will back and forth checking on things as the house is up for sale and visiting the ones we love.

This week marks wedding week; so excited!!

Don't Be Homeless...

We've graduated.  

Now what?

Find a place to live.

The Tuesday after Memorial Day we packed up Blue Berry and drove to Houston with the intentions of meeting up with a landlord to look at one of her available homes.  After an hour into our drive, Benjamin called the lady to touch base and was told that the house was no longer available.  A few minutes of silence in the car, some prayers for guidance and we were mentally ready to start afresh in our search. 

Our search excluded anything on the North side of town because it would be a commute for Benjamin and we grew up on the North side.  We want to experience something different.  Our search ended when we found a cute home in Pearland.  Yup.  Pearland.  While some folks might have been put off by the bright yellow and turquoise walls in the pictures, we were drawn to it.  Without even seeing it yet, those photos reminded us of home!  We called the listing relator and drove down to see it the same day we stumbled across it.  

We were a little early for our appointment and Benjamin wanted to show me that Pearland wasn't the space of nothingness that I remember it being.  It was one of the places that I was not excited about possibly living.  However, less than 5 miles from the house that captured our attention is the Pearland Town Center.  The stores and restaurants remind me of what we have close to us here in Allen.  I think that Benjamin was trying to convince me with the nearby Which Wich, Freebirds, Macy's, Hallmark, Target, etc...

Walking through the house it seemed very familiar.  The layout is similar to what we have in Allen with the addition of an extra living or dining space.  Being new to the home leasing game, we learned that we couldn't just write a check and call it ours.  In the two days of the house being up to rent, 16 people had visited and there were a few applications already submitted.  We inquired about the application process and it seemed straight forward.  Expect for the part where they wanted proof of employment via pay stubs...  I resigned from PFS almost two months ago!  Benjamin and I decided to write a cover letter to accompany our application so that the owners knew that we weren't delinquents, that we were financially stable and that yes, I would be looking for employment once we were settled.  

The next day we went out with Jay the Relator to look at 11 more houses in the Pearland area.  In case we weren't the chosen ones we wanted to have another option or two.  Let me tell you we saw everything from the cute to the cruddy.  Some houses know how to keep up a lease property: fresh paint, good appliances, clean.  Others not so much: weird colored carpet, strange smells and mold.  Pass.  At the end of the morning we tried to put applications in on two other places but Jay insisted that we were the front runners on the house that captured our attention.  Fun fact: the cover letter was a hit!  We were told that the owners would be making a decision before the weekend.

And they did.

They chose us!  Praise Jesus!  Yesterday Benjamin and I were talking about how we are amazed at the perfect timing of our Lord.  I know that God wants us in Houston.  He has made that evident with placing Benjamin in the residency at UT Houston.  Our hearts desire to be used for His glory and we were open to where He wanted us to be. 

With "Don't Be Homeless" crossed off our list, we are now focusing on the next thing.  Doesn't there always seem to be a next thing?

cardboard house

Project 52: Week 22

Before another week gets past us, here is last week's photos.

Last week we went to the lake with friends and paddled a whole heck of a lot.  You too can see the blue dinosaur when you visit Frankston, TX!  Visited Houston where we saw Lulu swim, visited with Noah and Salem and found a place to call home.

Project 52: Week 7

As I was saving this week's file, I could not believe that we have already wrapped up Week 7 of this year!  And the more amazing part...I'm still on a roll with Project 52!

Lulu pestering a squirrel who had taken refuge on the top of our fence - this is her favorite spring time activity.  Sweet Loves on Valentine's Day.  Andrew, Conner and I - I folded to peer pressure and started playing SVNGR with them this week.  Benjamin and his Valentine's Day cookie cake from Great American Cookie Company.  We have a few breakable things on our house, so to gear up for packing Benjamin ordered bubble wrap - 700 sq feet of it to be exact!  Double date with Sam and Ben at g'nosh.

Until next week,