how we got here: part 3

the drive was smooth. the move in was anything but.

the unit wasn't ready. the carpet was horribly stained. some of the walls needed painting. the washer and dryer were rusted. the lock on the door didn't work; I couldn't lock the door to my house. i put on a smiling face and tried to stay positive. inside, my decision to move to Houston and this apartment seemed the worst. I was anxious. I was scared. I wanted to pack it up all up and just leave. At lunchtime I knew Sam and Ben were worried to leave me there. I kept my resolve up knowing my parents were driving in from Austin and would be staying the first night with me. I wanted to just say "I made a mistake" and it would all go away.

But something better happened. Samuel and I reported all the things that were wrong to the management, and all of it was fixed the same say. Before Sam and Ben had even left, there was a new lock (and it worked!), the walls were painted, carpet had been scheduled to arrive Monday, as would brand new out-of-the box washer and dryer. 

My parents arrived Saturday night and spent that first night with me. It was so good to have them there.  

I went to work Monday morning, nervous and timid; my first real day as a "grown up". I loved my job immediatly; the people I worked with could not have been better. The Lord provided in ways beyond what I could have dreamed.

The first at home week was rough; it was lonely. It was hard to talk to Sam in the evenings sometimes; because he had family dinner, and I just wanted to talk to him. I found myself jealous for him. I stayed busy getting ready for the wedding; filling my nights. But the days passed, and time until the wedding shrunk from months to weeks, and finally days.  And then, as if it was only an instant, that time living by myself in Houston was over.

Looking back on the time leading up to Houston now--it all seems so wonderfully planned; all the details worked perfectly.  In the midst of the situation, it felt like a Houston hurricane (we have yet to expierience an acutal one of those yet).  If I had planned it the way I wanted it, life would be SO very different.  But I am daily thankful that I didn't plan it.  I'm not in control.  Becuase if I was, I would miss this; because life would be SO very different.

how we got here: part 2

Saturday morning I took a final, and then Samuel and I drove to Houston to look for apartments.  We stay with his (and now my) Aunt Kima, who lives in the Woodlands. (An hour from Houston for all you non-Texans).  Saturday apartment searching didn't look too promising.

Sunday we started day two of apartment hunting.  We found our current apartment around lunchtime, and after eating lunch and discussing it.over Pappa's BBQ, we went back to sign the lease.  Oh, and yes, I needed to move in in only 6 days.  We signed the papers, worked out the details, and went back to Aunt Kima's feeling much better about this move. It was real.  I was moving to Houston. I would have a real job.  I was a grown up, and it was all happening so fast.

Monday morning we woke up and drove to Fort Worth.   The visitation was Monday; funeral was Tuesday.  My family is unique in that up until two years ago, I had all my grandparents and two great grandmothers alive.  I had never experienced family death.  If you aren't quite sure just who Nanny is, I will refer you here and here spare you the pain of that story in this one.

Wednesday we drove back to Austin.  I packed up my life belongings (and half of Sam's) on Thursday and Friday.

Friday night was Samuel's graduation party.  We ate at Saltgrass and had a wonderful time with family.  Friday night we packed up everything into the UHaul after dinner and went to bed exhausted.  It was my last night in Austin; my last night in the same city as my fiancee until we were married; I cried.

Saturday morning my (to-be) father in law (at the time), Samuel and I loaded up and got on the road at 7am.  It was surreal.  I can remember hugging my to be mother and sister in law, and thinking how in the world was I going to survive in Housotn without them.  Without Samuel.

Up until this point I was so sure of myself, so sure of our new adventure.  But in the car that morning doubt began to creep into my mind.  I knew everyone, (including Samuel at some times), thought I was crazy, and I was beginning to think they may be right.

how we got here: part 1

We are in the middle of our first summer in Houston.
and it's hot.
and it reminds me of moving to Houston last August.
I can't believe at the end of the summer I will have been here for a year.
A YEAR!
A year post college. A year of working.
It makes me remember the crazy journey the husband (but during the story he fills all the roles of boyfriend, fiancee, and husband)! and I took to get here to Houston. It has been a great thing for us,
I think back on that week now and see the hand of the Lord in every moment.

it all really starts with the engagement: June 12, 2010.
We were both finishing college and set to graduate in August 2010.
We had the date we wanted for the wedding picked out the night we got engaged. So convenient that Sam had a surprise party planned where both sets of parents were present. It was going to be December 18, 2010. After a few weeks of convincing the church of this, the date was set.

Then August came. I had two interviews in Houston. We seriously considered moving out of Austin. Sam wanted more than anything to stay in Austin. While I wanted to stay, I didn't see it as a real possibility job-wise.

I had a third interview in Austin. The position was an overnight shift. newlywedness + overnight shift = not promising start to marriage.

Samuel graduated August 15th. I accepted the job in Houston that day. They wanted me to start on Monday. In three days. I told them I needed a week. I had to find a place to live. I "officially" graduated the next day. (We had both done our ceremonies the past May).

Friday night Sam and I were at dinner with his sister and Dad. I got a call from my Dad. Nanny had gone to be with Jesus. My parents knew she had been sick and in the hospital; but had kept the severity of the situaion from me as I finished my last set of finals. Sitting at the dinner table with the phone to my ear, speechless, tears streamed down my face. Sam knew.

The day I accepted my first real job, the day before my last ever day of college, Nanny went to be with Jesus. I didn't cry for her soul; she was far happier than this Earth could ever make her. I cried for my loneliness. I cried for the phone calls I wouldn't have with her. I cried for her missing my wedding day.