Driving in Dallas: Lesson #1 & #2

I drove over to Kristy and Deanna's apartment in Coppell, TX yesterday to hang out. It is about 45 minutes with no traffic. I want to brag on myself that I made it over there successfully yesterday morning with only making one wrong turn...yes that is with a GPS helping me, but it didn't give me the instructions fast enough. Anyways, I quickly righted myself and was on my way again. The lesson learning came on the way home. I get in my little car and tell Susie the Garmin to take me home. She says to proceed to the President George W. Bush Turnpike. I think to myself...hey there is a toll for that road. I didn't have too much change...I drove by the on-ramp and saw that it was only $.40. I pulled over in the next parking lot and dug out $.40. YES I know that you can tell the GPS to avoid tolls...but that added like 10 minutes to my driving time and it was way too close to 5:00 to be wasting time unnecessarily. So I scrape together my 40 cents and go back to the on ramp. I am so excited that I get to throw the money in the little bucket! I pull up....not close enough...and lean out the window...and throw. Any of you that know me very well know what is coming...I MISSED! How do you MISS!?! Well I did..but it was only one dime...so I quickly grabbed two nickels and went on my way. Now...After I get on the Turnpike...I remember Kristy telling me that if you stay on it too long, you have to pay again. So I think oh...I will get my 40 cents together before I get there. Well sure enough...I have to pay again...but this time it is a WHOLE dollar. I don't have a whole dollar....not anywhere close...and I have no cash...only a debit card. So I pull up to the little booth and say..."I didn't know I was going to have to pay this again...I don't have a dollar...This is all I have...(I am almost in tears)...I am sooo sorry. I am not from around here!" The guy looks at me (he is an old man, so he pitys me) and tells me not to worry about it, just go on through. He takes the meager offering I do have, and I drive on through. As I do...all these bells start to go off...why...because I didn't pay my toll. Sad Story!

Lesson #1: ALWAYS pull up very close to the bucket.
Lesson #2: ALWAYS travel in big cities with CHANGE!

The Stockyards, a Stampede, and the Wild Wild West

Here are some pictures from our fun-filled afternoon with Deanna and Kristy. Deanna was our lovely tour guide and travel agent. She did a fabulous job. We went to the Wild Wild West show. Watched the longhorns "stampede" through the streets. Watched a gunfight. Sweated a little bit. Then we went over to downtown Fort Worth and browsed a gargantuan Barnes and Noble and had dinner at Razoo's. The fun-filled evening ended at our apartment with Kristy giving us lessons on use of the Internet and Deanna organizing my available work hours and the minimum amount I can make per hour to reach my goal. Lots of fun! It was great to see familiar faces!

Awaiting the stampede on the curb. It was REALLY hot!

This mean guy almost ran me over! I was lucky to get the picture he was moving so fast! :)

There they go...stampedeing through downtown Fort Worth.

Another view of the longhorn cattle.

A maze that was featured on amazing race.

A tower Deanna felt needed to be photographed.

The sign for the WILD WILD WEST show.
Where you get your tickets for the show.


Flags for National Anthem. Deanna has way better pictures. Sorry you have to look at mine.

"Ole Glory" hasn't come out yet and I was unable to get a picture because the horse ran to fast.

Crazy man standing up on two horses running around the arena.

I call this..."Deep in Thought"...YES it IS an original....haha!

BTW...There was this guy dressed up like an Indian with his horse sitting on the corner. He had a sign that said he would pose for pictures for tips. This lady walks by on her cell phone and just snaps a picture as she is walking. He starts yelling at her, "mam...MAM...we work for TIPS!" I thought he was going to mow her down. She just kept walking and never checked up. I was like, dude, do you understand what tips are...THEY ARE OPTIONAL...we give it to you if we feel like it. If he wanted to charge for his pictures he should have said, a picture costs 5 bucks. Anyways, I thought it was funny. Plus in the Wild Wild West show, they had this "Indian" come out and show us a war dance. He was totally white. No denying it. Kristy said he could have at least gone to the tanning bed! Have a great day!

For those new to the computer lingo: BTW mean By The Way. :)

Yesterday's Trip to "Church"

Yesterday we decided to go to a church recommended to us by a friend. She attended there a few years ago when she first moved to Fort Worth and enjoyed it. We found out they had a campas relatively near to our home, so we decided to try it out. This church had small groups instead of sunday school, which is similar to how things worked at Crosspoint (our church in Starkville). We thought it might be a good fit for us...boy were we wrong! We get there and park. Immediately when you step out of the car, your ears are flooded with the Batman music. I had read online that they were beginning a series called "At the Movies", so I was thinking okay, we are going to relate to the Batman movies this morning...that is okay. Then we walk in the door and immediately appear to be in a movie theater. I am not kidding. There were movie posters, a concession stand complete with snacks and drinks for 50 cents, and we were even given our "movie ticket" (a.k.a. bulletin) at the door. PLUS...how could I forget...FREE POPCORN! YES...we are still at church! I am thinking...this would never happen at Fairview...we can't even take a bottle of water into the Sanctuary. ANYWAYS...my thoughts are immediately..what a waste of money. How many hungry children could we feed and clothe for the money spent on this. Despite my immediate reservations, we stayed for the service. OH DONT LET ME FORGET....We are the ABSOLUTE ONLY people dressed in traditional church attire. So it is QUITE obvious to EVERYONE that we are the new kids on the block. I have no problem with dressing casually for church...I just want to be informed when I am going to such church so I don't stick out like a sore thumb. Pressing on...so we move into the Worship center which is set up much like a youth room. Stage up front, rows of chairs, projection stuff. Then we have worship...which is very contemporary...kinda felt like I was at Student Life Conference in high school. All of this is well and good...then we get to the "sermon". I mentioned that this was a satellite church...meaning the pastor doesn't actually speak there in person...we watch him by video. This week...we watched JAWS. I AM NOT KIDDING! Granted we didn't watch the whole movie....but enough of it to get the jist of the plot. He briefly....VERY BRIEFLY...spoke about fear and overcoming our fears. The only time a scripture was mentioned was at the very end when he put a verse up on the screen. I felt like I had gone to 4 year old Sunday School. I had my snack, sang a song, watched a video, and learned not to be afraid, God is with me. DON'T GET ME WRONG...That is an excellent lesson that I need to apply to my life quite often, he just didn't base his delivery on scripture...he based it on JAWS!!! I can almost see where he is coming from...this sort of thing probably appeals to the unchurched...people who have never been to church. And you don't want to get too confusingly deep in scripture and scare them away. BUT AT THE SAME TIME....God's word is LIVING AND ACTIVE...it can not return to you VOID....so my thinking is...USE IT! He never one presented the plan of salvation and didn't even give an invitation to accept Christ as your Savior. Anyways, after the service, Michael and I quietly and quickly walked to the car...got a few blocks down the road...then he looks at me and says, "So....I guess that's a big NO!?!" I laughed and said yes. My sweet dear Michael. I love him.

We also went to the Stockyards with Kristy and Deanna...I will post about that later.

The New Apartment

Obviously this is not a picture of the new apartment, but a smiley face in my sandwich from Michael. I am going to pretend this is cute. :)

Our Bedroom. Randomness...there is no lighting in this room at all other than the lamps we put in there. It is not even wired for lighting...that is something they definitely didn't mention during the tour.

Guest bedroom. You are not allowed to make fun of me putting the stuffed animals on the bed. They all have sentimental value and could not be boxed.

Dining room/Michael's computer area.

Fireplace. We get to hang stockings this Christmas!!! YAY!! (for those of you who don't understand...Michael wouldn't let me hang stockings last year because we didn't have a mantle or fireplace...he said it was "redneck" to hang them off the back of a chair or table.)

We can be fancy and call this the office, or we can be realistic and call this my computer area.

The library! HAHA!

Our bedroom. The picture over the bed is 1 Corinthians 13. Michael painted it for me while I was away for the summer doing missions in Thailand. Isn't he dreamy?

The kitchen...complete with appliances older than I am. As for now, they are working. I am hoping for their demise, so I can get new ones without paying the $35 upgrade fee. Isn't that ridiculous...I can pay $35 a month for new stainless appliances. Which means that somewhere in some storage facility are perfectly good, beautiful appliances which I could be using. BAH!!!

Other side of the kitchen. It does have a bar which overlooks the den area.

I like that very much.
A view of the dining room/den/office.

Bookshelf in Dining area.

Couches and Michael's prized pictures of MSU stadiums. Man...he must have a fantastic wife for buying him those for a wedding present...lucky guy!

Michael's First Major League Baseball Game

Last night we went and watched the Texas Rangers play the LA Angels. It was Michael's first Major League Baseball game. Of course, I took a book to read. I think it really bothered the people around me that I was reading the book. One lady even showed me a picture of one of the players she thought was just "so cute" when he batted hoping I would become interested. Not so, and this guy got out almost everytime he was up. Then this security guy said he had to approve all reading materials in the ball park. He had never heard of my book, but he said as long as it wasn't a steamy romance novel it could stay. Anyways, lucky me, the game went into extra innings, so we were there until 11:45 pm. This seriously cut in on my 24 time. I was upset. We did get out of our nosebleed seats and went to sit behind home plate for the final inning. Turns out that was bad luck. The other team scored one run that inning, and the Rangers got nothing. So...game over.

Our view from the homerun porch.
Another shot. The jumbotron was over our head, so it was really strange. You heard everything and the whole stadium was staring at you, but you couldn't see the screen.
Our view from behind homeplate.
That is where we were originally. In that overhang thing under the jumbotron.

I Can't Think of a Catchy Title

Hello! Just a little update on what is going on in Texas. We are now officially addicted to 24 the TV series. We actually stayed up watching it until 1 AM last night. I know for some of you young people that is not too late, but we are old married people and normally go to bed at 9:30. Anyways...Jack Bauer is great! Thanks to Mrs. Betty who loaned us Season 1. We will be seeking out Season 2 soon! I can't believe there are 6 seasons...we have a lot of catching up to do before January. We probably wouldn't be able to watch it week to week. We would be terrible mad not knowing the ending.

We also went by Michael's new office today, and I got to meet some of the people he will be working with. They all seemed very nice and excited about Michael coming. One of the partners said they already had a lot for Michael to do and there would be some things he had never done before. He said they were going to challenge him a little! Michael is excited but a little nervous of course...He is going to be fantastic! Below is a picture of the office.

Tonight we are going to the movies to watch Get Smart. I will let you know what I think. I can already tell you that Hancock was a FANTASTIC movie. I am usually not really into the superhero, unrealistic type of movies...but this one is worth that 8 buck it takes to go to the movies these days. Anyways...the point of telling you that we are going to the movies is to tell you this: we are going to the Movie Tavern. Okay...apparently I haven't gotten out much in my life...but this place is a full service restaraunt in a theater. You literally eat dinner and watch the movie. AMAZING! I will let you know if it tastes good.

PLUS...I think Michael is planning some kind of surprise for our anniversary which is coming up in about a week and a half. Every time he gets on his computer he won't let me anywhere near him! He is so sweet! I can't wait to see what he has cooked up for us!

Love you all and miss you. E-mail me or drop a comment. I love hearing from people!

Everything is Bigger in Texas

The day I thought would never come has...and I don't yet know how I feel about it. We loaded up the U-Haul Monday, spent a few days at mom and dad's, and then drove to Texas on Thursday. Everything was hunkee doree until the family started leaving me. First Mr. Taz and Mrs. Betty left, and I cried. Then Mom, Dad, Stephen, and Ashley left the next morning (Sunday) and I boo-hooed. Thank goodness we went to church with Lauren and Kyle Sunday morning because that took my mind off of things for at least half the day. I spent the rest of the day on an emotional teeter-totter. I seriously think Michael was thinking "What on earth have I done marrying this insane woman!" But today was a new day and things are much better. I feel like I can at least navigate my way to the grocery store, gas station, Walgreens, and Target. What else do I need, right? I bet I have talked to Mom and Dad at least fifty times since they left, but it makes all of us feel better so why not!? The seminary is REALLY close. It only took us about 10 minutes to get there on a Sunday morning, so maybe 15 - 20 on a regular morning. It is all interstate so maybe not even that long. The apartment is getting pretty settled. Michael has laundry everywhere or I would take pictures to show you, but that will be for another day!

Please continue to pray for us as often as you think about us. Michael starts his job Monday, so I will be alone at the apt. all day. Pray for him as he begins his work...for a good atmosphere and co-workers. I am hoping to find some part-time work to fill my extra time until school starts. I hope to keep it up to earn a little extra money during school, so please pray that God would provide a workable job situation.

I love and miss you all. I guess I've been taking such wonderful friends and family for granted all these years! Hugs and kisses!

The "before"
The "after"
Welcome to Texas!