A Few Days Late

Happy Valentine's Day...a few days late! We don't have internet at the house yet, so I haven't been able to get online much in the past week. I have to begin this post with probably my favorite video of Riley so far...



Now that you've been able to enjoy the cuteness of our son, Hello from Texas!! I thought about beginning with a hearty "Howdy Y'all!", but that's just not me. So, hello it is! :) We made it to Hughes Springs safely last Monday...thank you so much for all of your prayers! We definitely felt them! We left New Orleans at 8:30 am and pulled into our new driveway at 6:30 pm...whew! What a day! 10 hours in a car with a 6 1/2 month old is not always the easiest thing, but I will say that he was an excellent traveler. He adapts so well to new situations, and for that we are SO thankful! This is what we saw when we pulled into the garage...

This is just a small way they've welcomed us so far. When I walked into the kitchen, there was food all over the counter and in the refrigerator. They gave us a love offering this past Sunday night that blew us away! I'm convinced that some of the most generous and hospitable people live in Hughes Springs, TX! We are so thankful for where the Lord has led us. What a privilege it will be to serve with and among these sweet people!

There were about 25 people waiting to help unload the truck...what took us two days to load was unloaded in about an hour!

Needless to say, it hasn't taken Riley long to make friends! Here he is with a sweet 7-year-old named Casey.

First family photo taken in our new home

There are MANY more pictures, and please feel free to go here to view them all. We still don't have internet at home, yet, so I have to come to Daniel's office to get online. Hopefully I'll be able to be a little more regular about posting. It's actually a pretty good set-up. The church library is right across the hall from Daniel's office, so when it's nap time for little man, I just put him in a pack 'n play in the library and I can work for a little while. Speaking of him, though, he just woke up and is ready to eat! So, I better sign off for now. I hope you're all doing well! Thanks, again, for praying for us during this transition. God is so good and faithful...but we definitely need your prayers! :) Much love!

History in the Making

Two words: WHO DAT??????

FBC Hughes Springs

It's official!!! My husband is the new pastor of First Baptist Church, Hughes Springs, TX! This past weekend was completely exhausting, but amazing! We met just about everyone in the church, I think, and they were all so welcoming and kind. Daniel was constantly on the go, but he did an incredible job of answering all of their questions (and their were some difficult ones!) with a big smile the whole time. I was so proud to be with him! His first Sunday will be Valentine's Day, so we're packing as I type this and will be heading out of NOLA on Monday morning. We wanted about a week to get settled there before he started. We are both SO excited about where the Lord is leading us! We began seeking the Lord regarding what was "next" in October '08. We really had no clue then what we were praying for...we just wanted to go wherever He led. We didn't hear about FBC H.S. until this past September. The Lord made it clear pretty quickly that we needed to send in Daniel's resume, and the rest is history! :)

This is the sanctuary. The church takes up a block, with the sanctuary on the far left corner of the block. To the right of it is education space and the office, then there's the fellowship hall (old sanctuary), and then the Christian Life Center (gym). Behind the Christian Life Center is this...

Our house! I can't believe I just typed that...after living in apartments since I was 20, I can finally say that I'm going to be living in a real, live house! As you can tell, it has a good sized front yard, and there's also a pretty big back yard that is completely fenced in. It's 3 bedrooms 2 1/2 baths. Everyone at the church kept asking us what we thought...needless to say, we're elated! We're not going to know what to do with all of that space! :)

This is "downtown" :) Hughes Springs has a little over 1800 people in it. For those of you who don't know me as well, I grew up in Jacksonville, FL where there are over 1 million people. So, this will be a bit of an adjustment for me. I am very excited, though. The people take a lot of pride in their town (and their state...it IS Texas, after all!), so I think we'll really enjoy getting involved in town activities. Also, look what is only 2 blocks from the house...

SO dangerous!!! I'm going to have to give myself a Blizzard limit...1 a day should be good...JUST KIDDING! More like 1 every 3 months or something. :)

You may be wondering what this is...the town has a couple of parks, and in this particular park there is a large screen and amphitheater where they show movies outside during the summer! How fun is that?! I can just picture our family walking down the street to the park and enjoying movies with others.

I had to end with this one because I just love these two so much, and I am so thankful for what the Lord is doing in our family. He is such a faithful God! I'm not sure that I'll get a chance to blog again before we move, so the next time you hear from me may be from the large state of Texas! If you remember, we'd really appreciate your prayers this weekend as we finish packing and load the U-haul. We'll be pulling out Monday morning...a three-vehicle caravan (Daniel driving his truck, a friend, Michael, driving the U-haul, and Riley and I in the car). Please pray for safe travel, too! Thank you all so much, and I can't wait to tell you all about the trip and our new home! Many blessings!