Thankful to be in Houston

Update: Pictures added
When JW was interviewing for jobs with different firms and received an offer from one in Houston, we didn't fully realize the blessing that it would be to live near family.  In fact, after living the first three years of our married lives in a different city than our families, we were a little nervous about the transition.  JW and I are both are the oldest of big families and love them very much.  When we moved back we wanted to remain independent as a couple, but also wanted to be more involved in the small stuff that we missed living three hours away.

As I reflect over the last couple of months, I am so grateful that we are here and that God in His perfect timing has us in Houston.  I have several pictures of everyday stuff I wanted to share with this post, but my google memory is apparently full.  I didn't want to wait on this post though, so I'll have to add those later when I get it figured out.

We have gotten to be a part of little stuff like going to siblings' sporting events and being a part of impromptu shopping trips and dinner visits.  We have also been around for bigger events like a Women's Ministry event my mom was in charge of featuring the Christian comedian, Chonda Pierce.  I got to be there in support of my mom and see her in action.  She really is amazing and it's fun to see God use her for things she never imagined she'd be doing.  I am proud of her.

We are so grateful that we have been close to spend time with loved ones that were sick.  JW's Papa had had a scare with seizures and was in the hospital recently.  We were able to spend the day with JW's family laughing and crying together.  Their family is so close and I really wish I could post some of the pictures I took of Uncle Ricky that day in Papa's hospital room.  He was a great comic relief.  This family has such a fun sense of humor and I am grateful to be a part of it.

My grandmother has been battling diabetes for months, but as her health deteriorated over the last several weeks, I was able to run over there after work with dinner to spend time with her, my dad, and my Aunt Kimmie.  I was able to take off work and spend the day over there when I just wanted to be next to her and to hug my aunt and tell her how strong I think she is.  I got to be there for some of the last moments with my grandma before she met Jesus.  I have sweet memories of sitting next to her bed while she slept, holding her hand and singing worship songs to her.  She loved music, especially hymns.  I have memories of singing with her while she played the keyboard growing up.  Grandma went to be with the Lord last Saturday, November 17th.  We miss her a lot, but can't help but rejoice that she is no longer suffering; that she has met her Maker and is in heaven with her family that is already there; and that she is in heaven looking down on us and waiting to be with us again one day.

Grandma and me playing dress up

We have so much to be grateful for this year.  The Lord has blessed us immensely, but I think among the many things we have to be thankful for, family is at the top of the list.  Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Legal Oath

Wednesday, JW was sworn in as a Texas attorney.  He took his legal oath in the court room at his firm surrounded by family and colleagues.  It was very special to have an intimate ceremony conducted by a fellow attorney and former member of the Texas House of Representatives, Joe Nixon. 

Following the signing of his legal paperwork, JW had a short speech planned.  I knew he was good at arguing and good with words, but it's not very often that we have an occasion to hear him address a crowd.  My hubs is a great public speaker and had some very sweet things to say as he thanked everyone.  Seeing as the room was filled with some of the most senior and well-respected attorneys at the firm, it was a really neat opportunity.

Of course the kids of the family wanted to try out the judge's seat. :)

We were so thankful to have Nana and Papa there.  We rescheduled the original swearing-in ceremony because Papa was in the hospital last Friday.  He gave us quite the scare, but is doing much better now.  We are so grateful!

Carol, Nana, and Papa

After the ceremony, we took everyone down to see JW's office.  He is getting settled and it is looking good.  I'll have to post pictures another time.  The family was all impressed and excited to see where JW is spending his time making roads for himself as a newly licensed attorney.  Then, we took the gang out to dinner at Maggiano's to celebrate.  It was yummy and everyone had a doggie bag to take home with them as a favor at the end of the night. 

 

Em offices right across the street from Maggiano's and stopped by to congratulate JW on her way home.  We hadn't taken any family pictures yet, so she did the honors.  We are so glad she did!

Joey and his dad

Me and the hubs

The whole family

Yay!  Proud family!

We also videoed the short ceremony of JW taking his oath, but I am having some technical difficulties getting it uploaded.  So, if I'm able to get it to work, I will add that to this post later.  It was a special night of celebration and we are all very proud of JW.

Fall Celebrations

Happy Friday!  We have been celebrating a lot around here lately.  Halloween was this week and it was the first one for us in our new neighborhood in Houston.  The dogs were going crazy every time someone came to the door.  It was just so exciting to meet all those new friends and they love kids and wanted to give each one of them kisses in the face, so they ended up being banned to the backyard.  We had a lot of kids, but didn't run out of candy.  I think we bought too much...  We may or may not have purchased candy in bulk during that week of the month when I happened to be craving chocolate.  :)  So, we bought the good stuff and poor kids only got my left-overs after having it in the house for a week.

The day before Halloween, JW's cousin, Sarah, who also lives in Houston with her husband had their baby.  Sweet baby Cason was born on Tuesday, so after we were done handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, we went to go visit.

He is such a sweet and healthy boy.  Isn't he adorable?

 

In other news... bar exam results came out yesterday, and just like we all thought... JW passed!  What a huge accomplishment!  I am so proud of JW and all of his hard work.  He's officially a licensed lawyer now.  I'm a proud wife!



Happy weekend, y'all!

Rise

I attended a Women's Bible Study event tonight at my church with Beth Moore and was so blessed by it.  JW and I have been attending Bayou City Fellowship, a church I first learned about the Living Proof Ministries blog, since we moved back to Houston this summer.  We tried a few others, but really felt led that BCF is where God wanted us.  Beth's son-in-law, Curtis Jones, is the pastor, and he is such a powerful motivator of faith.  The church is only a year old, and has already grown so much. 

Rise is BCF's quarterly women's night of worship and teaching by Beth Moore.  This was my first time to attend and my mom got to join me.  It was a powerful evening.  The Bible study was on 2 Kings 5:1-14 and we talked about God's power to heal us of the things holding us back from truly living for Him. The healing that God offers is sometimes hard and requires much of us, but we can be mighty women of valor living for Him if we allow the Spirit to help us.

One of the worship songs we sang was so moving and powerful to me.  The lyrics are below.  I don't want to forget the impact they had on me tonight.

"Beneath The Waters (I Will Rise)"
by Hillsong United

This is my revelation
Christ Jesus crucified
Salvation through repentance
At the cross on which He died

Now hear my absolution
Forgiveness for my sin
And I sink beneath the waters
That Christ was buried in

[Chorus]
I will rise, I will rise
As Christ was raised to life
Now in Him, now in Him
I live

I stand a new creation
Baptized in blood and fire
No fear of condemnation
By faith I'm justified

[Chorus]
I will rise, I will rise
As Christ was raised to life
Now in Him, now in Him
I live

I rise as You are risen
Declare Your rule and reign
My life confess Your Lordship
And glorify Your Name
Your Word it stands eternal
Your Kingdom knows no end
Your praise goes on forever
An on and on again

No power can stand against You
No curse assault Your throne
No one can steal Your glory
For it is Yours alone
I stand to sing Your praises
I stand to testify
For I was dead in my sin

[Chorus]
But now I rise, I will rise
As Christ was raised to life
Now in Him, now in Him
I live

Fall Polish

I love having my nails painted.  It's not often that you'll find them bare.  I love all the new colors I can where when the seasons change too.  So, even though it doesn't feel like fall outside, and I can't wear fall sweaters and boots, (I've tried to wear boots and my feet just end up hot all day), I can wear fall nail polish. 

JW and I had date night last night, and before dinner stopped into Target to pick up a few things.  I needed some things in the cosmetic section and ended up trying on nail polish.  JW was patient with me, and here's what I came home with.

I have never worn anything like this copper color, and probably wouldn't have picked it out off the shelf, but a co-worker had it on last week and I loved it.

This is a deep golden bronze color.

Via

 I didn't buy this one, but will next time I see it.  I think it's a cool fall neutral.

Essie: Sand Tropez

Via

 Apparently, I am liking metallics this fall.  What are you wearing?

P.S.  Shout-out to my talented friend, Shay, who just started a neat "techy tips and tricks" blog called The Pocket Buzz.  That's where I learned how to add text to my photos from my iPhone for this blog.  Go check it out!  I promise you'll learn something. :)

Spice it Up: Signature Chefs 2012

I have mentioned work has been crazy over the last couple months, and that is because we were leading up to our fall event, Signature Chefs.  It is a really fun food and wine auction event.  I did this event in Waco, but this was my first year to be a part of Houston's event.  Needless to say, it was on a much larger scale.  Houston's Signature Chefs Gala is the largest in the nation for the March of Dimes.  We had a team of people working on it, so that was nice compared to me being the only staff person in Waco.  Here in Houston, I was in charge of the auction and culinary aspects of the event.  We had close to 100 auction packages and 25 chefs that were a part of the evening.  It was a huge success!  There were over 750 guests in attendance and we hit our million dollar goal!  Check out this article in a social publication about our event: Culture Map article.

It sure was a lot of work, but was so rewarding to see great results and a successful event Thursday night.  I am honored to work for an organization with a great mission to help moms and babies.  I didn't do a great job getting pictures since I was running around most of the evening.  I'm kicking myself and will do a better job next year.  Here are the couple I got.  My mom and JW both came and worked a Big Board auction for me.  I am grateful they were there. 
 

I am pretty exhausted, and we plan to spend most of the weekend resting.  We are looking forward to a normal week next week... no more 12 hour work days and 8:30 dinners!  Happy weekend!

Happy Birthday to JW!

Last Sunday, JW turned 27 years old and we spent the weekend celebrating.  Friday night we went out to eat at Outback, just the two of us.  It was nice to sit there and talk.  Work has been crazy lately, so it was good for us to get out and spend uninterrupted time together.

Saturday, we celebrated with friends and family and went bowling and then have everyone over to our house for dinner and cake.

Sunday was JW's actual birthday, and as a gift last year, my parent's had given JW Texans tickets to a game of his choice for this season.  He had chosen the Texans vs. Packers game this weekend, so we took an attorney JW works with and his wife.  Neither of them had ever been to a Texans game before, and even though the Texans lost, it was a lot of fun!

Happy Birthday, Joey!  We love you!

Dakota's Puppy Party

After work on Dakota's birthday, I went to watch Claire cheer at a middle school football game.  She is in eighth grade and did a great job!  It brought back Viking cheer memories for me.  So fun!

After the game we headed back to our house for dinner and cake (both for the humans and pups).  We love to celebrate around here, so even a doggie birthday is a good excuse to all get together.  Momma Hance was so sweet to make lasagna for dinner and bring it over since I was working all day.  My mom brought a bundt cake for the humans, and I made cake for the dogs.  I made the same peanut butter dog cake that I made Harley for her first birthday.

 JW and me with the birthday girl

 Family that came over to celebrate with us

The dogs were more challenging to get photos of, but the dogs in attendance were Maximus and Calamity Jane (with Momma Hance) and Noel (with my family).

 We ate in peace with the dogs all in the backyard.  It was pure puppy chaos when we let them all in.

Yes, we even sang "Happy Birthday" to Koda, and then moved the party back outside for the dogs to enjoy their cake.

 

Happy Birthday, Koda monkey!  We love you.