Texas Time!

{{Interwebs broke last night, so this post had to wait until today.  Oh, and the comments have moved to the top of the blog posts...weird, I know...but, I kinda like it...}}

OK, readers!

So, I promised you more updates this week and here is the first installment: Texas!

{I'm going to do my catch-up updates in reverse order, so that I don't leave any of the awesome that was this precious time in the land I have come to love so, so dearly.}

TEXAS!!!!

TU

Let me start....at the beginning!

Saturday, May 21
Let's just say that the trip got off to a weeeeee bit of a rocky start...This gal slept through her alarm, only to be awakened by the highly offensive **buzz** that is the door buzzer of my building.  And, let me tell you, I am so thankful that the **buzz** is indeed highly offensive...otherwise I might not have made it!  My sweet friend Christine had graciously agreed not only to pick me up at the ungodly hour of 5am to take me to the airport, but also to be the live-in "mom" to my critters while I was away...she's the best, y'all.  Anyways, back to getting to the airport...  Christine had called me when she left her place to come pick me up...but, of course, I didn't hear the call, nor did I wake up to any of my 5 alarms...neeeeat.  So, I woke up when I was supposed to be leaving.  Yep, talk about freak-out.  I wasn't entirely packed as I had a few things I was still debating on taking, so the decision was made by shoving everything without a thought into my trusty, rolly, red duffel bag.  I then splashed some water on my face, threw the hair in a pony tail, kissed the critter goodbye, and flew out the door with Christine's **chuckling** help.  We made it to the airport with plenty of time for me to check my bag, make it through the one open check-point, and spend a little time in the bathroom making myself look a little more presentable.  I got to chat with another lady doing the same thing - this gal was impressively curling her hair!  Props to her!  Then I got to chat with my pops as I waited...yay, weather delays...silly tornadoes...  Sadly, the delay stole a chunk of time that I was going to spend with the fam at DFW, but we were still able to get in an hour and a half or so (complete with a dead battery in the 'rent's car at the airport...there's a free service for that at DFW, though!!), and it was wonderful - they brought me Taco Bueno (judge me all you want, it still screams Texas!)!  It was great to be able to see my Momma on her bday - love you so much!  From DFW I caught my next flight down to ATX where I was very pleasantly greeted by two of my absolute best friends, the Ponders.  Man, I miss them!!  I was able to spend the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday with them, and Josh even serenaded me and Elaine with some guitar playing and singing - thanks for sacrificing your fingertips for us, JP! (*snap! snap! snap! snap! snappity! snap! snap!*)

Monday, May 23
My sweet Tara friend came and snatched me from the Ponder house Monday morning and we went to Kerbey Lane where we had one of the most excellent breakfasts ever...deeeelish!  We spent the day running around, catching up, and hanging out - it was wonderful.  Later that evening our wonderful Kristen friend came to join the party and we got ready for a superb Mexican feast, I am Number 4 showing, and slumber party with a couple of Tara's friends from grad school (thanks so much for all of your hard work and letting us crash in your living room, Noel!!).  It was awesome.

Tuesday, May 24
FUN IN THE SUN!  SUN! SUN! SUN!  Y'all...my skin hasn't seen sun since I moved up here...it was awesome to get to lounge out by the pool...even if I did get some funny streaky lines...no worries, everything evened out before the wedding  :)  It's still a bit too chilly up here to go swimming, too, so splashing around in the pool was delightful.  Later on we went to Gloria's (the BEST tamales I have ever had state side...I'd venture to say they were as good as the Panamanian tamales, family...seriously...I thought I had died and gone to heaven) for happy hour, where I got to see my lovely Alyssa K!!  It was awesome to catch up with her and have good old fashioned girl time.

Wednesday, May 25
Kerbey Lane, round 2!  Kristen and Tara and I decided we needed to go get breakfast there again...just because we could, and we all wanted to dig-in to some lemon poppy-seed pancakes (to die for!).  It was fantastic.  After breakfast the girls dropped me off at the casa de Reed where I got to spend some wodnerfully precious time with my cousins and the little Z-Man...I can't believe he's going to be 4 soon!  So hard to believe.  But we had a ton of fun - oh how I miss them!!

Thursday, May 26
The after getting some Whataburger for lunch, the cousin drove me to meet up with Mak and her other gals so that we could get to work on bachelorette/pre-wedding fun.  While P and I waited for Mak we ran around with Z-Man at a little playground and had a ton of fun with him there...don't worry, he survived the face-plant following his trip down the big-kid slide just fine  ;)  Once Mak arrived I transferred all of my junk into her car and we headed for Buda-land to get to prepping.  We had a fun night out strolling around 6th street and got so not enough sleep...but it was still a blast, and Mak was an absolute trooper at the piano bar  :)

Friday, May 27
THE DAY BEFORE THE WEDDING!!!!  Us bridesmaids got to work finishing the guest favors and helping to make sure Mak had everything she needed for the wedding and honeymoon.  We all made it to the rehearsal where Butch did an excellent job of making sure we didn't forget to take care of our sweet bride during the ceremony the next day - what a blessing to have such an amazing man of God join you in marriage.  After the seamless rehearsal was complete we headed to Lake Travis for the rehearsal dinner - awesome Mexican food and fun with friends.  We finally had our fill of food and people and made our way back to the hotel where we got to hang out with Mak's extended family for a bit before calling it a night.  Man, they are a fun bunch of people.

Saturday, May 28
WEDDING DAY!!!  We got the day off to an early 7am start to make sure that Mak had plenty of time to get prepped and not suffer too much stress in the way of time crunching.  Her mom treated us to a lovely breakfast at the house and we all set to work prepping for the 2pm ceremony.  We made it to the church around 11:30/12 and did our final preps before it was time for the pre-ceremony pictures.  Once those were done it was a short wait and then it was show time!  The wedding itself was beautiful, intimate, and God-centered...perfection.  I'm pretty sure we all let a few tears fall as we watched Wes as he saw his bride walking down that aisle toward a lifetime with him.  She was stunning and he was so obviously in awe of her beauty, inside and out, that tears were inevitable.  The reception was a fun time with friends and family and I was so happy I got to see the Ponders one last time.  It was incredibly difficult for me to say goodbye to Mak and Wes as we ushered them off to Jamaica...I miss them!!!  And, saying goodbye to my sweet Josh and Elaine was equally difficult.  But, saying goodbye to those sweet people transitioned me into the next leg of my trip.  My dear Bolwerk was gracious enough to come pick me up from Buda, even though he was too sick to attend the wedding with me - what a champ, eh?  He drove his sick self 2hrs just to pick me up so that I could spend some time in College Station.

{Have I ever mentioned how much I absolutely love my friends??  Mmk, well, I adore them...there are simply no words to express how much I love them and how much they have absolutely become my family.}

B and I made a little stop back at Tara's for dinner and some general hangout-age...such a blessing.  After that he and I made a stop at the convenience store for some Blue Bell (Texas, I love you!), Sour S'ghetti, Vanilla Coke, and Cherry Dr. Pepper.  That my friends, is a recipe for success!  We had a really great drive to CS, brimming with sugar-highs, laughter, good tunes, and excellent conversation.  He granted me the pleasure of driving me through campus and stopping at the giant Aggie Ring so that I could actually see and touch it, as I hadn't been able to see it since it was placed.  I love Texas A&M...there is simply no place like it.

Sunday, May 29
Church!  B and I went to Grace Southwood for service Sunday morning and then met up with Poarchy-Poarch and Powell at Fuego for lunch - oooohm gahhhhh how I have missed Texas food!  We had an excellent lunch and then made our way over to the 'doons for some coffee and face time with Cam - man I love that kid...he's so freaking tall!  While there I got to have some sweet time with Poarchy as well as my sweet Powell girl.  I've missed those kiddos so much!  There was another lovely, lovely surprise I got at Muldoons: Katy!!  I'm sure most of you are familiar with my sweet sister in the Lord, Katy, who has been in Africa with her husband Kahler this last year.  Well, she and I finally go to make our friendship "real-life" official!  She was so sweet to make time to come visit with me for a little bit and it was such a blessing to finally meet her face to face and give her a real hug.  But...as she and I were discussing earlier today...we both failed to document our meeting with a picture.  And we call ourselves bloggers...shame on us.  BUT!  We'll remedy that come the Christmas holidays, don't you worry your pretty little heads  :)  After coffee time B, Poarch, Powell, and I made our way back to B's house to watch a movie while I waited for for my sweet Kacy and Justin friends to pick me up for dinner.  Once they arrived we made our way to Blue Baker for some pizza...ah, it brought back memories.  We had such a sweet time together - I was so happy they were able to make the trek up from Houston.  From there we went over to the Humphrey's House for dessert, where Miss Powell joined us as well.  After sending Kacy and Justin off...and ushering in the tears that would not completely stop flowing for the next two days, the Humphrey House settled down for some Kung Fu Panda before calling it a night.

Monday, May 30
Happy Memorial Day!!

{I'll have another post to share some things about Memorial Day a little later on this week or next}

A bunch of us started the day off with some precious time out at the Freeman House...it will always feel like home  :) and then made our way to Layne's (oh how I wish I could have brought you with me!!) where we met up with Pauler and my sweet Metz bug dorks!!  It was sooo, so wonderful to see Pauler and visit with him about his upcoming move for seminary and to see his excitement about what the Lord is doing as he prepares for this new stage in his life.  And, seeing the Metzs was super great on so many levels: they're awesome, they're like my big brother and sister, THEY'RE PREGGERS!!!!  I was so excited to find out that they are expecting this fall - I'll get to see the baby at Christmas!  WHOOP!  After some good time at Layne's I said my goodbyes and ran to the car before I had time to start crying...I could have hugged Bolwerk, Poarch, Powell, Pauler, and the Metz crew forever, I think...but, I knew that if I stayed much longer and continued to hold on to them I would never leave and I would just cry and cry...so, I hopped in Powell's car and she took me back to the Humphrey's so they could cart me back to Austin.  I loved the time I got to spend with the Humphreys on our trip to Austin...I. MISS. THEM!  Once in Austin I met back up with Tara and she and I completely vegged the afternoon/evening away...and, I cried some more.

Tuesday, May 31
I so didn't want to leave Texas, but that flight was calling my name, and it was time to go.  Tara took me to the airport and once I got all checked in and made my way over to the checkpoint line I told her that she was going to have to leave otherwise I was going to bawl my eyes out...and she was gracious enough to spare my eyes and head that sufferance.  Once I was comfortable in the line I called my Pops and chatted with him about the trip and not wanting to leave Texas and I was hardly able to keep my tears from falling.  But, I got on that plane, thanked a precious soldier, caught my connecting flight in DFW, and arrived safely back here in the Melted Tundra.

The trip was incredible and I wish I hadn't left, but leaving means there's another trip to be had with more memories and more time with my Texas loves later on down the road.

For now, all is well up in the Tundra and I am happy to be back in my own little home with my critters.

Research is getting back underway and the summer will be a buzzy one full of research and sunshine.  Y'all, it is so lush here right now, I can hardly believe it.  I'll try to snag some pictures before it all fades back to white!

Well, that's all for now, my dears.  I'm off to bed.

Love y'all dearly.
Shalom!
~MW

Texas, Our Texas! So Wonderful, So Great!

 courtesy of flickr

Ah, hello my reader loves!

It's been a while, and for that I apologize, but the last three weeks have been jam-packed with the pure awesomeness that is Christmas, Family, Friends, and, of course, TEXAS.

Wow, I so did not want that time to end.  It was wonderful being home in that great state, and being surrounded by my wonderful family and my dear, dear friends was the best Christmas present ever.  I certainly missed my FT friends, though - y'all are definitely dear to my heart...sorry, can't be helped  :)

The break got off to a wonderful start in Arlington with the fam, Jake, friends, and some good ol' music - Hamilton style.  I love music nights with the Hamiltons - so great.

It was a huge blessing to get to spend some time with a few of my girls from BSLC - I miss those precious daughters, and it was wonderful to get to sit and spend some one-on-one time with them, simply listening to what life has looked like for them over the last semester.  Having that time and listening to everything that's been going on with them did make me a touch bitter that I can't be around to walk this part of life with them.  I want so badly to be there to pour into their precious hearts in person...it's just not the same from this far away.  But they are growing up into beautiful daughters of the King - I only hope I get to continue to be a small part of their lives.

Spending time with a few of my ladies from high school was incredible as well - I so miss those girls, and I'm sad I didn't get to spend more time with them and that I didn't get to make it around to everyone there in Arlington - time is SO fleeting!

Christmas was small and quiet, but it was such a huge blessing to get to have Momma home for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!!  It's been a while since we've been afforded that privilege.  Christmas dinner was chill, but it was nice to be able to spend it with Mr. Teasley - he's been such a blessing to our family and we were blessed to be able to share the day with him.

From there it was on to the Great Texas Tour - December 2010!!  Jake and I hit the road from Arlington to Lufkin to spend some awesome time with Kristen and B - those three taught me how to shoot, y'all!  I shot Kristen's shotgun and pistol and B's pistol as well.  Jake had a revolver (I think..?) that kinda terrified me...I'll work my way up to that one  ;)  I didn't hit any of the clay disks with the shotgun, but I did hit the target with the pistol!  I'll get those clays next time!

After Lufkin we hit up Huntsville to spend some time with Jake's sweet parents - Mom and Pop Pry, thank you SO much for welcoming me so warmly into your home.  I had so much fun just sitting and visiting with y'all and I can't wait to see your sweet faces again!!  Pop - that fire was epic and I can't wait to sit around more of those chatting with you and listening to your stories and the latest celebrity news ;)  Mom - can't wait to play in that kitchen with you!!

From Huntsville we stopped in CS to hit up Fuego, and coffee shops - super lame that all the good ones were closed for the break, though.  It was nice to get to visit with the Humphrey and Freeman families, too - I so miss y'all!  Girl time with Ricci and Alyssa was such a blessing...I miss that.  Jake and I had a blast hanging out with Kristen and Aaron before making our way down to Houston.  Fuego round 2 and then hitting up Christmas in the Park was sooo so fun.  I was amazed that after 5 winters in CS I had never managed to make it to Christmas in the Park...I feel gypped, just sayin'.  But, it was way fun to experience it with a few of my absolute favorite peoples  :)

Christmas in the Park was a lovely send-off as Jake and I undertook the next leg of our tour: Houston!  We were incredibly blessed to be able to spend time with Chris and Jennah at their rockin' new house - well done, you two!  Can't wait to see how y'all continue to make it into your own.  We had so much fun there, and watching Jake and Chris together, oh man...so fun.  They are definitely brothers who love each other a whole, whole lot.  Love it!

We rang in the New Year with Kacy and Justin, complete with some Just Dance 2, of course!  I should have known that Kacy, the dancing queen, was going to force us to dance with her - I'll admit that it was pretty fun...quite a workout, too!  I was suuuuper sore the next day...a touch pathetic.  It was nice to close the night with some fireworks watching around the neighborhood - well done, Cypress  :)  We started 2011 off marvelously with lunch with Chris & Jennah and Kacy & Justin, followed by some girl time with Kacy (Barnes & Noble + Target...of course!) and the guys crashed at the house.  It was so, so great to spend that time with you, Kacy, love.  I miss your face!!

From Houston we made our way to the Austin-Round Rock Area to see Patrick & Sarah and little Zach, who isn't quite so little anymore!  I canNOT believe how much that munchkin has grown since August!!  I'm gonna need him to slow them horses down!  We also got to visit with Miss Awyssa for a bit which was way fun...her parents loved talking to Jake about Africa...we admittedly abandoned him to go chat outside while they asked him question after question...in our defense we did tell him we were going outside...  To close Austin we made our way over to the Ponder home for a lovely dinner and some Mexican Train and all-around wonderful hangout time.  They certainly have done a wonderful job of pulling that home together so quickly - I. Am. Impressed!  We definitely loved our time in the Austin are - miss y'all so, so much!

After that we stopped back in CS for some final rounds at SRPH, the Heep, and BioControl...Jake had to see his A&M peeps and I had to see mine - it was super awesome meeting his old crew and introducing him to some of my favorite people from the ENTO world.  We closed out the day with some Fuego (are you noticing a trend here?) with the Stanfields and a quick visit with Kristen and Aaron before making our way back to Huntsville for some more time with Jake's fam.

I was so glad that I was able to go back to Huntsville to visit with the Pry family some more before Jake and I had to begrudgingly go our separate ways at the close of our break.  I love being around his family.  It's fun and feels like home.  I miss y'all!!

Then it was time to head to the IAH and send Jake back to Africa...one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do.  Standing there completely helpless as we watched him disappear as he turned the corner to head to his gate was awful.  That's a kind of helplessness that I can't really explain, other than: it was horrible and I never want to experience that again.  Sadly, life is full of goodbyes, and I reckon I should be grateful for the ones that, God willing, aren't forever.  While knowing that we won't see each other for a good 7 months feels like an eternity we are resting in faith that God will bring us safely together again come summer time.  I will say this, though: it was an incredible blessing to be able to stand next to Jake's family at the airport (we missed you, Jennah!) and having B, Kristen, and T there to help distract me was wonderful.

After sending Jake off and drying the tears B, Kristen, and T and I met up with Brandon for some way fun times...Chuy's + hangin' around a park with pretty skies, swings, and cameras = a pretty awesome day.  We got to snag a quick visit with Kelly at the Outlet Mall on our way back to CS, as well.  It ended up being a bearable day  :)

I spent my last day in CS wonderfully (though I missed far too many of you): lunch with the Wharton's and my Ginger girl, hanging at the Health Sci Center with T, B, and Kristen, complete with a brief, yet wonderful visit with my bestie Ricci (miss you so much, lovely!!), dinner at Layne's with Mak, and finally a mini road trip to Waco with B, T, Kirsten, and Bean.  Before the J-Man and his buddies picked me up to make the rest of the trek up to Arlington we roadtrippers from CS dined at the Claypot there in Waco and were blessed to be joined by the wonderful Mal (great catching up with you, lady!!).  Good food, great state, even better company!  Finally said farewell to my loves and hopped in the car with Panda, Harrison, and Jimmy.  We had a rather...eventful trip home...I'm just sayin', if you have to pee around Grandview...wait until you get to the Grandy's in Alvarado...it will save you from banging on gas station doors, Subway doors, and finally running off to a field only to be followed by a state trooper car that will appear from out of no where and will definitely proceed to run it's lights and shine the spotlight on you as you do your business...BUT!  If you just so happen to be an Eagle Scout and have your card on (along with your license) you just might get off with a stern talking to and the advice that the Grandy's up the way is open 'til 4am or so.  Yeps, that happened...thank you Jimmy for providing us with our entertainment for the night  :)

I got to spend the last two days at home with Momma and the boys (Faja is still in Cali with the fam out there).  Sadly, we had to send Fariz off to Chicago for his Cavaliers audition thingy - he should be back home now - and Mom had to work on Saturday and Josh had a zombie party dealio, bummer  :(  But I loved getting to spend Friday with Momma talking about fun things and telling her about my post-Christmas adventures.

I so love my family!!  I miss y'all terribly, terribly!

For those of you who I wasn't able to catch during my time over the holidays: (1) Please forgive me, (2) COME VISIT ME!!!!  :)

Well, I head back to the lab starting tomorrow.  I took today to recoup and settle back into living in the Frozen Tundra and putting my apartment back in order.  BigBoy decided to lay claim to a number of things while I was gone...including the couch...both cushions, neeeeeat.  Oh how lucky that cat is that I fell in love with him in 7th grade ;)  I will say that I hadn't realized how much I miss having him curl up next to me at night until not having him there for 3 weeks...it was nice to have a snuggle buddy again.

Praying you all had a wonderfully blessed Christmas and New Year celebration.

I'll keep y'all posted on how grad school semester 2 goes!

Shalom, love, blessings!
~MW

P.S. - it came to my attention during our travels that there are quite a few of you who read the blog but have never made your presence known!  I'd love to hear from y'all on here!  Let me know when you're around the site  :)

O, Give Thanks to the Lord, for He is Good...

...and His Steadfast Love Endures Forever. ~Ps. 118:1

Thanksgiving. What is it?
* A time to remember
* A time to share
* A time for family and friends - old and new
* A time to feel closer to the people you love, even if they are far away
* A time to give thanks and praise to our Heavenly Daddy for all that He has so graciously blessed our lives with.

That list can go on and on, but I think it sums up Thanksgiving pretty well, at least for the nutshell version.

I was a little nervous about how I would handle this Thanksgiving, being in a new place and incredibly far away from my family and closest friends. I initially thought I would have to spend it alone, and that made me sad, as I am used to spending the day with my Daddy and little brothers.

The boys and I always start the day off with our "Turkey Day Tiff" over watching football or the Macy's Parade as I'm getting things started in the kitchen. I looove, love, LOVE the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and since I have been in charge of running the kitchen on Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember I always win ("Do you want your Thanksgiving Feast or do you want to watch football in the den?? Your choice!") and the punks begrudgingly trot off to the formal living room to watch their football games between 9 and noon (and then I try to convince them to let me watch the dog show...that one doesn't always work...we often come to an agreement to flip back and forth and they usually let me watch the groups that I am particularly interested in...like the sporting groups and herding groups - all the fun ones! Those are usually the ones they secretly want to watch too, so I think that's why they "let" me watch those ones all the way through...shhhh, don't tell!)...Pops usually makes rounds - 'cause he's awesome and likes football AND the parade and loves all of his kiddos, 'cause he's the best dad ever - yep, sorry, my dad is the best and there's no changing my mind on this one :)

I did miss spending my day in the kitchen this year, even though by the time everything is ready I am usually beyond exhausted, have a killer headache, feel like my back is going to explode, and want my feet to be cut off (yay, tile floors...)...yes, inspite of all of that I still missed it. Quite a bit. I did get to make a dessert for Thanksgiving this year and help out with my Minnesota family's kitchen adventures, though - so my kitchen time wasn't totally in the red. Whew!

So...what did I do for Thanksgiving this year?? I was beyond blessed to spend the day with SW and her beautiful, beautiful family. Oh man, they are so great. I am actually taking her husband's (BZ) class this semester, so it was fun to get to interact with him outside of class. He and their two boys are pretty big hunters so we had lots of fun meats to nibble on AND BZ sent me and some of his grad students (who also joined us for the day) home with some gorgeous venison steaks - WIN! AND, SW sent me home with a pumpkin bread loaf!!! DE-LISH!

We really had a lovely day. I got to their lovely home around 1pm with Jakers in-tow. We did some doggy introductions upon our arrival. Jake and Chip got along pretty well, but Zeke wasn't too thrilled with Jake. I think they would have done well running around the back yard together to get the pecking orders established, but we opted to just do crate rotations with the pups. Chip lucked out and got to hangout with whomever of the other two dogs got to run free - so he had a grrrrreat day. Jake really enjoyed all the love he got from the 16 or so people who were there for the day. I did learn, however, that I really need to work on his jumping...oh man, he was trying to steal everyone's food out of their hands! Fortunately they were pretty much all dog people so it didn't really phase them any. But, I now have another project to work on with him. It was great fun to watch him and Chip run around together in the back yard, too - I love watching him play with other dogs. So fun!

It was a lot of fun hanging out with BZ's grad students. My TA for BZ's class was with us too, which was a lot of fun - I've enjoyed chatting with him after classes and such, so it was nice to visit with him outside of class as well. SW and BZ's family was pretty fun as well, and my sopapilla cheesecake was a huge hit! I definitely had to share the recipe before they all left. Yay, Texas desserts making it to the Frozen Tundra!! :)

After everyone left I hung out with SW and BZ's two boys for a little bit. Hanging out with them really made me miss my little bros, but it was huge blessing to get to visit with them. They are super kids. One is a senior in high school, the other is in junior high, so they are just a touch younger than my baby brothers, respectively. I really hope I get to know them better as the school year progresses - I'm hoping to be able to go to some of their extra curricular events and such too...I way miss getting to do go to my brothers' events.

I finally decided to pack up my pup and head home around 9:30 last night. They helped me cart Jake's humongo crate (it's the one we used for Joshua's sweet golden retriever before she passed...so it's a bit large for my stumpy cow dog, but it works) out to my car and SW sent me off with a great hug and kiss on the cheek. I seriously almost started crying on my way home last night, my heart was so full.

I have been so incredibly blessed this Thanksgiving, by the people here in the FT and by all of you back home who have made sure to remind me that you care and that I am still a part of your lives. Thank you all so much for that.

It was hard being away from family, but it was great being a part of a different kind of family up here. And having snow on the ground for Thanksgiving is something I can't even begin to remember the last time I experienced - it was pretty awesome.

Basically, God is good and hasn't let me forget how much He loves me and has shown me how He knows exactly how to take care of me when I need a little extra help here and there.

I pray you all had a truly blessed Thanksgiving, and I can't wait to see all of my Texans in less than a month!

Shalom!
~MW

P.S. - Way to BTHO t.u. yesterday, Ags! So, so proud to be an Aggie - I. love. my. school!

Can't focus? And, so I blog :]

It's going to be a long night...I absolutely cannot focus tonight.

Lots o' stuff running through my head:
--I miss my family
--I miss my friends
--I miss Texas
--How long 'til Christmas break? {~9wks!!!}
--Why can't I focus? {no clue}
--I need to drink more water {y'all, it is SO dry here - I feel like I'm turning into a human raisin}
--How on earth am I going to get everything done this week?
--Music is the best
--Jesus is better - SO MUCH BETTER
--When can I go to Africa? {waiting is the pits}
--Can I survive another 34mo in the FT?
--Care packages are the best {Jesus is still better!}

I got a care package from my parents today!! Well, technically it came on Friday, but I wasn't able to pick it up until this morning...oh the joys of leaving before your apartment complex office opens and coming home after it closes...

BUT! My parents rock - thank yas, Momma and Daddy! They sent me some stuffs I inadvertently left in the TX, along with some extra goodies :)

Jake's water bowl!!! I somehow left it in TX, so poor Jakers has been eating and drinking out of the same bowl... Now he has two bowls!!


Some of my movies!! Still missing a number of them, but these will get me
through 'til I can collect the rest at Christmas!!


A TON O' MOLESKINES!!! Best parents ever? I think yes.
Just behold the beauty before your eyes!


MA BOOTS!!!! Ok, I have missed these SO much...
Ah, my sweet hiking boots...I cannot wait to introduce you to the Frozen Tundra :)


Bonuses! My mommy knows me all too well - I now have something like
4 honey bears...you can never have too much honey :]


Oh, hai!



This is some of what I did last night and today
(along with some sketches...always sketches):


Hi there, pretty! May I dissect you?


Why thanks :)

How about you? Sweet, looking forward to it.

Ok, loves, that's all for now - I'm going to try and finish up my assignments for tomorrow morning's class...morning will be here all too soon...

Shalom!
~MW

[Insert Catchy Title Here]

Ah, we meet again!

Alright y'all, I know I've been incredibly inconsistent with the blogging, but heavens to Betsy it is insane up here! It just never ends. Sometimes I hardly feel like I'm living things move so quickly here. It's like living in a constant state of warp speed, for seri. But...even though things are beyond ridiculous and I have real rough days...er, weeks from time to time (hello, current week: I am so glad you are over), I am happy that I am here - I do enjoy what I am doing, where I am in the now, and the people I get to hang around with. I still wish (multiple times a day) that I could transplant the U to TX and just integrate my groups of peeps all into one big happy group of awesome, but, alas, no can do. So, I guess I'll stick around here for the next few years...

Man, this week was a doosie, to say the least. It started off real weepy as I sent Miss Ricci home to C-Stat (sooo wish I could have gone with her). I knew I really missed her and all my Texans, but I didn't quite realize just how much I miss everyone until I had her here beside me. Absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder, in this case. So that lead to a rather weepy week for me, but I wouldn't trade her visit for the world. Such sweet time and memories that we get to cherish forever. Speaking of which! I didn't upload any pictures last time, and I really don't have too many to share, but below are a couple shots from Mickey's Dining Car (You can read about that, the rest of my weekend with Ricci, and the beginning of my week here). You can see some of Ricci's pictures riiiiight.....here! And she played around with a few of them and made some awesome masterpieces here. (Plug: if any of y'all need picturas taken and you are in the C-Stat area check out my sweet friend and see if she has an open slot to fit you in for a shoot!!)

Come Tuesday I spent about 2.5-3hrs at the bank...with a personal banker...initiating the fraud response process. Yuuuup, I had my identity stolen. Great fun, eh? Not so much. So, now that we have canceled the card that got compromised and got me set-up with all new accounts (with some extra benefits compared to the accounts I had previously) I'm waiting for the affidavit to arrive so I can sign it and get the money back that the jerks stole. From there, the fraud research team keeps doing what they do in an attempt to catch the punks. And here I sit...frustrated, annoyed, but ok.

If you haven't guessed yet, Friday couldn't come quick enough this week...oh, it was a long one. But, Friday did indeed come! Glory! Friday closed with a departmental cruise on Lake Minnetonka. Translation: BOOZE CRUISE. Mmmhmm, it happened, and it was...interesting. Saw some interesting sides of people, to say the least. But it was fun to get to hang out on a boat and visit with peoples. It was a gorgeously clear night and the moon was breath-takingly bright. The music was a bit loud and obnoxious, but it's whatevs.

So now that my week is over, I figured I would share some fun stuff with y'all - in the form of picturas!

Geeses! I way love seeing the geese migrating through. Seriously, one of my absolute favorite parts of living here. I really enjoy hearing them as they fly overhead (just don't look up with your mouth open...eeps, that would not be good.), I love watching their formations, watching these magnificent creatures take off is such a sight - if I ever get the chance I'll snap a video of them for yas. I just think they are fun. Huge poo...but what do you expect from HUGE birds??



Honey from our very own honey house! We got these little honey bears at the departmental welcome party earlier in the semester. I feel very privileged to have one of these, as it's been a tough year for honey - no one has any. The bees are taking quite the hit right now. It's pretty depressing and, to be honest, if we don't figure out how to help our little buzzy friends, it's pretty terrifying to think about honey bees hoping on the endangered list (I can't think about the other "e" word yet...)...we'd be pretty sorely out of luck in the food department.




Care packages from some of the sweet members of my congregation back in A-town. Thank you Miss Susie and sweet Hannah! This made my week when I got it. The cookies were delicious and the teas, oh so lovely. Thank you!!!



Awesome signs on random vehicles driving through town. "Stay back....Stay alive"
Love it.




Jakers on the porch. He way likes it when there are days that I can open my sliding door and he gets to hang out outside and watch the birds and our neighbors as they come and go. These days are fast fleeting, though.



Moths!!! Ok, these are not very nice specimens (we "stole" them from the teaching collection...so they take a beating) and these are not my Euchaetes friends. These guys are relatives that I got to start out with on dissections about a month ago. I have some new ones to run through (starting tomorrow!!), and I am way excited about them. They are newer material and in much better shape than these poor little loves. YAY, DISSECTIONS!!!

Oh!! A lot of you have been asking to see my cubbie in the lab. So, just for you, here are some photos of my little nook. It's nothing fancy, but it works :] Enjoy!

You can find me at:

Where you will probably find me bent over some moth literature here:

Or digging through stacks of lit/books...or digging in desperation for snacks or tea here:

Or else checking or writing another something to do on my calendar here:

There you go, sweet readers. There's my little cubbie, where I spend a good 70-80% of my time each week, certainly each day.

Tomorrow should be a good day of dissections and studying, followed by a good night of sweet worship and fellowship at Christ Redeemer. Hooray for worshiping at the same place 3 weeks in a row! Glory!!

Praying you all have a wonderfully blessed Sunday.

Love in Christ to you all.
Shalom!
~MW

P.S. - If any of you have been thinking about adoption or even if you haven't or aren't super sold on it, may I encourage you to take a gander at this post? If you know me at all you know that things like hitting the mission field and adopting the precious ones who have no one are very near and dear to my heart. J-Hump and Ricci do an excellent job of putting our hearts on the issues into writing. I implore you all to prayerfully consider their entry on adoption. And, I'm done ;]

And so another week begins...

Well my happy readers, how are ya? I know it's been a bit of a spell since I last updated and left y'all hangin' quite a bit by not updating while my darling Ricci was here, but, I'm sorry, we were just having too much fun for me to stop and update :)

We had SO, so much fun, though. I cannot even begin to express to you how wonderful it was to have her bright smiling face here, next to me, in the the FT. It was absolutely wonderful. But seeing her definitely made me miss her, my other Texas loves, and Texas in general, even more. Just a little sting of a reminder that I am missing out on so much being here. But it was totally worth it, even though I lost it Saturday night. I couldn't help it, y'all, I just miss her like none other.

We had a blast though. Here's what we did!

Thursday:
- Collected her from the airport, complete with screams...yup, just like in the movies, it does happen in real life ;)
- Spent some time resting at home...did some laundry
- Went to lunch at Princess Garden Chinese Restaurant (pretty good!!)
- Went to campus...I had class, she played in my cubbie!
- Ran some errands
- Cooked a Mexican Feast!!! Even if it was just Spanish rice and enchiladas...it was still epic
- Shared a lovely evening together on the couch

Friday:
- Went to campus for a lab conference call that didn't happen...sad day.
- Went to Target to make sure there wasn't anything we needed for our event of the afternoon
- Met SW for lunch and went to Mim's. YUM!!
- Ran home to gather our stuffs and hit the road for our mini roadtrip!
- Made it to our destination and met....drum roll, please....MCKMAMA!!!!!! So surreal.
- Hung out with her and her camera for about an hour (I feel like enough of you have stumbled upon these now that I can share them with you here - we had a BLAST!)
- Made the hour or so trek back to the Twin Cities, had some leftover enchiladas and rice, and settled into the couch for another evening of awesome...just chillin' and munchin' on yummies :)

Saturday:
- Went to see Desi at her garage sale...test drove her Subaru...no big deal (<---y'all can start praying about that if you please...)
- Met Miss Megan for lunch at Mickey's Dining Car. Umm, probably one of the most fun experiences ever. I loved watching my best friend here in the FT meet my bestie from TX...so great!
- Miss Ricci and I stopped off at home for a few and made our way to Pine Tree Apple Orchard. I think our discovery of Caribou Coffee and the scenic drive itself were our favorite parts...oh, and the people watching, of course!
- After that we hit up the Mall of America...yuuuup, two weekends in a row for me, kids. Trust me, I am not making this a habit. We had a fun time strolling around. I way enjoyed watching Ricci geek about about the William Sonoma store...priceless.
- We then went home...where she packed, I cried, we ate good food, we enjoyed each others company, and just soaked in the last few hours we had together before I had to send her on home to J-Hump and TX.

Sunday:
- Got up early...got dressed...piled into the car
- Drove to the airport
- Said a quick goodbye so as to not start crying right there on the curb
- She walked to security...I drove home, where I cried some more

Sunday was a rough day for me...I cried a lot that day. I wasn't expecting that at all. I've been extra weepy, in general, since then. I just miss home.

Today marks 2 months of my being here...and not in TX. Really? It's only been two months?? I have 34 more to go?? Oh geesh. Mmmk, time to buckle up and take a deep breath and dive-in to this, I reckon.

On a brighter note, though, I think I have found a church home!!! I think I mentioned it last weekend...I hope I did, but I can't remember right now. Anywho, I went to the same church two weeks in a row! And. It. Was. Awesome! Last night I met a sweet, sweet family who invited me over for dinner - I went tonight!! It was so wonderful! Such a sweet time of fellowship. They sent me home with leftovers!!! I just love their sweet daughter...I'm thinking I may have just adopted a little sister - YAY! She's in 8th grade, and just the sweetest girl. I really enjoyed them and they made me feel right at home. Thank you Jesus for granting me sweet fellowship and renewal through this body of believers.

And with that, my loves, I'm going to close. I need to go finish a reading for class tomorrow and hit the hay.

Love and miss you all. Praying you are growing in the Lord and His love.
Shalom!
~MW

P.S. - B introduced me to this band yesterday: Gungor...they are way good. I highly recommend you check them out.
P.P.S. - I feel like y'all need to see this...it's a little taste of my life here. This is a real commercial that they play on TV here:

So very blessed

Ok kids, this has been kind of a rough week, for those of you who I haven't spoken to via phone, skype, gchat, or in person...oh, wait...about that last one...

Not only has it been a full week in the realm of being a brand new grad student, in a brand new place (where it's already getting chilly!!), starting new classes, and taking on a brand new research project (that will last for a good 3 years...can you say overwhelming?), but I've been thinking about a lot this week. I've been thinking about life and where I am at on that time line that is specific to me. I've been thinking about all of the adjustments am in the middle of. I've been thinking about "home," and what "home" actually means. I've been thinking about friendships and how much they mean and how they change as time passes, etc. I've been thiking about family, and the point at which your friends truly do become your family. I've been thinking about timing and how it can be such a fickle thing. To be completely honest, I've been thinking about quitting. Of course not entirely in seriousness - I didn't move across the country to quit...I'm just tired and I miss Texas and the way of life I knew and came to love there, not to mention my people, and my church. I still don't understand why God has me here. I really don't want to be here...I mean, I want to be here doing what I'm doing, but I don't want to be here. Yes, I have absolutely met wonderful people since I've been here and I think some lasting friendship may be forming, but it's still not the same, and it never will be the same as what I have in Texas. My spirit is tired...I need a hug, or rather a slew of hugs from my best friends. People don't really seem to hug here...it's weird and just the tiniest bit depressing.

But, with all of that said, I have been incredibly, incredibly encouraged this week. God has blown my mind with how He has demonstrated to me that He knows exactly what I'm going through and that He hasn't forgotten about me, and that He's taking care of me through the people He has so richly blessed my life with.

This week I think I have had more phone calls, text messages, emails, facebook comments/messages, etc., etc. than I've had in a while. And they have all been just wonderfully caring and loving and encouraging. One of the things I've been most discouraged about since the move is my church situation, or lack thereof. I got one of the most incredible comments on the blog regarding that this week. Helped me regain my perspective on this whole sort of mission...quest...thing... And then, I make my way over to Katy and Kahler's blog (Who I'm linking-up with!! Never linked-up before. Yay for new adventures in the blogging world!) to catch up with them (sorry for the slacking the last few days, Katy...) and I see God's incredible providence in their life...even in and amongst the TIA moments (and there have been some good ones lately!). And then I get these somewhat out of the blue emails from a number of people, most of whom I do not know super well, and they are all checking up on me, or are just a nice "hello," or what-have-you. God, is so, so good.

Other ways I have been encouraged this week have been through the building-up of new friendships here. MC (the gal who's a Quaker) and I have had some way fun little chats throughout the course of the week, and I really like her. She's playing "mom" to her prof's kiddos the next week or so while he and his wife are off on vaca, so we can't really "play" this weekend or next, but I love getting to visit with her in classes and in passing in Hodson. She is absolutely delightful. Can't wait to start hanging out with her outside of school/work. Also, JW (another gal in my cohort...she came in with her hubs - they are so freaking cute! Got their master's together and now they're getting their PhD's together...way presh.) and I decided that we need to go shopping together to start stocking up on winter clothes. She and her hubs are from the PNW so they know winters and snow like I'm used to from Nor-Cal...it's not the same kind of winter and snow that they have here...at all. So, we are gonna go try to hit-up some sales and check out Plato's Closet and the like. Plus, she's probably the trendiest, cutest little thing I've ever seen, so this is looking good for me - I can always use some help in the fashion world.

God is so good. Life is life. School is school. I. Am. Tired. But overall, when I look at the big picture, thing's are going pretty well. So as I sit here sipping on my chai latte (thanks, Momma!) and typing this to you all, my dear dear readers, I can honestly say that, though still adjusting to this new thing called being a grad student and living in the FT, I am happy and blessed. My heart is uplifted by the love you all and so many others have shown me this week. I pray you are all well and blessed and content in the Lord.

Happy almost weekend!

Shalom & blessings,
~MW

P.S. - Yoshi the Toshiba (and no, he is not named Yoshi because he's a Toshiba...he's named Yoshi, 'cause he was/is my favorite Mario character) will be sent off to the Toshiba doctors next week. His little box, which I like to think of as his very own personal ambulance, should be here to pick him up on Saturday or Monday. Once he has made his way to the Toshiba hospital it should take about a week for them to fix him up and get him back on his way to me. I am so not looking forward to being without him next week...it's gonna suck, that's all there is to it. As mentioned previously, I'll try to stay a little late at the lab and do some blog updating from there...no promises, but I will try my hardest. On the bright side, though, Toshiba is covering Yoshi's medical bills - WHOOP!

P.P.S. - I got my prayer partner from church back home today!!! So pumped :)

P.P.P.S. - In case you missed it earlier in this post, I'm linking-up with Katy over at to the ends of the earth. Check 'em ooout!

Frozen Tundra, we have arrived!

My goodness, what a week it has been. {to say the very least}

After a horrific bout with the vehicular devices back in my beloved Texas, and getting the call from my new home that, "all systems were go!" Faja and I set-off on the looong road ahead of us...to the Frozen Tundra, my small menagerie (BigBoy, Jake, and Tevye & Little Bubba) in tow. {well, after a slight detour to BRAC for some pain killers for Jakers...his toesies hurt after his traumatic resecting of the toe nails way back - no worries, we knocked him out, but he was definitely feeling it the next day, poor puppy}

Our first stop along the way was at a rest stop just across the OK border from Texas...it was kind of depressing looking back the way we came and knowing that I wouldn't be setting foot on that piece of land for a long time. But, my thoughts were pleasantly distracted by a perfectly timed phone call from Kristen! So great. We stopped another time or two in OK, and then once, I believe, in Kansas. {"stupid Kansas..." - that's for Elaine and Brandon...ah, the great trek to CO!}

Kansas, oh Kansas. I kind of wanted to die whilst driving through that state. {sorry, Sally, the roads are just awful...} I believe we ended up having to take two detours that added, overall, a good 2hrs to our trip for day one, thus placing us at our hotel in Kansas City circa 3am...neat. Ok, a note about our hotel: I don't know if this a Kansas thing or if we just got a crumby Best Western, but they had no bath towels. Dad even went down to the front desk to see if they had any and, nope...they call hand towels bath towels...annoying. My hair took up an entire "bath towel" all to its self! Oh well, it was pretty humorous the next morning, but that night, we were both just thinking, "Really?! You've got to be kidding me..."

So, we set off the next morning sometime around 9am. {we decided sleeping in a little was allowed after the fiasco that was Tuesday's drive} From there we passed through Missouri, then Iowa - the state welcome center was basically a modernized ode to the Amish...kind of weird, I'm not gonna lie. It really wasn't all that Amish, other than having Amish in the name...it was more country knick-knack store. Oh, and this huge German Shepherd {which I'm pretty sure was crossed with wolf}, being handled by this little old man using a gentle-leader, decided he wanted to eat Jake... Puppy dog, as much as I love, and I mean that with all of my heart, shepherds and wolves, I do not take kindly to other critters wanting to eat one of mine. No worries, though, I just took Jakers around to the other side of the u-haul and all was well.

From Iowa we headed to Minnesota... Ok, I must admit that I am most definitely in beautiful country. Positively gorgeous state to drive through, and WAY NICE roads.

Here are some views from the trip:

Choctaw Casino...Ooooklahoma!


Gorgeous sunset in Kansas


Can't see it too well, but that says Fort Dodge and Waterloo!!!
I just love the way they name things...silly Iowans.



Ok, it doesn't come through too well in this, but this is of the gorgeous
fields in Iowa...I was blown away.



Welcome to Minnesota! Love the old grain silos...so neat!


ALMOST THERE! Yuh, that is indeed the u-haul in front of me you see.

We fiiiinally arrived at my new home around 5:30pm Wednesday, August 18, 2010.

We were met by Mark, my new maintenance guy! Way nice - has a direct view of my building door from his unit across the lot, so I know I'll {well, me and the rest of my building, that is} be in good hands should anything happen...not likely, but still. Mike, my property manager came and met us a little while later - he also lives on-site, but he's at the back of the building across from me. He's super cool - we get along great. Liking the on-site staff is always a plus. Just this morning I was taking Jake out for a spell and Mike was sitting on the patio outside his office and we exchanged a nice friendly/neighborly "good morning" wave.

I love my apartment complex. Within an hour or so of being here we met one of my neighbors on my floor. Super nice guy, with two gorgeous puppy dogs, actually moved here from FL to start a Christian non-profit! We ran into each other again this evening when I was on my way down to take Jake out and he asked me if I had found a new church here yet and told me I was welcome to attend with him whenever I wanted. I might go with him next Sunday. This week, I think I still want to lay low and just kind of observe on my own...haven't quite decided which church I'm going to try out, but that is next on the agenda per completing this post! This awesome looking old guy from the garden level hollered to me and Faja at one point to just prop open the doors while we were unloading the truck {we had opted to not do that since it's a secured entry door system...}...we came downstairs from dropping that load of boxes/furniture/whatever it was to find the doors nicely propped open for us - we had to laugh and decided to let it be. {goood decision - made the remainder of the moving-in process so much easier} Another guy from the second floor helped us move the last two {also the heaviest} things in the truck: the kitchen table {solid oak} and the TV {heaviest hunk of electronic ever...ok, maybe not ever, but pretty close}.

That is something I must note, the people here are indeedibly fantastic. As much as I may go on to complain about the place {and the, ehem...drivers}, I don't know that I will ever have a bad thing to say about the people as a whole. Absolutely wonderful. Take Mike, for example, he let me move-in before signing the lease since we got in a little later than we had hoped, "There's no need for you guys to get a hotel when you have a perfectly fine apartment that is ready for you to move-in to...we'll just take care of the lease whenever you guys want tomorrow. Just swing by the office when it's convenient for you." Ummm...my jaw kind of dropped to the ground when he said that. Who does that?! What property manager have you ever known who has been willing to allow someone to move-in before signing their lease?! We were more than appreciative, to say the very least.

I think we finally finished unloading somewhere between 9 and 10pm...yeah, it took the two of us forever. And, we really didn't stop but for a minute or two here and there to catch our breath and guzzle some water. Oh yeah...I chose the "hot" and "humid" week to move up. More like warm and slightly moist, haha. Not awful, but not pleasant for labor intense activity...ah well, we got it done. We thought our bodies were going to fall apart afterwards and for the next day or two. {I'm still a little sore in my arms and back...good indication that I am beyond out of shape...something I already knew, but was not so pleasantly reminded of...}

I didn't do too much unpacking that first night - we were simply beat. But the next day daddy-o and I ran a lot of errands and he hooked me up with some of the home things I was lacking.

P.S. - I have the best dad ever...I mean, he drove across the country with me and then continued to help furnish my remaining needs once we reached our destination: including, but not limited to a full supply of groceries that will definitely get me through the next month or so and my very own vacuum...Lindsey and North Bardell ladies, I returned the qirby to its rightful owners, and so it stayed in Arlington, sad, I know.

So Thursday was busy with errands and attempting to begin to get acquainted with the area {another way that Mike is beyond awesome - he's been telling me/us where to go and how to get there all week - so awesome!}, along with starting the process of washing all of the dishes, cookware, etc. and unpacking. I still have a ways to go in the unpacking realm, due to yesterday being busy and me, essentially, taking today off - much needed.

Friday was awesome and super sucky all at the same time. Our day got off to a great start with Faja dropping me off on campus so I could meet up with some of the new grad students and those faculty members who could make it. So great. I mean, really, really great. SW, my new boss/mentor/adviser/major professor was there, too, so we got to chat and visit. One thing I absolutely love about this woman is that she has, since meeting her in Indianapolis last December, greeted me with a hug every time we have seen each other. I love that, since, as I'm sure most of you know, I am a huge hug person...I kind of, in some ways, live for hugs - they're just great! But anyways, lunch was awesome, and it was really nice to see some semi-familiar faces, as I met a good number of the grad students who made it lunch, back in March at our welcome week(end). Miss Felicia, who has definitely taken on the "mother hen" role for all of us new kids helped me get all of my new employee paper work and health plan paper work settled and we also had a nice little chat...she's great. We hit off really well back in March and she spent a few years in the Austin area, so we have that insta-bond that living in Texas and loving it brings. SO great.

After all of that the pops and I ventured off to find a redbox, to return our rental from the night before, and a petsmart with a Banfield so I could get my city licenses for BigBoy and Jake...fml. Worst adventure ever. We wanted to throw Dad's blackberry/gps our the window so many times! She kept telling us we had arrived and we were in like the middle of an intersection with no Petsmart to be found anywhere...so lame. We finally gave-in to hunger and grabbed some Quizno's. We decided we give it one last go and ask the guy behind the counter if he knew where a Petsmart was, since the gps told us we should have been at one... Not only did he inform us that there was down the road about 1.5-2mi away, but he also gave us free drinks!! See? Minnesotans are nice :) Well, we made it to the Petsmart...only to be informed by befuddled receptionists that you could not simply walk into a clinic with your rabies/vax certificates in hand requesting a city license, but that you had to go City Hall to do that. Well, that's juuuust great. We spent over an hour looking for a Petsmart, and it was now well after the 6 o'clock hour, on a Friday, so City Hall was most certainly closed. We were done for the day. Except I got on a bit of an unpacking kick last night and got a bunch of stuff done around the apartment :)

Today was weird...it almost feels like it was two days. I dropped Faja off at the airport around 5am so he could head back home to the DFW...I was jealous, to say the least. Upon my return, umm, home (still weird), I went back to bed and somehow didn't get up until about 10am when BigBoy decided he was hungry and Jake wanted to go outside. Fair enough. Had I not slept-in so late, I probably would have been much more productive today, but I decided that I would take it easy and just do some research on vet clinics, churches, stuff like that.

I did call Mike and ask him about the city license stuff, and he informed me that he had just gotten his city licenses at Petsmart on Wednesday...and that, no, I do not have to go to City Hall to get them...he was very confused. So, he told me to just run by a regular private practice vet clinic and get one there. I found one I like {and it's only ~5min away!} - the doc seems legit and the staff seem to have a heart for their work - and it says right on their website that they do the licenses! I'm totally a vet clinic snob after working in one for over 3 years...oh well, my pets generally thank me for it ;)

I also chatted with Comcast about my interwebs, 'cause I had forgotten to ask them about compatible wireless routers. The guy was way helpful, and so, post Monday, I just have to wait for the box of stuffs I forgot in TX to get here, complete with router so I can have the wireless interwebs!

Today was good, too, because I actually managed some skypage alllll the way to Africa for a spell before the interwebs I'm currently stealing kicked the connection. I also got to chat with some of my lovelies back home in TX.

Peeps, I miss y'all like you would not believe. In some ways it hasn't quite sunk in that I am in a completely different state on the other side of the country, and in some ways it feels like I have already been here for my 3 year stint, and I am so ready to come home to you. I sorely miss College Station. Like, you would not believe. Kreutter, I am simply not wired for big cities - you would definitely love it here. I, in no way, feel confident enough to make it in this town. It feels like I stick out like a sore thumb no matter where I go. Especially at Cub Foods...ok, I am just not a fan of that grocery store. HEB has definitely spoiled me. When Dad and I were walking around Cub I seriously almost started bawling right in the middle of the store. They don't have the soy milk I buy, the store was less than clean, I felt like I was shopping in a shady Wal-Mart, the layout was ridiculous, they didn't even have the salad dressing I like...it's a Kraft product, for crying out loud! But...to their credit, they do have Dr. Pepper. I am definitely going to try Rainbow Foods next, though...I'll probably go tomorrow, after church, as I forgot to pick up some staples while we were at Cub.

On the bright side, Jake is absolutely loving it here. I think he knows that he is kind of in charge of the safe-keeping of everything, as he is always running a little patrol - checking the balcony door, the front door, the hallway leading to the bedroom...and then finishing it up by coming back over to where ever I am and plopping down at my feet. Have I mentioned how much I love this dog yet?? He got to meet my neighbor who started the Christian non-profit today, when we met in the hall earlier, and Jake seemed to like him - my neighbor cracked me up, "aww, he's so cute...you're a good little cow dog, aren't you, Jake??" Love it! And Jake seemed quite proud of himself, haha. Oh, he had a bit of fun today - my living room now looks as though a snow storm blew through...check this out:

He absolutely devoured his stuffed toy today - so funny to watch


Nom, nom, noms...


Look what I can do, Mom!


Oh...I'm gonna get it!! I'm gonna get it!!!!


Bam! Told ya!


How'd I do, Mom?! Did you see me??

Yeah, we had a good time with that.

He is quite the tuckered pup at the moment...too cute.

Well, tonight I actually, really cooked my first meal here. {the frozen pizza on Thursday doesn't count...} Mmmm, jambalya! So good. A little taste of home :) I also made myself a pretty little salad. Tasty!

Sorry about the cucumbers and mushrooms, B, but some people
actually like things that taste good ;)

Ok, so maybe it wasn't the most complete of meals, but I had proteins and veggies {and fruits, thanks to the tomatoes!!}...that's something, right?

Finished it off with a little bowl of this stuff:

With a name like that, I had to try it out...it's pretty tasty, yo.

Well, kids, I'm calling this post, as it has definitely hit novel length. Happy Sunday to all of you - and thank you all so, so much for the prayers, phone calls, text messages, and comments here and on facebook. What ever would I do without you?!

With love from me, the FT, BigBoy, the hissers, and of course...the happy pup, Jake

Shalom!
~MW

P.S. - I'm hoping that my next post will include "the things I love about my apartment" :)
P.P.S. - My darling Ricci, we have lots of work to do when you get here in October for our best friends-frozen tundra-palooza-extravaganza of 2010 =] Just wait 'til you see what we have to work with...the possibilities are endless!!