To be honest with you, moving to Texas hasn't been the easiest thing I have ever done but I do have faith that its one of the best things I have ever done. Leaving behind everything you know, all of your comforts, all of your routines, everyone that knows and loves you and trading it in for the unknown, a bunch of faces that don't know you or your story, definitely exposes any weanesses or insecurities you have harbored in your heart. I have asked myself a million times, did we do the right thing? Are we going to be able to make this a home? Will we make new friends? Will we find a new church we will call home? Will my kids be okay here? But, when I lay in bed at night and talk to God, I know the answer to all of those questions is yes! I know this because I have faith that we are right where we are supposed to be. Ultimately, we as a family decide all of those things I listed above. This experience is what we make of it but thats not to say that it won't be hard and that we won't miss the life we left behind either. That being said, there has been a lot more smiles than tears and a lot more laughter than anything else.
This last weekend was really the first time that we were able to get a glimpse at what our new normal will be here and I must say it was so refreshing. We met some really nice people and their families that Daniel works with at his company picnic that just so happen to be members at the church we had planned on attending Sunday. Sunday we showed up to The Avenue Church and experienced a mixture of relief and surprise at how similar it was to The Well, our church in California. We were invited to join a couples life group that evening which we went to and met some more wonderful people and then we went out to dinner afterward with a couple of the families. It was nice to have some adult conversation with someone other than Daniel and I know Gianna really enjoyed being around other kids. The whole experience gave me hope that this place might actually start to feel like home soon.
I can tell you what will really help this place feel like home will be having a home...which as of yet we still don't have. We did go into escrow on a new home that will hopefully be finished in the middle of next month if all goes well which is definitely a step in the right direction! Buying a home unleashes a bunch of its own stresses but I am trying my hardest to focus my mind on the end result...a home! I know that life shouldn't consist of stuff but having your own stuff when everything around you is so unfamiliar would definitely help. I know this to be true for Gianna...there are a lot of times she asks for some of her toys that are in storage and I know that she would feel a little more secure if she had all of her things that make her feel like she is at home...her bed especially. It has been hard to explain to her where all of her stuff is.
It is a HUGE relief to have found a house! Its a step in the right direction for sure! And I must say I really do love the new house and the community it is in. It is definitely much more house than we are used to and a much bigger yard too. I can't wait to get into it and to start making it a home. While we are very fortunate to have this apartment, it has been a challenge to make it feel like home. I do wish we had found something in Waxahachie, but we ended up buying in neighboring Midlothian. Its so close to Waxahachie it may as well be in it though. (By the way...we were mistaken on the pronounciation of Waxahachie...perhaps thrown off by the accents but we have been informed that it isn't Wuh-xahachie but Waxahachie with the "a" sounding like the a in walk. Truthfully, our California accent can't really make that sound so we try in all cases to just avoid saying it. Dead give away that we aren't from around here. lol So, perhaps its a good thing we are moving to Midlothian.)
So, thats whats new with us. Life as we know it is changing and evolving daily and its exciting to see where this journey will take us and who we will meet along the way. So very grateful for the internet and FaceTime though because communication with our friends and family in CA has helped keep things more normal and helped me maintain my sanity. We definitely miss everyone so much! Until next time.... :)
Monday, October 8, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
Welcome to Texas!
"Welcome to Texas!" This is the first thing everyone says as soon as they find out we aren't from here. I swear Texans are the nicest people. Its made me realize that I really need to work on my eye contact. I am so accustomed to just shuffling along doing my own thing, people bumping into me and not saying excuse me, that people here must question my shocked expression with all the eye contact and "how y'all doing?" Its refreshing.
So, we are here in Waxahachie, Texas (pronounced WUH-xahachie) a LONG way from home and I think we are settling in okay. Its definitely different. For one, we are in corporate housing for the time being (a furnished apartment) and all of our stuff is in storage while we search for a home. Daniel will be working in Corsicana which is about 35 minutes south of here and Dallas is about 25 minutes north. Its a town of about 29,000 people and for the most part its pretty country compared to what we are used to. Everything you need is on one stretch of road or in the downtown area and everything else is just open land and small subdivisions of homes. Most of the homes are on acre lots or more which is so much land compared to our 9,000 sqft. lot we had in CA.
The downtown area is really cool! The buildings are beautiful and there are a lot of old victorian homes surrounding it. On Friday nights everyone goes to the enormous high school football stadium for the game a la "Friday Night Lights" and we hear there are tons of traditions and markets and parades that go on that everyone is apart of. Its definitely different than anywhere we thought we would ever live but are so excited that we have ended up here. It definitely seems like the perfect place to raise our family not to mention the schools are awesome here!
Really, getting here was the hardest part of the move. We had all of our stuff packed up and on the truck a whole week before our actual move date. We needed time to have the house and carpets cleaned to prep for our renters to move in and we had the wedding of our good friends Vinny and Jenn in beautiful Santa Margarita the weekend before. So, we literally were living out of suitcases and homeless for a week but between the hotels and my parents house we tried to make it as comfortable and normal as possible for the kids. Daniel left in the car with the dogs on Monday and made the long trek to Texas by himself while I tied up some loose ends and flew out with the kids Wednesday. There were a lot of sad good byes, stress and making sure we had everything before we left that had me a little frazzled but I think we all did pretty good and made it out here in one piece.
The kids did great on the flight over here and Daniel did awesome and made sure to be here by Wednesday just in time to pick us up from the airport. My good friend Liz who lives in Dallas was sweet enough to take time off from work to come help us out too. It's SO awesome that we will be able to see more of her now!
When we got to our apartment we were relieved to see that it was decorated nice and we had pretty much everything we needed except of course food and toiletries. We pretty much bought the entire Walmart our first night here. We had to buy everything from salt to soap and everything in between. Our apartment is in a nice area off the one street that has everything which makes it pretty convenient. Gianna loves it and calls it our "hotel house". She has her own room and bed but Jensen has a little pack n play in a corner of it where he sleeps for the time being. She is not a fan of him sleeping in her room but it's temporary and a good lesson in sharing. While its a much better living situation than we anticipated, I am anxious to get a house and get out of here. We could only pack so much stuff with us in a few suitcases.
I think Gianna is doing pretty well adjusting although she still hasn't fully grasped how far away Texas is from California. She has asked to go to her grandma's a few times and when I said she is in CA she said she could just get on the plane and come here. Tonight was great because Daniel's brother and our sister in law, Derrick and Nikki, were actually in Dallas to go to the Monday night football game tomorrow (a trip planned before our move) so they came down and had dinner and saw our place. Gigi was super excited but I think she was a little confused at how they could stop by after I just explained that people won't be able to just stop by. lol. She will get it. Its an adjustment for all of us.
I really do think we are going to like it here once we get settled. It is definitely a nice change of pace. I will say that I am for sure not in a hurry to go through a cross country move again. It was definitely one of the most stressful things I have ever done and I must say I am more than relieved that it is over. Fingers crossed we find a home soon and can get back to normal. Well...a new normal....
So, we are here in Waxahachie, Texas (pronounced WUH-xahachie) a LONG way from home and I think we are settling in okay. Its definitely different. For one, we are in corporate housing for the time being (a furnished apartment) and all of our stuff is in storage while we search for a home. Daniel will be working in Corsicana which is about 35 minutes south of here and Dallas is about 25 minutes north. Its a town of about 29,000 people and for the most part its pretty country compared to what we are used to. Everything you need is on one stretch of road or in the downtown area and everything else is just open land and small subdivisions of homes. Most of the homes are on acre lots or more which is so much land compared to our 9,000 sqft. lot we had in CA.
The downtown area is really cool! The buildings are beautiful and there are a lot of old victorian homes surrounding it. On Friday nights everyone goes to the enormous high school football stadium for the game a la "Friday Night Lights" and we hear there are tons of traditions and markets and parades that go on that everyone is apart of. Its definitely different than anywhere we thought we would ever live but are so excited that we have ended up here. It definitely seems like the perfect place to raise our family not to mention the schools are awesome here!
Really, getting here was the hardest part of the move. We had all of our stuff packed up and on the truck a whole week before our actual move date. We needed time to have the house and carpets cleaned to prep for our renters to move in and we had the wedding of our good friends Vinny and Jenn in beautiful Santa Margarita the weekend before. So, we literally were living out of suitcases and homeless for a week but between the hotels and my parents house we tried to make it as comfortable and normal as possible for the kids. Daniel left in the car with the dogs on Monday and made the long trek to Texas by himself while I tied up some loose ends and flew out with the kids Wednesday. There were a lot of sad good byes, stress and making sure we had everything before we left that had me a little frazzled but I think we all did pretty good and made it out here in one piece.
The kids did great on the flight over here and Daniel did awesome and made sure to be here by Wednesday just in time to pick us up from the airport. My good friend Liz who lives in Dallas was sweet enough to take time off from work to come help us out too. It's SO awesome that we will be able to see more of her now!
When we got to our apartment we were relieved to see that it was decorated nice and we had pretty much everything we needed except of course food and toiletries. We pretty much bought the entire Walmart our first night here. We had to buy everything from salt to soap and everything in between. Our apartment is in a nice area off the one street that has everything which makes it pretty convenient. Gianna loves it and calls it our "hotel house". She has her own room and bed but Jensen has a little pack n play in a corner of it where he sleeps for the time being. She is not a fan of him sleeping in her room but it's temporary and a good lesson in sharing. While its a much better living situation than we anticipated, I am anxious to get a house and get out of here. We could only pack so much stuff with us in a few suitcases.
I think Gianna is doing pretty well adjusting although she still hasn't fully grasped how far away Texas is from California. She has asked to go to her grandma's a few times and when I said she is in CA she said she could just get on the plane and come here. Tonight was great because Daniel's brother and our sister in law, Derrick and Nikki, were actually in Dallas to go to the Monday night football game tomorrow (a trip planned before our move) so they came down and had dinner and saw our place. Gigi was super excited but I think she was a little confused at how they could stop by after I just explained that people won't be able to just stop by. lol. She will get it. Its an adjustment for all of us.
I really do think we are going to like it here once we get settled. It is definitely a nice change of pace. I will say that I am for sure not in a hurry to go through a cross country move again. It was definitely one of the most stressful things I have ever done and I must say I am more than relieved that it is over. Fingers crossed we find a home soon and can get back to normal. Well...a new normal....
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