home is where the heart is...

And mine has been here for the past 5 or so years...
And here's a tribute to this lovely abode, by the one and only Megan Breed. She said it so well. There will be more to come in the days and weeks as we move out of here...but for now...well there's no time for tributes between moving sales and packing boxes and parties and breakfasts with friends and dinners with friends and finding out where my new home is going to be.

I'm moving to DC in a few weeks. Finding housing from Houston hasn't been the most fun part of the process, but yesterday I made the hunt more fun by color coding and weighing the options. Tomorrow night I have a few phone dates with potential roommates, so we'll see where I end up calling home in DC. We can only hope for something as sweet as our lovely little home on the corner.

Happy Birthday Little Girl :)

Today my sweet little Eva girl turned 2!

sweet baby eva on her birthday, 2 years ago today :)

I can't believe how fast two years goes by. I'm so thankful that I got to be at her monkey birthday yesterday and that I got to eat birthday cereal with her today before returning to Houston. I'm really sad I won't get to see her as much after moving further away...she's growing so much, talking, running, reading, loving, swimming, laughing, joking, living it's so exciting. I will say I am slightly jealous that when I got to Cleburne after saying, "Robyn's home!" she was disappointed that Sarah wasn't with me and just said, "Sarah didn't come Eva's party." But really I'm so thankful that I have such cool friends and my niece notices that at a young age.

me and eva a few months ago when she visited houston

bittersweet

Dark chocolate is good for your heart. A small bar of it everyday can help keep your heart and cardiovascular system running well...or that's what some people say. I like dark chocolate. It is a little bit bitter sweet though...

So I kind of feel like my life is dark chocolate right now. I know that it's good, and the initial taste is a little bitter but there is definite sweetness that is coming. I am really excited about what is next for me. I am moving in 3 or so weeks to Washington DC to partner with this awesome organization! I'm really, really excited to work for them again. I interned with CSM here in Houston, which was what connected me to the Third Ward and so many cool places that have changed and impacted my heart.

The bitterness though is leaving this city and people I've fallen in love with. In January of 2012 it would make 7 years of living in Houston. The relationships built and friends I have made here are priceless. I value them all so much. Change has never been something I loved or embraced well, but I know this change is going to be one that is good and I am excited...right now it just tastes a little bittersweet as I start to pack up life and say goodbye to dear friends and realize I'm doing things for the last time.

summer

I'm so thankful for summer. It has been nice to rest, sleep in, hang out with old friends, see family, help friends out a little bit, and just have a little more time to do nothing. I like doing nothing, I'm not very good at it most of the time. I've been trying to relax. So although I'm working a part-time job I'm still trying to stay at home more and rest...I figure life won't always be like this. Well I know it won't, so I want to enjoy the summer. These girls help...
I'm really thankful to have such lovely ladies to share my life with. I love sharing a house, stories, secrets, laughs, jokes, more laughs, food, dessert, friends, movies, hard times, prayers, parks, games, time, days, road trips, family, walks, neighbors, weekends, life. They make sharing much more fun. **Just in case you didn't realize it, Megan still lives with us we are connected, we have our ways :)

So if you haven't stopped by to hang out with us, you should soon...we love having friends over!

happy mothers day

This week I've been super blessed by family. Not just my family, although they have been extremely kind and loving, but by my larger family, my community. I have been loved well. It's a good feeling to be loved. I love loving others. I love sharing my days with 16 kids who don't always know how to give love but enjoy receiving it a lot and showing and telling them they have a Father who loves them infinitely more than I do is super rewarding. It is so much fun to watch them figure out how to express love for to one another, God, and their teachers. I am comfortable loving them. I am comfortable loving my friends who are so kind and gracious and really fun. They are easy to love because they are so unique and gifted and wonderful. I am comfortable loving my family who knows me so well and have loved me since the beginning of my journey. They are supportive and loving and honest and challenge me alot. I am comfortable loving those who God told us to love: the least, lost, left behind...they stole my heart many years ago and I can't get enough time with them. I don't know always how to do that best and don't always do a great job at it, but when I do I feel alive and excited and know it's something God planted deep in my heart.

Thanks to my Mom for giving me this life and love and support. Thanks to my Mom and Dad for loving me, despite my quirkiness. Thanks for allowing me to adventure off and be loved by others who could never replace them but make my life better and richer while they are not right beside me. This year has been a bit rough and rocky. It's not very far into it, but there has been lots of shaking and change and new territory for me to explore. Some of it I've done right beside my Mom and really appreciated her being there in the journey. Some of it I've been so blessed to have awesome men and women of God catch me and love me as if I'm their child who needs to be loved just as if they were my family.

I think Mothers day is a great time to celebrate not only my wonderful Mom, but all the Mom's who hold us together and play pivotal roles in our lives; as well as the many wonderful people they have raised uniquely and wonderfully to enrich our lives and the world in which we live.

Happy Mothers Day :)

houston. the loving and leaving.

Spring is wonderful.

The sun comes back into our lives (when I leave school and the sun is out it just makes me a better person). The days are longer so I can squeeze more life into them. In just one day this week I got to: hang out at school with 16 hilarious children, surprise a friend at a wonderful birthday party incorporating frozen yogurt, cake, and some of the most amazing people in Houston, ate dinner with a sweet friend and hung out with her two amazing boys (including reading bed time stories to both), hung out in the said friends backyard with perfect weather, dog, and sons, picked up a friend and had dance lessons at our house before heading out to do a little two-stepping with the rest of the houston's best and finished up shopping for our fraction party at school the next day with the ever amazing toleran,t roommate :) Now friends that's productivity. Thank you spring!

Something else seems to happen in spring though in Houston. For the past two years I find myself watching friends as they move into new life somewhere besides Houston. Now I don't think Houston is the only place people should live. Just my friends. And it would be nice if my family were all near. So when my roommate of five years decided to move south of the equator I was really sad. Then that seemed to swing open the door and everyone seems to be leaving. After much adjustment and tears and growth (sorry for those who have been witness to the process). Just last spring/summer 25 people moved from my church family including several really close friends...you know the ones who you see them once a week and know exactly what to say, the ones who meet you for breakfast, the ones who's house always feels comfortable and right, who's questions are comforting and challenging, the ones who love my family just because I do...yeah those are the people I miss! Then school friends started leaving. So just as life started to stabalize, new roommate and friends, new routines...what's that? Springs back!

Birds chirping, flowers blooming, people moving. I don't like it. Not one bit. Now I will say most of these things calling people away are things I'm really excited about, but I'm selfish and want to have my friends where I can see them, hug them, hang out, and share life every day not only hear and see them on Skype (although I'm also thankful for this wonderful invention!) So last night I found myself having a nightmare that another round of amazing friends were leaving. In addition to the rounds that have already left or are in the leaving process now. I know some of the leaving aren't going willingly, but it doesn't make the fact that they're going any easier. I know I shouldn't be the one complaining. I get to stay, but Houston isn't Houston without the wonderful people. So I find myself staying up way too late. Doing bizarre things like going to watch drag racing. All for cramming in the maximum amount of time with my friends who I will miss more than they know. I almost feel like I'm living in fear of the next train that is coming and taking my friends.

Now I won't be in Houston forever. Atleast that's not my plan. I do love it. I'm not sure what will call me away. Don't have plans of leaving, but don't know what or where or when I'll go on to something else. What about you? When are you leaving? What will call you away? OR if you aren't here yet, what are you waiting on? Come have fun with us!!

better late than never.

Well as promised here are the pictures from my amazing new camera! Since I'm not great at updating I'm going to give you the top ten (in no particular order...that would take me knowing what I'm doing). Enjoy!

Number 10...Spring Break in Houston. Really good weather. Got to enjoy an afternoon at my favorite park, Discovery Green, just chatting and browsing with a friend.
Number 9...Staff vs. Students Basketball game, I was so sad I didn't get to play because of my busy schedule, but it was awesome to watch briefly before having to leave for a meeting.

Number 8....Hanging with this cowboy and cowgirl at the Houston Rodeo. They are fun!

Number 7....Amazing wedding and reception at the Museum of Natural Science. I am lucky to spend my days with this lovely lady.

Number 6...The kids getting ice cream with their rodeo money. Hilarious end to a fun day!

Number 5...Don't be surprised this is the 3rd rodeo picture. I went to the rodeo a lot this past month. This wasn't just an average rodeo though, it was the Matagorda County Rodeo and Fair. Action packed and up close and personal with the cowboys. Hee-Haw!

Number 4...My parents, sister, and niece came for a visit! I want them to come more often, it was so much fun. We went to another one of my favorite parks in the city, that I have a fear of sharing with other people or it's quaintness will be ruined. I'm sorry. I'm selfish with this one.

Number 3...Getting to spend time with this adorable child. I know it was also number 4, but she's cute with all of the jewelery she found at our house on while she was staying with us. She shares my love of purple and for that I'm extremely thankful!

Number 2...The amazing, wonderful, talented Harbor Light Choir came to my birthday dinner with friends. It was fun! I LOVE THEM! Just in case you weren't sure, they are my favorite.

number 1...closing ceremonies of the day in my classroom. Brilliant!