Inside the World of Matt & Elizabeth

May & June Happenings

2011-07-10T15:04:00.009-05:00

Back in May, Matt and I enjoyed our 6 year anniversary. We spent it by going to Destin for a few days and then Pensacola for the rest of it to spend time with my family and old friends. We had such a great time while we were in Destin. It was so good to just take a break from everyday life. Most of our days were spent lounging at the beach and at the pool. While we were there, we visited Baytowne Wharf to go to Another Broken Egg Cafe. If you're ever in Destin, the is a must-go location. There's also one in Dallas...I'll have to keep that in mind if we ever make a trip up there.

Please excuse the poor quality of some of these pictures...they were taken with my iPhone.

6 Years! Woohoo!

Hilton Sandestin Resort

Another Broken Egg Cafe

The Village of Baytowne Wharf

Fast forward to June when we celebrated Matt's birthday. We had so much dessert! We started out by going to lunch with Matt's department at work. We came back to his office and had a Reese's ice cream cake from Ritter's. So good! That night, I had a bit of a surprise for Matt. His dad and step-mom flew in to surprise him. Man was he shocked! He had no idea! We went to Fogo de Chao for dinner and had so much food! And, of course, more dessert. We had their specialty dessert - Papaya Cream.

Matt had no clue who was at the door when the doorbell rang

Surprise!

He had no clue!

Fogo de Chao's Papaya Cream

Matt's dad got him the sweetest birthday gift. He made him a photo book from Matt's childhood. There were pictures in there ranging from when Matt was a baby to just a few years ago. I'm not much of a "scrapbooker" so it's a great gift to receive!

David (Matt's dad), Linda (Matt's step-mom), Matt and Karen (Matt's mom)

So cute (then & now)!

I ordered Matt's gift from me and my family from Target.com. The gift was fairly large so I opted to pay a few extra bucks to have them gift wrap it. When I received it, this was how they wrapped it! Now I have a great red sack for Christmas gifts!

The next day we went to the Aquarium, came home, and had MORE dessert! Matt told me he wanted something with cream cheese frosting so I made him an Italian Cream Cake. It was delicious!

Happy Birthday, Matt! I hope you enjoyed your birthday weekend!

Hummus Anyone?

2011-03-13T12:11:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I made some hummus to test out my food processor...again. Have you ever googled hummus recipes? There's a ton out there but I finally found a basic hummus recipe that I worked with.

Ingredients for success:

Rinse and strain the chick-peas before adding to the food processor.

Chop up the parsley and garlic clove and add to chick-peas.

Add freshly squeezed lemon juice to the chick-peas, parsley and garlic.

Add the tahini and some water. Tahini is a sesame paste which was located in the international food aisle at my grocery store, however, it is sometimes found in the refrigerated section. Puree the ingredients until smooth. When making this hummus, I would combine it first and taste it before you add the salt. You don't want it to be too salty.

Matt is my official taste tester. He also considers himself a hummus aficionado. Last year, he went on a trip to Israel and had hummus every day - which he loved! He said this recipe came pretty close to what was served to him then. Serve with fresh veggies, pita bread or in our case, some delicious pita chips.

Hummus
Adapted from Gourmet on Epi

Ingredients:

2 (15 1/2-ounce) cans chick peas
1/3 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup tahini, stirred
1/3 to 1/2 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoon salt, optional

Directions:

Rinse and strain the chick-peas and add to a food processor. Coarsely chop the parsley and garlic and add to chick-peas. Add lemon juice, tahini and enough water to make mixture smooth. Add salt if necessary.

Cookies & Cream Truffles

2011-02-20T20:31:00.001-06:00

As of lately, I have been quite interested in reading food blogs. Yes, blogs about food. I am actually quite amazed about how many are out there. I have a few favorites, some of which are listed on the side of this blog. I wish I could come up with recipes on my own, but for now, I will simply follow along.

I enjoy cooking and baking different meals but making desserts is my favorite. There's just something about putting ingredients together that end up being the perfect end to a perfect day.

I have been eyeing a certain recipe for a couple of weeks now. Cookies & Cream Truffles. Need I say more? Ingredients: Oreos (yes, a whole bag of oreos), cream cheese and chocolate. That's it. I wasn't planning on blogging about these so I didn't take any pictures, but after I realized how easy and delicious they were, I had to share. Here is the end result:

These remind me of hanging out at the Coleys while dunking Oreos in milk. The good ole' days.

The next time I make these truffles - yes, there will definitely be a next time - I will use white chocolate to drizzle on top. You could even add food coloring to the white chocolate for a burst of color. Matt is already looking forward to the next batch and we haven't even finished this one yet!

Credit: I got this recipe here. Jamie Lothridge posted the recipe and is the author/creator of MyBakingAddiction.com. I have made a few of her recipes and have loved every one of them.

Last week I made some hummus which turned out fabulously! I have lots of pictures of the process to share so I will post them very soon!

Where's the Snow?

2011-02-05T12:51:00.003-06:00

This past week has been an exciting one for Houston. Earlier in the week, we were told that there was a chance of snow for Friday (yesterday). As we got closer to the end of the week, that chance got higher and higher. I even heard at one point that we would get up to 6 inches of snow. Any snow for Houston is pretty amazing, but 6 inches is just crazy!

By Thursday, the forecasters were telling us that the icy conditions could come by the afternoon, so the school (where I work) closed early and we went home. That evening, I anxiously looked out the window every half hour or so to see if there was any snow. Forecasters were now saying the snow was to start around midnight. So I went to sleep. I woke up pretty early and looked out the window. And what did I see? Nothing...not one bit of snow. There was ice all over Houston, causing over 800 car accidents since Thursday night, but no snow...at least where I live. There were reports of snow flurries, but I didn't see any. It was a little too warm, apparently.

The positive part of all of this is we were able to take Friday off...for a "snow" day. Matt and I rented a few movies and stayed home all day, which doesn't happen very often. If I had the right ingredients, I'd probably be baking something like Jamie's snickers cupcakes or Jessica's snickerdoodles. It's probably a good idea I don't have those items. I'll stick to eating healthy stuff like salad and apples :)

I do, however, have ingredients to make homemade hummus. I am thrilled about it. You see, I just got a food processor for Christmas and have been wanting to make hummus ever since. So, with all of this time on my hands, I think I will finally make some!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-27T16:31:00.000-06:00

I know I'm a couple days late, but I figured the holiday season isn't completely over yet so from our home to yours...

Here are some fun pictures from the last few weeks.

Our new Christmas tree!

Candy cane cookies:

Matt with his new salt and pepper shakers. In case you didn't know, he has a thing for birds.

Candy. Lots and lots of candy.

Yep, Matt got a watch. Another one.

Food processor? Check.

Update

2010-11-20T18:55:00.000-06:00

Back in September Matt and I took a trip to North Carolina to see my best friend, Tara, and her husband, Morgan. While we were there, we carved pumpkins (Matt's first time!), played lots of cards, and took a trip to Wilmington. We had a blast and I can't wait to live closer to them! Here are some pictures of our trip.

As you can tell, Wilmington was gorgeous! I could definitely see myself living in a place like that one day :)

Toward the end of October, Matt's brother, Chris, came and visited us in Houston for the first time since we've moved here. We figured since Thanksgiving was so close we would have an early Thanksgiving dinner and yes, before Halloween. Trust me, I'm not the type of person that celebrates holidays way too early. I made an exception this time because I LOVE Thanksgiving dinner and thought it would be nice to have a traditional family Thanksgiving meal together (it was, me, Matt, Chris and Matt's mom).

Last year was my first time baking a turkey, which you can read about here. This time around I, again, brined the turkey before baking it and it turned out amazing! I'm thankful for the access I have to the massive amount of information on the world wide web.

Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have of the turkey, but it looked pretty much like last year's:

I'm really excited about the upcoming holidays. I'm very thankful that I will get to spend time with my wonderful family (my parents, two sisters, brother-in-law, 6 nephews and 2 nieces!) and old friends during the next couple of months.

Laura Came to Visit!

2010-08-01T12:25:00.000-05:00

Last weekend our good friend, Laura Davis, came to visit. Laura is on Summer break and was taking a road trip with Houston being one of her stops! It was so much fun spending time with her and catching up. We went to the movies and saw Inception, which I highly recommend, and ate out a ton because what else is there to do in Houston (ha! just kidding).

One night we went to an AMAZING custard place called Ritters. If you live in Houston and haven't been there, you must! It's on Fry Road so it may be a bit of a drive, but it's SO worth it!

On Laura's last day in Houston, we went to NASA. Matt and I have never been there before so we were excited to finally visit. It was really neat getting to see all of the history.

Matt and Laura were really excited! Ha!

They had one of the Saturn V rockets on display. It's HUGE! Pictures don't even do it justice. The Saturn V rockets sent all of the Apollo missions to space.

We also got to see Mission Control. It's a lot smaller than I imagined.

We really enjoyed our day at Johnson Space Center. Afterwards, we stopped at Crave on our way home for some AMAZING cupcakes. Later we played Phase 10 and Laura dominated! I've never played such a short game of Phase 10 before. I don't think I've ever played such horrible hands of Phase 10 before either. Ha!

Matt and I had lots of fun spending time with Laura while she was in town and we hope to get to do it again soon!

5 Year Anniversary

2010-08-01T11:57:00.004-05:00

Back in May, Matt and I celebrated our five year anniverary! I can't believe it's been five years already. It feels like just yesterday we were doing this...

On the weekend of our actual anniversary, Matt and I took a short trip to San Antonio and spent the day at Sea World. It was so much fun seeing everything that was there! As a complete surprise to us, Jars of Clay (one of Matt's all-time favorite bands) played the night we were there. So fun!

A few weeks later, Matt and I went on a 7 day cruise to Jamaica, Grand Caymen and Cozumel!

One of Carnival's signature towel animals:

I don't think I was hungry for even one moment on the cruise. So. much. food. One night we ate dinner at the steakhouse. Here's a picture of our fancy desserts:

In the picture below, you can barely see a red mark on Matt's left cheek (near his sideburn). It was caused by an unfortunate accident that occurred on the ship involving a lawn chair, very strong winds, and Matt's face. He was okay, but if you know Matt and his queasiness with blood, you can only imagine the situation. That was accident #1.

After being at sea for two days, we finally arrived to Jamaica! We chose the Dunn's River Falls excursion. Doesn't climbing a beautiful waterfall sound amazing? We thought so too. And so did the hundreds of other people who were climbing the waterfall with us. Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful. But it was also very chaotic. There was a group of 10 of us and we all held hands pulling each other up the waterfall. And I mean you're IN the waterfall. Water is literally pouring all over you while you're climbing. If you don't put your weight on your foot, the water pressure would literally push your foot off the rock. You also couldn't always see where you were stepping. I was right behind the guide so I would simply step where he had. I guess Matt didn't get that memo. At one point he stepped a little farther over than I did, but there was nothing to step on so down he went. What's funny is that when he fell, he took me and the 10 year old whose hand he was holding down with him. That was accident #2. Again, he's fine, just with a few more scars.

While on the Falls, it started pouring rain, which didn't really matter because we were already drenched. However, that's when the lightning started. At one point lightning struck a tree causing it to fall about 30 feet from where we were standing. Crazy. I think this is the point where I starting freaking out. Literally hyperventilating. I'm not one to freak out like that but Matt did a great job with calming me down. I still get a nervous feeling just thinking about it. We later found out that they closed the Falls right after we went up due to the weather.

After our full day of adventure, we returned to the ship ready for some serious relaxation. Jamaica had a beautiful sunset.

The next day we arrived in Grand Caymen. It was gorgeous! I seriously think I could live on an island. Unfortunately, the only good picture I have is below because the rest were taken on our underwater camera and none of the pictures turned out. Bummer. We had a much more relaxing day there. We spent the day snorkeling at a reef and a ship wreck.

Our last shore day was at Cozumel, Mexico. Matt's and my favorite excursion was spent in Cozumel. We got to swim with dolphins! It was seriously one of the most fun things I've ever done.

This is the resort that had the dolphin swim. Gorgeous.

This is the hug. Notice how the dolphin looks like she is smiling. They are such sweet creatures!

This is the dolphin swim. AMAZING! The girls had a little bit harder of time with this because our bikini bottoms started to fall off because of the force of water!

This is the handshake.

Matt is getting a sweet kiss.

Isn't this next one amazing?! They did this right in front of us!

Overall, Matt and I really enjoyed the cruise, although next time we probably wouldn't take one with so many sea days. You start to run out of things to do on the ship...especially if your bottom is so sunburned you can't be in the sun ;)

Catching Up

2010-03-16T15:28:00.002-05:00

Last night I watched an episode of House which had Laura Prepon as a guest star. You may know her as Donna from "That 70's Show." Her character was an avid blogger who put pretty much all of her thoughts and health problems on the internet to get her readers' opinions. I'm definitely not going to put my every thought on here, but it did motivate me to blog since I haven't in such a long time.

Matt has been leading worship a lot at HFBC, which he loves, but man do I feel bad for him when that alarm goes off at 5am each Sunday morning for sound check. He has also had a lot of freelance projects recently so when he's not working at the church, he's working at home. I've been going to the Beth Moore Bible study on Tuesday nights. We're doing a study of David, which has been fantastic! If you haven't done this study before, I highly recommend it. So far, the Lord has taught me through David to bring every decision to God, no matter how big or small the situation is. David was great at that. If only I were so disciplined.

In February, Matt and I hosted our first game night for our Sunday Bible Study (Sunday School). It was a blast! We had about 12 couples come to our home and had three different groups playing games at once. It was so fun getting to connect to other couples our age. It was a great idea and I can't wait until the next one!

My parents are going to be visiting in a couple of weeks and I can't wait to see them! Then Easter will be here. Man, time is flying! Be on the lookout for a blog post from Matt. He will catch you up on what 2010 has been like for him!

Happy 2010

2010-01-04T17:47:00.004-06:00

Matt and I spent Christmas and New Years in Pensacola and boy was it fantastic! We had so much fun spending time with family and all of our old friends. Besides spending oodles of time with my parents (which was AWESOME), we got to spend some good times with some of our favorite people. We had dinner with Brandon and Krista at the Mellow Mushroom the night after Christmas. Normally our tradition with them is to go to the Tuscan Oven for the best pizza and mozzarella sticks, but they were closed (bummer), but the Mellow Mushroom was really good. After dinner, we went to their house to play Hilarium. If you haven't played this game yet, you must. It was so much fun. And as the name suggests, it was hilarious! We also spent some time with one of our favorite families, the Coleys. They were getting ready to move to Prattville so we just had some good quality hanging out time with them. We're excited for this new chapter in their lives. I will miss seeing them when we visit Pensacola.

For some reason we lost all of our pictures from Christmas day so unfortunately I won't be able to show you any of those, but I do have some of our camping trip on New Years Eve. Matt and I went camping with my parents at Blackwater River State Park. Anyone who knows me well knows this girl strongly dislikes camping, however, this trip was lots of fun AND relaxing! Fortunately for us we were in a camper - the ONLY way I will camp in 30 degree weather. My dad and Matt spent most of their time outside while I stayed warm in the camper with my mom while reading, napping, etc. Matt spent hours tending to the fire. He probably spent more than eight hours trying to get the fire going because the wood we were using was wet, so it was a bit of a challenge for him. But he was victorious:

As you can see by the picture above, Matt was proud of his finished product. He had to tweat it :) Of course both nights we had s'mores. Lots of them. We finished a whole bag of marshmallows and I don't regret it one bit. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for taking us with you! We had a blast!

When we got back from camping, we went to my nephew's birthday party. Nikolaus turned two! He's such a cutie:

Matt and I returned to Houston last night after spending 10 days in Pensacola. I don't know why, but this time coming back was one of the hardest for me. Maybe it's because we were there for so long. Who knows? Tonight we are going to take down all of our Christmas decorations and have homemade pizza...yum!

I think 2010 has a lot in store. I'm looking forward to the year ahead. Happy New Year!

Merry Belated Christmas

2010-01-04T17:10:00.001-06:00

I apologize for this being so late, but during the days before Christmas, we had absolutely no time to update the blog. So here are some belated Christmas pictures of our house. Enjoy!

Following God's Will

2009-12-06T21:55:00.053-06:00

HELLO THERE
You've heard many great stories about our lives here in Houston, but I'm not sure if you know exactly why we're here. There's no better time than now for me to re-introduce - wait a second...yes, that's it - e-introduce myself officially on blogspot.

I am blogging on our site for the first time, which means only one thing: this is Matt, the other Arnold (a.k.a., Luke Wilson look-alike, which I have heard twice today...funny...must be the new at&t commercials). I feel intense bravery as I post because of the massive pressure associated with blogging: to say something really interesting and grip your heart, mind and soul while drawing you away from whatever activity normally has your attention. So, with that in mind, welcome and thanks for taking the time to stop by.

WELCOME TO HOUSTON
The fourth largest city in the U.S. has become our new home thanks to Houston's First Baptist Church and its search for a new Creative Services Director. What is that? Seriously, I get asked the same question quite frequently. I lead a team of graphic/web designers and illustrators while simplifying complexity and supporting the church's vision of being relevant in a culture where quality is key, technology is a necessity and Starbucks has replaced the conference room.

There's one problem. I had one goal when I knew it was time to move: find a worship pastor position somewhere on planet earth. That's it. It was pretty simple. I was burnt out on graphic design. After all, I had invested an average of 60-70 hours a week as a Creative Director before, and I was done. So why am I leading a design team? That's the million dollar question. I'm glad you asked. That question can only be answered by saying, "It is God's will right now for my life." Will I ever be a full-time worship pastor/leader? If that's what God has for me, then yes. If not, then I'll continue to follow Him wherever that may be.

I used to be afraid of the tallest slide at the water park. You know, the one that has a vertical slope shooting straight down toward the ground and sends you four inches off the slide to eventually cause you to fall over the side to your death? The one that gives you the worst super wedgie ever? Yes, that's the one. So one year, I went to a large water park with a group of friends who wanted to go on that tall slide together. Great. What was I going to say? No? Yeah right, and ruin one of my biggest chances to be cool and fit in with all the other guys? Minutes later, I found myself at the top of what seemed like a 30-story tower looking down and contemplating how I was going to maneuver my body into a position that would leave me with minimal damage and broken bones. I remember the kid in front of me disappearing right before my eyes. I looked behind me and there was no way I was getting out of it. The line had already built up so much that I couldn't turn around and walk down. Plus, what 15-year old wants to walk past everyone in humiliation with a defeated look on his face?

"You ready?" asked the attendant startling me as I was concentrating on my survival plan.
"Yep!" I said confidently, yet about to wet my pants (good thing I was already wet).

I remember the moment I crossed my arms and stuck my legs out to slide down the never ending water torture device. My body tilted slowly until I was practically standing without a floor to support me. I felt like I was in a complete cordless free fall from a bungee tower. All you could do was pray there was water beneath you. So I closed my eyes, pushed off the platform and all I remember was screaming for what seemed like an hour until my board shorts felt like they had just been ripped off my body. I came to a stop and, eyes still closed, hoped that I wasn't completely naked in the middle of a water park in front of all my friends. Was I? Was I? I DON'T KNOW! I can't wipe the water out of my eyes to see anything. Oh my goodness, hurry up! Hurry up! OK, am I good??? Phew. I was covered...and I was alive!

There's some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's Mastercard. Just had a strange thought about that being a commercial. Back to the story...

The point is that after I went down the slide of death the first time, I did it eight more times! I know because I counted. I'll never forget how fun and fulfilling that moment of my life was. If I hadn't overcome my fear and experienced what it was like, I would have continued to live in fear and never known how amazing that slide was. God is trying to show us how amazing life can be if we only take the step of faith required to experience it.

JOB SEARCH
After a two-month search for the perfect job and a number of promising interviews, I hadn't felt the peace necessary to make a wise decision. I had just left my job of one year at a church that I had been a member of for seven years. I had led worship for the college ministry since 2001 and had helped build it with sweat and tears alongside some of my favorite people in the world. I wasn't ready to leave, but I knew that it was time to go.

I spent endless hours gazing into the pixels of a computer screen while I constructed clever ways to say how amazing I could do whatever these churches said they were looking for. I mean, we all do that right? Dress to impress, only through words in the form of a resume, cover letter, or "here's why you should hire me" pitch. Needless to say, I was growing weary after repeating this process every day for two months. It's only a matter of time until you start to get sick of talking about yourself. And computers sure are wonderful, but they just don't fulfill the human need for interaction. I had to take a break. So that's exactly what I did.

SEEKING GOD
We lived close to the water in the great small town of Pensacola, Florida, a place we still call home. A place of friends, family, white sand beaches, fresh seafood, cool breeze from the ocean, slow paced living and, of course, the best family-owned Italian restaurant there is: Tuscan Oven. The nearest body of water was a only a 20-minute drive, which takes us to the break. I finally rested my eyes after two months of searching by driving to an area in historic downtown Pensacola where a hurricane destroyed Bayfront Auditorium, a once popular venue for bands and other social events. Months after the devastation of Hurricane Ivan in 2004, the building was demolished and the area restored to a serene waterfront dock. You could enjoy the affects of the sunset as its rays skipped across ripples of mirror-like waves shifting endlessly in all directions. You could see flocks of seagulls excited when a child threw bread into the air. You could hear the sound of fishing lines reeled in by the fisherman who had waited all day for the perfect catch. I can feel the breeze now. This was the place where my worries seemed small. My cares stepped back. God's refuge was near. God was near.

You must have a place you can go where you can set aside distractions and listen for God's voice. It may be in your house, at a park, in a gym, wherever you feel like you can meditate on His Word.

NOISE
But why was it here that God seemed to speak so clearly? I had searched for the answer so diligently before, or at least I thought. After many hours of soul searching and praying, it had to be only one thing: the lack of noise. Don't get me wrong, I love sound. Music is a huge part of my life and not being able to hear would be unbearable for me, but I refer to noise as the complicated way of living that so many of us are entangled in. We have an unnecessary urge to check work email at home; have a detailed agenda on a vacation; think more about the future than the present; invest more time in habits than commitments; spend hours of valuable time trying to keep up with social media that has disconnected us from real relationships. Somehow, this dock on the water was able to free me from all distraction in my life. I could stare into the sky and know God was ready for me to jump into His arms and not worry about anything. Why worry about tomorrow? Today had enough troubles of its own. I kept reading Matthew 6:34 over and over again. Why was I worried? Wasn't God big enough to handle the entire universe, let alone, my tiny issues?

Noise. Life is loud and our ears are begging for a break. If only we could silence the noise and listen, would we hear His voice? Would we want to hear His voice? Would we really want to know His will for our lives? Do we really want to know where we are supposed to be? Or does the mere thought of that scare us to death?

CONVENIENCE
After hours of intense prayer and countless nights laying on a wooden dock in the middle of God's creation, I had finally realized what was missing: God's Word. His directions. The guide book to life. I was filling my life with stuff - things that seemed so important and difficult to live without. Life otherwise had to be empty and meaningless. At least, that's what I had convinced myself to believe. I had created a world of distraction around me. Yes, that's it. If only I could stay busy, I wouldn't have to think about life and the real issues that surrounded me. Issues that kept me in a constant unsettled mindset only to be dealt with later when it was convenient. That's an interesting word. It is one that should grant peace. If you do something when it's convenient, you have the luxury to set your own time frame. That wasn't the case here. That word "convenience" only pressed harder and harder until it had enough power to keep me dwelling on how difficult it was to re-prioritize my life. It would never be convenient. I would always have a plan or a goal or an event or activity to pull me away from having the time to sit down and listen to what God might say if he had a chance to speak. I believed there was no time to stop the important tasks that "had to get done" in order to stay ahead in life. I was being held prisoner by my own thoughts. Something had to change. It couldn't be small. Life-sized change was the only kind that would work.

QUESTIONS
The question was difficult to ask, but the answer was clear. Is it time to move? Other questions arose throughout much prayer. Is there somewhere else God desired to work through us? Is it going to require more faith than ever? Are we going to know all the details? Are we going to sell the house? Is Elizabeth going to find a job quickly?

We still haven't sold the house and it took Elizabeth two months to find a job. How did we make it? The only answer we have is God's faithfulness.

It was time to move our comfortable lives into the unknown where we would have to hand over the controls and have faith enough to believe God could handle moving us to Houston. After all, he had moved mountains before and we don't weigh that much! Was it easy? Well, we didn't have our own home for the first nine months and our furniture was in storage back home (along with our dogs - don't worry, they weren't in storage). My job required me to hit the ground running the day I started and hasn't slowed down since. Elizabeth didn't have a job for the first two months. We had left our entire support system behind: our family and friends. We were having doubts about the fact that God really wanted us in Houston. We were unsure of why God would pull us out of everything we knew into a foreign city with 5 million people we didn't know and traffic we had never experienced before. It was definitely one of the toughest situations we have ever had to face.

THE HERE & NOW
Fast forward to almost a year-and-a-half later and here we are in Houston, Texas, living in an amazing home of our own working at jobs we love and living life with family and friends who have helped support us along every step of the way.

God has done an amazing work in the Creative Services department. We are now being utilized by every ministry in the church and have a team that is not only the largest design team within a church in Houston, but is also recognized as one of the most talented group of designers in the city by ad agencies, churches and other organizations. I mentioned searching for a worship pastor position earlier and want to say, no, I didn't become a full-time worship pastor. He opened a door to something greater: the environment and freedom to do both worship and design. The beauty of God's plans is they are always perfect for us. Not only am I privileged to lead a team of skilled designers, I am honored to lead worship with some of the most passionate people in our Worship Ministry and Student Ministry every week.

God is doing amazing things in our church. We entered a capital campaign two years ago to raise $20 million in 3 years for various renovations, projects and missions efforts. We received $24.4 million in pledges and have already paid off the $12 million Worship Center renovation, which has only been complete for a year. By the end of the campaign, we will be debt free. What an incredible work God can do through people who are faithful and seek His will.

Elizabeth loves her job at First Baptist Academy Primary School, a ministry of our church. So yes, we work at the same place and get to take the HOV (carpool lane) to work every day! She gets to work around kids and enjoys giving tours of the school. Plus, we get to work within walking distance of each other, which is nice when you have the opportunity to eat lunch together or just stop by to say hey!

We have grown the most over the past year of our relationship. We have been stretched tremendously. God has revealed Himself in more ways than imaginable and is doing incredible things within the life of our church and city.

So, is it possible to leave everything behind and follow God's will? Well, of course, we say yes, but do we really believe it? Or is it something we think can happen to other people, but not to us.

God wants us to live in the pages of His story. He desires to fulfill us with His perfect purpose. Take risks. Be intentional. Free your mind from imprisoning thoughts. Live life with the expectation that God is going to move. And when He does, be ready to follow at any cost.

It took many hours of prayer and humility to understand God's purpose for our lives. Do we understand it all? No. Do we know what's next? Not necessarily. That's all right. Knowing too much of the future only keeps you living in it. How can we be faithful if we know what's going to happen next? It's time to live in the now and make ourselves available and ready for whatever God wants to do with our lives. We are here to know God and make Him known.

This is what I've wanted to tell all of you for the longest time. I just never had the "time" to say it. Lesson learned.

Let's risk life together.

Here we go...

Thanksgiving Success

2009-11-29T17:07:00.008-06:00

In my last post I went on and on about how I had to prepare my first Thanksgiving feast, about how nervous I was and about how I was doing tons of research on the matter. Now, three days later, I can officially say that my Thanksgiving meal was a success. Research definitely helped me out on this one. I can't tell you how many minutes, no, hours I spent researching the perfect turkey recipe, the perfect pie recipe, etc.

I also blogged about brining. Brining was relatively easy, cheap and definitely worth it - our turkey was the juiciest turkey we've ever tasted, thanks to the brining. Matt, who is not a huge fan of turkey, is now a firm believer in brining. Here is a picture of the end result:

I don't have a lot of pictures to show of the rest of the meal because, unfortunately, a lot of the pictures we took turned out blurry because the camera was on "landscape" mode. Bummer. I can tell you that the rest of the food was delicious and nothing was a disaster (phew!). Even the homemade dinner rolls turned out yummy (they can be seen next to the turkey in the picture above).

I would also like to give props to my hubby, Matt, for doing a great job carving the turkey. He's helped my dad in years past with the carving, but he's never done it completely on his own. So, thanks to the Food Network's Alton Brown and online videos, Matt carved the turkey beautifully. Sorry about the quality of the photo below, it was taken on my iPhone but it's the best one I have...

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and I'm sad to see it pass, but I can't wait to spend the Christmas season with my family...I get to see them so soon and can't wait!

Who Wants Turkey?

2009-11-20T16:24:00.006-06:00

Every year since I was born, Thanksgiving has been spent at my parents' house. Since my family has become so large over the past few years, we've needed enough food to feed an army - okay, maybe not an army, but enough to feed seven adults and eight kids. We always have a ton of delicious food, which usually includes two turkeys, stuffing, cranberry salad, sweet potato casserole, numerous kinds of pies and more.

This year Matt and I are staying in Houston for Thanksgiving, which means I am making the Thanksgiving meal...and that I am baking a turkey for the first time. I'm very intimidated about cooking a turkey. The only thing I've ever done with a turkey is help my parents by injecting it and basting it. When I think about myself baking the turkey, I always picture the Griswolds' turkey from Christmas Vacation and worry that mine is going to end up something like it...maybe not that bad, but super dry nonetheless.

To try and remedy some of my fears, I have been doing a ton of research online on how to make the best turkey. Let me say this: there is a ton of information out there on how to cook an amazing turkey. They can be baked, grilled, barbecued or deep fried (which is my personal favorite, but there is no way I'm going to try and fry a turkey in gallons of scalding oil). I've heard that grilled turkey is delicious, but I feel that because this is my first turkey experience I should stick to the traditional method: baking.

Another technique that I have learned about is brining. Apparently, brining will create one of the most delicious and juicy turkeys that you have ever tasted if it is done correctly. The basic way to brine is to submerge the raw turkey in a bucket or very large pot of cold water with dissolved sugar and salt and refrigerate from eight to 24 hours. There are "brining mixes" at the grocery store if you would like a seasoned brine and you can also find brining recipes on a number of websites. I had never heard of brining until last week and I am seriously considering trying this step. If you're thinking about brining a turkey for the first time, a key thing to remember is to purchase a turkey that has not already been pre-brined or "enhanced."

Besides the turkey, my Thanksgiving menu so far includes salad, rolls, stuffing/dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole and pie. Don't let my fear fool you. I am actually pretty excited about making the Thanksgiving feast this year. Something that eases my anxiety is knowing that my parents are a phone call away if I have any questions. Any prayers are welcome and appreciated!

4 Years

2009-05-18T14:24:00.013-05:00

May 14 was our 4 year anniversary. 4 years!! I honestly can't believe how fast it has flown by. It's fun to look back to see how far we've come since we were first married.

At the beginning of our marriage, we lived in Pensacola, Florida. Matt worked at Kay Jewelers and was finishing up his senior year at UWF while I was working in the Jewelry/Accessories department at Target. We had purchased our first house together a month prior to the wedding and were in the process of making it our home.

4 years later, we live in Houston, Texas. Matt is the Creative Services Director at HFBC and I'm working in the admissions department at First Baptist Academy Primary School. We have been here for about 10 months now and are about to close on our second house (we still own our house in Pensacola, but it is being rented).

It has been a really busy last couple of months, for Matt especially, so we decided to take a weekend trip to Austin. It was raining and storming most of the day on Saturday, so most of our "outdoorsy" plans had to be pushed to Sunday. We started the day with breakfast and by going to lots of little shops - Antique, Art, Furniture - all very eclectic and fun. Below is one of the streets we were on while shopping during the rainstorm. We found my street! If you look closely, you can see the capital at the very end of the street. Matt likes to compare the street to the Champs Elysees in Paris (ask him to pronounce it for you with the French accent...hilarious).

After shopping, we went to a really cute coffee shop on Lake Austin, called Cafe Mozart. It was right on the lake so we were able to sit on the covered deck and enjoy some coffee and cookies. The picture at the top of the blog is on the deck of the cafe. After the coffee shop, we drove around the Austin hills and looked at some of the HUGE mansions. The city was gorgeous! Here is the view from one of the hills:

That evening we went to dinner at Tree House Italian Grill. We sat outside on their patio and listed to a live jazz band while we ate. It was such a wonderful restaurant with great ambiance.

After dinner, Matt and I went to the Driskill 1886 Cafe for dessert. The cafe is located in a really old hotel that is rumored to be haunted. Even though we didn't see any ghosts, we did have a really yummy banana split!

After breakfast Sunday morning, we went to look at some caves in Georgetown which is just north of Austin. Matt had never been on a cave tour before so we jumped at the chance. The tour was about a mile long and really fun to see.

Matt was really excited, haha!

After the cave tour, Matt and I went on a boat tour of Lake Lady Bird. The weather was perfect and the boat ride was so relaxing. I love boats and the water so I was in heaven.

After the boat ride and a walk in the nearby park, Matt and I headed back to Houston. Even though we were only in Austin for 2 days, we really felt we experienced a lot of what the city has to offer. With it being the live music capital of the world, I'm sure we will visit often.

Procrastination

2009-03-16T11:41:00.004-05:00

I know, I know. It's been far too long since I last updated my blog. The truth is, I'm a major procrastinator. I thought I was done with procrastination when I graduated from college and was finished with doing homework, but man did I fool myself. Whether it's procrastinating getting ready for work, doing laundry, or balancing the checkbook, I tend to wait until the very last minute to do things. Why do I do that? I'm trying hard to work on my procrastination problem. We'll see if it improves. Posting a blog has been in the back of my mind for a while but I just kept putting it off. Now that I actually want to post a blog, we don't have an internet connection at the condo so this blog post, unfortunately, will be pictureless since I'm posting from my work computer.

We actually did a bunch of fun things in February. First, we were invited to go to a Houston Rockets game by our sweet friends, the Murrays. A bunch of us from church went to the game and had our very own suite stocked with yummy food and drinks.

Toward the end of February, Matt and I went on a weekend road trip with our good friends, Michael and Laura Simpson. We started off by driving to Austin where we toured the State Capital, the University of Texas, and later had some delicious Mexican food for dinner. That night we went to San Antonio and stayed with the Simpson's good friends, Karen and Byron. Saturday we went to lunch at Rudy's "Worst BBQ in TX." This slogan is seriously posted on the sign but I must say, despite the description, it was really good BBQ! We spent the rest of our day visiting the Alamo and the Riverwalk, which was GORGEOUS! I've heard many people talk about how pretty the Riverwalk is, but I just never understood how beautiful it was until I saw it. We had such a great time walking around the river and enjoying the view. We ate dinner (more Mexican, of course) and capped off the evening with dessert at The Landing, a really fun jazz club where we saw the Jim Cullum Jazz Band perform. These guys have been performing at the Landing since the 1960's. They were spectacular.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the Houston Rodeo. That night I got off work late so we didn't get to see the Livestock Show, but we saw part of the rodeo and Rascal Flatts perform. As you can imagine, Matt was ecstatic because he really likes the Rascal Flatts. We're going back tomorrow with our good friends, the Kisers and the Odoms, to see the Livestock Show.

That's what we've been up to lately. A few weeks ago, Matt joined an indoor soccer team so he's been training for that. He scored a goal during his first game! He joined toward the end of the season, so he's considering joining the summer league as well. I'll try to post pictures later.

Matt and I are going to Pensacola for a long Easter weekend and we couldn't be more excited! We haven't been back since Christmas so the trip is long overdue. Just a few more weeks!!

Pensacola Christmas Vacation

2009-01-02T19:34:00.002-06:00

The recent Christmas holiday was fantastic! Matt and I made it to Pensacola around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. It was nice getting there before midnight for a change! Matt stayed a week longer than me to spend time with his mom, so unfortunately, we had to drive separately.

We had dinner with my parents that night and later visited Tara, my best friend, for our gift exchange. Tara recently moved back to the states from England where she and her husband lived for three years. It was so awesome seeing her again, even if it was only for a couple of hours.

We spent Christmas Eve preparing for the following day and visiting Matt's family. Since we've been married, our tradition has been to spend Christmas Eve with his family and Christmas Day with my family. It works out great because they live in the same city, not to mention they live within a mile of one another.

It has been really hard being so far away from family, but it makes our reunions with them so much more special. It was fun seeing everyone open up their gifts, especially the kids. They get so excited!

Matt and I went to the movies on Christmas Day and saw "Marley & Me" with my parents and Matt's mom and brother. First, I would definitely recommend the book - it was a great read. Second, the movie was also a good adaptation of the book. One minute you're laughing hysterically and the other you're balling your eyes out. It doesn't help that I'm a dog lover, but it definitely doesn't help that one of my dogs shares the name, Marley. If you see the movie or read the book, be sure to have some tissues ready!

For the record, we named Marley before we ever heard of the book. ;)

My good friend, Laura, drove from Tallahassee on Saturday just to see us! We had brunch at an amazing local jewel in Pensacola called "The Coffee Cup." I've been wanting to go there for a long time. I saw (and tasted) why so many people love it! The food was delicious and our waitress was really nice. After we ate, we headed to the mall to battle the crowds (compared to Houston, it was NOTHING).

Later, Matt, Laura and I went to my nephew's first birthday party. Check out this awesome photo of Nikolaus chowing down on his first birthday cake! It was adorable.

After saying our sad goodbyes to Laura, Matt and I stopped by the Coleys' house. We were only there for a little while, but we always have a blast with Steve, Amanda and their precious daughter, Ava. Matt was excited that he was able to spend practically his last week with them just hanging out, playing with Ava and working on his Rock Band drum skills. We love hanging out with the Coleys!

Later that night, we joined the Coleys for an "After-Christmas" Party at Josh and Megan Moralita's house. It was great seeing all of our friends again, but unfortunately, I wasn't feeling well, so I had to leave a little early. It was hard leaving not knowing the next time I would see them again.

On Sunday, I headed back to Houston all by my lonesome. I sound pitiful, but it really wasn't that bad. I think I'm getting used to the eight-hour drive, which is hard to believe. It stinks being in Houston without my husband, but I know he's enjoying his extended vacation in Pensacola spending time with his family and friends. I only wish I could be there too!

After I returned to Houston, Matt stayed and spent time with some of our closest friends whom we miss so much. He was grateful to have an extra week to hang out with many of our closest friends for a New Year's "bashapalooza" (as Matt called it) at the Henrys' house. I hung out with some friends from our Sunday School class where we spent the evening building a bonfire and shooting off fireworks. Even though Matt and I weren't together, we still had a lot of fun on New Years Eve.

We miss all of you so much and can't wait to see you very soon! We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-22T09:52:00.007-06:00

Three more days until Christmas...that's just crazy. I can't believe Christmas is this week. I feel like it was just yesterday that Matt and I moved to Houston, but that was five months ago! We are driving to Pensacola tomorrow and I can't wait! We get to celebrate Christmas with all of our families, friends and dogs (Marley & Macy) - we are so excited to see them all again! We are very lucky that our families are very close to one another so we won't have to travel all day on Christmas day. We are really looking forward to spending time with all of the people that we love the most. My best friend Tara just moved back from England so I'm ecstatic about seeing her and her husband this week. I also get to see my really good friend, Laura, who lives in Tallahassee. I just love reuniting with people that I haven't seen in such a long time! We just finished our Christmas shopping yesterday - FINALLY! It was a madhouse out there...and I thought Pensacola holiday shopping was bad. We're going to see the Nutcracker at the Houston Ballet tonight and then a full day of traveling tomorrow.

We hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas!

~The Arnolds

White Christmas

2008-12-15T13:19:00.006-06:00

Anyone who knows Matt well knows that he loves cold weather. So when he started his job hunt last summer, he didn't start looking in the south. Anywhere with cold weather was good for him. However, he figured out that cold weather must not have been in God's plan when we moved to Texas. You can only imagine our shock when it started snowing last week. I know it wasn't a lot of snow, but it was still exciting for us because neither Matt nor I have seen snow for nearly 15 years. Here are some photos of our fun night:

We still have a lot of Christmas shopping to do so the next few days are probably going to be pretty busy. Also, Shane and Shane plus Bethany Dillon are playing at our church Saturday so we're stoked about seeing them. Next week we'll be driving to Pensacola for Christmas. We can't wait! We're so excited to see all of our family, friends and dogs again!

Update

2008-11-23T20:31:00.015-06:00

These past few weeks have definitely been interesting. First, I left my job at the oil company...it just wasn't the job for me. I had a hard time finding a job so I got really discouraged. Since I wasn't working, I took a trip back to Pensacola. It was so great and refreshing to be with family and friends for a few days. Don't get me wrong, we really like Houston, but Matt and I both were getting pretty home sick. Soon after returning to Houston, my parents came to visit. We had a lot of fun touring Houston and showing them our new life here. While they were here, we got a chance to visit the Museum of Natural Science, which was really interesting. We saw complete dinosaur fossils, rare gemstones and learned a lot about the oil industry here in Houston.

Soon after my parents left I got offered a job at First Baptist Academy, the school located within our church. I am working in the Admissions department in our primary school (infants through PreK). I've been there a week so far and I love it. I still have a lot to learn, but the people are really nice and I really enjoy the type of work I am doing. This job is such an answered prayer.

I'm so excited about Thanksgiving. It's definitely one of my favorite holidays. Matt and I are off Thursday and Friday so we'll be driving to Pensacola after work on Wednesday. It's an eight hour drive so it will be a late night for us. We're pumped about visiting P'cola for a long weekend!

Our house is still for sale back home. We've had people interested in it, but they haven't been able to get approved for a loan in these tough financial times. Please pray that our house will sell so we can settle down and bring our furniture and dogs over here! We miss our babies.

Below are some photos of our visit to the Museum of Natural Science and my birthday in October (Matt got me a delicious chocolate raspberry cake).

New Design

2008-11-02T13:25:00.003-06:00

As you may have noticed, my blog has a new look. I would like to give all of the credit to my hubby, Matt, who created the new banner for me. His designs just blow me away sometimes; he's just so talented! If you're ever interested in seeing some of his other designs, his website is listed on the right side of my blog. I'll be posting another update very soon.

Ike Photos

2008-09-30T16:50:00.011-05:00

Here are some pictures of the damage that Hurricane Ike caused around our area. While this area was definitely not hit as bad as Galveston, it definitely shows why our power was out for weeks!

A lot of the roads flooded like this. I was surprised that some cars would drive through it.

Another familiar site: downed powerlines from uprooted trees falling.

Houston's First Baptist Church (HFBC)

Here is a photo of the Oasis at HFBC. The Oasis is a court yard in the middle of the church that had uprooted trees from the storm.

After the Storm

2008-09-22T20:24:00.005-05:00

FEMA trucks, downed power lines, uprooted trees...Hurricane Ike is bringing back so many memories of Hurricane Ivan that hit Pensacola in 2004. Houstonians thought this storm would curve and miss them like most storms do - boy were they surprised. We were actually very lucky that the storm hit as at Category 2 instead of the 4 that the meteorologists were predicting. The night the hurricane hit Matt and I stayed at the church. There were other families of staff there as well. It was actually pretty fun. We watched Princess Bride in the sanctuary before the electricity went off. I slept through the worst of the storm on the couch in Matt's office. The church suffered just minor damage: a few leaks throughout the church and an uprooted tree in the courtyard.

Phil and Vicky's house (where Matt and I are staying) wasn't touched. One side of their fence was knocked down and their mailbox broke, but that's it. A few days after the storm, Matt and I went to College Station with friends from Sunday School, Michael and Laura Simpson. We stayed with Michael's sister and her family. They had electricity - woohoo! It was so nice of them to let us stay with them. They were such a great family! College Station is home to Texas A & M so we all took a visit touring the campus. While we were there we went to the George Bush Library (George Bush Senior). It was amazing to see all that he's done and accomplished in his life! Since we were Houston "evacuees" we got in free. Gotta love that!

We still don't have electricity, unfortunately, but hopefully we will soon! Michael and Laura got electricity last week so they've been kind enough to let us stay with them. As soon as I get my cable to my camera I will upload some pictures of the area after the storm. Hopefully next time I update we will have restored electricity and be somewhat back to normal. Well, it may take a while to get back to normal.

New Job!!

2008-08-08T09:14:00.003-05:00

I went on an interview yesterday for the admin position I mentioned in the last blog and got offered the job! Finally! It'll be so nice to have something to do everyday, however, I will miss sleeping late during the week. My title will be Risk Control Admin for EPCO, Inc. which is an oil company downtown and my first day is Tuesday. I think it will be awesome working downtown. I just need to figure out how I will get there (i.e. drive and park in the parking garage which is expensive, park & ride, or take the bus - which I hear isn't that bad). What's awesome is that I already know somebody that works there through our Sunday school class so he's been helping me out. Another perk is that I get off at 12:30 on Fridays. How amazing is that? Matt and I are so thankful that I got a job and that it's at a good company. It's definitely an answered prayer.

God's Perfect Timing

2008-08-04T13:11:00.009-05:00

I know it's been a while since I last posted anything, but seriously, there hasn't been much to write about. Over the last couple of weeks, my days have pretty much consisted of searching for a job (more about that a little later). Once Matt gets off work, we usually spend it looking at houses that we can't buy - since our Pensacola house has yet to sell. Houses around here are such a hit-or-miss. We'll find a house that we love online at HAR.com (like Pensacolamls.com) but once we drive out to the neighborhood it is a complete dump. We've seen houses right next to car junk yards, gas stations (right next door!!) or next to areas that were cleared out by FEMA due to flooding. Houston is one of the largest cities without zoning laws; therefore, we've seen huge mansions next to small shacks and huge skyscrapers next to mansions - weird. The great thing about Houston is the home prices - they are incredibly inexpensive! You can get a beautiful new home about 2,000 sq. ft. 15-20 miles outside of Houston for $130K or you can live in the city in a townhome half the size for the same price, but you're close to everything. We're finding that people buy houses here based on the minutes to work, not the miles. To say the least, house hunting has been an adventure but it has helped us get acquainted with the area. We've actually found some awesome houses in some adorable neighborhoods, but the drive is going to be a serious hike to work. We could live near the city (which is beautiful), but we'd have to live in a townhome/condo with 2 large dogs. What to do? We're praying for the answer!

The job hunt has definitely been slow. A lot slower than I had hoped. As of last week, I had applied for every HR job that I have the experience for and hadn't heard back from any of them. Then my luck turned toward the better. Matt had a meeting with a lady from his work last week and they got to talking. He was explaining to her that I was looking for a job and was having no luck. Here comes the cool part. Her husband just received permission to hire an administrative assistant the night prior to her and Matt's conversation. What's amazing is that she and Matt were supposed to have met a day earlier. If that would have happened, she would not have known about the position and would not have been able to tell Matt about it. Don't you just love God's perfect timing? So we sent her husband my resume and he thought it was perfect. The HR department called me Friday to ask me a couple of questions and to explain the company to me. They also told me I should be hearing back from them this week for an interview! Now I am hearing that the company wants to interview me for two positions, for the admin position and for an HR position...CRAZY!! So please be praying for me this week...I hate interviews!

This is completely random but while Matt and I were on our way to the mall, I saw this little guy trying to catch a ride. I'm not exactly sure what it is - an iguana or something - but I do know that I've never seen anything like it in Pensacola (except for in a pet store). Matt thought it was a prehistoric dinosaur... not really, he just decided he would contribute to the blog with this sentence.

Welcome to Texas

2008-07-21T21:23:00.004-05:00

We're in Houston! Matt drove here Thursday and I drove in Saturday. Before this trip, the farthest I've ever driven by myself was to Tallahassee, so this trip was a bit longer - about nine hours with all of the stops that I took. It seemed like every crappy gas station on the way to Texas attracted me like a magnet because every place I stopped was just that - crappy. Other than that the trip really wasn't that bad. I bought a Nicholas Sparks book on tape and listened to it the whole way. It definitely made the time fly by.

Matt and I are currently staying with an awesome couple from the church who graciously opened their home to us. I actually haven't met them yet because they're out of town but Matt got to have dinner with them and said that they're awesome. I can't wait to meet them.

On Sunday, Matt and I went to all three church services at Houston's First Baptist Church so we could get acquainted with all three types and choose the one that was right for us. The church and the people are just amazing. At the Sunday evening service, we officially became members of HFBC.

These last couple of days have definitely been interesting and surreal. Please keep praying for us that our house in Pensacola will sell because as soon as it does we can find a place of our in Houston.

New Blog

2008-07-10T20:05:00.023-05:00

Okay, so I'm finally giving in. I'm finally creating a blog. I love reading all of my other friends' blogs but I've never actually created one for myself. You may be asking yourself, "Why now?" A couple of weeks ago Matt accepted a position as Graphics Director for Houston's First Baptist Church...yup, Houston, Texas! So I'm creating this blog for all of our family and friends so they can see what we're up to in the big H-Town.

So now we're packing up and moving to Houston. Only if it were so easy. First, we have to try and sell our house...not an easy feat in good ole' Pensacola. Before we actually had it listed, we painted almost every wall in the place - tan, tan, and more tan. Then, we had all new carpet and vinyl put in the house. It looks sooo good (although I do miss the blue walls). With the exception of furniture and a few accessories for "staging" purposes, we packed all of our belongings into boxes which are now being stored in my parents' garage (thanks Mom & Dad!). Here's a few pictures of the new and improved Arnold Home:

Here's my shameless plug: if you're reading this and you know someone who wants to buy a cute 900 square foot house right off of Pine Forest and Nine Mile Road, just let me know!! On top of selling the house, I have to find a new job in Houston. I hate job-hunting! Even though it's been a little stressful these past few weeks, Matt and I have been relying on God so much. We know that He will get us through all of this. Please pray for Matt and me while we are going through this huge transition, especially for our house to sell! Ultimately, I think the hardest thing about moving will be leaving our family and our friends. I try really hard not to think about leaving the people I love here because then I get emotional. I've always been really attached to my parents so it's gonna be so hard leaving them. I'm pretty sure I'm going to need a lot of tissues on my final trip to Houston.

That's it. I survived my first blog. Hopefully I'll update it often. If I don't, send me a message to remind me!