Merry Christmas

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

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

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

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

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

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!!

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

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

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

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!