Taking on Texas

Well, we did it. We left our sweet home Louisiana behind and crossed the border into Texas. I fell asleep for a little while and when I woke up, there were ROCKS. ROCKS! At first, I thought they were purposely placed inside the walls that lined the sides of the interstate as part of a decor. When I realized they were there naturally, I burst into tears. Where they heck am I? My ears were popping from the altitude. Yes, altitude. Were were going through hill country. Hills. HILLS! It'll take me a while to get used to being above sea level.

The movers came last Tuesday. I must say, I am completely spoiled for any future move. They were fantastic! They actually tissue wrapped pencils and paper clips. How did I ever move without them? Oh, I remember...garbage bags and old fruit boxes from Albertsons.
Anyway...we weren't scheduled to be in San Antonio until that Friday, so we went on to Houston to spend time with Jared's folks till then. 4:30am on Friday we awoke and started our drive to San Antonio. The movers met us at our new apartment complex and began to unload as we finished up with the lease in the office. After signing a gazillion papers we got our keys and eagerly drove to #1510. We opened the door and climbed the stairs and I suddenly I felt my lips go numb. My stomach turned. This was not what we signed up for.

Anyone who has coordinated a move to a place they have never been to can testify that its scary and complex. Having a large fear of the unknown, I researched and asked questions, and looked at police crime reports, and maps, and floorplans, and pictures, and did my absolute darndest to get an idea of where I was going. It was already a very emotional day. I’ve lived in Louisiana my entire life and love my friends there. My family would now be 12 hours away instead of 4 and I wouldn’t get to see them every month or two like I was used to. On top of it all, my papa had been life flighted to a hospital in Birmingham the week before and wasn’t doing so well. Needless to say, when I saw the tiny, odd shaped rooms of the apartment and then learned our furniture would not even fit into them, I was totally beside myself. What were we going to do? I think I hyperventilated a little. The movers were here with an 18 wheeler full of our stuff and we don’t have anywhere to put it. Because the apartment’s leasing agent misrepresented the room dimensions and now our stuff wouldn't fit in them, (he said the bedrooms were 15 x17 and 16 ½ x 14 ½ and they were 13 x 13 and 10 x 11) they said they would refund our money and let us out of the lease. But Jared would still have to start work on Monday, and we wouldn’t have a place to live. I called the apartment locator and she sent us across the street to another complex.

Jared and I kinda scoffed as we pulled past the fountain and through the gate of the Tuscan inspired complex. Yeah, like we’re going to be able to afford this. We went in to satisfy Deborah (the locator). This place was gorgeous! I walked past the tanning rooms and the fitness center on my way to the bathroom. I could see the pool with its custom area designed for little kids with water-falls and gentle cascades of water to the larger pool(s). The leasing agent showed us the prices. As we suspected, we couldn’t afford it. But then, she informed us of the special they are running. We looked at the model for the floorplan we thought would best suit us and then realized: “We can do this!”

They didn’t have anything ready that day so we drove back to Houston. It was an exhausting day, but so nice to go home to family. Sunday afternoon Jared’s parents followed us back to San Antonio to help me out with the move since Jared would be working on move-in day (they were a HUGE help). We stayed the night in a hotel and on Monday morning we moved into our second apartment in San Antonio.

Everything is unpacked and pretty much in place now. The part of town we live in is beautiful. I drove Jared to work today and let me say, I’ve never been to a place where I could drive 12 miles and not hit a run-down spot . Everything is so convenient and there are tons of things to do. I really feel like Heavenly Father wants us here. He’s given us so much in order to make this move: The great job, the way the housing came through, the bump up in quality of life… I believe its what has enabled us to be here for a greater reason. I don’t know what it is yet, but I have faith that it is right that we are here. That faith is what comforts me when I miss home. And boy do I miss home. It'll take a while to get used to things, there will be challenges, and Louisiana will always feel like home; but I’m excited to make a new home here as well.