The Moving is Almost Over

I managed to move all of my stuff into my the house this weekend without any hitting any of the rain. Praise Jesus!!!

I still have a few things to get out of my apt before I turn in my keys tomorrow morning. My room in the house already feels like home. I am nowhere near unpacked but after making my bed it felt like home pretty quickly. I feel so unbelievably blessed to live in this house... It is BEAUTIFUL!!! I plan to post a picture of my room once it doesn't look like a disaster. I think I may post a picture of my kitchen as well... Because it is so pretty and big. :)

I want thank all of my wonderful friends and family that helped me move this weekend. It was such a blessing to have all of you. Special thanks to my parents for coming all the way to Houston to help me... :) You both are amazing and I was so excited that you got to meet some of my friends. Also to Jeff who gave up his whole Saturday and his truck to help me. And last but certainly not least, thank you so much Mel. You are such a wonderful friend for so many reasons that would take way to long to go into... I cannot thank you enough for sacrificing your whole weekend to help me. :)

Moving Day

Tomorrow I leave the only home I have ever known in Houston. It is a weird feeling but I am excited none the less. I will be moving out of my apartment and into a house with two wonderful women.

As I look back over the last two years I am reminded of the Lord's faithfulness. I moved to Houston knowing 2 people well and less than two years later I have so many invaluable friendships. God is so good and I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for me in my last year of law school.

For my faithful blog readers, I thought I would tell you a little about the two girls I am about to move in with since they will be appearing in my blog more frequently now. :)

Angela just graduated from law school at U of H. She finished the Bar yesterday, praise Jesus! I met her at Houston's First Baptist (oddly enough we did not meet in school). We both lead Youth together. She worked at camp Ozark for years and she is into all sorts of outdoorsy stuff. She is an amazing woman of God and I am so thankful to be living in her house.

I am excited because she has already walked through everything I will be going through this year. It seems like the bar is going to be pretty burtal so I am bracing myself. And I am glad that when I freak out to my roommate... She will understand. She will be starting her job at Bracewell & Giuliani in September and is free until then (which she is pretty excited about).

I am also living with one of my roommates from college again, Laura. She is moving to Houston for the first time. She has lived in College Station for the last two years. The first year she was an intern at Grace Baptist Chruch and last year she worked at David Gardner (a jewlery store). Laura is one of the wisest people I know and has a very gentile spirit. She blesses everyone around her, so I am pretty lucky to get to live with her. :)

This summer she worked at a camp in Colorado where she in in the wilderness for a week at a time. It sounded pretty cool and she could now keep all of us alive if we were trapped in the wilderness somewhere, so that is awesome. Once she moves to Houston she will be teaching at a school in Cypress. I am pretty excited about living with her again. :)

Pray that it doesn't rain tomorrow... Or at least that it waits to rain until I am done moving!!!

Baby Update

The doctors did not induce Jacki today. I will keep you posted as to the next attempted induction date. But since the induction is deemed "elective" it may not happen next time either. She had to call into the hospital every 2 hours today and they kept telling her to call back in 2 hours. Then at 12pm they told her it was not going to happen today. Jacki is still in a lot of pain and would very much appreciate your prayer. See my previous post Super Sunday for more information about Jacki's back pain.

As for another medical update, my sister had surgery yesterday on her hernia. She is in quite a bit of pain and taking quite a bit of medication. I talked to her for about 10 minutes today and she was pretty out of it. If you think about it, say a prayer for her too. Thanks guys!!!

Lessons from Quba

This post was a long time comming.... Sorry it took me so long. As always, I hope late is better than never. :)

And if you want another link to my pictues, here it is again: Enjoy!!!

I went into Quba expecting things to be very similar to Guatemala. And in many ways the two countries are similar but they are also so different. In Guatemala the poverty seemed so much more extreme... at least externally. Some of the villages we went to were so poor that houses were made of sheet metal found in the street. In Quba, everything seemed more stable. I didn't see a singe tin roof house. Everyone seemed to live in concrete buildings at least.

We were told that the government gives the people a pair of shoes, a shirt and a pair of pants a year. Anything else they have to buy (with what money). Almost everyone I saw was wearing American clothing (with English wirting). I assume it is because people come over and bring it because I didn't see any stores that sold American clothing... The people are also given rations for food. Beans and rice mainly. They go to the supermarket and get their food for the week. If they want more they have to buy it. I am not all together sure how they get paid. I don't know if some professions make more than others as is the case in America or if they are all supposed to live on the same level. Judging from the appearances of the people I would say some have to be given more than others. But I never could fully figure out how the system worked.

The country is absolutely breathtaking though. It was one of the coolest places I have ever seen. The architecture was beautiful and it almost seemed like a blast from the past at times. Most of the vehicles on the road (there are not many, mind you) are American made and from the 50's. It was pretty cool to see them all still functioning. H-town (the capitol) was one of the prettiest cities I think I have ever seen. And the beach that we went to on the last day was ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING.

The first few days we went to evangelical seminaries and churches throughout H-town. The pastor of a Church in Houston went to Quba about 10 years ago with a vision to win the country for Christ. He started a ministry (a ministry that First Baptist Houston now partners with) that has exploded in the last few years. The ministry started out with one seminary and now I don't even know how many seminaries are scattered all throughout Quba. (They told us the number but I can't remember now.) The seminary is a two year intensive training program and afterwards the graduates go out and become missionaries. Hundreds of people are now out sharing the Gospel in Quba as a result of this ministry. And it is only growing. The bottom line is every part of the country has the opportunity to hear the gospel as a result of the vision of one man. I was so convicted by this. God calls us to pray big prayers and expect Him to move... yet so frequently we do nothing.

Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, "be taken up and cast into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted to you. Mark 11: 23-34

I am pretty sad by my lack of faith most of the time. I have gotten to a place where I don't expect God to change a country through the vision of one man. Praise the Lord that He is renewing my vision. I have seen the fruit that one person on fire for the Lord and on His knees for a people can bring. I want to be that kind of prayer warrior!!!

Camp was quite a bit different than I was expecting. We were told we would be going to a leadership retreat with 50 student leaders, but instead it was a general college retreat with about 500 students. I went into this trip expecting small group time to be my favorite part. And God definitely used it to grow me, but it was not at all what I was expecting. I thought I would be leading a group of 5 women and instead I had a group of 15 and it was co-ed. I had a translator named Odalys that helped me lead the group, but other than her I was on my own. I think that the best part of camp was meeting my translator. She has an amazing heart for the Lord and we are going to be corresponding with one another from now on. I have a friend in Quba!!! Pretty exciting. :)

The main thing I will take away from our trip is just the immense blessings the Lord bestows on us just by living in America. We really are blessed so abundantly. Even those of us who make no money and are living on loans still have it better than the bulk of the population outside of America. I was really humbled by how much I have that I take for granted. Not just money but freedom. I was struck by how little they live on and yet they have such joy for Christ. I began to wonder how much more we would praise the Lord if we had less toys to distract us. I kept hearing the following scripture in my head.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more. Luke 12:48

I kept thinking of all that I have just by being an American. I kept thinking about the responsibility that brings. God obviously blessed me for a purpose but that comes with so much responsibility because that means much is also required. I want to live worthy of the blessings I have been given. Throughout my trip and even since, I have been thinking about the parable of the Talents (Matt 25: 14-30). I don't want to be a bad steward of what He so graciously provided (freedom, money, intelligence, time). Especially since it is all His anyway. Needless to say this trip brought me a lot of conviction. A good conviction, but conviction none the less.

And So It Begins

I begin the craziness that is law school stuff again today. I am a little sad, I am not going to lie. This summer has been crazy in its own way but it was nice not to have to stress about law school and all the idiosyncrasies that go along with it.

If you think about it say a prayer for me tonight and honestly for the next SEVERAL months. I am updating my resume and references tonight to start the fun process of OCI (On Campus Interviews) Bidding. What is OCI you ask? Basically I send my resume out to people and pray someone wants to interview me. The process can be discouraging, but I am confident that God has it covered. I know He will put me where He wants me next year and I am so content to wait for His guidance. I want to be wherever He has me. I get that... I want nothing more than to glorify Him so come what may I will have a peace... And yet I always manage to stress myself out about job stuff anyway.

Please pray that I would give it to the Lord. As you may have seen in Abby's blog on Monday, I would love to go back to Dallas when I graduate. I plan to apply to firms in both cities (and a few other cities as well). So feel free to pray as you are lead. I joked with someone the other day that we would see where all the prayer warriors are because some people are praying that I will end up in Dallas and others are praying for Houston. I chose to pray that I will end up wherever I can most glorify our Lord. :) So the rest is up to you all... start your praying. Hehe. :)

Also, I have to do my last Footnote packet ever for my law journal. It is due on August 1st and like always, I am procrastinating. I plan to get it done tonight as well. I think I can do it, but tonight is going to be busy and it marks the beginning of law school stuff. It had to begin again sometime... And on an exciting note, this is my last year!!!

Super Sunday

I had an amazing day yesterday! I got to go to youth and Church. Which is always wonderful. But afterwards I got to hang out with Jacki and Jessica for the whole day!!! Not only that, but my mom was there too. :) I was quite excited.

Jacki is in 8 months into her second pregnancy and is having minor complications. A joint that connects her pelvis to her hip is dislocated and causing her a lot of pain when she walks. She also isn't all that able to pick up Jessica and walk. Which is hard for a 15 month old to understand. So people have been helping Jacki out for the last few weeks and this week my mom volunteered to help.

So when I arrived in the Woodlands my mom was there too. When I got there, we went to lunch and then spent the day at Jacki and John's house. I got to feed and bath Jessica. It was fun seeing her as always. It has been about a month since I have seen her and for the first time she looks about the same. I am sure she will have another growth spurt soon, but I wasn't shocked when I saw her this week. :)

I played with Jessica and caught up with my mom and Jacki for most of the afternoon. At one point John got DDR out and my mom and I played a few times. Jessica is mesmerized by DDR and tries to dance on the mat with you. It is so cute. I ended up holding her for a few games... Which remarkably is not as easy as it looks.

Anyway, Jacki's doctor is planning on inducing Jacki on Thursday, July 26th if she has not had the baby by then. Please be praying for her that the delivery goes smoothly and she is not in much additional pain as a result of her back. Thanks and I will keep you all posted about the new baby!!!

Spooning with no AC

The craziest thing that happened to me on our mission trip is actually a quite long story. I will try to summarize the best I can. I hope some of the hilarity is still evident.

On Wednesday-Friday nights the original plan was to sleep at the camp where we were ministering. However, when we got there Wednesday morning we were told we could not sleep at the camp (for reasons that are to long to go into) and that we would be staying somewhere else that night. We were told it was all taken care of and so the camp director gave us 2 connecting rooms with one bed in each for the girls and two connecting rooms for the guys to have a place to shower and get ready and to leave our stuff during the day.

So we are going about our day on Wednesday and everyone showers at about 5pm to get ready for dinner. Six girls using one shower is never pretty, but we managed. The boys however managed to flood one of their bedrooms (which as it turns out is not hard at all). The showers did not drain well and the drain was no where near the water flow, so the water just overflowed and went into the bedroom. The boys got mops and cleaned up their room. They also moved the bed from the flooded bedroom and put it in another room that was vacant. Afterwards we all went to dinner...

When we got done with the service that night (at around 11:00 or 12:00) we were told that we did not have any other place to stay and we must stay in the dorms. Not only that, but they had rented out all their rooms and we only had the rooms we were already given. I have attached a picture of our room below.


Anyway, long story short Jessica, Erin, and I all decided to sleep on the one bed because none of us were brave enough to sleep on the floor with all of our crawly friends. We all three managed to sleep on a bed that was "slightly smaller than a full and a little larger than a twin" in a room with no AC. It was quite humorous to all of us, which was made worse by the fact that we were all three so tired we were delirious. Jessica decided it was way to hot and wanted to shower one more time before going to bed. So as she went into our one shower for six girls, Erin and I got ready for bed and got into our sleep sacks (like sleeping bags but sheet material). While we were waiting for Jessica to finish, Erin and I were laying in bed (about 3 inches apart) talking about the day and what the Lord was teaching us. It was a great chat, but with the delirious hysteria it was more funny than serious.

At one point, while we were sitting in our tiny bed in a room with no AC that had a bug problem, we were joking that nothing else could go wrong... "This is about as bad as it gets... I mean seriously, what else could happen?!?!" (You all know that is never good.) When Jessica got out of the shower she realized she had flooded our room as well. At this point I say "touche Jesus... I give up" while laughing and I go and get the mop from the boys. The boys were gracious enough to help us clean our room and by 1:45am we were all back in bed. I managed to sleep through the night, which was a huge praise. I think I was so tired though I could have slept anywhere. But the experience was memorable to say the least.

Looking back on it, I am glad it happened. The Qubans don't exactly have the best conditions and I feel like I got a small glimpse of what it could be like to live in Quba. I did decide I am quite a fan of the air conditioning and I prefer to sleep with less than two other people. :)

Mission Trip Pictures

Now that Houston Project has come to a close, I had a few minutes to go through my Quba Pictures. A few of my favorites are below, but the rest can be found here. Enjoy!!!

The Hotel Panorama

The Cabs are pretty cool and notice the pink car

H-town from a distance

Views of H-town

Out and about and at home churches

At Camp
At the beach

Showing Too Much Skin...

A two year old almost pantsed me at work today. It was great. I have on a skirt with an elastic waste and one of our attorney's two and a half year old daughter was in today after lunch. (Off topic, she is adorable!) I was playing with her a little while her mom was signing some paperwork. I had just been leaning down to talk to her and I got up to sign something. As I got up, she started playing with my skirt and kinda pulled it... Yeah... From her angle it had no where to go but down. Luckily I caught the skirt way before anything was showing but it gave me quite a scare. Seeing as both of my bosses were in the room.

Clean Teeth

I went to the dentist today for the first time in a year. Disgusting, I know. But my dentist has been in Dallas and I only recently decided it was to much of a pain and changed over to a Houston dentist. I like my new dentist and am happy to report I have no cavities. I am also happy to report my mouth feels REALLY clean. I decided that getting your teeth cleand right after a mission trip is the way to go.

My new dentist did get upset with me for waiting a year to get my teeth cleaned. As a result of my "build up" he used a supersonic water pick to clean off the gunk on my teeth. It did not feel so great. I decided if that is the price of waiting a year to get my teeth cleaned, it is to high. So I am recommitted to getting my teeth cleaned every 6 months. He also told me that I need to floss more... Which I always have the best intentions of doing but somehow I fall short on the execution... But I vow to floss daily, for the health of my teeth. :)

So next time I see you, my pearly whites should be a little brighter.