Weekend Trip

This weekend the Jones family took a little road trip to North Texas. A friend of mine from our old church is getting ready to have her first baby and her shower was on Saturday. When I met her almost four years ago, she was going through an immense trial that no one would ever imagine going through. Over the next few years I got to see Jesus bring her full circle and bring tremendous beauty from ashes - ashes that were the result of another person's rebellion and not her own. The Lord has given her a wonderful, handsome, godly husband and now a bouncing baby boy on the way. There was much to celebrate!

The shower was on Saturday morning, so Curt, Jackson and I drove up to Irving on Friday night. We stayed at the Embassy Suites because I'm a sucker for a good breakfast. My boys dropped me off at the church after we drove by our old house and got to visit with one of our neighbors who was watering his yard. We found out there are people living in our house for now, which surprised me. We sold it to a developer and they never even had it inspected, so we thought it would just be torn down. Who knows? That is probably on the horizon. Everything looked okay except there are no cute rocking chairs on the porch and there is a big dent in my pretty red door from someones knee. I was so sad! Then I remembered my beautiful white house in the burbs and got over it.

A few minutes later I walked into the fellowship hall and was greeted by a ton of sweet Irving friends. It was so good to be home. I'm telling you, I feel like I have three homes - Houston, Irving, and Missouri. But really there is only ONE home and one day I will get to see it with my own eyes, walk on it with my own two feet (which are hopefully smaller and more dainty in glory), and fellowship with my Savior in person. That is going to be awesome!

Anyway, the shower was cowboy themed and it was just amazing. The ladies had gone all out and my friend surely deserved it! For those of you who are like me and believe that the point of every shower and wedding is to eat cake, it was delicious. It was so good to get to visit with so many ladies of the church, from the very young to the most senior of saints. A ton of my girlfriends were there and it gave me so much joy to be with them and chat while we watched our friend and her hubby open present after present for almost 2 hours. What an outpouring of love for this couple!

After the shower, Curt and Jacks picked me up and we drove to Dallas to make a very quick stop at JD's Chippery. Thank You, sweet Jesus. When I walked in I needed a "cone of silence" (anyone see Get Smart?) so I could properly express my delirious happiness. I won't even tell you how many cookies we got because I'm too embarrassed. We intended to share them with our friends but they left us too many to take home! I have a ton of them on my counter and that is dangerous. Very, very dangerous. I also got a cherry limeade and I decided that theirs are better than Sonic's because they aren't fizzy.

Then we went to Janelle and Heath's and just sat on their couch and vegged for a while. Ella and Jackson had a ton of fun playing together. Jackson stepped on Ella's foot right off the bat and there were a few tears. My child's feet are like the size of a six-year-old's, so I couldn't blame her. Bless her heart...and his too. They also swam in the baby pool and Ella was very patient with her friend who likes, no lives, to splash water.

Later we met Sunni and her crew at Central Market for sushi and burgers. Sunni did not get to go with us to Deeper Still because Xavier had been sick and in the hospital that week, so it was great to see her. Ava had grown so much, I couldn't believe it. Once the tods got antsy we sent them to the playground with their daddies. The playground was extremely crowded and it was not that fun. Due to the heat, crowds, and fussiness of tods and maybe even one adult whom I love very much, our time was cut shorter than I would have liked it. But I was very thankful for the time we did have. The Lazos had to get home and pack for their Cancun trip early the next morning. Poor things!

After dinner, Janelle's parents bravely took on our hot, sweaty, exhausted, cranky toddlers while we went to see Get Smart. I am still laughing about the "cone of silence" in case you couldn't tell. The popcorn was amazing, thank You Lord.

On Sunday morning we got ready for church, had a good breakfast at the hotel (bacon and spinach omelet for me), packed up and went to First Irving. It was so good to be there. I can't say enough about how great it was. The church members are so incredibly loving and they truly care for each other. It is a special thing and I think people can see it even on their first visit. It's truly a family.

My only disappointment at church was that Jackson did not perform like I was hoping he would. It was such a lesson for me. I had hoped he would walk in and be all smiles, hug people, and just be charming. (He really is a people person. It wasn't that much of a stretch.) He was dead-set against it. What can you do? Let go, Amanda!

After church we headed out to Fort Worth to have lunch with Jennifer and Sabrina (my bff's from high school) and their families. Jennifer has a newborn and we had not all been together with our kids. It was kind of a huge moment. I was thinking about how different our conversations were now compared to when we were sixteen. (Thank God, right?) We still talk a million miles an hour though. I must add that Jackson was p-e-r-f-e-c-t during this visit. Props to my boy.

After that we drove down the street to see the Burgers who had literally just gotten home from their own road trip. We got to meet their newborn son Justus and catch up with them for a bit. They have a pastor from Sudan living with them while he goes to seminary. His name is Victor and he is a wonderful man of God. Victor entertained Jackson for like an hour with some matchbox cars and a race track. He is not only Jackson's new bff, but mine as well!

It was finally time to head back to Houston. It seemed like it took forever to get home. For-stinking-ever! We all slept like rocks last night and I swear I could have slept the entire day if someone had let me. If I could, I would reward everyone who made it through the end of this post with a JD's cookie, but it would totally be stale by the time it got to you. So I'll eat one in your honor. I know you appreciate it.