Extreme Home Makeover

I was incredibly blessed to see people I know receive a new house through Extreme Makeover Home Edition. It was the Hurston family, whom I know dedicate their existence to helping others.  These people serve God with such passion it can be enviable. I hope to one day be like them in their selflessness. This whole situation kind of reminds me of the story of Job in the bible. Even though he suffered many things, he refused to blame God. Through the loss of his home, his family, his health, etc. he still continued to praise God because he loved Him. Then  God blessed him with more than he ever had before. Joe Hurston has always praised God through any trial and tribulation including the devastation of his house. He didn’t blame God for that. And now he has a house even more incredible than he could’ve imagined!

And it makes me mad when people speak bad about him serving other countries instead of this one. What gives ANYBODY the right to dictate who will serve where? If you are a Christian, you go where God wants you to go. Some are called to minister to other countries and some are called to minister here in America. What gets me is that the people complaining about him helping Haitians instead of Americans (which he helps people here too BTW), are probably not doing any helping of the American people themselves. They are the ones that want the help! And if you take a step back from your life and truly see how blessed you are – you wouldn’t be complaining!  I mean really! Is your life bad? Think again:
By merely having running water and a toilet in your home, bathing facilities, a washer/dryer, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a television (probably several), one or more cars in your driveway, (hey, even a driveway to have cars in!), and a well-stocked grocery store just down the block, ….in many towns and villages of the world, you would be the richest person around!

So I am truly thankful for the blessings Joe Hurston has received, and also for the blessings I have received. Not only do I get to wake up to a new back yard more frequently than others, but I get to meet such incredible people all over the country!  Sure it can be scary not knowing where we’re going next, but just like driving a car at night – you only see the section of road reflected in your headlights. You can’t see your destination, but you know you’ll get there. I can complain about a lot of things regarding this lifestyle, but why? My life is better when I look for things to praise than to put down.

Now that that is off my chest, here’s the latest news. We might be going to a workamping position near San Antonio at an RV park. Joe really wants to work with horses, but nothing’s coming up in that arena so this is the next best thing. We’ll have a free campsite and Jadyn will have a park to play in. :o)

My little girl at one of the ranches we were at in Florida:

Toasty in Texas

Overall it’s been pretty nice here in Texas.  Our first stop after leaving AR was Tyler, TX (I’m glad we weren’t in AR or Tyler when all those birds died!) Jadyn was glad to get out of the RV and do one of her favorite pastimes – digging (the other one is tying knots oddly enough).

                             

After Tyler we drove to the warehouse where Joe now works (Yeti Coolers – if you’re serious about coolers you have to get one of these!)

As soon as the RV is turned off at Yeti, Joe notices a lot of radiator fluid leaking out and realizes the water pump took a dump. I’m thankful it waited until we got there and not out on the highway! He ended up taking it to a garage the next day and they wanted almost $500 to fix it. Joe wasn’t down with that, of course, so he got the pump and antifreeze for $60 and fixed it himself.

So we spent that weekend (and the week thereafter) at Joe’s boss’ dad’s house until we could get into an RV park. They are such nice people (actually every Texan we’ve come across has been) and we are so thankful to them for their hospitality!  They had a swing set and other stuff for Jadyn to play with and she was sooo happy. And the view of the Texas Hill Country was just Gorgeous (as seen behind me – and Jadyn in these pictures)

Joe and Jadyn were inspecting cactus on the property and after Joe pretended to sit on it – Jadyn had to follow suit. :o)

We finally found a nice campground to stay at out in Henly Texas. Beautiful country! The place we were at was Cottonwood Creek – they have woods that we enjoyed exploring and it was such a clean and quiet place.

       

                                   

Unfortunately it was a bit too far from work, so we had to find a closer place. It ended up being a great move! It’s situated on the top of a big hill where the sunsets are spectacular and all the neighbors are great! It’s in a quiet neighborhood that we’ve so far enjoyed taking walks in.

                         

We were having a little bit of an issue getting an internet signal at first until Joe discovered that if he sat in the “cockpit” and had his laptop at a certain height he’d score a signal. Yes, tinfoil did come into play at one point, but everything has worked out now. Joe still stays in his “man cave” – which is actually quite cozy since he discovered that both chairs turn towards each other. :o)

                           

And so I will leave you with a picture of us in Texas Hill Country and of Jadyn sporting a blueberry kefir mustache because it’s such a cute picture. :o)

BTW – not going to be Texans yet. Too expensive to switch over. So, we are still Minnesotans. :o)