H-E-B to the rescue!

We've been here a little over a week, and honestly, I love this city. I love the pace of things, the endless shopping options, the people who are remarkably talkative and friendly wherever you go, the FOOD...I could eat tex-mex every day for the rest of my life and be happy. And substantially overweight. Darn that need for self-control. Anyway...

It has been a whirlwind of a week, with finding an apartment (awesome) to getting Texas drivers' licenses (not awesome) to feeling the loneliness of being away from our loved ones (completely not awesome) to learning the ropes of a new town and making all our new "firsts" together as a couple (more awesome than all).

One thing that has helped with the discomfort of being in an unfamiliar place around unfamiliar people has been the discovery of the greatest grocery store I have ever beheld.

 

Y'all. This is H-E-B Plus! and it is a miracle. Think the quality of products from Whole Foods and Target, but Walmart prices. Besides the requisite food choices, they have all the natural cleaning and health products I could wish for, an extensive makeup selection, even an entertainment and DVD section for Travis (if he were to shop with me, that is, which I don't allow him to). But let's talk about the food, since that's usually why you go to a grocery store.

Gluten-free goodies galore! Check out this almond flour I got. I was so excited to find bulk GF flour options at such a crazy low price that I think I may have actually squealed in the store. I spent most of my first time walking through there with my mouth hanging open.

(Side note: I'm kind of a freak when it comes to grocery shopping. That's the real reason I don't bring Trav with me. I take my time through each aisle and talk to myself about the prices, ingredients, and the sheer excitement of finding something new. Pretty sure the nice citizens of Texas have already pegged me as a nutjob.)

LOOK AT THIS WALL OF ORGANIC COFFEE!!!! LOOK AT IT!!!!
My favorite is the Mexican Altura at the moment. Puts all that other corporate stuff out there to shame.

 

Hi, bulk spice section. Can I marry you?

This place is a wonderland. Pretty sure Texas itself is a wonderland, although we haven't ventured out past a 30-mile radius of our new home yet. Pictures of that to follow in a later post...

We sure hope you all are well! We're on the hunt for a new home church so that we can plant ourselves a bit more deeply. In the meantime, we miss all our friends and family back home, but we really are having a lot of fun getting to know this new territory.

Oh, and Mr. Bingley says hi. He's sleeping in his comfy box right now. Maybe I can get Travis to make me a nice box like that, too... I'll keep you posted.

Scenes from the road...with a cat.

We have this awesome cat named Mr. Bingley. (Yes, I'm an unabashed Jane Austenite. Travis tolerates this and sometimes even fuels it.) Mr. Bingley is a funny boy with a ton of personality. He's more like a dog than a cat half the time. But is he a good traveler? That was the question concerning me for a few weeks before our move.

Our first leg took us from our home in Charleston, SC, to Gulfport, MS. Travis was a champ and graciously drove the U-Haul all the way by himself, while I drove our car with our cat, Mr. Bingley. Honestly, the idea of driving an animal who screams all the way to the vet put a bit of trepidation in my mind. Before we got on the road this time, I gave him a sedative the vet had given me. He still screamed, though, and since we had a 12-hour trip ahead, I opened the door of his carrier to see what he would do. This was the eventual result:

Turns out I have an adventurous boy on my hands. He preferred sleeping in the carrier after all, but only if the door was open and he could choose to stay or leave. He was a delightful traveling companion as I listened to my audio book. A cuddly, drugged cat in my lap while on a long interstate stretch? Yes please.

He also had a good time in our hotel room.

That big lump is him, playing under the sheet. He was a joy to both me and Travis throughout the long journey, and continues to be a happy little buddy while we settle into our new home. While unpacking, he discovered a new favorite place:

...which Travis then upfit for him, using his favorite blanket:

 Needless to say, Mr. Bingley has thrived through all the changes. An unexpected blessing and a definite answer to prayer.

Texas? Why?

Hi! I'm Sarah, and this is my love, Travis. I would follow him anywhere, and it just so happened that the "where" for us this year was San Antonio, Texas.

I’m pretty sure people thought we were crazy. “You’re moving to Texas?! …Why?” Crazy story, really, but here we are. More on life in Texas later…let me just catch you up on what the past few months have looked like for us as God prepared our hearts for this move.

January – Travis and I both felt like this was the “year of adventure” for us. We had no idea what that looked like, of course, but we started to play around with the idea of living in a different part of the country. At the very least, we planned to sell our house, which was too small for us to expand our family in the future. We looked at various opportunities as they came up for Travis to transfer, but nothing struck us as a real option, until…
 

June – …the opportunity for a job in San Antonio, Texas, became available. It was the first one that we seriously considered.  Why? First, I knew it was a great place, having been there several times with my family growing up. I actually have an essay that I wrote back in school in which I said that I wanted to one day live in San Antonio. I’m pretty sure Travis would be willing to consider any city in the great state of Texas, so after several days of praying and talking it through, we decided to apply for the transfer. Two weeks later, we were accepted.

July – We accepted an offer on our house within 30 days of its being on the market. Seriously—30 days. And the offer was for more than we had listed the house. Then things got a little crazy.

Thursday, August 14 – 10 days before our move date, Travis received word that his company had experienced a breach of security, and all personnel were told to stop working until further notice. (Remember, this is the company with whom we were supposed to transfer!)

Tuesday, August 19 – Travis was contacted by a coworker and advised to apply with a competing company, who was prepared for an influx of employees from the company that had been shut down. This would mean that Travis would become an independent contractor, losing the company car, benefits, etc. It was a lot to figure out, but we decided it was a wise move. Within an hour of applying, Travis received a call from the new company and was entered into their system.

Thursday, August 20 – We found out the closing of our house, which was scheduled for September 4^th, had been delayed until further notice (probably the end of September).

Friday, August  21 – Travis resigned from the first company and handed over the car. He signed up for MediShare (great company, by the way) and prepared for a test that would give him a position in the new company (which he passed with flying colors).

Then it was a week of training before Travis started his new job. Three days into that new job, we were told that our closing was scheduled in NINE DAYS. So, we had that much time to get the house packed and say goodbye to everyone. And just so you know, nine days is not enough time for all of that. But somehow, we got all the packing done and squeezed in some precious time with some of our dear ones. We closed on the house on Friday, September 19^th, and on the morning of September 20^th, we started the trek to Texas.