7 years

Hard to believe that 7 years ago I was here:

Every word I said then I mean even more now.

"I, Erin, take you, Matt, to be my husband,

to have and behold from this day on,

for better or for worse,

for richer, for poorer,

in sickness and in health,

to love and to cherish;

until death do us part."



Down on the Farm

Our church, Central Baptist, is in Peaster, Texas.  It's as little as it sounds.  And our Pastor, Chad, is a real-life farmer.  Well, that's not entirely true.  He doesn't "farm" for a living, but when you have acres and acres of land, 3 cows, 5 goats, 3 dogs, 1 cat, and chickens, I'm gonna call you a farmer.  Plus, he's got a large garden that he actually eats from (can you imagine?).  I kid only because we seem so far removed from that idea living in an apartment in town.  Anyways, taking Parker to the Forrester's house is like taking him on a field trip every time.  They have a large tractor that Parker insists on riding on every time we go.  Well, this past Sunday was Parker's lucky day!  Chad is working on building a pond in front of his house and was able to borrow some work tractors from a friend.  And, fortunately for Parker, he is the cutest boy ever and was able to convince Pastor Chad to give him a ride.

Wordless Wednesday

It's that time again

A Texas tradition continues...

And to see what a difference a year makes...

Thankful Thursday

This Thursday, I am thankful because...

- When I dropped Parker off at daycare this morning, he ran to the corner (where the radio was) and danced with his friends.  A good drop-off in the morning makes the whole day (for me) ten times better.

- God is stirring the hearts of Matt and I for something big.  And it is overwhelming.  And it is confusing.  And yes, even a little stressful.  But I will take this any day over no stirring at all.

-  I love my job.  No really, I do. 

- We have two fun families coming over for dinner tomorrow night.  God has given us some sweet friendships here at seminary and we are thankful to have them in this part of our journey.

- Our membership to the Fort Worth Zoo may win best purchase of the year.  I am probably a little too excited about going to "Donuts & Dinosaurs" this Saturday morning with the family.  Parker loves both of those things, and I am looking forward to watching him enjoy it all.

- Matt made brownies Tuesday night and I am still enjoying them.  They are the bomb.com.  And so is Matt.

- The crock pot is my best friend. 

- I get to go to chapel at least once a week.  At work.  Yes, I am paid to go corporately worship my Heavenly Father and be challenged by a godly message.

- It's 10 o'clock and I'm about to go to bed. 

Good night.

Yee-Haw!

Can I just say that I love living in Fort Worth?  Because I do!  Our weekends are always so fun, exploring this town and making memories as a family.

Last Saturday morning Matt had a youth camp planning meeting in Denton, so Parker and I ran some errands together and then ended up at the mall so Parker could run off some energy.  Does your mall have a kid's play area?  I don't think I've ever understood why a mall would have a play area in it until I became a mama.  We are so thankful for one close to us.  It is often visited by the Dugan family at least once a weekend.  Here's an actual pic of Ridgmar Mall's play area:



After naptime was over and Matt got home from Denton we decided we wanted to find something different to do.  So, after a quick look online, we decided to head down to the Stockyards.  We had been there once before, but it was over a year ago and Parker was so little then.  With his love of cows and horses (well, really any animals) we thought he would love it.

Well...we were right!



Every day at 11:30 am & 4:00 pm they have a cattle drive through the streets of the Stockyards.  We got there right around 3:45 and staked out a spot on the shady side of the street.  Parker was so good and loved watched the big cows walk by.


We ran around in the grass in front of the Exchange building.


We walked around inside Billy Bob's Honky Tonk.


We ate some Texas Twisters.  We are health nuts, I tell ya!


The highlight, though?  Parker had his first pony ride.  No, this isn't him in the pic above.  I am the bad momma who came totally unprepared to document this awesome occasion.  Parker kept on saying he wanted to ride the horses, but I really was unsure.  Not a safety reason, I just didn't want to pony up the $6 (pun intended) if he was gonna freak out when we tried to put him on the horse.  But, he insisted he really wanted to do it, so we went for it.  And our little cowboy loved it!  He held on tight and just rode around, smiling at me every time he passed.  Matt walked alongside him and held on to his back, but eventually Parker told him he could do it by himself.  So, Matt let go, but kept walking beside him for "moral support." ;)  We were able to get him to say "Yee-Haw" a couple of times, but it was so quiet, you almost couldn't hear him.  I think he was too busy concentrating on the task at hand.

All that to say, we had a great time at the Stockyards and vowed not to wait so long before the next visit. 

Back in the Saddle?

There's a part of me that wants to write everything we've done in the past 14 months since I last blogged.  But there's also a part of me that says....Nah.

Maybe we can compromise?

Highlights: Erin got a job at a local church, Parker started at a great daycare, Parker started walking, Matt became the Associate Pastor at Central Baptist Church, Erin got a new job at the seminary which means free school for Matt(!!!), We took 10 kids to youth camp at Camp Copass, Matt quit his plumbing job at the seminary and became a FWISD bus driver, Erin got a promotion at the seminary which means health insurance now, too (!!!!!!!), We made great friends through Erin's work (shout out to the dinner club!), We spent Thanksgiving in Houston with the Parker family, We were one of the crazies who got up for Black Friday (like 4:00 am crazy), We had a great time in Austin for Christmas and had a blast watching Parker "actively participate" in opening presents, We spent New Years in Temple with the Williams (for the 4th year in a row!), Parker began talking up a storm, Matt's grandmother passed away in Florida and Matt officiated the funeral, SNOW (like "shut-the-whole-world-down-for-4-days" kind of snow), Matt turned 29 (whoa...), Parker turned 2 (whoa again) and tons of more fun (and maybe not-so-fun) things thrown in between it all.

All that to say (and that is a WHOLE lot to say, for sure), we are firmly planted here in Fort Worth.  We have come to accept and love our new home.  Matt is really enjoying school here at SWBTS and we cannot believe that we are almost halfway done!  The Lord has been so good to us during this time.  We have not wanted for anything, and all of our needs have been provided for. 

I did our 2010 taxes the other day and we had 8 W-2's between the 2 of us.  Yeesh!  After putting in all that information, though, we still made less money last year than any other year of our married life (including our first, which I was in college for the first 5 months of that year).  Some people would look at that and think what a shame; they have gone backwards!  But all I can think is: Our God is an awesome God!  Look what He has done!  He has provided for our every need and we give Him all the glory!

I'm gonna let this "catch-up" post sit for a little bit, but I've already got some blogs coming up soon...so come back now, ya hear?!?!