Catching Up

The sun set beautifully on our drive to TX

This move has been hard. Four years is just long enough to make some very good friends and leaving them is hard. As it got closer to the time to leave San Jose the move began to become real, not just something that we talked about. I began to push thoughts about what we were leaving out of my mind, replacing them with thoughts about what needed to be done once we got to TX. This only helped for a little while, but then the loneliness returned. In the middle of it all a godly woman called and told me to trust in the Lord, to not push everything out of my mind, but to praise the Lord for what He has taught me here. God provided exactly what I needed just when it was needed. 

Xiana loves being outside

The first week was extremely hard for me. We got into the house on a Thursday afternoon and Dad left before dawn the next day for a week long business trip. It was lonely with Dad gone and having no friends in this area. It made matters worse being deathly allergic to fire ants. I was afraid to go outside because their nests cover the ground in areas and wherever I walked big grasshoppers few up and landed on me. I was uncomfortable because of the heat and dirt. Just feeling generally ill about everything.

This sign was hanging inside the restaurant right above our table.

After the first week things have been getting better. We were told that a homeschool family owned a local restaurant, so we went there for lunch to meet the family. They told us that there are 40 more homeschooling families in our small town! We also were told about a church nearby (mostly homeschool families) which we have been meeting with the last couple weeks. 

A scorpion which Thomas captured

From the time we moved into our house we've been hard at work. Now I can understand the verse,

"...cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground..." Genesis 3:17-19.  I have been spending some time pulling up thorn vines, stinging nettles and sand burrs which are growing where I want to plant an herb and flower garden. Just this afternoon Thomas and I pulled up a wagon full of sand burr plants from our front yard. No walking barefoot here! Dad, Thomas and Pierce have also been building many things, including a pen for the guineas, a mailbox and a clothesline (Mom has pictures posted on her blog).

The butterflies are very tame

It is beautiful here. During the day you can just glance outside and immediately see dragonflies and butterflies everywhere. After it rains everything turns a beautiful bright green and yellow. You can see the milky way every night, though sometimes it is brighter than others. There are no street lights here, so instead of having an orange reflection in the sky all night the moon lights everything up in a pale white glow, just like in books.

Falcon, Thomas' guinea, died this morning

This place feels alive! If you go outside at any time of the day you can hear cicadas, grasshoppers, cows (from the neighbor's farm), the scurrying of lizards and calls of hawks and morning doves. Every morning we have to check our pool for critters which get in at night. So far we have found a turtle, toads, dragonflies, cicadas, scorpions, a mouse, a garter snake and even a rattlesnake in the pool. Deer and egrets are frequent visitors to our pond.

A Mediterranean Gecko

As for the intentional pets, we have 2 kittens and 10 guineas. There were 12 guineas, but this morning 2 of them died. My family is hoping to adopt a Great Pyrenees as a guard dog. Mom has never wanted a dog, but after visiting some friends nearby who have a Great Pyr and being told by multiple neighbors that there are a lot of coyotes around here, she decided that it would be best to get one to guard our future herds. The only indoor pets are Mediterranean geckos. We didn't mean for them to be pets, but they are cute and they get in the house anyway to eat the bugs, so why not call them pets?

A Great Pyrenees

There is also a surprise animal coming this weekend, which I am extremely excited about- you'll never guess... keep watching!

Lauren Ashley