Hurricane!

As I think about my time in Texas, I remember how my first thought of this place was similar to how Dorothy felt in Oz: completely awestruck by the exotic beauty, but a little intimidated by the unknown. One thing completely unknown to me was hurricanes.

We had been in Texas a little over a year when news of Hurricane Ike swept over the Gulf Coast. Being from Idaho potato country, I had never experienced such a thing and wasn't exactly sure what to expect.
Fortunately, I attended an emergency preparedness meeting at church a few weeks before the storm hit. I learned that my ward was broken up into areas with neighborhood captains in charge of checking on the  families nearest them before and after the storm. I was grateful to know that my family, along with every other member of my ward would be accounted for. Since we did not have anywhere to go and there was no forced evacuation, we planned to "hunker down."

I remember going to the grocery store a few days before the storm hit and wading my way through crowds of people with the same idea I had. Everyone wanted 1) water, 2)snack foods (crackers, cookies, etc. 3) BBQ brickettes and/or fireplace wood. I was amazed that the aisles containing those items were completely empty in more than one store! Luckily, I was able to get what I needed and packed a storage container of enough non-refridgerated foods and plenty of water. Although home improvements stores like Home Depot and Lowes had stacks of wood to board up windows, we did not do that. Many people taped 'X's across their windows to hold the glass together in case of shattering, but we did not do that either since we were on a law school budget.
 
The night before the storm hit, we moved the tub of food into our inner hallway and brought in all our potted plants and lawn chairs. We put the car in the garage, the kids to bed, and prayed a little harder for protection from the storm.  In the early hours of Saturday, September 13, 2008, the storm moved through Galvaston and over to the Houston area. As I lay in my bed, I was awakened by extreme winds. I don't remember the rain as much as the wind because I had never heard wind that fast. The sound woke up two of my children, then ages three and six, who raced into my room and slept at the floor near my bed. I began to worry, so I went into my nine-year-old's room and brought her into my room too. Ironically, my husband slept through the whole thing!

We awoke in the morning with no electricity or water. Outside, the streets were strewn with tree branches and debris, but our house remained intact. Along with most of our neighbors, we spent the morning cleaning up our yard. My kids were amazed to see what a huge pile we made with our yard cleanup. Next, we piled into our minivan to survey the damage to our neighborhood. Looking out our windows, we saw many homes with roof damage, fallen trees and branches blocking driveways or doorways. We saw many people working to clean up the mess the storm left behind, bundling small branches and twigs, and raking as we had done earlier. The one blessing through it all was how everyone worked together to help each other.  Everyone was just a little bit kinder to each other.

By dinnertime, we had visitors. My sister's in-laws, the Bassetts, came over to check on us and invited us to stay at their house since they had gotten their power back. Apparently they lived near a police or fire station (I forget) and got it back sooner than most. They were a godsend and took us in for a week. While my husband still had to work and stayed to keep an eye on our house, my kids and I were kept cool and comfortable. While there, we saw on TV  the mess the hurricane made around the Houston area. Streets were flooded and many on the coast lost their homes and businesses. We heard that it had been a category 4 hurricane and was the third costliest hurricane in the United States!

When we went to fill up our car, there were extremely long lines for gas at about every gas station and many places ran out of gasoline very quickly. My husband soon realized that it was better to fill up at night when the lines were shorter. Curfews were also enforced to prevent looting or any criminal mischief. It actually made it harder for us since my husband would come to the Bassetts house after work which was often about nine p.m. He could never stay long because he had to get back to protect the house.

My daughters' school was closed for two weeks and church was canceled for a few weeks because so many people needed help. In retrospect, my kids say Hurricane Ike was one of their best adventures. For me, it is a memory I know I will never forget.

A Match Made in Texas

We had lived in Texas about six months when I heard a handsome, 20-something man, speak in church. He had been asked during a Mormon Sacrament meeting to share his testimony. While I don't remember exactly what he said, I was impressed and a still, small voice in my head shouted, "Melissa! Melissa!"

I knew that my youngest sister, Melissa needed to meet him. She was a beautiful, single, nurse practitioner who I knew was a catch and deserved someone amazing. I hoped this guy was it and felt he could be her match. The only problem was that I did not know his name. It took me a few weeks to find out that his name was Joseph Bassett. His parents were in my ward and he had been away at college, but was home for a visit that week. Since I was relatively new in the ward myself, I barely knew his family, but knew that I liked what I had seen.

For weeks, I wondered exactly how to find out more about this Joseph Bassett and how to get my sister to meet him. Melissa and I traded emails for a few months and I would tell her when he was home for the weekend. I tried to get them together through email, but for some reason, he never got her email address.

Finally, in May of 2008, I had a playgroup at my house. Ironically, the one mother who came knew Joseph's mom, Janet, really well since they served together in the LDS Young Women organization. She gave me his mom's email and phone number. I was so excited, but still a little intimidated since I did not know Janet very well. At the same time Melissa called and said she wanted to come visit in a few weeks.

A few days before Melissa came, I thought about calling Janet and nearly didn't, but again the still, small voice in my head said,  "Do it for Melissa."  Nervously, I picked up the phone and called Janet Bassett. We connected like old friends both conspiring to do some matchmaking. When Melissa arrived in town, I told her she had a date!

In the mean time, Joseph's dad, Del, went to pick Joseph up from school in College Station, Texas and bring him back home to Houston for a date with Melissa. (I think Joseph's car was in the shop or for some reason not working.)  Melissa and Joseph finally met on a blind date the next night when they went to a Houston Astros game. Afterward, Joseph took her home to meet his parents who she connected with right away.  My sister was only in town for a weekend, but it was enough time to light a spark between them. 

For the next month, they connected any way they could: phone, skype, email, and text message to get to know each other. About the 20th of June, I had a family reunion in Las Vegas, where my parents and other sister lived at the time. After my family's airplane tickets were purchased, my husband, Brandon, got a new job working in a pharmacy, and had training that week. With Brandon unable to go, he opted to give his ticket to Joseph. Now Joseph could be reunited with Melissa and meet the rest of my family!

My family loved Joseph and the rest is history. Melissa and Joseph were married about a year later in May 2009.  It just added to my Texas experience to witness their relationship develop from the first spark into an everlasting flame.

The Beginning

Since I've been impressed by my talented friends and family's blogs, I am finally motivated to start my own. I thought about if for a few months--thinking about what to call it and what to write about. At last I decided to call it "A Texas Sized Life" because I live in Texas and  have had Texas-sized experiences while I've been here. For now, I will start at the beginning of my time here. Here goes. . .

It all started in late 2006 when my husband, Brandon, was in his last year of school at Boise State University when I intercepted the mail. I had found a letter addressed to him from the registrar's office sending him something. As many wives do, I curiously opened the letter and noticed the words 'transcript' and 'LSAT.' I knew that the LSAT was the entrance exam to law school and got worried. So here I was with my two young daughters and  infant son, hoping that he was just entertaining an idea and would be completely done with school like we'd planned in the Spring of 2007.

When the door opened and he returned home from school, I confronted him. Waving the envelope in front of his face I had to ask. "You're not thinking of going to law school are you?" He gave me a sheepish grin and nodded. My heart sunk as the inner voice in my head screamed, "Noooooooo! Three more years of school!" I was just beginning to see the "light at the end of the tunnel," but now everything was going dark. If you've ever had a spouse working full-time and going to school full-time with three young children and one car, you will know the darkness and disappointment I felt in that moment. I knew that my life would be drastically changing and I wasn't sure I was going to like it.

In the summer of 2007 after the LSAT exam and the law school acceptance/rejection letters had come, we decided that we would most likely go to Lansing, Michigan. While I was packing up our three-bedroom apartment, my husband was dragging his feet about Michigan and was still waiting to hear from a school in Texas. He liked the school in Texas the most because it was one of the more inexpensive law schools and was in a warm climate. In the meantime, we went to a family reunion in California where my husband expressed his school wishes to his dad. Now I know it was simply divine Providence because Brandon's dad  told Brandon to email the school and tell them how much he wanted to attend their school.

After returning to Boise, Brandon sent an email to the school and received an  acceptance email shortly after. The only problem was that law school orientation was the following week and we were broke. Somehow, everything fell into place once we found a four-bedroom house in Sugar Land, Texas via the Internet and a family member donated money towards our move.

In retrospect, I can see that it was the hand of God who guided us to Texas. It took a leap of faith to get here, but in spite of it all, I'm glad we came.