Hanging with Papa & New Words

Ok Blog Friends... it's been a relatively slow week and I've been trying to get caught up with housework and preparations for Little Man to get here possibly in just a few short weeks. The husband and I did get an awesome surprise on Monday when my Father-in-Law let us know his business trip in Ft. Worth was held over another night and he would have a few hours to spare. With most of Andrews family living out of state even a short bite to eat with any of them is an amazing treat!

Check out Dani Rae's Denton here.

 

He was asking about a seafood place in our neck of the woods and we hadn't found one yet, so my husband set to work locating something to fit the bill. He found Dani Rae's Gulf Coast Kitchen. I had seen the sign for Dani Rae's a number of times while driving around town running errands and had always tried to make a mental note for us to check it out at some point. Since we moved to North Texas from Houston, both of us were missing some good seafood and Cajun food that we had gotten used to having easy access to being near the gulf. My father-in-law agreed it sounded worth while to check out, so we made our arrangements to meet on Tuesday evening.

Our entire party ended up being in 3 different vehicles and we all arrived at varied times, the wait staff was amazingly accommodating even setting up our table and getting us a high chair while I was still waiting for my husband and father in law to arrive. Once everyone finally got to the restaurant we were seated immediately and our server wasted no time in getting us drinks and our appetizer. Now I'm not a fan of pickles, but my husband and father in law and heck even Gemma loved the fried pickles, the plate was devoured in no time.

The menu had a wide selection of seafood and Cajun inspired entrees, all of which sounded yummy. I selected the country fried steak, what can I say the little man in the belly loves him some beef, which had the nice twist of Andouille gravy. The mix of the steak and sausage paired with my chosen side of garlic mashed potatoes was delicious, and even with the big ol' belly I devoured every bite. Which needless to say these days is not an easy task, and requires the food to be really enticing! My husband ordered the Red Beans and Rice which had sausage in it, but also came with a beautiful piece of grilled sausage and some cornbread. My father in law ordered a seafood platter with a combo of fried shrimp and oysters. He keep saying how well the oysters were cooked, which I am not a fan of oysters (you will probably learn I am a slightly picky eater), but he said it can be hard to find oysters cooked properly. I tend to rely on my husband and his family's opinion since he grew up on the northern coast of Florida, and being from central Texas I'm definitely not as well versed.

All in all I would whole heartedly recommend checking out Dani Rae's Gulf Coast Kitchen. We thoroughly enjoyed the staff, décor and of course the food, and will be going back in the near future.

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So after Dinner, we decided to try and walk off some of our awesome meal, and ventured across the street to Barnes & Noble. Gemma of course went crazy in the kiddos section with Andrew and his dad in tow, she took her sweet time picking out a new book which Papa got for her. She loves picture books right now that have vivid pictures with simple words, which are awesome since she is picking up on new words by the second. She has literally spent hours already sitting in my lap turning the pages and asking me "What's that?" over and over. Better yet she repeats the words when I tell her, so we have officially added at least 3 new animal names in two days.

Check it out at Barnes & Noble by clicking here.

(Wanted to post an adorable picture of Gemma reading her new book but per usual the battery on my 4 year old camera died yet again. Cross your fingers I can convince the hubs to let me get a new one for when little man arrives!)

 

She already had the large version of this book, which she loves but it is still kind of large for her to handle on her own, so this smaller version is just perfect for her hands. I have a feeling I might need to go and pick up a few more of these small versions for her. Which is fine since these are quickly becoming a favorite of hers I will likely keep one in my bag for longer outings. She actually sat quietly in her stroller while flipping through it while I finished browsing at Barnes & Noble, of course I'll be honest it only worked for so long. But when you're two and its an hour past your normal bedtime nothing will keep you from getting a little restless at a certain point.

 

All in all a very good day, hope everybody is having a good week, till next time! 

"By Faith We Understand"

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  --Hebrews 11:1

 

Where to begin? I guess I will begin about 6 months ago when this last leg of our journey as a family abruptly began. I received a phone call from my obviously emotional husband that he needed me to pick him up from work, I was given no reason and was just told that I needed to come immediately. I knew in my heart that physically he was fine, but something in his voice on the phone made me fear the worst. I begged with God the entire 10 minute drive, that it not be what I feared. Please let him still have his job! When I pulled up to where he was outside my worst fears were confirmed, he had indeed been let go. Of course you go through the grieving period and boy did we have one heck of a pity party for ourselves. But we soon realized it was getting us nowhere.

Now those who know me, know that I have had a troubled relationship with God for years. I always said we had an understanding. I've always believed but haven't always been too happy with the man upstairs. Since my life has had some trying ups and downs I tended to feel very defeated time after time, when my prayers weren't answered in the way I felt they should have been. But then again I have also been given so much that I only took for granted or chalked up to being in the right place at the right time. But something on that fateful drive just pulled my heart to him and I finally just gave my all to his plan. (Didn't figure out this is what I had done till a little later in the story.)

One of the many little miracles in my life, our precious daughter Gemma (taken 2-2013).

We had already been on a rocky road financially just 2 months before, and had finally gotten back into a good place. We had just found out we were expecting our second child and I was about 2 months along when my husband lost his job. We knew that with his military experience it shouldn't be hard to find another job, so we dove whole heartedly into job-searching. There was a job fair just a week later, but after interviewing with multiple companies it was clear that we would likely have to relocate again. We prayed for what we thought was best and prioritized our picks of which jobs/locations we preferred. At the bottom of that list was our last choice a smaller company in North Texas of all places, we dreaded the thought of moving anywhere close to Dallas. We had heard horror stories and already hated the "city" life we had in Houston, but we both just looked at each other and said we will make it work wherever we had to go. And of course that was the one and only offer that rolled in after weeks of searching. We kept trying to convince ourselves that this would be a blessing in disguise, that this was meant to be. We were stretched thin financially after scraping by waiting for a job to roll around, but surprisingly some money came from an unexpected source, which I now realize was God providing for us. So we were squared away to make the 4 hour trek to North Texas all on the wings of faith, that this was the best thing to do.

Our second little miracle due to arrive August 2013 (taken 5-2013).

Fast forward to Easter, just a few short weeks after the worst move we could have imagined (two weeks really isn't enough time to do it all) we were eager to get out of "box city" as we had deemed our apartment. My husband and I had both agreed when we moved that we would give trying to find a church home another shot after a horrendous experience in Houston. We looked online at churches in the area that might offer us what we wanted. But ultimately decided for our first time out we would go to the one closest to us. I was still hesitant about going to church, again my rocky relationship with God standing in my way, but decided to give it a shot as I saw it in Andrews face he needed this. In the following weeks I felt moved by the series our pastor was doing on Hebrews 11. It was all about faith, and how by moving through life with faith in Gods plan he will provide what you need when you need it. And with all we had been through and still have in front of us it all clicked. We had finally made the leap and had walked this path purely on faith. We were exactly were we needed to be and more importantly were God meant for us to be.

The man I never expected to find, nonetheless marry, and our Gemma Bean (taken 5-2013).

Long story short (kind of) I have finally come to see that my rocky relationship with God wasn't really rocky, I was just choosing to be stubborn in letting go and allowing myself to walk by faith. I have been so inspired lately by this journey that I had begun as a child and followed intermittently through my life, that I now follow it completely. I continue to have hopes and dreams of my own of course but all with the knowledge that they might not be what God has in store for me. He will put his hopes and dreams on my heart when the time comes, and that's the amazing part of the journey is the unknown. I can only imagine where this path will lead and how my life will be transformed.

**Since I am still kind of "wet behind the ears" when it comes to this aspect of my life and how to communicate my faith with others I am asking that you post an inspirational bible verse or quote in the comments section.**

 

Pages I've Linked to this week: 

 

 

 

Midweek Randoms @ "In This Wonderful Life"