Snow. Ice. Snow...Texas and beyond

i know it's been a week or more since the crazy "snowpocalypse", but wanted to share the crazy happenings here in texas & in colorado. 

February 1-3

the ice that fell in central texas caused everyone to have a difficult time when driving. and for the most part, a lot of people stayed home. however, i had to venture out to my parent's house to retrieve their car for them. they were planning on flying back down from CO to ft worth for the rodeo and wanted their car. anyways, i made the 25 mile journey out to the ranch. surprisingly the roads weren't too bad...except for one part...you see my parent's house live up on a mountain and the only way up is by a semi-step road. and when you have an inch or more on that road, it becomes impossible to drive up it. knowing that was the likelihood of the outcome, i still tried to prove myself and my dad wrong (he actually advised me to NOT even try to go up the hill). i learned that he was right very quickly. i started up the hill and about halfway up i started sliding. i couldn't go up or down, just sideways. my car was now diagonal on the road and close to the ditch. so i popped it in park, put the hill brake on and threw my bag on my shoulder to hike up the rest of the hill in the frigid cold temp. once i got up to the house i built a fire and settled in for the night. 

the morning came quick when i woke up to an ice cold house. yep it was 50 degrees. the heaters were not working, except only one in a certain part of the house.  oh and NO WATER either. come to find out one of the electrical boxes had froze, thus no heat. and our water well had froze. my uncle along with one of our ranch hands and i, we trying to use our limited knowledge and figure all of this out. 

my car was the next project on the list. it only took them a few pulls to get it straightened out and down the hill. clearly i was not going to even try to drive my parent's car down the icy slope. once we got everything settled at the house i headed back to town to my sister's place (i live in the barn apt out back). i had to get on back to check on the animals and to make sure everything was working properly. it was an adventure surviving the ice. 

February 4-7
friday i flew to colorado to meet up with my family. interestingly enough, it was a snowy blizzard here in texas the day i was flying out. by the time i left at noon, we already had 4-5 inches of snow on the ground. seriously? and i was flying to MORE snow. 

anyways, my time skiing with the family was great! it was a much needed break. while i was there for the weekend, we received a foot of snow. made skiing a bit more difficult, but it was SO fun! (click here to read about my sister's family trip to CO) 

here are few pictures from colorado...

the kids playing dominoes & other games...

they were sick the whole week they were there

 esther and i on the lift...

monday, feb 7 was when i flew back to texas. however, it never fails that my travel days are always full of more adventure.  i woke up that morning to find that my flight was cancelled and then even rerouted. i spent the next couple hours on the phone figuring out how to get back to texas before my volleyball practice. ends up i had to fly out of denver, which was about 90mins from where we were. but of course, the highways had been hit hard with snow and ice. it took us over 3 hrs to get to the airport. i made it there in time to find out that my flight was delayed. i just started laughing because that would happen. i did make it back just in time for practice though! :)

flying back at sunset always as it's perks...

February 7-13

every monday and thursday i have club volleyball practice. then we had a student ministry fundraiser for summer mission trips friday night. then i ended the week with a volleyball tournament in the dfw area. whew!

February 18-20 (this weekend!)

i'm headed up to oklahoma city for the weekend with a dear friend of mine. i love road trips. especially with great friends like Jen! 

even though it was a crazy week with the weather, i now have memories of all the excitement! thankful for the journey..!

Winter Park, CO

Madeline and I

Kailey, Me, Jordan, & Madeline

(some of my small group girls)

Us again...

Down town Winter Park eating dinner

Lauren, Madeline, and Me

Simply Gorgeous!!

In fast forward

Again, it's been two weeks almost since my last post. I really can't believe how fast the days go by. Even though there is craziness in my life, I love every moment. Not one of them is a surprise from the Lord.

To catch you up on the past events:

March 5: I headed to Austin, Tx to watch my camper, Sally, play in the semi-finals at the 2A State Basketball tournament. I met up with 2 of my friends from Kanakuk, Tanya Beardsley and Bethann Boitmann. God graciously blessed my time down in Austin to visit and catch up on life! It refreshed me in so many ways to see them and Sally. I also made an extra stop on my way out of town to see one of my best friends, Sarah. Such a fun day!!

March 9: Started the Believing God Bible Study with 15 high schoolers! God has been so good in blessing our time together. We have met 2 times already and I am blown away at how God moves and enriches our fellowship! Each week as we move deeper into the study, pray that God would penetrate even more in every heart and draw us to a greater understanding of who God is!

March 12-17: I had a volleyball tournament down in Houston and then spent the beginning of this week in Colorado with part of the youth group from First Baptist Hurst. Some of my girls in my small group were on that trip and I was able to spend more time with them. We had a blast skiing in Winter Park and making fun memories! With going on trips like this, I believe God has called all of us to truly live life with others. To walk alongside one another, encouraging, sharpening, and pushing them closer to Jesus Christ.

**Unexpected turn of events: Saturday, March 13 my sweet Mom, Dad, and brother were riding horses on the ranch as usual. However, during a normal day, the horse my mom was riding was spooked and jolted quickly. Mom was thrown off, hitting the ground hard and landing on rocks. She landed on her RIGHT shoulder which we came to find out she had broken her humerus bone in multiple places. My Dad and brother rushed her to the hospital and she ended up having surgery the next day. The doctors had to put in 12 screws, a plate, and a bone graft. She is RIGHT handed so this will be a new adventure for her to begin learning to do things with her left hand as she is healing. She was released from the hospital Tuesday (March 16) and has been adjusting to the "new normal" with Dad trying to take care of her. Please be praying for the bone graft to take, quick healing, the next several months as she is recovering and in physical therapy. And also keep praying for Dad as well. Pray for him to continue to have strength and energy as he is enduring this with Mom.

I am heading home for the weekend to be with Mom and Dad! I'm praying that it will be refreshing for all of us!! We continue to look to the Lord and plead His blood. We are believing and trusting God's purposes are true and right. May He be glorified in all of this!!

Colorado Trip & Wedding #2

Well my time in Colorado was wonderful and I loved being with my family every minute! I couldn't believe how nice the weather was for winter skiing in Colorado. Usually this time of year it's in the single digits...which sometimes is way too cold for me to be on the mountain. However, it was in the 20's the whole week. We got some snow the first few days we were there which made the skiing even more perfect! My nephew and 2 nieces picked right back up on their skills on the slopes. It was so fun watching them come down the mountain just laughing and singing. And I have you know that my nephew, Jesse, tried snowboarding for the first time and did amazing!! All in all, it was a great trip that went way too fast! :(

Here are few videos...

*JJ (my sister) and Ruth and Esther Skiing*

*This was the most hilarious thing ever!

*Riding up to go to dinner

(the building you see is where we stay)

As soon as I got back, I had my second wedding to go to! YIKES! My sweet friend, Regan, from Baylor was getting married in Fort Worth. It was a beautiful ceremony and fun reception. I got to see a lot of my college friends including roommates and chi o's. That is one thing that I love about Weddings is that it brings everybody together for such fun events. I was definitely exhausted after all of that and needed a couple of days to recoup before jumping back in to work after being gone for 10 days. I love traveling and doing fun things, but when you have a lot of on your plate back at work...it's really hard to hit the ground running again.

I have managed to gradually begin catching back up on things here at Family Legacy. This is our busy season and with each day that passes it's brings us one day closer in leaving for Zambia. I can't believe that I have 114 days left...AHH...so much to do!! God has been so good through it all and as we merge closer and closer to our departing date, I can't help but just thank the Lord for all that He has done! I am still so humbled each day to come and be an advocate for these orphans in Zambia. 

This weekend I get to finally go to a conference!!! It's World Mandate in Waco, Tx. The church I went to at Baylor is called Antioch Community Church and they are the ones who host this conference each year. What I love so much about it is that you get to hear what God is doing in so many other parts of the world and how He uses ordinary people to do extrodinary things for His Glory and Name. I love worshipping as a corporate church with those who have a passion for Jesus and His purposes on earth. I can't wait!! 

Walking Deeper with Him,

Joy