Our new station!

As many of you know, we found out where Drew is stationed!! We are going to Coryell County which is west of Waco.



We drove through there this past weekend and the area is just beautiful - lots of character to the land. Rolling hills, creek bottoms with pecan trees, grassy field with big oaks trees. A beautiful mix between the post oak savannah area of Texas and the hill country. We will still be fairly close to our beloved hill country.

We also had the privilege of meeting Drew's co-workers and Captain at a kid-fish event this past weekend. While Coryell is a single warden co (meaning Drew works by himself) these are his co-workers in surrounding counties. Everyone was so welcoming!

A great blessing is that it is only 45 minutes - 1 hour from where we are now and it's only 3 hours from each of our families. We were really nervous that we would be put on the border - which is pretty dangerous right now. My heart goes out to those wardens and their families that were placed there. We knew that God has a purpose for wherever we would be placed and could completely trust in His will. We are excited to discover what purpose He has for us in Coryell.

The main city in Coryell is Gatesville. Growing up in Huntsville, the prison capital of Texas, it seems like I can't get away from prison cities :)! The women's death row maximum security prison is in Gatesville!!



Here are a few other interesting facts:
Boasts the "last drive in movie theatre in Texas" and the largest spur collection in the world!



Part of the large Fort Hood base is in this county.
There are a 15 small towns throughout the county. You can click here for some interesting pics of them: http://www.texasescapes.com/CentralTexasTownsNorth/GatesvilleTexas.htm

We are in the midst of finding a place to live. Only 4 more weeks today until Drew graduates!! We cannot wait to live together again!

Thank you for all of your prayers, we'll keep you updated with pictures of our new county and new home.....once we find one :)

Dear Family & Friends,

It has been a while since I have written!

Drew and I are excited that our time apart is soon coming to a close. He has 2 1/2 more months left in the academy! Woo hoo! I can't WAIT to live with my husband again. We have wonderful times on the weekends, but it's still not the same. In early April we will be able to pick our top 3 choices for him to be stationed (doesn't mean that we'll get them) and late April we should know where we are going.

We have had a lot of change these past few months with moving, now moving again, living apart - a different season of our lives -- but the Lord has been very gracious and compassionate to us during this time. Time and time again, the Lord is reminding us to put out hope in Him - not our circumstances. Drew can't wait to be done with training and really start his job!

For our 4th anniversary (Jan. 22nd), our good friend Amy, took pictures of Drew and I -- she did an AWESOME job! You can check them out here:

Click on this link to see them all: Drew & Jessica's 4th Anniversary Pictures

As many of you know one of passions is nutrition & healthy eating. Some wonderful ladies, Lori Martin & Jacki Nyberg in Tallahassee taught me a lot (especially about the benefits of grinding your own grain) as did a wonderful nutritionist Krystal Gray. I believe and research shows so many illnesses and problems we experience can be helped or cured with eating whole foods & not processed foods. I LOVE experimenting in the kitchen and making healthy recipes. At the beginning of marriage and my experimentation things didn't always turn out ok...but Drew was always gracious!

Here's a compilation of some of my most recent creations:

Homemade Chicken pizza with fresh stone ground wheat

McDonald's Egg McMuffin has nothing on me! Fresh spelt biscuits with flax seeds, eggs and deer sausage


Yummy salad with roasted asparagus

I have learned so much and am continuing to learn a lot about nutrition -- if any of you have good books you'd like to recommend on nutrition, I'd love to read them. Luckily, Drew is as interested in healthy eating as I have become --- and he sure doesn't mind eating whatever I make (now that is)! I am SO excited about the yummy cake I made today that I had to share -- here is the receipe for anyone that wants to try it:

Carrot/Pineapple Cake

(I doubled this and it made 2 9" round cakes that I stacked and put icing inbetween)

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I used fresh ground)
3/4 cup sugar (I used Sucanat)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon (or more to taste - I like LOTS)
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
2/3 cup applesauce (I made mine with older apples I had in the fridge)
2 eggs (I used my mother-in-laws eggs from her chickens!)
1 cup finely shredded carrot
1/2 cup juice packed pineapple (with juice)
1 teaspoon vanilla

The cake is so healthy but it's the icing I used that KILLED it!

1 stick butter

1 pkg creme cheese

16 oz box of powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

(I didn't make either of these recipes up, I found them online)

Well, I hope life is treating you and your family well. I encourage you as Drew and I are discovering more and more to rest your hope in Christ.

Much love,

Jessica

January

Here are some of our highlights from January:

Drew enjoyed a field trip to a small town outside of Abilene, trying to catch illegal hunters. He loved it & can't wait to "get in the field":
Courthouse in that small town.....

It was open country...at least they took advantage of the wind power out there! If only I had one of these next to my house, I'd have electricity galore with all the wind where I live!

We also celebrated 4 wonderful years of marriage in January! We feel like we're still newlyweds on a great adventure! We have a blast together and feel so grateful to the Lord for these past 4 years. To celebrate we went to Austin (such a cool city!)......walked around the capitol building:

Went to the massive whole foods store (we were like kids in a candy shop!), ate at a delicious Greek food restaurant downtown and went for coffee at Mozarts on the lake to top off a wonderful day!

Since we were unfortunately not together on our actual anniversary, I mailed Drew this yummy cookie cake and he sent me beautiful flowers! What a wonderful husband!


Let's see...the next weekend, I attended an awesome Arbonne VP conference in Oklahoma City. I love these ladies that I have the privilege of working with including my wonderful mom! She looks so young and trendy!


and Drew went hiking at one of our favorite Texas State parks...Enchanted Rock. This huge rock with caves and peaks that you can climb all in and over. You can actually see Enchanted Rock from our deer lease and that's where Drew spent the weekend with his dad & youngest brother, John Michael.


Towards the end of January I was cooped up trying to keep warm from the ice/sleet storm -- my car got covered!

This weekend we decided to kayak a river that fed into Lake Georgetown, about 30 minutes south of where we live. So we found a spot to park, Drew wheeled the kayak to the water and we were ready to go! The river look a bit low, but not impassable for a kayak.....


That water quickly dried up...but we were not deterred by having to "portage" the kayak over the dry spot, because it led to this beautiful part of the river...

We would not even be deterred by 2 more portage spots...even after the kayak falling off the wheels repeatedly & Drew having to rig it up with his fishing stringer, until we came to this spot!

So much to our amusement we had to HIKE over a mile out of the river on the biking trail! Drew got some good speed on the downhills!

No matter what we always have a grand adventure!

What a great start to 2009!

Small town.....

Doesn't my blog look pretty now? My great friend and blogger extraordinaire, Amy Busti made my blog look so beautiful which inspired me to post just to show it off! Thanks Amy!

While I grew up in a relatively small town, I have not wanted to live in any town smaller than my hometown. On the other hand, Drew loves small towns....actually I think he could live out in the middle-of-nowhere (Little House on the Prarie) and be perfectly fine. Tallahassee was great, I loved the size, friends, "small town type of feel" and everything at your fingertips, but at times I didn't always feel safe at night in my own house (especially the time when Drew was on patrol, told me to turn the lights on and get armed because there was a break -in in progress a few houses down from us & he was heading our way fast! That's not a fun way to get woken up in the middle of the night!).

I thought I didn't care to personally live in a small town...that is until Salado. This town is SO cute and I feel so safe here.
Who wouldn't feel safe with a red barn right off of the main street?

Or love having a little creek running through your town....I love to walk here with Rookie or sit and read a book....


Salado has tons of bed & breakfasts....this is one on Salado Creek - everytime I go here I get the urge to wade across the river just to enjoy a few peaceful moments in that hammock. This picture reminds me of the mountain streams and little cottages we loved so much in North Carolina.

Another bed & breakfast....yes, this is Texas - wagon and all!
Drew trying out his new camera during our Sunday afternoon stroll around the town. One of the historic bed & breakfasts behind me.


Again...so cute (a secret flower garden behind one of the gift shops)! I think I've come to believe that small towns are wonderful...if they're cute! I am adjusting to small town living (although I drive 20-30 minutes to even grocery shop!). There are great perks like....the post office clerks already know me! This may be my training grounds for whereever we move next with Drew's job...could be a really small West Texas or border town....which I have a hard time believing will beat Salado on my "cuteness" scale.

Baby Sophie

Sally (as many of my friends in Florida say, "Sally, you're best friend Sally") & Wade are now proud parents to baby Sophie! She was born via c-section on Dec. 26 - Wade's birthday. Drew and I were able to celebrate her 2nd day of life by seeing her. She is so cute! This is her "thinking" pose.

I am so happy for Sally and Wade and know they will be great parents. Sally is looking so good.

We just loved holding her and are looking forward to watching her grow up!

We've been everywhere....Christmas 2008

Our Christmas was wonderful! We haven't been able to spend Christmas day together with family in 3 years, so this was extra special. We felt like the song says, "I've been everywhere man, I've been everywhere"! Here are a few glimpses of our Christmas travels:

First we celebrated April's (Drew's cousin) college graduation, my sister's 21st birthday and Christmas with my family:

My niece, Makenna is getting so big and now says, "Drewww" and "Jess". She smiles and flirts with Drew a lot. She is active and a lot of fun, we love being closer to watch her grow. Jonathan and Karen are such great parents and that is neat to watch them parent her in a loving, Godly way. Here she is being a big girl:

We then enjoyed a special Christmas concert on the 23rd with the Busti family. Ally Beth and Blane played several solos, Amy & I played a duet and I also led us in guitar singing. It's fun to use my musical background in this way. We admire Amy and Tony for focusing their family on Christ, not only during Christmas, but with everyday life. It's been such a wonderful learning experience for us (and particularly me, since I am around more) to be near them and watch how they parent their children. With Drew being gone so much, their home has been my "second home" and having Amy close has really helped me not be lonely during this time. Living close to them is one of the many blessings I am thanking the Lord for this season!

The musicians: Me, Amy, Ally Beth and Blane

My parents even came up for the concert and stayed with us a few days before Christmas. We had a great time, hiking, shopping and hanging out!

Another reminder that we are back in Texas, is Drew in his cowboy get-up. All of our Florida friends will get a kick out of this, since they have never seen Drew like this. I think he looks CUUUTE!!

Christmas Day! What a treat for Drew and I to have Christmas morning together and then spend time with my mom's family in Boerne, Tx. It is a large family gathering and we have tons of fun together. Here are all the guys making the trash can turkey. apparently it was "black hat" day.

We absolutely love this part of of Texas and hope to be stationed in the hill country after Drew is done with the academy. Drew has completed almost 2 months of the academy - time is flying by! 5 more months to go. It will be exciting to see where we end up....we will know about 1 month before the academy is over, so it will be a quick move! It is crazy to think that we could be as far from our family living in Texas as we were living in Florida. We are hoping that's not the case, but know we will be where the Lord wants us to be and we will also make the best of where ever we get put.

Finally, we went to the farm to see Drew's grandparents at the Farm (notice the cute cowboy again):

And then celebrated Christmas with Drew's parents and siblings. Drew shooting guns and romping around with his little brother while we were there. Here's Drew with his beautiful mom, Tami.

I saw Drew off today for 2 weeks. He is going to Abilene, Tx over New Year's on a field trip to deer hunting camps. He went on a field trip to the coast 2 weeks ago and LOVED it! He got to drive an airboat, check duck hunters, board a BIG shrimping boat and so much more....I can't wait to hear the stories he'll have to tell this time. He's on a grand adventure and can't believe he gets paid to do this!

As we are recounting our blessings this Christmas and New Year's we are so thankful for each one of you and the impact you have on our lives. We pray that you have a wonderful upcoming New Year!

Love,
Jessica

To see more of our pictures you can click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2557456&l=9c1c0&id=5244184

Five weeks....

Dear Friends & Family,

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are looking forward to celebrating Christ's birth. Drew and I feel so blessed and thankful this holiday season. We are especially thankful for all of you in our lives.

Well, it's been five weeks since we left Tallahassee and we are getting settled into our new home. Our good friends, the Busti's, who live 5 minutes down the road from us, have really helped to make our transition easier. It's been such a blessing living so close to them! Amy and I have been doing pilates together and Drew & I are getting to "borrow" Amy & Tony's 3 wonderful children to practice our parenting skills while allowing them some date time!

For Thanksgiving we went with Drew's family to our hunting lease in central Texas, the "hill country". We had such a great time (even though I did get deer blood on me!).

Drew shot this buck on Thanksgiving day. While I don't mind being outdoors or roughing it ---




holding the deer legs so Drew can gut it, is not my cup of tea!


Picture: me and my sister-in-law Mary hiking around the lease

We really love the rugged beauty of the hill county and would love to be stationed here one day. Game wardens actually stopped by the hunting camp one day and Drew got to talk with them. One of them said it took him 12 years and the other 20 years to get stationed in that county. Maybe we won't have to wait that long.....


Other exciting news: We found a church to attend! It was important to us to get plugged in right away to a church since we will probably only be in the are for 6 more months. We decided on Temple Bible Church and have loved the 2 Sunday's we've been so far. They have a great young married's Sunday school class and I will be getting involved in Women's bible study/maybe a small group. Everyone has been so nice and welcoming, I had forgotten that Texans were extra friendly!



I have had the pleasure of traveling around Texas for my Arbonne business and seeing friends and family while doing business! I love it! Here is my best friend Sally and I from this past week. Lord willing, Sally and Wade will be welcoming Sophie Catherine to the world this month!! And here I am as a proud Aunt with my niece Makenna. I have been around more and now she knows my name!

Drew is doing really well at the Game Warden academy. He is learning a lot and they are working them hard! This weekend he gets to go down to the coast and learn how to check duck hunters and fishing boats. He is really enjoying getting to know the guys that he rooms with.

I think the saying that "Distance makes the heart grow fonder" (at least I think that's what it is) is so true. We have really been enjoying our weekends together. This weekend we went kayaking on a lake only 15 minutes away!

Have a blessed week and we'll be in touch soon!