Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Deep In The Heart of Texas

I haven't blogged in a  week. That almost never happens! I have a good excuse though. We drove from Ohio to Texas and my schedule was packed even tighter than my suitcase.

For those that don't know, I spent 15 of my 32 years in the Dallas area and they were very important formative years. So, I have a heart connection with that place and the people there. The trip had it's ups and downs for sure, but I would rather focus on the ups.

First of all my best friend flew in from Michigan and we even stayed in the same house so that was tons of fun.

We just happened to be doing our mascara side my side looking into tiny mirrors. Plus we were both sporting messy buns and black jeans. I had to enlist her brother to take a photo. 

We went to many cool coffee shops. I probably had more coffee that week than I drink all year. 

I am a diva when it comes to my macchiatos. Donavan nailed it. 

I photographed a wedding for a dear friend. I'll share more about that later.

This is me with the beautiful bride at the rehearsal dinner. 

And there was the dancing. Oh the dancing. 


We also celebrated the 5 year anniversary of the coffee shop that we helped establish. 

I love these people so much! 

Plus we got to revisit our old church.

We met in our twenties, but we make the 30's look good right?


J lead worship along with others from the team that had moved away. It was the most amazing refreshing time of being in the presence of the Lord. I did not want it to end! 

The arts have supremely high value in this community that we have grown up in. It's shaped who we are today. It was great to hear J play at open mic night. 


This is an older picture. I did not get to see Michael this visit, but I was blessed to discover some of his Dallas street art in Lower Greenville. I love how his hands really tell the story in the above photo (truly an artist with paint stained fingers). This particular piece shown below was for his Handle With Care project which is a non profit organization that uses arts to fight human trafficking. You should check out what Michael and his team are doing. They have a really great mission and God is doing some amazing things through the program.


It's hard to believe so much happened in such a short amount of time. I am so grateful for all of these people and the opportunity to share life with them. 

9 comments:

Cindy Swanson said...

Glad you had a fun trip to Texas! I live in Illinois, but almost all my family lives in Texas...including all three of my grown children and my three grandchildren. They all live in the Austin area, and I get there as often as I possibly can!

Becky said...

What an awesome trip! My husband was in Dallas last week for a conference. It seems like a great city!

Amanda said...

Wow, that looks like a busy but awesome weekend. I love how I am coming across so many unique and fun independent coffee shops on social media. Yay for small businesses!

http://queenofthelandoftwigsnberries.wordpress.com

Bethany Boring said...

Love the pictures! I need to take a trip here sometime! Looks like a blast...

Jennifer Pepito said...

This looks like a wonderful trip, and another reminder of how blessed you are that your husband leads worship. What a fabulous gift to your family.
Thanks for commenting on my empty post. I don't know how that happened! Let's meet up at a blogging conference one of these days, and maybe I can figure out what I am doing.
Blessings,
Jen

Jessica @ Barefoot by the Sea said...

What an amazing and fun week! Thanks for catching us up! I was wondering where you went ;) you lead a busy and fun life for certain! Happy anniversary btw!

Zion said...

Jessica, that comment actually made me laugh out loud. I am not so sure about busy and fun. Most days are really crazy/mundane, but thanks. I do sneak in some excitement every now and then.

Lauren said...

Awesome pics! I love pictures, even if I have no idea who the people in them are =) I've been to Austin and San Antonio and loved both of them... drove through Dallas with my husband in the pouring rain (actually he drove...) and it made me nervous... of course, I don't like driving on a four lane inner-state, so you can imagine my fear =)

{amy} said...

I'm so glad you got to go! Wish I had been able to make it, but we had a few things going on over the weekend...one of them being Cassie's visit! I'm sorry you didn't get to see her but glad y'all got to talk!