Vacation Part 2

Monday night I was able to meet up with some friends at Chuy's - the best Mexican food ever! A lot of us had been friends since middle school, some I have knows since I was about 7. I got to meet my friend Eric's girlfriend - she is great and I am so happy for them.
Anyway, we talked about a lot of old stories, dumb stuff we did, people we knew etc. I laughed so hard and so much that not only was I crying but I think my abs got a serious workout. I have such great memories with these friends. We went on retreats with our huddle at church to the lake every summer, went paint balling, had lock-ins at the church, and generally were together a lot! I was one of the few girls in our class but I loved being able to be just "one of the guys". I think the night was good for all of us - to reconnect, enjoy memories etc.


Jeremy, Eric, Cal, Me, Sam


Chez Dishman and I ( i look weird in this picture)

Tuesday morning I went over to Brad and Sandra Dodd's house. They have moved since I left Austin. The house they have now is absolutely amazing! They bought the house and lived in the back yard in an RV for over a year while Brad basically gutted it and rebuilt it. One of the coolest things is that a majority of the materials used are from other jobs that Brad has worked on. There is no way that I could possibly describe the house and do it justice but I will tell you a few highlights. Inlaid into the wood floor is a star out of wood, surrounded by stone - beautiful. Sandra had Brad move the fireplace to another wall in the living room. I'm not sure how you move a fire place but it is amazing. One of the guest rooms is called something like the restoration room - it has a sign explaining it all. The door to that room is from Sandra's grandparents house, the 4 poster bed in it is one that Brad carved himself. There are also pictures of Nathan and a picture of a team of Marines that ran a marathon under the team name "Dodd".
Brad and Sandra are my friend Nathan's parents. Nathan's older sister Amy also hung out with us Tuesday. It has almost been 5 years since Nate was killed. This family is so special to me for so many reasons. When I was in high school Amy was someone that I really looked up to and admired. She helped me get through many of my own health struggles as she herself struggles with having MS.
I won't get into some of the personal details of our time together - but it was such a blessing and very refeshing to just enjoy each other's company, talk about Nathan and most of all talk about our Heavenly Father.

I left their house and started the drive back to Mansfield. That night Josh and I had a date planned for my birthday. More soon.