Blog 14: Houston Homecoming and a big truck

Houston was a nice stop.  We have been dreaming of Culver’s cheeseburgers, Chuy’s jalapeno sauce, our Church, and our close Houston friends for months and it finally arrived.  The Resendez graciously opened their home to us for the week and our tenants offered “our house” to us for Christmas morning since they were also away for the holidays.  Everything was perfect. 

We arrived on Christmas Eve with only one detail left open (a pretty big one too).  What would our car rental look like?  For the entire trip so far we had used miles to pay for everything; flights from NYC to Knoxville, Knoxville to STL, STL to Houston, and a car rental in STL… But in Houston we needed a car rental for 12 days with a pick-up in Houston and a drop in Dallas… and, it needed to be big enough to handle a bunch of luggage.   By all accounts, this was going to be spendy (1500 to 2000 usd) and that gave me nausea.  However, we found National rental and signed up for the membership program that granted us full access to anything on the lot.  And, since the flight was really early, the best options were still available.  In the end, we rented a Full-size Dodge Ram pickup truck for 550 usd (a total steal and the only thing that would work for our luggage situation). 

Once we arrived in Houston, we scrambled to get everything unpacked and organized well-enough so we could go to church around noon.  And then spent the afternoon hanging out with Brandon and Kristi and prepping for Christmas and went to a Christmas Eve party at Clint and Kristie’s house.  As we hoped, late that night Santa found our old house and left the presents there for the kids (what a relief)… and all was right with the world on Christmas morning.  It was a whirlwind 24hrs.  We stayed up late the night before (because no one wanted it to end), woke up at 3am so we could catch a 6am flight, and then ended around 10pm. 

We originally planned to be in Houston on Christmas so we could see the Texans play the Steelers… however we opted out since the Texans were horrible and Christmas day tickets still ran up the prices to 125 per person for nosebleed.  We ended up spending the day with Clint and Kristie again after the Christmas morning activities finished.

It was a quick trip.  We couldn’t see everyone, but we did our best.  Jacob was invited to play in a soccer game and practice with his old team (that was so much fun) and we went to see the University of Texas play in a bowl game after spending the day with the Hafers.  We enjoyed a nice lunch at Del Frisco’s with Phil and the Mannings.  The kids found their friends and their groove quickly and disappeared for hours everyday. 

Amanda and I just relaxed for the most part… talked about what we missed about Houston and enjoyed time with friends. 

Picture 1 - Morning glory:  The upside to 6am flights is the sunrise... Seeing Houston in the distance was also a nice feeling. 





Picture 2 - Big trucks and great church:  While we miss the people the most, our church is a whole in our lives right now.  We just love that place so much.  We have found ways to fill the whole, but it isn't the same.  We will really enjoy coming back to this place.    

Picture 3 - Christmas at home?  SO, we are renting our house... which is a nice upside to our assignment, but even better upside is that our tenants let us spend Christmas morning there to open presents...  They only rent the space for M-F usage and had planned a couple weeks back at home in New York.  Santa found us and the kids were totally pumped. 


Picture 4 - Lots of giving:  The gifts were a mix of Amazon Prime to Kristi's and stuff we brought from China... but, all of them had to find their way back to China. 


Picture 5 - Great gifts:  The calendar was Sam Smolik's idea.  He recommended we buy a calendar and map everything out for the year.  It was a great idea.  Amanda is more into experiences now rather than stuff and concerts are her thing... Imagine Dragons were coming to Shanghai, so i bought tickets so she could go with her friends.  And, it isn't Christmas without buying the biggest nerf gun in the store. 


Picture 6 - The best gifts are those you don't wrap:  Kids immediately fell back into their old routine and connected with their friends.  These are just a few really great pictures.


Picture 7 - Old Team Invitation:  Jacob's old team recruited him back to play for one night... that was totally special.  Jacob's soccer skills have improved quite a bit. 


Picture 8 - Resendez love:  We stayed with B&K and spend a lot of time at C&C's house.  Both family's really invited us in with open arms.  So good to feel like a part of their lives. 


Picture 9 - BBQ and extended families:  I don't know where the Resendez brothers learned to cook, but both of them crushed it over Christmas.  Brandon on the smoker and Clint on the grill.  It was amazing.  

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