Don't Mess with Texas

Alllrighty. April 17th was the last post and we had just gotten into Dallas. Weeeelll, we are still here. This week has essentially been a time of much needed rest & re-cooperation. On Wednesday we pretty much went to every thrift store in town looking for skirts or summer dresses that I could wear because I have discovered that jeans are not friends with summertime or the south....I happen to be painfully near both of these! We stumbled upon "Plato's Closet", pretty much the most awesome thrift store I've ever seen! I guess they pay people for their clothes so they get a lot of nice stuff. Anyways, I found a couple of dresses but there were like $8 and $16. Eight isn't bad, but for $16 I might as well just go to Target and buy a new dress! It's funny how that would have been a good deal back home but now, $8 might be too much! Oh priorities. This whole "summer heat" thing was never a problem back home-all I had to do was throw on some basket ball shorts but out here I feel a little strange going up to people looked like a bum. I guess it's not that big of a deal since technically I am, but they don't know that. Anywho, the dresses were a no go. Next step-church! Calvary Chapel Plano! Plano is a small city just north of Dallas. We got there around 6 and ate dinner (which they serve for free!) with our friend Sabrina Pagenkopp. Ok, backstory-2008 Marc & the homie Aaron Pagenkopp went and did hurricane relief in Texas/Louisiana. Marc only stayed for 2 weeks but Aaron was there for a month. During this time he met Sabrina, who was from Calvary Chapel Plano. They met, they hit it off, they fell in love (that might have happened later, but it's more romantic this way). Eventually Aaron moved to Texas where they dated & fell more in love & got married! That was 2 years ago, which brings us to the present. Ok, back to the mainstory-eating dinner with Sabrina! The dinner was a disgusting mush of nastiness! It has ham, rice, pineapple, peas, & corn....I think. It really was the most interesting food....ever. Like leftovers meatloaf, but I ate it cause it was free! After church the 4 of us & Teresa & Nolan Rising went out to Taco Cabana! yummy! Another backstory is needed! Back home a few months ago, Marc went to a friend's house (Jennifer Negrette, perhaps you know her! lol) to pick up her son (Gabe) so they could hang out. Just so happens, her sister (Teresa) was in town from Texas. Marc told her about what we were going to be doing so she said to look her up when we get to Texas! Turns out she goes to the same church as Aaron & Sabrina! So we all went to dinner! Thursday was a bunch of doing nothing...it was great :) Friday was another day of doing nothing :) I think actually...I don't really remember lol. In the evening we went to church & afterwards went out for frozen yogurt. The people we met at the church were really cool. Crazy story! The pastor was leaving the next day (Saturday) to go out of town to teach at a different church. Then he was coming back and on Monday flying to Haiti! Then coming back for the youth lock in on Friday! (I think anyways.) Either way, crazy schedule! Saturday was an experience and a half! Teresa picked us (Marc, Sabrina, and I) up and we headed to Fort Worth for the rodeo! As we pulled into this town it really did look like it would be a Universal Studios backlot. Old town cowboy look. Sweetness. It was crazy-there were cowboys everywhere! So we get down to the main street and see this sign:

Fort Worth Stockyards! Where we saw this:

a cattle drive! Marc was a little bit worried about the bulls going crazy and attacking me, but Sabrina assured him that they were "Disney cows" and just did what they were told. We walked around, looked in some shops, and then headed over to Riscky's to have some Texas bbq. I had a chicken sandwich that would've been great if they had normal BBQ sauce but Marc, Teresa, and Nolan all had All You Can Eat beef ribs for $9.95! Crazy price! After dinner Aaron met up with us and we headed to the rodeo! It was awesome, no lie. When it started off they played "The stars at night are big and bright, down in the heart of Texas" then everyone would clap 4 times. It was SO sweet!!! It made me love Texas even more! The rodeo was sick! Bull riding! (Which nobody successfully accomplished). Calf roping! Bronco riding! Barrel racing! A really awesome thing was that I won a pair of boots in a raffle that Teresa bought us a ticket for! The Lord is good! :) I actually really wanted to win, too. After the rodeo, we headed somewhere I hoped to never be! A honky tonk! Not just any honky tonk....Billy Bob's. The world's biggest honky tonk. (We got in free with our rodeo ticket stubs-definitely wouldn't pay to go to a glorified Branding Iron!) Rich (from Big & Rich) was performing, not that that mattered much to me. We were only there for about 10 minutes. Everyone else wanted to line dance but nobody was dancing so we bounced. (phew) Sunday was church! Then we went to Cabela's (basically Bass Pro Shop) and Cavender's Boot Barn to try on boots :) Welcome to Texas! Cabela's was kinda crazy because of all the semi-automatic weapons they had for sale. Sick. That night we headed over to Marie's house. (Teresa is staying with her until her house is ready....long story). A few of the high schoolers & young adults & regular adults were there and we had a time of eating, worship, and good times. This was when I discovered Duck Dynasty...best hick show ever. It is SO funny & fantastic! Watch it! They're even Christian! haha so far anyways Monday we hung out by the pool.....marvelous :) then headed over to another couple's house (Christine & Brandon) with Aaron & Sabrina for a couple's get together. There were 7 couples there altogether! In a one bedroom apartment! Geez! But it all worked out and it was a blessed time with tons of food (phase 1)! At one point Marc got up to go to the bathroom & looked at a picture on the wall and he knew one of the guys! He was Christine's brother! Small world. Phase 2 was worship with a short devo & phase 2 was Oodles, a trivia game we played. Boys vs. girls. Of course, the girls won :) I have a new nickname-ninja! Haha it was a ton of fun! We left at 1 am which was not so great for Aaron, who worked the next day. Tuesday was another pool day :) Today was pretty cool! Marc, Aaron, and I caught the train down to Dallas. We walked around downtown and saw the grassy knoll & the X on the street where JFK was shot. That was some pretty crazy stuff! Our time in Dallas is coming to an end. Tomorrow we are making dinner for Aaron & Sabrina then going to Nolan's last baseball game. Friday morning we will be leaving for Oklahoma City! The vacation is over!