Places I have lived...

You may be wondering why I have all these posts of cities and all the fun information. It all started from a friend. We went to high school together and she forwarded me the link to the fun facts about our town, Jenison, where her and her husband met as well as Andy and I. Interestingly enough, we all met up again in the Chicago area where we all lived in the area. Anyway, it got me interested in looking up fun facts about other places I have lived and so I thought it would be fun to post them. I've lived in quite a few places growing up.

I was born in Grand Rapids, MI and lived there until I was in first grade.

In first grade, my family moved to Dutton, MI where I attended Dutton Elementary and then went on to Caledonia Junior High where I only attended for a couple of weeks before my family decided to move.

Shortly after 7th grade, my family moved us to Wayland, MI. It was a cute little town and we had the cutest house. We were all really happy there, but 6 weeks before the end of my 11th grade year my Dad got the itching to move.

So, right before my end of my junior year we upped and moved to Jenison, MI. I hated it at first and I'd come home and cry because I missed my friends and it was an awkward time of the year to try and meet new people when there was only 6 weeks left of the school year. If it wasn't for band I would have been lost...all my closest friends and my first boyfriend came from band and the fact that we were always together helped me to form friendships that bloomed. That was also where I met Andy although we were nothing more than friends then. He used to pick me up for band practices, competitions, and football games and he lived right around the corner. My senior year of high school went very well though, but I owe it all to the friendships that I formed from band. Unfortunately, my parents hated it there and my Mom still says to this day that everything happens for a reason and that move was for me to meet Andy. I owe some really good friendships to that move as well.

In 1996 my parents moved to Red Oak, TX, but I didn't want to come down. My Dad was pretty upset with me for it as I was really already supposed to be down here. I had talked to the Air Force recruiter and was supposed to go to boot camp in San Antonio in 1996, however I needed to lose 20 lbs first so they wouldn't take me. After the fact, Andy and I'd relationship really started and I didn't want to move.

So, on my best friend's wedding day, we went to her reception and I got an emergency phone call saying my parents were leaving for Texas....they weren't waiting until the next day like they said they were...my Dad had the itch to get on with it and since all their stuff waas packed they were on their way. I stood crying in a pizza parlor and came back to my best friend's reception that had just started crying. She was sweet and took me into the bathroom with all the other bridesmaids tofind out what was going on and when she hugged me I got my mascara all over her dress. My Dad wanted me to leave the reception, but I wasn't going to leave her since I was in the wedding and the reception had just started. So, they left and I didn't see them for a good couple of years later.

I started out living with my Aunt and Uncle in Jenison, MI and later moved back to Wayland, MI to live with my friend and her Mom.

In June of 1998, I moved to Chicago, IL, to be near Andy. I had a little studio apartment that he found for me in the Gold Coast so that I could walk back and forth to work. I paid $549 for my little studio apartment. I worked at FAO Schwarz on Michigan Ave and got to see some famous people, Noah Wylie, Anthony Edwards, Dennis (I just forgot his last name...but I thought he was rather rude), Oprah, and there's a couple others I can't remember. We also saw movies being shot and an episode of ER being shot. It was fun, but I was in major culture shock and I didn't like being alone much. Andy was in his last semester at Columbia so he used to come over after school all the time and he used to come get me from work so I didn't have to walk alone. On the 4th of July, he proposed to me on the way back from fireworks in the rain along the lake. We married on September 12, 1998.

We moved up the street to get a 1-bedroom apartment and we paid $1075 for our 1-bedroom. We stayed there for a year and then moved a couple streets over.

We wanted to get a nice 2-bedroom that we found. It was $1250 for our 2-bedroom plus parking and we had the hardest parking spot to get into of all the cars. Andy actually got us wedged in once...we laugh about it now, but man was that spot stressful.

When we found out we were expecting Deidra, we couldn't imagine trying to raise a child in the city, so we moved again. We bought our first house together and moved to Hanover Park, IL. A few months after Deidra was born, Andy's company was bought out by another company and he was laid off. It was very stressful to say the least and he had a hard time finding a new job. A good 7-8 months later he was able to find work again, but the job didn't pay nearly as much as what the other one did and so we were still really struggling. A bunch of stress and a bankruptcy on our record, we chose to move to be near our families as we really felt we needed the extra support with everything that we had been through.

So, in October of 2003, we upped and moved to MI. Andy's dad had built a new 2-story house and since he was hardly ever home he offered us his lower level to stay in. He was exceptionally generous with letting us stay there, but I was anxious to get back into a place of our own after a year went by and it was hard to discipline Deidra and so forth with trying to keep her quiet so his Dad could sleep in the afternoons and after the first year of staying there it became hard on our marriage. We also wanted to add to our family and Andy began looking in Texas for work, although I didn't know that at the time. A few months later, he told me and we put a plan in place to move. We needed to line some things up first. My transfer with Home Depot went through alot sooner than I originally thought it would. It took less than a week to go through.

In April 2006, the day after Easter, Deidra and I drove down to Texas to find a place for all of us to live. My Mom found a place in Waxahachie for us that was close to the church we planned on going to and we met with the landlords and we took it. I spent the rest of the time cleaning the house and getting it ready for us to move in. I flew back to MI on the first of May to help Andy move down and Deidra stayed with my Mom. We really enjoy living here.

In May 2007, we decided to build the house that we fell in love with the floorplan of. We put money down on our lot and they started building a couple of months later. October 11, 2007 we moved in. We don't plan on moving again. We really love our little neighborhood and the people are friendly and Deidra has more kids to play with here than she knows what to do with. We always have a yardfull of kids. :-) We're very happy here and really enjoy it.

Waxahachie, TX

Where we live now and absolutely love it!

Waxahachie is a city in Ellis County, Texas, United States. The population was 21,426 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Ellis County.

Waxahachie, the county seat of Ellis County, is on Interstate Highway 35E and U.S. Highway 287, thirty miles south of Dallas in the central part of the county. The name comes from an Indian word meaning "cow" or "buffalo" and is also the name of a local creek. Waxahachie was established as the seat of the new county in August 1850 on land donated by Emory W. Rogers, a pioneer settler. Rogers, J. D. Templeton,qv W. H. Getzendaner, B. F. Hawkins, and J. H. Spalding were among the first settlers in the community, which began with just over 100 residents and grew rapidly from the start. In 1850 the first county courthouse was built, and a general store and the post office opened. Other businesses and residences soon followed. Local residents had organized a Methodist church in the spring of 1849 at Rogers's home. The first church building was constructed in 1851 on land owned by Rogers. Before the Civil Warqv four churches-Methodist, Baptist, Cumberland Presbyterian, and "Old School" Presbyterian-existed in Waxahachie. The community's first school of any consequence, the Waxahachie Academy, was established in 1860 and operated for thirty-seven years. A system of free public schools soon developed. The community's first bank, owned by J. W. Ferris H.P. Sims and W. H. Getzendaner, began operation on July 1, 1868. The first newspaper, the Waxahachie Argus, began publication in 1870. The town has continued to support at least one newspaper since that time. Waxahachie was incorporated on April 28, 1871, and adopted a mayor-alderman form of government. Four years later the state legislature granted a corporate charter to the investors in the Waxahachie Tap Railroad to construct and operate a rail line to Garrett, twelve miles east. Ground was broken for the line on June 14, 1875; construction was completed, and the line was in operation in September 1879. Within one year of its completion the road transported over 5,000 bales of cotton from Waxahachie and carried over 140 carloads of lumber into the community. The arrival of additional rail lines during succeeding decades combined with the county's growing agricultural production to accelerate prosperity and rapid growth. The Civil War and Reconstructionqv seemed to have little effect on the development of Waxahachie.

By 1880 the population stood at 1,354. The following year the Waxahachie Tap was absorbed by the Houston and Texas Central Railway, which extended the line, and thus the town's connections, to Fort Worth. Six years later the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad built through Waxahachie. In 1876 the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, had founded a high school called Marvin College in Waxahachie; in 1884 the church sold the institution to the town for use as one of six free public schools. That year Waxahachie had ninety businesses. By 1899 it had over 100 businesses, including an electric light factory. Its population rose from 3,500 in 1890 to 4,000 in 1892, and by 1892 four banks and three weekly newspapers operated in the community. The mule-drawn Waxahachie Street Railroad provided public transportation. The population reached 4,215 in 1900. In 1900 and 1901 a cotton textile mill, capitalized at $100,000, began operation. The finished plant had 204 looms and 9,000 spindles and used 4,000 bales of cotton a year to produce single-filling duck and toweling cloth. The plant doubled its capacity in 1907, but, like many of the plants constructed during the South's "cotton mill campaign" of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it eventually became unprofitable and closed down.

Trinity University moved to Waxahachie from Tehuacana in 1902 and operated there until 1942. The Nicholas P. Sims Public Library opened on April 5, 1905, on land donated by W. H. Getzendaner. The library began from Judge O. E. Dunlap's collection. The Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway completed construction through Waxahachie in 1907. Five years later the completion of an electric interurban line from Dallas through Waxahachie to Waco further increased the town's transportation facilities. By 1920 Waxahachie had a population of 7,958 and 200 businesses, including three banks, three cottonseed oil mills, five cotton gins, and two daily and two weekly newspapers. Local manufacturing plants in 1926 included cotton textile mills, a garment factory, a broom factory, and an ice and ice cream factory. Besides Trinity University, a high school and four elementary schools, served 250 students. In 1933, when the town was incorporated, it had a population of 8,042 persons and 280 businesses.

Though population growth slackened during the years of the Great Depression and World War II,qv the reversal was not lasting. The town's number of businesses decreased from 280 in 1933 to 212 in 1945, but its population actually increased to 8,655. This increase was no doubt connected to the local agricultural, commercial, and industrial economic foundation. Although Trinity University left the town in 1942, its grounds were occupied the following year by the Southwestern Bible Institute, which moved to Waxahachie from Enid, Oklahoma. This institution later changed its name to Southwestern Assemblies of God College and became coeducational. A branch of Navarro College is also located in Waxahachie. Between 1952 and 1964 Waxahachie had a population increase from 11,196 to 13,712. Local businesses continued to number around 300. Although the population declined slightly from its high of 15,720 in 1968 to 13,452 in 1977, the town became increasingly industrialized. A cottonseed oil mill, feed and poultry processing plants, and clothing, furniture, and fiberglass manufacturers all operated in the community. In the late 1980s Waxahachie had 336 businesses, including the Waxahachie Daily Light and radio station KBEC.

Waxahachie has been nicknamed the Gingerbread City because of the architecture of several beautiful homes and buildings remaining from before 1900. A yearly tour known as the Gingerbread Trail includes Victorian-style houses with gingerbread carpentry, the most popular architectural style, as well as combinations with Queen Ann's, Classic Renaissance, or Roman Doric revival. The red sandstone and granite Victorian courthouse, designed by James Riely Gordonqv and completed in 1897, graces the town's square. The Nicholas P. Sims Library (1905) and the octagonally shaped Chautauqua Auditorium (1902) are examples of the 300 Waxahachie structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the 1980s four movies were filmed in Waxahachie-Places in the Heart, 1918, and Tender Mercies (all 1985) and The Trip to Bountiful (1986). The town is home to the Ellis County Historical Museum and Gallery and also hosts the annual Scarborough Renaissance Faire and an annual Christmas parade and tour of homes. In 1990 Waxahachie had a population of 18,168.

The first syllable is pronounced "wahks", not "wax" as is often the case. Also, the official Native American meaning of the name is "cow creek" or "buffalo creek" and is not the name of a Native American tribe which is a common misconception.

The city is home to Southwestern Assemblies of God University. Waxahachie is also widely known for being the site of the now-defunct Superconducting Super Collider.

It is also locally known for its elaborate Richardsonian Romanesque courthouse, considered by many to be among the most beautiful of Texas's older courthouses. The town also features many examples of Victorian architecture and Gingerbread homes, several of which have been converted into bed and breakfasts. The city's annual Gingerbread Trails festival features tours of many of these homes.

Additionally, Waxahachie has a growing reputation of being a "little Hollywood." The Academy-Award winning films "Places in the Heart" starring Sally Field and John Malkovich, "Tender Mercies" starring Robert Duvall, and "Walking Tall: The Payback" were filmed in Waxahachie. The long-running television series Walker, Texas Ranger starring Chuck Norris was filmed in Waxahachie.

Employment opportunities in the city are highly oriented toward industry: Owens Corning Fiberglas, Georgia-Pacific, and neighboring Texas Industries and Holcim. Positions for these companies are mainly filled through the Texas Workforce Commission which has an office in the city.

Among the larger non-industrial employers in the city are Baylor Medical Center and The Waxahachie Independent School District.

Waxahachie is served by the Waxahachie Independent School District. The district, recently identified as a rapidly growing district[citation needed], has begun construction on several new campuses. There are currently five elementary campuses, two middle school campuses, a ninth grade center, and two high schools. Waxahachie Global High School, a T-STEM school emphasizing instruction in science, math and technology in a small-learning-community environment, opened on August 27, 2007. Two additional schools are currently under construction and are expected to be finished for the 2008 school year.

WISD aims to offer all of its students a well-rounded education and offers AP and Dual Credit courses as well as varied vocational courses. Waxahachie High School is classified as 4A and offers a range of extracurricular activities to its students, including football, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, baseball, softball, golf, tennis, concert and marching band, drama, choir, drill team, and dozens of academic teams and clubs. Several of the school's programs have achieved national recognition in recent years.

The area is also served by several private schools offering K-12 education.

Two post-secondary educational institutions have campuses in the city of Waxahachie. Navarro College, a junior college located in Corsicana, TX, has a branch in Waxahachie. Southwestern Assemblies of God University is a private four-year university affiliated with the Assemblies of God offering accredited undergraduate and graduate degrees.

I'm officially a Texan...

I passed my driver's vision test and was able to get my Texas driver's license. Thank you, Abba. I also realized why I failed last time...they made me read the very last line. This time they made me read just the 4th.

Going to get my license tomorrow...

and I'm nervous about it since I failed the vision test last time. I pray that my contacts help me out (I'm still trying to get used to them) and that I can pass this time. Say a prayer for me that I'll pass if you don't mind and come home with a new Texas driver's license tomorrow morning.

Abba, please be with me tomorrow and I pray that I will pass my vision test with no problems and that I'll be able to get my new Texas driver's license tomorrow morning.

Happy May! We've been here a year already...

Wow, the first of May marks the one year anniversary of our move down here as a family. I just have to say that we have been so blessed. Andy has found a wonderful company with wonderful people to work for that are just like one big happy family. It's nice to go to work functions of his and have people come up and hug us both just like they have known us forever. This is going to turn out being the best job that he has ever had. He had his review and got his raise and they think he's wonderful and the raise that he got totally reflected that. We never expected the raise that he got. He's been expanding into other areas at work too and they tell him that there's more money out there to be had. I think in another year or so, he'll be making more than he ever did at Siren and that was the highest paying job that he's had yet. I'm not saying that to brag either...it's just nice to see that he's being paid what he's worth again and boy have we learned some things about money then and being debt free. :-) It's nice to see our prayers coming around full circle. I don't think it'll take more than a year to get us down to our debt free goal (well, everything but the house since we're building).

I'm still with Home Depot, but I'm going down to weekends only (if they approve it) the week after Mother's Day. If that's not approved, my last day will be the 11th. But, that gets me one step closer to my goal of returning home again full-time. Really the only thing keeping me there is the insurance that I have for Deidra and I since Andy's family plan at work is so expensive. I'm checking into individual policies though...so that all may change too. I absolutely cannot wait until we begin our foster/adopt journey with our placement(s). I make that plural as we have said that we would take 2-3 and we are open to sibling groups. So, we'll see what God has in store for us. We all are pretty excited about it.

Deidra has been doing awesome at kindergarten this year and is quite the sponge. I love listening to her read and how well she's doing with it. She graduates from kindergarten on the 16th and I get emotional just thinking about it. I am so very proud of her! She's one little girl with a very very big heart too and she can't wait until the kid(s) come to our house. I think she's going to make one very loving big sister. We try to prepare her as much as we can and she really is getting it. She's very excited.

We're still planning on building our house too...we're waiting for the final verdict to come from the landlord on whether we can really do a 6-month lease so that we can go soon and put the money down for the lot. I'm so excited about that!

God has really blessed us here and it really is neat to see all the things that we have prayed for over the past 2-3 years come full circle. We miss our family and friends back in MI...that's the only bad part. But, Texas has been wonderful and we don't regret the move. It's all been good...