Just the beginning

Great news! So... Felix has accepted an amazing job in Tempe, Arizona. He will be the European Sales manager for a night vision/ thermal weapon company who provides equipment to emergency response teams, marine, aviation and military groups. Last night Felix flew from Houston to German to start his new adventure. I want to start keeping you up to date on our new life so this is the beginning!


Stormy air in Germany...


Letter from Felix:
Travel Log May 3, 2010
May 3, 2010
Leipzig, Germany
Begin: 4:57: pm
I will soon have completed my first day of international travel. Right now, I am sitting in my hotel room, 402, typing while looking out the fully open European still window. It’s a rather gloomy day with a few showers here and there with lots of low hanging dark grey clouds but I like it.

I am traveling and getting paid to do it. I am so grateful my honey, Kelcey, allowed for me to take this job. I really think it is going to be one of the better decisions of our lives. I also think I see a nuclear power plant hiding amongst the nice German countryside. Oh, our taxi driver made sure to point out the Porsche Cheyenne factory as we pasted it on our way to our hotel.

I have flown from Phoenix to Houston and Houston to Frankfurt, Germany and concluding with a short flight to Leipzig, Germany. Let’s just say the hotel is not anywhere close to where our convention in going to be but we were able to see a lot of the city and it has some really beautiful parks and restored buildings. The taxi alone cost us 38 Euros but we weren’t going to fuss with the train.

We, Allen and I, are staying in the Atlanta Hotel, which is nice but I have to smile at the use of the word “Atlanta” since I am from “Georgia.” I have packed way too much so I have already started writing list of everything I am using on this trip so I don’t repeat mistakes. My bag is 66lbs. That’s ridiculous…even for me. My goal next time in one carry-on and one packet back under 40lbs.






I have really missed being able to write to Kelcey. I think this way will be a really good way to keep people up to date on my dealings and bring my Love with me. I am taking pictures with my blackberry so I can then e-mail them to Kelcey.

I have used a little of my German but I really need to pick it up so let me get back to my flight. I was really fortunate to get place in a 4 person middle row with two empty seats. That meant that I had an empty seat on both sides of me. It makes a big deal with you’re traveling 9 hours. I spent my time between sleeping, reading “When Sinners Say I do” which I am finding a very engaging and encouraging read, and eating.

I was traveling on Continental and then Lufthansa. The people were nice, the food was really good, but our plane was 40 minutes late. We thought we might miss our connection but poor weather was pushing everyone back.

The pushed pack departure was a good thing considering Allen and I felt like we had to walk across Germany to get to this gate. Trust me; Gate C11 at Frankfurt to Gate A40 is quite the little jaunt. But we made. Allen already had his ticket with a seat assigned so he just got on when called. I was on stand-bye for technical reasons, which ended up meaning we had a full plane. That’s what they said, “Plane is full,” which I was not to happy about because my CEO was on the plane and I was not.

After they said the plane had everyone on board, they then decided it was finally time to call out my name. They told me to pass on through, which I did with a elated heart. I was literally the last person on that completely full plane. Thank God for very for a little extra coverage.

Writing a page takes me about a half an hour. I am just trying to get an idea of how long it takes me to do things so I plan better. Out the window I can see old people riding their bikes together and it makes you really think about what matters in life.

I’ll end with this as I’m headed to bed. Allen and I toured Leipzig, ate too much schnitzel and I got a work out/ Jacuzzi time / sauna time. Life is great but it would be better with Kelcey here!
End: 10:56 pm

What used to be and what's to come...

For the past twenty years I have been a Texan. I moved to Houston, TX when I was six. I remember my first day of Sunday School with Mrs. Perez as our teacher. I rememnber meeting Jessica and her blue dress. I remember Kelly Snow, Michelle Crumby, the Lehmans, Perez's, Rizvi's, Smiths and many many more. Through the years this place became home and these people became like family.

My senior year of highschool everyone in my grade split and went a different direction. I left my friends and went to Denton, TX to attend Texas Woman's University. Here I found a new family and we quickly became as close as sisters. To this day I miss each of their smiling faces and I love the memories we shared every single day.

In two shorts years I completed my degree and left my friends once again. As they continued to grow together for three more years... I began to pursue life and soon marriage. In my new married life my grew very close with friends in our church. Our fond memories were full of trips to the lake house, nights at the wine bar, game nights, scavenger hunts and lots of laughs! :)

Little did I know that two years later I would be in another unfamiliar place. Single again. Life is very different for a sinlge person and a married person. Many of my friends were no longer a part of my world and I started over once again.

About four months ago I confessed this to my small group. That I'm tired of starting over. I'm tired of being vunerable with people and loving them just to loose them when life transitions come along. There's nothing you can do about it - we need community. When we are married we need community with other married people. When we are single we need the support and accountability of other singles. When I am in Dallas I need other christian women here who can pour into me and I can build into them.

I told my group that I had not given them a fair chance. For six months I went to group every day without ever putting any heart into it. Without ever caring. I told them I wanted to try - to connect.

Today am I very glad that I did. I am leaving again. I am leaving and moving to Arizona. Many of my current friendships will not stand the test of time. I have no idea if and when I will be back home to Texas. Some of my friends are more like sisters and I will always have them in my life no matter what changes. For the friends I've made in the past years - I love you... I'm glad I let my walls down because I learned about people and I know why God had me in that group.

Now my life is taking an exciting new turn to Phoenix, Arizona. My new adventure with my best friend and greatest love, my Fiance, Felix. I thank God for Felix's love and support - I can't wait to tell you more about our new life together as we move in two months. It's bittersweet ... leaving my home. I am already starting to say my goodbyes and am slowly packing away each item in my home.

It's a scary thing to do, but there is no one else on this earth I'd rather be with than Felix.

Logging in...

Hello everyone...

It's been so long I couldn't remember my log in ... or if I even had one... since summer my life has been wrapped up in event planning, work, Felix and family. All good things, but I find myself wishing for more time to think and read, to spend time with God and time with friends... I wasn't able to continue running this fall but have made a commitment to start again in January (you'll have to hold me to that!).

September brought the very exciting announcement of Justin and Cindy's pregnancy!! Which meant they needed more space and quickly!! They soon moved out of their 600sqft downtown apartment and out the friendly suburbs of Austin :) Felix's parents visited Dallas in September and we had a wonderful time getting to know them! We showed them around town, took them to our church, and even down to the new Cowboys stadium! This whole time, Felix was still stuck in Iraq longing to be home... so I had to take on the boyfriend's parents single handedly! A scary task.. but they didn't bite... so it was okay.


October brought Felix home to me safe and sound <3 onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVIMO6iPLitSeQoe3-Q0LYu-gdP3ZObAwa674YizDRkjoi8smMFXfsbU-pc-RwF1vdCnLjEphjl_CGqfiZbv7RJkljZutWbG5P3Fz-BP9tZGKb7YmWRHiM98F3CG4AemKsZYEEoYIOJTY/s1600-h/11+05+09_6491.JPG">



November was the culmination of my event planning as I spent countless hours going through the details of the most important day of my company's year. It went off beautifully and soon the stress was lifted and sleep became a nightly comfort once again :) Planning this event was a huge challenge, but extremely fun. Am I ready to do it again? No... not yet... but it seems like there is not much of an option!

November also meant Thanksgiving and family! Justin and Cindy (and the bump) traveled to Dallas and they were able to meet Felix for the first time. After late nights, long talks, and LOTS of food it seems the family is almost as in love with him as I am. :) For Dad's birthday this year I happened to be given two tickets to the Cowboys game on the 50 yard like, 20th row from some of our brokers! Dad has been a Cowboys fan since he was 6 years old and started collecting their players cards. He had NEVER attended a game of theirs. This was quite an experience for our first game!! New stadium, fantastic seats, first classes passes!! It was amazing!!

December brought Felix to Texas and a transfer to Ft. Hood where many of you have become familiar with over the recent shooting. The praise, is that Felix was not there at the time of the shooting and the base is much safer now! Thank you, Lord! Last weekend we celebrated Christmas with my family and thanked God that Cindy is finally finished with this semester of Nursing School and is no longing throwing up every day!! Yeah!!

Tomorrow Felix and I will fly out to Atlanta to spend Christmas with his family- he hasn't seen them since July! We're planning on going to the movies, driving around to see the lights, going to their candle light service at church and really enjoying getting to know everyone :)

My honey is driving up to Dallas right now and I can't wait to get off work so I can go home and pack!!! I have been horribly defeated by all the christmas treats in the kitchen here and should stop eating for the rest of the year!! ha..

Anyway... It's almost 2010 and I can't believe how quickly this year flew by!! I miss you all and hope to see you very soon.

Merry Christmas!


Kelcey

Yeah for Weekends and Girly Stuff... !!

Last weekend Kelly got to come visit from Houston!! It's been WAYYY too long since I've seen her and we had a blast!! Friday night we ate at a fabulous restaurant in Dallas called Victor Tangos - I give it a very high recommendation. The atmosphere was great, the food was to die for and the drinks were fantastic! The next morning I skipped my run ... it's okay to take a break every once in a while :) ... and we got pedicures at the hip little nail salon in Plano instead!

This was much better than running in the rain...

As the day continued we headed out to the lake with my fam and enjoyed a few very tiresome rounds of tubing.

Photo's by Gina (Wesley's girlfriend):

Oh no!! Swim faster!

This does happen from time to time...

Smile Kelly...

Me and Wes:

So.. lots of fun and lots of sun!!! Then we ran home to shower and change and quickly headed down to Greenville for an Alpha Rev concert at the Grenada Theater. What we didn't know was that the "show" started at 7:30, but our guys did go on until 11:30!!! We're way too old for that!!! That's past my bed time!! We decided to kill time on a patio with our friends, Chips and Salsa, and Margarita :) I have many more pictures, but not with me at the time... so here is Vanessa, me, and Kelly all dressed up for our night out :)

In short... that was our weekend... combined with movies, popcorn, sour punch straws (this was our thing in junior high and high school! ) ... and COFFEE. I hope ya'll had a fabulous weekend as well!!!

Love you!!!

-K

My First Post

I thought I would catch you up to speed on a few things in my life these days. Some of you have known me for a year or two and some for more than twenty. But whatever the case, I love you to death and I'm so glad you're in my life! So the past two years have been ones full of change for me. Maybe that's why I feel like I relate to a kaleidoscope... constantly moving, changing, shaking things up... but it's beautiful when each turn made is a reflection of Christ in me.

So to start off on the same foot I'll give you the bullet point format for the last few years. My marriage was a difficult one. We never had it easy, but most people don't. The only problem was that during the hard times he turned to alcohol instead of to the Lord, or even to talk to me. The bottle and the bar were much easier to handle than the truth at times. By the time we were able to go to counseling he had already moved on emotionally and soon physically. He moved out just two months later and asked for a divorce.

That year everything in my life changed. I went from being married, to being single. I moved to a different apartment. A different city. I changed churches. I changed jobs. My circle of friends wasn't the same anymore... and it was a very hard adjustment to make. But God turns our mourning into dance and our weeping into joy! My new job was a huge blessing from God (via some very good friends :) )! I was able to get a new car that I needed. I didn't have to worry about being able to pay my bills each month! Whew! And I truly enjoy the challenge of my position each and every day.

So last year it was time to learn who I was again. I went through divorce recovery at my church and saw a great christian counselor. You can really start to loose yourself when everything you do is for the other person in a relationship. I had to learn what music I liked, what movies I liked, what was my style??

I was ready to try something new. So I went skydiving last summer and ran my first half marathon! We went to plays and the symphony. We tried new restaurants and new foods. I got out of my comfort zone and eventually ... I learned to date again. And boy do I have some great stories! Overall... once God set me back on my feet, I had fun... we had some fabulous girl nights and went dancing late into the night. I made some really great friends and I learned the value of true friendship.

This year I joined a running club and ran my first FULL marathon! 26.2 miles in 4 hours and 19 minutes! Again, with the help of Ashley, Lauren and Vanessa who ran me into the finish! What an experience! I learned to wakeSURF this summer, went snowboarding in Colorado, laid on the beaches of Barbados, and will be in Puerto Vallarta with Elizabeth in two weeks!!

Yet nothing compares to the true blessings that God gives me each and every day through the people He has placed in my life. I have seen seven of my dear friends welcome a new baby into their arms this year and there are four more to come! God had really taught me just how relational He created me to be. My heart delights for each celebration and my heart breaks when I see hurt. But each of those things remind me that I cannot change anyone or anything, I cannot protect or control, I can only give it to God with open hands and trust that He would take better care of it than I ever could.

One thing that you might hear me talk about on this Blog is a new thing for me this year. Falling in Love. What an experience. What a feeling. I get tingles just writing it... God brought an amazing man into my life. He is an incredible man of God and has really protected himself and stayed close to the Lord through all his training and travels in the Army. He was brought up in a very strong Christian home and truly loves the Lord first and foremost. He pushes me towards God because he knows that God will protect my heart better than he ever could. He has been so patient with me and gentle knowing what I've been through. He has never made me feel pressure to open up, or put any expectations on me.

After writing for over four months we met for the first time when I picked him up from the airport.... and it was such an incredible day :) I'll tell you more about it later... but I just wanted to bring you up to speed on a few things. I know some of it may sound very simplistic, but you can always ask if you have more questions or ever want to talk. I hope you each have a great day today and I'll try to write again soon.

I love you!