Well, I was going to write this blog as if it were a fairy tale, with once upon a time and so on and so forth. But as I was writing it, I noticed that I just have way too many random thoughts and I just cannot, for the life of me, stay on topic and continue with the theme. I just have too much to say. I am wordy. Everything must be explained. So instead, I will tell the tale from my mouth and my words. I just felt like since we are moving on to a new chapter in our lives, I need to give props to Pahrump. It may not be my favorite place in this here United States, but it has changed me. I just absolutely love the people I have gotten to know. As easy as it is to leave, it is just as hard to leave. Does that make sense. This is a love hate relationship.
It all started back in Bryan, TX. I was student teaching, Adam was still in school. We lived in this small two bedroom one bathroom duplex that had few windows and roaches were everywhere. You would wake up in the middle of the night, which I did often when I was pregnant, and you would find roaches just hanging out in the sink or on the wall. I do not miss those roaches one bit. Freshman year of college, my roommate (Susanna--Shout out!) lived on the fourth floor of our dorm. Somehow roaches would creep their way all the way up to our room and just hang out. Being girls and just human beings, we were terrified to crush them or to throw them out so we would trap them under cups and leave them their till they died. They never died. It would be days that they were trapped under these cups. So they became roommates and we would name them. Pretty disgusting and sad. We would have friends come over and if they were brave enough they would get rid of them for us. By the time we were juniors and lived in a house, we discovered a beautiful thing called Raid that would kill those suckers instantly. It just had a horrible smell that would stink up the place. Anyways, back to the main story.
Adam and I had no clue what we were going to do once he graduated. He was going to have a history degree and there isn't much you can do with that until you get a masters or get a teaching degree. But he also wanted to join the military. So he just needed a degree in order to commission as an officer. That just didn't work out at the time. My dad came to us with a job offer to work for his company. A great offer. The only thing was, we would have to move to this small town in Nevada called Pahrump. Pahrump? Seriously? That is the name of the town? Isn't that in that Little Drummer Boy song? Pah rump pa pum pum? But it's only like an hour from Vegas? Okay thats not too bad. I guess we can check the place out. Oh there's a Walmart. Done deal. It's not a legit town till there is a Walmart involved. I mean, even Vidor, TX has a Walmart--a place I put below Pahrump. Pretty sure it is full of racists and people who never wear shoes. And when I picture those people walking around their Walmart, they are very dirty. That is what I remember from my encounter with the Vidor Walmart. Good times. So we took the offer. I was pregnant, we needed real jobs and benefits. And it sounded like fun to hang out with my parents in some weird town called Pahrump. We made a visit that April of 2010 to check it out and to help my parents move. It was a fun time. We made a trip up Charleston to check out the snow. Unfortunately we didn't quite make it because of my pregnant self. The bumpy road was just way too much for Aaron and I. Not very comfortable. And I thought he was going to have brain damage or I was going to go into labor. Suuuper early. Haha. I was only like 5 or 6 months pregnant at the time. We drove around town to check out what there was to see. Amazed by the casinos and brothels that linger around. Chasing the tumbleweeds with the car. This was all foreign and new to us. Challenge accepted. We were ready for a change. For sure.
Fast forward to moving day. We moved out of our duplex in July and into my parents old home in San Antonio for a few weeks, which turned into my brother and sister in laws house in August. It was a tight squeeze, especially after Aaron was born. Then October 10, 2010 we said goodbye to our fellow Texans and headed out west for our very first family adventure, minus our ridiculous honeymoon. That one takes the cake. Another story for another day. Just know that there were two flat tires and a crazy tow trucker man involved. And Mississippi. Nuff said. We take our two day drive and end up in Pahrump. Our new home. Weird. What was even weirder is when we got our Nevada licenses. It was official. Our first few weekends there we visited different places such as Vegas, obviously. We took Aaron to a pumpkin patch. He didn't care. He was like 2 months old. We drove out to Beatty just because. We soon realized that there wasn't much to do in this small town of Pahrump. And because of that, you burned through a lot of gas. Good times. We also visited Death Valley quite a bit. But we soon realized that once you see Death Valley once, thats pretty much all you need. It is quite pretty out there though.
Anyways, we searched and searched for a church for like the first 3 or 4 months we lived in Pahrump and just had no luck at all. We tried one church that we saw in the paper or just searching for churches online, The Way Baptist Church. We were like well hey, they are a Baptist church and we went to a Baptist church in Bryan and we loved it. We pulled up one Sunday and first of all, we were late. Second of all, we pulled up there was someone running for some sort of position and we didn't want there to be politics involved with church. Third, there was a van with Jesus written really big on it and we were like oh no... so we passed on church that day. Then we attended another church where we didn't feel welcome and then the Lutheran church, which wasn't bad but we didn't really want the traditional thing and there were only old people there. No one young like us. Then Adam talked to someone at the Methodist church and she was like, "Hey, y'all would probably really like The Way Baptist Church." We were like, great. Guess we should try that place again. So we visited and BAM! We loved it. The most welcoming church we have ever been too. Well, along with our church in Bryan. But everyone was so nice and the pastor and his wife were great and the people we met were great. So we hung out with them and felt way better about being in Pahrump because let me tell you, that first year away from all of our friends and family was so difficult. It really hard at Christmas too because we stayed in Pahrump. Luckily the Lightfeet came into town to visit and hang out. That was super fun. And it was an especially rainy Christmas in Pahrump. I loved it. By the end of our first year, adam thought that it was time to not work for my dad and went on to subbing and trying to get into the military. Many things happened in that first year, like Lauren and Susanna visiting (Definitely one of my favorite visits :) ) and us going to Texas in July for Stacy and John's wedding. That was a great time as well. I got to see people I haven't seen in years! Or even just a really long time. Haha. We became friends with our neighbors upstairs and enjoyed dinners and birthdays together. Oh, and it snowed in Pahrump that year too! A lot! I feel it was God's way of saying, hey, it's not to bad here. And then we had my brother's and Sable visit and my sister and Kim. But that is our first year in a nutshell. I will have another post about our second year. Definitely the better year due to the people we have gotten to know and the things we have gotten to do. :) Just keep an eye our for part two...
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