Midland

Anadarko put together a little three day trip in Midland for couples in December.  The goal was to allow people to see the city, tour schools, and find houses.  Since Colin was not taking a bottle, we weren't able to go.  As time went on, we were realizing that Colin may NEVER take a bottle.  He flat out refuses!  He eats so much other food that we decided that we had to go ahead and book a trip.  Knowing that we had to house search and school search, we left him with my mom.

We left for Midland on Wednesday, Jan. 11th at 8:45am.  When we were landing, all I could see were pumping units everywhere among brown dirt out of my window.  Once we got our rental car, we started driving from the airport to Midland.  It was a short drive but not a beautiful one!  It was a little shocking to see the lack of trees.  We drove around a little so that I could pump and we could see the area before going to lunch at Logan's Roadhouse.  

View from the plane as we got close to Midland- drilling units as far as the eye could see

My first tumbleweed sighting.  We are not in Houston anymore :0

Upon sitting down at the restaurant, I started feeling really anxious.  I honestly don't get that way all that often but I think the reality of moving hit me.  We were going to be living in a completely different place away from all of our family and friends. It is a lot to take in.

After a good meal and discussion, we toured Midland Christian and then met our realtor to start looking at houses.  We looked at several previously owned houses with no luck.  Then we traveled to Grasslands West where we had looked at a lot.  We fell in love with the neighborhood and felt very confident that this was where we were supposed to be.  

We stopped by Anadarko's temporary building also.  It was ... interesting.

That evening, we checked in the hotel, pumped, and then went downstairs and had a glass of wine outside while watching the sunset.  Slowly throughout the day, I felt the anxiety leave and a glimmer of hope replaced it.  We went to a place in East Odessa called Cork and Pig.  The wait was an hour long but since we had no kids and nothing to do, we drove around until our table was ready.  We had a delicious meal and things were really looking up.

  

The next morning, we woke early and had breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  We then met with BJ McPherson, our builder.  The meeting went so well and he was willing to accommodate all of our wishes for a price that we were hoping for.

Our lot!  Can't believe this is the spot where lots of memories will be made over the next couple of years!

After the meeting, we went on a crazy preschool touring spree followed by lunch with an old college friend, Joanna.  We then saw even more schools including Carver Center.  By the evening, we were exhausted but so excited about our future in Midland.  The town was really growing on us.

That night we went to a local restaurant, Wall Street, that was recommended to us by Mr. Reese.  It was so yummy!

The next morning we slept in and then started making all of our choices for the new house.  We easily decided on our brick choice and front door.  The inside options were a little trickier.  

We probably drove around the neighborhood about 5 times looking at brick colors and elevations.

After a delicious meal at another local restaurant, we headed back to the airport for our flight home.  It was the most amazing airport experience.  Since it's so small, it took no time at all to go through security.

After returning home, Bill and I have discussed how we actually kind of miss it.  We are really excited about our new home there and all that awaits us in the future!

*I was so worried about leaving Colin at home but he did so well!  After much prayer, he managed to sleep through the night both nights for my mom.  What a miracle! He even took a bottle on the last day we were there.

It was such a great trip, and we are really optimistic about our future there!