{"id":3049,"date":"2010-12-02T07:38:06","date_gmt":"2010-12-02T14:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/?p=3049"},"modified":"2010-12-02T07:46:08","modified_gmt":"2010-12-02T14:46:08","slug":"challenges-friends-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/2010\/12\/challenges-friends-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenges + Friends = Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3610.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3050\" src=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3610.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"433\" height=\"650\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3610.jpg 433w, http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3610-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 433px) 100vw, 433px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Five and a half years ago we left central Texas. If I were to list the challenges we faced in Texas during our eight years living there, you would wonder why we loved it so much. If I were to list the people who touched our lives during this time you would see that challenges+ friends really did equal joy in our lives.<\/p>\n<p>As we drove into Austin a week ago, Mark asked, &#8220;Dad, why did you ever have to get a new job and leave this place?&#8221; It took me years to get over leaving. I think that I have finally settled in my heart the decision to leave our friends and family there. We knew it was time to go but we didn&#8217;t want to leave Rob&#8217;s family and our friends and we&#8217;ll always think about them.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a\u00a0 few of the reasons we loved our time in Austin.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3752.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3052\" title=\"DSC_3752\" src=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3752.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3752.jpg 650w, http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3752-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Melinda and Rob threw a very nice open house for us. The Mitchells were friends who taught our children in nursery, parked outside our house each morning for years at 6:00 a.m. during seminary, and served with me in the Relief Society. I was so glad to see Annie and Cody! They looked so good. Cody&#8217;s wife is expecting a baby in April.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3756.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3053\" title=\"DSC_3756\" src=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3756.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3756.jpg 650w, http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3756-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>My first Relief Society president in Austin was Mary. She became a good friend and sent Jed and Laura to seminary at our house. She carries several pictures of Jed&#8217;s baby Jillian in her wallet to show to everyone.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3764.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3054\" title=\"DSC_3764\" src=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3764.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3764.jpg 650w, http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3764-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dave and Susan took good care of us during the big moments and small, offering gifts to the kids along the way. We served in Primary for a while with Susan.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3759.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3055\" title=\"DSC_3759\" src=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3759.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3759.jpg 650w, http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DSC_3759-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Pat and Carol were mentors and friends and the hub of the social circle we enjoyed so much. Melinda is doing her best to smile despite a BYU football loss just moments before this picture was taken.<\/p>\n<p>We didn&#8217;t get pictures of everyone. It was a blessing to see my grown up seminary students again and hear about all the good things they are doing. Stephanie&#8217;s hug meant a lot to me, as did Aileen&#8217;s. And we&#8217;re always glad that Ricardo can be of computer service to Paul Parks \ud83d\ude09 I&#8217;m leaving a lot unsaid because Austin is a piece of my heart. I am just very grateful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Five and a half years ago we left central Texas. If I were to list the challenges we faced in Texas during our eight years living there, you would wonder why we loved it so much. If I were to list the people who touched our lives during this time you would see that challenges+ &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/2010\/12\/challenges-friends-joy\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Challenges + Friends = Joy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-extended-family","category-family-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3049"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3062,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3049\/revisions\/3062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}