You know what time it is! Time for another Wednesday spotlight! This week we’re blessed to get to know Hillarie Elizondo a little bit more.
- How long have you been coming to The Journey? We first visited a Sunday service at the Journey in May of this year and quickly felt at home. We became members just a few months later and we are extremely grateful God led us here.
- Position at The Journey? One of the reasons we joined the Journey was because of the church’s heart for foster families. We love serving on the Foster Parents Night Out (FPNO) Team and look forward to supporting this ministry in other ways too.
- Where are you from? We have lived in Texas most of our lives, although Ruben and I did leave for several years in our 20’s to try out living on the East coast in Washington DC. We knew we wanted to raise our family in Texas though, so we got back as quickly as we could after having our first child. Little Ruben was only a few weeks old when we packed up and moved back home to Texas.
- Please tell us about your family: I’m Hillarie and my husband is Ruben. We’ve got 11 year old Ruben (his nickname is “Remmy”), 9 year old Juliette and 6 year old Gabriel. We frequently provide respite care for foster kids, so you will often see us with a few more kids in tow. Our friends and neighbors often joke that they have a hard time keeping up with how many kids we have.
- Favorite Bible verse: As a family, we all really love Psalm 23 and some of us have it memorized. Ruben has another favorite – Phillipians 3:13-14 “13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
- Favorite Season? We love the Christmas season and all the wonderful traditions like hanging lights, setting up our tree and Nativity Scene, and making gingerbread houses together. On Christmas Eve, our kids usually play Christmas hymns on their instruments and we read the story of Jesus’ birth from the Bible. This year, we are really looking forward to attending the Christmas Eve Service at the Journey.
- Favorite vacation you’ve taken? We love to travel, so picking just one is hard! But, I think I’d have to say it was our family trip to Big Bend about three years ago over Thanksgiving Week. We saw black bears and a rattlesnake, which was a little scary, but the highlight was seeing a huge herd of Javelina’s – including their babies!
- Favorite movie? We don’t have a favorite movie but we definitely have a favorite show – The Chosen. It is an incredible drama about the life of Jesus and the calling of his disciples. We are currently re-watching the first two seasons as a family to prepare for the release of Season 3. After an episode the other night, I was teary eyed and looked over at Juliette. She looked at me and said “Oh mommy, I just love Jesus so much!”
Thank you so much for sharing, Hillarie, and so glad you and your family have joined us at the Journey! Please make sure to say hi to them all the next time you see them!