Joshua's First Birthday...

Although the party isn't until Sunday, this was a very special day...Joshua's first birthday. I know he really doesn't understand celebrations yet, but I still thought he needed some balloons...I think he agreed!


Lydia's been taking swimming lessons at the YMCA and I was so glad to get the chance to go watch her...what a little "fish" she is! She has a great teacher and was very attentive (even with her own private photographer taking pictures).

Our day ended with a fabulous dinner prepared by an expert chef...Josh! While Shannon, Stacey and I went to the movies, he stayed home to watch the kiddos and fix dinner. He makes the best barbeque north of Texas!

The Trip North...

I arrived in Chicago early Monday morning and took a bus two hours north where "home" used to be. The first thing I noticed on the ride up there was how green everything is...after the hot dry weather we've had in Texas, it was a welcome sight! The first thing on my agenda was to see the grandkids, so after meeting Stacey and my mom, we headed to Shannon and Josh's house where I was met by a very excited three year old and got some great hugs. She pretty much demanded most of my attention, but I did finally get to spend some time with Joshua too...a great start to my vacation!

Hurray for the Red, White and Blue...

4th of July was another hot one for us down south...104 degrees by the middle of the afternoon! We stay inside when it gets that hot...as you can see by the picture of Larry watching TV with Emma by his side...she was in "dog" heaven having us both home. Later in the afternnoon we went to see a movie in the theatre where they serve lunch while you watch the show. We saw "My Sister's Keeper" which was really good, but a definate tear jerker...a little too realistic.

In the evening, we went to Randy and Becky's house for our annual 4th of July party. As usual, they did a fabulous job of hosting in their beautiful home...such gracious hosts. It was fun being together one last time before I head up north to the much cooler temperatures (and hopefully some rain)!

Shelley's New Home...

Shelley and her roomates signed the lease on her new condo/apartment today and we went over this afternoon to clean, although it was the cleanest rental I've ever seen. I can't believe how lucky Shelley is to have this arrangement available to her...things just seem to work out for her! I hadn't even had an opportunity to see it since she and her roomates met the landlord and put the deposit on it before I was even aware. She's going to be rooming with her friend, Kris, who is a manager at Culvers and her younger brother, Josh. Larry and I love Kris and Josh seems like a good kid too. I sure hope it all works out the way they have planned!


They've even got a two car garage with an opener!






Even though Shelley went in through the garage, she still let me go in the front door (you know how I am!)
















I couldn't believe that the landlord left gifts for them on the fireplace mantle...

The kitchen is small and narrow but it has a nice big pantry at the end and new countertops.

This is a pic of the family room with the dining area off of it. It's nice that the downstairs is all wood floors since that's where Kris' dog will be.

The stairway leading to the two bedrooms and bath upstairs.

This is just a shot of Shelley's room...both the upstairs rooms look exactly the same...big closets and fans. Kris will get the master on the lower floor since she's paying the most rent.

Looking out her big window in the living room, this is the neighbors house you see across the street. Not all of them are as nice as this so I think they got really lucky in their placement.

This is just a shot of the pool that you see as you enter and leave the apartment complex. I'm sure Shelley and her roomates will get lots of use out of this with the summer heat here in San Antonio!

Unbelievable Opportunity...

This week the international Renovare conference, otherwise known as "The Jesus Way: recovering the lost content of discipleship" was being held in San Antonio. It has been in the planning stages for the last two years, and when I was given the opportunity to work there, I snapped it up. The work was actually fun...besides putting together the handouts, I was asked to welcome people as they arrived for each general session. It was facinating to talk to people from all parts of the world, as well as getting to shake hands with all of the more than eighty speakers, many of which are authors I've read over the years. The main speakers were four "spiritual giants"...Eugene Peterson (author of "The Message"), Dallas Willard (author and professor), Richard J. Foster (author and editor of "The Life with God Bible") and John Ortberg (Pastor and author). One of my favorite speakers was Chris Webb, the president of Renovare. He's from England and was a fabulous speaker. I went to one of his sessions that was limited to 200 people. When I got there, people were crowding into the room to hear him. Security came and closed off the room, but because I was already in, I sat in the only space available...behind the podium, right at his feet. It reminded me of how people used to sit at the feet of Jesus to hear him teach. ( I know....he was good, but definately not Jesus!)

I also attended some workshops that dealt with Children's Ministries. One of my favorites was on puppeteering...we were given the opportunity to work with some of the puppets and I loved it! I think that may be my next big venture, although I know they're expensive so it may not happen real soon!

Father's Day...

Father's Day actually started on Saturday for Larry when after breakfast, we decided to go on a shopping spree! Actually, he's needed a new sportsjacket for quite a while, so we went to Penney's where they were having a huge sale that morning, so he came away with black and navy sportscoats, as well as an assortment of other clothing that will come in handy on our cruise in November.

After shopping all morning, he was of course exhausted, so a nap was in order...then dinner and a movie. The movie was "The Proposal" starring Sandra Bullock and it was SO good...I'm hoping to see it again with my girls when I head up north in a couple of weeks!

This morning, after church, Shelley joined us as we went to his new favorite restaurant, "The Roaring Fork" where he enjoyed a 12 ounce cut of prime rib.

After gifts at home (and of course another nap), he finished his perfect weekend with a phone call from his favorite grandaughter, Lydia...the only thing better would have been being there in person and in another month, we will be!

Night in Ol' Gruene...?

I can't believe how much more time I have now that school's out for the summer. This week, in addition to some appointments I was able to schedule, I've been able to spend time with people I haven't had much time for in the last few months.

Tonight we met friends for dinner at our favorite restaurant in Gruene...The Gristmill. As usual the food was fabulous and there was lots of laughter. Larry took the picture since he hates having his own taken...

Emma and the Toad!

We were in the family room tonight when we heard Emma barking up a storm! We went out to see what was wrong and she had cornered a toad but everytime it jumped, she got scared...it was hysterical!

Firsts and Lasts...

Sunday was a big day since we had the first official Northeast church service which we've been praying and working towards for the last few months. It was an especially big day since Lee Strobel, author of "The Case for Christ", was our speaker on Sunday. He was awesome and very down to earth as we met him after church. Eventually we will be meeting near our home, but until we've found the building God wants us to buy, we're going to be meeting right on the Oak Hills campus. There were about 60 people in attendance...not bad for the first service. We met in the youth center and heard the message via satellite, but were still able to go over to the main building for book signings. I'm looking forward to August when we make the official announcement to the community during our service with Michael W. Smith at the ATT Center.

Then tonight was a going away party for Cindy Smallen, my neighbor and good friend who lives just a couple of houses away. I'm really sad to see her go, as she was the very first friend I had when I moved here. God provided her when I was feeling so alone here in San Antonio, and what a blessing she has been! She's only going to Houston, so maybe Larry and I can go explore that part of the country sometime soon...

Exploring the Texas Coast...

We've now lived in Texas for nearly two years and had not yet taken a trip to see the beach. Most people had told us that after seeing California beaches we would be disappointed with the beaches here, but in spite of the differences in the terrain, I loved the beach here!

The biggest surprise was how warm the water was...I'm guessing it was close to 80 degrees! I assume this is because it's the gulf of Mexico, and although the sand is coarser and there was a different variety of sea weed, it still brought back wonderful memories of summer vacations at the beach when my girls were younger. I even collected seashells wishing that Lydia could be with me to share the experience.



This last picture is of a vehicle we saw parked next to a motor home and Larry specifically said he hoped to get one for Father's Day...in his dreams maybe!

School's Out For the Summer...

Well, it's the last week of school here in San Antonio and I've been REALLY busy not only teaching, but packing up my classroom to move to a new room next fall. While I'm excited to have the summer to travel up north to see everyone, a part of me is sad to say goodbye to all my little friends at Encino Park.

There's a lot of special end of the year activities that are really fun. One of them is of course, "Brainy Baseball", which I've been doing for several years, however, I seem to add to it each year. This is a picture of some of my youngest students, but the ones that really get competitive are the third through fifth graders! I do it for the kids, but I have as much fun as they do.

The other special thing we did today was "Read Around the School", where the older kids take their Reading Buddies to hear stories that are being read all around the school by several of the teachers. I was reading a book called "Dear Fish" about a boy who throws bottle with a note into the ocean and is visited by all of the sea life...I read to three large groups and all 180 of them left with a small gift to help them remember this last story of the year.

Time Passes Much Too Quickly!

Can you believe it's been over a month since my last post? It seems like May just got here and now it's almost June. This last month has been so busy with winding down the school year, that blogging just got put on the back burner for a while. Now there's only four more days of school and I thought I'd try to catch up a bit...

The weather here has been beautiful...hot but not yet the scorching heat we get in the summer time. Larry and I have taken several motorcycle rides because we're aware that it's going to soon be much too hot for that. Two weeks ago we rode up into the hill country to a party at the home of a friend from school. Peggy Matthews and her husband built a beautiful home in the woods up north and had a small group from school up for food and fellowship...it was a lot of fun.

Next month will be the "unofficial kick-off" of the new satellite chuch we're launching, so a group of us from Oak Hills has been meeting on Sunday evenings to pray for God's vision to be revealed. It's kind of exciting, however it's been hard to say goodbye for now to our Oak Hills family. Last week we had a barbeque at our house as the official "finale" for our Life Group...those are the people we're going to have the hardest time separating from.

Then tonight we went over to Dennis and Cindy Mean's beautiful home for a dinner with friends from our Adult Bible Fellowship. It was so much fun I didn't want it to end. They have a gorgeous yard with a pool and the guys had a great time hitting golf balls off the putting mat on the patio...it was pretty amazing to see the balls fly over the trees and land down on the green. As the evening grew later, we watched deer roam the course, then ended up back on the patio where we shared testimonies and prayed together...what wonderful friends God has provided us with these past two years! It only makes me wonder what surprises He has in store for us in the future...