A Great Weekend!

We have had the most outstanding weekend with Ken and Melody! The weather has been great, we've enjoyed lots of outstanding food and the conversation has been continuous. Saturday started out a little cloudy, but after breakfast at The Guenther House, and showing off HEB's Headquarters, it began to clear up and turned into a beautiful day. We headed up to Boerne, to go to an antique show and see the shops on Main Street, then went to the evening service at Oak Hills. After church we had a great meal at La Hacienda, dining out on the patio and listening to guitar music.

Today, after I came home from teaching Sunday School, we headed up north to a little old western town called Gruene. We had a fabulous lunch at The Gristmill, then the guys visited while Melody and I walked through the shops. They spent their time sitting on the porches watching all the motorcyles that were in town for the day...and there were a lot of them!

Thanks Ken and Melody, for visiting..but mostly for your friendship!

Forever Friends...

This is a really special weekend because our good friends from up north are here for a visit. Actually, they now live in Florida and work for Wycliff, but we both lived up north until this last year. Ken and Melody Ruge have been some of our closest friends for years and it has been SO good having them here. We spent the day visiting Larry's plant and then headed down to the Riverwalk and La Villita. It was a gorgeous day for walking around the city. We spent this evening enjoying dinner at home and playing Mexican Train Dominoes. God must have really known I needed good friends here because I just found out our Women's Retreat is going on this weekend in Illinois and it's difficult knowing I can no longer be a part of that...especially since Shannon and Shelley are both involved in that this year.

Welcome Spring!

I know it's still snowing up in the midwest, so I feel kind of guilty posting this, but today was a beautiful spring day here in San Antonio! After church this morning, we went and bought our new spring plants for around our trees in front, then Larry spent the afternoon getting our yard in shape. We still have a lot to do, but it sure was a nice way to spend a Sunday!

Rodeo Finals!

Well, today we got to go to the San Antonio Rodeo for the second time and it was even better than the first time! Since today was the last official day, they had the Extreme Bull Riding event...it was great! Our seats were a little better than last time, but we've already picked out our seats for next year, so that will be even better. Jason Aldean was the country star that performed after the rodeo today, and he was OK, but we actually enjoyed Alan Jackson more. I guess now that we've lived here almost eight months, we can now be called official "Texans"!

3:16 ...Live!

Tonight was the big event in San Antonio promoting Max's newest book, "3:16". The event was held at the Alamodome along with the National Women of Faith Conference. Although I didn't attend the entire three days, Max arranged special seating for members of Oak Hills just for the Friday Night Event. The seats were great...located right behind where Max and all of the entertainers were sitting. They had unbelievable talent there including Sandi Patty, Travis Cottrell, and Nicole Johnson. (Mark Schultz was also there, but we didn't get to see him perform.) Max, as usual, touched hearts and brought us all face to face with the awesome God we serve, but the highlight of my night was getting to see Michael W. Smith perform. He is an amazing entertainer, but more than that he has a true heart for our Lord. He spoke about being at the White House a couple of days ago and how the president thanked him for being a prayer warrior. He said Bush had actually got choked up a bit before moving the conversation in a different direction. Knowing how much Stacey loves Michael W. Smith, I tried calling her and putting her on speaker phone, but it just wasn't the same as being there!

San Antonio Rodeo!

Today was the first weekend of the Rodeo here in San Antonio. The entire city is tranformed into an authentic "Cowboy town"...everywhere you go you see people in western wear, as well as displays in stores, etc. Even at school, this week is our Cowboy Breakfast for dads, and various western themed events.

I had ordered our rodeo tickets online last month, so today we got to see it for ourselves. The rodeo was great, although I didn't see much difference in this and the Denver rodeo which we used to go to in Colorado (except for the fact that they opened up the rodeo with prayer...REAL prayer to our heavenly Father!). What was different, though, was everything else that went along with it here. After the rodeo was over, we got to see Alan Jackson perform in a concert, which was great! Then we went out to the grounds to explore...there was so much to see! There were lots of areas with displays that reminded me of a county fair, as well as every kind of food you could imagine. Larry and I ate at one of the many barbeque tents, and the food was great!


The picture to the left shows one of the kids areas where they were teaching roping as well as other things. There was also a huge carnival, bird show, petting zoos and a craft fair. I'm sure this will become a new Texas tradition!

"Sir, we would like to see Jesus."

This was a very special weekend at our church...we celebrated Max's 20th anniversary at Oak Hills Church. He was totally surprised last night at the 5pm service when he and Denalyn were called to the front and presented with a plaque thanking him for "showing us Jesus" (Jn. 12:21) as it says on the pulpit in our sanctuary. Then this afternoon, an open house was held as a time of personal thanks to both Max and Denalyn. Hundreds of people were there, but Larry and I got to the church early before most of the crowd arrived. This is a picture of one of my kindergarten students visiting with Max. It was amazing how much time Max spent with each family and it was also obvious how much he enjoys the children...he is a very special man and his committment to our Lord is evident in his life!

Family Reading Night

Sorry I haven't posted in a long time, but there really hasn't been anything to post...just the same old stuff. Tonight, after going out for a fish dinner with Larry, I stopped by my school for "Family Reading Night". I didn't really know too much about it because I haven't been involved with it, but I was curious because I used to help with the planning at RGS. Anyway, I'm really glad I stopped in because it was fun to see the kids involved with all the activities the teachers had planned. Everybody seemed really glad to see me and I got lots of hugs from the kids as well as had an opportunity to meet some parents of my students. As much as I miss RGS, I am starting to fall in love with Encino Park Elementary...I guess this was all part of God's plan!

Welcome 2008!

Wow...talk about a great start to the new year! We had really missed all of our friends from our Life Group while we were up north, and so tonight we all got together for an outstanding Italian dinner prepared by our good friend "Chef Dan". Dan and Joan still had their house decorated for the holidays and because they have travelled throughout Europe with the military, Joan's decorations were exquisite...every room looked like a layout for a Christmas magazine! We had a short study after dinner, but mostly it was just a great time with friends.

New Year's Eve Day

Since this was our last day, we decided to take Lydia and just have fun with her! Stacey got the day off and even Josh joined us for breadfast at the Machine Shed! Then we went to Toys R Us, where Lydia had a great time "preparing" us food in the ultimate play kitchen. Next we stopped at the pet store to play with the puppies. I think that was actually more tempting to Stacey and Grandma than it was to Lydia...she liked the fish best!







The last place we went was the Build A Bear store, where I got to help Lydia make her very own stuffed monkey, which she picked out. She got to kiss the heart before they sewed it inside, and then watch as they stuffed it (she was scared of the machine or she could have done that herself). She got to brush the fuzz off it and then registered his name on the computer..."Minkey"!

December 30

We could feel the end of the trip looming over the horizen, since our flight home was on New Years Day, but we did enjoy our last day at Hope. Lydia was adorable when she saw her two little friends, Morgan and Laney. We just had to get a picture...I can only imagine them when they get a little older!

December 29

On Saturday, we met more good friends for lunch at Jessica's. We had so much fun talking and laughing that we spent almost three hours at the restaurant. The view out the window was so beautiful that I had to take a picture so I won't forget this special day!

Later that afternoon, we went over to Shannon and Josh's house for dinner. Since we won't be there for Lydia's second birthday, we took her gifts for her to open. Shannon opened the clothes I had bought since that's not really Lydia's "thing", but Lydia did like the toys and books.















I did love this picture of Lydia after she tried on her new jacket...since Mommy doesn't feel very good these days, Lydia gave her a kiss...how sweet!