Field Day...

There's less than a week left of school, so today was our Field Day. Being new to Encino Park, I didn't know what to expect, except that it was an all day event, which meant I got to be involved.

It was an Olympic theme, so it began with kids bringing in the torch while music played in the background. Then the classes divided up to compete in the events.

Some of the events were held outside on the playground and others were held in one of the gyms. The weather was warm, in the 90's, although there was a nice breeze blowing so it really wasn't too bad.

Maybe it's my love of horses, but my favorite part were the "Equestrian Events"! It was so cute...the kids had to complete an obstacle course "on horseback" (stick horses)...so funny to watch, especially with the bigger kids.

The thing that really impressed me were the dads that ran all the games. Encino Park has a new program called "Watch Dads"...each day at least two fathers come to spend the day at the school. They have various responsiblities which they seem to enjoy and their kids are so proud to have "Dad" there. They are given a special shirt to wear and then they have their pictures displayed on the wall with their kids. Today, we had almost 50 dads come to participate in Field Day...two news stations came out to film and interview the dads "at play"!

Larry's New Toy!

Well, Larry's a happy guy today...he got something he's been wanting for a long time! He's been looking on the internet and talking to people, but everything he looked at was way out of our price range. Friday evening we drove up to New Braunfels to look at a bike that he saw on "Craig's List". It was a beautiful bike for being eleven years old and only had 40,000 miles on it. It was a little out of our price range so he told the guy we would go home and pray about it. Personally, I was glad that it didn't work out because I'm kind of scared of riding a bike in all this traffic, but then this morning the guy called and told Larry he would take less. Larry told him we still didn't have that much money, and the guy told him that when we said we'd pray about it, he decided he wanted us to have it, so he let us have it for less!

Here's Larry with his new Kawasaki Voyager 1500 cc. The nice thing about this bike is that it looks like it was built for Larrry's short legs. It also came with two matching helmets with stereo/voice override communication system, a dustcover and a gel seat for me! I think Larry may be more willing to take me for rides up in the Hill Country now, and I'm going to start praying for God to give me peace about him riding it to work!

What a Week!

Wow, I have been so busy, I haven't posted in a while, so I'll try to catch up on all that's been going on.

Just a few minutes ago, we got home from our mid-week church service, where we had a guest speaker. Dan Cathy, who is the president and owner of Chick-fil-A, spoke about his background, growing up in a very Godly family and how Christ has influenced his life and his ideas about business. He showed a training film for all his employees, set in Bible times, which shows a Jewish follower of Christ choosing to carry a Roman soldiers pack an extra mile. He closed by playing "How Great Thou Art" on his dad's trumpet. His dad, the founder of "Chick-fil-A, is now 87 and still teaches a middle school Sunday School class. He had quite a message, and I was impressed with his committment to conduct business "God's way"!

This week has been "Talent Show Week" at school, and I've been astounded by the talent our kids have! This was not just typical kids stuff...we had big and little kids perform skits and dances and routines that could compete with things I've seen on TV! One little 6 year old boy did a dance he made up himself that was INCREDIBLE! This picture is of two girls who danced to the song "Dance Like David Danced"...they were awesome, too.

My mom had knee surgery last Friday, and I had a difficult time not being there for her. Thankfully, Stacey has been there to see to her every need, even taking time off work the day of the surgery. There really wasn't much I could do being so far away, except pray of course, but I was so glad to hear it went well. Stacey tells me she's doing so well, that she's even walking without her walker already...my amazing mother!


Last weekend, we headed up into the Hill Country, to go to the Lavendar Fest with some friends. It was a nice cool day in the low 80's, and we stopped along the way at some small towns that were having local festivals. We finally got to the Lavendar Fest, which was held at a beautiful farm where they had music, crafts and food available. It was fun to spend a relaxing day in the country.

Mother's Day

This was a day I was not looking forward to...my first Mother's Day without any of my family (except Larry of course!). It was not only my girls that I was missing, but it was also the first year I hadn't been with my own mom...ever! At any rate, it turned out to be a much better day than I expected...

I had planned a really special Mother's Day activity for my Sunday School class. In addition to our Bible story about Hannah and Samuel, the children made cards for their mothers and put together vases of artificial flowers in colored sand and then tied them with ribbon for gifts. The moms loved them!

Then, at church, because Max was at his daughter's college graduation, we had a special speaker. David Robinson, an ex-Spurs player, who is also a three time Olympic medal winner as well as an Allstar MVP, presented the message. Since I'm not exactly a basketball fanatic, I wasn't really all that excited about it...boy was I surprised! I guess he's quite a man of faith, teaching the men's Bible study at church each week as well as working with our youth and many other methods of sharing his faith in the San Antonio area. His message was very inspiring.


Then we headed up to the Hill Country where we ate brunch at a restaurant seated outside next to a little pond. It was wonderful.

After an afternoon walking through antique shops and visiting a small craft fair, we headed home on a back road in the country. I had just shut my eyes when I heard Larry yell "That's a zebra!" He pulled over to the side of the road and sure enough, there was a ranch with zebra grazing! I took my camera and walked through the open gate (yes, there were cattle guards to keep the zebra from escaping) so I could take a picture. The zebra didn't seem to mind me so I wasn't scared...I stopped several times to give him time to get used to me. Anyway, it was the best part of my day!

April Showers Brought May Flowers!

In some ways it seems amazing to me that we have already lived here for ten months, and in other ways it seems like it's been longer. We've made so many new friends here that I feel like the ties go deeper than just ten months, but when I think about the people back in Illinois, I find it hard to believe that I've been away so long.

Last weekend, we had our friends, Doug and Patty Gilbert over for dinner. It was a beautiful evening so we ate out on the patio. After dinner we played "Train Dominoes" until almost midnight. It was a lot of fun!

Tonight was the Choir Musical at school...they did a really cute performance called "Music Man Jr.". I love watching kids perform and it brought back memories of when Shannon was a fifth grader and had a solo at Summit Elementary. It reminded me a lot of that...in fact there was a little girl that had the solo and her voice even reminded me of what Shannon sounded like at that age.

Our music teacher, a new friend of mine, is retiring this year and she's really going to be missed...it was kind of an emotional evening for everyone. It'll be interesting to see how things are next year...changes are so hard!

More Fiesta...

This was the second week of Fiesta, and although we missed a lot of it during the week, we decided to check out some new events this weekend. We started downtown at what is called "The King Williams Fair". It begins with yet another parade, and concludes with a big festival in a real upscale area of San Antonio. Since lack of parking spaces is a problem, not to speak of the expense (everyone who has parking available charges at least ten dollars), we decided to park at the HEB Arsenal, which happens to be right across the river from the King Williams area. We walked across an old bridge and ended up right at the beginning of the festival...it was perfect!

The houses throughout the area are some of the oldest and most expensive homes here, and most of them were decorated as well as hosting fabulous "Fiesta" parties on the lawns. It was fun to watch all the festivities. I talked to a woman who was seated on the front porch of one of the homes and discovered she was a founding member of the first King Williams Fair. She was fascinating!

Fiesta Arts Fair

My friend Patty Gilbert had offered to introduce me to Fiesta by taking me to one of her favorite events, the Fiesta Arts Fair. It's a juried craft show located at the Southwest School of the Arts, and it was wonderful! Ever since I left the midwest, I've really missed going to good craft fairs because most of them here don't begin to compare. The one we went to today was as good or better than most I've been to, although it was rather expensive.

Patty got me with one of the confetti eggs that are a tradition during Fiesta...it was a first for me, but I'm sure it won't be the last!



Later in the afternoon, we went another event I had heard about..."A Taste of New Orleans" where I tried fried alligator and crawfish ettouille (sp?). I really didn't understand why this would be a part of Fiesta, but I guess it's a celebration of all the different cultures that make up San Antonio. In fact, there are German festivals as well, I'm told.

The last place we visited was El Mercado at Market Square. I had been there before, but I had never seen it like it was today. Everyone was celebrating with food, wares and lots of entertainment! It was crowded, but very festive!

Fiesta Party!

Today was the first day of Fiesta here in San Antonio, and to kick it off, all the schools have "Fiesta Parties"...I loved it!

It all began with the first grade parade of floats. The entire school was surrounded with students, teachers and parents watching as our younger students paraded by with floats they had made at home with their families. I had the "priviledge" of joining their parade as the infamous "Reading Fairy", bringing up the end with the two teachers who are retiring coming along behind me with push brooms...it was hysterical!

After the parade, the students returned to their rooms, where the room moms had set up some unbelievable parties. There was LOTS of fabulous food, as well as crafts such as making cascarades (egg shells filled with confetti that are broken over people's heads during Fiesta).

This last picture I included is of the vegetable gardens. Each class is given a "plot" of land to farm for the year where they grow various vegetables and berries... the kids learn alot and have fun farming. I really love my job at Encino Park, and I had my review this week and it seems they're happy with me too...I think I'll be around for a while!

Day On the River

Larry and I had a super Sunday! After church this morning, we headed down to the Strawberry Festival, which turned out to be a real disappointment...mostly carnival rides and music. We decided to stop and have lunch on the Riverwalk instead, since it was right on the way home. It was a beautiful spring day and we had a wonderful time. We ate Mexican food on the river, where Larry was about attacked by the ducks as we tried to eat our chips and salsa. Then we took a walk down the river enjoying the atmosphere. Then we finally made it to the Alamo, which is the main attraction in San Antonio.


Next week is the big "Fiesta" celebration, which will last two whole weeks. It's a big deal...the schools even take a holiday for "the Battle of the Flowers" and we have school parties to kick off the celebration. I'm anxious to see what it's all about!

Spring Visitor...

Tonight, Larry barbequed and we sat out on our patio enjoying the beautiful weather. While we were eating and discussing what we wanted to do with our yard this year, we saw a mother bird who kept flying by with food in her mouth. We heard baby birds chirping, but couldn't see the nest. It wasn't until we saw her fly into the bird house that we finally figured out where her babies were. It was fun watching her as she made repeated trips with food for her little ones. I finally got my camera and took a picture...

Reunited...

Over twenty years ago, when Shannon and Stacey were very young, we moved into a neighborhood where several of us from the Twenty's Married Group at our church all built houses on a cul-de-sac so we could raise our children together. It was wonderful to know there was always a friend you could call on for support, although God did use those years to teach us all valuable lessons...as He always does!

Anyway, imagine our surprise when I received a phone call from Jill Fietchner (who I had not seen since then) telling me they were in the process of moving to Austin, Texas a few weeks ago! Well, today we all got together and had a fabulous reunion! We met at church this morning, where we had only a brief moment to say hello before turning our hearts toward God for worship. Max preached a great sermon, although I was very anxious for it to be over so we could talk. Their three oldest kids were not with them as they have a house together in California, but we did get to meet the rest of their family! We spent the day visiting and catching up on all that's happened in our lives since that time long ago, as well as sharing meals and even some shopping with the girls.

We were very impressed with all of their kids...they were all so helpful and fun to talk to...what a great family God has blessed them with!

My Kinders...

Last night was the Kindergarten Concert at my school, so I went to take pictures for the school. They were so cute...they sang "America, the Beautiful", "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Skin-a-mirink-a-do" with all the hand motions. They did a wonderful job and it's hard to believe how much they've grown just this year since I started teaching at Encino Park. It'll be fun to watch them grow up through the years and if it's God's will for us to be here , I may get to follow them all the way to fifth grade!