Texas Style Barbeque...

We finished off our weekend with a get together Sunday evening at a beautiful ranch north of San Antonio with some good friends from church. The first picture is of (Spurs player) Tim Duncan's home which overlooked the ranch we were visiting. In addition to a great barbeque, we were treated to a tour of the ranch where I enjoyed getting to know the goats!

Fall Is In the Air...Texas Style!

We finally gave up our responsibilities for a weekend and took some time to have fun, starting out Friday evening when we went to see Kirk Cameron's new movie, "Fireproof". It was an awesome movie with a great message that is definately worth seeing!

On Saturday, we got up and took off on the motorcycle for the hill country. We stopped for breakfast in a little town north of us and then headed for Fredricksburg. We enjoyed exploring new sights and found lots of places we can take family and friends when they visit.
The weather has been cooler than usual, so it made for a great day on the bike. We even found pumpkins and fall decor up north...it still doesn't begin to compare with fall in the midwest, but at least it helped with some of the "homesickness" I've been experiencing!

All Work and (Very Little) Play...

I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up on my blog, but compared to this summer, there really isn't much to write about. For one thing, it seems like all I do is work...I don't mind at all, in fact I enjoy what I do, it's just that it doesn't leave much time for anything else. I've been busy implementing our new Art curriculum and rewriting it to make it "mine"! As always, I love what I do because I enjoy the kids so much.

Teaching at Oak Hills also has been keeping me busy as our numbers keep going up and up...a good thing, but along with growth comes growing pains. Our main Bible Story presenter was the previous Children's Ministry director, but with the numbers being what they are, we had to split the group, so I took on a new role. I love it because it gives me a chance to use the gifts God has blessed me with, but it's just another added responsibility. I started this last weekend and it went really well.

We also had a dinner party at our house Sunday evening and invited the Richters, our new missionary family. It was a lot of work, but fun to get to know everyone a little better. Their youngest daughter, who is three, loved playing with all Lydia's toys that I still keep out (just in case...) Her eight year old sister is into American Girl dolls and I couldn't help think how much of a culture change it's going to be for them when they go to Africa in November!

Meeting the Authors...

Our church kicked off "The Story" last weekend and it was a great success! Each of the four services were packed, in fact Larry was working the parking lot and he said every spot was filled. We attended all the services because we had different responsibilities at each. In between each service, there were people dressed in Bible costumes throughout the church telling their stories...they were also autographing their own "page" in each childs copy of "The Story". I was amazed at how each character told their story as if it really happened to them, in fact the kids were encouraged to ask them questions. These were just a few of the characters...Solomon with the mother of the baby in his story about the two women fighting over the child, and Sarah when she was pregnant with Isaak (she's actually a friend of mine from the children's library...and please ignore my hair as we rode the bike to church and it gets all plastered down that way... :< )

Back to School...and Other Things!

It was really good to have a three day weekend already...the first week of school went well, but was so exhausting! It was really nice NOT to be new this year like I was last year and it was fun to see how much the kids had grown and see their excitement about the first day of school.

On Saturday, we went to a surprise 50th birthday party for my friend and neighbor, Cindy. She was the first person I met when I moved here a year ago...she was walking her dog the day we moved in and we started talking. It turned out she was a Christian and the friendship took off from there. Her husband and daughters planned the whole party at La Hacienda and it was very impressive. He's a pilot and he had rented a plane and flown in friends from all the places they've lived. She was SO surprised and very touched. It was a total success!

Last night we had a special Life Group barbeque and invited the Richters...a new missionary family that we will be supporting. They are heading to Africa to minister to the Dagara people. The dad has been a pastor of a small church in another part of Texas, and he and his wife and 4 children felt called to go into missions. They are such a special family and it is going to be a joy to get to know them better before they head to Africa in November. I had the priviledge of putting together a gift basket to welcome them to Oak Hills Church and San Antonio...and we all know how much I LOVE to do gift baskets!

Readjusting to Life in Texas...

Well, it's been almost two weeks since I got home from Illinois and although I've started several blog entries, I gave up because nothing seemed important enough to write. Every night I come home and check my kids' blogs and then get kind of melancholy because I feel so far away.

In spite of all that, things are going really well here. It was good to get back to Oak Hills and the timing was perfect because we're starting a nine month series which studies the Bible. Everyone will be reading "The Story", which is the Bible written in novel form. We will be hearing it from Max and our new pastor, Randy Frazee, as well as related studies in both our Bible Fellowships and Life Groups. Even the kids will be studing their own lesson in the kids version of "The Story"...it's an all church event and you can read about it at http://www.thestorynow.net/

Speaking of the kids, the fall classes began last Sunday and I'm teaching first grade this year. I was totally unprepared for the 76 kids that showed up on Sunday! We were scrambling for materials as well as chairs. Last night I went to a leadership meeting where a small group of us discussed this "problem"... it seems we're seeing this amazing growth throughout the entire church, which is a good thing, except for dealing w/ the growth issues.

Also, the school year started off with a bang! I've been so busy with my lesson plans and rounding up supplies that the first week flew by! This year, they changed my position...believe it or not I'm the new Encino Park art teacher. I do think I'm going to enjoy it, it's just that I was so unprepared for the change. I had heard rumors last year, but the "official" word didn't get to me until I went back last week. Oh well...I'm sure it will make for an exciting year ~

Memories of a Trip Remembered...

We started out our last day in Illinois by joining Stacey and Shannon for breakfast, along of course with the grandkids. Then after breakfast, Shannon went home to get some work done while we took Lydia to some yard sales. These are just some of the bargains we found....

Little Joshua was oblivious to all the shopping, but enjoyed napping in his new swing!

Then that evening, we all met for dinner at Famous Dave's for barbeque...MMM! After dinner, we went to the most fabulous park to play until dark. Great Grandma sat with baby Joshua, while the rest of us followed Lydia around as she explored the entire area. It was a great last evening together and the end of a trip I won't forget!

Golf and Good Friends

On Thursday afternoon, Larry played golf with his old golfing buddies, Ken and Rich...he enjoyed not only the fellowship, but also the Ledges Golf Course, which is one of Roscoes best courses. Then that evening we all met at the Olympic Tavern for dinner. I had Coconut Shrimp and it was one of the most delicious meals I'd ever had! This group of friends has a lot of history and it was so good to all be together again.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

Yesterday we all took a trip to Madison to go to the zoo. It was baby Joshua's first big outing, although he slept through the entire morning, only waking when it was time to be fed (he's such a compliant child at this age...we hope it lasts)! Lydia loved looking at the animals (and the lizards...her mommy's favorites), as well as playing in the play area. In addition to the merry-go-round, her favorite thing was the giant slide they had there. I didn't realize it until we got inside the big fort, but to ride on the slide you had to climb up through little holes in the structure...a bit difficult for me, but worth the effort to see the smile on her face as we went down...a bit ungracefully I might add!

Then today, I went over to my friend's house for an afternoon of swimming and sunning with old friends. Barbie has a beautiful yard with not only the pool, but it is also a gardeners dream! We all had a wonderful time relaxing by the pool, as well as catching up on all that's going on in our lives. I got a kick out of Barbie's dog, who jumped into the pool to retrieve a ball when it was thrown in!

Week's Half Gone!

We started this week at a run and it's still seems like it's going a hundred miles an hour! Sunday evening, we went to Jim and Laurie's house for dinner with our friends, Chuck and Vicki. We had so much fun, we didn't want the evening to end! Larry got to enjoy Jim's track, (which I think is going to be on his next Christmas List!) and we all enjoyed the wonderful dinner. It was hard to see the evening end, knowing we probably won't be together again until next summer.

This morning, we took Lydia and Joshua to the mall to have their portraits taken. It started out with Lydia refusing to have her picture taken, so we almost gave up. It wasn't until we were almost ready to leave the mall that we finally got her to cooperate enough to get some good pictures. I guess she's just at a difficult age for that sort of thing!

The weather here has been absolutely beautiful, so tonight we decided to go play golf at one of our favorite courses. Although we used to play here in the summer time, since we moved to Texas, I haven't played at all, partly because of the cost. Here it was only eight dollars for nine holes, as well as the most gorgeous surroundings you could hope to be in!

One major change that's happening right now is that Shelley, who has been living with Stacey for the last year, is planning to move out with some friends into their own apartment, so tonight she and one of her friends joined us for dinner to fill us in on what's going on. I don't think this is a bad thing, but it's going to be a big growing experience for all of them!

I just took this picture of all of them in Shelley's room discussing all the "arrangements"...it going to be a wild ride, I'm sure!

Celebration Day!

Sunday morning is always so much fun for me because I get to see Lydia interact with her friends...here she is with Lainy, who is actually a few months older, although much smaller.


This morning was the Baby Dedication service at Hope and Josh and Shannon took part in the service. Larry and I were so thankful that God allowed us to be here for this special day.


After church, we were all invited to their house for lunch as well as a birthday celebration for Josh. It was a beautiful day and we were all able to be outside to enjoy it. Lydia loved having an audience and thought we were all there for her!

Everyone gets so sick of me taking pictures all the time and even baby Joshua looked like he was saying "That's all, Grandma!"

More Fun at the Fair...

Because Larry hadn't been with us last time, we decided to take another trip to the county fair...this time with Stacey and Shelley. Lydia's first ride of the night was on the tea cups with a little girl that was riding alone. We didn't find out until later that her mom had been an English teacher at Hononegah that both Shannon and Shelley had years ago.

Stacey, Shelley and I also got in on the fun when we rode the Hang Gliders. I think Lydia enjoyed waving to us for a change!