1 Month Down

Well, we've gone and dun it! Survived our first month in Texas... snakes, scorpions, cowboys, and all!

Last week was pretty busy. I spent one morning in the office preparing more parts to ship. That seems to be going smoothly. Jimmy at The Shipping Zone recognizes me now. The children like to come because they get a candy from Jimmy.We had our first guests over for dinner Monday night... the Shackleford family (David, Donna, Hannah (8) and Paul (10)). We made Indian food and Naan bread - and they like it - even their children liked it! God has given us some new good friends! Donna kept our children on Tuesday so mom and I could go the Rockford, TX (about 50 minutes away) and do some shopping. We had a nice lunch at a french bistro called La Madeliene. It was rustic french decorating inside (buttery yellow walls with lots of wooden beams and creamy desserts). Yummy crepes and strawberries with some sort of creme sauce that tasted like it had liquer in it. We shopped for about 1 1/2 hours and the made a Costco run to stop up our freezer. I've had to go to the store much to often lately. It's time for another try at using all the food up in the freezer and most of the pantry before buying more. We had a wonderful day together... many laughs and good discussions.

Tuesday night we went to the Sulphur Springs Auction again. I really enjoy going to the auction! We bought a beautiful high back chair that fits perfectly almost anywhere in our house. There was another matching pair but the price went to high. The next auction is in 2 weeks and it's furniture from Scotland - I bet it'll be just beautiful!

I'm not sure what we did the rest of the week between cooking, cleaning, and laundry. Oh yes, on Friday morning we went to Donna Shackleford's house and met 6 other home school families. The children had a wonderful time making new friends and I enjoyed meeting the other moms. Many of their children are into soft ball here - and it's a BIG, BIG, DEAL! The children have 2 games a week and 2 1 1/2 hour practices each week. We'll stick with going for walks and playing games... soft ball sounds too hard core for me. I saw some of the Moms and their children again this past Monday morning when I registered the children for the Home School co-op called C.H.E.S.S.. They have a drama/music class, art class, and science class for 1 hour each on Monday afternoons starting in Sept. going until April. They only allow 15 kids in each class at each grade level so we signed up just incase we'll be homeschooling. I'm still praying for God's conviction or Word to know what His will is concerning home schooling. We are starting some school again next week since we stopped in April to finish out math and language arts/reading.

The yard sales here are awesome. I found the nicest little coffee table to sit beside one of our chairs... kind of rustic and old wood looking. I found a couple other things that add here and there to make our house a home. Mom and I did some redecorating in the living room to make it feel cozier in here... it has just felt like things were thrown together since we moved in. Our living room down stairs feels like 'home' now. Jessica walked in and curled up in a chair and said, "Ohh, this is cozy!"

I painted 3 of the kitchen walls green in the breakfast nook. I've always wanted green walls in some of the kitchen. I'd like to paint around the fireplace next but don't know exactly what color yet. It'll take a while to get the feel for what that should be.

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention Cooper Lake! We had a picnic there last Wednesday night. The weather was hot and the lake water was warm. The kids enjoyed a swim and Mom and I dipped in a bit. It has a very nice beach, change area/restroom, and a huge playground. That's just the day use area. The park is huge! Great for boats and water skiing/tubing. They have beautiful camp sites and cabins. It's just 13 miles from our house - I biked home so I got the exact distance. What a wonderful place to have access too so close by! We'll be delighted to show it to you when you visit!

On Sunday we visited a Cowboy Church. That was neat. It was a simple wood building with no frills, a nice big stage, and probably fits about 300 people. I'd say it was nearly full. We parked next to a trailer with a cute pony who had a nicely braided mane tied to it. Most of the vehicles were pick up trucks, a couple cars, and maybe 2 mini vans. We took the truck and Russ and Levi wore their cowboy boots. About half the men there wore their pants tucked into their boots - it looked pretty weird but maybe it's their style. The dress was pretty casual and the service was very nice. Music was led by a cowboy with a guitar and 4 others singing along on stage. First they started with 2 good old hymns, and then once everyone sat down they played about 3 praise songs. Hmmm, that seemed a bit backwords to me. I can hardly sit down and sing praise music. A couple other 'special music' songs were sung and they were beautiful! Made me cry. The sermon was delivered by a young 30ish year old who wasn't the main pastor. They are looking for a main pastor right now. He did a good job. It was obvious that the men who did speak loved Jesus with a passion in that church. It was refreshing to be in that environment. The other different thing I found was the women look right though you like your not there instead of smiling or saying hello. It was very odd, I've never visited a church that didn't have at least 1 female smile and say hello. Betty Sue tells me that's been a common experience for her here. We did know our neighbors so we visited with them a bit after the service. The church was having a 'playdate', which means twice a month everyone brings their horses and the children ride and do barrel racing and other sorts of drills. We didn't stay since Tom Duke was here and Russ had to do some work with him that afternoon. Maybe we'll visit it again...

I took my mother to the airport this morning. It was soooo WONDERFUL to have her here. She was an incredible help and support the last 3 months. I wish they lived here... there's actually a house for sale 2 miles down the road that she looked at. Mom loved it here - and said she'd like to live here. If we can convince my dad we'll be in business. So now we're officially on our own in Texas... no family... no Doug and Betty Sue. Now we're ready to venture out on our own.

Jessica will turn 10 on June 10th. For her birthday she'd like her Virginia cousins and friends to come to her birthday party. We're fixin' (as they say here) to meet at Cooper Lake next Wednesday for hot dogs, cake, and swimming. Wouldn't that be a wonderful surprise! All mommies and daddies are invited too! We have plenty of room!

We hope you all have a wonderful week!