Daily Dallas

Things continue to go really smoothly here in the big D. It's been really fun. It's a great change of pace for sure. I just thought I'd give you a sample week so you could get an idea of what we are doing here.

Last Saturday morning I actually went back to Longview to go to a beautiful wedding and show the house to a few people. Mama came out to meet us and kept the kids while I went to the wedding. It was a great day and a little like a reunion at the wedding. When I have all of the necessary tools to download pictures onto the computer, I will post pictures of the "reunion" and of the kids.

I drove back that night. Sunday morning we didn't have any plans as to where we were going to church, so we just picked a nearby church. It was pretty good...really good teaching. Then we went to Pappadeaux's and ate...all fried foods. Oh my gosh...we hardly ever have fried foods even when we eat out (I have never fried anything at home), so we felt pretty heavy afterward. We dropped Joel off at school, went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things, then made a pit stop by Baskin Robbins for a wonderful chocolate treat. That night we went to Joel's school to have fajitas with his classmates.

Monday we did nothing during the day. It was nice. We had been pretty busy all weekend. That night we met up with 2 couples...Matt and Meredith Coleman and Stephen and Stacey Russell. I went to ETBU with Matt and Meredith (and actually went on a mission trip to China with Meredith). When we found out we were coming to Dallas, I emailed everyone we knew in the area to see if they knew of any possibilities for housing. Meredith passed on our email to some of her friends. Stephen and Stacey actually offered us a place to stay, saying that we could have their upstairs. SO generous. We ended up making other plans for housing, but we were able to meet them Monday night. It was so much fun catching up with Matt and Meredith and getting to know Stephen and Stacey. The Russell's are actually getting ready to move to India for a year, so we had plenty to talk to them about. And Matt and Meredith are expecting a baby in October too, their first. So, we had much conversation about that too. It was fun.

Tuesday I drove down to Granbury to Justin and Jen Sprayberry's house. Another couple of friends were coming through town, Katie and Noel, and were spending the night there. So, me and the kids went down and spent the night too. The Sprayberry's have 2 1/2 year old twins, a 10 month old boy, and #4 on the way in September...yeah, they're busy. Grady and Hadley had a great time playing with them. We just hung out with them all day and went into town to eat supper that night...and have TCBY (Grady was super-excited about another ice cream treat).

The next morning we trekked back to our neck of the woods in Dallas (a 2 hour trek), picked up Joel from school, and met up with some other friends for lunch. Jeremy and Kathy Wideman were passing through on their way to visit some people and churches in Louisiana. They, along with their son Joshua (and other son, Luke, due in May/June) are missionaries in East Asia. They are here on furlough for the next 5 months. It was GREAT to see them and catch up with them. I grew up with Kathy...we used to go to church camp together every year. After lunch, we took Joel back to school and me and the kids hung out with the Wideman's all afternoon. We then picked Joel up and went to the Galleria for supper. We let the kids play on the playground there, which they LOVE. Then, we came home.

Yesterday me and the kids just stayed in the room all day...again, another breather from all the going. I did laundry and cleaned the kitchen/room and the kids played all day long. They also had HUGE naps. They must've been pooped too.

And, today we plan to go to the mall again...have a little picnic there and play on the playground...and do some good people-watching. We would go to the outside playground, but it is really windy today...and might rain.

Joel also got a job offer this week. He was called into the office at American Flyers (his school) and they said that he was at the top of his class and wanted him to work for them. Can you believe it? 2 weeks ago he was really overwhelmed and not sure he could do it all and now he is getting offered a job because he is doing so well. We felt very excited and honored and I was very proud of course. But, at this point we are still moving ahead with the plans to go to Missouri, etc. It was really cool though. As I wrote before, he took his check ride and passed last Friday (3 of his classmates didn't pass when they took it yesterday) and then he took another big test Wednesday morning...he made a 91. He is doing really well.

So, that's about it. Fun times in Dallas. Again, as soon as I can I will post pictures.

Also, sorry these past few posts have been so long, but hopefully, for your sake, they won't always be this long.