Saturday with the Grandparents

Saturday morning dawned earlier than normal for me. With Mom gone on an anniversary getaway, I was responsible for breakfast. I made homemade cinnamon rolls and served them with cheddar cheese and fruit. We actually had breakfast eaten and cleaned up before 10:00 a.m. (that rarely happens around here!)

We had a pretty relaxing morning. Ben had started to mow the lawn the day before, but hadn’t finished. So he spent about 3 more hours mowing (we have a BIG yard.)

The other kids played outside with my Grandpa while I stayed inside and caught up on some school work.

Mom and Dad arrived back home around 4 p.m. and filled us in on their weekend. We all cleaned up and left for dinner around 5:30 p.m. One of our favorite restaurants—and the best BBQ place we have found in TX thus far—is just 3 miles down the road from our house. We knew that we had to take my Grandparents there during their visit.

I had my “usual” dinner of ribs with BBQ sauce, green beans, fried okra, Texas toast, and Dr. Pepper. Not healthy, but a good treat. J

My Abuela and Abuelo loved the food!

We really loved being back together as a family and enjoying a good meal!

To be continued . . .

Day with the Grandparents

Friday morning brought another beautiful sunny day to our corner of Texas! We had a pretty quiet day around the house with my Grandparents.

Shortly after breakfast everyone (except me) went on a walk. My Grandparents enjoyed seeing our “neighborhood.”

We did some school that afternoon and just relaxed. Mommy packed up a suitcase because Daddy was taking her away for a night to celebrate their anniversary (more on that coming soon.) After they left, we kids had the night alone with our Grandparents! We ordered pizza, watched “The Perfect Game,” and had 5 Minute Hot Fudge Cake with ice cream for dessert. It was nice to have some special time with our Grandparents!

To be continued. . .

Abuela and Abuelo Visit!

We have long anticipated the day when we would have our first overnight guests at our new home in Texas. The day finally came last Thursday when my Grandparents from Ohio flew in to spend a week with us!

Mom, Josiah, and I left for the airport pretty early in the morning to pick them up. The area around the airport is an absolute mess, and the roads literally change on a weekly basis. Daddy is usually the directions person in the family, but since we had to go without him, we went armed with the GPS, Mapquest directions, the iPad and lots of prayers. J We actually didn’t get lost at all! We felt pretty good about that. J

We arrived at the airport about an hour before their flight was due to land. We bought a few snacks since we hadn’t eaten much before we left. Then we sat and killed some time.

Getting ready to greet Abuela and Abuelo.

We had a very happy reunion when they arrived! We saw them in January and February for my Grandpa and Grandma’s funerals, but we hadn’t seen them on happier terms since December.

We collected their bags and then turned the car back towards home. We enjoyed showing some Texas landscape, and showing them around our little corner of Texas.

When we arrived at home, all the kids were so excited to see them. And Bia and Bio loved our house!

We had a late lunch, followed by the Spanish coffee time. J

That evening, we had a delicious dinner of Crock Pot Pork with Vegetables over rice, green beans, and fruit salad with whipped cream and cookies for dessert. It was so good to finally have them here, and we looked forward to a great week of fellowship and fun!

To be continued. . .

Without Excuse



Photo Credit: Roma.



“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” Romans 1:20

 

My Grandma

~Posted by Ben (Tribute written to share at the funeral)

Dear Grandma:

Words can hardly express what I am feeling now, or how much I miss you and Grandpa. Life is filled with so many kinds of events, most of which are happy, like birthdays, family reunions, and weddings. But as Ecclesiastes chapter 3 says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” It then goes on to say that there is a time to rejoice and a time to weep. Funerals are one of the few bittersweet times in life when rejoicing and mourning are done simultaneously. Mourning over the fact that you will no longer be with us, and rejoicing for the time that we did have with you as well as rejoicing that you and Grandpa get to spend Valentine’s Day together, that you will be together forever with no more weakness, lack of breath or pain.

I have so many wonderful memories of you, Grandma. If I had to choose the one thing that I will miss the most about you, it would be those really loooonnngg conversations you and I used to have. Whether sitting in the living room or on the chairs on the back porch, we used to talk about absolutely everything. Everything from Politics, economics, and history, all the way down to lawn care, landscaping and food. You and I had very similar interests and much in common. We used to talk for hours on end. I missed that the most when you went into the nursing home, because sometimes it was hard for you to talk for lengthy amounts of time. I can’t wait for the day when we can talk for as long as we want about whatever happens to come into our heads, just like old times.

One thing that always fascinated me about you was your seemingly endless knowledge about everything. You always knew what was going on in the world around you. You read the paper, watched the news, and analyzed everything. One life lesson I learned from you was this: wisdom is not something that comes from Ivy League universities, nor is it learned from professors. Although you can achieve textbook knowledge from these sources, there is a great difference between wisdom and knowledge. And although you possessed both, you proved to me that wisdom is not something that you can earn, but is a gift from God. A gift that God gives and gives you more of over the years. Grandma, it is my understanding that because of family finances, you did not go to college. But I never would have known it. You always knew so much from your many years of life and from so much reading. You were truly a very wise woman.

Grandma, I know because of my faith in Jesus Christ, I will see you again. But until that day, I will remember everything I loved about you. Your calm southern demeanor, your wonderful laugh, your love of picking on people. J I love you and miss you very much. I don’t know if I can ask this, but please give Grandpa a great hug for me! I will see both of you someday.

Your loving grandson

Ben

Blogger Challenge Day 15: Bible Verse

It’s very hard for me to pick just one Bible verse to share, as I have so many favorites! Verses become special to me for different reasons, but usually because of a life circumstance I am going through. Promises of God and verses about His plans for my life are some of my favorites.

One of my favorite verses since I returned from Haiti and began my journey to see an orphanage built on La Montagne is Acts 20:24:

“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” (NIV 1984)

*What is one of your favorite Bible verses? Share in the comments!*

Our Last Day in Houston (Saturday)

We all enjoyed sleeping in a bit after getting to bed so late following the gala. We still had to get up a little early so that we wouldn’t miss breakfast. After eating, we packed up our room and headed back to the ballroom to help clean things up.



When we got to the parking garage, the boys nearly fainted when they saw a Lamborghini Aventador. Even though we had parked all the way on the 3rd level, we had to walk all the way down to level 1 so they could get a closer look and take a few pictures. :-)

The rest of the folks from A Child’s Hope had done most of the clean-up already, so we talked with the missionaries while we waited to have our de-brief meeting. One of the board members led us in a wonderful prayer of Thanksgiving to God for all that He had done over the weekend. We then discussed how things went, and the high-priority logistics for the future (most of those are on me as the Trip Coordinator, with the deadline of commitment for our missions trips coming up on April 15^th.)

 

We were sad to say our goodbyes to everyone, but we had a lunch date to keep. I am so blessed to be part of an incredible team of people at A Child’s Hope! Everyone is so down-to-earth and kind. I have never felt more loved and welcomed by a group of people that I have only met face-to-face once or twice in my life!

 

We started to drive north in order to visit some other friends in Houston. Pastor Randy was the Pastor of our church in Michigan before he moved to Texas last summer. We hadn’t had a chance to see his whole family since they moved, so we were very excited to see them again!

 

We met them at their new church where the kids were having baseball games. We visited while the games finished.

 



Pastor was so nice to get all of us snow cones! They were quite refreshing.

Photo Credit: Roma.

Then he gave us the grand tour of the church.

All of us in front of the church.

Next we all caravanned over to a local Mexican restaurant (Pappasitos Cantina.) We were shocked at how full the restaurant was at 3:00 p.m. But we didn’t mind waiting a little longer since we were among friends. J



Pappasitos is known for its homemade tortillas. They are also known for their dough balls. J To entertain kids while they wait for their meal, they give them a dough ball to play with like play dough.

Most of us got fajitas with rice and beans. It was honestly the very BEST Mexican food I have EVER had! And I have gone to Mexico and had the real deal, so take it from me! J

 

We enjoyed a leisurely lunch and lots of time to catch up. But sadly, all good things come to an end. We had to say our goodbyes and head home so that we could get home that night. But we had a wonderful time in Houston, and we look forward to the next time we can visit!

 

A Child's Hope Gala (Friday)

April 5^th dawned bright and early for me. There was so much anticipation! Ben and I left our hotel room around 7:15 a.m. to go work out in the gym. Once we finished, we returned to the room, got cleaned up, and then we all went to breakfast around 8:15 a.m.



This was the view from our floor at the hotel. Cityscape is fascinating and fun to visit, but I wouldn’t enjoy living in it.

I made a few phone calls in the morning to some of the board members at A Child’s Hope to find out if they needed help setting things up at the ballroom where the gala was being held. They had things under control for the time being, so we watched one of the movies we had brought and then went out to lunch.



Just a short walk from our hotel was a little gourmet sandwich shop called “Spicy Pickle.” They had the BEST paninis ever! I actually had an entirely vegetarian lunch which included their De Luca Panini (it had basil mayo, spinach, tomatoes, roasted red peppers and mozzarella cheese on rosemary foccacia) a cup of vegetable soup, and of course, a spicy pickle. I highly recommend it!

Photo Credit: Roma.

There was a Starbucks right next to Spicy Pickle, so we stopped there after we finished our lunch. While we were in there, I got a call back from one of the board members. She said we could come down and set up my booth, so we headed back to our hotel to drop a few things off and get our car.



On our walk back to the hotel, we stopped to pose by this statue in front of the business building next to our hotel. The weather was perfect the whole weekend we were in Houston.

Photo Credit: Betsy.

The ballroom was only about a 10-minute drive (in normal traffic) from our hotel. It was in the City Centre, a really beautiful district of town. We parked on the street and then walked a couple of blocks.

We received a warm welcome from all the board members when we walked in, and I enjoyed introducing them to the rest of the family. I got my booth all set up with brochures, applications, photo books, business cards, and a video with pictures and videos from our trip to Haiti. Right next to my booth they placed a sign and a big canvas picture of Valencia. J

 

We quickly hurried back to our hotel to change into our gala clothes and be back at the ballroom about an hour before it officially started.



We had so much fun getting dressed up for this formal event. How do we look? J

  Driving back to the ballroom took us through the height of rush-hour traffic. It took us closer to 20 minutes to get there. But we made it on time and were all in place when guests started arriving.



I had a fair number of people come by my booth. They also had a silent auction going on in another room. We had over 300 people come to the gala!

The rest of my family alternated between helping me out and mingling with the other guests. Someone brought me a Shirley Temple and a risotto appetizer which was appreciated. J



When I saw this picture, I knew I had to post it. J Ben looks so grown up in his suit with a drink in his hand (it was a Shirley Temple, just to clarify!)

Around 8:00 p.m., we sat down to a formal dinner. We had a course of salad and rolls with butter, followed by stuffed chicken and roasted vegetables. While we ate, they had a program going on. They introduced all the staff at A Child’s Hope, introduced the Emcee’s, and had a few of the board members speak.

While we ate a delicious dessert of tiramisu, the live auction began. They had hired a professional auctioneer, and boy could he talk fast! He did an incredible job. Between the live auction, silent auction, and everything else, the total amount raised greatly exceeded our expectations! God is so good!

After the live auction ended (around 10:00 p.m.) the band came on and they opened up the dance floor. I was able to dance for a song or two, but then I stayed at my table so I could talk more with people about the missions trips.

Photo Credit: Roma.

We were absolutely thrilled to spend most of our evening with the missionary couple from Haiti. They sat at our table, and we were able to visit a lot. They are both such a huge blessing to my family and me!

Photo Credit: Betsy.

Towards the end of the evening, a few of us started to get a bit slap-happy. J We had been at the gala for almost 7 hours.

Photo Credit: Roma.

Around 12:00 a.m., we finally called it quits and headed back to our hotel. It was so hard walking several blocks back to the car on the cobblestones when we had been in heels for 7 hours straight (and I had been on my feet most of that time.)

Photo Credit: Roma.

We arrived back at the hotel and immediately took those wretched things off our feet, and slowly started cycling through the shower. I didn’t make it to bed until 2:00 a.m., but it was so worth it. I was SO thankful for the way God had blessed the event and all that we had accomplished. It was truly a great success!

 

 

To be continued . . .