Took a little day trip since it was Grandaddy's last day here...we went to Sewanee and then did the JD Distillery tour.  A little disappointed in the lack of fall foliage yet in Sewanee.   Guess we were just a tad early!   You know how I am about the fall foliage.  Still, we had fun...we visited the All Saints Chapel, had lunch at the University of the South cafeteria and drove around the grounds.   Then, we went home via Lynchburg and  took the Jack Daniels Distillery tour, which is always interesting.

Here are few snaps from the trip:

Statue of Jack

Our tour guide right next to the statue....thought this was a funny capture!

Abby walking the Perimeter Trail in Sewanee

Abby + Daddy

Abby + Grandaddy

She begged me to take this one...

Day Trippin' is tiring!

Relaxing on the grounds of the distillery

My favorite of the day....Abby on the steps of the Cross, getting slightly spun out at me for all the pictures. "Mom....really?  I can only smile so much!"

This past weekend we took a trip to Cheekwood and spent some time roaming around.   I couldn't stop taking pictures of the Chihuly sculptures - they were absolutely amazing!   I did manage to shoot just a few pictures of flowers...but my favorite flower of all goes by the name of Abby.   I could name so many great attributes about her, but this particular day the one that stood out most was "self-posing".    No longer do I have to prompt Abby to pose, she just says, "Mom.  Take one of me like this"  

Yeah....she rocks it.






Please check out the Cheekwood posts at AFH - there's lotsa, lotsa pics to see!!  

The Feed Burner stats haven't shown any dip in readership, so I guess I don't have too much damage control to do after that last post. But God bless you if you're still reading anyway...



So yeah, this is that standard issue, late October "I took my kid to the pumpkin patch and here's all the pictures of us pumpkin carving in the afternoon", dried ears of corn kind of post. C'mon, you know you've got that kind of post...

Tuesday morning Mike, Uncle Steve and Grandaddy hopped in the car and drove out to Gentry's Farm in Franklin to meet a busload of kids from Abby's school. They spent a chunk of the day there doing various activities (one of which included feeding some pumpkins to the cows! did you know that cows ate pumpkins?) then got to eat lunch and even take a pumpkin home. The only unfortunate incident of the day involved a group of wild young animals attacking Uncle Steve. He was able to escape with only minor injuries.

Although we had to say adios to Uncle Steve on Wednesday morning, the Grandaddy visitation is still in full swing here at the Club. We spent some time carving the pumpkins that they brought home from the farm and roasting the seeds (my favorite!). One of the pumpkins was a "knuckle head" pumpkin. That thing was so tough, I couldn't get my Cutco in there for nuthin'. So what's a girl to do?? GET YER DRILL, BABY! Oh yeah - I LOVE using the drill. It's just a really cool feeling to know that you can make holes in stuff. The knuckle head was no match for the DeWalt...I even busted out the big 1" drill bit too - it was awesome. Pumpkin was flying everywhere. I was a total drill rebel and did it sans protective eyeware, too. I finally got the top off that thing so we could fish out the seeds.

Another fun highlight for the week was Grandaddy's lunch date with Abby. Her school allows family members to come have lunch with the kids in the cafeteria. This was actually kind of a big deal for Abby because it was the first time that she got to eat the "cafeterion" food. She even used her own money from her piggy bank to finance the lunch.



That should just about do it for this post...

love & a fully charged DeWalt

k

SECRET MESSAGE: Here...smell my feet. These shoes do NOT make my feet smell!

This money saving maven has met her match! I had to pay full price for something...MAMA NO LIKE! The city caught me red handed on one of those traffic camera's running a light. In fact, you can see it for yourself:



Mike and I have already watched it about 50 times (one time for each dollar I had to spend get back in the good graces of this fine city) and we laugh our butts off every time. I don't know why the video strikes me so funny - it's just the sight of my little Camry boppin' on through that lonesome turn lane. Let me give you a little background on this right hand turn. There are TWO right hand turn lanes and when the light is green, it's a party and everyone gets to go. Then the light turns yellow, then red - at that time a green right arrow appears for the right hand turn lane. Well apparently the left right hand turn lane has been naughty because it's not allowed to go on the right green arrow light. Only the rightmost right hand lane can turn. I'm not sure if any of that made sense - but, it explains why nobody is in the left right hand turn lane - except of course for me. Bop, bop, boppin' along...

Of course, this little infraction has had its intended effect on me...today I found myself being much more obedient to traffic signs and lights. Not sure how long that will last...

Said in my hearing...
Today I was not feeling so well. So after we got home from school, I suggested to Abby that we have some "cuddle time" on the bed. Of course my idea would be that she brings a few books and reads to me as I close my eyes, rest and hope I feel better. Her idea is that I read to her while she relaxes after a hard day at school (come on, recess IS tiring!). Being the fab mom that I am, I acquiesced. I started to read but found myself unable to muster much enthusiasm in my voice. Abby - using hand gestures that are impossible to document in this forum - says to me, "MOM. You need to read the words with more excitement!"

Jack and Mary BoBo
No, this is not some nursery rhyme that I screwed up! Jack Daniels - as in the whiskey....and Miss Mary BoBo as in...well, Miss Mary BoBo! Two places that we visited with our friend Kathryn during her visit here. I never had an opportunity to write about it so I thought I'd give a little Readers Digest of it.



We drove down to the little town of Lynchburg, Tn. (a wonderful drive with lots of beautiful country scenery). First stop: JACK. Funny little side note, Lynchburg is in a DRY county - that means alcohol is not served or sold anywhere! The distillery can only sell "commemorative" bottles of Jack.



We took a tour of the distillery where Jack Daniels whiskey is made. The grounds are beautiful and the smell of whiskey fills your nostrils as soon as you get out of the car. I knew we were in for a wild ride as soon as we met our feisty tour guide, William. He kept things lively, I'll just leave it at that. The tour is great and we learned quite a bit about the process...we may have even learned more if we understood 1/2 of what William was saying.

After the tour, we went down the road a bit to downtown Lynchburg where 1 pm "dinner" reservations awaited us at Miss Mary BoBo's (MMBB). We weren't sure what to expect, but went at the suggestion of a friend. Turns out, MMBB is a boarding house & restaurant (although no longer used as a boarding house). The bedrooms of the house have been converted into mini-dining rooms where meals are served family style at a large table. Each room has a "hostess" - a local Lynchburg lady - that gets everyone familiar with each other and the food and handles any questions or concerns. We just so happened to be seated in the "Tolley" room with Lynne Tolley herself as our hostess. Lynne is the current proprietress of MMBB (Miss Mary was her mama) - and she is the great-grandniece of Jack Daniels. It doesn't stop there folks, Miss Lynne takes a little time each Friday to imbibe over at the distillery....oh sure....they CALL it taste testing, but we know the truth. Seriously though, she's an "official tester" for JD. They say sometimes it only takes a whiff to tell good from bad. Anyway - if you want to know more about MMBB, just google it and read all the fabulous write-ups about it. There is some fun history to it.


The 3 of us (along with 8 or 9 others) feasted on fried chicken, meatloaf, rice casserole, candied apples (candied with Jack, of course), pinto beans with red pepper relish, greens, fried okra, corn muffins, sweet tea and some fudge pie w/ fresh cream (Jack's in the cream too!) for dessert. I think I missed a dish, but you get the picture. We were so full afterwards that we walked around downtown Lynchburg and looked at souvenirs in hopes of our stomach returning to normal size.



And we couldn't help but take in a few rocks in the rocking chairs that were so abundantly available in front of the shops. NICE!

Well - thanks for hanging in there with me for this lenthy post. I hope you are all well and find yourself more informed about the haps at Club Amaro.

Love and okra,
k

SECRET MESSAGE: "It was the PASTA"

Hey guys!

A quick check-in to let you know that Club Amaro is hosting Auntie Kathryn this week - we have been off on grand adventures taking in the local scene. We've ridden the General Jackson, toodled around downtown Nashville, shopped on Main Street in Franklin. We also roamed the beautiful grounds at the Grand Old Opry and visited Miller's Grocery for some serious country kitchen cookin' and bluegrass music by the Howling Brothers. Tomorrow we'll visit the Jack Daniel's distillery and start winding down before Kathryn leaves Wednesday afternoon.

Here's a few shots from our adventures, but feel free to check out the Dropshots to get the full meal deal.


A view of downtown Nashville from the Cumberland River



Can the River take this much beauty?



Display at the Grand Old Opry



Union Station, downtown


Miller's Grocery - a country cafe in Christiana, TN.


Miller's Grocery Watchdog


One of many new outfits from Auntie Kathryn

Greetings from the fabulous state of Louisiana...Sportsman's Paradise, Creole State, Child of the Mississippi, etc. Lafayette, Louisiana is the exact spot where we are at right now - visiting Aunt Jan & Uncle Richard. Our time here has been filled with fun times, good food and neateaux sights. Lots to update you on, so let me get started...

Dat Wuh Good...
Aunt Jan can handle herself in the kitchen...of course she descends from culinary fabulousness (my Nana who could probably kick the Iron Chef up one side of the street and down the other). Upon our arrival on Saturday afternoon, we were greeted with the smell of lovin' from the kitchen. Jan had prepared dinner - pan fried thin chicken breasts with a basalmic vinegar/garlicy sauce, rosemary garlic roasted potatoes (par-boiled prior to roasting - what a difference!), corn, cooked carrots with brown sugar and of course, rolls (for soppin' stuff up). A meal that would make you wanna slap yo mama's hand, fo show. Later on after dinner, we went over to see my Nana, who lives down the way from Jan. My Nana is a sweet little thing - she can't talk because about 3 years ago doctors removed her voice box. Believe me, she can write up a storm - and, her eyes light up when she sees Abby. Nana is the last of my grandparents, so I treasure the time that I can see her.

Lappin' it up, Lafayette Style.
Sunday morning we went out for brunch at the Blue Dog Cafe. Their buffet is so incredible and popular that the wait to be seated was an hour! Fortunately, we opted for patio seating (which requires extra walking to the buffet) so we were able to sit right away. All you can drink mimosas, live music and wonderful dishes like Corn & Crab Bisque, Crawfish Enchiladas and Gouda cheese grits...needless to say when we were done eating, we needed to do some walkin'.

We went down to the quad at the University of Louisiana (home of the Rajun Cajun's) and walked around. Now, please don't let your mind conjure up images of the concrete rectangle of your youth...this quad is a SWAMP! Complete with cypress trees, green water, alligators, turtles and fish that defy the laws of physics. The scenery was beautiful and the weather was perfect for strolling around. No trip around a swamp is complete with out a big ol' honken bag of dog food...yes, we took dog food with us to feed the aquatic life. The alligators were digging it and so were the turtles and fish...so, I guess that's fine, huh? (Sidebar: I'm thinking of a friend I have...one who is able to identify the origins of most mysterious animal poop....you know who you are...I'm apologizing to you for throwing processed dog food into a swamp for alligators, turtles and fish). At least I didn't throw a half of a McDonald's hamburger in the swamp for the alligator to eat (as seen in the photo to the right)...that was some dude standing next to us that did that. But boy that alli snarfed that burger up quicker than you could say Steve Irwin.


Painting at the Bisque...

Monday afternoon, the 4 girls (that would be me, Jan, Abby and Nana) headed off to Clayfish Bisque, a place where you can paint naked pottery (not to be confused with paint pottery naked) and then pick it up a few days later after it has been fired up in a kiln. We had the BEST time! We all picked our pieces, then picked our paint colors and went to town creating our masterpieces. Mike actually joined us a little later after he got off work - he was able to supervise and ensure that all that feminine pulchritude didn't get too out of hand. We were all very happy with our pieces - we'll see how well they turned out when we pick them up in a few days. Jan did a cute little tile with crawfish, using all 4 of our thumb and finger prints as the crawfish heads and claws. Nana did a tile with a Fleur de lis design. Abby did 2 figurines (a dino and a dog that she painted "dalmatian" style) and I chose a pencil cup and did a moon face on the front with a Genesis 1:1 bible verse on the back.

On Monday evening, it was time to bite tail and suck head (that is code for eating crawfish, or "mud bugs" as I like to refer to them as). I still haven't gotten to the point where I can order even a 3 lb (let alone a 5lb or all you can eat!) platter of the little freshwater crustaceans, I just like to watch other people do it (exhibit A - this picture, Uncle Richard eats a small 3 lb portion of crawfish). It's a messy ordeal and when all is said and done, you get a little more than a handful of crawfish. But, people eating it look like they are having fun. Who can resist holding the little buggers up and making them dance and talk? Anyway, we went to a place in Breaux Bridge (which by the way calls itself the Crawfish Capitol of the world) called, "Crazy 'bout Crawfish" (what a good name, huh?). A cute little place with lots of fun decor all around to look at. Mike and I went for the Crawfish platter which had little samplings of all kinds of crawfish delicacies. Abby had the critters basket which had shrimp and crawfish. Abby gave it "91 thumbs up" (a phrase coined by the little critter herself) and so did we.

Seaux HOT!
Today we headed to Opelousas to a dive (and I mean that in every sense of the word) called Billy & Rays. What prompted the 25 mile drive you ask? Boudin Balls, baby. For those of you that don't know what the heck I'm talking about, Boudin Balls are made from Cajun boudin sausage (a blend of rice, pork, and spices). The sausage mixture is made into little balls, coated with stuff and fried. You eat them warm, plain or spread on a cracker. These balls were good... This place also sells cracklin's, which is something I can't even bring myself to talk about. Quite frankly, it's where I draw the line in my dining choices. Seaux nasty.

After our short stop in Opelousas, we headed back the other direction and continued on until we hit Avery Island, home of the Tabasco plant! Everyone's favorite pepper sauce is made right here in the state of Louisiana. We took a tour of the facility and got to see the machines and workers in action. We learned about the process that a pepper goes through before it's bottled. Did you know that the pepper mash is left to age and ferment for up to 3 years? The mash is stored in white oak barrels that come from Jack Daniels. JD is only able to use the barrel once for their distilling process. Once the mash is ready, vinegar is added and it's stirred for 28 days! I hope you will now appreciate your little bottle of Tabasco...alot of time went into the making of it!

After the tour, we spent some time in the country store. One of the best parts of the Tabasco country store is the samples. They have all their products there to taste (using pretzel sticks) AND, they ask visitors to review new products they are working on. Today, we got to give our opinion on a Raspberry Chipotle dipping sauce (I gave it a thumbs up), as well as Tobasco Soda. Yes, that sounds gross, I know - but it's surprisingly good! It basically tastes like Coke with a kick...my Aunt (who likes her bloody mary's SPICY) did not care for it one bit. We'll see if Tabasco puts out these 2 products soon... Another fun treat we experienced was sweet and spicy ice cream. I would guess it was vanilla ice cream with red peppers blended in. Again - something that I would normally turn my nose up at! After we had our sample, we actually decided to plunk down a buck and get a full serving of it. A taste sensation!

Well, this post has turned out to be probably way too long...I hope you stuck with me. For those of you wondering what's up with my knee - well, it still hurts. I'm able to walk fine, but sleeping is tough and it's hard to sit with my leg in one place for awhile. I started out strong with the RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation) but now the best I can do is Red Beans and Rice. Come on, I'm in Cajun Country!

By the way - I've got a bunch of great pics for you to see of our time here in Lafayette...head on over to the Drop Shots account and check them out!

We have a few more days here in Lafayette, then we head north to Monroe to visit more family...stay tuned for more fun-filled Club Amaro adventures.

Seaux long...
k

Yee haw...I'm back with another adventure for ya! We hit the stockyards again tonight but this time we put out cowboy hats on and saddled up for our first rodeo - complete with bull riding, barrel racing, bucking broncos and calf ropin'. This ain't yer grandpa's fair rodeo...this was legitimate professional competition y'all.

Upon arrival to the yards, we hooked ourselves up with some good Tex-mex grub. Then we mosied on over to the ring and secured our front row seats. The seats were great, although I was half expectin' to eat a little dirt - especially after the buckin' broncos competition. Abby was sittin' purdy on Grandpapa's lap with her pink cowgirl hat...we were buckled in for a rootin' tootin' good time.

I think it's rodeo law that any event MUST begin with a playing of Lee Greenwood's, "I'm Proud to be an American". Someone is going to the slammer if they screw that one up. They played it even before the National Anthem! Call me a patriot - I always get choked up when I hear that Greenwood song...especially that part where it all builds up to the climactic chorus at the end...poignant, but I digress.



Some of the highlights of the rodeo...first off, the bull riding was incredible. Those bulls are just madder than a junkyard dog! It just ain't natural to be ridin' one. As Randy pointed out to us, all the competitions are legitimate ranchin' duties except for bull ridin'. None of the cowboys made it past eight seconds (which by the way seems like an eternity!)...but, it was impressive none-the-less.

Another cool highlight - one of those cowboys roped himself a calf in just under 11 seconds. It was very impressive...'specially since more than half those cowpokes couldn't even git their darn rope round the little guy. I was so conflicted watching the calf ropin'...on the one hand, I was cheerin' for the cowboy to do the thing, then, when he did the thing, I was madder than a wet hen to see it and I wanted to go rescue the little calfaroonie.

More on the hilarious side was the part of the show where they let all the older kids in the ring, release a calf with a ribbon tied on it's tail and let it fly. The kids run around the ring tryin' to get that ribbon...poor little calf - I feel so bad for 'em. Another time they let the kids 5 and under (sans Abigial Susan Amaro) chase a sheep with a ribbon on its tail. Kids from the city and barnyard animals are not a good combination. I think I'll write a letter to somebody.

If you get a chance, check out the cool video I got of the bucking bronco - it starts off slow...but keep watchin' - it gets buck wild. As well, there are some rodeo photos - they were pretty hard to get as the action was fast and my camera is old. But, if you look real hard you'll see a few cool things.

Well - things are great here in the Lone Star state...we are enjoying our time at the Bashford residence and looking forward to some time in Luzy-anna next week.

Hold on to yer hat and sharpen yer spurs kids...more adventures are on the way!

love and calf freedom,
k

Yee haw and greetings from Fort Worth! We've been blessed with some incredible weather the last few days. Couple that with the fact that Gpapa has had 2 vacation days from the saltmines and you've got a recipe for fun.

Monday, Gmama & Gpapa gave Mike and I the old "see ya later" and took Abby out for lunch and a day at the zoo. They were gone so long that I was beginning to wonder if the zoo didn't capture them and put them in the monkey exhibit. Upon return back to base camp, Mike and I listened to countless stories of animals antics. It was nice to hear they had such a great time because Mike and I were carrying out far less interesting tasks like work, laundry, grocery shopping and the like. Later on that evening we all ate dinner in the living room (gasp!) and watched Charlotte's Web (the OLD one, not the new!). La dee dah.




Today was another beautiful day - that temperature gauge was reaching all day long to touch that 80 mark and finally did later in the afternoon. Mike was able to finish work a little early so we headed out to the Fort Worth Stockyards. There is alot of history behind the Stockyards - it was the last major stop for South Texas drovers herding cattle up to the railheads in Kansas. When the railroad finally arrived in 1876, Fort Worth became a major shipping point for livestock. These days, although there is still plenty of livestock around, it's filled with shopping and dining attractions, a rodeo, a human maze and other fun frivolities. Every day at 11:30 and 4pm they have a "cattle drive" right down the middle of the main street!


This wasn't the first time Mike and I had visited the stockyards, but it was Abby's first time. As soon as we got out of the car, she was already petting a horse! We mosied around for awhile checking out the attractions and then headed for dinner at Risky's Steakhouse. Although an order of "calf fries" was very tempting, we "steered" clear and "herded" ourselves over to the steak menu. Everyone enjoyed steak, except for Abby who went with the the chicken fingers...

By the way, Risky's has the 2nd best peach cobbler ever . The 1st best honor goes to my Aunt Bonnie whose peach cobbler won my heart so many years ago before I could comprehend how fattening it was to add 2 sticks of butter to one pan.

Oh yeah, an interesting tidbit - on our way to the stockyards, we witnessed (and were literally 2 feet from getting hit by) a high speed car chase on the I-35!! It was a VERY scary moment... The car being chased was the one that almost hit us, then not far behind was the cop chasing him. If Mike had started his lane change one second earlier, I would probably not be writing this post right now!!

Well, that's all for now...we enjoyed our day at the yards and are hoping to go back and catch a rodeo before we leave. Yee haw... One more thing - you can see more pictures of zoo day and stockyards at the Dropshots site - just click here.

love & calf fries,
k

Well folks, I'm back - first off, I'd like to thank Mike for a fabulous post last night...and just so you know, I encourage him frequently to post, but he insists that I do it. Please feel free to encourage more of Mike on this blog by shooting him an email.

So I was chatting with my stepdad, Randy on the phone a few weeks ago about driving routes. I had mentioned that we really needed a stop between El Paso and Fort Worth because the driving distance was too long. Usually, I would try to find places to stop where there was some local sightseeing in order to increase our fun quotient. When I asked him about stopping in west TX somewhere, he said to me, "well...God didn't spend too much time on West Texas". The comment made me chuckle at the time, but I've come to realize that truer words have not been spoken! Mike was right on in his post - there is a whole lot of nothing going on around these parts.

We decided to by pass the city of El Paso (which we now refer to as By Paso) because we had more than a few occasions to hear what a stinky little town it is. So, we thought instead to make a really long travel day (Albuquerque to Midland), get to Midland late in the eve then have a "day off" the next day to ramp up for another travel day to Fort Worth. So we slept in and had a leisurely morning getting ready and hanging out. About noon, we decided to see if there was anything to do in this town - or if it was in fact just a "mid-way" point between By Paso and Ft. Worth.

So Mike was in charge of mapping out a little sightseeing. Our expectations were low to begin with - but, we did want to give the city a chance. We ended up at the American Airpower Heritage Museum. Entering through the doors we found ourselves in the museum gift shop. The price of admission made both Mike and I scoff. I wondered if for that price I would get to ride in a B-52 or something. I mean, really...scoff, scoff (or should I say, squeek, squeek).

We decided to go for it anyway - and we are so glad that we did.

Now I will be honest with you - I wasn't terribly excited about spending the afternoon in a airpower heritage museum...there are a few hundred other things that I could think of that would be more fun for me. But hey, that's what us gals do for our men, right? I sacrifice many a chick-flick to cuddle up and watch "Band of Brothers" with Mike (to be honest, though it's a favorite in our DVD collection). I go out of my way to put war movies in the Netflix queue because I know that Mike will enjoy them. (In Mike's defense, he will gladly suffer through a chick-flick if I really want to see it). So, I pulled up my boot straps and walked on in to the museum.


WOW....this museum was so well done. Although there were some Vietnam era planes, the entire museum (all 40,000 square feet of it) was dedicated to the history of WWII airpower. There were incredible exhibits, mini-movies, artifacts, memorabilia, hands-on equipment as well as a research library and conservation lab. There were actual airplanes to see as well - including a B-29 Superfortress affectionately named "Fifi" (whose wheels were taller than Abby).

We spent quite awhile checking out this museum and we recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in Midland, Tx. Please check out more photos of the museum by clicking here.

Later on in the eve, we decided we wanted to find another reason to like Midland. Mike was on the case again - this time, his goal was to find a local eatery that would serve up some BBQ.
"Sam's BBQ" on Scharbauer Dr. was selected for our dining pleasure. Once again, Mike hit a homerun. Although, there a moment of trepidation as well pulled up to the joint. It just seemed shabby and run down. Mike turned off the car and we sort of sat there a minute - the unspoken words flying back and forth. I saw a sign in the door that said, "smoking allowed" - that's my out, I thought to myself! I mentioned it to Mike (who is almost allergic to cigarette smoke)...."OHHH Noooo..." he said. "We should go somewhere else"...."Well, no...let's just go here"...."Well, if you really want to"...."Should we?". You know the drill...

Finally Mike just opened the door - I could almost hear Abby say, "Finally" under her breath. We stepped inside Sam's and the smell of mesquite filled our nostrils. OH YEAH. The place was just about as toe up on the inside as it was on the outside...but at this point our eyes were blinded by the lovely smells that were making their way into our noses. We sat down in a booth whose vinyl was duct taped together. We were handed a laminated piece of paper with a handful of choices (no kid menu and crayons here, baby). Nothing seemed to matter - we were in a mesquite-induced trance. We ordered - and in no time plates of food appeared before us. Let me just say this....there was no family chatter going on at this table. Just eating. It was good bbq.

We came to the register to pay and the waitress asked us if we enjoyed our meal. I couldn't help myself - I said to the waitress, "Well, as my Aunt Jan would say, 'it was so good it made me want to slap my mama's hand'". Not only did I say that, but I said it in my best southern accent. So it came out more like this, "it wuh so good it made me wana slap my mamas hayen"
Praise the Lord that the waitress thought that was funny because that could have been an awkward moment. It already was for Mike...

So - there you have it. Saturday in Midland, Tx. - in the books. Tomorrow we are off to Fort Worth for a much needed travel respite. We will be there for 3 weeks, then we have some more traveling planned. Don't stop checking the blog though - you can count on me for more meaningless commentary.

PRAYER REQUESTS

1. Praise: We can't believe how quickly the travel time goes - we feel this is an answer to prayer - thank you for those that are praying - it does make a difference!

2. Please pray for - yet again - safe travel...this time to Ft. Worth.

3. We have been praying for housing arrangements for our arrival in Tn. There are not alot of apartment complexes in TN...at least in the area where we are targeting. There is one complex that fits our criteria - but not sure if the one we are looking at would be available at the right time. Please pray that God would be preparing our place even now and that it would be clear to us which place is right (and that we would be open to whatever it is).

Lastly - I just want to say how much we love hearing from "home"....your emails and comments from the blog are bringing us joy on the road. We miss you guys and look forward to our next visit to CA.

Love you so much it makes me wanna slap my mama's hand.
(Hey Mom - it's just a figure of speech, ok?)

k