Guess What!!!

Posted by cokelady

My Mom is on an airplane right now with Scott Lee!!! Now that I think about it, that probably means absolutely nothing to anybody who's reading this... Hhmmm. Well, I was really excited about it! Scott Lee is a kid (ha--he's got to be in his mid-30's by now) who was our Camp evangelist in Colorado when he was about 19 years old--he held a revival for us in Colorado Springs about that time, too. Such a nice guy and he had such a wonderful, sweet spirit. He's still in the Church of God of Prophecy, pastoring in Sheridan, Wyoming. Mom and Sister Bishop are on a plane from Minneapolis (I think) to Nashville right now and Scott just happens to be on the same flight! WHOA! We haven't seen him in at least 15 years. I only wish I were on the plane, too! :-)

Uummm... I can't think of anything else so say, so here's a picture!

Cute, hu? It was time for a new picture. Mom was about 50 lbs. heavier in the last one they had taken a few years back--and she had bangs. This is a better picture anyway. All except that crazy crooked smile. ;-)

Sorry I've not been keeping up with this blog thing. I don't know what happened to me. Things have been pretty active around here, but they always are so it shouldn't really make much difference.

The birthday party for Brother Ellis last Monday was great. He seemed to really enjoy himself and was just so appreciative of the gifts he received. We all had a really hard time figuring out what to buy. I mean, what are you supposed to get for a 95 year old man?! He's surely acquired everything that he really wants or needs by now, right?! So...

Insoles for his shoes! Ha! Cool, hu? And get this...

A boom box!!! Is that great, or what?! Can't you just see him marching around the park with it propped up on his shoulder, blasting out rap or raggae or something?! Ha! Ha! Ha! The very thought! They actually got a Gaither CD to go along with it and seem to really be enjoying it--have asked where they can find some more of those disk thingies. ;-)

And here's a picture of Sam and Sam enjoying the party. They sure do get along well. My Sammy is crazy about Brother Sam, but then, I don't think I've ever known a kid who didn't like Brother Sam!

I noticed that we missed National Twinkie Day earlier this month (how could you overlook a holiday like that?!) and I mentioned it to the kids. Get this...none of my children even knew what a Twinkie was!!! I'm so ashamed!!! What kind of a mother am I, anyway?! I sent James straight to the store to remedy that situation. ;-) He came home with two boxes of them (what a guy!) and I mashed up some strawberries and we used them to make "shortcakes"--and James whipped us up some strawberry milkshakes, too. What a great day! I think we ought to celebrate Twinkie Day at least twice a month. I'm sure the kids would agree to it. :-)

There has been lots of cooking and cleaning going on around here lately and it feels soooooooo good! I love it when I'm caught up on all of those things and can do some fun stuff--and just spend more time with the kids. I went and threw the football around with Katie and Joe for a while this afternoon, then Joe wanted to switch to baseball. He actually hit 4 or 5 really good ones! Wow!

Guess what I found when I cleaned out my desk a few days ago? A nice little slip of paper from the Texas Department of Public Safety from about two years ago. It states my name and vehicle info, the county and mile marker, then says: violation (1) speeding (MR OVER 70); violation (2) Fail to present drivers license. HA! Can you believe that?! I was speeding (8 or 10 over the limit, as I recall) AND I had no drivers license with me--and they guy only gave me a warning!!! ~sigh~ I love Texas cops.

I can't remember anything else that has happened this week. We had good church yesterday, then Sam and Tammy piled in with us and we took off for Merkel to have service there at 5:00. Sister Marcia and Sara and Aaron met us there and we had a good communion and feet washing service with the Lunas, then enjoyed a good meal at their house, as always. It was great--and so nice to have the Brooks there with us this time! We stopped at K-Mart in Sweetwater on the way home like we always to. Sooooooo many incredible deals there--always. Got some shirts and jeans for the boys for $2.50 apiece. The drive home was fun, of course. We always enjoy traveling with Sam and Tammy. The best part of this trip was when the conversation veared toward the works of C.S. Lewis and we were discussing his many books and what we thought of them. Brother Sam, in all seriousness, said, "Is he the guy that wrote the Screwball Files?" There was a long pause before James finally ventured, "Do you mean the Screwtape Letters???" Ha! Ha! Ha! We laughed sooooooo hard! Only Sam could come up with the Screwball Files! He laughed as hard as the rest of us, just so you know. ;-)

Well, I'd best be going. Have a great night!!!

~Bec~

5 comments

Easter Weekend

Posted by cokelady

Well, well, well. Where to start?! First of all, let me say that the weather has been GREAT!!! We were even able to have two or three fires in the past few days. WOW, who would've thunk it?! And get this--it even snowed a little bit on Saturday!!! ~long, contended sigh~ Life is so grand.

The cold weather hit on Thursday. There is no greater combination than cold weather and fast day to make you sit down and think about food, so I sat down with my recipe box and cook books and started planning. I spent Friday making corn chowder, hot rolls and cinnamon rolls for James to take to his boss, Brian, on Saturday. Brian's wife just had their 3rd baby (their first home birth--they were so excited!), so I wanted to send a little something to make life easier on her for at least one evening!

On Saturday I did all of my cooking and baking for the Easter pot-luck at Church. I tried a few new things, which is so unlike me. (I never trust myself to experiment with a new recipe when other people will be having to eat it!), but everything turned out great! I made the traditional hot rolls and that really fantastic punch we all make around here, an mandarin orange jell-o salad thing, and the new stuff: meatballs (delicious!) and Hummingbird Cake. Never fear--no birds were injured in the making of this cake. ;-) It actually had mashed bananas in it and crushed pineapple and lots of great things. It was very, very good, but very, very rich! Whoa!

Sunday morning we got up and got everybody dolled up for Easter services! Here's the crowd, looking only slightly disshelved! Ha! I don't know why Katie's collar is sitting so crooked in that picture, and the boys' ...well, you know! Still, they looked better than Jon & Emilee's bunch of sick-o's! Those poor Smith kids!!!

Usually we line everybody up outside in front of some flowers or trees or something for the Easter picture, but I was thrilled to be able to take their picture in front of the fire this year! Ha! In Texas!!! How crazy is that?! I'm loving it!!!

We have had a man and his 15 year old son, Kenneth and Clovis, attending our services quite regularly for a few months now (praise the Lord!) and yesterday Kenneth's wife and other son, Todd, came with them! We were so excited!!! We had good Sunday School, good worship, and a good message from our pastor. We pray that they were all touched and will continue to come!

After service we had our big meal: ham, cornish hens, deviled eggs, potato salad, corn, beans, and whatever else I'm forgetting, along with the stuff I mentioned earlier that I made. It was great and I think Kenneth's family really enjoyed themselves and seemed to love the fellowship. It was just such a nice time.

Then we came home and crashed for a couple of hours!!! I was soooooooooo tired!!! But then you know what that means. We were SO not tired last night and ended up staying up way too late. Actually, James and I stayed up until 1:00am watching Star Trek, of all things! Ha! I can't even remember the last time I watched Star Trek. And I don't mean any of the new versions--I mean the good, old Captain Kirk and Spock show. There's just nothing like it! We laughed so hard at what is supposed to be so technical. Old fashioned sci-fi is so much better than the stuff they do nowadays. They try to make everything so "realisitic" and "believable" now. Back in the good old days they didn't have to make anything believable, it was just pure, simple fiction and nothing freaky or gory. Kirk got stuck in "the vortex" and they had to achieve "innerspace" before they could retrieve him... and never explained where or why or anything else, it's just the way it was! ~sigh~ It was great. :-)

I've been doing pretty good getting the house put back together today after our weekend, but there are still some things I'd like to accomplish before we go to the party tonight. That's right--we're going to a party! A birthday party, actually. Today is Brother Ellis' 95th birthday, so we're all meeting at a restaurant to celebrate! Should be a great time--I'll try to take a few pictures! :-)

Things seem to be improving with the kids--thank you all for any prayers and advice that you offered! I've had some really good talks and prayers with Katie and she's having a much "nicer" day today. After her early morning issues, that is! The boys, too, seem to be getting along better and everybody has been nicer to each other and helping out around the house and just much more cheerful today. I am sooooo thankful!

I was thinking the other day about how God is already answering my prayers concerning my kids. From the time they were very, very little I've prayed different things for them. I don't know why, but it's always been on my heart to pray that God would make Joe into "a mighty man of prayer" and I pray it regularly. It just occured to me a few days ago that God is already answering that. Joe is by far our most faithful pray-er around here and he continually prays for things that I've already forgotten about. Last night during devotions I heard him praying for Sister Vicki's eye and whatever's wrong with Wendy and that Granddad would be a good General Overseer (first time I remember hearing that one!) and that God would help him and Katie and Sam to be good and not fight and to sleep good and not have bad dreams, and to help the Church of God, and that Uncle Jerry, and Albert and Brianna will get saved, and on and on and on. That reminds me--a few nights ago we sat down to the dinner table and James asked Joe if he would pray over our meal. After a lengthy prayer for "the people at the nursing home and sick people in other countries" and who knows what all, he finally concluded. James sat there for a few seconds then said, "Wow, that was a really good prayer, Joe... But now we need to pray over our food--Katie, would you do that for us please?!" Ha!

As I was saying, I've always prayed different things for the kids. I've always felt like praying that Joe would grow up to be mighty in prayer, and I've always prayed that God would help Katie to be humble and to focus her life on other people and on being a servant. Well...at least God's answering my prayers for Joe! Ha! Then there's Sam. I usually just pray that Sam won't end up in jail!!! I never have honed in on anything particular to pray for him, exept that he'll find his place in serving God and being a blessing, somehow.

Well, I'd best get back to work. I think I can have the whole house pretty much whipped into shape if I try real hard. Well...on the surface, anyway! I'll see what I can get done before Brother Ellis' party in a little while.

Later!

~Becki

8 comments

Ta-Da!!! (Again)

Posted by cokelady

Okay, here are a few shots of James' booth now that he got the $22 floor in (!) and some product displayed. Isn't it terrific??? I love it!!! Of course, it looks a whole lot like my kitchen. ;-) It's just so bright and cheery!!! James wants everybody to know that "it's not done yet!!!" There are lots of duplicates in there (you have to order in bulk to get the great price from the wholesalers) and we've got to find a good use of all that empty floor space in the middle. We're still brainstorming. But I think it's a terrific start!!!

And here is my very first try at a bundt (is that spelled right?!) cake. WOW!!! I'm so excited! I've had the pan for years, but have always been too scared to use it. I remember the bundt cakes my Mom used to make when I was a kid. The top half would stay in the pan and she'd try to piece it together on top of the rest and it was just a big crumbly mess. I was going to have the same trouble with mine (it was not coming out of that pan!), so I decided to freeze it. Worked like a charm! Got it just stiff enough to hold together while I pried it out of there. ;-) You can see minor wounds, but nothing too serious. Nothing that can hold a candle to the scars on my Mom's poor cakes, anyway. Right, Mom??? :-)

The cake tastes good, too. Chiffon Spice Cake, I think is it's name. Yum!

Let's see... News, news, news. I can't seem to think of any. The most consuming thing in my life right now is trying to figure out what to do with a mean, selfish child that is developing severe character flaws and is going to grow up lonely and miserable because of it. Lectures don't do much at this age and the spankings don't seem to be getting through. I've tried everything I can think of, which is probably a good thing. When you're out of options and feeling desperate you begin to pray hard--like you should have been praying all along! I'm realizing that I can't make my kids be good and nice and kind and thoughtful... There are some things that happen way deep down in the heart where only God can reach. I've done all I know to do and more, so now I'm begging God to do what I can't do!

Guess what?! Mom had weeds for dinner tonight!!! Is that cool, or what?! It wouldn't have been cool if I would've been there and had to eat them, but from 1500 miles away, it's great! "Poke," I think they said. Sister Bishop found it out in Mom's yard and went out to pick some and cooked it up. Weird. Makes me think of Granny on the Beverly Hillbillies! Ha!

I'm trying to think of something grand that the kids have been up to lately. We don't have any bees or slugs around like their Colorado cousins (thank goodness!), but they've been having fun with the worms in the back yard. And Emilee, Katie loves the worms as much as the boys do. You'd never suspect Katie and Abbie of being interested in such gross things (especially Abbie!!!), but they seem to get a real bang out of it. A few weeks ago all three of my kids were sneaking around the house with strange, pieced together "costumes" of some sort, fly swatters, and magnifying glasses. I couldn't figure out what they were up to until I heard one of them say, "Look! I see some Mexican Red-Kneed Tarantula tracks--come on! This way!!!" Spider hunting, of course.

The most exciting part of the day today was when a package arrived from Grandma Vicki. Katie was thrilled to discover that Grandma had, indeed, made her an Easter dress and she just squeeled and jumped and clapped and hugged it and on and on. Mom had also sent some Easter candy for everybody and some little toys for the boys--balsam wood airplanes and those little plastic guys with a parachute that you toss up into the air. The boys were thrilled and ran outside immediately to try them out. Within 10 minutes both planes had been smashed to smithereens and one parachuter was stuck on the roof. But it sure was fun while it lasted!

Well, I'd best get off of here and try to get the house put together a little bit. It always helps the day go better when you can wake up to a clean house. Doesn't happen as often as I'd like for it to, but I always try! :-)

G'night!
~Bec~

10 comments

Ta-Da!!!

Posted by cokelady

Yesterday was a long a tiring day (my whole body aches today--I think I must be a lot older than I think I am!), but we accomplished our goal! Well... almost! Here are some before and after pictures...

Before...

After!

Before...

After!!

Before...

After!!!

It's always amazing to me the difference a little paint and wallpaper can make, and for very minimal expense. Actually, there was practically no expense in this project since all of the paint and wallpaper we used were left over from my kitchen! James bought to bookshelves at Target for $29.00 and he spent about $10 for the metal stripping and screws we used as a border. Not bad! As I'm sure you've guessed by now, this new booth will contain lots of Coca-Cola products and some other "diner" type things. I told him he needs a juke box to put right in the center! ;-) Wouldn't that be fun?!

When we got home last night we priced a whole bunch of his merchandise that he'll be putting in this booth. It's going to look so great! Oh yeah, the booth isn't done yet. He needs to get a panel of some sort to put between the two bookshelves to finish out the "wall" on that side. (Most of the booths in this joint contain primarily junk, scattered all over the place. We don't want you to be able to see any of it from our booth!) He'll probably get it all finished up today and "move in" tomorrow. Pretty exciting! I'll try to make him take the camera with him to take pictures of the finished product. Still, for one day, I think we got a lot accomplished and it's looking great!

James loves his booths and the whole buying-and-selling thing. To find a great deal on something, then sell it for a profit gives him some kind of strange rush. Well, I think Katie has some of his blood! James walked past her room one night after we'd put everybody to bed. Katie was wide awake just staring out into space. James asked what she was thinking about and she replied, "Well, Dad, I was just thinking... If I had $100 I could buy a whole bunch of Girl Scout cookies. Then I could set up a table and sell them and make a whole bunch of money!!!" James told her that she'd probably have to do something other than Girl Scout cookies and that a lot of kids start out with a lemonade stand. A few days later she saw an illustration of kids with a lemonade stand and just went nuts. "Mom!!!! This is what I want to do!!!!!" So yesterday I went down to the store and bought her a can of frozen lemonade and one of pink lemonade. We took some pitchers and cups and her table and chairs over to Sister Tammy's house. (Tammy kept the kids for us while we were working on the booth yesterday). I had drawn the letters on the sign with a pencil, then Katie traced them with a marker and decorated it. Tammy said she sat out with her stand for two and a half hours!!! The grand total was $11.25. Can you believe that?! What a racket! When we got back to Andrews and went to pick the kids up I could see that same light in Katie's eyes that James gets when his ventures are successful. She'll probably have a booth of her own right next to her Dad's by the time she's 12! Ha! Here's a picture of the little entrepreneur.

That's about all the news from here. Today it's back to normal house stuff. Laundry, irnong, maybe even a little school for the kids. ;-) Have a great one!

~Becki~

8 comments

Quick One!

Posted by cokelady

Let me explain... no, there is too much. Let me sum up. ;-)

We met Sister Marcia, Sara, Adam, Jennifer and children (who are adorable--that newborn baby of theirs is to die for) for breakfast on Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

We enjoyed a nice drive home, but were too tired after our very eventful week to do as much shopping as we did on the way down. I insisted that we take some more pictures of the bluebonnets, though. I just couldn't get enough of them!

I'd write more, but James and I are headed to Odessa to paint and wallpaper his new booth. That's right, he's rented a second space in that antique/junk store. We're using all left-over materials from our projects here at home so it will cost us nothing, but it's going to totally transform the booth to put a little work into it before filling it up. We hope. ;-) Gotta go get the kids ready. Tammy (who, by the way, is THE BEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!! You hear me, Tammy?! YOU'RE WONDERFUL!!!!!) is going to watch the kid-o's for us. We've got a lot of work to do and need to get down there, so I'm going to get going. Have a great day!

~Rebekah~

6 comments

Day Four

Posted by cokelady

Is it day four? I've lost track. But what a day it has been! We heard lots of rolling thunder throughout the wee hours of the morning and when we got up, opened the door and looked outside we were met with sheets of heavy rain, flashes of lightening and low, rumbling thunder. What were we to do? "Hey, kids! Let's all load up and go sit on some big metal bleachers surrounded by water!"

We headed on to Sea World, in spite of the odds. We got there when they opened at 10:00 and ran down to feed the dolphins right off the bat. SO COOL! But more on that later. My smart husband had had the foresight to purchase two more umbrellas last night (I talked him into getting one fun one!) and we were sooooooooo glad. After the first 30 minutes, we were soaked to the bone, even with the umbrellas. But we were happy!

We thoroughly enjoyed the killer whales (it is soooooo cool to watch the interaction with the trainers and everything they do together!), but most of the pictures didn't turn out very good. I think it's something that every kid should be able to experience at some point in time. Ours really enjoyed it--Sam was especially excited. I hope we can take our kids again, maybe when they're teen-agers.

The dolphin show was terrible. I mean, the dolphins were great, but we rarely saw them! They do a show that has all kinds of divers and acrobats and syncronized swimmers and all manner of craziness... and every now and then a dolphin or white whale would show up and jump or splash. But it was mostly weird people, dressed weird, doing weird things. A great disappointment. Still, the dolphins themselves were cool.

Afterwards, we headed back to the Dolphin Cove to see the bottlenose dolphins again when we wouldn't be so rushed and inhibited by the pouring rain. (It had let up by that time and only sprinkled off and on the rest of the day--perfect!) The kids all fed the dolphins and Katie and Joe were able to pet one, too. They were almost as excited as their mother was. ;-) (I've wanted to pet a dolphin my whole life. Maybe next time I'll hop in and swim with them... Ha! I wish!!!)

Here we are, having a great time, waiting for the sea lion show to start.
(I only wish I had thought to bring a hat for myself
--it would've come in real handy today!)

The sea lion and otter show was terrific. They're very well trained
and just seem to have so much personality. The kids loved this one.
(It was my favorite when I was a kid, too.)

And, of course, Uncle Max (the walrus that the detective sea lions had been searching for) made his appearance at the end of the show.

We visited the rest of the sea lions before we left for the day. This one seemed to be enjoying the attention.

And here we are, on our way out of the park after a long,
but very fun and rewarding day!

We stayed until they closed at 6:00, then came back to the motel to "freshen up." Actually, James refused to take me out to dinner until I did something with my hair. Said I looked like a wet rat or something. I was rather offended until I actually saw a mirror. Then I was glad he'd brought us back to the room first! Ha! We ate at a Bar-B-Que restaurant next to the motel, then came back and have had a nice, relaxing evening. The kids are all sacked out now and they're even too tired to snore tonight. All is still and quiet except for my clicking on the keyboard. And, of course, the rain pounding outside and the occassional crash of thunder. Yup, the storm is back, and with great fury. Actually, I think James said something about a flood watch, a thunderstorm watch, and a tornado watch here in this particular spot. Hhmmm. (Don't worry, computer people, I'm using the battery on the laptop--I am not plugged in!) After the week we've had, I think this crew could sleep through about anything.

Tomorrow we plan to meet Sister Marcia and family (including Adam, if he's feeling up to it) for breakfast. Well, kind of. Can you still call it breakfast at 10:30??? Anyway, we intend to eat with them before heading home. This has been the best family vacation we've ever had, I think. Aside from the ones that involve Grandparents and cousins and such, of course. Next time we'll try to bring those with us, too--it would've been even more fun! It's been the perfect week (even the rain was a blessing--people who might have been dressed none-too-modestly at Sea World were covered up with slickers today! Ha!) and we've had a BLAST. But there's no denying that I'm all touristed out. I'm ready to go home now. ~sigh~ What a great week. Well, I guess I'd better get this posted before my battery dies.

G'night All!,

~Becki~

4 comments

Day Three

Posted by cokelady

Well, well, well. Day three. It's been a good one and a lot less taxing than yesterday! We had a nice relaxing morning, barely making it to the lobby in time to snatch a few donuts before they closed the free breakfast. On our way to the van it was already starting to sprinkle and we knew there was a good chance for heavy rain today. So what did we do? We headed straight to the zoo!

It was cloudy all day today and rained off and on, but never got too bad. San Antonio has a really good zoo and the coolest thing was this crazy crocodile. Kind of freaky looking, hu?! Almost pre-historic. Except we know there's no such thing as pre-historic. ;-)

The rain started to pick up after about an hour and we whipped out our umbrella for the kid-o's.

James and I saw a lot more of the zoo than the kids did, due to the rain. This is what they looked like through a great deal of it...

Kind of hard to see the animals like that, but I must admit that they weren't nearly as soggy as James and I were.

James decided we'd take the train ride on our way out of the zoo. It was only a couple of bucks, but it was such a great ride! It lasted about 20 minutes and took us all over the zoo and the golf course and through some wooded areas that were just beautiful. There was a nice, cool breeze and it was just such an enjoyable ride.

The kids loved it, too.

By the time we were done with the zoo and the train it was well past lunch time. James decided we'd head back downtown and go to the Tower of the Americas. It's the second tallest tower in the U.S., but I never stopped to ask anybody just how tall it is. This picture doesn't really do it justice, but here it is.

We knew there was a restaurant at the top of the tower, but we weren't prepared for just how swanky it was! Our ragged, rain soaked family trudged into an extremely fancy and way-to-expensive-for-our-blood restaurant. The prices were enough to make me lose my breath, but James was quick to remind me of where we were (the top of the tower) and how much it costs just to ride up to the observation deck. When you subtract that price (you don't have to pay it when you go to the restaurant) from our total bill it was the price of a normal meal. You have to look at it that way or you'll go batty. I must admit, however, that the food was delicious. And just look at Joe's spaghetti!

This is the view from the top of the tower. I was able to find the Alamo from up there (not this view) and see what it looks like from the back... and the top! Amazing. It's wild to be up there and realize that there is NOTHING under you. The restaurant and deck hang out over the tower column.

There were all kinds of great fountains down at the base of the tower and the kids had a great time splashing in them. Why not?--they were already wet from the rain!

After the tower we headed back to the motel and were able to get in a much needed nap for the whole family. It was great! We got up and went to Wal-Mart. I've been leaving that out of my previous posts, I think. Each night we've loaded up and gone to Target for one thing or another and James ends up buying "dessert" for us--a box of Whoppers or package of Jelly Belly's or something. Tonight we decided we needed to buy another umbrella or two for tomorrow (just in case!), so we headed to Wal-Mart. It was early yet, so we decided to pick up a game to play later on, too. And some more "dessert," of course. We went through the drive-through at Jack in the Box and brought our meal back to the motel and ate in the lobby. Gave our smelly kids their baths, then played our new game, "In a Pickle." It was great! It's about 11:00 now and everybody is laying in bed...with wide open eyes and big smiles. Not even close to being tired. That's how good our nap was earlier. :-)

Oh yeah, James wanted me to take a picture of this and post it--he thought it was great.

Pretty wild that you'd need a support group when you come out. And what a way to advertize it! Ha!

Okay, well, I'm going to shut the computer down and get the last light turned off in hopes that it will help the runts get tired enough to go to sleep. We've got a big day at Sea World tomorrow (weather permitting!) and the last thing we need are a bunch of tired, crabby kids interrupting my fun. Oh wait, we're doing this for them, right? ;-) I'm sooooo excited to see all of the animal shows there!!! I'm just hoping the kids get half as much out of it as I will.

Guess that's it for tonight! So long!!!

~Becki~

5 comments

Day Two

Posted by cokelady

~WHEW~ What a day!!! I wouldn’t believe everything we’ve crammed into just one day if I weren’t feeling it like I am! I’m exhausted—and sore! We’ve walked miles today, I’m sure, but we’ve had such a great time.

Stop #1: The Alamo. We wanted to do this very first. We went this morning and watched a documentary type thing about the Alamo that showed what happened before, during, and after the siege. It was very well done and portrayed the events and men in such a way that you felt like you were really there—like you knew them and could feel what they were feeling. I know this will surely sound corny, but it was powerful. At the end I noticed heavy sobs coming from the seat next to me. It was Katie. Then Joe came and started asking questions with quivering lips, trying hard to fight back the tears. In the minutes that followed our whole family was in a little huddle out in the hallway, crying together and talking about life and death and liberty. Even Yankee Boy (James) cried. It was all just so moving. William Travis had sent several letters asking for help and assistance—more troops to come to the Alamo to help fight. Word finally arrived that no assistance would be coming (not in time, anyway). He took his saber and drew a line in the sand, then asked for all who were willing to fight and die along side of him to come on his side and stand with him. All but one crossed the line, even Jim Bowie who was deathly sick insisted that he be carried across the line on his cot. It’s such an overwhelming feeling when you realize that right then and there they had made their decision: they were going to die for the cause of freedom in Texas. The knew at that point that no assistance would be coming and that they were outnumbered nearly 10 to 1. Death and defeat wasn’t just a possibility, it was inevitable. Yet they stayed and gave their lives for all that they held dear and for the future of those who would follow after them. Amazing. That’s the part that really got the kids, too. We had wondered if all of this might be a little too much for them, but even though it was hard on them I think this was a really, really good experience for them. For all of us. I hope we've all learned a lot and hopefully even been changed by it. I asked Joe later on if he had been at the Alamo and had the choice, would he have stayed and fought and died with those men, or would he have fled and gone back home to his family. He thought hard, then said that he would've stayed and died there. Katie has been talking for weeks about how sad it is that those men died at the Alamo, but she's quick to follow it up with how proud she is that they fought for our freedom. I hope the lessons they're learning are really sinking in. I think they are.

After watching the history of it, we walked across the street to the Alamo itself. It is an amazing feeling—after you’ve just seen what happened there—to stand in that place and consider how significant it is. We were standing at the west side where the main entrance was. It’s the side where Davy Crockett and his men were defending the wall and we saw the spot where legend says he died.

This is supposedly the cannon that Travis fired back at Santa Anna in answer to the command to surrender...

The Alamo is a shrine and you’re not allowed to take pictures inside, but there was so much neat stuff in there. They had a vest that belonged to Davy Crockett and a knife that was Jim Bowie’s at one time, along with several more significant artifacts as well. :-) It was just sooooooooo neat. I can’t imagine anybody getting more out of it than our family did. I’m so glad we came here.

After the Alamo we walked across the street to a Davy Crockett Interactive Outpost or something like that. It had lots of big, animated characters and music and all things geared toward little ones.

It was way over-priced and was definitely a one-time thing for our family, but we were still glad we went this once. The kids enjoyed it. At the end they had a shooting gallery (where you try to shoot little sensors to make the barrel spin or the hat fly off, etc.) and other stuff that was fun.

Along with that ticket came one for the Guinness’ Book of World Records Museum. A total waste. It’s nothing but pictures and plaques, for the most part. Who wants to go stand around and read all day while on vacation??? We were definitely not impressed and reminded of how unimpressed we were when James and I went in a different Guinness museum a few years back. Don’t know why we thought this one would be any different. Anyway, if you ever see one, skip it!

We walked down the street and had lunch at some little whole in the wall joint. It was great! Then we went to the Ripley’s Believe it or Not Musuem and the Louis Toussaud’s Wax Museum. Now that was fun! Ripley’s has some kind of icky stuff that we marched the kids past kind of quick like, but 90% or more of it was just really, really interesting. This is a picture of James...as the "Heaviest Man." (The guy actually weighed over 1,400 lbs.)

And I couldn't not put this picture on here...

The most incredible thing to me in the Ripley's museum was an exhibit of the smallest paining in the world. It was on the end of a pin! You know, like a needle with a little flat end used for pinning your pattern to your fabric when sewing. Well, at the flat end there was a painting of a little, tiny house—you could only see it through a magnifying glass. It was sooooo cool! There was lots of great stuff like that.

My favorite of all of the attractions (aside from the Alamo stuff, of course) was definitely the wax museum. It was just so cool! It wasn’t like your typical wax museum where everybody, in fact, looks like wax (!) and most of the figures look the same, just dressed differently. For the most part, these figures really looked like who they were supposed to look like! I can’t even remember who all they had in there, but it went from past and present movie stars to politicians to the life of Jesus to Texas heroes… And it was so cool. Check this out:

Isn't that an amazing likeness??? Sooooooo cool! --Whether you like Sylvester Stallone or not, you can't help but be wowed at how much it really did look like him.

~sigh~ Ah, yes. Indiana Jones. I used to be so in love with him back in my heathen days at age 14. ;-) I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have my picture taken with him. I think I was a little too excited about the whole thing and it must've bothered James a little bit because...

Ha!

Oh yeah, and the kids were fascinated by this great t-rex at the entrance. He was pretty realistic, I thought, and his eyes were almost spooky--kind of like he really was turning his head to look you over! I think Sam was a little nervous at the time of this picture. The thing had just turned it's head toward us and let out a mighty roar. :-)

After all of the museums and such we walked four or five blocks down to the river walk and took a guided boat tour of the whole thing. It was great!!! There are so many pretty and unusual things to see there. And our tour guide was a riot! I’m sure he gets lots of great tips. He even got one from James! ;-) The kids really enjoyed “the boat ride” and it was nice to just sit and relax for a little while. The river walk is a must-see and I’m glad we went.

Afterwards we walked several blocks back up to the mall where we had parked and sat down to enjoy something cold to drink before strolling the mall a little bit. They had one of those simulator things there (you know, it’s just a big box kind of thing that you sit in and it moves around while you watch a screen and it makes you feel like you’re really doing whatever you’re watching) and James watched the boys while Katie and I rode. It was wild!!! Katie was pretty nervous, but she held herself together pretty well with lots of comfort and encouragement being whispered in her ear. ;-) I got pretty nervous myself a time or two and just kept repeating to myself, “I’m in a box. This is just a box. I’m sitting in a big yellow box.” ;-) It was really a lot of fun.

After the mall we headed back to the motel, only to miss our turn and spend the next hour and a half trying to get back on track and where we belonged! It was okay though because all of the kids got in a much needed nap. By the time we finally got near our motel it was dinner time so we opted to eat instead of rest. We ate at a Mexican restaurant called Gringo’s (really!) and it was terrific and had great prices, too. Then we went to Target to get some shelves for James’ new booth. (Yes, he’s opening up a second one when we get home!) Then we headed back to the motel and got everybody in their PJ’s and in bed by about 8:00. We did our Bible reading, singing, and prayer (forgot the memory verses; hhmmm…) and declared bedtime. Of course, everybody was wide awake until after 10:00 due to that great car nap they took this afternoon! Oh well. We’re in no rush in the morning, so hopefully everybody will sleep in a little bit.

I think that’s enough for one night, don’t you?! I’m soooooooo ready for bed. I’m hearing lots of snores now and I’m wishing I were making some of them myself. I’m on my way to join the others. Until tomorrow…

~Bec~

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