It feels good to be back

We have to start off with our Santa visit in San Antonio, Tx.  We went to the Christmas tree lighting and got to have a visit with an elf, Mrs. Claus, and Santa.  We had some cake, hot chocolate, and saw someone that I was stationed with before.  Made for a great wrap up in San Antonio. 

The kids got the chance to help light the Christmas tree. 

Having a little snack. 

Silly moments with the elf. 

On Santa's Lap!

We left San Antonio and headed east to New Waverly, Texas.  While we were there, we met some great folks.  We had a chance to spend an evening and some other short visits with them and really enjoyed getting to know them.  They were local so we hope to see them again as they hope to make it back...which leads us to another piece of news.  We were asked to be camp hosts for a bit and although we turned these requests down in the past at other parks, we feel that this may be a great opportunity to test the experience for a short time.  If we end up doing it, we will also still have many opportunities to serve in different capacities and share how God has worked in our lives while there. 

We stayed a few days and David Lee flew into Houston.  We picked him up and the fun began!  It was so great for him to not only be able to come here so we can be one big happy family in our small space, but he wanted to.  A number of things happened while he was here.  One of them was when Kamryn said, "I will let David teach me how to take my training wheels off."  Sure enough, her training wheels came off and she is now riding her bike by herself.  Also, he and the boys seemed to increase their slingshot abilities.  We also had one of our old "family dates" and went to look at new RVs.  Not that we are even considering buying, just that we like to look.  We used to do this all the time and still enjoy it just as much.  That along with time alone with the kids individually really made for some great times.  We spent many nights around a fire, hiked, rode bikes, threw pine cones at each other, found bugs and scorpions, and acted like complete fools.  Other than that, it was a nice relaxing time.  Because we only have five seats in the truck, we had to rent a small, tiny, itty-bitty, miniature car.  Yes, if you didn't catch it, it was small but served a great purpose.  Kelly was excited because she got to drive again and the kids enjoyed a vehicle other than the truck.  After leaving the rental place I made a sharp turn and noticed that the truck seemed to be dragging.  I thought it was just a headwind and 11,000 lbs behind me.  About two miles later, I told David, "I smell brakes."  We didn't think too much of it because we just passed about ten automotive garages.  I instantly felt like something was wrong.  We immediately pulled over and I notice that the RV emergency brake cable had pulled out.  This is what would stop the RV if it happened to disconnect from the truck.  We moved everyone back I pulled the fire extinguisher and a few other important items out of the fifth wheel in case it caught on fire.  The brakes and the hubs were HOT!  I prayed, they prayed, we all prayed and then we decided to sit and have lunch to see if they would cool off.  We prayed some more and were thankful that we had noticed it and stopped.  After some more recon, I called our RV parts guy and had a conversation.  It seemed that no major damage took place and things "should" be ok.  We prayed once again as a family and took off.  We constantly watched for smoke and made it all the way to our destination.  This was not only our first "how dumb was I not to think of that" but also our first "it could've been real bad but wasn't". 

 

A few of the folks we met and Kamryn practicing her puppy loving skills. 

Kamryn and Jazz.

David's home!

Loving on his little sister. 

Big girl going to ride her bike with training wheels. 

 

 

Kamryn playing dress up...on a budget!

Kamryn at her pretend wedding. 

 

Picture this...Pitch black outside near a fire.  Then, "AHHHH!"  Caleb knocked himself backwards in his chair!

Kelly is not posing...she is actually running beside the big girl riding her bike by herself. 

All the kids playing in the bedroom.

Cooking up a storm!

Some of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen.

After we took off after all of that happened, we took ample opportunity to goof off on the walkie-talkies and had a great time even though we were in two different vehicles.  We strategically planned our passing of other vehicles, made jokes about the size of her vehicle in comparison to others, and otherwise had some good conversation. We had about 7 hours to drive to South Mississippi and stopped in Atchafalaya Visitor's Center after the first day.  Some state visitor's centers allow you to stay overnight but don't advertise it.  This place was really amazing.  We were received like royalty and given a wealth of information.  They had animatronics inside that explained the history of Louisiana, the local area, and many animals.  They also had different displays and a separate movie in a small theater.  After seeing all of that, we headed out for some parking lot football, walking/exploring, and chatting with folks.  Caleb found a little bit of standing water and grabbed his bug box to get a frog.  2 minutes later he came inside with a crawfish in hand.  We had tons of fun.  We ended up meeting some people from Georgia who were on their maiden voyage in their Class A (drivable RV) while towing a vehicle.  Kamryn helped walk, carry, pull and push their dogs and we had some great conversation about how God has been working in both of our lives recently and about their trip they were taking to San Antonio; where we had recently been.  Then, we made dinner and had a good night sleep after teaching David the game of Rummikub.  We have always enjoyed it and now I think we have him hooked.  We headed out that next morning with walkie-talkies in the vehicles and headed through Baton Rouge to Biloxi, Ms. 

This rest area was amaing!

Animatronics rock!

This was our yard for a night.  See the mini mobile!

 

We made it back to Biloxi and had company a few hours later.  Two marvelous people that we always sat near at church came to see our home.  They visited for a while, gave us some wonderful gifts, and listened to my rambling while making us laugh.  The weather was beautiful and the company was even better.  They left and we headed to the Christmas performance at the church that was our home church/sending church before we left for the church plant on Vancouver Island, BC in 2013. 

We arrived at the church and not too many people knew we were coming.  We were received with so many hugs and so much love that it was overwhelming.  One might have thought that these folks were glad to see us!  It was so great to be back and it was such a peaceful, joy-filled, loving, amazing evening.  So many people told us that they had just been thinking about us and how amazing it was that we just showed up.  We watched the amazing performance and received some more hugs afterwards seeing more folks.  It was hilarious...Kamryn saw us hugging so many people, she disappeared and started hugging EVERYONE!  People we have never seen before were having squeezed legs and thighs as Kamryn moved down the line.  She had to have hugged at least a hundred people!  We showed up at church the next morning and were received the same by those who we had not seen the night before.  The Lord has put some amazing people in our lives and it seems that it was just last week that saw them. 

We also took a drive and reminisced a bit in the evening.  We went out for dinner to a favorite place, drove down the beach, and visited a few spots that we used to love.  David flew out and headed back to college this morning and we pouted for a bit.  We also turned in the Hot Wheel that Kelly had been driving and went back home.  We had a great time and can't wait until we get to see him again.

Mrs Jean and Kamryn having girl time. 

A happy clan!

Wonderful performance at church.  So blessed to be able to be back and see it. 

Back in Biloxi.

The kids on the pier. 

Back to the buffet.

We will be here for a bit and are filling up a calendar quite quickly with folks to spend time with.  We missed them, they missed us, and we are going to enjoy this stop immensely.   So this obviously leaves a "part 2" to this stop!  Its always so hard to do these because there is so much to tell in each day but I have to stop typing before I bore you and you just stop reading!

Until next time...