Happy 2010!!!

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(Grace Community Church)

The best to you, in 2010! It appears that the Y2K thing didn’t come to pass, and here we are, a decade later! I don’t think I’m a decade older….or a decade smarter! But I am happy!

We had a wonderful December; traveled 3800 miles, saw many many friends, most of our family, and, thanks to the ineptness of Delta Airline’s luggage department, and a huge storm, we got to have an early Christmas with all of our kids and grandkids, with the exception of one! What a gift that was! We also got to experience weather so cold that it should be illegal. (and now the northern states are experiencing it again.)

We spent New Year’s Eve at RVICS Village, which was a thrill because there were so many couples there that either own lots, and spent the holidays there, or they were there before heading to a new project, but no matter what, we had a fun time! I can’t say it was particularly warm there, and as a matter of fact, my geranium, which I spent all summer babying along, and which finally decided to flourish, got frosted and looks less than pathetic! (I’m not expecting any sympathy~~just sharing news!) So we took our dismal plant and moved to Portland, TX for a couple days before heading to our January project. Wasn’t warm there either! But we did have beautiful views.

I think I’ve said repeatedly how hard it is to leave a team after being so close for a month, or two, or three; leaving RVICS Village was even harder! The feelings are like having a project with 50 couples rather than half a dozen…we hated saying goodbye. But we’re not ready to settle there yet!

We’re on our first project as leaders, and have a good team to work with. We’re at Pharr (pronounced Far), in southern Texas, where it’s supposed to be warm. It isn’t. Texas is different from Florida in that they’re grateful for the people who come south in the winter~~ they call them (us?) Winter Texans, and there are billboards welcoming us, and celebrations for us. The economy is very depressed in this area, and they welcome the dollars. We haven’t done much site seeing, but I will get pictures soon.

We’re on project at a church, with a small school, grades K-12. The enrollment is down considerably, so we’ll be helping in areas where they did have paid employees, but don’t any more. I’ll know more after we put in a couple days….

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Photos

USS Lexington
This retired aircraft carrier is a museum, but we didn't go through it. This picture makes it look like we we hanging out at the water, and actually it was cold, and we just walked down to it and then got back inside!

Harbor in Corpus Christi.
This is just one of the many many harbor clubs. It's not on the Gulf, but on the Corpus Christi Bay.

The big ship was transporting autos,
and in the background you can see some of the refineries off the coast of Corpus Christi.

The prickly pear cacti have these
hard buds on them~~I thought they were flowers that weren't ready to open, except that they are so hard. Look at the next picture to see what I discovered about them...

What I thought were buds
turned out to be fruit! This must be what they make prickly pear juice from~~the juice is used for jelly and various drinks. It's a deep purple, and I was quite careful not to get it on anything, because I'm guessing it will stain! I didn't taste it....should have, but didn't.

This is not a prickly pear cactus,
and I don't know what kind it it, but it is so interesting how the plant grows~~you can see the buds on the tips of the leaves, and from those buds, grow new leaves! The flowers are light pink, and pretty, although we just saw a few open. But you can see a leaf growing off a leaf, growing off a leaf! This plant was about 8' tall, and was like a bush. I think it's been there a long time.

You are looking at the greatest grandkids ever!
(That's probably more opinion than fact!)
PS that's not the Flying Nun in the front row~~it's a ninja who agreed to take off his hood for the picture!

Colorado River Cowboy Church
This is the second Cowboy Church we've been to, and this one is definitely more western~~notice the dirt floor, and the hay bales! The service in each of them was the same style, though, right to the point, and no fluff or show. It's like a group of people together to worship God, without the expectancy of show. This one is in Smithville.

In case you think we're
in the warm south, look what happened to my geranium! (I'm not asking for sympathy about the weather!) I cut it back to give it a second chance, and it just looks pathetic! For the next few days, it's an indoor plant~~sitting on the dashboard!

Comments

[Patti]

Hmmmmmmmmmmm
We will have to agree to disagree on that opinion. But I do have to say they are great great grandkids and they rank right up there!!

[Danielson]

Hi, Patti!
Nope, I reject your opinion, and stand firm on mine!! (But aren't grandkids just the best things ever invented?!)

[sarabear]

weird fruit-like objects!
that cactus fruit looked delicious!