Hurricane Ike

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' " (Matt. 25:35-40)


Jill and I were blessed to see this passage in action at our church, Lake Arlington Baptist, during the Hurricane Ike evacuation. We housed 96 evacuees from Beaumont, TX for 8 nights in our Lifestyle Center at the church. Since my job is my studies (while Jill brings home the bacon) I had the opportunity to be a Cite Manager and help oversee this ministry. Of course, Jill couldn't pass up the chance to serve and came multiple times after she clocked out at Habitat. The process was tiring, at times trying, but my oh my it was a blessing.

The way our church responded reminded me of the hearts at Wallace Memorial Baptist Church. Red Cross called us a five-star shelter in response to our facility and volunteer response; just another reason why Volunteers are better than Longhorns. More than meeting the bare necessities of food (which was scrumptious) and shelter, our residents had a basketball court (which held a bounce house for kids), flat screen TVs with football games (2 Cowboy victories), daily organized rec. activities, BINGO (which was a hit!), and etc.

I'll never forget the Wednesday night and Sunday morning worship services. About a dozen of the residents decided to join us. Tears were shed due to their struggles, but they praised God nonetheless. What a witness! I believe we were blessed more than they were.

Check out this link to see a segment broadcast on the local news. If you look carefully, you will see a very handsome man talking to some evacuees as they were being processed into the building.
http://cbs11tv.com/video/?id=32500@ktvt.dayport.com

One of my professors at the start of the semester said that it would be a sin for some of us to get an 'A' in the course. He said this to cause us to question the order of our priorities. His comment rang in my ears as I committed to give up 40+ hours and somewhat neglect my studies. Whether I get an 'A' in his class is still to be determined, but I would certainly have been ashamed had I passed up the opportunity to feed, house, clothe, and love my Lord.

Babies and Bowling

As we have previously posted about, we have tons of friends that are expecting babies. We've had two new additions within the last couple of weeks. Before we left for vacation, we went to visit Samantha Grace. This is the 3rd daughter for Chris and Ainslee Love.


On Thursday, our Sunday School class also welcomed Cadie Ann to the world. Tim and I went to visit on Friday night. Her parents are Texas fans so we are already trying to train her that no orange is good when it is burnt, GO VOLS!
To finish the night off, we went bowling with our small group to Alley Cats. We played three games. I , Jill, came in last all but one of those games. Yeah, bowling is not my best sport. However, Tim put in a great showing coming in second most of the games. Robert, one of our Sunday School teachers, is a bowling ringer! This is Natalie cheesing it up...
Tim, trying to scare off the competition...

And last but certainly not least, Robert, the bowling CHAMP!

Our Texas Vacation

Sorry for the long length of time between our posts. However, we have a reasonably good excuse...vacation. Tim finished his Turbo Hebrew class on Friday, Aug. 8 and we left for vacation the next morning. Last week was the only week we would be able to take a full week's vacation, and we did just that. We decided to stay in Texas and see some of the beauty that is in our backyard. Not literally in our back yard because that is quite dry and ugly at the moment. We had to drive 3 hours South/Southwest. We visited several towns within the Texas Hill Country (Burnet, Buchanan Lake, Enchanted Rock, Fredericksburg, Hunt, Boerne, Canyon Lake, Wimberley), San Antonio, and Austin. Here are some photo highlights of the trip.Hiking alongside Buchanan Lake at Canyon of the Eagles.


Sunset at Canyon of the Eagles


Hiking at Enchanted Rock


Enjoying German food (bratwurst and schnitzel) in Fredericksburg


The massive slide at Mo Ranch in Hunt, TX (enjoy Tim's facial expression; in my picture which is not posted for a reason, it looks like I am about to pop several veins in my neck)


Sunset at the Chapel on the Hill at Mo Ranch


Celebrating our 3rd Anniversary at Boudro's on the Riverwalk in San Antonio


The Alamo!!!


The Texas Capitol in Austin; Texas does everything HUGE


Oasis Restaurant on Lake Travis outside of Austin


It was nice to see Texas sites outside the DFW area. Despite the heat and lack of rain, there are some truly beautiful places. If you ever need a Central Texas travel itinerary, let us know!

A RANGERous Storm is Brewing

Tim and I had the pleasure of attending a Texas Rangers game tonight. The Rangers have been doing very well lately and are in the Wild Card race. One of the things we have enjoyed about the DFW area is all the activities, particularly sporting activities, that are available. We have attended both Mavericks and Rangers games since living in the area. Yeah, no Cowboys games yet. That would cost a small fortune...like any future children we may have.

Here is a picture of us near the start of the game. Special Note: please ignore the profuse amount of sweat because it was a cool 105 degrees when the game started at 7:05pm.

Currently, we are in talks with Rangers management to get free tickets because we are good luck charms. Each of the four games we have attended thus far have ended in a "W."

We sat in the second row of right field (thank you Robert and Tina) with a good view of the entire game and Murphy, the right fielder. Also, if you tune in to ESPN you might catch a few quick shots of us. There were only three homeruns hit near us! Here are some more pics of the game.
Yes, that would be Josh Hamilton (Christian and "real" Home Run Derby Champion)

Hebrew and Preaching Opportunity

Jill has been posting all of our blogs before, but she has reminded me how this is "our" blog and that "I" can also make posts. Therefore, I am taking this opportunity to write my first post. Today, I concluded my fifth of six Hebrew tests. [Side note: I thought of turning my cell phone off before taking the test, but no one ever calls that early in the morning or during a HEBREW exam. At least that was before today... and Mitchell called!! Because my phone consistently buzzes after a missed call until I open it up, I had a nice little pocket buzz every few minutes reminding me that I should have turned off my phone. I didn't want to pull out my phone and make my professor think I was cheating. So I just let the buzz continue.]

Only one more test to go (Aug. 8th) and four more quizzes before this intense summer session comes to a close. Because I have been doing so much reading from right to left, as Hebrew is to be read, I have caught myself reading things in English from right to left. So far it hasn't been anything too serious, but all it would take is just one time of reading the pop tart directions, in the wrong order, on how to prepare it in the microwave (heating it before removing it from the aluminum foil) to create a few fireworks. Of course, if I have to read directions on a pop tart I've have a whole other set of problems.

Get your plane tickets ready! I have been given the opportunity to preach on the last three Sundays in August. A pastor friend of mine is leaving his church and has asked me to fill in as the church looks for a new pastor. The name of the church is Valleyview Baptist Church and is located in Nocona, TX. Please be in prayer that I am able to discern what the Lord would have me say and for this church as they seek a pastor. Oh, and I was totally kidding about the plane tickets. Caravans are also acceptable.

New Opportunities

As many of you know, I have worked at Trinity Habitat for Humanity since Tim and I moved to Texas in August '06. I started as a temporary employee while the Volunteer Coordinator was on maternity leave. When she came back, I was very fortunate that they found a full-time position for me. The company is doing some restructuring for several different reasons. Again, I have the opportunity to rise to a new challenge. I am officially Trinity Habitat's Event Coordinator! I am thrilled to try something new and work in a position that highlights my strengths (organization, organization, organization)!! Please keep me in your prayers. The larger of the two events is a fundraising event for approximately 800-1,000 individuals. Here is a link to the Tool Box Bash website- also known as TBB: http://www.toolboxbash.com/

In addition, I was recently given the chance to write several articles for our newsletter. This issue featured many of our hardworking volunteers. Since I have worked with many of the volunteers since I arrived and also have a writing background, they let me take a shot at it. I wrote the lead article on page 1 and the three "County" features on page 3. Here is a link if you want to check it out: http://www.trinityhabitat.org/habichat_news/2008summer.pdf

Tim and I are doing well and obviously staying busy. Hope you all are doing the same!

Fourth of July Weekend

We had a wonderful, relaxing Fourth of July weekend. Our Sunday School teachers, Robert and Tina, went out of town so we house sat for them. I actually thought we did more pool sitting than house sitting which was fine by me. On Friday, we had the Moots and Gaumers over for an afternoon swim and played pool (with the homeowners permission of course).Tim having a little too much fun at the pool

Chenille and her new addition, Ethan

The boys being their goofy selves

Getting some practice...for babysitting

On Friday night we went to a cookout, game night, and fireworks show with a large group from our Sunday school class. The food was delicious, the games were competitive (go figure), and the fireworks lasted for about 30 minutes (we still haven't found a show that compares with Boomsday though).

We finished off a great weekend by spending time with some friends from Knoxville. Lori, Davis, and Mallory were in town to visit family. Her family has been gracious and invited us to participate in their family festivities for the past two years. And we LOVE it! They cook some mean brisket and ribs!!Lori, Mallory, and me sampling the yellow watermelon (they say you learn something new everyday; on Saturday I learned that there was such a thing as yellow watermelon)

Davis working on catching the next night's dinner

Thanks to everyone who spent time with us; we had a blast!