Happy 'Sweet 16' Grandma! and Go Mustangs!

This past weekend Jason and I headed out to El Paso to celebrate my grandma’s 75th birthday as well as watch my brother’s freshman football game.

Saturday night Jason and I headed out to dinner with my grandma, my mom, sister, brother, aunt and two cousins. At the end of dinner, they brought my grandma out a special dessert to help her celebrate her ‘Sweet 16’ as we all sang… ‘Happy Birthday Grandma’!

“That little hand in mine”
My grandma and I have always been so close. I am so blessed to have her in my life. She sets a great example of demonstrating unconditional love to everyone and has shown me how great it is to have a relationship with God. I love my grandma very much. She always talks about how one of her favorite things was walking around with me when I was little, ‘with that little hand in mine’. No matter how old we get, I too cherish walking around holding my grandma’s hand. Oh the wonderful stories these hands of hers could tell. I haven’t seen anything more beautiful!

Jason and Josh had an eating competition; they both ordered and had to finish their 'Cowboy Sized' chicken fried steak... Jason finished and Josh left 2 bites... what stapping young men!

When we got back from dinner, we had such a wonderful time ‘performing’ for my grandma. Not sure how it started, but we all ended up dancing for my grandma and being silly. The evening was such a delight; full of laughter and silliness. It always warms my heart to see teenagers letting loose and having fun (I guess 25 year olds too!). Sometimes we just need to be silly and have fun!

Josh is #23

Josh's team (Burges Mustangs) won the football game on Saturday! They did a really good job and it was great watching them. It's always a treat getting to see him play once a year even though we live so far away.

Prayer - Opening the World

Prayer, a simple and yet such powerful word, gift and tool! For the past year or so I have asked God to begin to open my eyes to see the world as He does and He has done just that. Slowly but surely God is opening my eyes. In all honesty sometimes it’s ‘frightening’ which is why I write today. ‘Ask and you shall receive’; it is so true! As days and weeks go by, I am made aware of many new prayer requests. These prayers are for people I know and for those I have never heard of, they are for those in the US and for those afar, they are for believer and non-believers a like, they are for nations, governments, organizations, situations, etc.

The more I pray for others the more I realize what a ‘sad’ and ‘sinfilled’ world this place is. My heart can easily begin to fill heavy. Just this week I began to feel a heavy burden for many people and things I am praying for. As my heart was heavy I heard God tell me, ‘lay this burden on Me, this is what I ask. Not that you carry this weight yourself.’ Wow, this is when it hit me how powerful prayer is. God does not ask us to pray so we can learn to solve the world’s problems, He wants us to ‘make all requests be made known to Him’. God wants to heal each of us and our world… While one can look around the world and be filled with sadness, I can now see the great JOY as well. God has overcome the world!! I will never fully be able to grasp His love, but what a blessing as He reveals Himself to us a little at a time!

On a side note, I have a project I would like to share (mainly b/c it’s been sitting there for almost a year now and I need to get it done!). I have a special box in my dining room with ‘blank’ note cards in it. My goal is to write a prayer request on a note card as it is presented to me. Then as I walk by my dining room I can take one out and pray. Then put it back and do it again when I walk by next time. The idea is that sometimes we have so many different prayer requests and praises that we can’t remember them all at one time. This keeps me God and people focused all day long and makes sure no one is forgotten. I ask that you all help hold me accountable for this and make sure I have written prayers down within the next week.

September Weekend On the Farm

Meet Sadie, Grandma's new 8 week old Dachshund! Jason and I picked her up on our way out to the farm on Friday. She seemed a little unsure the first night, but by mid-day on Saturday she was bouncing around and 'keeping up' with the big dogs!

Believe it or not, that little girl could climb these steps herself!

Great shot of Mom's male Dachshund Buster Brown. See our other blog www.frenchesbassets.blogspot.com to see other pictures of the Dachshund and Basset family weekend!

Jason and I had a great time hunting on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Last year was a pretty good dove season, but this year has been great! The weather was perfect this weekend as well; nice cool breeze while hunting made it extra nice! Nadine and I had a great girls time on Saturday as well. We went antique shopping in Salado right outside of Austin. We didn't even see half of the stores so we'll have to go back again soon. I think the store owners were getting a kick out of us oooing and awwing over all the great stuff. I think we both know what we'll be getting for Christmas! I had a blast and look forward to going back!

Our dogs think they own this couch at Great-Grandma's! And yes, Noodles is sleeping on Pickles...

I loved little Sadie trying to mimic the big dogs... what a cutie!

Here are some of my favorite shots I took this weekend with my new camera; I hope you enjoy them.

Fall Weather!

I have so enjoyed the new fall weather Houston has been experiencing this week. I had forgotten how much I love fall. The temperatures have been in the high 80s all week, lower humidity (around 80%) and a soft breeze! Oh what a beautiful gift. I wish I could take off from work and sit in a park by the lake and read; spend some quiet time with God and soak in the beauty! I hope this weather lasts a while!

Weekend of Fly Fishing and Broadway's Grease

Jason and I took fly fishing lessons on Friday Sept 11th after work here in Bridgeland. It was really fun. I love fishing as I mentioned in my post back in May. I thought it would be fun to learn to fly fish since we have all these ponds around Bridgeland. Both Jason and I enjoy the extra challenge fly fishing entails. We did pretty well and actually plan to each get a 'fly fishing starter kit' to begin to practice. I have no plans to become an expert, but I am looking forward to catching a few fish hopefully this year! We will keep you posted.

Saturday morning I headed out to a craft fair at the Berry Center with a couple of friends; there were over 240 booths. It was really fun; I love seeing every one showing off their talent. I have to say I got more 'ideas' than I actually bought. Christmas should be fun this year...

Saturday evening Jason and I headed out to see Broadway's Grease. It was a really good production, we both enjoyed it a lot. (Jersey Boys is still our top favorite so far though!!) We enjoyed watching a large group of young girls about 14 or so have a ball dancing and being silly in between acts (as they encouraged with their interaction). I (along with everyone around me) was not enjoying the grown up women behind me sing along to the songs during the second act... I love seeing people have a good time, but we spent a lot of money for the tickets and I couldn't hear the performers... oh well. At least we know they were having a good time too. (My foot was tapping the whole time and I sang along in my head! You're the one that I want... hoohoohoo...Go Grease Lightening...) Taylor Hicks also made a debut as Teen Angel which was fun.

More New York Pictures!

My mom and I both got in to Newark late Friday night. We woke up early on Saturday morning and headed out to Jersey City to take the ferry to Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty. Traveling from the hotel to the port was an adventure in itself. Let me start by saying that before we left I had all of our 'transportation plans' mapped out. I knew what train we needed to get on from where, which one to switch to, etc. Well, for some reason I tried to verify my plans with the hotel on Friday night and they told me there was no way I could take a 'train' from Newark airport (EWR) to Newark Penn Station... I asked two people who both LIED to me... so we took a cab and paid a million dollars... I say lied b/c to make a very long story short, we took the train from Newark Penn Station to the Airport (EWR) on the way back Saturday afternoon... oh well. Jumping trains and buses was fun though. We actually even ran into a 'scary/crazy person' on the light rail; I thought for sure two things would happen: 1) The man kills the people in front of us, or 2) The man kills us all. Needless to say neither happened and we all survived!


Ellis Island; immigration. They have really done a great job about preserving the original building and incorporating a very informative museum.

There she is...

We had beautiful weather while we were in New York. The mornings and evenings were actually chilly (about 60F with a breeze), but then the afternoons warmed up to the 80s. No rain, but some beautiful coastal clouds at times.

After our Statue of Liberty trip, we headed back to our hotel in Jersey to get our bags (more train, bus and shuttle jumping) and then headed out to Manhattan to our next hotel. This hotel was a perfect location and a great deal. It was right on Time Square and Broadway! It was great being in Time Square at different times of the day; enjoying the differences of each. Saturday night we headed down the street to see Broadway's Lion King. It was so great. I am always amazed at the talents of not only the performers, but the producers as well! What a great night!

Sunday morning we headed out sight seeing. We started going down Broadway towards Central Park. We grabbed breakfast to go and then ate and had coffee in the park. It was so beautiful. How fun it was to be in the park and see the sky scrappers in the distance! They do an amazing job keeping up the park and everyone was enjoying themselves; jogging, reading, biking, walking, etc. Central Park is my kind of place!

Carnegie Hall

I loved the rocks every where in Central Park. Everyone seemed to find a nice spot on a rock to sit and enjoy.

It was fun to see chapels and churches squeezed in the middle of and touching two other buildings. The architecture was beautiful.

Shall I say Atlas Shrugged?! (Now that would be a great conversation in itself for another topic!)

Sunday night we headed out for a wonderful Dinner Cruise. It was so great getting to relax and visit with each other while enjoying the New York night lights from a 'different' angle. The last boat (yacht) was ours!

Here we are about to board! The couple taking our pictures thought we sisters!

Look mom, it's the Brooklyn Bridge! (Inside joke!)

There's the 'Brooklyn Bridge' again... (JK)!

And there she is... Miss. Liberty standing tall.

We sat next to two nice couples from England. They were so nice. It is always fun to interact with other people from different countries while traveling! Jason and I love that part!

After the dinner cruise we changed and headed out to Time Square. There we enjoyed Starbucks and watched performers and artists 'do their thing'. This man in the picture sounded amazing; he's drumming on nothing but kitchen pots and pans! Another guy painted amazing pictures using spray paint cans. (I can just see me doing these things...what a mess!)

Mom and me trying out our 'New York Attitude' in Josh's NY camo hat!

Monday morning we headed out to Bryant Park and Grand Central Station. Then early afternoon we headed back to Newark and off to Houston and El Paso...

Oh, we had so much fun! What a blessing that we got to enjoy this time together as mother and daughter. This trip was filled with fun but full of relaxation too. It was the perfect balance of everything! I love New York! Thank you mom for spending a wonderful weekend with me in New York!!