Dallas Cowboys

Thankful for a jacket and a 16 month old to keep me entertained. This last month has been very busy with the holidays and all of our time on the road. Much has happened. This happened in November. My coworker's, Debra, daughter, Michele, had tickets the Cowboys-Redskins game. Courtney were happy to take them off their hands. We had a great time, though Dallas almost lost. Enjoy the new stadium.

He Walks, He Talks, He gets Haircuts

To quote "Papa Loved Mama":

It was bound to happen

and tonight it did,

We got a haircut for

our youngest kid.

His curly locks

were replaced

with short, straight hair

that's out of his face.

Please enjoy the range of emotions as we share Austin's first haircut.

"Cool. Always wanted a cape."
"Not cool. What are you doing? Hey, what's this?"

"I LOVE SUCKERS!!!!! YEE HAA!!!!!

"What just happened? DELILAH?!?!?!

"All grown up, except for the paci and carseat."

A 'Plumb' Future

Last week we heard running waters in our wall. We did not have any water in the house, but soon we did see some water pooling outside. It was bad enough that we called a plumber to come out Saturday. Landry was more than happy to pitch in and help. Even though Landry has his career mapped out ("I am going to play football for the Cowboys and then work at Chili's"), after receiving the bill I have encouraged him to get into plumbing. It may be more lucrative than professional football player.

New Arrival

When we moved to Bossier we had to sell our dobe(Thunder). We did this because we did not know what our living conditions would be. Courtney had her hands full with the kids while I was working in Shreveport, so we made the decision to sell him. As it turned out we purchased a house on a corner lot with lots of yard, but the large majority of it is in the front (not fenced). My coworker knew we wanted a dog and her daughter has a friend who happened to have a terrier mix that had shown up at her door several months ago. We picked her up to try her out and LOVE her. She is 2 (estimated) and fits in perfectly with our family. Without further adieu, we proudly introduce Polly (LLC's name for her):

Funny Faces

Reynosa

Mexico. A good friend called me in the middle of September to see if I would be interested in going there on a medical mission trip. He said the dates were October 9th through the 11th. Ah....LSU Florida. Clearly this was a God ordained choice placed in front of me. I chose the mission. That friend was Bronson (pictured below). I worked with him in Baton Rouge and have seen him grow in Christ so much in the last two years. So much so that he went on this same trip in March. We were working together then and could not both be off. He was invited by a friend, Stephen, who is a pastor in the Methodist church. He was going with a group from Shreveport. Bronson returned motivated more than ever to serve Christ. Its all he could talk about. I could not miss that opportunity.
So I made arrangements to go. Our group is pictured below. Tom, pastor of Haughton United Methodist, coordinated the trip. He heads up this group twice a year. He is a great guy and has a real heart for missions. His wife Susan is a nurse practitioner. Sue is the translator, Hal is the pharmacist, and Bronson and I just do what they say. The gentleman in the yellow shirt is Dr. Elias. He coordinates our clinics. It was awesome to meet these people and to know that we share the same Father.

We crossed the border into Rio Bravo, where Dr. Elias has a clinic. We went there because Bronson arranged to have an ultrasound machine donated to him and wanted to help him set it up. After getting it going he did a quick tutorial with the doctor. Very quick because we were hungry.

Doc took us to a great restaurant in Reynosa. By the way, Mexico.... not the place for diets. Dinner for 7, $39. I love Mexico.
After dinner I snapped this picture of two boys there. The one on the left had been selling flowers. All of the children in Mexico had a real humble spirit. There was a peace about them. They would not look you in the eyes, but once you showed them some love (a smile or taking their picture) they would just light up.

Once at the compound we chose our bunks. I don't have twin sheets. But Landry does.


On Friday we set up clinic in the church below. Interestingly all of the windows had the star of David. That is big in Mexico. We saw 69 patients. We mostly provided Tylenol, ibuprofen, blood pressure medicine, antibiotics, and vitamins. The people were wonderful. Though we would probably consider them poor, I don't think they feel that way. They just live. In many ways

I think they are richer than us. They don't have all the distractions that we have. They are much more at peace.






Group picture at the end of day 1.


Our second church clinic.


On the second day we saw 83 patients and it was much like the first. Brothers and sisters in Christ, great people, and a HUGE GOD!!!!!



This is Bartolo Escobedo. He is the former pastor of this church. He actually pastored three churches and traveled between them on bicycle. He is now a missionary to Puebla. It is an area of Mexico where they speak no Spanish. He said witchcraft is rampant in the area. Wonderful soul.


This little boy was shy at first. Once I snapped his picture, he really opened up. He did so by taking my camera and snapping about 15 pictures. He kept speaking to me and laughing. I just nodded. He was very sweet.

He took this picture.


Below is the reason diets don't work in Mexico. Her name is Gloria, surprisingly an LSU fan, and a great cook. One night I ate 9 tacos. Before supper. She is a very sweet soul.



I am so thankful to God for the chance to be a part of something so meaningful. It is so awesome to know that you are God's hands. He is working through you. I would certainly recommend missions to anyone, whether you feel called or not. God can use you.

Blessings

This is one of Landry's friends from across the street. They play alot of football over there. Landry can't get enough. He has quickly developed some confidence. Notice I did not say quiet confidence. Last night I showed Landry some pass routes. He really liked the deep route. He ended by catching three in a row. When we came in dinner was ready and he said the blessing. "Dear Father, thank you for this food and for making me so good at football, Amen." Gotta love him.

Cuddly

Austin is so cute. One night about a month ago, he walked over to me, climbed into my arms and
went to sleep. It made me feel good. I wish I could say he does it all the time, but he doesn't. He likes his space. This night he wasn't feeling great and I benefited. I love my boys very much. As much as I want to appreciate ALL of the time I have with them, sometimes I get busy or distracted. Parents, especially dads, lets make a concerted effort to love them and value the times we have with them. I still remember the tears in my eyes when I held Landry for the first time. Now he is in kindergarten and quickly surpassing his dad in wit and wisdom. Love em all the time.

HMM

To eat or to sleep, that is the question.

Football Season

Thankfully, without any coaxing from their father, they both decided LSU was their favorite team.

Friends

Our recent vacation started with a trip to Jackson to stay with my sister. On the way we were able to catch up with old friends. Keith, Rebecca, Sara, and Levi live in Vicksburg and we stopped to have dinner with them. They are solid christians and we are blessed to call them friends. Rebecca graduated high school with Courtney and we met Keith in Sunday school at Vidalia First
Baptist. Initially it was a small class with 7 or 8 being a great attendance day. We left it that way in 2006 when we went back to school in Alexandria. We were gone for one year before we returned to Vidalia to complete clinicals for ultrasound school. We had a wonderful experience at Calvary Baptist in Alexandria and were heartbroken to leave there. Our intentions when we returned to Vidalia were not to attend FBV. We were going to try another church. God had other plans. A chance (God ordained) encounter between Courtney and Keith at the grocery store changed that. He invited us to a New Years party at their house the next day (Sunday). We felt like if we were going to the party we should at least attend church with them that morning. Wow! The next morning we attended Sunday school and it was nothing like the class we left. The Holy Spirit was moving. A big part of that was Keith and Rebecca. That year was awesome. With Clare and Tammy leading the class, there was lots of discussion and great attendance. Keith and I participated in some additional bible study and had lots of great discussion. Proverbs 27:17 says as iron sharpens iron a friend sharpens a friend. That's how I feel about Keith. Though our families are not able to get together that much we consider them special friends and keep them in our prayers. That night in Vicksburg was a blurr. I wish we could have stayed longer, even though Landry was a little wild and fell out of his chair at least twice. God willing, we will be provided some opportunities in the future to fellowship with them. Maybe we will be worshiping together someday. That would be great.

Significance of the Dove

Courtney started working part time a couple of weeks ago, necessitating us finding a daycare for the kids. Since Landry has started "big" school he is only there in the afternoons. They go to Fellowship Methodist and the people have been wonderful. The afterschool kids arrive in the church's van and place there backpacks in the corner of the sanctuary. High above the pulpit is a stained glass window with several images. Jesus is at the center and surrounded by several others. One of them is the dove that descended upon Jesus at His baptism. After retrieving Landry from the playground, we returned to get his backpack. He pointed at the dove. He said, "That's the Jesus bird. He died for all the birds." No idea where that came from. As an addition, his lesson in Sunday School today was about Jesus' baptism. He said he was scared to be "babatized". I love how he says certain words. Often Courtney and I will manipulate conversations just to hear them. Oh, and today in his story the bird was downgraded from "the Jesus bird", but not to a dove. Today he was an eagle.

Just read the story to Landry and he asked that I add this. "I love dad." (If only he knew now was the time to ask for the Wii.) I love him too.

Real Life

From time to time life becomes real. Its not our normal 'busy' lives. Its not work. Its not school. For me, one of those moments was August 19. It was Landry's first day of school, but that is not what I am talking about. I returned to work at 4:15 after leaving to pick up Landry from his first day. Shortly after returning (4:20) I received a text from my mom. It said "Call me now."

That is not normal, so I called immediately. She told me that Diana had quit breathing today. Diana is my Aunt. She is the wife of my mom's brother. She is 51 and I was shocked. I got in my car and drove to Alexandria where she was being airlifted to Rapides Regional. Shortly after arriving we discovered she had not made it. My heart was broken. It was broken for my uncle. It was broken for my cousins, Brandi and Chance. And it was broken for me. Brandi and I are 5 months apart in age and as children we were more like brother and sister. Our family is close and Aunt Diana was an important part. I cannot imagine what Brandi, Chance and my Uncle Rick must have felt and be feeling. My prayers are with them and ask that yours be too. On August 23 we buried my aunt. Uncle Rick spoke at the funeral, an amazing feat given the circumstances. It was very touching and even funny at times. Brandi spoke and it was obvious that her heart was breaking. The whole scene was so surreal. It still feels that way. Aunt Diana was a caring person. She cared for animals and she cared for her family. Every time we saw her she always hugged us. She will be missed. Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers, particularly Rick, Brandi, and Chance. Thank you.