Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

The last time I posted on here, Austin was an infant. Now he is not. I didn't know this still existed. Hopefully I'll be able to post a little more in the future. As it is here's the family, growing up.

                                    Austin and Courtney at the Braves game.

                                                               

                        Landry looking for something good to hit   (means anything he thinks he can reach)

Baseball Season

Surgery

On March 9 Austin went in for surgery. He had his tonsils/adenoids removed and tubes placed in both ears. No such thing as minor surgery when anesthesia is involved. With prayer everything went fine. Below are a few pictures from the big day at the hospital.

"I love my mom. But she is up to something. Not my choice of clothing."

The experience allowed us to find out that Austin is a 'happy drunk'. Hopefully this is the one and only time.

Poor Baby.

Reynosa 3/10

In October I was blessed with the opportunity to go with a group from the Methodist church to Reynosa, Mexico for a medical mission. Well, I was able to go again. They go every six months and, God willing, I will be traveling with them again on many occasions. This trip was MUCH different than the first. Of course I had done it once, but more than that our numbers swelled from 6 to 17 and our Spanish speakers increased from 1 to 5. That made things so much better. We got an early start Thursday (415am) and met up with a group from Baton Rouge at a Wharton, TX barbecue joint. After the nourishmen we continued our journey and arrived in Mexico around 8. There we met Willie Berman who is VIM's (Volunteers in Mission) coordinator for the area. Super guy. He does a wonderful job. The next two days were spent working the free clinics through local churches. All told we saw 190 patients. The coolest thing about the trip was the prayer service we attended on Friday night. About 200 people were gathered to pray against the growing drug violence in the area. Its an indescribeable experience to see people worshiping God in another language. It reinforces how large our God is. After 30 minutes Willie walked on stage and began preaching. After a few minutes he asked us to stand and walk to the front. We knelt at the alter and he began praying for us. Others began laying hands on us. There must have been 30 people with their hands on our backs and shoulders. They were also praying aloud. It was unbeleivable. I could feel God's power coursing through me. Something that MUST be experienced. Both of my trips have been awesome. I look forward to many more. I'll be posting many pics over the next couple of weeks. Please enjoy.

50s Night at Awanna

More Snow Pictures

Winter Wonderland

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.