Okay Okay - I am convicted!

I know! I know! It's been way too long! I have just a few excuses! First of all - I'm now in Fort Worth, Texas - living in our beautiful house - but Glen is in Cairo already!

I arrived in Texas on 13 March and plunged headfirst into the house re-do. Had the carpet ripped up in the house and beautiful tile put down.

I spent a few days with Tobey in her classroom - the kids were SO sweet and the work SO hard for her. So thankful I could be there to help. Got to visit with Whitney and his family - and lots of friends along the way. Catching up at church was also awesome.

The first weekend in April, I went to the center of Texas for a reunion with some high school friends - a wonderful bonding time. We decided to do it every year!

Glen arrived the weekend I was at our reunion (couldn't be helped - but timing really did stink) and was able to attend a Saturday morning breakfast and Sunday service at church. It was SO good to be with him after that 3 week separation. We were told that the shipment of boxes was on the way here - still not safe to get into Cairo.

The first shipment of 50 something boxes arrived and we were able to get everything unpacked and settled. Shakespeare had some dental surgery done and some tests which revealed he had pre-kidney failure AND some serious peridontal trouble due to that. So both boys are now on special food and both are doing GRAND!

While Glen was home, I had him on a serious honey-do list (something he LOATHES) - which resulted in lots of problem trees being cut down (roots growing into the house, etc.), a new faucet in the kitchen, new ceiling fan in the office and other smaller jobs. He got to spend some quality time with his dad, a surprise visit from his youngest son, and even worked in some baby sitting time with the youngest grands.

All too soon, he was posted to Egypt - left on 2 May. We managed a mini-reunion on the weekend prior - at Whitney's beautiful home. It was bittersweet because we knew Glen was soon leaving - and neither of us knew for how long we'd be apart. I took him to the airport on the 2nd and came home to get ready for the onslaught of boxes.

The boxes were delivered and the garage looked like this for a LONG TIME!

I am STILL unpacking because there have been some major developments since last we talked! I unpacked boxes, took things to Goodwill, put things in the house to leave stateside and repacked. Soon the garage looked like this:And THEN, we found out I'll probably be here til September (we're praying it's not longer than that) so I'm now unpacking AGAIN! I'm not going to live with the temporary dishes - so I'm looking for mine. Glen needs some things to keep him stocked (like the 220 Printer and the rest of his clothes) til we're all together. Can I go on record as saying I am SICK SICK SICK of boxes?!

Hasn't been ALL bad - I've had a visit and shopping trip with my BF Linda from OKC. And not long after that, I went to Oklahoma and met Chad - brought Tobey home with me for a week. On the way back to Dallas, we stopped for a memory jog at Turner Falls - we lived in OKC and Tulsa for 17 years before I moved to Hong Kong so went to Turner Falls/Arbuckle Wilderness lots with our international students.

The next day we had a chock-a-block day of shopping and fun. Started off at Sam Moon, trying on hats (which thankfully did NOT give us cooties). Then after getting our nails done, we joined up with Daphne and James and Katrina and Ari and Kohan for a fun time at Legoland! Tobey says her students just cannot manage to spell her last name correctly - so this will be the background for her next year's "Smartboard." Cute, huh?My girl and her hubby are GREAT fans of "Dallas." So the mini version was quite a treat for her. It was a great day! Next day, we started out EARLY for Tobey's request of a visit to Lady Bird Johnson's botanical gardens - it was LOVELY - and oh so HOT!

Then after a very warm shopping trip to the outlet mall in San Marcos, we went to visit a long-time friend in San Marcos. They have a tribe of miniature donkeys which captivated both of us.
Next day we went to Comfort, Texas for lunch with the senior member of our prayer team, Dorothy Mae Walden, 92 years young and still blowing and going for the Lord! What a grand reunion we had. Then we drove to Corpus where we got a golf cart tour of Port Aransas and a wonderful Mexican dinner courtesy of Jan - Tobey's real life God-mother!

We went from Corpus to Portland and spent the night with my cousin on my dad's side - had a great dinner and visit with Linda and her daughter Kris. Great times! Next morning, we set off for Angleton where we visited the family of my long time BF Judy - her mom and dad are so precious and we spent the afternoon remembering old friends (Tobey was graciously trying not to be bored!).

Next stop was out in the boonies of Angleton where my cousin Anne lives. We'd hope to catch sight of the resident alligator in the creek near her house - too hot! So, we drove on to Richmond to cousin Nan's where we enjoyed lots of laughs and incredibly good food - and a visit from Uncle Robert from Arkansas.

Saturday morning, Daphne, Whitney and James arrived for the annual Hardin reunion. We had TONS of good food, lots of hugs and giggles and even managed to squeeze in some singing before we had to get on the road for home.

We arrived back at Buckskin Court in the wee hours of Sunday morning, fell into bed and made it to church! Had lunch with Daphne and Whitney at IKEA and brought home more book cases for me to assemble. Are you tired yet? This was a VACATION?

I took Tobey to the airport at 5:30 on Monday morning - and came home and collapsed. Woke up about 7:30 and started trying to organize my life. WHEW!

More catching up later - that gets me to the 12th of June - hee hee!