As of late...

We have been a wee bit busy lately with the arrival of Ike on the gulf coast and feeling better about the fact that it missed us. Obviously we are not feeling better about the poor people who have lost everything or are without electricity. I was reminded how wonderful our God is that in the midst of all of this, He would allow a cold front to move in to give some relief to those without shelter, or those who are trapped inside their homes without air conditioning. It is really very hot in South Texas this time of year. Anyhow, this is what we have been up to. We went to go visit my College Roommate Kristy Dupree (Stridde) and had a great time with her and her husband Chris and their two kids Kayna and Noah. Noah and Anna were born two weeks apart. Pretty cool. Anyhow, they had a blast together and she can't wait to see him again. Kayna was so precious and beautiful and Anna loved to hug her and kiss her and wanted to play with her always. We had a great time. Friendship like that is always a breath of fresh air.

Then when Ike threatened to come right to Rockport, we decided to head out of town and go to my parents house south of here in Calallen. Once we were out of danger, there was lots of time to play. Judd came down to help board up and have a mini-vaca and hung out with Anna a lot. She loves her Uncle Judd a bunch. She has prayed for him twice this week. When we get ready for bed, we ask her who she wants to pray for and she normally lists off the people she sees everyday, but sometimes she comes up with a few extras. He has been on her mind lately. : ) Last but not least, the other night before bedtime, Franklin was on the floor and Anna wanted him to sit next to her. She slid over and said, "Uh Heer Franlin" and then he jumped up on the chair. She was very proud of herself and was very happy to have Franklin next to her on the chair. Well, hope you all have a great week and thanks to all who called or checked on us. It is nice to know that you are important to others in your life. Until next time......

Labor Day Weekend and Farewell Hemingway's

Stephen's sister Karen came in this weekend and we got to hang out over at Stephen's parents vacation house a lot. They have a place in Rockport, which is very convenient I must say. I really enjoy having them this close, especially when Karen comes in, cause we don't have to travel. : ) Anyhow, we decided to go crabbing on Sunday afternoon but came up short. Anna and Kaylee had a good time playing in the "sea shell sand" as I call it. We went crabbing off the pier at Goose Island State Park and down at the end of the pier there is a little island (really it is just a low spot that has collected a TON of old shells) and we took the girls down there to liven the day (Anna was not entertained with looking at empty crab nets). Stephen was working that afternoon, which now knowing that we caught nothing and just sat in the heat, he was the one that came out on top. : ) After the girls had played awhile, we decided it was time to head back and see if Granny and Grandpa had any luck with the crabs. We have gone crabbing or at least tried to go at least once a year since Stephen and I started dating. It is probably one of my favorite things to do...it really is fun and I was hoping Anna could experience it that day. Oh well, better luck next time I guess!

This view is MOST depressing when you are hoping for a crab dinner. Here are the girls in action at "Shell Beach"

Anna had a great time just hanging out with her Granny and having a snack after we played at "shell beach".
I just love this picture.

So after staring at yet another empty net, we cleaned up and headed back to the house. Anna has been getting better at singing songs and has recently taken an interest in "Ring Around the Rosy." She and Kaylee sang it and danced around for quite some time before I got it on video. By this time, Anna was not as energetic and it looks like Kaylee is whipping her around.

In other news, Stephen got a phone call yesterday from a local restaurant manager asking if he was looking for a job. Stephen had applied at this restaurant when we first arrived in Rockport and was offered a job there a day after he accepted a job at Hemingway's. A little confused, Stephen said no. Then the man proceeds to explain that there was a rumor going around that Hemingway's was closing down and if that was true that Stephen had a job with him. After calling his boss, getting his voicemail, getting another call from yet another restaurateur offering him a job (Stephen was popular) his boss called back and first apologized for the way he found out. Apparently he was making his way down the list of employees and the ones already called were already out looking for work. He then explained that they were closing down. Pretty sad because Stephen really enjoyed where he worked. He liked the people, the chef, the restaurant, everything. Fortunately for us all employees got a severance package and Stephen took one of those two job offers and got an increase in pay. He starts next Thursday. Please pray for him in this new job, we are hoping God will use this opportunity to further Stephen in his career. So this has been a busy week. All in all, we are doing good and I am very thankful that God allowed Stephen to be given news like this with the promise of stability in another job. I think the Lord knows I might have exploded had he not provided that information all at once. Below is a video of Anna and her daddy playing before bedtime.
Have a great week!

Growing up is hard to do....

At least for a parent. Peggy, my mother-in-law, kept Anna for me Friday night so that I could stay after school and get a little more organized after my first week of school. It was definitely needed, and I very much appreciated her willingness to watch her. When I got there to pick her up , Peggy said that Anna's teacher had told her that Anna had gone poo-poo in the potty that day. OK, side note, she is not in full blown potty training yet, but we are in the introduction stage and her teacher is REALLY good at knowing Anna's "timing" and just throws her on the potty when it is time...but to Anna's credit, she is doing it...not bucking the system like lots of kids do.

When we got home and after I read her a story, I asked her, "Anna, did you go poo-poo in the potty today?" And she smiled and said "yeah...bih durl" ( aka big girl ) I had to choke back the tears...she IS a big girl now. She is very lovey so I can kind of hang onto the babyness of holding her and she still lets me rock her every now and again....but I look at her and there is no baby left. She is a little girl. And it is SO exciting, but yet, SO sad. The exciting parts are the things like saying prayers with her and having her finish the sentence...I will say, Dear, and she will finish "Jeesahsssss", thank you for, and she will finish "food, or mommy or daddy", or whatever comes to the top of her head, which sometimes makes for great laughs, Then I'll say, help it make us healthy and, and she will finish, "STRONG! "..like, she yells it, every time. In Jesus name we, and she will say "prway, Ahhmen". Everyday with her is the best, I just wish I could remember every single thing....like you remember it moments after it happened.

Today she woke us up with her recent montage of " mah ee, dah ee, pee-pee potty"..so Stephen got up to let her go to the bathroom. I was then summoned into the bathroom because Anna had gone poo-poo in the potty at home for the first time. She was so proud of herself. I give her two weeks and we will no longer be buying diapers...praise the Lord!

I thought I would put this on the blog, Stephen's mom got this little chef hat from a friend, Anna loves it. So does Stephen. ; ) Also, a pic of Stephen and Anna before bedtime. She loves her daddy. Have a great week!

T, U, and V do not exist to our daughter...

Anna let us all know how smart she was today by singing to herself while she was coloring. She just all of a sudden busted out her ABC's. I am fairly certain that they have been reviewing this at school because, we have sang the ABC's like maybe five times in the last few months. She has a few toys that sing them, but it isn't like she is playing with THOSE toys 24/7. So either she has been learning them at daycare or she is a freakin genius. Anyway, here is the video we took of her singing the ABC song today. I love how X and S sound the same, and as the title of the post says, T, U, and V are not in the song. : ) Enjoy...she cracks us up. : )

Puts a new spin on house boat......

Yep that is right. This is where we live, and yes, that is a boat on the front of our house. But I am not above it. I am not. It has a TON of perks that make that silly schooner on the front of the duplex that Stephen and I are renting worth it.

Well, we made it. It took two days of intense work, and it is still in progress but we are getting there. We have lived in Rockport for a week as of today. In case you were wondering where abouts Rockport is located, check google maps so you can see where it is located. We are about 45 minutes east of Victoria and 45 minutes north of Corpus Christi. Stephen is working at "the" place to eat in town, a restaurant called Hemingway's, you should check it out. He is really liking it and learning a ton. It was a miracle and blessing that God was able to get him this job. We really thought it would help his career after school if he had some experience from a place that really taught him what he needed to know once he graduated. I mean, you can't get everything from a 2 year program at any culinary school, which is why they all rely on co-op programs where students work while going to school to get on the job experience. However, some of those jobs don't fully prepare you for what life will be like once you get out into the real world and start working towards becoming an executive chef. Hemingway's is run by Chef James Granger, who teaches periodically when he is needed for the Culinary program at Del Mar, where Stephen is currently enrolled. SO, he has the knowledge of what the program gives you and what the program does not, and he makes up the difference, which is awesome. So it has been a great thing and I am very thankful to the Lord that He has allowed Stephen such a great place to work. I am posting a few pics of our new abode. It is nothing special other than we live in it. : ) It used to be a house that was converted into a duplex and the original owners wanted to rent it out only to seasonal vacationers, hence the schooner on the front of the house. The new owners prefer a more stable income, so they are renting it out on year leases now. Because the duplex used to be a house, our living room and kitchen/dining area are muy grande. Our bedrooms are non-existent though, but that is ok.Giant kitchen and dining area, don't you just love the old dark wood look? So homey.
We are in the works of getting some more lighting and a possible ceiling fan. It is terribly hot in the kitchen/dining in the afternoon and very dark.
Anna's room, bad picture I know, I never got a chance to get another decent pic of her room before she went to sleep.

Our living room. The tiled floor on the far side of the living room leads to the door on the left.

Our room. Pretty small but cozy. The closets make me feel like crying, but I will have my walk in again some day I know it. : ) The view from across the street. That is the bay, yes we live on the water, or at least, across the street from the water. The view at dusk is pretty amazing. We feel very blessed that we have found this home that is close to school and Stephen's work, is much more affordable and saving us the cost of fuel because we will not be driving as much. It has a very nice yard with LOTS of live oak trees so Anna has a place to play. Excuse the clutter in some of the photos, I am still trying to find a place for everything. Other than the house, we are still doing great, Anna started at her new daycare and really likes it. I have started back at school a little and will start back full blown next week with LOADS of staff development. Students come back on the 25th, so I still have two weeks to get my stuff in order for classes which is good, cause I will need it. Hope all our friends and family are doing well and if you would ever like to come to the water and have a vaca, Port Aransas is 15 minutes from here and there are plenty of affordable condos we would love to co-rent with someone and have a fun filled weekend at the beach. You could also crash on our huge living room floor on a blow up mattress if you feel like roughing it! : ) Just give us a call or shoot us an email and we will plan! Have a great weekend!

Moving right along....

We went to my brother Jered's house in Waco a few weeks ago and had a blast of a time with him and Holly and Parker. I am not going to post all of the great pics twice, but please visit her site to see all of the fun we had. I will show a few pics that were my favorite and a few that didn't make it on her blog.

Holly playing play dough with Anna. (video coming soon at how EASY it is to make)...for those of you interested in making homemade play dough.
Climbing
She did NOT want her picture taken. She is such a diva when it comes to the camera.
At Panera Bread with Jeremy, Nikki and Eleanor Rhodes. Once again, Anna did not want to take a picture.
Eleanor saw Anna's hair and was going in for the kill.

I love both these pics because Anna is having such a blast. It just makes me smile.

So, moving on, we found out last Monday that Anna was able to get into "the" daycare in Rockport, the town where I teach. We put her on the waiting list last year and didn't think a thing about it until this summer, when we realized that Stephen was only going to be in school for three days of the week in Corpus and I was commuting 45 minutes 5 days a week to Rockport. So we called "the" daycare (and I say this because everyone in town says everywhere else, which is not a lot of places, are not worth it in comparison to this one) and because of our previous years placement on the waiting list, she was allowed an upcoming spot. So, we went with it. We started looking for a place to live, and found one within a matter of days that is more affordable than the one we are currently renting. I have three weeks left of summer and two are taken up partly for staff development. So, we have begun packing. Oh, how I loath packing. I have been singing that in my head for the last few days to the tune of Oh, how I love Jesus. It makes me feel better as I open yet another cabinet to find gobs and gobs of junk that we have decided we cannot live without. I really am fine about it...I have had more time to pack appropriately, not just throwing stuff in a box hoping it won't break during the move and I am getting really positively anxious about living in a new place. I could have been a military brat I think with the love I have of starting again and the idea of change. Anyway, I will try to post with pictures of our new place and how things are going once we get settled week after next. I am in PD this coming Tuesday and Wednesday and then on Thursday we move. Stephen is still searching for a job in a restaurant, they are currently finishing up with summer staff who are heading back to college and he hopes to hear from various prospects this coming week. Pray for success in that if you feel so inclined. Have a fabulous week!

The day our lives changed...

Anna was born. Since then, things have never been the same and I know that Stephen and I would rather die than go back. She has a great trust for those who love her. She will try it just because Mom or Dad said it was OK...she really is obedient. She is very tender and sweet and loves to give kisses and hugs. She likes one on one time. I say it more and more, her personality is just like her dad's. She loves to read before nap and bedtime, like 30 minutes of it is fine with her. Her favorite book right now is "The Eye Book" by Dr. Seuss...and that isn't forced Dr. Karen Summers (optometrist aunt)..she just really likes it better than the nose book and the foot book. She is starting to sing songs little by little and it makes Stephen and I want to cry when she notices she is off pitch and can correct it. She makes us laugh moment by moment with every little noise and the words she tries to say, like guacamole was kuh molee today. AWESOME. She brightens our day and we could not imagine life without her. I thank God daily for the UNBELIEVABLE gift He has given me in her and am humbled that she is second only to my salvation which I take for granted more than I should. I hope and pray that when we decide to have another child, that they are just as precious as Anna, and also as well behaved! : ) She has spoiled us rotten as a first child!

We celebrated her birthday in Corpus at my Mom and Dad's house last weekend. Here are some pics of the occasion. Those in attendance were Jered, Holly and Parker Johnston (my brother and family), Great Granny (my grandmother), Granny, Grandpa and cousin Kaylee
(Stephen's parents and our niece) Tommie and Mike Welch (my aunt and new uncle..congratulations are in order :) ) . Libby Grantham (fabulous friend) and her girls Sadie, Tessa and new baby boy Jack. We did things I knew Anna would love. She started the day with a horse ride with J-Paw. (no pictures of this event)
Then the guests arrived and we did some swimming in our rocking 20 dollar pool from Walmart. Can I say, that for 20 bucks, this thing is AWESOME! They had a good time while it lasted. It was getting close to lunch, so we broke down the pool and went inside to do lunch and presents.


When it came time for cake, Anna was not too sure about her cupcake, even though her counterparts had a GREAT TIME. She opted out after about five attempts to eat the cupcake and went for jello instead.
Notice the new hairdo. We cut off the mullet curls.
Not very sure of this fire thing. Let us, just for grins, see how she compares with her cousin Parker when it comes to fire. Flash back to his birthday.....YES! That IS my nephew at ONE YEAR old, trying to grab fire. He loves it. Not so much like Anna on this one....but very much like his Father, who last week, during 90 degree weather mentioned starting a fire in the fireplace...he said he was joking, but I have my doubts. : )

So here is the progression of tasting the cupcake. (which I promise was good..see other children lapping it up for proof...)
First taste.
Obvious disgust.
Notice Stephen talking her into eating the cupcake on the right and Kaylee watching in amazement as another child turns down chocolate.
We even tried using a fork, which she loves, to no avail.
Why is that fire thing in my Jello?

She does NOT play around when it comes to her Jello. She is serious.

Present time was a little crazy. Lots of kids around. They had a good time though. She got some awesome stuff.
That is a lot of kids wanting very badly to tear at some paper and Anna just stood there and looked and wanted ME to open her presents. I could tell it was making the other kids (especially the older ones) itch.
Talking about her bell on her new tricycle from Granny and Grandpa.

Trying out the bell for the first time, she was very excited and surprised.
She loves her friend Tessa. That is Great Granny there in the recliner.

After everyone said bye, we put her down for a nap and she crashed hard. It went over fairly well. After it was all over and I started looking through pictures I realized that there were NO pictures of anyone else except those who were in direct sight of Anna. Some pictures did not turn out that great of other people, because they were not prepared to be photographed. Oh well, maybe I will be more mindful of it next year. We went to Waco two days later and spent the week with Jered, Holly and Parker and had a blast. I will post pictures from that soon.
Have a great week!

The Final Chapter..for real

So on Tuesday we spent a majority of time at the Duomo in Florence. We left and on the way out did a little shopping as we walked passed some street vendors. We got in the car and headed for Siena. All the reading we did on Siena talked about how it was a must to see it at night. So, that is what we did. We arrived around 4:30 and started walking the streets. Stephen walked by a bakery (pretty high class stuff) and they were closed already. They had a t.v. in the window playing a video on how they make ricciarelli (biscotti made with marzipan). In case you didn't know, marzipan is almond paste, so they are pretty freakin amazing. Stephen began searching for another location that was open that would sell him some ricciarelli. He found it later, and they were pretty expensive so he bought one and we shared it. WOW. About the same time, Karen and I walked past a print makers studio and gallery. I walked in because I love printmaking and I had wanted to purchase some artwork from Italy and prints are the cheapest thing you can get. His stuff was amazing. Siena was founded originally by Jewish settlers before the sons of Remus, Romes' founder, came to stake their claim. A lot of the proprietors in Siena are Jewish. There is a synagogue there and this print maker was also Jewish. A lot of his artwork had Hebrew letters and such. Siena is also a medieval-esque town. Siena didn't grow much after the plague that devastated it in the 1300's. Most of the town, as we read in the book's, is "frozen in time." The print makers current piece he was working on was the Hebrew alphabet in the theme of illuminated manuscripts. They were stunning. If I could have afforded one of these amazing works I would have purchased as many as possible. I bought a few things that were nice and affordable and we made our way after he bundled them up. After we arrived in Siena about 15 minutes had passed when it started to rain. It was one of those constant slow rains, we knew it was going to rain most of the night. The print maker's studio. I was foaming at the mouth. I would love to have a space like this one day.
The color is a little dark, but you can see some of the detail in the Hebrew letters. They were breathtaking.

We then started walking toward the Cathedral in Siena - in the rain. Karen stopped and bought an umbrella. We got to the Cathedral and Karen and I got an audio guide. This was probably my favorite church from our entire trip (other than the Duomo). The church was absolutely beautiful at first glance, but once inside and exploring a bit, Stephen found the library and recommended that I check it out, and that is where I found this cathedral's real treasure. I walked in and was blown away by the amazing frescoes on the wall. Pinturicchio painted these frescoes in 1502 and 1503. They were some of the most well preserved frescoes I have ever seen. They were amazing and vibrant. I wish we would have had more time there, but as it was getting close to 6, they were getting ready to close the church. I am very thankful though, that I was able to see this collection. Also in the Cathedral was a bronze statute of John the Baptist by Donatello. Supposedly his, John the Baptist's, right arm is housed there.
Exterior view of the Cathedral.

Inside the Piccolomini Library. Frescoes inside the library.
Statue of John the Baptist by Donatello. He was known for having sculptures that were very dramatic and full of texture.

We walked around for about another hour or so, trying to decided where to eat. A lot of our books said that Siena was NOT known for good food, but in one of the books, there were a few recommendations. Trattoria la Torre was the one we chose and we were all the more thankful afterwords. Our dining experience was one that will be remembered for a lifetime. The owner, a large Italian man with an apron, seated us. He spoke in Italian the entire time he greeted us and explained the menu. We muddled through ordering and the food was amazing. While we sat, the owner walked around and visited with his customers. A younger woman, that we figured was his daughter, sat behind the counter singing a Whitney Houston song that played overhead. This was fairly common, there was 80's music playing everywhere in English and they knew all the words, even though they could barely speak the language. I remember thinking multiple times, the music in Europe ROCKS! As we were getting ready to leave, Stephen read an article framed and posted near the front door about the restaurant, by "Under the Tuscan Sun" author Frances Mayes. She wrote this article for the New York Times, International Issue back in 1990, prior to writing her popular novel. As Stephen read, the owner walked over to him and Stephen asked him if the picture was,"tu madre", he said yes and made a gesture for sleeping. We were not sure if this meant she was upstairs asleep or had passed away. It was a good article and a fabulous restaurant.

Owner of Trattoria la Torre.
Article Stephen read and discussed with the owner.

After dinner we walked out into the main gathering place of the city, Piazza del Campo. This area is a fan shaped cobblestone amphitheatre-esque center of the city . The Sienese are looked upon as humanists because the center of their city is a gathering place for people, not a church.


We stopped for Gellato and Stephen finished his way before Karen.
Outside the Gellato shop. The group of people straight ahead were all watching the Europe cup soccer match between France and Italy that night. That is why the whole Piazza was deserted. It normally is swarming with people. The rain didn't help either, it was still raining off and on pretty heavily. The small crowd outside this restaurant and the various employees within each shop would periodically cheer or boo. It was a fun experience....then the game was over, and Italy had won. That was when it really got fun. Young people from each side of the Piazza came strutting into the fan shaped area chanting in Italian. There were suddenly about 50 people where there had been none. They were so excited that their team had won. The rain started back up and they started running around in the rain, chanting even louder and kicking a soccer ball around. It was too dark to get great pictures of this, and the rain made it even harder, but this is the best we got. All in all, Siena was a fabulous experience, and if you get the chance to go, forget what the books say, this place is one of a kind.

The next day we packed up our things from our beloved Villa in the Sienese countryside. We headed out pretty early because we wanted to make it to Pisa to see the leaning tower, and then drive the many miles to Cinque Terra. The drive was very interesting to both. Some stories can only be told in person, because they are too colorful for the blog, but if you feel so inclined to ask, we will GLADLY oblige you. : )

We got to Pisa with little problems and found a parking place with the help of a gentleman walking his dog. We stopped for Cappuccino and a quick restroom break and started walking towards the tower. The first "sighting" of the tower.

Excuse the "up the nose" look, but it was the only way to get the leaning tower in the picture.

I could NOT resist doing the totally dorky "pushing the tower back up" pose. See me there to the right. I asked Stephen if he wanted me to take his pic, he said, very snootily I might add, "no." : )
Stephen and I in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Leaving Pisa and heading for Cinque Terra. The streets were lined with orange trees. SO AWESOME! Anyone in the town could just pick one and eat it.

We headed for Cinque Terra, which is Italian for five towns. These are five very small towns that rest on the edge of cliffs off the Mediterranean Sea in North Eastern Italy. Please see map from previous post for clarity. : ) We did not realize how long it would take to get there or that it would take us nearly one hour to drive down the side of the mountain (cliff) to reach these towns or we would have stayed longer. We only had time after we arrived to see one of the five towns. We were to spend only an hour or two there so we could check into our hotel in Milan that night. I shall allow the pictures to tell the story and beauty of Cinque Terra, more specifically, the town of Vernazza.

Driving on the highway towards Cinque Terra.

After following the road signs until they disappeared...our map did not have the little roads on it that we needed to get to our destination, we stopped and asked this VERY nice man in a range rover. God bless him. We were in the middle of nowhere and there were not a lot of people around to ask for help. We flagged him down and he said we needed, in broken English, to go towards Pignone.

The blessed sign to Pignone. We were really in the middle of nowhere.
We drove a seriously, one lane dirt road and drove through some crops. These men were giving us the, "stupid Americans" look.
Then we made it to the mountain and started driving, in a standard vehicle mind you, down hill. We were at about a 45 degree angle most of the way down. Our first sight of Vernazza. We were SO high up, we could barely believe that was our destination.
A far off view of Vernazza as we came around the mountain after the fog cleared. This gives a better idea of how far off we were.
Walking down the hill after we parked. We still had quite a hike before we made it to the town.
The street into town from the water. Restaurants and shops lined the streets.
The edge of the water...no beach, only rocks and mountain. This made me think of Goonies. : )

Stephen placing his feet in the Mediterranian Sea.
Stephen on the stairway overlooking the boat dock/manmade beach area.
Stephen and Karen tasting Anchovy Bruschetta, which I opted out of.
How Vernazza looks when the sky is clear and no atmosphere clouds the camera. WOW.
That is Stephen way out of sight, getting better directions out of there. : )

We drove to Milan and got into our hotel. It was a very much needed nights rest. We had traveled quite a bit that day and had seen more than I could remember. Our trip had come to an end. We were to catch our flight the next morning around nine. There are so many other pictures and stories that there is just not room for on the blog. I was sad to leave, but SO excited to get home to see my baby girl and I know Stephen felt the same. We had been away from her for 11 days and it was going to be another 20 or so hours before we saw her again. The blessing of this trip will never be forgotten and the reason for it in the first place, the honor of someone who was taken from his family too early in life and the research to keep it from happening to another will be in our thoughts always as we remember our trip. If you want to read up on Nick Gonzales and his foundation and feel compelled to give, please do so. Here is the link to his story of life and the foundation that hopes to save one. Thanks for reading if you have...we had a great time and are happy to be able to share our experience with you all.