We left on Monday, October 3rd and stayed the night with Marshall's friend Casey Sullivan who he knew in seminary. We had a delightful dinner with Casey, her parents, and her sister with her family.
The next morning was our trek to south Houston, the Santa Fe area to visit with Larry and Kay Garza. He's the owner of Aztek Bolting, and it was neat seeing their new office building which opened about a month before we got there. We had a great visit with them as well.
We squeezed in a visit to Galveston Beach.
The following day we visited with Jason and Nicole Reynolds who live on the north side of Houston. Marshall went to seminary with Nicole. We enjoyed our visit with them and their 3 little energetic boys!
.....On to San Antonio....We first spent the afternoon with my friend Mary. She and I were friends from college. Her husband is an anesthesiologist serving in Afganistan right now, and really needs your prayers. He was deployed 5 days after their first son's birth. They have 4 other girls. It was a great time for me to catch up with her....our friendship is one that years can go by in between visits and we pick up right where we left off. I was glad she and Marshall got to meet. She also needs your prayers as she is the mother of these children, homeschooling one of them, a new baby, and her husband is overseas.
After our visit with Mary we met up with Jimmy De Young and his family. Jimmy took Marshall on his first mission trip to Israel in 1998. They had a great time catching up too. They took us to an AMAZING Mexican restaurant... La Hacienda de Los Barrios. If you're ever in San Antonio, check it out!! Jimmy and his wife also generously put us up in a hotel, which of all of our travels, that was the first time we were in a hotel! We've enjoyed staying with many people, but the change of pace was nice!
The next morning we played "tourist" for a few hours in downtown San Antonio, and had to go to The Alamo and the riverwalk there. We enjoyed a bit of history and were back on the road!This time on our way to Fort Worth/Dallas area. Marshall went to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for 4 years there. Many great memories, friends, and food....and he was excited to share that with me. We stayed with Sean and Aubrey Phillips, and their new boy Zephyr.
We spent the most time on this trip in Fort Worth and Dallas, meeting up with several of Marshall's friends, supporters, and touring the life he had there.
To the right is the Poche family. Marshall drove school buses while in seminary, and Beth (on the left) was a woman he worked with, as well as her daughter Mechelle on the right. We dropped by the bus yard before we left town and I got to meet several other people Marshall drove buses with.
Another fun bit is that we were able to link up with some of our friends at the Texas State Fair, Trent and Alisa McCool who were there visiting that weekend! Can't go wrong with FRIED SMORES, FRIED CHEESECAKE, FRIED SNICKERS, FRIED OREOS, FRIED BUTTER!!! (*note....we didn't consume all of that!!)
Before we knew it our 4 days in the area were over and we were making our way back to Birmingham. Our first stop though, was in Longview, Texas where 3 of Marshall's missionary kids from his former youth group in Peru are studying. We met up with Phillip Schmidt, Andrew Nystrom, and Scotty Friesen for dinner, and went to the coffee shop where Phillip works to continue to hang out. It was a very entertaining night! I wish I had the energy of college boys!!!!!The next morning, we were up, and driving through the rest of Texas, then Arkansas, briefly in Tennessee, then Mississippi to stay with Mike and Jeana Tabor. They served in Peru with the IMB at the same time as Marshall. We enjoyed their southern hospitality.
We were up early the next morning to make our way to Birmingham, because I had to work that night!!!
Another glimpse of our CRAZY LIFE!!!
