Ft. Worth

View of downtown Ft. Worth from near where I am staying in Keller, TX.

Happiest Place on Earth?

I've always heard that Disneyland was the "Happiest Place on Earth", but I think they might be mistaken. I think it is Cabela's!

I had the morning 'off' today, so I drove the 3 miles to Cabela's Ft. Worth store. Yeehaa! What a great place.

Not bad after all

The wicked weather never really materialized here in Keller, which is a good thing. We did get about 2-3 inches of rain and LOTS of thunder, but nothing severe.

Today turned out to be one of the prettiest days I've seen in a long time.

Wicked Weather

Well, it is definitely spring time in North Texas! There have been severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado watches for the past two days. It has actually split and gone around Keller for now, but it looks like we are in for a big one in about 45 minutes. The TV is showing a huge squall line just to the west of here moving slowly to the east and building. They are starting to show rotation in the clouds.

In the past 5 minutes, it has started to rain and I can now hear thunder. Hopefully, it won't be severe.

Settling In

Well, we have now moved into "our" house, got the girls enrolled in school, unpacked, and I am now in Texas at a conference.

The house is wonderful. As I said, it is right next door to Mom and Dad. I went fishing with Dad Tuesday afternoon and caught a very nice crappie, along with two or three (too) little black bass. I was right happy to catch that crappie, let me tell you!

The girls absolutely love their new school. It is a rural K-8 about 4 miles north of us, out in the country. Get this: the school provides breakfast AND lunch FOR FREE!!! We had a nice tour of the facilities with the superintendent and was overwhelmed with everyone's friendliness. It was so refreshing. The girls both came home from school so excited and Emily even exclaimed, "I love my life". That was REALLY good to hear, for a change.

I drove down to Keller, TX, yesterday to attend a conference. It was a delightfully uneventful trip. At the same conference is a friend from Africa. It is great to see him again. I am staying with a very nice family. He is an FAA Safety Inspector and she is a school teacher. They have three kids, only one of which is still at home. She is 8. Despite their being so nice, they are Red Raiders. The whole house is Red Raiders. I am sleeping in the son's room, who is currently away at Texas Tech. His whole room is an unholy black and red. It's OK, because I am all prayed up. ;-)

Too much fun

We have been having too much fun this week to blog much about anything. We'll see what happens this next week.

Bye Larry "Bud" Melman

I loved to watch Larry "Bud" Melman on the Late Night with David Letterman Show back in the 80's when I was in college. I thought he was pretty funny. Rather stupid and silly, but funny nonetheless.

I had been wondering if the old guy was even still alive just last week. I guess the answer to that would be "no".

See ya, Larry Bud.

Last Crocus

This is probably the last crocus blooming in Vinita; possibly Oklahoma. I'm glad it stayed alive long enough for us to see it.

Firetruck

A Vinita Fire Truck stopped next door to check the fire alarm on the group home, next door to my in-laws. Audrey and I thought it was a good "photo op".

Springtime in Vinita

Here is the Bradford Pear next door to my in-laws' house in Vinita, OK. They are in bloom everywhere and are just beautiful!

Buy Wal-Mart Stock! Quick!

If our first trip to Wal-Mart is any indication of the kind of money we are going to be spending there, I would assume that the Wal-Mart's quarterly profits will rise. So, buy Wal-Mart stock, quick!

O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A!

Home in Oklahoma! After an exhausting 14 hour flight, a three hour layover in Chicago, plus another hour of "delay", then an 1 1/2 hour flight to Tulsa, we made it back to good ole OK!

My parents and sister met us at the airport. We drove to Muskogee to have dinner at El Chico's, then on to Ft. Gibson for the night. We were all up the next morning by 4 am. Yikes!

Dad fixed breakfast for us at my grandma's house, then we high-tailed it to Vinita to stay the week at my in-laws' home.

It is great to be "home".

Last Post from Hong Kong (for a while)

This is probably my last post from Hong Kong until next year. It has been a wild, fun, exciting year since we arrived. We have had a great place to live, made great new friends, been reacquainted with old friends, eaten lots of great food, and seen lots of incredible sights. We spent the morning packing our suitcases. All we have left is to finish off the carry on bags.

We are grateful to God for our time in HK. We look forward to our return in 2008.

We are grateful for this opportunity to return to Oklahoma and spend time with our family and friends there. We are looking forward to lots of fun and great times in God's country!

Stored Stuff

Here is our "stuff" in the storage facility. Note the A/C!

You know you're in Hong Kong if...

You know you're in Hong Kong if:

1. it's 50 degrees outside and all the air conditioners are on (in taxis, malls, offices, etc).
2. education is compulsory for two year old children.
3. you see Mercedes, BMW's, Porches, Jaguars, Rolls Royces and you haven't left your parking garage yet.
4. you go out to eat and a glass of Coke is $5 US dollars!
5. you are able to recognize at least 35 different languages while dining out in a single restaurant.
6. a gallon of milk costs more than a gallon of gasoline and a gallon of gas is $8.50!
7. you can get 127 varieties of seaweed, but only 3 varieties of Pop Tarts.
8. you can get immediate seating at a restaurant at 6 pm, but have a 2 hour wait at 7.
9. you can drink from the faucet, but are afraid to breathe the air.
10. you can't walk 20 feet in the tourist areas without being offered a "good tailor" or "copy Rolex".
11. most every woman between the ages of 20 and 50 are wearing mini-skirts or hot-pants and go-go boots with stiletto heals AND NONE OF THEM ARE PROSTITUTES!

I'll add more to these as time goes on. Please feel free to add ideas in the comment section and I might add them on right away.