Weekend Extravaganza

While I have thought all week about blogging about the past weekend, I have not gotten the chance to do so. This morning my friend ever so (not) gently brought that fact to my attention. I'm sure his motivation was out of consideration to my blog readers and not simply wanting to make his own debut on our blog.

What makes a weekend great for you? A good vacation? No stress? Last weekend was great. The weekend was great not so much in that we did great things (though the Alamo is fantastic). No, the weekend was wonderful because we got to spend it with people who are special to us who made the effort to come visit us way out here in Kerrville. We got to talk about important things and not important things, make big decisions and plans in case anyone ever puts us in charge. I think some of my favorite times in my life have been spent talking and sharing ideas with people whose company I enjoy.


Our house has not seen as many visitors in quite a while. Late Friday night Ashley and Ross arrived. Ashley has been a good friend of mine since freshman year at A&M and we had not seen each other since we moved to Kerrville. Ashley and I can spend all day talking (seriously, one Saturday in college we talked for 7 hours straight!) and it was so good to get to catch-up on what's been going on and discuss a few things we've been pondering.Ashley and I have always talked about and celebrated what the Lord is doing in our lives at the time. Through the years we were sometimes in very similar places in our walk with the Lord and sometimes facing very different struggles. We've been able to encourage each other along the way. Josh and I have enjoyed getting to know Ross and to share in joys and challenges and laughs of married life with Ash and Ross. Thank you guys for making the trip to see us and for blessing us by sharing your life with us.

Saturday our friend, Jeff, flew into San Antonio from Nebraska to visit us before heading to the Metroplex. We met Jeff a year ago when we met up with a team to do a building project. We got to spend some time getting to know him during the trip and he was my Arabic tutor as I attempted to start learning the language (I'm still starting to learn...). We had not seen him since the trip but had kept in touch. Jeff has become a good friend of ours over the past year. He often offers a different perspective from what we are accustomed to. I like that because it challenges me to consider why I think what I do. As far as I know, he is still not a believer in counseling, but I'm still working on him. He also asks good questions that I often don't expect or have to really work to answer. Sometimes it drives me crazy, but I'm a sucker for a challenge. Thank you, Jeff, for coming to see us and for the ways you have enriched our life by being a part of it.

Just Sitting Around

Yes, Kate is sitting like a big girl these days. The world is a new place and life is good.


We can sit on the floor and read (or tear) magazines...


We can sit on the couch next to mommy...


We can now sit in the high chair when we go out to eat! How fun!


And we can sit in the shopping cart at the grocery store! This is so great because now grocery shopping is fun! And Kate got lots of compliments. The huge flower bow helped...=)

(note: all of these pictures were taken with my phone, so the quality is not super. Had to catch the moment!)

You just gotta laugh!

Stop in here for a laughing break

Happy Hour

I think someone is ready for Sonic Happy Hour!

Adventures in Kerrville, part 3

The choices for eating out just got fewer.

Last night we decided to go out to eat to get out of the house, keep me from cooking, and give Kate some entertainment that did not include me jumping around to goofy kid songs in the attempt to get a smile (she can be a tough crowd sometimes). I suggested somewhere where there would be families and kids for Kate to watch. Josh suggested Quiznos.

We should have taken the hint when we pulled up and there was a sign on the door "For Sale by Owner." Or maybe noticed that most of the chairs were already up on the tables even though the place was supposed to be open for another hour. But no, we proceeded.

The one guy working there was about as unfriendly as they come. I think he was disappointed customers has come in. We are pretty sure that he turned on the toasting oven just before putting our sandwiches in, allowing for enough heat to melt the cheese but not to do a satisfactory job of toasting the sandwiches. He did not ask us what veggies we wanted but merely wrapped up our orders.

We did not stay to eat there. The sandwiches tasted pretty lousy too. I asked Josh if he thought it was worth me complaining about the service to management. He said Quiznos was probably on its way out anyway. Humpf.

Fortunately we found a nice place at the park where they were setting up for a concert to eat our sandwiches and people-watch.

Josh said next time he would take my suggestion. =)

He's got the whole world...

What do you do when your baby is sick? We got to try to answer this question last Friday night as our little one came down with some sort of tummy bug.

Friday evening our usually happy and energetic baby, who does not like to miss a meal, didn't want to wake up to eat. As I tried to feed her she threw up and cried. We took her temperature to see she was running a fever. Now what?

Fortunately Josh's mom is a pediatric nurse (though her only occasional patient these days is Kate) and is available on-call for us any time. After talking to her and the on-call pediatrician in Kerrville (remember, this is Friday evening, after hours), we started preparing bottles of Pedialite mixed with milk. Yum. Kate finally took a few ounces. Good, now she won't be totally dehydrated. Josh passes her to me to hold and Mount Vesuvius erupts again.

"It's okay, it's okay," I sing to her as we mop her off. But is it? I wonder.

I rock her as she whines, obviously not feeling well. I sing He's got the whole world in His hands. Maybe the singing will soothe her. Maybe it will soothe me.

He's got you and me, baby, in His hands...

Remember, Sarah, He's got her in His hands. Perspective, Sarah, this is not so bad. She's very healthy, it's just a bug. We are 6 minutes from the hospital.

Lord, comfort the mothers rocking their critically sick babies. Hold them in your hands.

A few hours later and she is not interested in a bottle. She just wants to sleep. Josh suggests we let her sleep through the night if she wants to and see how she is in the morning. He asks me what I think.

Sleep through the night?!? I want to scream. See how she is? I want it fixed now! I want to know what to do now!

"Well, that would not be what I suggest, but maybe that's why Kate has a mom and a dad. Can we call your mom and ask her first?"

Josh calls her and she reassures us that Kate will probably not dehydrate in the night. She tells us what to look for to check for dehydration. The thought of my sweet baby with sunken eyes does not make me happy, but I'm a bit reassured.

He's got the whole world in His hands.

We sleep, waking every few hours to check on her. At some point she took a few more ounces. By morning she wanted more and seemed more upbeat and the fever was gone.

It's now Saturday, the day we were planning to meet my parents in San Antonio so they could watch Kate while we celebrated our anniversary. We decided to go ahead with the plans because she seemed on the up-and-up. She did well with my parents at the hotel and recovered well. We had a nice time strolling the Riverwalk and staying in a hotel.

Anniversary weekend celebration.
Did you enjoy some wine with dinner? No, we mixed Pedialite cocktails.
We sure know how to celebrate!