Thanksgiving 2011

The only one who did not like Thanksgiving

Luana and MB

Me and my beautiful bride. Can you believe how beautiful she still is at age 56?

Alejandro and Lu

Lu's father, Neighl

Stephanie

Me and my older brother, Phil

Me and my sister, Ginny

Lu and her sister, Cathy

My brother-in-law, Bruce

Anna Lee

Ginny with MB

This Thanksgiving was the year that our kids went to their in-laws so we went down to Austin to be with Luana's sister and her family. They are a sweet family and have a beautiful house in the Lakeway area and it is very amenable to entertaining. But what looked to be a small intimate gathering turned into a big group. Mary Beth was able to come and brought her boyfriend, Alejandro. Then Luana's father and his wife, Bettye, were able to come from Dallas. And to top it off my brother, Phil, and my sister, Ginny and her husband Bruce, drove up from Houston.

It was a gorgeous day and I got to take a long walk with my sister and then later with my brother. Those are some of the best times as we are able to share our hearts and to encourage each other and even at times to gently rebuke/challenge each other. I love that we have that kind of relationship. Alejandro got to meet all of Mary Beth's aunts and uncles in one setting and he passed the mustard. He even got to experience a little bit of the Sudan competitiveness the night before as we played a game of Scrabble.

Aside from that, the food was excellent and it was a collaborative effort nicely engineered by Cathy. There was football to be watched, and a lot more visiting. Mary Beth entertained us with pictures from her year in Uganda.

But more to the point is that we have a lot for which to be thankful to our wonderful God. We have wonderful and healthy kids who are all pursuing Jesus and have 6 beautiful grand kids. I have a good job and we are not financially stressed. We are a part of a vibrant church and have an incredible community to walk through life with. But I am also thankful that Luana, now three years into her battle with Alzheimer's, is doing amazingly well and she is at peace with her situation. And on top of that, my recurrent chest pains that I have been having for the past two years have miraculously disappeared. My prayer is that you are thankful as well.

More pics

Here are some more pics from Homecoming 2011. This is the whole gang (minus Hallie Jane who was asleep)

The Forresters

Our traditional meal - Fiesta!!!

At the parade.

All in their new Baylor apparel

Homecoming

This past weekend we celebrated Baylor's homecoming. As we do every year, we get together with our dear friends, the Forresters from Houston. This year all of their kids and our kids and spouses were able to make it in and we had a terrific time. We have grown from 4 single college students to 23 people... and counting. We have traditions that we do every year which makes it fun and our kids all get along very well - more like cousins than just friends - and all are believers which is such a blessing as well. Also the spouses have joined in without a glitch. I will show you some pics of the weekend.