Our Trip to Texas part 1

We spent from January 7th to the 20th visiting Texas and what a good time to go with the temps hitting single digits in Woodstock. Our first stop was Houston where it was in the 70s for one day before dropping down into the 50s for most of the week -- still lots warmer than Virginia. We spent plenty of time at the park and just hanging out which is pretty much our favorite thing to do when we go visiting our family. Larry helped Madeleine with her math homework and we played a little euchre. I reread most of the Narnia stories which Madeleine had on her bedside bookcase. (Thank you, M, for giving up your room for us. You're the best!)

Me with Ella and Sophie at the park closest to home.


Paka with Sophie, Mia, and Grace. Their favorite thing was playing Katie the Lion which involves the monster chasing all the jungle animals.


Mia and Grace getting ready for the big jump.


And there goes Mia


Mia and Grace enjoy arts and crafts.


Paka helps Madeleine with her math homework. Don't worry, M, you'll get it.


And here's the big geocache safari with some friends. If you've never tried geocaching it's like a treasure hunt and is getting to be a big deal all over the country. Wherever you live there's probably a cache. Some have just a log to note your find; others have little trinkets to trade for things you bring in exchange. All you need is a hand-held GPS and a sense of adventure. There are hundreds of thousands of caches all over the world -- even in Woodstock. In fact Alice and Chris made one last summer while they were visiting called Double Play that gets lots of nice comments on the geocache website. Learn about this fun hobby here.


And Grace enjoys another park near Madeleine's school.


Mia is a mountain goat!

We had lots of other adventures which I'll blog about during the next few days (or weeks).

March for Life postscript

Well, it turned out to be a gorgeous day - sunny and warm enough that I had to shed my hat, gloves, and scarf. I forgot my camera and lost my glasses during the day, but it was still a great day!

The speeches by the polticians were exciting. Many were obviously serious Christians who quoted scripture like preachers and made me believe abortion is a core issue for them. That means that, despite the unbalanced legislature the unborn will have many voices in the halls of Congress. May God multiply them and raise up warriors from the very stones.

The saddest thing about the day for me were the signs that said things like, "I voted for Obama and I'm pro-life." Really? Do words mean anything? Obama's election is a disaster for the unborn as has already been demonstrated by his executive order today eliminating the Mexico City Policy. Refunding the U.N. Population Fund will be next. Cannibalizing babies for their stem cells is also on the refunding agenda. Despite our economic woes there will be plenty of money for the culture of death.

We are in for a rocky ride, but God wins and I plan to not just be watching from the sidelines, but to continue being a soldier of Christ in the ranks. Take a look at Alice's website for a great article on the life issues. You can see a very old picture of a younger me chained to an abortion clinic table, I think in 1978 -- hard to believe I've spent 35 years fighting the murder of children.

March for Life tomorrow!

Just got back from Texas last night and I'm freezing. It wasn't all that warm while we were there -- only two days in the 70s, but when the temp in Virginia is 28 and down to single digits at night -- well, 50s and low 60s are pretty warm. And now we're off to freeze at the March for Life tomorrow. Last time I went to Texas in the winter I didn't get warm until the Spring. I'm afraid I'll really feel the cold tomorrow, but it will give me something else to offer up.

Watch this spot for photos from Texas coming soon.

Tara's new blog

Tara's got a new blog and it's delightful. Check it out.