Movie Time & Solving a Mystery

Friday
November 20, 2009

I woke up this morning to a dreary day. The weather forecast for today was rain and it looked like it would pour at anytime. First priority this morning was to get our blog updated. Once Gina woke up I fixed us both a cup of coffee and even though it was overcast we sat outside enjoying the birds chirping. We both wanted to go see the new movie “The Blind Side” today. We were trying to make the 11:45 show time. However, by the time we both had our showers and was dressed it was raining. We decided to put off the movie today. Gina heated up some of her homemade stew for lunch. It tasted even better today. Now we had made a plan yesterday to go to the movies and then go to the mall and Sam’s warehouse. Since we had already decided to skip the movie I kind of thought we would just hang out at home today. Plus my truck was clean and I didn't want to drive in the rain. However, Gina had a different plan. She didn’t want to just sit around today at home. She finally convinced me to leave with the bribe that she would wash my truck. Yea right, that will not happen but you have to keep your woman happy. She did at least wait for the rain to stop before we left. We were heading to the mall to look around. At least that is what I call it but girls call it shopping. We didn’t need anything. However, I think Gina was having shopping withdrawals. We were both surprised at how big and nice the mall was for being down here. We got some frozen yogurt to enjoy while we walked through the mall. We did buy Thomas a new shirt from Express so he would have a new shirt for Thanksgiving. When he left back in September he only took two civilian shirts with him and he said one of those got ripped. He has a lot of clothes back at our house in Louisiana but he will not be able to get those until he flies back to Louisiana for Christmas. Once we left the mall we headed for HEB to buy a turkey. They have them on sale for 40 cents a pound. We were going to go to Sam’s but decided against it today since it was already six o’clock. Once we got our turkey we looked for a few more items and then checked out. When we walked out of HEB we about froze. The temperature was in the fifty’s. We made it back home around 7:30. Gina heated up some stew for dinner while I wrote some emails. We both sat back in our recliners to watch TV after we ate and then around ten o’clock we called it a night.


Saturday
November 21, 2009

I had trouble sleeping last night and then around five o’clock I just decided to get up and put coffee on. I turned on the weather to see what the day had in store for us. It was currently 53 degrees and the forecast called for a high of 79 with clear skies. I do believe that it will be a gorgeous day. Once the coffee finished brewing I fixed myself a cup and got online surfing the internet. Gina woke up a little after eight o’clock and of course I brought her a cup of coffee. Around the same time uncle Jim called me to make sure Gina and I were still doing ok. We try to call him every week but somehow we didn’t call him last week. I guess we must have been having too much fun. My dad was over at his house having breakfast so I got to speak to him too. Around eleven o’clock we took off for the theatre. We watched “The Blind Side”. A fantastic movie and Sandra Bullock did an amazing job acting in this movie. This is a must see movie. Once we left there we went to Sam’s Warehouse and found some hot cheese and we needed to restock our supply of paper plates. I wouldn’t want to forget to tell you about the new chairs that Gina got so here is a picture of them.

We got two of these & there pretty comfortable


My happy bride enjoying her new chair

From there we stopped by Wal-mart to pick up a few items that HEB didn’t have yesterday. We had to head home fast since we were going to a "Mystery" dinner party tonight up at the clubhouse that started at five o’clock. We were a few minutes late but it really didn’t begin until 5:30 so we were ok. We had never done a mystery party before so we were really excited about going. Each table worked independently to solve the crime. Without going into detail each table had to figure out who killed the chef. We had a great time trying to piece each clue together and then ultimately we were wrong. That was ok since only one table got it correct out of ten tables. It was getting cold outside and even though we were having a great time we were cold. We finally left at 8:30 and walked home very quickly. We both jumped online for a few minutes before heading to bed. We watched a fantastic movie and then finished off the day with good food and great friends.


Sunday
November 22, 2009

I woke up early again this morning, that's two days in a row that I woke up at five o'clock. I’m not sure why but I have not been able to sleep in. I made coffee and then watched the weather channel waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. I have really enjoyed a unique feature of DirecTV. On the weather channel you can input your local zip code and at any time it will give you your local weather forecast. After the coffee finished brewing I got up out of my chair and fixed a cup. That first cup tastes so good. I heard Gina waking up so I brought her a cup of coffee to enjoy. It was foggy outside this morning so we just stayed inside until the fog burnt off before we went outside. Around noon we both got cleaned up and dressed before we headed out to Academy Sports to buy a pot to fry turkeys in. I have never been into frying turkeys since Rickey, my brother-in-law always fries them while I have always smoked them. I will add that he does an outstanding job at it too. From there we went to Target. Gina was looking for some Thanksgiving theme paper plates since Wal-mart and HEB didn’t have anything. She found some she liked. From there we headed to Wal-mart so she could get a manicure. (Note: She hasn't had her nails done in seven weeks). While she was getting her nails done I hung out in the truck talking to Jack Mayer about my solar system setup. I want to say thank you to Jack for his knowledge and the patience for answering my questions. We left there and headed back home so we could still make happy hour.

We walked down to Mike & Pat’s and enjoyed happy hour and met Ron & Barb. They just arrived here this week from Dallas. They're fulltimer’s also and are hoping to sell their house soon. We then walked back home so Gina could bake some cornbread to go with our leftover stew. I love her stew but we're both glad this is the last of it. We enjoyed dinner together and then sat back in our recliners surfing the internet while we waited for “Cold Case” to come on. Gina then watched “Three Rivers” while I snoozed. We had never seen the show before and it didn’t interest me which put me right to sleep in my chair. Gina woke me up when it was over and we both went to bed.

Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Hero Makers Ministry Making a Difference in Children's Lives

Sunday
November 15, 2009

We woke up at seven o’clock this morning and enjoyed our coffee together outside. We are really enjoying this weather here in Mission. After we finished our coffee we went inside and took showers. Around 11:30 we went over to Rocky & Sheri’s to drop off their vacuum cleaner and asked them if they would like to ride with us over to the flea market that the girls went to yesterday. They said sure and with that we were off. The flea market is located in Donna, Texas. It’s neat in the since most of the vendors cater toward snowbirds / winter Texans. We looked around for awhile but really we were only there to buy some vinyl lettering for our truck. The lettering we got was our name for each door and the truck’s name. We’re not sure where that will go yet. However, we still got it. After that we decided that it was time to leave the flea market. We headed back home and dropped Rocky & Sheri off at their home. We then went back to McAllen so I could find a Radio Shack. While I went into Radio Shack Gina went into Marshalls. Neither one of us bought anything so it was off to Wal-mart next door. We went into the store and without going into detail we left there and headed toward another one. I had been debating whether or not to fill up with diesel since the prices seem to keep rising. I saw an HEB and their diesel was only 2.55 and they had a high flow pump. I decided what the heck just fill it up. It only took 182 gallons. From there we stopped at another Radio Shack and they had the antenna mount that I was looking for. We finally stopped at Wal-mart in Mission and picked up a few items. We mainly did a lot of looking around. We made it back home and ate dinner around seven o'clock. We chatted for a few minutes with Ashley our daughter and then called it a night since we both would be getting up early in the morning.


Monday
November 16, 2009

We both woke up at six o’clock when the alarm went off this morning. We had a big day planned. Rocky & Sheri were picking us up at nine o’clock for a tour of the work their minstry Hero Makers is doing in Mexico. We made it through the border crossing without being stopped. Then we were off to the Refugio orphanage. Their ministry does so much for these children but for the most part they build houses for orphanages. They have a standard floor plan which houses twelve children along with a separate room for the host family who oversee the twelve children. They have one house at this orphanage that is almost finished and should be finished by the first part of next year. Even though these orphanages are controlled by the city they get no funding from them. They place the children and then expect the orphanages to find a way to support themselves. There are fourteen orphanages in Reynosa which is a big city across the border. Here are a few pictures of this orphanage.

One room in a house they're building


Kitchen area in the same house


Bathroom


Playground


Living room in the Girls house

From there we headed to Rio Bravo orphanage. This is the best orphanage in Mexico. Ray Hansen is the man behind the success here. They have a building here that can house 90 people. This building is used by volunteers when they come down to do mission work. This is also the building that Rocky uses to house people that come down to do work with Hero Makers. Ray has a very interesting story about what all he has gone through. God has blessed his ministry. In addition to building this orphanage he also started a private school for the children that live at this orphanage. He has been able to expand this school so other Mexican children can attend. This has provided additional funding for the orphanage. Here are a few pictures of this orphanage.

Entrance to Rio Bravo Ministries


One classroom in the school


Gina just loved these girls


Especially this one


The girls making dinner


One of the girls showing Gina her bed

Once we left there we headed to Pilar de Esperanza (Pilar of hope) which is another orphanage located south of Reynosa down a long dirt road. This orphanage is more typical of what you will find in Mexico. Hero Makers has another building here that should get finished next year. We toured around the grounds here where they have chickens and pigs to help support themselves. One of the teachers here came to Mexico thirteen years ago from the Netherlands and has been at this orphanage ten years now. It is so obvious that everyone here has so much love in their heart for these children and endure some pretty harsh living conditions. Here are a few pictures of this orphanage.

This is the House being built by Hero Makers Ministries


One of the older homes


This house has the kitchen & both a room for girls and one for boys


Playground


The Pig Pen


The girls room


The boys making dinner

By this time it was two o’clock and all of us were hungry. Rocky & Sheri took us to one of the finer restaurants here in Reynosa. We had both chicken and beef fajitas for four and they were delicious.

Rocky & Sheri at lunch

Once we left there it was time to head back home. However, we had to cross the border first. Rocky let the three of us off so we could walk across. Rocky has a sentry card which allows him and his truck quick non-stop access into the United States. Without the card it would have taken over an hour to drive back across the border. The only down side is that only Rocky can be in the truck when it crosses the border. To let you know how fast he crossed the border. He was waiting on us and we didn’t even have to wait in line to show our passports. After Rocky & Sheri dropped us off at home we decided to just chill out at home. Gina got on Facebood while I took a short nap in my recliner. While I was napping she also baked a homemade cheesecake. However, it will not be ready until tomorrow. After I woke up from my nap we watched TV until around ten o’clock when we called it a day and went to bed.


Tuesday
November 17, 2009

We slept with our windows open last night and we were awakened by rain this morning. I got up and closed all the windows to keep water from coming inside. Since I was awake, I got the coffee brewing and decided to get back in bed. When I heard the coffee finish I got back up and fixed both of us a cup while we enjoyed it in bed watching the morning news. This was going to be a lazy and dreary day due to the rain and the fact that we had no plan for the day. We did finally get up and by the time I took Angel and Zoey outside it was eleven o’clock. I took a rump roast out of the freezer yesterday so Gina could cook it today. She first browned it then took the drippings and made a roux to make a gravy. Once all of that was done she placed it into the crock pot and then let it cook all day. We had leftover pizza for breakfast / lunch. After which I made some more phone calls to a few other solar stores trying to get price quotes for our solar upgrade. We then just sat outside relaxing the afternoon away. At four o’clock we walked up to the club house for happy hour to chat with everyone. After we walked back home at five o'clock we watched the news and enjoyed dinner together. I checked my email and I finally got an email back from one company with a quote. I’m still waiting on two others. After dinner Gina got on Facebook and while I read a few blogs to catch up with what everyone has been doing. We then watched a movie together before heading off to bed.


Wednesday
November 18, 2009

We slept again with the windows open and enjoyed a cool morning together outside drinking coffee. Gina went inside around eleven o’clock to take a shower and get dressed for the ladies luncheon at twelve o’clock. She took the roast and gravy for her dish. However, I did manage to sneek small slice of meat and ate it for lunch.

A lot of food for just ladies


The ladies socializing


Pat, Dale & Gina

While Gina was gone I hooked up our wireless router with our air card. After that I did some test on using the external antenna to the air card. Without the antenna I was getting speeds of 0.68 Mbps and with the antenna it jumped up to 1.7 Mbps. It definitely made a big difference. I mounted the antenna up on the roof luggage rack and ran the cable through the slide out.

Gina made it back around two o’clock and we talked about flying Thomas over here for Thanksgiving. He called saying that he could come. I tried to find a flight on Wednesday but could not find one that he could get to after he got off from school. I then asked Nicole, our daughter for a little help and she found a flight leaving Thanksgiving morning which gets him into McAllen, Texas at 2:30. He’ll be with us until Sunday morning when he'll fly back to Palm Springs, California. We are so excited that he'll be spending Thanksgiving with us. By the time we got all of that taken care of it was four o’clock and time for happy hour at Mike & Pat's. We really enjoy and look forward to happy hour each day. We have such a hard life but I keep telling myself someone has to do it and it might as well be me. Anyway we walked back home at five o’clock and just chilled out for the night. We watched Mercy and Law and Order before heading off to bed.

We are really enjoying ourselves down here in South Texas. The weather has been absolutely beautiful and being around our friends makes it even more special.


Thursday
November 19, 2009

We slept again with our windows open last night. However, we woke up with our home feeling very muggy inside. I closed all the windows and turned the AC on to dry the air out a little and hopefully get the mugginess out. Since Gina was still in bed I started writing this entry and while I was uploading pictures I ran out of storage space on Picasa. I purchased more space. However, that additional storage space didn’t immediately show up so I couldn’t finish uploading my pictures. I was getting frustrated so I just decided I would finish and post this entry tomorrow. Once Gina woke up I fixed her a cup of coffee and we both went outside to enjoy our coffee together while trying to decide what we would do today. We didn’t have anything really to do other than Gina wanted to go out in town. However, around ten o’clock we rode our bikes over to Rocky & Sheri’s to say goodbye before they left for East Texas to spend Thanksgiving with Sheri's family. They were not there so we then rode over to the club house so Gina could look at some books in the library. Around 11:30 I was getting hungry and I wanted to go home to eat. She said, "ok" let's go get some lunch. I put some hot dogs on the grill while she heated up some chili. While I was grilling, Rocky stopped by to let us know they would be leaving in about 20 minutes. Gina and I hurried up with our lunch and then rode our bikes back over to Rocky & Sheri’s. Gina and I wanted to tell them goodbye but more importantly we wanted to pray for and with them before they got on the road today. After we prayed it was some quick hugs and a see you down the road.

Gina & Sheri


Rocky & Sheri just before they left

We rode back home so I could wait on the mini split AC unit being delivered today for Mark & Dale. While I waited I ran a coax cable from our satellite dish down to Mike & Pat’s since he’s having a problem with his dish. He has a guy coming out tomorrow to look at and this is just a temporary fix. Gina decided that she wanted to cook a stew so she did that while I was helping Mike. The truck arrived at 2:30 with the AC unit. As soon as the truck left I got a phone call from Tom who owns a company thesolar.biz. We spoke for over an hour about the solar system I want to install in the truck. He was very informative and I learned a lot in that hour or I could say that I’m more confused. He recommended to me that I should consider some other items before I make final decision. I told him goodbye and then it was off to happy hour at the clubhouse. Another great happy hour. However, as everyone left Gina continued on with her conversation to Kathy until 5:30. We then walked back home so Gina could continue cooking her stew by adding fresh potatoes and carrots while I jumped online to do some research on everything I learned early today from Tom. Gina jumped on to Facebook while she waited for the potatoes and carrots to cook before she added green beans and corn. Finally around eight o’clock the stew was done. We ate dinner while watching “Fringe”. The stew was delicious as I knew it would be. Gina is a wonderful cook. After we ate we just sat back in our recliners to let our food digest.

Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Gina Enjoys Some Girl Time With Friends

Friday,
November 13, 2009

We both woke up early this morning and neither one of us knew why. I got the coffee brewing and once it finished brewing we fixed a cup and went outside to enjoy the beautiful weather together. The weather has been perfect each morning here and we have really enjoyed the cool mornings. I did finally sit down and write an entry for our blog. I know that it wasn’t much but we really have just relaxed since we arrived here in south Texas. While I was writing Gina fried some bacon and fixed me a bacon sandwich. We didn’t have any plans for today since I was waiting on FedEx to deliver a package today from the 3G store. We have wanted a wireless router along with an external antenna and amplifier for awhile. We would have ordered it sooner. However, we have not been in one location long enough. A little after two o’clock I checked on the status and somehow the zip code got turned around and it wouldn’t be delivered today since it was sitting in Round Rock, Texas. Gina went inside and baked some little sausages wrapped in crescent rolls to take over to Mike & Pats for our happy hour. Gina and I really enjoy the happy hour here because we socialize for an hour and then we go home and eat. Tonight we had invited Rocky & Sheri over for dinner. The menu for tonight was filet mignon wrapped in bacon, baked potatoes with bacon, cheese & sour cream, and hot Italian bread. We visited with them while we waited on the potatoes to bake. When they were almost done I lit the grill and put the steaks on. The food was excellent. After we let our food digest a little Gina served each of us a slice of her homemade chocolate pie. We enjoyed the fellowship with this fine couple who are doing great things for Jesus Christ. We're looking forward to going over to Mexico with them on Monday to see some of the work their ministry has done the past few years. If you want to read and see what they are doing I encourage you to go to their website: www.heromakers.org and add them to your daily prayer time. Below is their ministry’s philosophy:

Hero Makers enables and inspires ordinary people to do extraordinary things through first-hand field experience aiding children at risk. HERO Makers provides an opportunity for people to share with others the experience of being a HERO through short-term missions; thereby each HERO becomes a "HERO Maker" as well.

Around nine o’clock they left and we said good night to them and we then just relaxed for the night.

Saturday
November 14, 2009

I woke up at five o’clock this morning. Gina continued sleeping until six o’clock. I brought her a cup of coffee to enjoy in bed. She had a big day planned with Dale, Pat and Sheri. They were leaving this morning at 8:30 for the flea market for a day of shopping. I didn’t have anything planned other than getting the inside of our truck cleaned out. After I finished with the truck I went inside and surfed the internet trying to figure out what makes one solar panel better than other ones. I read a lot of information. However, I’m not sure that I understood everything I read. I called Thomas a few times to talk to him. Gina got back home around two o’clock. She found a lot of neat stuff but she didn’t buy anything. However, she had a catch to not buying anything. She decided that we would go to the flea market tomorrow so she could show me everything she found. Stay tuned since I'm sure we'll be bringing something home. We sat outside for a little while then went for a bike ride. While we were out bike riding we stopped at Larry & Linda’s house for happy hour today. We left there a little after five o’clock to go home. We were having homemade pizza tonight. I began grating cheese and ham while Gina fried sausage. I rolled the dough out and Gina placed the ingredients on each pizza. The pizza hit the spot and tasted great. We then sat back in our recliners watching a new movie on the Hallmark channel called “Flower Girl”. It was a cute love story / fairy tale kind of movie. After the movie ended we called it a night and went to bed. We are enjoying our time down here doing a little of nothing other than relaxing.

Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.