Weekend Fun!

After our night at the Rangers game and our morning swimming at the hotel, we headed to Whitney's house in Levelland, Texas. Whitney & I have been friends since 1989!!!! She is the reason I am married to Blu, and it doesn't matter how much time passes between us seeing each other, it feels like it was just yesterday!

Things sometimes get a little crazy when we're together - Whit is teaching me how to drink out of a glass upside down to get rid of the hiccups. (I didn't have the hiccups, but it's a good thing to know!)

Whitney's daughter Hannah and my kiddos!

Whitney's little sis Bethany - they were both bridesmaids in my wedding!! I've known Bethany since she was 2!

Cambree & one of Bethany's twins, Gracie :)

On Sunday morning, it was time to head to Fellowship Church in Lubbock to share about New Day!

Pastor Brandon & his wife Annie & son Calvin (baby Luke was asleep!)

After visiting some of Blu's family in Lubbock, we headed to Plains, Texas to see some more family and attend 2 more churches, speaking at one of them. We passed field after field of sunflowers, and Blu said Maxwell would be in awe of them!

Blu's great-uncle Jim and Cason search for Blu's handprint in the cement!

Found it! Wow!

We spoke at a small Assembly of God church in Plains and met the sweetest people! Then it was time to say goodbye to Uncle Jim & Aunt JoAnn!

The kids had today off of school, so we leisurely made our way back to Brownwood, stopping first at this "castle park!"

We just had to make a stop at Chuck-e-Cheese!

That face says "I will beat Blu in this basketball game"

And Blu's says "I will not be beaten by my wife in this basketball game.."

And her face says, "Wow I hope I get my mom's shooting skills, not Dad's!"

We have a VERY busy week this week and then head out early Friday morning for the Carolinas to share more about New Day!

Guess what???!!!!

Michelle's tuition is COVERED!!!!!! Thank you to the 3 families who have committed to cover these costs for her - it is every Zambian's dream to further their education, and you made her dream a reality! Actually, GOD has made her dream a reality - thank you for letting Him use you!!!

Blu is 32!

What a fun day!!! It started at 6:30am with Blu opening the last of his gifts before the kids left for school.

He has been wanting a pair of Reef cushioned sandals!

We went and had lunch with the kids, ate a Chick-Fil-A lunch (of course...) and then Blu got some phone calls from Zambia! The New Day kids had dressed up an "Uncle Blu", sang to him, and poured water on him! Looks just like him!

Then it was time to head up to the kids' school for their pep rally!

Caedmon was so excited because he was going to be on the top of his class's "pyramid" to try to win the spirit cone!

They won!!! The whole rest of the day Caedmon kept saying "This was the best day ever!!! I can't believe we won the spirit cone!!!!"

Then it was time for a 3 hour drive to Arlington for the Rangers game!

A long walk but they did great! (Paris prepared them for long walks...)

So excited - we had awesome seats!!

Every time I looked over, this is what I saw - Blu explaining baseball rules to Caedmon!

Cason was happy as long as we kept feeding him...hot dogs...

...and popcorn....

...and cotton candy...

...and if he wasn't eating he looked like this...

Girls love baseball too!

Then it was time for the fireworks show!!! Our kids had never seen fireworks and we couldn't wait to see their reactions!

Caedmon was terrified!

Cambree was in awe!

And try as we might, we could not get Cason to open his eyes...

We got in to our hotel in Weatherford around midnight and the kids so graciously slept in! We had a fun morning swimming in the indoor swimming pool and hot tub, and are now headed out to a chilly West Texas to spend time with friends and speak at 2 churches! What a fun birthday for my favorite man! :)

Blu's Birthday Party!

Tomorrow is Blu's 32nd birthday!!! It always seems that it's hard to make birthdays special in Zambia, when our family isn't there, so it was SO fun tonight to host a birthday bash to celebrate! We were missing quite a few, but we had a great time (and some yummy brisket!!) Tomorrow we have a fun surprise planned with the kids to celebrate even more!

I threw him a Duck Dynasty party (thanks Larry - we are addicts..)

Awesome cake!

I got him 3 Duck Dynasty books!

My parents got him a $100 gift card!

Blu will tell everyone that what he misses most about the USA is Chick-Fil-A, so Shade & Caity got him a gift card!

In Zambia, Blu is always mistaken for the wrestler John Cena, so I got him this as a gag gift...

It turns out he LOVED it and it provided quite the party entertainment! Boys will be boys...even at 32!

Our kids always love giving special birthday gifts - Caedmon made Blu this man out of boxes!

Cambree colored a picture that said "You're the best dad ever" but it looked like "You're the best dud ever!" :)

Cason gave him this special dinosaur - it was so sweet! He kept saying, "You can have it! It's yours!!"

Hmm...a wooden boat..

It turns out Blu's parents are sending us on a cruise for our birthday & Christmas presents!

It was a great night of food, fun, & family!