Settling back down after a crazy weekend.

Hi all! It's been a whirlwind the last few days and I'm long overdue for an update. I'll do my best to catch you up on what's been going on with us lately.

Thursday night, after a two hour delay in Houston thanks to a thunderstorm, John made it home at about 9 pm. I was waiting for him at the airport...seeing him come through the gate just overwhelmed me. I didn't realize how much I'd missed him! Thankfully the worst is over. He's back in Galveston as of last night, but will be back home again on Thursday. John's mom and dad will also be flying in Thursday from Los Angeles for a nice, long visit. We are excited to take them to Mexico on this trip...last time we had MAJOR vehicular malfunctions and got stuck at home the whole time! We'll have pictures from their visit for sure.

Friday night we had the college/career Bible study folks over to our house for Frito pie (which if you're not from Texas is: Fritos topped with homemade chili (with pinto beans!) and shredded cheddar cheese. YUM!). John has been leading this group since last summer and they've studied Peter, Acts, the C.S. Lewis book The Screwtape Letters, and the C.S. Lewis book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and are now going through 1 John. We had a good turnout, about 12-13 people. It's fun to feed all those hungry college kids...they get pretty excited about homecooked meals! They are also hooked on a recipe that I got from John's mom: butter cake. I'm on a mission to get as many people hooked on it as possible...which isn't hard since it's so good (and so unhealthy, which is probably why it's called butter cake). We really enjoy having everyone over, talking and eating together. I hope we can continue hosting this group well into the future!

All last week was crazy for me. Young Life had it's first annual Celebrity Car Wash on Saturday and we were tying up lots of loose ends for t-shirts, the bake sale, and the whos and whats of the day. What an ordeal! We got it done, though, and I think we did actually make a profit. Thanks to everyone locally who came out to show support and get their cars washed! I am sad to report that I didn't take a single picture since I was so busy running around all day. Sorry! It was in the 100s at the hottest part of the day, and after going from 8 am-4 pm without stopping, I felt SICK! We came home and lounged around all Saturday night and I drank about 2 gallons of water. We also watched a very good kids' movie called Nanny McPhee (starring Emma Thompson).

Yesterday was Sunday, so John taught Sunday school in the morning, we had a great service at church, then headed home for our traditional Sunday afternoon together: reading the Sunday paper and pigging out on whatever we have leftover in the fridge! Then John got packed up again (I made him a batch of cookies to take with him) and we drove out to Harlingen so he could catch his flight. Sad! The dogs get so depressed when I come home without him. Me too.

Hope you all are doing well. Sorry for being so out of touch lately! I'll try to do better this week.
Love, Manda