Texas Week

This past week was so great for our family. This year we did not go to Dallas to visit our friends because Regan is not stable enough to travel that far. BUT they came to us! On Monday Rondal and Darrin Smith from Dallas came over for morning coffee/tea. Darrin's son Ethan even got to come for a little while and enjoyed playing Wii with the kids. Rondal has been the president of PBT and Brian and I are always humbled to hear stories of the adventures God has taken him on. Darrin and his wife Vicki were friends of ours from VVCC days.

Then the Werch's came in for dinner. They have came to visit us four of the five years we have lived in Lincoln. That is dedication. We love to spend time with the Werch's because we laugh a lot when we are together and Hillary and I cry together too! On Tuesday we enjoyed doing laundry together, the boys went fishing, eating Jimmy John's, playing at the park, swimming and then grilled steaks! Noah their son even lost his first tooth! Full day but great renewal for both our our families. Their daughter Riley and our Rylee are great friends and they never stopped talking the whole time they were here. We ended the night with the Werch/Mills family tradition of eating raw cookie dough for dessert!

Then on Wednesday at lunch we picked up Jordan Hull who was up from Dallas attending LCC's basketball camp. We ate lunch and then went swimming for the afternoon. Jordan is 17 but We have known him since he was 6. He has a special place in our family...he is our family I guess you could say. The Maupin clan (who are from Texas too!) came over for dinner and then we "Wii-laxed" for a while. (Wii-laxing is what we call playing the Wii our new video game system.) On Thursday we took Jordan to lunch a Panera which is one of our favorite places to eat in our area.

Only the Holy Spirit can renew you through friendships that are separated by miles. It is good to know people that new you when...we feel like we grew up a lot in those years at VVCC and many of the people that we knew there were gracious enough to let us do it. That is a gift...to be among people who will let you figure out your gifts, passions and callings. To let you try and fail at somethings. Not everyone will tolerate that. We love our life in Lincoln and our friends here but those years and people hold a special place in my heart.