Over the River and Through the Woods...

So my child had just gotten back to a normal sleeping and daily schedule and we take her on the trip from Karnes City to Houston to Nashville to Epworth to Comer to Epworth again to Nashville again to Houston again to San Antonio to Karnes City in a whirlwind two weeks! We left our house in Karnes City on July 6th and will return on the 22nd in the early evening. And yes, we have spent time in each of the cities listed above. We drove from KC to Houston on the 6th and stayed with Kayla's parents until Tuesday morning, the whole while having our daughter running a 103 degree temperature daily, but we thought it started to go down when we left for the airport where we flew into Nashville because the tickets were $2oo cheaper than flying into the ATL. My parents picked us up and we drove to their house in Epworth. We spent time with them from the 8th until the 11th filling up our day with adventures to the local library, park, and neighbors house where we picked blueberries and apples right off the bush and tree. Now if that doesn't sound like a lazy country summer afternoon, I don't know what does. We left from my parents house on Saturday morning on what could possibly be our most fun and our saddest portion of our trip. We drove down to Athens to spend time with our wonderful friends the Neals and their new arrival, go to our home church (www.compasschurch.com), and spend time with our old small group. Along the way we saw my oldest friend from school, Kayla's horse guru, my grandparents, cousins and aunt and uncle, a few horses, and several of our favorite haunts in Athens.
I was also able to participate in one of the events I miss the most being so far away from Athens, the Compass Creative team meeting. This simple act of allowing myself to be creative in a church environment is one thing that I have sorely missed in our new surroundings. There are no real creative opportunities in the church setting we're in right now, other than possibly having a say in which hymn we sing and which verses we do. It was nice trying to figure out how to utilize video, painting, music, dance, and other creative expressions alongside title-ing upcoming series' for optimum impact as well as remaining biblically based.
Back to the trip. We spent what seemed like much too little time with Billy and Stephanie Neal and their new one Elijah with Kayla helping out Stephanie through reassurance and providing companionship as she is becoming a wonderful new mother, and I assisted Billy in becoming a new dad by sitting my child in front of a television while he and I played our way to saving the galaxy. Don't worry Kayla, it was only for one Curious George episode! We left today with much sadness. It is always very difficult to leave such good friends, especially when we don't have any as special to us where we are now. We can, however rest secure in knowing we are where God wants us to be. We have a few more days here with my parents followed by another trip to the Nashville airport back to Houston, then we go to San Antonio for lunch with Kayla's parents and aunt and uncle, then back to KC, where I will try to enjoy the last week of my summer vacation.
Starting on the 27th and 28th I get to attend the TBA (Texas Bandmaster's Association) convention in San Antonio, followed by a full month of band camp. To me, this seems excessive, but maybe that's how they do it in Texas. I certainly hope not; I don't think I can live with my summer so short. Anyways, now you're caught up and hopefully I will be more diligent in my blogging duties. I've said this before, and will say it again for those who have made it all the way to the end of these long blogs, please leave comments even if they are "I've read your blog." Just so I can know someone, anyone is reading this. To all those we were able to visit with during our travels, we were so happy we got to see you all and we dearly miss you (more than we will ever be able to put into words), and thank you all for your hospitality. I can't speak for the rest of my family, but you guys are what will always make Georgia home. Talk to you guys soon!