Happy Birthday, Gary

We left work early and went to Red Lobster for a nice lunch, using the gift card we got from Andrew and Laura for our anniversary. :-)
We splurged with our free meal and ordered dessert too--warm chocolate chip lava cookie with ice cream.

Since it is Tuesday, we had our usual "Soup Group" dinner, which made for automatic guests for a little birthday party for Gary. We usually do our Sunday School homework together (know as "Parchments," at our church), but we didn't have a new Parchment for today so we spent a little time watching the DVD of Gary's 50th birthday concert.

Then to round the evening out we decided to watch a movie called Best in Show, another mockumentary.

It's a Boy! No, Wait.

Laura had had a songram in Honduras last Saturday where her doctor told them, "It's a boy!" Andrew had called all excited with the news and we started talking about the name "Lucas."

While at Babies R Us on Monday we looked at all the cute baseball outfits (but didn't buy any).

Then I drove Laura back to Presbyterian hospital for her American sonogram on Tuesday morning. She asked me if I would like to come in and I was glad to be able to, since I had never seen a live sonogram before. The technician asked Laura if she would like to know the gender and Laura said, we just had a sonogram on Saturday in Honduras, so I already know. She measured the head, check out the spine, looked at the femur, etc., then casually said, "It's a girl, and..."

Laura and I both said, "What???"

Laura explained how she had been told it was a boy. The technician spent another 10-15 minutes making baby girl move around so she could be sure, then pronounced: "I'm 99.9% sure this is a girl."

So now we're trying out "Isabella" for a name and looking at pretty little girl outfits.

The photo above shows her face. It was amazing to see every vertebra in her spine and to see her wave her tiny fingers at us.

Little Update

Laura arrived safely this morning and we spent the day visiting the doctor's office (I got there and back without even one missed turn!) and then a visit to Babies R Us. David's Bridal was nearby, so we also stopped in and ordered Rachel some shoes to wear in David and Sarah's wedding.

Then we had to to have dinner at Ton's--Andrew was sad not to be there with us.

Andrew is in the midst of applying for a number of different jobs, as it appears they won't be staying on in Honduras. Pray for God to open the right doors for them.

David and Sarah are in the midst of setting up a wedding website--I'll send the link when they get some content in it. A friend took some nice engagement photos of them.

Rachel had the day off work, since it was President's Day. And I'm taking a couple days off to drive Laura to her two dr. appointments. Tomorrow we leave early to get there for a sonogram.

I guess that is the news for now. Tomorrow evening is our weekly Soup Group Bible study so I'll be making soup and baking bread in the afternoon.

I Know I'm Getting Old, But...

As we were going to Taco Bueno for our weekly taco fix, I was telling Gary how all the little annoying things that happened at the office this morning were making feel tense. I concluded, "I'm feeling old."

Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so, as witnessed by the Taco Bueno receipt!

So which is worse, being mistaken for a senior citizen, or not getting a discount?

I suppose the fact that I didn't fall asleep until after 3am last night could be part of the reason for my haggard look today.

Funny Ways To Take Care Of Our Coats

1. Rachel went into hysterical laughter when she learned the her new coat care instructions said to dry it in the dryer with two tennis balls. "Well, what if you don't have tennis balls? Can you use baseballs??"

2. Gary discovered a smudge on his light jacket. So he got a wash cloth and tried to scrub it off. The embroidered logo wouldn't budge.

3. Worried about moths, I bought a cedar block to hang beside Gary's new wool coat. Yeah, it looks pretty useless. A cedar plank might have been enough, maybe not. But I hate the smell of moth balls.

This is Why I Don't Miss Michigan

My mom sent me a link to the local Michigan newspaper with this photo. She's waiting for someone to come dig out her driveway. In the meantime, I hope she has enough groceries to just sit tight!

In weather news here, the 2-3 lovely warm days we had recently have now been replaced with cold winds, but still lots of sunshine.

OK, Last Blog About Our Tree

Early this morning a man came by and marked all the places where cables are buried on our property. Then at lunch time another guy came with a stump grinder and, well, ground the stump.

A big pile of yellow sawdust is all that remains. In time, the yellow color will turn to brown.

Early this afternoon we were pleased to have an unexpected visit by our old friend Lizette. She was on her way back from Waco with her son Mason who is checking out colleges. Is that possible?? I remember when Mason was born. It was fun to see them again.

The Clean-Up

The City of Dallas came and picked up that huge pile of brush, branches and logs today. They filled up the trailer, emptied it, and came back for more.



In other news, Gary got home from Michigan safely. But not in time for the Super Bowl. The last touchdown of the game happened as we were walking from the car to the house. So he got to see the last 35 seconds of the game live. But I taped it for him, so he really got to see more of it later.

Such weird weather here--it hit a record high today of 82. But I like that better than the cold.