Abear Goes To Martin Dies State Park

     My goodness it's been almost a month, that never happens to us!  Withdrawal symptoms usually start after a couple weeks.  Ah well anyway, we just returned from a week at one of our favorite parks.  Luckily, it's only 1 1/2 hours from us so we get to go often.

     The weather was perfect, cool nights, mild days and not a drop of rain in sight.  We love our southern springs in Texas.

     If you're ever wondering where you can go to camp, fish, kayak, gator watch or just visit, please give this park a look, you won't be disappointed.  Click on the link to check it out.  Martin Dies State Park

     We started the week as we always do with our daily walks.  This particular park has miles of beautiful roads to walk or trails if you enjoy that.  You can bike ride both, which we enjoy doing too.

 
     We get asked almost every time we go walking with Selah, if she likes riding in her stroller.  She LOVES it!  She stays sitting right there, just like that as long as we are out and about.

     Sometimes, before the park gets crowded, we let her out to walk with us.  We never have used a leash with Selah, she is way too much of a Velcro dog to even think about running from us.

     Spring time is a beautiful time in Texas in general with our bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush.  But we also have some gorgeous tree's like the Dogwood Tree's and Redbud Tree's.  Here is one of the Redbuds blooming.

     Abear was busy this trip too, he actually was hard to keep up with.  In the mornings we found him out having his morning prayers.

     Then we caught him on the swings.

     Luckily for us the water was still too cold for him to take off swimming.  Martin Dies has a gorgeous swimming area that has been completely revamped since Hurricane Rita and Ike.

     I'm not kidding when I say, Ty caught him either updating his Facebook or taking a selfie.. That bear I swear...

     When we weren't busy following Abear around, out walking Selah, or well Selah walking us, we found time to check in with our new little friend we made this trip.  He was there with us the entire time, coming out in the evening, but lying low during the day.  What a cutie he was!

     Ty and I are huge game players, whether it's board games or outdoor games we don't care. This trip we had a washer competition.  I think I won, Ty lets me win, he's so good to me like that.. lol

     It was a great trip like they all are.  You ought to give this park a try.  It offers so much to all ages, alligators, deer, raccoon, armadillo's, and owls, that might not be selling points to some, but they should be! 

     Next week we head to Little Elm, Texas we'll be staying at Hidden Cove another great park.  Until then Abear wants to remind you, "He is always there!"

     Happy Camping!

It's Time For Another RV...

Happy Valentines day to everyone!  We celebrated our's a day early with my parents and we had such a blessed time.

First, we went to the RV show in Houston, Texas.  Houston never disappoints once again we had traffic jams that put us 2 hours behind schedule.  In the end it was a bonus because we chose to go home through Galveston instead of Houston.  But more of that later.

RV show, that's right... Cause we are fixing to buy our 2nd RV.  We will always have our travel trailer but it will be for trips that will be stationary.  Meaning we park the trailer and stay in one place a couple of weeks.  This new trailer will be very small and will be for our long distance trips where we pull in for a night or two and then pull on out.

We decided on the Rockwood A213HW A Frame.  Here is a picture of an A Frame from the RV show. This is not the trailer we are getting, it's the smaller one.  Our's will be 2 ft longer, but you get the jest of it.

We are enjoying the best part of the process right now, buying all the fun things for it!  We're hoping to have it by early March.  We can't find any locally so we will be traveling somewhere to get it. That can't be anything but good, traveling is always fun!

After we left the RV show we headed on to Galveston to eat. The first place we stopped was over a 2 hour wait.  Eesh.. We didn't think about it being Valentines weekend.  But as providence would have it we ended up at a better place, Guido's.

Guido's is over 100 years old and sits right on the Gulf of Mexico.  Here is the dish I picked out, hope you aren't too hungry right now.....lol

It was a wonderful meal filled with great company and a whole lotta laughs.  Then lastly was a ferry ride to bring us home.  It was a full day, one of those that is great from the start to the finish.

Hoping our next entry will be of our shake down trip in the new RV!  Until next time, follow your dreams... I guarantee you they know the way!!

New Season...Next Season...Best Season

Wow.. it's been a little while I would say. I'm back or well should I say we are back. This blog is changing 100% as has our live's since becoming empty nesters. My blog now will be a journal of our travels. It's for our family to experience where we are, where we are going and were we have been.

You might have noticed the black bear at the top, that's A-bear. For those that are Cajun you know we are referencing Hebert. It's a salute to my grandparents who also loved camping and traveling. We bought the bear in Tennessee last year and he has become our mascot of sorts traveling everywhere with us. He will make an appearance at each place we stay and he will be holding whatever I collect on that trip.

Last year around the same time that we bought A-bear I started collecting a rock from each place we visited. I label the rock with the date and location and it goes into my "Places" jar that we keep at home.

Ty and I have camped for over 39 years. We have camped in our tents, pop-up's, & travel trailers and we have traveled all over these United States. We have loved this season of our live's and are eagerly awaiting Ty's retirement in just under 3 years.

Then we will be moving north.

If you scroll down to the very first post on this page and read the very last sentence you will see that God gave us that word back in 2010 "Look to the north." It would be over 2 years before we understood exactly what that meant. God was literal that year.. And He was spot on, we just didn't know it.

So... we will use this journal also as we prepare to say good-bye to our one and only house, the house our children were raised in. Goodbye to the only hometown Ty and I have ever known.

BUT.. we will also journal as we say hello to a brand new life.

A New Season.. A Next Season.. A Best Season..

Mountain Tops

Ty and I are preparing for a trip to the Smokey mountains to celebrate our 33rd wedding Anniversary. We both love the mountains for a number of reasons; their beauty, the views they provide, and their glorious, curvy, meandering road trips we take almost daily. But, I think as I have grown what I find I love the most is the incredible spiritual lessons God never fails to give us right there in the midst of the mountain view.

Did you know that one of translations of the Bible's name for God, "El Shaddai" can be interpreted as "God of the Mountains." Now I know most interpretations of that word is "God Almighty" and that is right. But in other places in Old Testament Shaddai is translated mountain. I love that, given that God used mountains so many times in His teachings throughout the Word. Abraham ascends to Mount Moriah to sacrifice his son, God reveals His name to Moses on Mount Sinai, Moses later receives the 10 Commandments on that very spot. Elijah returns to the same mountain also known as Horeb, to hear God's "still small voice." And from the very first of salvation history, we see find that mountains were a very special place that saints communed with God. The transfiguration took place by many account on Mt. Tabor.

Mountains top experiences are wonderful things in the flesh and in the spirit, I thank God for them because I know with every glorious assent there will be a soon to be descent.

The valleys.. They are as much a part of this life as the mountain top experiences; our own, our childrens, our husbands, work, and even the church we attend. We avoid failure like the plague, our culture has almost turned it into a sin. We CAN NOT fail. We want to only portray success. Us silly humans haven't changed much since Biblical times now have we?

Jesus' closest disciples Peter, John and James didn't want to see the failure of Jesus' ministry. Peter, the ever outspoken Peter, don't you just love him? He reminds me of myself way too often. Anyway, Jesus is telling them about the coming days, how He will be persecuted, shamed, rejected, and that in the end He will be killed and rise again. But Peter just couldn't understand or accept this teaching of failure and actually rebuked Jesus. Jesus looked him square in the eyes and said, "Get behind me satan!". Ouch, I have to wonder how many times I have said something to the Lord that has garnered the same response.

Failure, suffering and death was just too much for Peter to hear.

Just six days later they are on the mountain again and there Jesus was transfigured right before them and to add to that there was Elijah and Moses. Peter was experiencing the highest of high mountain top experiences one could imagine. That kind of experience where you never want to leave. If only you could just stay there huh?

Mary, the mother of Christ, now she truly experience what I would guess was the greatest of mountain top experience and the greatest of valley ones. Imagine Mary holding baby Jesus for the first time, what must her thoughts have been? Our God incarnated into this precious, soft, vulnerable little baby. Yeah, mountain top.

Then Mary stand at the foot of the cross where her son, the Son of God hanged, pierced and broken, and oh my how her heart must have felt the same. Then as she held that body, those same arms that held that baby, that promise. How could our God allow those same arms to hold two of the most profound experiences? The greatest joy and the most devastating loss.

The piece of scripture that helps my humanness understand is when from the clouds they heard, "This is my Son, whom I love, Listen to Him" What where they suppose to listen to? Jesus had already been speaking before his death of the upcoming suffering, God however speaking it now gave it divine revelation.

We humans tend to think of God in His heavenly glory or triumphant, without stopping to recognize He is that same God on the cross. We tend to want to recognize Jesus in His Glory but not in His suffering. To be silent and listen to Jesus reminds us that Glory and suffering can't be separated.

When we separate our success from our suffering we forget the Jesus on the cross. When we fear failure and suffering we forget the presence of God in our life's at that moment. Miracles, heavenly vision and such are not what creates faith. It's in the valleys we learn our greatest lesson and in that, our hope and faith start growing.

Yeah, I love the mountains. Always will, both physically and spiritually, but as I age I am learning that those are not what I should be seeking, because those will not cause me to grow more like Him. It's those valleys where the water flows and things grow.

I think on this vacation maybe we will take a ride through the valleys too, to remember it is there where I will grow.


"Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment." (Hebrews 6:1,2)

New Year, New Blog

Sometimes we have to be pushed to move. I went back to my blog, which I haven't posted on in a long while, but reference a lot.. and it was gone. The blog is still there but all my postings are gone.

After Rita I lost so many of my writings, but those on my blog were safe never to be lost I thought.

So after tears, what can you do but move on. So it is.. So it shall be.. What shall it be? Who knows! There will be no set rules, I might talk to myself, I might write to my Lord, I might not come often, I might come everyday. There will be no pressure, no structure. And for me that is hard, but might very well be part of the lesson.

I bid adieu to pieces of moments in my life for several years, I move on. And start over.

And He says, "Look to the North" and I haven't a clue.. Interesting to watch how that plays out. Til' later...