Lake O' the Pines

I just realized I forgot to finish this and post it last fall.  It was the last post for our Autumn 2015 road trip.  So here it is, still not really finished, but at this point, I have no idea what else I intended to say...  This should have been dated 11/17/2015, I think.



When we pulled into our space here at Brushy Creek Corps of Engineers Campground at Lake o' the Pines, my first words were, "Can we just live here forever?"

This place is gorgeous.  

We are here to visit our son, who recently moved to Longview.  He's still looking for a church, so we went looking with him on Sunday.

Fellowship Baptist reminded us of our home church.  We really liked the preacher, too.

Son had to go back to work on Monday, so we did some sightseeing.  We had been to Jefferson about 34 years ago, and we wanted to see how much it had changed.  We were very pleasantly surprised!

Day One. Garrison, Texas

The first day of a new road trip is always filled with excitement and a wonderful sense of adventure.

Except when it isn't.

For the first time in ages, maybe ever, I did not want to leave home.

I've always loved the planning stages of a new trip.  But this time, I just wasn't feeling it.

And then.  And then.  This morning.  I was rushing around getting everything in order to leave the house for 6 or 8 weeks.  I even drove to the church to do some last minute chores in the library.  Then, instead of driving to our house, I pulled into the driveway next door to say good-bye to the grandgirls.

And no one was home.  I couldn't believe it.  Tim called the son-in-law.  They were all in town.  Wouldn't be back til 11:00.  Tim didn't want to wait.

I cried.

We left.

I couldn't even talk for the first hour.

We've never left without saying good-bye before.

Ahhh, well.  We chose this traveling life,  guess I can't complain too much.  I am so thankful for these magic devices we carry around at all times that allow us to call, text, send pictures...even see each other while we talk/skype!

We did have a very nice drive.  East Texas is beautiful any time of year, and right now the redbuds are in bloom, and we've seen lots of trees covered with white blooms...pear?  dogwood?... whatever they are, they're lovely.

One thing that always frustrates me a little is all the interesting places we have to pass up when we are pulling the 5th wheel from one place to another.  Today we passed the Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge, NASA Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility, the Texas State Railroad, and, what I could have enjoyed most of all, the Russell Stover Factory and Outlet store!  This is one day I could have really used some chocolate!

Tim doesn't know it yet, but I'm thinking next time we come to East Texas we will stop at Stover's, then camp at the Texas State Railroad RV Park, and ride the train.  Who wants to come with?

Not that I'm complaining about where we ended up today.  Like I said, I just wasn't into planning this trip, so Tim chose the destination and the RV Park, Camp Tonkawa Springs near Garrison, TX (population 895).

Just look:    

These exotic deer are all over the park.  There's a high fence all around the park to keep them in.  

So cool!

There's also a spring fed "swimming hole" somewhere on the property.  It's still a little cool to swim, but I'll be sure to get some photos before we leave.  Today we were too hungry to explore too much, so we drove into Garrison to find some nourishment.  Looks like there's a lot of history there, and we planned to wander around getting photos after we ate, but by then it was getting dark.  I did get a picture of the restaurant, and my dinner.  

It may look like a hole in the wall, but the food was really good!

See?

I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture until I'd had a few bites!  

So, that's pretty much my day.  Started kind of draggy, but, now that my tummy's full, all's right with my world.  And, tomorrow, we are meeting our son for lunch!  So, life is good after all.

But. I still miss my girls.

Nacogdoches, Texas

We finally got to do some sightseeing in a town I've wanted to visit for years.  Nacogdoches, in East Texas.  We drove through here once, many years ago.  And a friend and I drove our kids out here once to look at Stephen F. Austin University, but I've never gotten to do the tourist thing here.

Our first stop was the Charles Bright Visitor Center in the middle of historic Downtown Nacogdoches.  Here we watched a 10 minute video on the history of the town, and browsed some interesting exhibits.  They were already decorated for Christmas.  Too soon!  But I did like the Christmas trees...each one represented one of the six different flags that have flown over Texas.  

Not a great picture, too much reflection on the glass.  This made me think of my youngest grandgirl, who loves antique typewriters and telephones.

This statue just outside the visitor center represents the early settlers.

The Statue of Gil Y'Barbo in Historic Nacogdoches

Don Antonio Gil Y'Barbo was the founder of modern day Nacogdoches.

The General Store.  Don't you love brick streets?  *sigh*

Our next stop was the Durst-Taylor Historic House and Gardens.

This is the second oldest house in Nacogdoches.

The Parlor fireplace.

Close-up of the cross-stitched sampler over the fireplace. 

 "Simply to thy cross I cling."

The bedroom.

Sugar cane mill.  

It still works, and they have an Old Fashioned Sweet Tooth Sugar Cane Event every January, when they actually mill the cane they grow on the property.  Sounds like my kind of party!

 All my life I've wanted to go to East Texas in the Fall to see the beautiful Autumn leaves.  I'm finally here, but Autumn is missing.  It looks like Springtime here!  There are beautiful (green!) plants everywhere (even planted in back alleys by the dumpsters!)  Some of the plants are even blooming.

Sterne-Hoya House.  The oldest house in Nacogdoches, the oldest continually settled town in Texas.

This was probably a salesman's sample, but I bet some little girl ended up with it!

This home was owned by somewhat wealthier families than the first house we saw, and it has been furnished to reflect that.

This photo is especially for you, Willetta!  And yes, I did buy something there!

2015 Southern Baptists of Texas Bible Conference and Annual Meeting

Whew!  Two weeks ago today, we left home intending to take our time, enjoying the journey, eventually arriving in Houston in time for this important conference.  Well, we took our time.  But it's hard to enjoy our surroundings when we get bad news on top of bad news from home, on an almost daily basis.  A horrible tragedy in our church family, and two of our family members hospitalized with pneumonia left us feeling devastated.  And helpless.

I've already written about the rain in Georgetown, but it wasn't over when we moved to Somerville.  So much wet!  And wind!

We did not do any sightseeing at all.  We did have a nice lunch at Los Cabos in Brenham.  You can read my review on TripAdvisor  here.

At least Charlie Chihuahua was happy.  His humans stayed in the 5th wheel with him all day for several days.

But we did finally reach Houston.  Heart sick and weary, but we got here.  

We've been looking forward to this conference all year.  

We arrived at North Lake RV Resort in North Houston Sunday afternoon, got set up, and drug ourselves to Champion Forest Baptist Church for the opening program.

And we have been floating on a cloud of God's love ever since!

I'll try to write more about the church (biggest church I've ever seen!) later.  

I still haven't had time to sort through all the information we took in at the Bible Conference (Sunday Evening, Monday morning) and Annual Meeting (Monday evening and all day Tuesday).  There were so many excellent speakers, so much information about SBTC programs, so much encouragement!  

Here are a few highlights from my notes (and from Twitter!):

I think it was Jason Crandall, a church planter, who said that when new members join his church, he asks them for their "Top Ten" list of unsaved family and friends, who they will commit to witness to.

The theme of this year's meeting was "Walking in Unity".  One of the speakers preached on Ephesian's 4:1-6:

4:4 Unity of calling

4:5 Unity of confession

4:6 Unity of relationship

SBTC president Jim Pritchard told us about The Haystack Prayer Meeting, held in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in August 1806, viewed by many scholars as the seminal event for the development of Protestant missions in the subsequent decades and century (use the link to look it up). One of the attendees at that meeting told the others "We can do this...if we will". And they did!

This should be our new motto..."We can do this...if we will!"

More quotes I liked:

"In the essential things...Unity.

In the non-essential things...Liberty

In all things...Charity"


"The most sobering reality in the world today

Is that people are dying today

And going to Hell TODAY"


"If you are saved today, you were once an enemy of God"


"Discipleship is leading a person to Christ and showing them how to walk with God, in such a way that they can lead someone else to God" (It's about releationships)


"Disciple Making...

...is Jesus' strategy to reach the world

...implies an intentional plan

...requires personal investment

...results in multiplication"


Too many of us are "Casual Christians" - attending church on Sunday, but not really following Christ.


Ben Stuart of First Baptist Beaumont encouraged us:

"In your pursuit of God for yourself, don't neglect to impart God to others."

"Sow the Gospel broadly, select disciples carefully & invest deeply."

"Look for the ones that want the Gospel, those that want to be discipled, and are faithful. Invest in them."


And from Twitter:

SB TEXAN ‏@SBTexan 15h15 hours ago
Messengers elect @nathanlino youngest-ever @_sbtc president. Dante Wright & @manorjuan also elected. STORY: http://bit.ly/1SGNkIw


Bart Barber ‏@bartbarber 23h
23 hours ago
"Every one of your professors at an SBC seminary is an inerrantist…don't take that for granted." @jasonkeithallen #SBTCAM15


Robert L. Webb ‏@RobertLWebb Nov 9
Blessed to see so many pastors committing to pray about planting churches in the most ethnically diverse city in the USA-Houston @SBTCplant


Bart Barber ‏@bartbarber Nov 9Houston, TX
#SBTCAM15 "Pastors need the tell Christians, 'You're not out of time; you're mismanaging it.'"

Bart Barber ‏@bartbarber Nov 9
Houston, TX
"It's time for pastors to tell Christian parents to rise up and say no to the culture about Sunday sports." -Chris Osborne #SBTCAM15


So much good information. I tried to take good notes, but I didn't want to miss one word that was being spoken. My brain is fried. We returned to our home on wheels last night, exhausted, yet uplifted. Can't wait for next year's annual meeting!

Today we start (slowly) making our way back north.  The tragic situation at church is still...well... tragic.  Our family members are still ill.  We appreciate your prayers in these situations, and for our own safe travel.

Thanks to the faithful few who keep up with this blog.  

And, have I asked you lately if you know Jesus?  

Do you know Him?

If not, can I just tell you a few things?

The Rains Came

This past Spring, we had a lovely time traveling through southwest Louisiana, southeast Texas, then back home through the gorgeous Hill Country.  We made it home just in time to avoid being caught in one of the worst floods in Texas history.

This time, we got caught.  But just barely.  While the area several miles south of us was deluged with as much as 18 inches of rain in 36 hours, we only received about 6 inches at Georgetown Lake.  And, high on a ridge overlooking the lake at Cedar Breaks Campground, we were never in any danger of flooding.

On the way to Georgetown, we had to stop at the Koffee Kup in Hico for lunch.  And PIE!  This is the Black Forest Pie.  Yum!

These are both views from our campsite, before the rain.  The lake actually rose 3 feet after the rain.

Happy little wildflowers at our campsite.

Of course the Cowboy played golf.  You know he loves an audience, so I'm sure he was glad these deer were here to watch him play.

This is a picture of our campsite from the lake.  That's our white 5th wheel.

Last Spring we stayed at the Jim Hogg Campground.  We could see it across the lake from Cedar Breaks.  I took this photo from our campsite at Cedar Breaks.

Yesterday we moved about a hundred miles down the road to Lake Somerville, near Brenham.  It's very pretty here, and heavily populated with deer.  Guess this little guy didn't want his picture taken.

But these guys were a lot friendlier.  

This one looks like he's telling Cowboy hello.  

Looks like more rain is headed this way.  We appreciate any and all prayers!  

Branson with the GrandGirls!

Right now, Tim and I are taking the slow route to Houston, for the annual Southern Baptists Convention of Texas meeting.  We're doing our best to stay dry in one of the worst Hill Country floods in the history of EVER.   But as I was getting ready to post a few pictures about this adventure, I realized I still hadn't posted anything at all about our trip to Branson in September.  So, here it is.  I'll keep it short and sweet.

Cowboys and the girls.  At the Arkansas Welcome Center.

Our first view of Lake Taneycomo, just outside of Branson

The Christmas Store is just across from  Mel's Hard Luck Diner, where the wait staff are all talented performers.  They sing as they wait on you.  Literally.  We actually saw a waitress holding her microphone in one hand and pouring tea with the other.  I didn't get a picture of our server, but we did buy one of his cd's.  After our lunch, Cowboy had to stop and chat with his old friend Santa!

We didn't actually go into the Auto Museum, but there were several cool cars outside.  I thought this Mutt Cutts truck was cute.

Since the girls were with us, we stayed in a fully furnished 2 bedroom cabin at the RV Park instead of taking the 5th wheel.  This not only gave us more room for the girls, but allowed us to take the car instead of the pickup.  And the girls loved the indoor pool.  We spent a lot of time here.

We also didn't get around to actually visiting Ripley's Believe it or Not, but GrandGirl #1 wanted her picture taken with the giant Transformer guarding the door.

I don't know why I didn't take more photos of the things we DID do.  We took the girls to see The Haygoods, Six, and Smoke on the Mountain.  There was some hiking, some swimming and a long drive in the country to see the beautiful Missouri scenery.  And there was eating.  Lots of eating!  

It was a super fun week.  The girls were so much fun to be with.  Can't wait to do it again!