A trip to the Promised Land

Enjoying the front porch with Kelly and Miss Kennedy

Happy Birthday Zach!

Beautiful park in Greenville

Our hike to John's rock...enjoying a "real" fall

 We took a long weekend over Zach's birthday in October to travel to Spartanburg, South Carolina (proclaimed by the Bozards to be the Promised Land) to visit our friends Kelly and Michael Bozard, and the newest member of the Bozard family, 4 month old Kennedy Weathers.  Michael and Zach have been talking about a potential partnership in Spartanburg, so a good part of the visit focused on seeing the pediatric dental practice and discussing future possibilities.  The Bozards, as always, showed us the best Spartanburg and the surrounding area had to offer.  Our trip involved a delicious meal with Kelly's cooking club, lunch at Michael's office with the staff, a hilarious performance of Capital Steps at the Cultural Center, throwing a baby shower, a little trip to Greenville for a fancy birthday dinner for Zach,  a beautiful hike in North Carolina, some "real" Southern BBQ, and a delicious homemade by Kelly birthday dinner #2 for Zach.  Zach also got to spend a whole day at the office with Michael, and then a morning in the OR.  And of course, there was plenty of playtime with cute Kennedy!  So now we have the decision in front of us...is South Carolina where God is calling us to go?  Honestly, at this time, we're not sure.  What we do know is that when the Thomas asked to know the way that Jesus was going, Jesus replied, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life."  So in the meantime, by God's grace, we're praying, seeking the One who is the way and trusting God will reveal His will in His perfect time.     

Happy 30th Birthday Zach!

Enjoying some Bigz

Zach's mom and brother came all the way from Abilene

The very patient friends

Nurse McGee performing a comprehensive assessment

 So Friday Oct 15th, we began our usual afternoon commute from Laredo to San Antonio...with many surprises awaiting us. One of them was planned.  We have some sweet friends (thank you Mary Hogan) who had helped organize and were attending a surprise party for Zach's 30th birthday at Bigz Burgers that evening.  The plan was that Zach and I would get into town from Laredo early Friday evening and arrive at Bigz with a whole crew awaiting and ready to celebrate.  That was the plan.  About 15 min into our trip Zach realized he forgot his phone...so back we go to retrieve the phone.  That only put us 30 min behind.  No big deal at this point.  We still had plenty of time.  We were cruising along I-35 N, now at little less than an hour from San Antonio, when all of a sudden traffic stops.  Stops.  Hmmmm...so we wait.  5 minutes.  10 minutes.  15 minutes.  I'm very anxious now.  Zach would describe it as freaking out.  Maybe so.  I'm sending stealth text messages to some friends that are going to the party to let them know what was going on.  People are walking around on the highway.  One truck driver decides to do some push-ups.  We make a friend from Central America.  30 minutes.  We are out of time.  I finally convince Zach to ride up on the shoulder further to see if we could get off.  All the while, he's telling me I need to calm down..."Leah. It's not like we have a party to go to or anything."  Right.  Finally we found an exit to get off the still stationary I-35 and thanks to iphone GPS, were able to backtrack through some random country roads to another 2 lane highway, with our Central American friend following.   We eventually were able to circumnavigate the shut down I-35, and finally make it into San Antonio.  We arrived a Bigz, almost an hour late to a group of very sweet, patient friends, including Zach's mom and brother.  Zach was completely surprised and we had a great evening celebrating his birthday...finally!

On the road again...

On the road

With the fam at the ranch

Our travels last weekend took us to the Ridlehuber's ranch (Zach's cousin) outside of Oakville, TX (between Corpus Christi and San Antonio on I-37).  Zach's grandma was in town from California and was staying out at the ranch with family.  We made the very sparsely populated drive in Jose the Hatch (credit to the Hogans for naming out car) from Laredo to Oakville Friday evening, being led by a rainbow most of the way.  We had a really nice time with Zach's family...Cheryl made us a wonderful dinner Friday night complete with homemade ice cream.  Most of our time was spent sitting on the porch, enjoying the ranch and some great conversations.

Redeemer Temple-Inaugural Sunday

We took a little road trip up I-35 to Temple, TX last Sunday morning to attend the first official Sunday worship service at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.  It's been a little over two years ago that we attend our first church plant group for the "Temple Project."  We've greatly missed the group since we moved from Temple well over a year ago.  It was so encouraging to go back to Temple this past weekend and see how God is growing His church in Temple.  A group of five families meeting on Sunday nights has grown to a Sunday morning worship service with many adding to its number.  We're thankful for God's faithfulness and provision and look forward with hope that God will work in this church to proclaim and glorify Christ.  Check out Redeemer Temple: http://www.redeemerprestemple.org/

Bear Goes to the Beach

Bear, the beachcomber

This past weekend the clinic I work for, Wiggles (yes, that really is the name), had their annual employee picnic. Now, when you think of an employee picnic you might think of a gathering at a local park with a pot luck lunch and maybe an organized game of softball. Well this picnic was at a hotel that was completely reserved for Wiggles employees in South Padre with catered meals and a beach olympics event, 80s themed party with live 80s band flown in from Nashville and a wedding...we witnessed the union of Mr. Wiggles and the now Mrs. Wiggles, our 6 foot green caterpillar company mascots....really. We spent most of the weekend stunned by the extravagance of the whole "picnic." In between these events, we had lots of time to walk on the beach, swim in the pool and enjoy the view of the shore from our room. One of the best things about the weekend was watching Bear have a blast on the beach...swimming in the ocean, playing in the sand and chasing after sandpipers...he loved it all.

CMDA trip to the Colonias

I'm a little less than current...but here are some photos from the CMDA (Christian Medical and Dental Association) trip we went on 2 weekends ago. Dental and medical clinics were set up in 2 different colonias outside of Laredo. This was our first experience in the colonias. They were described to us as "rural slums." These small communities that dot the territory along the US/Mexico border are often without running water and electricity, much less health care. At our site the medical clinic was set up in the small local one room church building. The pastor and family graciously opened up their home to be transformed into the dental clinic. One of the dental chairs was literally positioned inbetween the kitchen sink and the stove. Their living room became the waiting room and also hosted a chair for dental cleanings. Overall, it was a good day and great to see some friends who came down from San Antonio for the trip.



Setting up in the pastor's home

Dr. Zach in action


In the "waiting room"

Hogar Nuevo

It's hard to believe it's already been 6 weeks since we made the move...somewhat...down South. Our new home, at least Monday through Friday, is Laredo, TX. We thought we could use this blog to document some of our adventures in this new place, our travels back and forth and our reminations along the way...with our trusty dog, Bear, at our side.

Nuestro Perrito, Bear