It's deer season...

Last week-end was opening week-end of deer season. That was always a special time for my dad & me. We have so looked forward to at least one deer hunting week-end a year. Sometimes it was a group...family/friends/co-workers...sometimes it was just us...but it almost always happened. I have come to decide that the anticipation & planning of the hunt is almost as much fun as the actual week-end. Phone calls were made that wouldn't have been made otherwise...planning who would bring what...when we would travel...who we would invite, etc. This time of year is when I miss my daddy more than ever.

The next best thing to being with my daddy is being with my Uncle Bill. I love him so much & savor the times we get to spend together. My dad & his baby brother were so close. They had a true "mutual admiration society".

I am thankful to my husband for happily (maybe even eagerly...HA!) letting me be gone for the wk-end. I am thankful to my Aunt Donna for allowing Uncle Bill to be gone. And I'm thankful to Uncle Bill for making it happen.

We saw some deer, but there wasn't even a rifle fired. However, there were good memories made...and in the end, that's what matters most.

Dentist trip...

Earlier this week, I had a dentist appointment. As I was about to go back, I saw one of my sweet Kindergarten friends finishing up her appointment. I told her I wanted her to assist Dr. Mike in my procedure. While he was with another patient, we got her all gloved & masked up. She was ready & waiting when he arrived.

Who wouldn't want this sweet girl assisting your dentist?

Yet another benefit of working with elementary school friends! Who knows...maybe someday my dentist will be Dr. Vaughn. Right?

It's a BEAUTIFUL morning!

This is the view as I walked out my back door to head to school this AM. I am reminded DAILY of what an awesome God we have....when I just slow down long enough to notice. Dear Lord, help me take time every day to stop & smell the flowers!!

Fall trip to the Northeast...

Last week I had the opportunity to join seven great ladies for a week of fun!

We all met at DFW on Friday. We flew into Boston, picked up a Suburban, FILLED it up with suitcases & hit the road headed north. Our first stop was Rockport, Massachusetts. It's a town our family has grown to love over the last 14 years.

We began our stay with clam chowder at the Lobster Pool and s

tayed at the Pleasant Street Inn.

The next morning, we headed north. The drive up Hwy 1A is beautiful. It run

s right along the coast up through Massachusetts, New Hampshire & into Maine.

We rented a house near Boothbay Harbor, Maine. There were several day trips from there. We travelled to Freeport, Maine (the home of the L.L. Bean headquarters), Bar Harbor, Acadia National Park & Kennebunkport.

The week was filled with "oohs & aaahs" over the beautiful fall foliage, lots of laughter and an abundance of good food!

The crowd consisted of 3 sisters, 2 cousins, 2 daughters & a friend. What a good time we had! Memories that will last a lifetime. Right, Pat, Mariana, Montie, Bobbye, Fran, Becky & Jane??

Below you'll see a few of my favorite pictures of the amazing colors God created for us to enjoy.

Teacher's Prayer

As the beginning of another school year has rolled around, here's a prayer that someone shared with me. It's what I want to concentrate on this year.

Please help me

To strengthen their voices, bodies and minds,

To express their feelings,

And control them sometimes,

To explore what’s near and venture far,

But most important to LOVE who they are!

Enough said...

Spudmuckers

On our way home from Europe a couple of weeks ago, one of our snacks was a little bag of Spudmuckers chips.

They are made in Dublin, Ireland. This was what was written on the back of the bag:

Spudmuckers are plucked

from the rich soil & good earth

at Spudmucker Farms,

by Spudmucker Pluckers.

Delivered by Spudmucker Truckers

to Spudmucker Chuckers.

Fried by Spudmucker Cuckers

& packed by Spudmucker Puckers.

Back to Spudmucker Truckers,

who ship to Spudmucker Luvers.

These are...

World Famous Spudmuckers.

They're chips--eat 'em.

Cute marketing, huh?!

Home again, home again!

Yee-haw....we’re coming back to Texas.

There were 4 of Cori’s fellow study abroad students that were on our flight. They all had fun comparing stories of their 10 day travels since they’d left Oxford.

It was a LONG flight, but uneventful...and for that, we’re thankful!

First stops after the airport, at Cori's request, were Sonic (first, of course) and then fajitas! Both tasted good!

We feel very fortunate to have been able to make this trip...& we’ll have these good memories for a lifetime. Counting our blessings...of being able to go AND having a good place to call home. “There’s no place like home...there’s no place like home...there’s no place like home.”

Today began with an early AM flight to London. Upon our arrival there, we quickly headed to a bus stop where we could catch a bus to Oxford. The bus ride was about 2 hours (lots of traffic).

We got off the bus & walked around to see the sights of Oxford. Cori showed us some of the highlights (which included Ben’s Cookies, routes they’d walked to favorite sandwich shops, grocery store and the house where she lived). It was fun seeing where she’d been for her study abroad time.

We dined at the Eagle & Child that evening...great fish & chips dinner. This little diner was a favorite hangout of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.

After another walk back to the bus stop, we headed back to London. We stayed at a hotel that was near the airport.

Yet another good day...

This AM we headed out to a tour of the Eagles’ Nest. It is a building that is built at the TOP of a mountain high above Salzburg. It was built as a gift from the Germans to Hitler on the occasion of his 50th birthday in 1938. It is amazing to think that they were able to build the road and the structure in 13 months with the resources they had available in those days. The road is SO steep & narrow. I have to admit that I missed most of the ride up because my eyes were closed. We were on a big tour bus & the driver drove as if he were in a sports car. Honestly, it made my palms sweat when I looked. The view was beautiful, but I thought it a bit scary. Once we reached the top, we got to go into the building & climb to the top of the peak. Amazing views that we decided didn’t even look real. Instead, they looked like a backdrop that someone had painted.

It was a great day. The weather was perfect. Walked to the old town center, had a bite of lunch & came back to the room. Cori worked on homework that she had to finish up for her class, I read & Tommy watched CNN.

We’ve had LOTS of CNN this week. It’s the only channel we found in English. HA!

We’ll need to get packed up as we plan to leave for the airport at 9 AM tomorrow. We all agree it’s been a great trip & just the right amount of time away.

Sound of Music tour

We left Germany on an 8:30 AM train headed to Salzburg, Austria. It was a nice train ride with beautiful scenery along the way. We arrived at 10 & headed to our hotel. Room wasn’t ready, so we left our bags here, went to the “old town center” & got a bite of lunch. At 2, we went on a bus tour of the Sound of Music filming sites. We saw the house where they filmed the outside scenes, the gazebo where they filmed, the lake & lane that were in the movie & finally, the church where the wedding scene was filmed. These sites were in four different places. In between the stops, there was beautiful scenery all around.

One of the stops on the tour was at a ski slope. They had a rail set up & sleds that you could sit on. They towed you up (sitting backwards) with the ski lift. At the top, you sat on your sled & rode it down a metal luge. You could control the speed with the handle. It was really fun.

Salzburg is also the birthplace of Mozart & there were several mentions of that fact, too.

Tonight we went to a little pizza place & found a table on the sidewalk to eat. There was a television set up outside so we could watch the World Cup Soccer semi-finals game. Germany was playing Spain. When we left there at halftime, it was tied 0-0. We came back to the hotel to watch the 2nd half. We stepped into the bar to watch. A few minutes into the 2nd half, the fire alarm goes off & the doors to the bar close. They tell us we’re supposed to leave. The fire trucks come, only to determine that someone has set off the alarm by burning incense in their room. Meanwhile, while we are standing on the street outside, Spain scores the only point of the game. We missed it!

Game is over....we’re upstairs & hoping that we get to sleep through the night without another fire drill.

Last day in Munich

Our hotel has a delightful breakfast buffet, so that is how we started our day today. We then headed to the train station near our hotel & made our way to the central station. There we met a guided tour that took us to Dachau Concentration Camp. It is a very somber, sobering destination. Our tour guide was Gordon & from all accounts, he’s very highly respected for his knowledge of the history of Dachau & that time frame. He gave us a perspective I hadn’t heard before. It was an enjoyable experience.

This image is at the end of the memorial walk & the inscription is "Den Toten zue Ehr den Lebenden sur Mahnung", which translated says, "To honor the dead and warn the living".

We got back to the train station about 3:40 & decided we had time to make it to a 4 o’clock bike tour of Munich. The weather was perfect for it. We enjoyed a nice ride, several interesting stops along the way & a good dinner (potatoes with sausage....YUMMY) before we finished up. It ended up being just our guide (a 22 year old girl from Green Bay, Wisconsin) & the 3 of us. That made it fun!

It’s time now to pack up & get ready for an early AM train ride to Salzburg tomorrow.

Bavarian Alps & the Neuschwanstein Castle

Today’s exploration was the Royal Castles tour. We toured the Linderhof & Neuschwanstein Castles. They were both built by King Ludwig II (also known as the Bavaria Fairy Tale King). The Neuschwanstein Castle has appeared prominently in several movies and was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle.

We left on a tour bus at 8:30 this AM & didn’t return until around 6:30 this evening. By the time we rode the train back to our hotel, we left our backpack at our room, got a bite to eat & are now ready to call it a day.

This AM, we got up early, had breakfast & a driver picked us up to take us to the airport. We had an 11 AM flight to Munich. Again, we were happy to see someone at the gate with a DONAHOO sign. We were delivered safely (though, there was a little driving around in town before the driver found our hotel...we think he didn’t know exactly where he was going). Our hotel is great. It overlooks a little park & is near the train station. Good news is there is a little gelato stand right around the corner!

The weather seems to be a little cooler here & for that, we are thankful!

We had arranged to do a Fat Tire Bike Tour of the city of Berlin. We met the group at Alexander Plaza at 11 & enjoyed about a 4 1/2 hour biking tour. We had lots of stops to see the sights & have an explanation of what we had or were about to see. Some of the highlights were the Brandenberg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie station, a portion of the Berling Wall that is still standing, the site of Hitler’s bunker, the German Parliament buildings & much more. It was FUN!

After the bike tour, we walked to the Story of Berlin museum & looked around the exhibit.

An added bit of excitement today was the Germans playing in & going on to win the game against Argentina in the quarter finals of the world cup soccer. THE GERMANS DID CELEBRATE THAT WIN!! Made for an exciting subway ride home. :)

1st Berlin day...

We were SO tired & didn’t get up & around until after noon today. We had tickets to do a “hop-on/hop-off” bus tour to see the main sights of the city & decide what we wanted to go back & see more of later. We had a quite a hard time finding the stop for the bus tour, but FINALLY got on & enjoyed the warm ride. After finishing the tour, we found a bite to eat.

Tommy ordered a GREAT bratwurst with mashed potatoes & sauerkraut. It was yummy. We then headed back to the hotel & called it a day.

London...but just the airport...

Tommy & I got to DFW in plenty of time for our 5:35 PM flight out. Because of some rainy weather, the flight coming in was delayed, so we didn’t leave until about 7:15.

We arrived about 9 AM in London. As soon as we got out of the gate, we saw Cori, Lacy, Kenli & Morgan. The other 3 girls were headed back to DFW that AM, so we only got to hug their necks & visit for a minute. We were SO excited to see Cori! She’d been in Oxford since the end of May doing a study abroad program with ACU’s College of Business.

We had a little time to kill before our flight out, so we got a bite to eat while we sat & visited.

We left London about 12:55, headed to Berlin and arrived late afternoon. There was a driver at the airport waiting for us (wow...were we glad to see him standing there with a sign that said DONAHOO!!). We got to the hotel, checked in & put our things away. We decided to just walk a little & find something to eat.

It's HAPPENED!!

This week I was privileged to attend a workshop that Granbury ISD provided for its faculty & staff. It's a program called Capturing Kids' Hearts. We spent 3 enjoyable days learning how to make our jobs easier & make a difference to our students.

There were approximately 50 people in the room. After we'd been there about an hour, we were divided into two groups. Each group circled up & we all had 1 minute to tell "what we do & why we do it". About half of the group had taken a turn, when a young man stood up & said, "My name is Jeff Cocanour" & then looked my direction. My jaw dropped & I said, "You are kidding!" He said, "I wondered how long it was going to take you." I think I had seen Jeff only once since he'd been in my 5th grade class. It was one of those "WOW" moments we teachers are lucky enough to experience once in a while.

One of the things I remember about Jeff is that he was an incredible artist. It just so happened that I still had a picture at school that Jeff had drawn when he was in 5th grade. I went to school that afternoon & took it with me the next morning. What a fun thing to share with the group.

I have fond memories of the time I spent in the classroom with Jeff several years ago & am THRILLED to know that he is going to be teaching art to the 9th grade students in Granbury. They are SO fortunate to have him!!

Jeff, I know that you'll touch many lives. I'm so proud of you!!

Perspective

Today I went to the foot doctor to get a second opinion on why my foot has been bothering me. The verdict was that we have to let it get well (by giving it a break) from physical activity. He wants me to do nothing but ride my bike for 2 weeks. I'll go back for a re-check & we'll go from there... That means no boot camp, running with my friends, etc. I left there very sad...& as I had tears driving out of the parking lot, I hear my phone beep that I have an email. I read the email from my daughter forwarded from a college friend of hers (whose dad actually was one of my college friends). The girl's mom was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of years ago. She has undergone multiple surgeries, treatments, etc. Below is an excerpt from the email Cori received today...

I just wanted to update y'all on my mom. She was doing so great over Christmas after her surgery to remove her cancerous lymph node! But she recently has gotten frozen shoulders which is just this thing that makes the joints in her shoulders freeze up so she can't lift her arms up. (it has nothing to do with her cancer) She went in to see a surgeon last week about this, because it is fixable, and they did some scans, in which they found some spots of cancer on her lungs and another cancerous lymph node. I just really want to ask for your prayers right now because she is considering some alternate forms of treatment that might be able to treat her cancer, but they do have some high risks because they are not yet FDA approved. Anyways she is very at peace about this, and is really trusting God to bring her through! I just also wanted to encourage y'all to not get discouraged about the situation either because I KNOW that these prayers are being heard! Just because God is not taking this cancer away does not mean he's not listening, I know He is because my mom is SO strong! And she believes He will bring her through, as do I!

Don't worry...I've already prayed for forgiveness for my selfishness!! God bless the Mack family. Please say a prayer for them today.

Words to ponder...

The scripture James 3:9-12 was mentioned during the lesson at church tonight. It reads like this:

⁹With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. ¹⁰Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. ¹¹Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ¹²My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Wow...I read it & knew it was filled with words I need to ponder!

I need to make sure that the words that come from my mouth are consistent with what I profess to believe. I must strive to "walk the walk" & not just "talk the talk".

I am also reminded that we are ALL made in God's likeness. I am not superior...or inferior...to anyone I come in contact with in my daily activities. Those precious kids at school (& their parents, too!) are just as precious to God as my family is...& I want to make sure to treat them with all the respect God would expect. It doesn't matter the balance of our checkbook, the size of our house, where we've been, what we've done, or how many degrees we have. God created & loves us ALL THE SAME!

Just a thought...

Thanks, Dr. Knox, for the reminder!!