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.