A trip to Howe

Happy Monday! We spent a very fun weekend in Howe, Texas visiting Collin's brother Stephen, sister-in-law Paige and their little girl Hope. Howe is a little town (pop. 2200) just north of McKinney and just south of Sherman, for those of you curious. Stephen is the Minister of Music at First Baptist Church of Howe, and we really enjoyed getting to go with them to the service on Sunday morning. We're obviously proud of Stephen, but I was really blessed with a sincerely worshipful service - the music was beautiful and a nice blend of hymns and contemporary praise songs, and the preaching was biblical and well presented. They really have a nice church home... I wish they could transplant it here to San Antonio so we could go too (not to mention see Stephen & Paige more)!

Anyway, we arrived Friday afternoon and went out to lunch at Finn's, a local restaurant that is proud of their fresh fish and seafood. Then, we got a private tour of the church where Stephen serves, including his office, the huge children's area and the impressive Youth building (can you believe they had pool tables and a whole recreation area for them... pretty cool!). We spent the evening catching up and playing Outburst, guys against girls, and we totally stomped the boys (by a whole 2 points). Saturday we enjoyed some time hanging out with Stephen and Paige in the morning, and then went to a cute older downtown part of McKinney to do some shopping and browsing antiques. After that we headed to the park to feed the ducks (they weren't hungry) and were treated to Olive Garden for dinner to celebrate Stephen's birthday, Sandy & Bruce's Anniversary and our upcoming Anniversary - thanks Dad!

Sunday was church, lunch and a bit of visiting before the drive home. It only takes about 5 1/2 hours to get there, which seems like nothing after we used to travel three 10 hour days to get home while in the military! Unfortunately, I did manage to forget my entire tolietree bag at their house, so I made a quick trip to Walmart for another toothbrush, deoderant, etc to see me through until it gets here in the mail. All in all in was a great trip, and we can't wait to do it again! How nice it is to live close to family now and be able to spend so much time with everyone - we're just loving it!

Well, this week should be a busy one, but I'll post as I'm able. Moira's starting preschool today, and I can't wait to pick her up this afternoon and hear all about it. Collin's got an interview and a military career fair to attend this week, so please be in prayer over those. I'm getting ready to make about 20 Valentine treats for Moira's class for Wednesday, so maybe I'll post some pics when they're done. Have a great day!