October 6 – “House Hunt”

Last night we had supper at the Marie Calendar's next door to the hotel.  Fifteen per cent discount with our room key.  The soup and salad bar all you can eat was passable.  Pass on the potato soup, but the vegetable was pretty good.  The salad was salad.  Then came dessert.  Being at a pie place we wanted to try a slice of pie.  But it was a day of specials.  One slice of pie was almost five dollars.  One whole pie was on sale for $6.99.  Yep.  We bought a whole pie and brought it back to the hotel.  French apple.  He offered us no-sugar apple (why would you eat no-sugar pie?) and regular apple, too, but he said the French apple was basically decadent.  Some kind of sugary, cinnamony powdered stuff poured about an inch thick on top.  We each had a slice and put the rest in the fridge in our room.  Always wanted to use one of those.  We also put our free cokes in their.  When we got back to the hotel they said they had just had a reception and leftover stuff anyone could take.  A few different kinds of beer, some wine, and some soft drinks.  Big Red and Sprite.  We ended the evening watching NCIS and NCIS Los Angeles.    Today was an interesting day.  When we woke up I asked Chris if she was relaxed yet.  She said no.  Our problem now is that we are both thinking about what we have to do when we get back to Galveston.  Christina and April have called or texted a few times with questions about Mom and her schedule or pills or something.  Chris found out she has to be in Bay City Friday to begin clearing up some of the details about her Mom.  My allergies are still giving me fits, as well as my aching joints.  Chris has even had to take a Claritin.  I haven't read any email about Seaside since we have been gone.  Oh, well.  We got close to relaxed in Eureka Springs.  We'll remember those two days.   This morning we had the required Belgian waffle in the shape of Texas for breakfast.  That was right after I dropped one of the little packet jars of syrup on the floor and it burst open in just the right spot to nail Chris' shoe.  Tasty leather.  Mmmm.    Then we headed out to do some house hunting for Josh and Christi.  She had been online and picked out seven or eight places she was interested in, so we said we would drive by and give our opinion.  There were several really good possibilities.  One had an amazing view.  It was up in some mountains outside of town.  In  fact when we stopped out front Chris had to call Christi and tell her about the view.  I took a picture with my phone and sent it to her.  The house was vacant, so we got out and looked around.  Didn't take long for me to check it off my list.  The siding was rotten in a lot of places.  Looked like the whole mess of it should be replaced.  Not sure about the foundation either.  The main room was two stories high with windows and a fireplace that went all the way up, but the kitchen was small, the carpet looked nasty, and even the deck out back needed to be redone.  For me, the view wouldn't be worth the headaches.  We agreed on two or three places we liked, though.  One was way south of town.  The others were somewhat closer.  I think they will have plenty of good choices when they get to come down.    After the morning of hunting, we "went off the clock" and headed downtown.  Chris wanted Mexican food and the only place I knew for sure was the one Josh and Christi went to when I was the Nanny for the weekend awhile back.  It was in the Riverwalk.  We quickly plotted out a general course to follow that kept us away from the freeway system.  That thing is weird.  I think if we lived here it would begin to make more sense, but not now.  We weaved our way through South San Antonio until we found ourselves right in the middle of downtown.  And amazingly, I recognized the street that the restaurant was on.  Even found the same parking garage.  Lunch was good.  Walking around the river with Chris was even better.    We wanted to go by and see First Baptist Church, where Josh will be working.  It wasn't listed in the "Places of Worship" section of our hotel handbook, and there was no local telephone directory in the room, so we weren't sure about the address.  We asked one of the little old people dressed in yellow who walk around and ask if they can help you.  She had no idea where First Baptist Church was.  She called in the problem on her little walkie talkie.  Two different people answered and gave two different locations.  The second one came on because the first one was "not the Baptist.  That's the Presbyterian."  Finally the first one read out an address and we said thank you.  Our little yellow lady marked it on a tourist map and we were on our way.    The church was located on an entire city block.  Plus parking lots.  They also run a café where the money goes toward their community ministries.  And we passed a building that had Community Ministries of First Baptist Church painted on the side.  That building looked abandoned, though.  We haven't decided whether to attempt coming back for their Wednesday activities.  It was enough of an ordeal in the daylight.   We did get on the freeway system to get back to the hotel.  It worked out pretty well.  I was cautious with my guesses, but they all proved to be right on target.  We got back to the room and Chris crashed on the bed.  Guess I'll download the pictures we took to the computer so we can email them to Christi.   Isaiah 26:4 says, "Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal."   Father, I know you have the rest of the world in your hands.  Forgive us for stressing about the little piece of it you trust us with.  Amen.