October 7 – “Definitely not now”

Leaving San Antonio must have been more depressing than I thought it would be.  I must have looked bad.  As we drove down Interstate 10 Chris looked over at me and said, "Are you tired?"  It was first thing in the morning, so I knew the answer to that one.  "No."  Then she asked, "Are you bored?"  Well, that hit home.  I hate driving on interstates, so I answered that one, "Yes.  How can I get off the interstate?"  She pulled the map out to find an answer.  And before she found it she added, "Are you hurting?"  Now that's not fair.  She already knew that answer to that one.  How does she already know those things?  I didn't answer.  Guess that solidified it.   We passed a few notable landmarks on I10.  Screaming Woman Creek was a favorite.  The other was a festival that I can't believe we passed up.  They had a huge sign up, big enough to be seen from the freeway.  Not bad for a small town.  Oh, the sign.  It said, "Koi and Goldfish Festival."    We finally turned off the interstate and headed for beautiful downtown Flatonia, Texas.  Our good friends Anne and Bill moved there awhile back, so we decided to surprise them.  Actually they moved to Praha, Texas, but they don't have a post office there.  We tried to call, but out in the middle of nowhere we had no cell service.  I had looked them up on the internet the night before, though, so we had a map.  But we were beginning to question the map.  It was way out there.  We finally found their street and the first house we came to matched the address we had, so I pulled in.  Chris refused to get out until I verified it was really their house.  So I rang the doorbell and Bill answered.  Actually, he was so stunned to see me that he had a hard time getting the door open.  They have always been incredible encouragers, and they have only fine-tuned their skill.  It is always a great joy just to be around them.  We saw two deer running through their fields out by their ponds which are stocked with bass and catfish and visited often by herons.  Anne loves that because it reminds her of Galveston.  They took us to visit one of the churches on the painted churches tour.  No, I've never heard of it either, but it's now on our list for next April.  It was a beautiful Catholic Church with all kinds of handcrafted items in it.  Then they took us to eat at the Railroad Track Café.  Great hamburgers.  Just like they used to make them years ago.  We even got to see the church they are attending.  Anne helps cook Wednesday night suppers every week.  Bill is in the choir and Anne is the self-appointed greeter.  Perfect.  As we left they even pointed out a little antique store, so of course we had to go check that out.    I refused to get back on the interstate when wee left, so Chris mapped us out a backroads route to take next.  Our next stop was at her brother's house in Victoria, Texas.  They didn't know we were coming, either.  They run a nursery there, so we left with a few plants.   Chris got a phone call shortly after we left that caused her stress level to skyrocket and we abandoned all hope for that elusive "relaxed."  Definitely not now.  It seems we probably have to go to court to probate her Mom's will because of some of the wording in it.  Not what she needed to hear.  All the stress and raw emotion of the ordeal with her Mom came rushing back.  All the good of the last week seemed to drain away.  OK.  One day at a time.    Psalms 126:2 says, "Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.  Then it was said among the nations, 'The LORD has done great things for them.'"   Father, I know "joy comes in the morning."  I know you are in control of all things.  Please take some of this stress.  Amen.

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.

October 5 – “Comfort and Welfare”

Just found out Seaside has been paired with First Baptist Church in Texas City for the big Prayer Walk over Galveston on October 16th.  That's something I am really looking forward to.  Galveston really needs it.     We left Mansfield this morning and headed for … well, we headed generally south.  We were undecided about going to Fredericksburg or San Antonio.  We found a few back roads to take.  Lunch was at Country Kitchen in Lampasas.  It was that or the all you can eat Chinese buffet next door.  No contest.  I had the best chicken fried steak I have had in years.  It was a real steak.  The vegetables were fresh.  And the bread and pies were all baked on site.  Good stuff.   We noticed several hawks in different places today.  The first three were at Josh's house before we left.  Then we saw them at different places all along the roads south.  I was particularly intrigued by the way they fly around and around in slow circles.  We didn't see any of them swoop down to make a catch of prey, but the deliberate nature of their tracking was amazing.  We also saw some vultures.  Now they have much wider wing spans, and when they fly they look scary, but it's just not the same as hawks.  They are content to sit on fence posts and in trees just waiting for an 18 wheeler to provide them lunch.  Their only worry is making sure they can jump out of the way quick enough.  Patience on both counts.  I like to think I would be more like the hawk.  Being about doing what I know to be God's will while waiting for whatever he has next.  Better than doing nothing and then scavenging off of the disasters of evil.  Heavy stuff.   Our route ended up taking us to Fredericksburg after all.  But when we got there and looked around we saw … more of Eureka Springs.  And The Strand.  Shops everywhere.  Not what we wanted to do the last few days of vacation.  We did go into one antique store, where Chris found just the shelf unit she wanted for her Precious Moments figures.  Only two thousand dollars.  I liked the one that was from an old library.  It covered a whole wall and had sliding glass doors.  That was a bit more expensive.  We didn't get either one.  Surprise.   After walking a few of the blocks and being overcome by the ragweed in the air (me), we decided to head on to San Antonio after all.  We found a short cut and it only took us about an hour or so to get there.  We went through such exciting places as Comfort and Welfare.  And we saw trees.  Lots of trees.  We almost overdosed on trees.  Guess it was just made more obvious by the fact the Galveston doesn't have many left.     We went to the west side of San Antonio to look for a hotel.  That's where Josh and Christi are looking at houses.  We found the area they have been looking at, and even drove down Braun Street, which is where a bunch of neighborhoods are.  Problem was, the hotel we decided to stay at – and turned around in and fought five o'clock traffic to get to - turned out to be not even opened yet.  We ended up at a Hampton Inn on the inner loop not far from I10.  This is going to be an interesting stay since we don't even have a map of San Antonio.  But we'll find something to do.     Psalms 75:1 says, "We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near; men tell of your wonderful deeds."   Father, help me be a hawk.  Amen.

October 4 – “Not Relaxed”

Not relaxed.  As it worked out, today proved to be less that opportune for encouraging absence of stress.  At the end of the worship service Josh made the big announcement that he and his family will be moving to San Antonio at the end of October.  He has been called to be the minister to young adults and administrator of community ministry ministries at First Baptist Church in San Antonio.  That's a mouthful.    He has been contacting several people over the course of the last few weeks to let them know ahead of time.  Of course everyone's reaction has been different, ranging from anger to sadness.  Some have cried.  I heard some of the teenagers tonight teasing him about abandoning them.  All very good-natured.  By far my favorite response, though, has to be what they told us Zakary said when they explained it to him.  "A lot of people in Mansfield already know about Jesus.  We need to go to San Antonio because a lot of people there need to hear about Jesus.  We need to go tell them."  Now that's impressive.   We spent most of the morning out in the yard trying to make it presentable enough to lure potential home buyers.  They have an area in the back yard with one of those big plastic kids' playgrounds on it.  He put a boatload of mulch under it.  Over the course of time grass has begun to take it over.  Today we attacked that grass.  It wasn't too bad.  Then we had to clear out the cracks in the concrete porch.  All of this we did by hand, on our hands and knees.  I'm feeling that right now.  My finger joints have joined forces with my knees and back.    While Josh and I were tearing out speck of grass and losing parts of our fingers, he began to wax philosophical.  He was pondering grass.  He felt like grass was pretty amazing.  It could find the tiniest cracks and force its way through.  I asked him what would be his spiritual application.  Guess I put him on the spot.  He stammered and stuttered.  He talked a lot better when he was trying to get through his public resignation yesterday.  I suggested one for him.  Maybe … Don't let anyone say that they don't have enough skill to do something for God.  He's God.  He can take the smallest thing you offer him and make it burst through until it takes over and becomes the most prominent characteristic in your life.  Josh had no further comment.   We took Christi out to eat for a Mexican food lunch.  She was interviewing in San Antonio on her birthday, and Chris was at her Mom's, so this was our first chance to do something.  We hoped to see some more old friends, but when we called we found out they wouldn't be able to.  He's recovering from a couple of surgeries.  She's about to have a medical procedure done in the morning, so tonight is her night to "get cleaned out."  She assured us that we really didn't want to be around her.    We pulled out the maps to seek out new routes and new civilizations to observe and interact with.  I think Fredericksburg is in our sites.  Not sure what may be between here and there.  I hope the pollen count is not as high there as it is here.  We had to buy some benadryl to supplement my Claritin-D.  Ah, Texas in the Fall.   Psalms 61:1-2 says, "Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer.  From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I."   Father, you have created some pretty amazing things.  I sure hope someday it becomes easier to enjoy them when my allergies act up.  Amen.

October 3 – “A Family Day”

Yesterday we went to Zak's soccer game.  Christi said the rumor mill had the parents worried about the other team. Their coach was known to have the top team in the league every year.  She played soccer her whole life and her Dad was even the college soccer coach at Baylor.  Their teams always do calisthenics and practice with "real" drills.  Scary stuff for four year olds.  And one of them was obviously particularly athletic.  But Zak's team was great.  At one point a kid on the other team scored a goal for them.  But they added three more on their own and won the game 4 to 1.  Best part about it was watching the guys like Zak who had no idea what the score was and really didn't care.  They were, however, quite interested in the helicopter that passed by and the little brothers who streaked onto the field at regular intervals.  They knew how to have some real fun.  After the game we went out to eat with some old friends.  It was good to have someone else get into trouble for clowning around with the waitress.   Then we spent the afternoon helping fix up the house.  We trimmed bushes in the front.  We planted some flowers.  Chris and Christi cleaned out the garage.  I went with Josh to get replacement trim boards for a window in the back.  Chris helped Zak and Caleb and Christi move furniture around inside.  We did all those wonderful things that make vacation fun as long as the work is not something you have to do.  And of course we spent some time just playing.  Horsing around with the boys.  Hiding in the Batcave with Zak, which of course was located under the table with blankets draped over the sides.  Catching Caleb when he jumped, which was any time, any where.  He is supremely trusting, so we had to pay close attention.   My allergies are acting up and my knees and ankles hurt a lot.  Combined with my extremely sore calf muscles from walking around in mountains, it made for a difficult day.  And Josh actually asked us if we were relaxed yet.  I'm beginning to wonder if I'll recognize the feeling.   Today we go to church.  Look forward to seeing some more old friends.  Tomorrow?  Weatherford?  Palo Pinto?  Waco?  Stay put?  We'll see.   In John 10:9-10 Jesus says, "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.  He will come in and go out, and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."   Father, you are the Awesome One.  Thanks for the hugs from Zak and Caleb.  It's through those grandkid hugs that I can feel the Father hugs you like to give.  Amen.

October 2 – “Short cuts”

Decision time came yesterday morning.  East or West?  Alabama or Points beyond in the far distant west?  Stay around here for another day?    The plethora of Corvettes and motorcycles made one choice easy.  It was nearly impossible to get around the town with all the extra vehicles, all vying for attention.  Chris figured out the perfect souvenir of the trip.  It meant we had to drive back through the town, wade through the motorcycles, and step over the corvettes to get back out to the passion play site.  She wanted to buy a pot made by the potter guy we saw.  And as it turned out, we got the very last one they had available until he brought them some more.  The one we got looks a lot like the one we saw him make, so it will be the perfect memory jogger.  But the drive finalized our intention to move on.    We did make a stop not far outside of town on the road west.  It took us about ten minutes to see a chapel some guy built mostly out of glass in the middle of the woods.  It was really tall and had a boatload of glass in it.  It seemed strange.  It was obviously a God church.  You were intended to look up when you entered.  But all the glass is usually a "Holy Spirit church" kind of phenomenon, causing your eyes to look around.  Interesting.    The other stop was some kind of overlook panoramic view.  The look was nice, but the real reason for the stop was the antique store right there.  Chris had been waiting for that opportunity.    So West it was.  We had to retrace our route to get down from the mountains, and the whole way we were still not sure where we would go.  I gave Chris the opportunity to go into Missouri.  At one point we were just a mile or two away.  But we had discovered that the Precious Moments haven was not where we thought it was, so we moved on.  West.  The AAA way.  The night before I got a Facabook message from my first college roommate.  David said he lived not far from where we were.  Ah.  An opportunity for a short cut.  Why not.    We pulled into Gentry, Arkansas, around 12:30, so we stopped at the McDonald's and called David.  When he answered I asked him if there was somewhere else to eat in Gentry besides McDonald's and Sonic.  He invited us to come on over to his house and he would take us into the big city of Siloam Springs for lunch.  His directions to his house were great.  "Head south.  At the bottom of the hill you'll see a sign that says, 'Eggs for sale.'  Just past that there will be a red barn.  Turn right between the sign and the barn.  That's our street.  We're the third house on the left, but I'll be waiting for you out front."  We found him and had a great meal in he huge town of Siloam Springs.  It was good to see him again.  It was also good to talk to someone else who has significant hearing loss.  He is retired on disability now, but is doing great.  Our only regret was that we didn't get to see his wife.  He assured us that the next time we come through Gentry we had a place to stay.  Next time.  Wonder if he'll be there ten more years.   Our next decision was whether to follow David's directions or AAA's.  We were hesitant either way, because we didn't have a map of Oklahoma.  We did stop at the Arkansas welcome center, but they didn't have an Oklahoma map.  So off we went.   We soon realized that we were no longer in Arkansas.  No signs or anything.  Just the huge casino proclaiming the awesomeness of the Cherokee Nation.  There was no Oklahoma welcome center because we were apparently not in Oklahoma.  We continued on the AAA route for just a few miles when we made a decision on the fly.  Let's go the other route – David's suggestion.    That's the kind of thinking I like on trips.  Feels like another short cut this way.  We whirled around and headed back.  As we moved along Chris checked the Texas map and realized something horrible.  "Wait!" she exclaimed.  "This is the way to Texarkana!"  Instantly my short cut reflex kicked in.  We were approaching a different little state road, so I put the blinker on as I began the turn and asked, "OK.  Where does this one take us?"  By the time she had an answer we were already on our way.  Not far down the new road we passed the corporate offices of WalMart.  Definitely a high point.  Then we noticed that we were on the Trail of Texas Auto Tour Route.  Texas?  Sure, why not?  We crossed over the Arkansas River and discovered that we were now in Muskogee Creek Nation.  Still no Oklahoma.  We stopped in the middle of somewhere for gas, and I went inside.  It asked the clerk, "Do you have a state map?"  "No," came the reply.  All we have is this."  She handed me a state map of Oklahoma.  Boy was that confusing.                                                                                                                                                     Just as we reached a sign that said "Texas – 19 miles," we hit construction.  Almost an hour later we finally crossed the border.  Texas.  WooHoo.  7:30 p.m.  Since it was dark already, the first real evidence that we were in Texas came as we drove through Sherman.  Off to the side of the road was a high school football stadium.  It was packed to the gills.  Texas high school football Friday night.  We stopped at a Sonic in some place called Van Alstyne.  It was empty, and the usual oldies radio station was playing … McKinney high school football.  Ah.  Texas.  We finally pulled into Mansfield about 9:30.   Psalm 143:10 says, "Teach me to do your will, for you are my God.  May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing."   Father, Thank you for firm footing.  That really helps when you live on a sand bar.  Amen.

October 1 – “The Play”

Yesterday was the culmination of our little jaunt to Eureka Springs.  We made our way to the site of the big play.  Actually we went out there in the morning because there are other things to do and see.  They have a little Holy Land tour set up.  You walk through this huge stone gate made to look like the wall of Jerusalem and down a path.  As you walk along there are several actors waiting to tell you their story.  The first guy was a shepherd.  He was an older guy who kept forgetting where he was in his story line, so he would repeat the same things over again.  Kind of added to his charm.  He explained what he did as a shephered and demonstrated his shepherd-esque weaponry (a big stick and a crooked staff).  Highlighted here was his pet cross-backed donkey.  It had a criss-crossed stripe on his back that looked like a cross.  It's a characteristic of that particular breed.  There's a legend that the donkey that carried Jesus into Jerusalem got marked at the crucifixion or something.  The second character was the woman at the well.  They had a replica of a well like there would have been in Israel at the time Jesus met the Samaritan woman.  She did a much better job telling her story.  Technically perfect.  The third site was a small house.  The woman there told the story of the Passover in Egypt.  She didn't seem to be reciting a canned presentation at all.  In fact by the time she got done, she was flat-out preaching about Jesus and the second coming.  The next site was the one I had come to see.  They have constructed a full size, by-the-book (Bible) replica of the tabernacle the Israelites set up when they were wandering in the wilderness.  The character who explained it was one of the priests.  This one was very well done, and the tabernacle itself was great.  It really made the size of the structure come alive.  There was a brazen altar set up with a real fire burning under it.  The crudely built structures for holding the animal to be sacrificed were interesting, but I didn't see any goats around.  They had cut windows into the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies so we could peek in on what only the priests were allowed to see.  At this point we had been there over an hour and it was only half-way done.  They still had Ruth at a threshing floor, Peter and a fishing boat, a community well, a storage thing that you would have to crawl down a ladder to get to, and a mini-Golgatha scene.  Honestly, we skipped the rest to come back into the city.  Is that like skipping out on part of church?   We were going to spend the afternoon walking around the town.  We waited for the trolley for twenty minutes or so in front of our hotel.  Never did arrive.  We got tin the car and decided to do the town on our own.  First things first, though.  Lunch.  We went back to the same little place we ate at yesterday.  Grandma's something or other.  Great soups.  Last time we had baked potato soup.  This time Chris went with their signature beans and cornbread and I got their pot pie.  Good stuff.   We did drive around the town for awhile, but never stopped and got out.  We decided that living in Galveston has really steeled us against the offerings of a tourist town.  Chris said if she bought anything, she would want it to be something unique to Eureka Springs.  So maybe we can pick up a bottle of water on our way out of town?   The actual passion play was last night.  We stopped at Subway on our way and then found what was supposed to be an out of the way scenic overlook of the city to have a picnic.  The overlook was there, but the trees had gotten so tall we could only see a little bit of the city.  A couple of ladies stopped and one of them commented, "I remember when you could see the whole city from here.  They should come out and trim the tops of those trees."  Trim the tops of the trees.  Hmm.  The thing that popped into my head was Chris warning me not to trim the top off her crepe myrtle tree.  Unless they come in with an upside down helicopter, I don't think that's going to happen.  Food was good, though.  Hanging out with Chris was better.     Our play tickets included admission to an art museum.  The highlight there was the section that had paintings with hidden extras you could look for.  We had some fun with that, and even bought some of the replicas to bring home.  We also got into a Bible museum.  I think most everything in it was stuff we could see at the museum at Houston Baptist University.  I think it's probably better displayed at HBU, too.  It was interesting, though.   About an hour or so before the play began we sat in on the pre-play play.  First a young guy in biblical garb came out and did a presentation as if he was a shepherd named David whose father had been one of the shepherds who heard the angels announce Jesus' birth.  He was a lot of fun, and passionately loved Jesus.  He did a great job telling people how to become believers.  He even told the story of David and Goliath almost the same way I did.  Only he just told it once.  He also demonstrated how to throw rocks with the sling he made himself.  That looked like a lot of fun.  So much that I bought one.  Watch out all you Goliaths.   He was followed by a guy who formed a vase out of clay using a first century potter's wheel.  As he worked with the clay he talked about how it parallels what God does for and with each of us.  Tremendous presentation.  He was passionate about his craft and even more so about Jesus.  This was by far our favorite experience so far.  Chris said one of those jars would be what she would consider a "unique to Eureka Springs" souvenir.  We couldn't find where they were selling them, though.  Maybe next time.   The play began right at dusk.  We found out that the play changes a little every year.  Instead of being a harmony of the gospels, they focus on one gospel story each year.  This year happened to be the gospel of John.  That just happened to be where I am reading in my quiet time.  We sat on the side of a hill in fairly comfortable chairs overlooking the set on the side of the adjacent hill.  It was quite an elaborate setup of Jerusalem.  A city street with sheep running through and people leading camels (or in one case the camel leading the person).  The tomb of Lazarus.  The Garden of Gethsemane.  The hill of Calvary.  The tomb of Jesus.  The play was good.  The actors are all people who live in the city.  The dialogue is pre-recorded so it can be heard, and the actors lip synch.  That part is not too distracting, though, since you are too far away to see their lips anyway.  My favorite part was the ascension.  They have a huge zip line setup, and he actually rises up and disappears into the … trees.  It works.  It's dark.    Chris said yesterday that she was happy with the vacation.  I reminded her that we've only been gone a few days.  This is really just the start of vacation, isn't it?  Today we get to decide where we go next.  We realized that Branson, Missouri is not far from here.  That's Precious Moments heaven or something like that.  We went there one time, I think.  If not there, then I guess we'll head back to Texas and get started on that relaxing thing.   John 20:19-20 says, "On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you!'  After this he showed them his hands and side.  The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord."   Father, I felt some of that joy last night, especially with the potter guy.  I look forward to your peace.  Amen.