Snow in Texas!

Well we might not have a white Christmas, but we had a white December 10th. Check out the heavy snowfall we had in League City. Sidney and Richie had a great time pelting each other with snowballs. What a nice treat!

Happy Thanksgiving

We wanted to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving. We hope you all eat too much and laugh too much! Enjoy your family even though they may get on your nerves at times. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family and even though we are spread far and wide. I am thankful to have each of you as a family member!

Please blog your Thanksgiving photos!

Now some of my family photos.....We finally confirmed Sidney this past Sunday. Her original confirmation date was the Sunday that Ike hit. Everything was beautiful, Sidney was wonderful and she did a great job. She had picked her bible verse before the storm hit and it really holds a great meaning for all of us now...Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." She sang "Day by Day" and there was not a dry eye in the whole place, well at least not in the first two pews!

Enjoy your holiday,

Love,

Alice

Galveston Update

I am sorry I have not blogged latetly to update everyone on how we and Galveston are doing, but internet is a precious commodity these days. We are staying in our RV in my very best friend's driveway in Alvin. We are doing fine adjusting to a new schedule, new school and a different life. We are cleaning out and up our house a little at a time. We could spend a thousand hours and we would still have much to do, so we have decided not to kill ourselves and get it done when it gets done. We would like to move our RV to our house as soon as we install a plug and sewer line to supply it. Sidney has started school at Bay Area Christian, where Richie is going. She has adjusted well and is really enjoying her new friends, she is not in any hurry to return to her old school. I started back to school this past Friday and the kids are returning on Tuesday. My school was not damaged, in fact on my board it still had Wednesday, September 10th. as the date. It was like stepping back in time when everything was safe and sound again.
Galveston is a mess and it will take years to get back to normal, but I have all the faith in the world that it will be back. Here are few pictures, they don't really show how truly terrible things look in real life, but they will give you an idea.
We have learned an important lesson from this disaster, and that is how important family and friends are and how unimportant material things are. As I sat in church today, my entire family sitting in line on our pew, I felt blessed and thankful that all I lost were things.
We would love to see you all soon,
Love the Prets

The Bard's Hometown

Hello, everyone. I am not sure if those of you in Galveston are even finding time or availability to check this, but I hope you are all doing well. We think of all of you often.





This past weekend, Benny, Ariell and Pelagia went to Shakespeare's hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon. We had a lovely time. It is very touristy. Shocking, I know! But there are lots of buildings surviving from 15th and 16th century. They are beautiful. On a whole, we prefer Banbury (and Banbury has buildings from that period too, but not nearly in the quantities!), but we were very glad we went. Besides, just the train ride there, though only about 45 minutes, was well worth the trip.

Oh, and the last photo was taken in front of the house that Shakespeare was born in.

Much Love,


Ariell

Safe and sound somewhere in Texas

We have settled into our third RV park, trying to get closer to Galveston. We are in Brenham at the moment with plans to move to League City as soon as possible. League City will probably be our home for awhile, close to Richie's school and Dickie's work. Galveston is in bad bad shape, they will not have power restored for a least 4 weeks. Tony did get to go to our house and we do have a house, and we are very grateful. We did get about 3 to 4 feet of water, which means we have lost half of our possessions. It really has not registered for me, not until I see it. I just can't imagine what my house must look like after the storm surge! My mom's house is also flooded, only she has lost 100 percent of her possessions. My brother, who works for a power company managed to get inside and he was overwhelmed by the destruction.
I have friends whose houses burned to the ground or where totally washed away. Possessions are nice and some essential, but all my family is safe and sound and both Dickie and I will still have jobs.
Please put us in your prayers.....we need patience, strength, wisdom and a little luck.
I will send pictures as soon as I can,
Love,
Alice

A little happiness...

Hello, everyone. With all the worry and stress of the last few days, I thought I would post some more photos. Some were taken here and some before we left. Obviously.

We are well. Benny is still really busy struggling to just keep up with all the work. He went on a retreat with the first years for a couple of days last week. Unfortunately, that put him even farther behind in getting ready for this week. It is sort of like being thrown in the ocean when you have only ever seen a river before... just similar enough that everyone assumes you know what you are doing, but in reality like nothing you have ever encountered and you are certain you will drown. Poor Benny!

Pela and I keep ourselves entertained with walks and a couple different parks. And, hopefully, our boxes will arrive this week and give us more to do.

Well, I hope this finds everyone well. We would love to hear from you all once everything settles down.

Much Love,
Ariell, Benny and Pelagia

Yikes Ike is headed our way!

Well GISD has cancelled classes for Thursday and Friday and we are packing as I type this blog. With the threat of maybe a Cat 3 or 4, we will be taking the RV and heading north. We have a space reserved in an RV campground just north of Huntsville and are trying our best to leave tonight. Richie and Dickie are working hard to board up the windows and glass doors. We have the gas tanks topped off and plenty of food. Please say a few prayers that our house and animals make it through with little or no damage. Also, pray that we don't get caught in a horrible traffic jam like the one during Rita.
We will let you know how we are doing as soon as we get settled.
Lots of love,
Alice, Dickie, Richie and Sidney

Hello, finally!

Hello, everyone. Sorry it has taken so long, but things are done differently here... We have settled in well. Benny started school this week... it's really, really different... He loves it, but he has had a difficult time so far. They don't coddle anyone over here, teachers included!

That all sounds so negative! We really do love it. There is always a readjustment phase when it is such a big move. You would think we would be pros at all this by now, but everywhere has its own challenges.

Alright, I am going to talk about what we love... It is so simple to find local and organic and vegetarian foods! It is awesome and it's cheap! There is a market twice- yes, twice- a week! There are tons and tons of little stores. They aren't as keen on big boxes here! They recycle a lot! We decorated our flat with old antiques from charity shops. Really cheap! Speaking of, they love charity shops! They are everywhere and represent all types of charities, mostly local. They walk a lot more. They are so friendly. Truly, the South has nothing on them. (you know the stereotypes of the English being painfully polite...) Oh, and we are going to Oxford, hopefully, next weekend and we are looking at either Edinburgh or France for Christmas. So, who's in?

Okay, before anyone buys a plane ticket... We did get bed bugs. (Although, I hear they are getting bad in parts of the States too.) But, yes, they are horrible, disgusting, foul little things! I hate them. But I think they are gone now. Oh, and the flight over is a killer! Awful! But if you must make the trip (and everyone should!) Virgin Atlantic treats you like you are staying at a nice hotel. They were wonderful!

Well, hope you are all well. It is so nice to have this forum to keep better in touch (thanks, Alice).

Much Love,

Ariell, Benny and Pelagia

Gretchen Wins!!!

Gretchen is the winner of the best blogger! She has sent pictures of her beautiful university and also of Ariell and Pella. Thanks so much Gretchen, I just love seeing those magnificient buildings. Now everyone else needs to get on the ball and send some stuff, especially those Europeans!! I have not heard a thing about how Areill and Benny are doing, hopefully they will get this blog and send some great pictures for us to see. Thought everyone would get a kick out of Richie dressed for his Jr/Senior prom!

Can't wait to hear from everyone.

Love,

Alice

Some pics I had of Ariell and Pela on their last day in San Antonio

Mizzou

I just thought I would let everyone know that I am doing well in Missouri. Classes start on Monday, so I hope I can get more into the swing of things once they start. I haven't downloaded any recent pictures from my camera to my computer, but here are some pictures of a couple of the building on campus. The buildings are all so pretty.

Trey, please sign in to our Prets blog and hit settings, go into permissions and my name should be listed as an author and next to it should be "add as administrator", click on it so i can add pictures to our blog. Hopefully, once you add me as an administrator, I can add others.

I hope everyone is doing well. Richie started his new school this week and he just loves it. He especially loves that there is no homework on Wednesday nights because it is a church night. Dickie and Richie are carpooling now and we will decide if they need to move into the RV later. I started work this week and have come home and collasped into bed each night, I am getting too old for first grade! Sidney starts on Monday and then we will only see each other on the way to the bathroom. Emily has had a two week break between summer school and having to move back for fall classes. She did really well going to school and working and hopefully fall semester will seem like a walk in the park!!! I can't wait to hear and see from Ariel and Benny and Gretchen, hope you are all doing well. I know Sandy and Rene' are probably having a rough time about now, hopefully this blog will help. Everyone needs to post at least once a week. Mark it on your calendar stick to it!
Lots of love,
Alice

Alice,
I should have told you thank you for all the work in setting up this blog page! I'm still learning how to even get to it to write everyone, but Gretchen has helped me so much! Thanks also for the delicious brisket! Jim and I loved it!!
Saturday Jim, Gretch, Peter and I went to Austin to move Trey to his new apartment. We had a great time, and his new place is quite a neat place to live. Here's a funny story that Dickie will LOVE! When Trey told me a year ago that he had this Asian guy (Mike) he wanted to room with, I asked if he was Christian. Trey assured me that he was. He told me that Mike had gone to a private Christian Lutheran school all of his life in Houston, which is true, he did. This weekend we met Mike's parents for the first time since they began rooming together a year ago. Well, his parents took us out to dinner, and during dinner I said, " So you are Vietnamese Christians?" The mom, Nancy, who is a precious lady, answers, " Oh no, we are Buddhists. We go to temple sometimes, but not every week. We go sometimes. We stay home sometimes because we have statue of Buddha in our home." I wanted to die!! (and kill trey!) they were not offended at all....Mike tells me that he has no idea why he went to a Christian school all his life, but he says he's never asked! He does go to a Vietnamese Catholic church with his girlfriend, and says his mom knows and is OK with it.

I took Mom to the spine unit to have a nerve in her neck burned (radioactive therapy, I think) Anyway, it's supposed to burn and kill a nerve that is responsible for much of her pain. I left her and daddy laying in bed...she was still pretty knocked out from the anesthesia. I will let you know if it helps her.
Ariell, Benny and Pela are settled in Banbury in a one bedroom flat, only a few blocks from the main part of town. Sandy has talked to her once. I will tell you more as I hear more.
Love you all,
Rene'

Alice & Dickie's Trip Home

Our ride home was uneventful, except for the rain storm that brought traffic to a slow crawl. We crept through safely and our car is now sparkly clean . We also found out on the way home that a tropical storm had formed in the gulf and is heading straight for Galveston. We are in the process of gathering all potentially airborne objects and stuffing them into our garage. We have filled our tanks with gas, gone to the grocery store and are trying to wash all our clothes in case we are out of power for a number of days. We have not decided if we are evacuating, too soon to tell. Rene' don't put up the blow-up mattresses just yet!!!!
We did have a fantastic time this weekend. What a great way to send off Ariell, Benny, Pella and Gretchen and celebrate little Gabby's birthday. Could we have stuffed in anymore fun than we did? I will add my final pictures from the weekend as soon as I am able.
Say a little prayer that we don't blow away and we will blog again soon.
Love
Alice

Rene's Feelings about the Weekend

What a weekend! To have 13 people under one roof and 19 people over for Gabby's birthday...it was awesome! I love my family and am thankful for each one of you!

Now for some dirt on the family which Richard has requested. When we were little, remember the forts we carved and played in, deep into the sand in the back of our house? That was dirty!

And remember how we played tag football in the street with Daddy and neighborhood kids. That was sweaty and dirty!

And remember how we had our beach camps where we would spend the night and play monopoly until we were all arguing? OK, that wasn't so dirty, but remember how we would go crabbing under the causeway? Oooh! That was nasty and dirty!

Is that good, Richard? Oh, that's not the dirt you were talking about?! Well, personally, I have great memories with all of you, good fun dirt!

Family is Love

In just a few weeks, members of our family will reside in five different cities, two different states, and two different countries; but we remain a family nonetheless. Family is not about location, but about fellowship and love. As long as we maintain our relationships with each other, our family will continue to stand strong. Some people say that biological relationships mean nothing, but I beg to differ. Being in the same biological family creates a bond, a commonality, that nothing and no one can replace. Through the thick and thin, sickness and health, poverty and wealth, we can continue to support one another. Some days may be harder than others, but we will love all the same. God has created the family in perfection, each member having its own role to perform. So it does not matter that we will have family members in Austin, Galveston, San Antonio, and Helotes, Texas; Missouri; and England. We are family because we love; and we love because we are family.