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.