19 Years!

Our anniversary trip to Germany to see the Passion Play (a once a decade event) was cancelled due to COVID-19 and so we suddenly had a thought that maybe we could go back to where it all began.  Back to where we met and stay at the bed and breakfast that we stayed in the night we got married. 

So we checked and they were reopening two days after our anniversary.  So we planned to go for two nights to Messina Hof in Bryan/College Station, Texas.  We weren't able to stay in the Romeo and Juliet Room which is where we stayed on our honeymoon night.  Brian chose the Camelot room.  We had a complimentary wine and cheese each day and had reservations for the first night at their restaurant and the second night at Christopher's, an old favorite when we lived there for anniversaries and special occasions. 

After arriving we got settled, dressed up a bit, and went straight over to the winery to have our wine and cheese until our reservations for dinner next door.  Our waitress was fun and we ordered an a three coarse meal ending with our old favorite, the hot fudge ice cream with Port poured on top.  After dinner, the sun was setting and so we decided to stroll through the vineyard.  We didn't ask per say if this was allowed, but there were no signs and no one stopped us.  So off we went.  We turned around and came down a different row back towards our room and I thought I stepped on a branch that got caught on my foot.  I instinctively tried to shake it off, but my brain notified me that we hadn't seen any branches big enough for this to be a branch.  I looked down and back at what I had just shaken off my foot to find not a branch, but a big old snake!  It coiled up and slithered away before we could get a good look at the pattern.  Let's be honest, I took off toward the path and alerted Brian that a snake bit me.  He tried to see it, but it slithered away quickly.

Messina Hof Restaurant

Carefree sandal wearing me, before I learned the value of the cowboy boot.

You can't see the bottom teeth marks well in this picture.  These were pretty new shoes.  I am wondering how long it will take before I stop thinking of them as my "snake bite" shoes.

All I saw was a coiled up snake in the shape and size  of a plate that was the same general colors as the grass and dirt, a brownish, greenish, grayish snake.  We heard no rattle and it didn't hurt badly so although we quickly went to our room to wash it and make sure there wasn't any reaction, it seemed like it wasn't a poisonous snake.  We googled all the poisonous snakes in the area and it did not seem like those were what we saw.  Out of the 36 snakes common in this part of Texas, there were only six poisonous ones.  Of those all but two are rattlesnakes and one is a coral snake which is distinctively bright.  The only one left is a cotton mouth and we were pretty sure it was not wet enough for those there.  Still, I was fairly freaked out and we watched the wound and my heart rate for an hour just to be safe.

I survived, though it did put a damper on our first evening.  The next day we took a walk down memory lane, starting with Mass at the Church where we received our First Communion and Confirmation in 2004 when I was just barely pregnant with Hannah.  We drove by our first house and the hospital where Hannah was born.  Then we ate lunch on Northgate and walked around the A&M campus.  We went to the first place we met, the first place we kissed, our old dorms, the Century Tree, and many other smaller memorable places.  It has been so long, and so very much has changed. 

FHK

Where we first kissed almost 23 years ago!

Century Tree

The Secret Place

They moved Fish Pond across the street.

Our first house

After we got cleaned up we had our wine and cheese tasting before going to dinner.  That night we ate at Christopher's, and Brian had a special vase of beautiful roses waiting for me at the table.  It was delicious and just how I remembered it.  The last time we ate there was Valentine's Day 2005, when Hannah was just a few months old.  I remember it well, because we ended up moving to the porch seating since Hannah's usual cheerful self wasn't very cheerful that particular evening.  I am sure we hadn't taken her to many restaurants since we were a zero income family for those last six months of vet school.

That was about it.  Other than being bitten by the fourth snake I've ever even come across in the wild in my entire life, it was a terrific weekend getaway.  I certainly learned my lesson.  Never go for a walk at sunset in Texas without cowboy boots on!  Sandals

I will say though that the snake did prove to be a bad omen of sorts as bad news started to befall us on the drive home from our trip, kicking off with a text from our landlady that she was going to raise our rent 10% in August.  Real life hit us smack in the face by the time we were home.

Confirmation Day Finally Arrives

 It was scheduled, and then it was rescheduled.  It was a public Mass, and then it was a private Mass with only three guests per child receiving the sacrament allowed to attend.  In the end though, it all worked out, and it was a beautiful Mass.  Our oldest four children were able to receive the sacrament of Confirmation on the same day, June 14th, 2020.  In our parish, the children typically receive Confirmation and then First Communion in the same Mass in 2nd grade.  Now we are all caught up and ready to start preparing Judah to receive both next year.

Our oldest four ready to head to the church

Two of their sponsors were able to come despite all the craziness with the virus.  Isaac's and Drew's sponsors spent the weekend with us.  Hannah and Genevieve had a proxy stand in for their sponsors. 

We had to be there 45 minutes before and the Mass was a full two hours long with the bishop present.  We were there right through lunch, from 12:15 - 3:15pm.  The little boys were so very good even though they were thirsty the entire time.

 After Mass, we picked up Duck Donuts and headed home to eat spaghetti for dinner with our visitors.  We opened presents and I was so happy that my gifts did arrive on time despite initially telling me they'd be a couple days late.  I drew each of their patron saints and used markers to color them in nice and bright.  Then I ordered them on mugs from Snapfish.  They turned out very nicely.

Hannah's Confirmation saint is St. Dorothy of Cesarea

Genevieve's saint is St. Catherine of Siena

Drew's saint is St. Edward the Confessor

Isaac's saint is St. Francis of Assisi

Here are the mugs...

My husband liked the finished product so much, he now thinks I need to start an online business of religious drawings on t-shirts and mugs, but I wouldn't know where to start.  I told him that I hate the post office, and he said he'd mail them for me.  :)  I'm thinking I am not tech savvy enough for this, but maybe one day I'll find the time to try my hand at it.  For now, I am keeping very busy with a big surprise "project," for lack of a better word. 

The New Normal

Things are slowly opening and raising their capacity, so life is picking up the pace a tiny bit.  However, my co-op has completely cancelled for all of next year which means we are far from getting back to normal.  Many are wondering if this is the new normal.  I love the slower pace of life.  I love being with our family altogether so much.  It will be sad though if we can't have any big gatherings for a year or more.  All I can say is Jesus, I trust in you.

Our Marigolds (grown from seeds, for my Botany class)

Our green bean plants are struggling.  We've only harvested five beans.  :(  I should've stuck with tomatoes and peppers.  

The kids are trying to help me more in the kitchen.  A couple weeks ago we had a super fun menu for the week and Isaac helped me with these Cowboy Calzones (by Pioneer Woman).  He made the dough and I made the filling.  We filled them together in an assembly line.  They were a big hit as was the Marlboro Man sandwiches that Genna helped me with earlier in the week.  The next week Isaac made the same pizza dough so and we used them for homemade pizzas. 

Then we picked up rocks from the neighborhood rock garden and painted them before returning them, a little neighborhood beautification project.  Everyone loved it and can't wait to do it again for Aunt Kristen's house since they soon discovered that she has the same rocks in her yard.  I have to admit most of the kids were so happy with their results that they wanted to keep the rocks for themselves, but we told them that would be stealing and we should share their talents with others.  They were a little taken aback that we'd consider that stealing...a few rocks?  But, alas, the rocks were returned in the end.

I mostly verbally helped with these rocks, but I did help with the star a bit on Drew's Captain America rock.

Bob called his a "stained glass" rock and Judah's was Groot.  I helped Judah with the lines on Groot.  I was so proud of Bob!  All I did was paint the border lines.  He is so precise with his coloring and painting for a four year old, in my biased opinion.

Hannah did the Northern Lights.

I did the M&M one because I thought the idea was super clever that I found online.  Genna's is the long, skinny sunset.  Isaac's is the other night sky.  I didn't help my big kids at all other than explaining how to layer and blend the colors.