my random thoughts

Dear Family and Friends,

A belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!  We hope that 2009 treated you well and that 2010 will be full of new mercies and blessings. 

It’s hard to believe that we have begun our third year in Houston, Texas.  We are far from becoming true “Texans” though.  Thus far, we have resisted buying over-sized vehicles, using phrases such as “fixin to,” calling all non-alcoholic carbonated beverages coke or buying a Republic of Texas flag.  Despite Texas' attempt to indoctrinate Alan with Texas government and history this past spring, we pretty much remain Virginians with one exception.  We've become yellow-bellied when it comes to the weather as we are in jackets when its only seventy degrees!  We can't complain though as seventy degree winters are quite nice.

We celebrated our fifth anniversary this past week which is another hard to believe.  At this rate, we'll be celebrating our 50th before we know it!  There has been some bumps along the way, but each year has truly been more fulfilling than the previous.  We both eagerly look forward to what the Lord has planned for our lives as we grow old together.

Pancho and Felíz are doing quite well.  They are as crack-headed as ever but have been fun and good little companions.  We couldn't imagine life without them.

Last year at this time, things at work were uncertain due to the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.  Alan's department was closed and thus he was transferred into a new department created post Ike.  What was directly caring for patients turned into an eight hour day desk job.  After several months of working behind a desk while locked behind bars, Alan had just about enough.  He finally started to apply to local hospitals closer to home.  By the grace of God, he busted out of prison in March when he accepted a job at a local hospital.  He is now working on a medical/surgical/telemetry floor and loving it.  Not only is it just ten minutes down the road but also a much better working environment with a lot of opportunity. He has already been awarded two bronze pins for patient recognition and is the co-chair for the hospital's Clinical Informatics Committee.  

Eda still loves her job.  It has been a bit of a change in pace this year as the school district decided to change from a block schedule to a seven period schedule.  This year she is teaching several pre-advanced placement courses in Spanish and has been recognized for her talent by being a finalist out of hundreds of teachers for the HEB Teacher Recognition Award.  The highlight of her year has been her role as the advisor to Clear Brook's CRY (Children Rights and You) chapter.  This is a national organization that fights for the rights of children.  Clear Brook's chapter has been involved in several community services including adopting local families to provide Christmas gifts and volunteering at the Boys and Girls Harbor.

Speaking of the Boys and Girls Harbor; we have had a couple opportunities to serve through our church and through CRY.  It is a temporary home for 4-18 year old children whose parents are not able to care for them for whatever reason.  These little guys are full of energy, smiles, and hope despite their dire circumstances.  We wanted so much to pack them all up and bring them home with us.  It is heart breaking knowing that most of them do not have a home to go to for Christmas. If you think of it, please pray for these little guys.  We hope to become more involved with this ministry over this next year.

We pray that God blesses you greatly in 2010 and that He shines His Light upon you.  We love and miss you all!

With Love,


Alan, Eda, Pancho and Felíz.

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Dear friends and family,

We hope this letter finds you well.  Last year when I sat down to write this letter, it was on our back porch under sunny skies and 75 degree weather.  Today, I am bundled up in my warmest fleece because its 34 degrees - For Houstonians, that’s cold!  Don’t fret though, they are predicting 72 degrees for Christmas day and we’re OK with that.

I guess we are officially Houstonians since we have been here just over a year now.  Pops helped to start off 2008 with excitement for us.  I got a call from him in the first half of January – he was in the hospital.  He had driven himself there the night before after suffering through five days of abdominal pains.  Turns out it was appendicitis.  They removed it just before his 80th birthday.  Within six weeks he was back to his old self working full time in his shop and as spunky as usual.  We are thankful for God’s healing hand in his life.

For Alan’s birthday in February I decided to kidnap him and take him to Austin to check out the music scene.  I guess I shouldn’t quit my day job since it was brutally cold and we just couldn’t get into the bar hopping, music scene.  Instead we both got nasty colds and spent the weekend running to wal-mart to buy cold medicine.  Happy birthday Alan…

For Spring break we were blessed to have Nana, Sally and Ashley come to spend the week with us.  We took in the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.  That was a great cultural adventure for all – Thank goodness Nana and Sally yanked me away from the pooping cow just in time!

The school year ended well and before we knew it our summer travels had begun.  We met up with our dear friends the Hamptons (the elder and younger ones) in San Antonio.  It was great to spend time with all of them and to take in the sights.  Shortly there after we embarked on a two week road trip with the dogs up to Virginia.  Along the way we spent some time in Savannah, GA sightseeing, Wilmington, NC visiting Alan’s little brother Ethan and in Monroe, NC with our friends the Quinns.  The time in Virginia went quickly, but we are thankful for all the friends and family we spent time with.

The big news maker for us has been hurricane Ike.  The school year had barely begun and we were out again for what we thought would be a couple of days for this “minor, category 2” storm.  We took my parents and the dogs and evacuated to San Antonio for a couple of days just to be safe. Thankfully my parent’s home was spared and they had power as soon as we returned.  We lost a tree and power for about a week, but the weather was cool and it was a good time to reflect on God’s goodness and provision. Many others were not so fortunate.  We were out of school for two weeks because there was no power, 39 of our 40 schools were damaged, many students’ homes were uninhabitable and there was simply too much debris for the school buses to move around safely.  The hospital where Alan works was severely damaged.  It took in about four feet of water.  We were very fortunate that he was paid for the time that he could not return to work, and that he still has a job.  Nearly 4,000 employees of that hospital system have lost their jobs.  Again, we see God’s graceful provision in our lives.  Things will not return to normal at that hospital and Alan plans to start the job search in January. All in all it’s been an adventurous and blessed year.  We even got some SNOW here in Houston a couple of weeks ago.  The kids were thrilled to make snow men (even though it required scooping up all the snow on the block).  It was a great way to lift spirits here during the Christmas season. Most of all we are grateful for God’s gift to us in His Son Jesus Christ this Christmas season.  For despite the circumstances of the word around us and the burden of our sins, God gave us redemption and hope by faith in His Son, Jesus, born to us 2,000 years ago.  We pray that you would be able to fully enjoy this most precious gift during the Christmas season.

With love,

Alan, Eda, Pancho and Felíz

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We hope this letter finds you well. As I write this letter, we have just come in from eating lunch in our sunny backyard. Today we have bright blue skies, low humidity and 75 degrees. We love the weather here! It does cool off here (30's some nights) and we have used our fireplace some, but the Fall offered beautiful weather and we don't miss scraping ice or shoveling snow!

2007 has been a full year filled with milestone events. We welcomed 2007 in St. Louis, MO with our dear friends Tim & Leslie Black at the Urbana missions conference. This was a great opportunity to hear about and explore what God is doing through missionaries in every part of the world, and to consider where we might fit in. It was also wonderful to spend time with the Tim, Leslie and other friends. It was there at Urbana that we felt God leading us to Texas for the next chapter in our lives.

The Spring semester was quite busy as Alan was finishing his final semester of course work and clinicals for his Associate degree in Nursing. While Alan had his nose in the books and was working, Eda was busy teaching and doing some long distance job hunting. The month of May was full as we traveled to Texas for Eda's job interview and Alan graduated. Yippee! Right after Alan's graduation, Alan ‘s appendix nearly burst and we spent a couple of weeks going back and forth to the hospital. Thankfully, he was able to take his NCLX exam right afterwards and pass on the first try!

By the time Alan had recovered and taken his exam, we had to move into high gear for finding a place to live in Texas. Eda was offered and accepted the job at Clear Brook High School in Friendswood, TX. We were simply amazed at God's favor when we came down on our home search in July. As we look back on it, we can see how He hand picked our first home for us. In a nutshell, we found what we had been praying for at the price, area and timing we needed. As if that wasn't gracious enough, the day before we left to return to VA, Alan attended a medical job fair which led to his current job placement!

The move went very smoothly, and we even had a week to get settled before our jobs began. Eda has "gone from darkness to light" as far as the teaching assignment is concerned. Clear Brook is large school (2,700 students), but things run smoothly and she has been blessed with her own classroom, 1 preparation and resources to teach with like books and paper! Alan has been working as a RN at a prison hospital within UTMB (University of Texas Medical Branch). We are so grateful for after 6 months, they will offer to completely pay for his continued education (tuition and books) as well as to pay him a full time salary in exchange for part time hours and taking classes. His job does require long hours (6:00Am to 6:30PM or later), and it is a 45 minute commute, but we believe its worth it.

We have been going to church at Calvary Chapel here in Friendswood. They have a strong missions mindset and Pastor Ron is almost finished teaching through the New Testament (He said its only taken about 12 years!). After visiting several churches in the area we were very thankful for a place where there is courageous expository teaching. In addition to solid teaching, we enjoy the musical worship team and the service they offer each week. Specific ministry opportunities have not arisen yet. If you think about it, please pray that the Lord will lead us to the specific ministry He would like us to invest this chapter of our lives into.

We have found homeownership to be fun, but it does require many trips to the local home improvement stores! We never knew how many gadgets you seem to need as a homeowner, such as lawn mowers, rakes, shovels, pruning saws, firewood, etc. In addition to acquiring a new home we have also adopted another Miniature Schnauzer. Her name is ¡Feliz! (which means happy), because her little nub of a tail is always wagging. You look at her and she is filled with joy as her little nub will testify. Pancho very much enjoys her company. They have a grand time chasing each other around the house and yard. In their spare time, they have become experts at emptying their toy box, stealing unattended food and taking their half out of the middle of our bed at night!

We would love to hear from you guys when you have a chance.

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