Monday, September 29, 2008

Home Building Sojourn




Well, we have started the building of our first new home! What a blessing, a gift beyond our imagination. 2209 Plymouth Rock, in Heritage Parks, Abilene, TX. On Saturday, Sep 27, Cathie and I walked around the perimeter of the lot praying over the whole process Just after lunch today, Monday, Sep 29, the layout was laid out and by this evening the painted outline was on the ground and some of the forms already in place. Foy & Mitzi Mills went out to the lot with us today and prayed over the building process and for us making our home a place where God is glorified. The crew tells us that w/in 2 weeks our concrete will be poured. WooHoo!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Hope Talent

Honey and I just spent the evening with our Hope family. It was Pie or Talent night. Honey made a great pie, but we decided to dig out the juggling gear and give it a shot. It has been many years since we threw up together!!!
Earlier today we took out the juggling gear and began a psuedo-practice session. Oh, how the hands hurt and occasionally the face, or fingers, or foot when a pin, or machete, or short knife, or bowling pin, or battle axe obeyed the call of gravity. Probably more enjoyable than the juggling was the walk down memory lane as we laughed about the old juggling days. Grandpa Sam made or shaped almost all the equipment we were using.
  • The machetes were silver plated to glisten in the stage lights or sunlight.
  • He cut the metal to make the short knives and made sure they were balanced for spinning during a routine.
  • All of the pins were made from broom sticks and clorox bottles with colored reflector tape to make them gleam in the light.
  • The rings were cut out of sturdy wood and then carefully and tightly wrapped with white medical tape. One side of the ring was colored red and the other white - this allowed for a color change during a routine. There are 2 sets of magnetized rings so you could make 3 color changes during a routine Grandpa made a nifty carrying case for each set and put round sheets of wax paper between each ring, thereby protecting the colored tape he used to decorate them.
  • Then the double-bladed battle axes. He made only 3 sets. One set for Sam Gainer - who juggled all around Texas (Daniel remembers seeing him perform at Bastrop High School in the early 70's). A second set for Michael Marlin - who juggled as a partner with Cathie (the first juggling pair at the Texas Renaissance Festival in the mid-70's) and then performed in Las Vegas and many other locations around the world. The 3rd set Sam made for his wonderful son-in-law, who spun them around and wowed the crowd almost 30 years after Sam made them.
  • How Sam took table legs and fashioned fire torches. He also made fire-eating torches from silver-plated marshellow pokers.
  • We also recalled how Bob Blau, a vaudevillian performer, came into Cathie's life when she was 13 and started her on the trail of becoming a juggler. Cathie then taught Daniel when they were both 19 years old and in college.
  • We certainly cannot leave out Grandma Joyce. She made multiple bags for carrying equipement. She sewed many costumes that we wore to perform. She went to as many performances as possible and always, always told you how great a job you did, even when you know you didnt perform your best.
We laughed and had great memories today as our older bodies again tried to amaze an audience at Hope church of Christ. And, we both know that in the morning we will be sore and stiff and laughing at ourselves.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

You said go, Lord? Leaving Aggieland for Abilene

Summer 2008 was a monumental time period for our family.  Our sojourn included the following:
  • Hannah graduating from ACU and moving home to College Station
  • Justin, Alison, and Cailyn moving from Abilene to Shelbyville, TN (and much of their belongings moving to College Station)
  • Daniel resigning from his TAMU Career Center position to take an ACU Career Center position
  • Daniel and Cathie putting their College Station home up for sale and finding housing in Abilene
  • Daniel and Cathie moving their household to Abilene and returning all of Hannah's belongings and some of Justin/Alison's belongings back to Abilene
  • Having our dear sister, Haley Edmiston move in with us during her Thai Team training
  • Moving Hannah to Tulsa to begin grad school at University of Tulsa
  • Sending Justin/Alison/Cailyn off to Costa Rica for language school
  • Cathie traveling back and forth during the first month of our move to close out her CSISD ticket manager job and to coordinate 3 weddings

Okay, that is just the key points!  In all of this the Lord has shown his faithfulness in ways beyond our imagination.  We were quite content with our Aggieland life, but had been tracking this opportunity at ACU for more than 10 years.  Kinda like working for 14 years for Jacob to finally get Rachel.  Cathie and I feel extremely blessed by the send off from our Aggieland family and the reception by our Abilene/ACU family.  There has been much opportunity for stress, laughter, panic, and surprises, but Cathie and I are often reminded that the Great I Am is the Great I Am.