Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways
acknowledge him,and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Time Away - Day Two

Sunday morning came bright and early and we got ready to attend church before making our way to New Braunfels, the ultimate destination on our trip.  The church we went to was very nice.  Different than what my family is used to, but nice.  They had a huge coffee bar area with tables and chairs, much like a library setting.  Very warm and welcoming.  I tried to take a picture, but it turned out dark.  Here it is anyway in case you want to experience the warm fuzzies I felt when I walked through.



My hubby had a great term for this church - - it was an "easy" church.  Not really a "meat and potato's" church as far as sermons go, but a few things stood out to me.   I couldn't stop myself from watching a young man who was sitting near the front of the church.  Well, sitting is probably not the most appropriate term to use.   This young man was literally hopping up and down and dancing in the aisle.  It was not uncommon to see one or both of his hands raised in the air.  It was as though the Holy Spirit was absolutely filling him to the top and spilling over.  He had not a care in the world....I was able to recognize the fact that this young man was possibly autistic.  I don't have a lot of experience with Autism, but his behaviors and mannerisms reminded me of a very special someone I know.  To watch this young man worship, so openly, did my heart tremendous good.  If only we could all be so uninhibited....

My eyes then took in a young woman off to my right...The Holy Spirit was definitely working on her as well.  As the music played, she was so filled with the Spirit that she literally could not stand still.  Up and down, up and down....hands raised as well.  It was definitely apparent she overflowed with love for the Lord.  And I thought I had the wiggles during our praise time at our church back home.  ;o)  Again, so open and carefree.  I couldn't help but admire this beautiful young woman.

The entire service lasted an hour and half.  The Parkers found themselves quite hungry afterwards and made their way to I Hop for brunch.  The restaurant itself was, ummmm, not so great.  My food was really good, but the guys weren't as impressed with theirs.  Except for Caleb who saw that a tube of yogurt came with his meal...."Ah, Ssswwweeetttt...," was his response to that!  LOL

We decided to make a quick escape from the restaurant and head to the San Antonio Zoo.  The entrance to the Zoo has the perfect photo spot.  Caleb had a good time, "running" with the lions.



It had been about two years since Caleb had been to a zoo (last time it was in Austin, Texas).  We really thought he would enjoy it since our recent and up-and-coming lessons for home school were all about wild animals.  Elephant, penguin, kangaroo, and zebra.  Much to my disappointment there were no penguins and if there were kangaroos, we didn't find them.  What we did find was the elephants and zebras!

The elephants completely cracked me up.  One of them was out front, munching on hay that was stacked in a pile in front of him.  From the background came another large, yet graceful elephant.  You can see in my photo the 2nd elephant approaching the first elephant.  In a moment of stingy-ness, the wrinkley, grey creature grabbed the pile of hay with his trunk and moved away.  As the 2nd elephant came close again, the 1st grabbed the hay pile yet again and moved away as though to say, 'this stack belongs to ME!"  It completely cracked me up.  Here's a picture of the two majestic critters, just before they fought over the hay.


Something else that I completely admired was an animal that I had never heard of nor seen before.  The Okapi.  It resembled the giraffe a bit, but had some stripes like a zebra, yet the body shape sort of mimicked the moose.  Sounds strange, doesn't it.  Well, I nabbed a picture - what do you think?


Unique, right?  It was fun to see and a very distinct reminder of how beautiful God's creatures actually are.  I used the term beautiful, but I'm not entirely certain that's the most appropriate word.  So, maybe going back to unique is what I should do.  I've never seen, in person, something quite so unique before.  Here's the sign in front of the exhibit:  they are found only in the Ituri Forest of Central Africa and are endangered and rarely seen.  They weren't even discovered until 1901!  Is that not incredible?!?



Caleb was so excited to see the hippo's, but all we could get was a picture of one of them under the water.  We learned that these bad boys will fight over water sources in the wild.  Especially during times of drought.  They need the water to keep them cool and when the water is drying up they will fight over what is available.


And the Zebra's....Caleb can not wait until we study Zebra's in school.  I think that will be in about a week, if school goes as well as I hope it does after we return from our trip.  These stinkers though, moved rather far away and were hiding behind the trees.  Not a great picture, but if you look closely you can see the black and white stripes.



A couple hours of Zoo time was enough for the three of us and we were quite glad to make our way back to the beginning and the exit!   We snapped a couple of pictures of each other before departing and of course Caleb wanted to take a picture of the fish in the pond.  I think they thought we had food because they swarmed around us in great anticipation




Okay, I know....we looked a bit red-cheeked and wore out.  The hot sun will do that to you....But what grand memories of spending the day with family.  On this very warm, spring day the A/C in the suburban was a much welcomed amenity!!

Time to make our way to New Braunfels, Texas.  Sweet, dear friends of our let us stay at their Condo at the Waterwheel Resort.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture on this trip which would have showed the beautiful new dining room set.  So, here's one from when we went last year.



A beautiful location with lots of fun things to see and do.  Our particular favorite is the on-site pool.  We especially love it when we are the only ones IN it!  LOL   Tonight though, our first night at the condo, we had to share.  Maybe tomorrow we'll have it to ourselves.  It wasn't bad sharing, but some folks are hard to share with.  And one particular little boy had it in his head that Caleb had stolen his styrofoam noodle.  Of all things!  I didn't realize this until after the fact.  I wish I could have explained to him that it had very happily ridden all the way up from Sinton, Texas in the back of our car.  I couldn't figure out why he was giving Caleb and I the stare down.  He didn't do that when Johnny was with us, but as soon as he left - glaring eyes.  It's silly if you think about it, but I guess he felt he was in the right!  Kids!



Here he's trying to smack dad with the wet ball!


Wear the little guy out with lots of swimming....and look what happens!!


Caleb was COMPLETELY exhausted and falling asleep at the table in Rudy's BBQ.  Our munchkin was more tired than I had ever seen him before.  No exaggeration.  I will forever treasure this photo.  Why?  Because there aren't a lot of moments where he lets me snuggle him.  I can't remember if I shared with you all or not how he told me I am NOT to snuggle with him anymore.  But, either way, this was a precious moment and I have to take them when they come.  And boy, did I!   As he slept in my arms, his arms and legs were twitching like he was still swimming around the pool.  Too, funny!

Back to the condo we went!  Watched some TV and then woke up with kinks in our necks from falling asleep in the recliner and on the couch.... What a busy day!  A walk through the Zoo, followed by some swimming will absolutely wear you out!!

Sweet dreams,
Pam

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