My wife and I are doing the snowbird thing backwards.After a snoy Maine winter, we are spending the month of July in Texas.  This isn't because of our love for extreme weather, but rather because, both beig teachers, this was the best time to come to the Lone Star State and spend time with two of our daughters.  Our oldest lives in suburban Austin, and our youngest lives in Houston. This is, in a real sense, our first true vacation in decades.  We've travelled a lot, and included a lot of sight seeing in these trips, but they have usually been in the context of short term missions.  Although I am doing a few shows here, that is secondary to just relaxing and spending time with two of our girls.  

Our sightseeing has included two Texas must-sees: the Alamo and NASA.  One Sunday afternoon, Our daughter, Jo, and our son-in-law, Sam, brought us to San Antonio to visit the Alamo.  Many people talk about how disappointing it is, since it is quite small. I think its size it part of what makes it amazing.  That less than 200 men could put up such a strong fight in such a small fortress (which wasn't designed for battle, but for church services) against what was then a world power - Mexico - makes it all the more impressive.  Furthermore, while the chapel was fairly small, the mission grounds was rather large.  On these grounds was the Alamo museum, where we saw Davy Crockett's rifle; Bess was actually a type of gun then, so the nickname Old Betsy was that much of a stretch.  We saw demonstrations on how flint locks worked, how fire was started with nothing but flint and charred cloth, and a lot more.  An intriguing side note is that much of the museum's collection was recently donated by Phil Collins, who previously had the largest private collection of Alamo items in the world.  Apparently the 1950's Disney movie was just as big in England as it was in the states.

NASA was equally impressive.  We spent five hours there!  It brought back a lot of memories as we saw the displays of the Apollo missions, Skylab, Challenger and Columbia.  A curator explained in detail how Apollo 11 actually worked.  I never knew the lunar module was different from the space capsule, or that the return trip was easier because the moon hs less gravity (which I knew) and that the earth's gravity basically pulled the capsule back 'down' shortly after it left the moon. I was also reminded of the near hysteria of when Skylab was returning to earth's atmosphere. A fellow camp counselor spent July 11, 1979 wearing a helmet in case it chose Vermont's Camp Wapanacki to crash land.  But what might have been the coolest part of our time at NASA was hearing a space shuttle astronaut speak in the theatre for half an hour.  I also need to mention the small display on juggling in space (See viseo here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mly3plAiTsQ )  

On another afternoon in Austin Jona-Lynn brought us to a local art gallery.  It has the largest gallery display of Dr. Seuss work in the world.  We saw sketches and idea boards that later became very familiar pictures in his many books.  We also saw some of his adult work, such as "Booby Trap" (see it here:  https://www.drseussart.com/secretandarchive/booby-trap ) and a cartoon in response to one of Gerald Ford's State of the Union addresses. In addition to Seuss's work, there was a display of Salvador Dali's work.  I was particularly struck with "Out of Egypt I have Called my Son"  (see it here:  https://www.1stdibs.com/art/prints-works-on-paper/abstract-prints-works-on-paper/salvador-dali-out-egypt-i-have-called-my-son-biblia-sacra-salvador-dali/id-a_2700781/ )  Famous for having said, "Mathematics and Science tell me that God must exist but I don’t believe it," Dali apparently returned to the Catholic Churh in 1949.  This painting haunting showed the spiritul warfare going on in the unseen world even as Joseph endeavored to protect his Holy family in the physicl world.  In addition to Seuss and Dali there was a lot of other fine work form lesser known and local artists.

But sightseeing has only been a part of how we have spent our time in Texas this month.  The best part has been spending time with family.  Jo and Sam are a beautiful couple, and the more time we spend with them, the more we are convinced that our girl married her Mr. Right.  We have gone to their church with them - and one Wednesday night without them- and enjoyed normal life of shopping, swimming, and playing card games.  Sam goes to work each day, but Jo is also a teacher, so she's home each day.  She is in grad school this summer, which is all done remotely, so her mornings are full.  This allows me to get up and juggle in their yard before it hits triple digits.  Sue and I then go for a walk around their neighborhood most mornings, which may be my favorite part of most days.

Last night we had a different experience.  We went to a going away party for a friend of Jo and Sam's.  Her name is Erica Cruz, and for severl years we have been praying for her.  Sue has set an alarm for 7:00 PM to pray for Erica, and that prayer time has grown exponentially over the years.  Jo asked us to do this when Erica was diagnosed with cancer.  Altohugh I don't remember all the details, I know she was in a coma for a period of time.  When she came out of the coma, her memory was severely effected.  There were times of total amnesia, times she thought her husband was her old high school boyfriend (that must have been so painful) and times when she only spoke Spanish.  Slowly her memory has been restored, the cancer is in remission, and, still in her 20's, she has been accepted at a Bible college in Southern California!  We finally got to meet her, and she is just the sweetest person, as is her husband.

We have gone to Houston twice in order to spend time with Rose, and her boyfriend, Temi. They'll be coming here next week for Sue's birthday.  It's such a blessing to see this girl raised in rural western Maine maneuver the freeways of Houston and thrive in an urban environment.  Her apartment complex is literally in sight of the Astrodome and the Texan's new stadium.  The complex is a beautiful, gated neighborhood with two pools, a gym and multiple picnic areas.  Most of the residents are young adults including many young families with little kids.  She is a mile away from where she works at Houston's Women's Hospital.  Perhaps my favorite part of our time in Houston has been the two times we went to church with her.  It is very representative of the area she lives: a lot of young adults and families.  While it is definitely multicultural (the two pastors we heard were African Americqn and South Korean respectively.) the largest segment of the congregation was Black, with many Whites and Asians as well. More importantly, it was a welcoming, caring group of people.

I have done a couple of shows, one of which I already blogged about.  I hve three more this last week that we are here, and eventually I'll write about these as well.