My past two blogs have dealt with our current trip to Texas during which we are visiting two of our daughters, a son-in-law and a son-in-law to be. After spending two nights with our oldest in the Austin area, we retuened to Houston to finish out our vacation in Houston with our youngest. We woke up on Sunday morning back in Hoston for what would be one of my favorite days of the tip thus far.
I awoke early in order to juggle a little in Rose's yard before church and before the inevitable Houston summer heat got too intense. Then, after a shower and breakfast, we joined Rose and Temi, her fiance, for church. I LOVE their church. Living right in the city, it is a very diverse congregation, although definitely majority Black. The biggest differnece between their congregation and our little church back in Western Maine wasn't the ethnic breakdown, though, or the 200+ in attendance as opposed to our 20 + or -. The biggest differnece was how young their church is! So many young singles and young families- how refreshing. Additionally, the singing was terrific, and the sermon on Luke 11 was sound and engaging.
Perhaps my favorite part, though, was after church meeting so many of Rose and Temi's friends. Rose jokes about Temi's weekly "good-bye tour" after church. So many people welcomed us, especially when they learned we were Rose's parents. One man wanted to know who taught Rose to juggle so well (I was proud to answer that question!) Others wanted to know what Maine is like., and one man named Eddie is deaf. This gave me the chance to reach way back into my memory and dust off my sign language. We talked and I know he appreciated the effort. A middle-aged Latino man, we talked about the hot weather, baseball, and work (He works outdoors at the Houston Texans stadium- maintenance perhaps? My signing is rusty.). Interesting how these were the same things I would talk to my friend Byron about after church back home up until he passed away last year.
After the farewell tour ended, which was almost as long as church itself, Temi and Rose took us out to a Nigerian restaurant. While I don't know the names of most of the things we had, it was delicious and a lot of very new flavors. We started with two stews and mashed yam. One stew was darker and heavier than the other. I know there was tripe, goat and vegetables in one of them. Then we had a spicy rice and fried plaintains, followed by a roasted meat platter. This included: shrimp, beef, chicken, lamb, goat and ox tail. The seasoning was so unique and tasty, we had Temi take us to an African market to buy a couple of the same seasoned rubs to bring home.
After a restful time back at Rose's apartment, it was time for game seven of the NBA championship. The Houston Rockets are Temi's favorite team, so I have adopted them as mine as well. They were eliminated early in the post season, so in tonight's championship between Oklahoma City and Indiana, we were luke warmly supporting OKC. We enjoyed the very close first half, and then the OKC route in the second. All in all, a great Sunday from beginning to end.