Austin and Lubbock

Alexa making cookies on our first morning in Austin.  Cookies were for the fundraiser that evening.  

Making appetizers.  Elisa, Alex's sister, is a big gourmet cook - so is her husband, Nick.  So they gave us really cool recipes and were kind enough to get them from the local food market.  This is sweet potato "balls" with coconut fritters.  Tasty!

Elisa and Alexa.  Those two women know Alex the best!  

The cookies came out great!  I'm sure you can figure out why we gave them shapes of kids :)

Tuesday evening fundraiser at Nick and Elisa's home in Austin.  This is the business cards that we passed out.  

Alex giving out the presentation.

Fielding questions

The awesome Austin group who came to the presentation.  A nice mixture of professionals, students, and visitors.  

Wednesday morning.  Prepping food for the big Thanksgiving feast!  Alex is peeling butternut squash.  

Nick, Elisa's husband - holding some kind of vegetable.  Try and identify it!  

Mexican train!  It was just the five of us on Wednesday.  Thursday is when the family would come for Thanksgiving.

The guests have arrived!  This is Ryan Bunge, Alex's brother-in-law.  He will be staying in Romania for five years with Alex's sister, Allison to work with orphans.  They were classmates/roommates at Sunset Int'l Bible Institute.  

Good ol times.  Jose is sitting, while Sean is on the right.  He lives with Nick and Elisa.  

Alexa and Alex decided to shoot pictures paparazzi style just as they came out of the door.  Funny reactions.

Jose likes the flashes of the camera!  

Someone's picture shy.  Or not?

Nick gives a pretty good show.  

We all went out to eat on Friday night.  We, for some reason, never took pictures of our thanksgiving dinner!  We were too busy eating!!!  This is downtown Austin, on Congress Street.  The capitol is in the distance.  

Very delicious.  Greek burger.  

The family!  We all had a lot of fun together.  Front row, from left:  Alex, Alexa, Jose, Nick.  Back row, from left: Sean, Elisa, Heather (Alex's sister), Ryan, Allison (Alex's sister), and Kathi (Alex's mom)

Identify them yourself!  

Mama's boy

12:03 am - and Alexa doesn't want a picture taken of her!   

The morning after.  Early Saturday morning we set off to go to Lubbock, Texas.  Red Bull, a gift from Sean, was a nice help!  

Alexa doesn't drink red bull, so she listens to her iPod instead!  She loves that thing.  

When you see the plains, windmills, and great blue skies, you know you are in West Texas

That's an oil drilling thing in the distance.  

A little pick-me-up for the last two hours of the drive.  

Sunsets are the best in West Texas because of the great sky.  

Sunday morning.  The church at Lubbock is listening to Alex teach Bible class.  This church is where Alex and Alexa went to Bible school - Sunset International Bible Institute.    

The sermon - preachin' about the mission trip.  

After church, we went up to the "Flag Room" so we could have a potluck.  This is where the morning chapel for Bible school meets every morning.  

amen to that!  

At the halls of Sunset, there are pictures of every graduating class.  This is a picture of the pictures of Alex and Alexa when they graduated.  They weren't married at the time so Alexa is known as Gulka!  Notice Allison on the right of Alex, and Brian Baell (minister at Phoenix church) next to Allison.  Jerome Dupuis, the guy below Alex, was also his roommate at Sunset for two years.  Conor Fox is just a good classmate :)  

Our hosts in Lubbock!  Hollis and Ernestine Maynard.  Hollis is a teacher at Sunset and taught many of our classes.  We miss them already!  

next destination:  Joplin, Missouri (Ozark Christian College)

Red River

 Hello Everyone!

I'm back with Alexa now!  So good to be with my partner again.  She's all better.  Will share more below.

Bear with the quality of the pictures!  Am still waiting on getting the recharger for the camera battery.  I am so stupid for leaving it in Mexico.

Pictures below are of my time in Tulsa a little in Texas.  Am in Austin right now.  The fundraiser for ODO is tomorrow night at my sister, Elisa's home.  Looking forward to it!

Ed Smart sent me the picture of us on our trip from Phoenix to New Mexico.  We were at KFC!  He's a good brother in Christ.

In Tulsa.  This is Tim Maynard and his wife, Kelli.  I stayed at their beautiful house for two nights.  Really enjoyed my time with them.  I know Tim through Hollis Maynard, my teacher at Sunset Int'l Bible Institute.  

Breakfast!  Love the mug.  

Autumn in Tulsa.  Beautiful colors.

I had the chance to meet up with Brandon and Katie of www.brandonandkatie.com - they are going to move to Ukraine for FIVE years!  We met up because we knew each other from Bible school and we would love to work with them in some way in Ukraine with deaf orphans.  Awesome couple.  They are staying in Tulsa until January, which is when they will fly to Ukraine.  

Brandon and I.  

After coffee with Brandon and Katie, Tim took me to a football game at the University of Tulsa.  His son, Matthew, came to join us.  We had a great time and Tulsa won!

The football stadium.  It wasn't exactly packed but still a good atmosphere.  

After the game, I went to Carl and Nina Moore, the minister of the church in Tulsa.  We were classmates at Sunset.  Both Carl and his wife is deaf.  This is a cool sign in their house.  If you can't read it, it says, "Pray a little harder.  Love a little more.  Get a little closer to God".  

Carl and Nina.  

Makin' the turkey for Sunday's potluck!  

Carl and his assistant, Lewis.  The church had well over 100 people in attendance that morning!  I taught class and preached about Operation Deaf Orphans that morning.  No pictures of me on the stage because my wife wasn't there to take them!  :)  

Didn't get to have a group picture - no camera!  Still waiting on the recharger cord.  We all had potluck.  One of the largest deaf churches I've seen.  

Had to leave the potluck fast so I could be in Dallas in time to pick up my wife!  She is all better, she has an infection and is on antibiotics.  Should get better very soon!  Praise God for this.  I didn't have time to change so just went down in church clothes!  

Da Road

Pet peeve is when two trucks block the road.  You got to turn off the cruise control.  You know what I'm talking about, don't you?  

Managed to get a picture of the Texas sign.  Really miss the Canon camera.  Only a few more days and you'll get better pictures! 

REUNITED with the wife!  Was very good to see her.  She had a long flight, but everything went well!  

We stayed in Dallas that night with David and Olivia Nelson and their cute newborn infant, Caleb.  They are also going to live in Ukraine for five years along with Brandon and Katie.  They are on the same team.  They offered us to sleep at their place in Dallas.  We had a great time with them, and am excited to work with them in Ukraine.   

David and Olivia and Caleb along with us.  They were also students at Sunset.  David and I took a few classes together.  He's from New Zealand, Olivia from Lubbock.  Looking forward to seeing them again in Ukraine.  

Caleb

Finally to Austin.  Three hour drive from Dallas.  This is Congress Street - notice the capitol in the distance.  Very cool city!  You can feel its vibe as soon as you arrive in town.  

Elisa and Nick, my sister and brother-in-law.  We are staying at their home for the week and for thanksgiving!  My parents and other sisters will come!  Looking forward to this relaxing week.  Tomorrow night we're going to have a gathering at their house for Operation Deaf Orphans.