post-Christmas

Well, it's just about all said and done. I've unwrapped gifts with family in Montgomery and Sweeny, did some heavy jammin on the drums 'til 2:00 AM with the cousins in Baytown (almost Houston), and rode the horses with the other cousins in Spring Branch (Houston). Hey Patrick, I'd drum for your band any day! Emily, I'm not sure you could pay me enough to shovel out the horse stalls!
Now I'm heading home tomorrow to prepare for Chile. I just hope my car makes it back, the brakes seem to have started grinding a little. Not good.
And so not to disappoint anyone, here are a few photos from the last few days. Didn't take them all myself, so fortunately I don't have to take credit.

Ahh...there's nothing like the house decked out for Christmas.

It seems to me that my pile of plunder has steadily become smaller over the years. I guess people just don't realize that I still want G.I. Joes and Transformers!

Somebody thought they were clever when they bought this! Harhar. It seems that my fate will forever be intertwined with my spiky-haired counter part.

They say that my nephew is the spitting image of me at his age. Well... at least the spitting part might be right.

Here's me and grandma losing a game of Cranium. There's just no justice in this world sometimes.

But enough now of my laborious postings. For now, good night, and may you never forget the meaning of Christmas. Thank God for his mercy.

I will be driving all over Texas for the next few days. I've been at my parents in Montgomery and today we drove down to my oldest sister's house in Sweeny. My cousins on my dad's side are back in town from New Mexico and England, so I'll be driving to Baytown to see them tonight. And tomorrow I'll be in Katy to see the other side of the family. Then I'm back to Austin on Monday. I've got to repack cause I'm leaving for Santiago, Chile la manana despues. (never have figured out how to type the letter enya)
I've been getting pretty excited about my trip. It can be a little discouraging sometimes cause I tend to think, "What can I possibly do?" Especially since the group is too large to be effective in my opinion. But I know that God will work his plan despite our best efforts to spotlight ourselves. Really, my hope is that the lives of many Chileans will be opened to God without them even knowing that I was there. That would be awesome. Alas, I still think that it will be hard to miss a throng of 15 Norte Americanos bumbling about the city.

Merry Christmas!! You know you're growing up when you wake up on Christmas morning at 9AM and you don't get around to opening presents until 11AM. I've been putzing around the house for over an hour, putting on Christmas music, lighting a fire in the fireplace, trying to roust my sister out of bed, etc. If Christmas morning isn't manic, at least it's relaxing. I guess at some point we start carring what we look like in those Christmas morning pictures that our grandkids will eventually look at. I remember the days when I would have gladly ripped through my presents in my underwear and have been proud of it! Now we all have to get dressed up, look in the mirror, and brush our teeth.
The Christmas Eve communion service at my parents church last night was lovely. It's awlays my favorite service of the year. We got there late and nearly had to stand up in the back the whole time.

"Long lay the world in sin and error pinning,
'til he appeared, and the soul felt it's worth.
A thrill of hope, a weary world rejoices
for yonder breaks a new and glorious dawn.
Fall on your knees, oh hear the angel's voices
tonight divine, oh the night when Christ was born."

Merry Christmas and may the God of grace be with you and your family.

Went to Barnes and Noble last night with my roommate and his girl. That shot my Christmas budget to pieces. After picking up three different sets of books and forcing myself to put them back, I ended up buying two C.S. Lewis books and a leatherbound journal with one of those leather, wrap around chords. I love bookstores. I'll probably end up not eating next month, but hey... at least I can write about it in my journal. (small consolation)

Found some more photos to upload. I had forgotten that I'd had some of these. These two were from a roll I took on Campus at UT before I had a tripod. I thought they were kind of cool just a little blurry. The rest weren't worth anything.

Here is another one of Chase. Should have put it up with the last one.

Well, Christmas Eve is tomorrow. Time for Family, gift giving, and long hours on the freeway. How did Theodin, King of Rohan put it? "Awake fell deeds! Time for wrath, time for ruin, and the Red Dawn!" Ahh, I crack myself up sometimes. (but not very often) I just wanted to use that somewhere besides my AIM away message, which no one reads I'm sure. (as if anyone but my roommate is ever going to be reading this either)
Actually, I can't wait to see my family. It's been good to live in the same state these past few years and be able to see most of them from time to time.

After Christmas, I will be on my way to Chile! Yeah! A few of us from the Baptist Student Ministry (BSM) here at the ol Universidad de Tejas are heading down there to do a little recon. There are some missionaries there that have requested our expertise in evaluating and planning a later ministry project. (expertise...haha) Anyone familiar with the Beach Reach ministry down in South Padre during the Spring Break mayhem will be glad to know that there are both beaches and people to reach in Chile.We'll be working out of Santiago. The ironic thing is that I'm applying to go to Santiago, Espania (not Chile) as a semester missionary next fall. My family has a hard time keeping up with my travels. I just hope that they don't send all of my mail to Chile instead of Spain. Maybe I should pull a globe out and explain the difference.

Well, I must take my leave now. There are presents to wrap, miles to burn, and hugs to give today. It will be very full.

P.S. 'Postings for the next month or so are expected to be brief. My Dad is still in the Dark Ages and refuses to use anything other than his dial-up modem. He might as well be checking his email with 2 tin cans and a string. Consequently, normal postings would require more than 24 hours to upload.'

Hi. This is me. That's my mailbox.
And then there's the "British Jacket" as my roomate calls it.


This one was taken along time ago in the Yorkshire Dales, England.
My mates will never know that their backsides have been forever imortalized on the internet.


Chase, my bud from the 'ol Mo-Hill Dormitary here. This was his first time to visit Perdenales Falls. You can tell how excited he was. Seems that I remember him screaming something unmentionable as he almost fell in the water. No...I'm just making that up, but it would have been really funny. That has to be one of my favorite places on earth. Most people like it better when the water is high so that the falls are full. Not me, I perfer the dry season when you can crall down into all of the crags left behind.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth...

This will fall notably short of that acheivement.

I am hoping that this doesn't fizzle out into ridiculousness. Mainly this will be a place to post all (if any) photos that by the grace of God actually turn out. However, all browsers be forewarned, you will more than likely be forced to wade through some of my ramblings in order to graze the cornucopia of photographic ranting. If anyone in the entire world is still with me, tomorrow I will post a few photos that I happen to have lying around in digital format. Thank goodness I don't take my photography attempts seriously.