FALL TEXAS TRIP: Day 19

We had such a nice day today. I'm going to just quickly tell you about it and not take too much time with the narrative, because Livie is waiting to play a game of Bananagrams with me ~ she and I played a game last night and it was a very close game. I think Sabrina is going to join in on the fun tonight ... but first, about our day ...
Jackson helped make our french toast breakfast this morning ... he's very good at flipping the bread over ...

Karis set the breakfast table beautifully ...

We tried to get some good pictures of Karis in her pretty new dress from Mexico ... she wasn't completely a willing participant!

She looked so pretty in her dress this morning, didn't she?

And look! Look what I found on the window outside of Andrew's office this morning! The family had gone to church early (because they have all sorts of service kind of duties there) ~ Grandpa and I drove separately. I snapped quite a few pictures of this praying mantis as we were walking out the front door to our van. I've never had the opportunity to take a picture of a praying mantis before ... I was SO excited.

This Sunday was a really important Sunday in the life of Hill Country Bible Church, Dripping Springs. First of all, they have been a community of believers one year now (last week). This week was their first Sunday in their new facility ~ and this is the cake one of the members of their congregation made for the occasion. Beautiful. The tree emblem is the logo for the church.

There is still a lot of work that needs to be done in the building to fix it up and make it more comfortable for people ~ but everyone was really glad to be there today. Pastor Jason's sermon was kind of a review of the past year in the life of this new church. I loved his emphasis on authentic Christianity, and living life between Sundays ... as well as partnership versus membership; i.e. church is not a club we join for the benefit of ourselves, but a place we go to serve God and others.

Their new facility is actually a renovated pharmacy next door to a grocery store in Dripping Springs. There is a daycare facility across the parking lot that offered their space for Sunday children's classes ... perfect!

The grade school children joined us late in the service with their "shakers" and helped us worship. Jackson was so happy to be a part of this big day.

Here is Olivia avoiding my camera ... but see her pretty necklace from Mexico?

Another good picture of Olivia and her friends! These boys are really sweet ... and someday Olivia will probably be good friends with them ~ for now, she avoids them like the plague.

When we arrived home from church ... horray ... the praying mantis was right where I left him. I grabbed a container and swooped him up thinking the little kids would get a bang out of seeing such a wonderful creature ... but ... no thanks, grammy! "Bugs are gross!"

Here is a sweet sweet picture of Livie and Karis ... two beautiful granddaughters ... darling in every way!

Since no one was terribly interested in my praying mantis, I carefully placed him in Sabrina's flower garden ... and look at the pose he did for me!

Isn't he the coolest thing?!!

Since Olivia's birthday is 8 days from now and we are NOT going to be in Texas still ... we took her shopping this afternoon to see if she could find something she wanted for her birthday. This picture was taken in Target on the chair she purchased for her room! It looks great in there. I took a bunch of pictures of Olivia and her room, but I'm saving those for her birthday post next week.

We spent a little time this afternoon enjoying a movie together ... Home Alone: New York ... and we laughed until our sides ached!

And then we put some candles on Olivia's brownie, sang her a beautiful birthday song and ...

... she blew out her candles! I cannot believe she is turning FIFTEEN next week ...

Well, it's time to play Bananagrams before Olivia has to get to bed ... she gets up tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m., so she'd best get to bed before too late. Tomorrow, grandpa and I are back in Bandera. Hopefully, we'll tell you all about our day tomorrow night from the hotel.