an overdue post- Arizona photo shoot

So way back in August, we spent some time with Kerri and Doug on our way home to Texas. It was quick, but the best 9 hours of the whole trip!

We managed to pull the cousins away from each other long enough to squeeze in a little photo shoot. Ker has a fantastic photography gig and I couldn't be happier with the outcome. Now that I've got a little decorating done at our house, I'm ready to order about a bazillion prints. Here's just a little sampling of what she came up with:

Check out the rest of her talent and services here. You're gonna want some of your own.

Thanks, Burch's for "the goods" and for such a fun visit!

letting go

Dear Brazil,

I'm breaking up with you. The separation just isn't working for me anymore. Have you noticed how ridiculously long my front page is getting? I couldn't bear the thought of parting with our last memories together and letting them fall away into the archives, so I kept you hanging on.

But let's face it. It's time to move on. I have a new life now. You changed me. You opened my eyes, you won my heart, and I'll never forget you.

Love, Me

For our final farewell, I leave you my favorite sand creation:

I borrowed this picture from Dixie's blog. I remember seeing this very sandcastle down the beach from us in Barra da Tijuca. We loved driving along Copacabana and Ipanema and admiring the amazing sand creations. At Easter time, someone created a sand rendition of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. It was amazing!

after the storm

The Texas sky just following the storm:

So, we successfully rode out our first hurricane. It felt like an earthquake, except it lasted for hours. It was a long and scary night for us first-timers, but thankfully the kids slept through it in our walk-in closet away from most of the noise and movement. Just as we were pulling the BBQ out of the garage to grill up some of our rapidly thawing meat Saturday afternoon, our power came back on after only 12 hours or so of being out. We were prepared for several hot days without power, but fortunately we have underground power lines and small trees. Despite some minimal damage, our neighborhood came through fairly unscathed.

We feel very blessed, especially as we watch the news of many of the other neighborhoods of Houston and the coastal cities and the extensive damage and flooding they have. School and work are canceled for a couple days at least. Our own suburb is scattered with numerous trees entirely uprooted, tree limbs down, debris throughout the streets, fences down, street and building signs knocked over, even a roof blown off a building. It also appears that most of the area still doesn't have power. It's crazy, and we're probably one of the better off areas. It's amazing how powerful the wind and water can be and all the spiritual/life analogies about storms, weathering the storm, being deeply rooted, etc. seem to have much more meaning to us now!

there's a storm comin'

So, we're earthquake folks. I've got those drills and procedures down but we're entirely new to this hurricane thing.

We're taking the crash course from the news media and preparing for this major storm headed right at us.

Although parts of Houston are being evacuated, we're being told to stay put and prepare for power outages and possible damage from winds and storm surge.

I'm sure we'll be fine. We're prepared. Maybe just pray for my kids who tend to flip out over mild thunderstorms.

So far we've convinced them that it's going fun spending Saturday (riding out the storm) camped out in Mom and Dad's walk-in closet (because aside from the bathroom, it's the only place in the house with no direct exposure to windows) all snuggled together with games, snacks, the DVD player, and maybe even FLASHLIGHTS!

Patriotism

As still fairly new Americans-back-in-America, we are basking in our status as patriots as opposed to

ex-patriots, a title I've never quite understood for Americans living abroad. (So we lived in another country for a time. It's not like we abandoned ship or anything, but whatever.)

Amid our sense of patriotism, we find ourselves wrapped up in current politics more than ever before and are stoked about this:

Along with our hearty helping of national patriotism, we're beginning to sample the local patriotism here in Texas.

Matt has an official TX driver's license.

Our van has converted too with new plates.

The Sequoia and I go in for our makeovers on Friday.

And we all laughed right out loud when Garrett told us that every morning in school they say the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the Pledge to Texas.

These people are SERIOUS about patriotism.

**Late addition** Matt wanted me to clarify some statements:

1) I misspelled ex-patriate. Maybe the correct spelling makes it sound a little less un-American?

2) We are STOKED about the enthusiasm Palin has brought to the Republican party. Honestly, McCain has never been our favorite. We wanted Romney. We like Palin though, and have a lot of respect for the woman. With feel much better now about our options going to the polls.

We are, however, getting a little tired of hearing the same soundbites from both campaigns, and want to start hearing more about the real issues.

Okay. Enough on that. On to the storm that's brewing...

round two

A quick forced picture and off he went,

Out of the car, never looking back.

Go get 'em, Big E!