Christmas Day

We had a wonderful Christmas at my mom's house with most of the family there. It was great to spend some time with everyone. I got to practice with my new flash and take some great pictures of Kayla and Zada.

Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Luke 2:10-12

Commodore's Ball

TMCA had it's annual Commodore's Ball on Saturday night. Everyone looked beautiful in their formal wear. I debated on whether to take my camera and decided against it so I didn't get pictures of all the beautiful people!

I did get a little practice using my remote control and new flash for my camera. Here we are ready to leave for the ball.

8) And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9) An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10) But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11) Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12) This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Luke 2:8-12

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Snow in Clear Lake!

We actually had about 2 1/2 inches of snow in our area last night. We had fun playing in the snow and being thankful that we live in Texas where this occurrence is so rare that it's fun.

Storyville in the Snow

Dawn Treader in the Snow

Kat and Rene Staying Warm!


Our Little Frosty

Palm Trees with Snow!

Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while. ~Kin Hubbard

GREAT NEWS!

Troy just finished with an all day round of blood work and PET Scans and doctor visits. He already received the PET Scan results and the doctor has pronounced him once again - "NED" or No Evidence of Disease! No Cancer! The best news ever. Thank God once again for answered prayers.

Foggy Morning on Trinity Bay

Troy and Deana - Double Bayou 2008

Can anything be so elegant as to have few wants, and to serve them one's self? ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Samantha Graduates!

Troy's youngest daughter Samantha graduated from nursing school this weekend. We drove to Fort Worth to visit with Troy's mom and sister and then went on to Cleburne to watch Samantha be pinned as a nurse. She graduated and, not only received an award for perfect attendance, she was also honored as the most outstanding student in her class! We are so proud of her.

Nurse Samantha

Troy with his girls
Outstanding Student Award!

When you're a nurse you know that every day you will touch a life or a life will touch yours. ~Author Unknown

Kayla Joe

A grandchild fills a space in your heart that you never knew was empty. ~ Author Unknown

Thanksgiving / French Picnic

I do realize that this post is long overdue so to make up for it I'll make it a long post. It's been a really busy time for us. We leased our house so we had to move the last remaining "stuff" and give it away or put it in storage. My office moved to a new location after being in the same office for 15 years - that was "fun"!!! Plus we had be get ready for one of TMCA's big events of the year - The French Picnic!

The French Picnic is held annually on the banks of Double Bayou. We sailed (or I should say motored) over on Thanksgiving Thursday and our plan was to fry turkeys on the bank of the bayou. We left our Thursday morning and were quickly enveloped on fog. What an eerie feeling. It's kinda scary to hear a fog horn and know that it is coming from a huge container ship in the Houston Ship Channel.

Patrick and Krista on s/v Esprit Libre

Krista and Patrick - Ready for Fun!

s/v Anchor Management - In The Fog

We enjoyed our motor sail over to Double Bayou with Patrick and Krista on s/v Esprit Libre and Steve and Colleen on s/v Anchor Management. There were a couple of boats already there and a couple of boats behind us to we had about 8 boats there for Thanksgiving and we fried 3 turkeys and had a great Thanksgiving meal and a nice fire to sit around while everyone told lies!

Frying Turkeys on the Bank of Double Bayou

We had several days of great weather and it was lots of fun to dinghy around and just relax in general. There was a fire every night and new stories were told (some of them were even true). I helped Colleen hide a Geocache while we were there. The name of the cache is "Pirates Booty" in case you want to look it up. - http://www.geocaching.com/ - that's the only clue you get!

Saturday was the day of the French Picnic. We had wine and cheese and a good time. The fire was bigger than ever. I don't know if that applies to the lies that go with the fire, but I suspect that it does! We had a really great time and Troy played his guitar and sang for everyone. It was lots of fun.


Boats Along the Bank Double Bayou - Ready for French Picnic


The Campfire Gets Abandoned - Food has been Served!

TMCA's Cruise Captain for 2009!

Storyville on Double Bayou

While the weekend was a blast and we were all thankful to get away from the real world and get away from the aftermath of Hurricane Ike that many are still dealing with, we were reminded that the wonderful people living in Oak Island and Double Bayou are still trying to cope with Ike's aftermath in a very real way. Some are still living in tents as they wait for FEMA trailers to arrive. Our friends Jimbo and Ernestine (owner's of Channel Marker 17) are working to rebuild the bar / restaurant that we love so much. We spent our last night tied up at what is left of the Channel Marker 17 dock. It's really sad to see so much devastation but it is wonderful to see a community pull together to get through it all.

What Remains of Channel Marker 17

Oak Island Baptist Church - free water, food, clothing and ice with hot meals served daily

In case I stay true to form and don't post for a while - Troy has a PET Scan scheduled for next Tuesday (December 9th). Please say a prayer for him. We are expecting good results and it will be a relief to hear the doctor say what we already know.

I love this picture of Patrick's dinghy in the fog

Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love, to work, to play, and to look up at the stars. ~ Henry Van Dyke

Saturday Sailing / Sunday Moving

We finally got Storyville out of her slip on Saturday for her first post-Ike sail. There wasn't much wind but it was a beautiful day. Our friend and boat neighbor Stacy went with us and so did our friend John who is here visiting from Omaha. He was definitely enjoying our sunshine and warm weather. We saw our friends Steve and Colleen on s/v Anchor Management out enjoying the day too.

s/v Anchor Management

John (I bet he's glad he's not wearing a coat!)

Stacy

On Sunday we spent the day trying to get the last things moved from our house because we will be leasing it in the next couple of weeks. What a job! I thought it would be a simple day of moving the last big things out of the house like the table and entertainment center and bedroom furniture. I conveniently forgot about all the Christmas decorations filling the attic and a whole closet full of clothes and other "stuff". The only thing that made the day fun was getting to see the girls. All of our kids were there except for Samantha. Thank God for sons in laws. They really come in handy when it's time to move big stuff. It was great to see everybody and to see how big Jessica's baby bump it getting. His name is Caleb and we expect to see him in late January.

Jessica and Caleb


Shawn
Tori

Amy

We have a wonderful friend Dave who was diagnosed with colon cancer last week. Please pray for Dave and his family. (We love you Dave!)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28