Houston

We spent September 23rd through October 2nd in Houston, Texas. The company was wonderful, the weather beautiful and the time priceless. The best time for me was the time I spent with Stephanie. We sat on her new covered patio and enjoyed warm breezes and cool evenings. Priceless. We also traveled around a bit and did some fun things.

We journeyed to San Antonio to check out the Alamo. It was fun to learn the history of this famous battle. Did you know that Ohio had a part in the battle of the Alamo? Apparently the city of Cincinnati sent two cannons (named the twin sisters) to the fort before the battle started. We also enjoyed the Riverwalk...it was a Friday night and all the lights were pretty as we walked along.

On the way home the Lord had His protective hand on us. Stephanie and I were deep in conversation when she noticed that her gas gauge was below "E". We were on a long stretch of road that doesn't have gas stations and we prayed that the Lord would keep us going until we found a place to stop. When we finally pulled into a station I asked her how big her RAV's gas tank is. "14 gallons," she told me. We all watched the gas pump display and when it kicked off at 14.027 gallons we were all relieved that the Lord had literally kept the car going.

Another thing we did was visit Space Center Houston. Aunt Stephanie and JoAnna tried to figure out this cool looking game. Unfortunately, all they figured out was that it didn't work - "Houston, we have a problem."

Caleb wanted to see how much he weighed on Mars. He says he doesn't remember how much it was.

Lydia and JoAnna wanted to see what an actual moon rock felt like.

On our tram tour of NASA we saw this astronaut in training.

This is Apollo 18, it has never flown on a mission. It was pretty impressive to stand next to. I was surprised at how massive it is.

These are the initial booster rockets for Apollo 18. Just breaking free from gravity takes a great deal of fuel and power...WOAH!!

After learning about space we drove to Galveston. The girls enjoyed finding pretty seashells they could bring home as souvenirs. We also saw a really cool part of the Lord's creation. We saw good size sea birds flying along and all of a sudden one of them would just fall out of the sky. He would crash into the water and come out with a fish in his bill. I have pictures, but my zoom lens was back at the house, so the birds are too far away to realize what is going on.

On our last day we went to the police station from which Tim worked. Stephanie explained that a new captain, who had never met Tim, heard so many stories and good things that he suggested that they give this gym a name. It was officially named the Timothy S. Abernethy gymnasium.

Tim's picture was also added to a special wall that honors fallen officers.

Right before Tim died he found out that he was going to be going to Bomb Squad School. Stephanie told me that Tim had finally found his calling - what he was created to do. She took us to see the Bomb Squad and we enjoyed learning about what they do. Before we went to see all of the cool equipment they took our picture with the dynamite blaster. Stephanie is ready to blow us all up!!! Maybe it's time for us to go home. : ) After the Bomb Squad trailer we were able to see the SWAT team truck and trailer. Then we were taken back to the hostage negotiation trailer - it was pretty impressive. I really enjoyed learning more about what they do. Truly amazing what these men are trained to do to protect us.

The SWAT team was just back from a call and they invited us in to see their armored vehicle. JoAnna is trying to open one of the many holes in the side of the truck.