The Gecko Who Visited...

The story of the gecko who visited our house has 3 parts:

Last Monday--To set the stage, you must first understand that I was home alone. Jenny and I had gone to see the movie Bella, and when I got home, around 9:30, I noticed what I thought to be a large bug on the kitchen floor. As I got closer, I realized it was a gecko! If you know me at all, you know I am absolutely TERRIFIED of anything reptile-like! I grabbed the closest issue of Martha Stewart and tried to get the gecko to climb onto it. My plan was to throw it (magazine AND gecko) out the back door! (Yes, I was willing to sacrifice my beloved Martha mag just to get the gecko out of the house!) Probably due to my crying and screaming, the gecko froze in the corner and wouldn't move. At this point, I (still screaming and crying) called Dave and not-so-calmly explained the situation. He laughed. I screamed louder. At any rate, I finally convinced him that there was no way I was going to pick it up and toss it out the door (which was his suggestion, along with, "Oh! Those are fun! Their tails even fall off, and then you can catch it again!"). So, Dave called Jason, our next door neighbor, who was my hero for the night and came over and caught the gecko (with his bare hands--wow! I was impressed!).

Last Wednesday--My mom, cousin Christy, and her son Zion came over to my house for a visit. As they pulled up, Jason was out in his driveway, so my mom made a big to-do about thanking him for saving me from the ferocious gecko. (She understood what a dire situation it had been!) He laughed and said that he put the gecko in his own house. At first my mom thought he was joking, until he convinced her that he really had put it in his house, because "they eat a lot of bugs." (Trust me, I would much rather deal with a few bugs than a lizard in my house!)

This Tuesday--As I was leaving for choir rehearsal and Dave was leaving for jury duty, Jason walked out of his house. As I started to drive off, I rolled down the window and said, "Is it really true that you put the gecko in your house?" Jason laughed as if he couldn't believe I'd ask such a ridiculous question and assured me he did! He said he hadn't seen it since that night, so then I asked, "How does Jennifer {his wife} feel about that?" He said, "Oh, she doesn't even know I put it in the house!" Dave and I both laughed so hard!

Weekend in Austin

David and I spent a wonderful weekend together in Austin. We ate great food, slept a lot, played many games of Scrabble, caught up on some much-missed reading time, and learned more about our great state of Texas! Here are a few highlights:

We took a very interesting tour of the Texas Capitol on Saturday morning. We really enjoyed our time there and learned many unique facts about Texas which I'm sure our faithful readers will enjoy, such as:

*the Texas capitol is taller than any captiol building in the nation, including our nation's capitol...everything really IS bigger in Texas!

*the emblems in the rotunda floor represent the six nations that have ruled Texas in its history: Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, the United States, and the Conferedate States.

*the Texas government paid the contractor who built the capitol building with 3 million acres of land in the Texas panhandle.

*if Texas were its own nation, it would have the 11th largest economy in the world, ahead of nations such as South Korea, Australia, and Russia!

*the chandeliers in the House of Representatives and the Senate are in the shape of the Texas star and the letters T E X A S are in lights in between each point of the star.

*Sam Houston is the only governor of any state who was governor of 2 states: Tennessee and Texas. However, Houston did not want Texas to become its own nation, so he was "removed" from office before Texas' fight for independence. Here's Dave and Houston's marble sculpture:

*the star at the top of the rotunda looks very small from the ground, but it really is huge; the distance between each point on the star is 8 feet.


Here's a picture of me demonstrating my cowgirl abilties...good thing I chose a different profession!
Here's a picture of Dave with Davy Crockett, who was killed at the Alamo...remember?

This is Dave's favorite Texas flag as it represents "the spirit of Texas." (As they say, it's hard to be humble when you're a Texan.)

We spent many hours playing Scrabble; much to my chagrin, Dave won every game, although I was very close (one time!). :) This is our travel Scrabble game, which made quite an impression on the waitress at Souper Salad (where we played for 2 hours on Saturday afternoon). She was so impressed with our game that she was going to Target to buy her own as soon as she got off work!
As we wrap up this Thanksgiving season, we are very thankful for wonderful times together!

Thanksgiving 2007

Yesterday we enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving day at my parent's house in Trophy Club! We had an amazing meal that we loved eating! YUM!!
We also attempted to beat my cousin Zion at the game of Construction Memory. He's only 5 1/2, but he beat both Dave and me! (For example, when I played him, I had only 6 sets, and he had 30 matches!) At one point when he was playing me, he said (with a straight face), "I don't know why I'm so talented!" Ha!!
Zion had a new Nerf archery set that was a big hit with all the boys (big and little) in the house. They took turn shooting the yellow balls at various targets (including people, of course).(There's Dad in the background talking to Em on the phone; we missed her a lot this Thanksgiving!)

Mom, Kathy, Dave, & I also played a game of Scrabble, which Dave won decisively. His top scoring word was "quiz" which was on a triple word score and earned him 63 points! He really needs to practice his Scrabble strategies, because Grandma Sorbel is coming for Christmas, and she might be his toughest competitor yet!
And what would a holiday at the Bergstrom's be without an intense game of Settler's of Catan? Nate, Mom, Dad, Dave, and I struggled through a 2 hour game to see who would be the next king of Catan....and this time, Nate was the winner! However, Mom did her best job yet in a game of Settler's, ending with 8 points and a 2nd place finish. (This is why she is holding up 8 fingers in the picture.)
We truly do have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, and great times with family are definitely at the top of the list!

Graham

I just got back from a visit out to Graham, Texas, which is the closest "town" to where Dave's current job is. ("Town" is used loosely here, as they don't even have a Starbucks!) I am really glad that I got to see where Dave is spending a lot of his time for now! Perhaps the best part of the trip was that the hotel where we stayed received an acceptable rating in my book. (This has been a problem on prior visits to Graham!)

This morning, once it was light enough, I went to see Dave's job, which is near the ghost town of Eliasville. I actually spent a little time this morning driving around the desolate town, and it was obvious that Eliasville was a very beautiful town in its day. But, this is what most of the buildings look like now:

Earth Builders is building a new bridge over the Brazos River. This is the fourth bridge over the river at this spot. Bridges # 2 & #3 are visible in this picture:

The bridge (#3) that is being replaced is on the far left. The 2nd bridge is on the far right, but it really blends in with the landscape. There is a large tree trunk stuck in it that is from a flood in 1978, which Dave has heard about from many locals. (The original bridge was torn down years ago, but the concrete abutments are still there.) The new bridge that is currently being constructed is in the middle of the two bridges. The columns have been poured, but none of the beams have been set.

Here's Dave doing his favorite thing--running the crane!! Thanks to my dad, I've been posing with equipment my entire life, so I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that I still am!

If any of you guys want to come down and visit, Dave would love to let you run some of the equipment and dig around in the dirt! :) (Of course, we're not discriminatory--girls are welcome to do so, too!)

Operation Christmas Child

This season, we helped with Operation Christmas Child at our church. We were thrilled with the great response that we had at Keystone! Here we are with all the boxes before we took them to the drop-off location! We loved being able to help with this amazing ministry, and we pray that the children who receive these boxes are blessed through the gifts & the message of God's love!

'Tis the Season...

...to be thankful!

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with prase; give thanks to him and praise His Name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through the generations." Ps. 100: 4-5

Even though this has been a very hard year for us, we still have so much for which to be thankful. This Thanksgiving, I am especially grateful for...

*my loving and compassionate husband. I have always thought that we have had a strong marriage, but this year has brought us even closer together. I absolutely love living my life with David, and I am beyond thankful for his constant love and devotion to me.
*our church. We feel so blessed to be a part of Keystone Church! We honestly wake up every Sunday morning excited to go, and we can't wait to see what God has for Keystone's future!

*a job that gives me so much joy, so many hugs & smiles, and so many laughs! Even though this is a very busy time of year for me with holiday concerts and programs, I truly feel blessed to be in my position at my school. My kids are so precious to me!

*close relationships with my parents and my sister. God couldn't have blessed with a more wonderful family! I love them dearly.

*true friends who love and care for me, even when I'm unlovable. In addition to my sweet friends from Minnesota and Taylor, God has been so good to provide wonderful friends for me here in Texas, too. I am beyond blessed!

*and most of all, for my God, Who gives perfect love that drives out fear, even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death; Who gives strength like an eagle as I wait on Him; Who is my testimony and the reason that I sing and live.

Three Years Ago...

Happy Anniversary (one day late! Forgive me--my students had concerts both Monday and Tuesday night!) to our sweet friends Nicole and Scott! It's hard to believe how fast time flies!
May this third year be your best yet! Happy Anniversary!

"Man of La Mancha"

On Saturday night, Dave and I enjoyed a wonderful time downtown at Bass Hall seeing Casa Manana's production of "Man of La Mancha." Dave sang the title song from the musical at his senior recital, so before we went, we listened to his recording of it. (I think it's always better to go to a musical where you know at least some of the storyline and/or pieces.) The show was amazing, and even though we were in the upper gallery, the acoustics in Bass Hall are so fantastic that we had no problem enjoying it all! (For those of our friends who don't live in Texas, we must take you to Bass Hall the next time you are here; it is absolutely incredible!)

"Man of La Mancha" is based on Miguel de Cervante's book "Don Quixote," a one thousand page book written in the 1600's. (Dave is on page 450!) He's determined to finish it; I think I'll just skip reading it and consider seeing the musical to be good enough for me! :)

P.S. Auddy, like my dress?

Gazebo Progress HALTED!

Dave was very excited to get in a full day of work on the gazebo today; so, even though it was Saturday, our one day to "sleep in," the alarm went off at 6:30! Dave headed out to the backyard, where he saw this..."an evil mandate from the Fort Worth planning and development dictatorship" (Dave's exact quote). Apparently, Ed, our beloved inspector, had been by on Thursday to take a look at the gazebo.
Since it says "STOP ALL WORK!!," a very disappointed Dave had to cancel his building plans for the day & tell all his workers (i.e.: my uncle, dad, and cousin) that they could have a restful, relaxing day instead of slaving away on the gazebo.

Our gazebo has not had a foundation inspection, AND, even worse, it is 3 feet into the utility easement. Hopefully, when he talks to Ed on Monday, he can lead Ed to believe that 3 feet into a utility easement isn't really a major (or even minor!) problem. (Wish him luck!)

(This might cause you to think more deeply about your vote for our current poll.)

On a bright note, this means we get to spend a day at the mall finishing our Christmas shopping! Yay! Dave is just overjoyed....

5K Fun Run

Yesterday morning, Dad, Dave and I ran a 5K that benefitted low-income children in our school district. It was a beautiful morning--perfectly cool for running!! Even though he's turning 55 in a few weeks, my dad can really turn the speed on, and he ended up getting 2nd place for his age group!

My Favorite Trick-or-Treater!

Last night, Kimi, Rob, and sweet baby Lake stopped by for Lake's first trick-or-treating! He was definitely the cutest Superman we've ever seen!!