Our Weekend

Like most weekends, this past one was over in a blink of an eye.

On Saturday, Ben went up to Aledo {near Dallas} for his friend Clint's memorial celebration.  Ben and Clint first became friends when he interned at Austin Bridge & Road during the summer and fall semester of 2006.  At that time in our lives, I was busy planning a wedding and in my first semester of graduate school, so Ben spent a lot of his time having fun with both Clint and Scott {probably TOO much fun} whether it was on or off the job.  The three of them have been good friends ever since and even did the Warrior Dash together about a year and a half ago. 

Before the 3.2 mile race.

After they had run though fire, climbed over hay bales, and crawled through mud.

Obviously, Ben was devastated when he heard that Clint's life had been taken all too soon and was glad that he was able to be there on Saturday to remember his friend.  Ben said that everybody that went up to the front had so many wonderful things to say about Clint but that the story that stuck with him most was a girl that talked about Clint's experience with Young Life.  She spoke about how Clint was the one who first introduced her to Christ and gave her her first Bible and then talked about all of the lives that he has now touched through her and her work in campus ministry.  What a cool story.

I had originally planned to go with Ben to Aledo but ended up going to Houston for Uncle Mickey's {my dad's uncle} funeral service instead.  Uncle Mickey was my Pawpaw's younger brother and actually ended up passing away on my birthday.  He had been pretty sick for the past few months, so although his family misses him greatly, and it is very hard to say "goodbye", it is comforting to know that he is finally at complete peace -- and in Heaven with Pawpaw.  Holly, Nelson, my mom, and I drove down there together on Saturday morning.  We attended the services and then went over to Randy {my dad's cousin} & Suzanne's house afterwards.  I wish that the reason for our visit were different, but it was so good to see that side of the family.  When I was little, we used to go to Houston all the time to visit Aunt Ellen, Uncle Mickey, and all of my dad's cousins and their families, but unfortunately, now that Holly and I are grown, we don't get down there nearly as often as we would like to.  Being with everybody brought back so many wonderful memories -- weddings, baby showers, birthday parties, fishing trips {for the guys and Holly}, and shopping trips {for the rest of the girls}, and I'm so glad that I was able to be there on Saturday to remember the life of Uncle Mickey and all of the good times.

Ben and I both ended up getting back into Austin late that night.  I had originally planned to wake up early and go for a run, but the plan changed when I woke up to thunder, lightning, and pouring down rain.  We went to Sunday School and church later that morning and then picked up Z Tejas for lunch and took it over to Erin and Brian's house. We had a great time catching up with them, and I loved getting to finally meet Abbie.

Abbie is 3 months old now and is SUPER cute.  I thought she looked exactly like Erin in the picture that her sister Kathryn texted me on the day that she was born, but now she looks so much more like Brian.  She has the most beautiful blue eyes!

And she's such a good baby, too.  Even Ben made a comment about how quiet she was later that day.

On our way home from North Austin, we checked on a couple of Ben's jobs and then spent the rest of the day doing laundry and other things around the house.  Aside from meeting Abbie, this weekend really wasn't what we had in mind.  Traveling to difference cities for funerals was definitely not the way either one of us wanted to spend our weekend, but we are glad that we were able to attend the services and celebrate the lives of both Clint and Uncle Mickey.  We will miss them both dearly and appreciate you keeping both of their families {and friends} in your prayers.