We got asked that question a lot when we would mention Lubbock as one of our stops. The answer to that question is: one of the nicest families you could hope to meet in one of the cutest, and vaguely creepy neighborhoods I've even been in. We drove from Saginaw and headed west across the flat lands of west Texas. I love our dear friends and family in Texas, I don't particularly love Texas itself; our drive was flat and dry as far as the eye could see. Until we go...

We left Gladewater Saturday morning and headed to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex for church services. We had a great sermon by the newly transferred pastor, Mark Welch (listen here http://dallas.ucg.org/sermon/spiritual- lessons-learned-moving), on spiritual lessons from moving. I really appreciated his candor, and his points were excellent; but I digress. Before services we took our little Lola over to the lovely home of Amy and Don Wuerfel in Plano. They were ...

We arrived in Gladewater, late as usual, but Rita (my lovely sister) had delicious lasagna waiting for us. Neil (Rita's husband), Rita, and their boys, Riley, and Blake all waited up for us to arrive. It was nice to have such a great welcome party. Poor Neil and I made quite the pair during our time in East Texas, as he injured his ankle the weekend before. He was hobbling around and soaking his foot in ice water pretty frequently. I had a pretty laid back week...