A&M wins to bring it to a 5-3 record (guest post by Brendan)

The yearly match up between Texas Tech and Texas A&M in college football never meant anything to me (Brendan) until I started dating Anne in 2003. She went to TTU and me to A&M - so one Saturday a year  since 2003 we sit on different sides of the couch and try not to engage the other in conversation until the game is wrapped up in the fourth quarter.

Based on the results below, you would think that I would stop watching the games....but the frustrating thing is that A&M is the traditional football school and TTU is just some small school close to New Mexico. I blame myself for a lot of the struggles of A&M over the past 11yrs - since I started my freshman year. In 1998 they won the Big 12 Championship, had one of the longest home winning streaks and still rated well with ESPN and other top news agencies as the place to watch football. Since I arrived on campus - 3 coaching changes, terrible bowl record and nothing more than wasted opportunities by the end of the year. To make matters worse for my school...I go and marry a Red Raider (although amazing, beautiful and loving - she is still the enemy one Saturday a year)!

Here are the results since Anne and I started dating.......

2003 - TTU (first game ever with Anne - A&M killed in Lubbock)

2004 - A&M (overtime victory at Kyle Field)
2005 - TTU (A&M killed again in Lubbock)

2006 - TTU (they stole the game on the rode in College Station)
2007 - TTU (A&M killed again in Lubbock - do you see the trend)

2008 - TTU (4 yrs in a row....oh man!)

2009 - A&M (CG is the good luck charm - Gig'em!!)

2010 - A&M (In Hong Kong, Aggies win while I sleep)

2011 - TTU or A&M?

Stay tuned as the games will continue to be played one Saturday a year! Enjoy a few pictures from the years below:

South Plains Massacre - 2003

House Divided (officially since 2006)

College Station - 2006

Future Little Aggie - 2009

A Year of Firsts

Our baby girl...Sweet Pea...Tooter...CG...Charlotte Grace...whatever you call her, she is no longer much of a baby. October 20th was her 1st birthday!

It is hard for me to believe that her first year of life has passed by, but I thought it would be fun to re-cap some of the highlights of Charlotte's "Year of Firsts".



First Visit to a Pumpkin Patch

 

First Trip to the Beach

First Trip to Spanish Embassy in Washington, DC

First Toe Snack

First Spanish Siesta

First Bath

First Card Game

First Time Crawling

First (and hopefully only :)) Crop-Top

First Madrid Metro Ride



First Plot to Take Over the World



First Picture with the Burro

First Mohawk

In those early days of Charlotte's life when I was exhausted and weary of caring for a newborn, I was not sure that time would ever go by quickly as people told me it would. But they were right...it has flown by! Brendan and I are LOVING being parents. God is using Charlotte to mold and stretch our faith in ways we never thought possible.

We are looking forward to the year to come. Maybe there won't be as many "firsts", but with a full-fledged toddler on our hands it will be anything but boring!

Madrid to Hong Kong...via Texas

I know...it's been TOO long since I've posted here. And so much has been happening in our lives!

Our biggest news...we're moving AGAIN! :) (That's actually a forced smiley face for me)

Our short, 6 week assignment in Hong Kong has turned into a one to two year assignment there for Brendan. We are excited about the possibilies for us. While we were there earlier this year, we had a chance to connect to a church - Island ECC - and are really excited about making it our church home while we live in Hong Kong!

There are many things we will miss about Spain...but of course there are things that we are happy to leave behind. :) What I'm most excited about in our move to Hong Kong - that will be different from Madrid - is the much larger English-speaking, expat community there. While the Asian culture isn't as interesting to me as European culture is, I'm really excited about forming relationships. Brendan and I both know that it will still take much intentionality on our part to surround ourselves with Christian community...but having so many more people that speak the same language we do will help! :)

Almost two weeks ago, Charlotte and I left Madrid and spent 2 days (and 4 flights) traveling to Texas to spend time with family. Brendan has to be in Hong Kong right now but still needs to travel back to Spain in November to close out our personal stuff there, then he'll join us here in Texas for Thanksgiving. We didn't want to subject Charlotte to all that back and forth flying so we just headed straight to the U.S! And we've been enjoying our time with my parents.

Charlotte & I on our flight from Madrid to New York
(notice the empty seat next to us...AWESOME!)

Brendan is definitely missing his baby girl...and probably me too. :) We talk to him on Skype as often as we can. Charlotte really recognizes his voice and face when he gets on the computer. It's too cute! She's even attempted blowing him kisses a few times. And, of course, her favorite thing is to wave "Hello" and "Good-bye".

Charlotte "drinking" a coke



Playing with potatoes

 Charlotte spent the first few days here running to me for everything. It took her a little time to warm up to her family who she hadn't seen in a while. In a way it was sweet that she would want her mommy, but I'm glad she's grown close to her Papa, Popo, Uncle Boo, Mommie Mop, & Daddy Jack.

Me & Charlotte and Maranda & Grant

Charlotte and I got to have a fun playdate with my friend, Maranda, and her son, Grant, who is about 3 weeks older than Charlotte. Maranda and I grew up together and our moms were close friends so it was fun to catch up with her and let our two little ones play "together".

I'm missing Brendan a lot, but am grateful that I am getting to spend time with my family before we move overseas - again. :)

Being a Tourist

Being a tourist is great. You get the fun of experiencing a new place without the commitment of packing up your belongings, moving there, and adjusting to culture shock. :) But even when you do pack up your belongings (or watch someone else do it) and move to a foreign country, you do - on occasion - get to be a tourist there as well.

Such has been our life for the past couple of weeks. Not that Brendan's taken a vacation from work...that's coming later this year...but we have still had our share of touring around Hong Kong and Madrid.

Here's what we've been up to...

{Visiting (but not worshipping :)) the Giant Buddha on Lantau Island in Hong Kong.}

{Brendan's sister, Erin, visited us in Hong Kong. Here they are with Mini Kinne riding the cable car up to see the Giant Buddha.}

{The cable cars disappearing into the fog.}

{Erin, Charlotte, and I went up to the Peak for some spectacular views of Hong Kong!}

{Back in Madrid...This past Saturday, Madrid was celebrating the re-opening of Calle Serrano, a main street & central area in the city. We had a great time enjoying all the festivities!}

{Pictures chronicling the history of Calle Serrano}

 {After walking down Serrano and visiting Parque Retiro, we hopped on a Metro over to the Palace to play in the playground nearby.}

{Ahhh, see the Palace in the background...isn't that great?!}

I had a couple other favorite photos lined up, but Blogger's photo downloading feature has changed and finds it necessary to turn my vertically-oriented photos horizontal. Ugh! :) Check out our Flickr photos for more pictures of our recent wanderings.

You might also be able to tell by our clothing, but the weather has been BEAUTIFUL here in Madrid! I've always wanted to experience fall in September and am finally getting to do so. It's my favorite time of year and while we're not seeing any fall foliage or spending Saturdays watching college football, the weather is making for a great Fall!

We also had the chance to meet up with some fellow tourists...these were REAL tourists though :)...who were traveling around Europe via Ryan Air's cheap-cheap tickets. My cousin, Ronnie, ran into my grandmother at a family function back in Texas and found out that I'm living here in Madrid. So, while he and his friend, Al, were here in the city, we met up with them for a little touring. It sure was great to meet/re-connect with distant family and chat with people from our "neck of the woods"!

This weekend should be another beautiful one, so we're planning to load up Charlotte's diaper bag with plenty of snacks and diapers (duh!) and explore more of Madrid. I'll report back next week with our adventures!