Girl Weekend...

Me and Anneke...

Sandra Bullocks restaurant...

Sonny and I do not spend a lot of time away from each other and I am so thankful for that. Whenever he has had to be gone overnight, I will usually go to my parents because I do not like being alone. Well, the guys in our small group decided that they wanted to go camping at Enchanted Rock- which I think is wonderful because it gives the guys a chance to "be guys" and get to know one another better outside of bible study- but that did mean that Sonny would be gone overnight. Since the guys were good about planning this way in advance, I made plans to go visit one of my best friends in Austin. Anneke and I have known each other since we were very little- she still claims we took tennis lessons together when we were in elementary school but I think she might be making it up =) (I do have a horrible memory though so maybe she is right??).

Anyways, originally I was going to let Asher stay with my parents for the night to get some alone time with Mimi and Papa and I was going to take Zoee with me to visit Anneke. A few days before leaving I thought I might just ask Sonny's mom to keep Zoee so Anneke and I could actually go out for dinner and not have to be back to put Zoee down. My parents and in-laws are so wonderful. They each took a little Howard overnight so I could go to Austin alone. Even the drive was nice. I listened to Ross King's www.rosskingmusic.com Big Quiet Truth cd (brought back great memories of highschool) and just actually had time to think. It was nice!!

I surprised Anneke when she got home from work and we went out to dinner at Sandra Bullocks restaurant in Austin and then went for dessert at a place called Mozarts. We got to go shopping, eat great food (including fried green tomatoes and chocolate-peanut butter cake), and talk ALOT. It was such a blessing to me to hear how Anneke was doing. Her and Michael have wonderful opportunities to minister to people in Austin and they are making full use of them. I am very encouraged by their lives. They are very good about making the most of every opportunity that the Lord gives them. Anneke is very good about encouraging others and people just know that she is someone who cares. We went to a tea room on Saturday and the owner stopped to talk with us because Anneke is a regular there. It was just neat to see that in her daily life- whether she is drinking tea or teaching little elementary students, she is known for her faith in Jesus...

Needless to say, I came home encouraged and refreshed. I missed my husband and kiddos but got to have a wonderful time catching up with Anneke! Thank you Jesus for wonderful friends! Anneke posted some pics of us a LONG time ago that are crazy- wow- were we actually that little at one time?? Here is her blog.