Tuesday, August 22, 2006


Today is my mother's birthday!
Did you know.......

Is she looking any older? No....but, don't look at her "granny arms!" I was surprised when I realized they felt like MY granny's arms. And, guess what, I'll be teaching and waving my arms around and for the first time, the flab in my upper arm distracts me from speaking! Ugh! Do we all become our mothers? :-)

She is so talented that she can listen to a story and laugh and play Skip-Bo all at the same time! But, she can't remember to bring the electronic game inside so it will be protected from the rain.

She is a model of good eating as she gets Jaiden (her great grandson) to eat his chocolate cake!

Me and my mother!

The two "Joyces!" Rebecca Joyce & Alma Joyce.

She loves to take photos and has become quite good at taking them.


Happy Birthday, Mother!

Don't you look pretty?

Posted by Pattie at 7:37 PM | | Comments

Monday, August 21, 2006

A New School Year!



Well, I was waiting to write about the new year until after Rebecca headed back to HU on Saturday so I could take a photo of her loading up! EXCEPT.....my memory played out and I forgot to take the picture! Can you believe it?

Rachal left on the 15th to help with Freshman stuff and Rebecca left on the 19th. Their classes started today and I guess they are going well. It is Rebecca's last year and Rachal's second. We will be able to go see them on Homecoming weekend.


Joanna started the first day of her junior year on Thursday. She likes all her classes except for Algebra II and it's the teacher. She has been playing volleyball for a couple of weeks and they played a tournament over the weekend and they came in 2nd out of 16 teams. She and a teammate received "All Tournament" awards and that was exciting.

My classes are alright. We have lots of kids. I had to give up my "planning period" for my video class and my classes are still overloaded. Guess that's really a good problem. I do like my 6th graders and my 8th grade video students are eager and ready to tear 'em up! We started today on creating our first DAWG TV show which will air next Monday, the 28th. I do have all new equipment and that is really EXCITING!

Matt's official school year started today, but he's been working all summer so it's easy to forget that today was the "first day" for his school. We'll be busy this fall following the volleyball circuit and as many local football games as we can stand.

We also will be taking a 30 hour course over 5 weeks beginning on Sept. 9 to do the last of our training before being certified as foster parents. Then we should be getting children.

So...it'll be a busy fall, but we do enjoy that. Take it easy and have a wonderful week. Pattie

Posted by Pattie at 6:58 PM | | Comments

Aren't we a happy, tired couple??? This photo was taken at the end of trip....we were out of energy and out of money! :-)

Posted by Pattie at 6:36 PM | | Comments

Friday, August 18, 2006

"Dios le bendigan"
(God Bless You)

At the beginning of June, I decided I wanted to go along with our Medical Mission Team when they went to Parral, Mexico July 29. I didn't (and still don't) have any medical training, but I had the time and some rusty spanish skills, so I "signed up!"


The group has been going down there for 8 years, so the whole process is a well-oiled machine. They knew just what to expect and were prepared for everything. 12 of us left from Tyler, we picked up 2 in Dallas and one in Abilene and then we met up with 5 more from within Mexico to make a total of 20. We provided medical services through a temporary clinic setup at a "civic center".....Triage (they checked blood pressure & blood sugar levels), Los Medicos (2 doctors from Monterey), la farmacia (Randy Uthe and I dispensed lots of stomach, blood pressure, diabetic medicines & antibiotics, vitamins and pain relievers), Los optometras (lots of eyeglasses were handed out by a group of 4 to 6) and los dentistas (3 dentists and 2 assistants pulled teeth all week).....plus the few church members who stood around translating and preaching and setting up Bible studies.


It was a fun experience and even though some of us got sick the last night....I'll go back next year.

Posted by Pattie at 7:30 PM | | Comments


Every Road Leads Somewhere

I've decided to start blogging again. Just some thoughts and ideas I have about what's happening in the Blake house!

Our "road trip" began on June 26 with a stopover in Memphis and a quick trip to Graceland. It was pretty powerful to be in "his" home knowing how he ended! Kinda tragic. Then it was a short drive over to Nashville, where we went to a Grand Ole Opry show, visited Andrew Jackson's farm, walked the honky-tonk street and explored the Country Music Hall of Fame. Nashville was nice.




Then while en route to Michigan, we made an unexpected stop at Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. That was way cool, but we only got to hike down a small percentage of the whole thing! After getting to Michigan, we stopped for lunch with Uncle Don, Aunt Judy and cousin Jeff....Matt's relatives. It was good to see them and their "new home."

Next stop was Honor, MI...all the way at the top left hand corner of Michigan, right along the lakeshore. We made a hiking/driving tour through Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore...took a sailing trip in Traverse City and stopped over at Mackinac Island. Eventually, we crossed over to the Upper Peninsula and watched the Soo Locks in action and hiked to Taquehmenon Falls before heading west and south towards Wisconsin.

Wisconsin was a pretty state and I even got to stop at a dairy farm and get some real cheese and beef sticks. By the time we made it to Chicago, we were whupped! But, that didn't stop us from walking the Magnificent Mile and shopping in downtown Chicago. Matt even treated us to a White Sox game and we got to ride the subway to get there.

Chicago was pretty much the end of our trip, but we made sure we spent a day in Fayetteville and got to visit with Pete & Frankie and their 4 girls and attend church where Matt went while in high school and college. It's nice going back and seeing all those "old friends."

Our trip ended on July 9. Matt had to return to work. It was 3,845 miles of driving. Don't know if we'll ever do another one like that, again! :-)


Posted by Pattie at 6:48 PM | | Comments