The Dowell House (Our B&B Experience)

My wife Jamie and I just got back from our stay at The Dowell House, which is a B&B in McKinney, TX. We stayed in The Chardonnay Room, which had a hot tub on a private balcony. Out stay was very nice. After spending some time in the hot tub, Jamie and I were so relaxed we could barely stay awake to watch a little TV before going into a nice relaxed sleep. The bed was very comfortable and the room and bath accommodations were fantastic.

The breakfast this morning was delicious. We had Baked French Toast with a cream cheese filling, some sausage and some fruit. Our host were very friendly and we had a nice breakfast conversation with them and two sisters who were also staying in at the B&B.

While milling around in McKinney my bride Jamie introduced me to two restaurants that I had never eaten at before. We had a nice lunch at Pei Wei, an Asian style place, where we ate their famous Lettuce Wraps. Yummy! Later for Diner we ate at Cafe Brazil, a coffee house with a breakfast style menu. We split an order of Chicken Crepes with a spicy sauce, some Rosemary potatoes and toast. We also had two cups of coffee each, of course.

Now it's off to LTC this evening in Dallas. The events are held at the Dallas Regency Hyatt Hotel where we stay for one night. I'm sure the kids will do fine in the events they are participating in.

I Think We Forgot Something

Yesterday I drove about 2 hours through stormy weather and pouring rain to meet my brother-in-law and my niece in order to drop off my kids. The kids are planning to spend a couple of days with their cousins before going to LTC on Friday.

When we got close to Greenville (the halfway/drop-off) point, I suddenly realized we had forgotten something. "Kids." "Yes, Daddy!" "Where are your suitcases?" "Aren't they in the trunk?" Yes, we forgot the suitcases...they are sitting in the middle of the living room floor as I type.

Lucky for us my sister-in-law is a very resourceful person. She said she would just wash the kids' clothes and they could wear them again tomorrow, and they could just wear some t-shirts or something to sleep in for the night. But, what to do for the next couple of days?

It seems my wife and I are leaving for my brother & sister-in-laws' house tonight (Wednesday) instead of going their Friday morning after our Bed & Breakfast stay. We will stay one night with the in-laws, drop off the kids' suitcases, and then leave for our Bed & Breakfast in the afternoon.

I can't believe we left the suitcases back at home. It was so sad, It was funny! Anyway, I gotta go do a little grocery shopping for next week, drop off the dog at the vet and start my packing a day early. See ya Sunday night (maybe)!

Dominion by Randy Alcorn (A Book Review)

I just finished reading the book Dominion by Christian author Randy Alcorn. This is the second book of a series of three. The first is called Deadline, the last series (which I will read soon, I hope) is called Deception. These books focus on three individuals, who are connected through a common friend, and their heart wrenching journeys to spiritual discovery of their personal relationships with Jesus and God.

Deadline focuses on Jake Woods, a journalist, who has to deal with the death of two of his best friends. His journey mainly focuses on abortion and homosexual issues, among others. It is a very good read. It sets you up for the 2nd book.

Dominion focuses on a friend and co-worker of Jake's named, Clarence Abernathy. He is a black man who looses his sister and niece to what seems to be a random act of gang violence. This books focuses on his struggles to find a middle ground between being a successful black man living in a white world and his personal relationships with his family and God. This book mainly focuses on the issue of race, stereotypes, prejudices and racism as a whole. I learned a lot about how blacks see us (me in particular) as white men and I learned a lot about Gangs. This book is a great read, and it made me do a lot of thinking about what I feel towards my fellow man.

The last book will focuses on the life of a detective friend of Jake's and Clarence's named Ollie Chandler. I can't wait to read it.

If it wasn't for the sensitive nature of Dominion I would ask some of my adult students at school about their opinions. But I might have to wait and ask some closer friends at church.

At Last, a Little Justice

Our home owner's insurance company finally came through regarding our roof. After I called to appeal their initial decision that their was no damage to the house, they sent the adjuster back out to our home. Thank goodness I was there this time. I showed him where it was leaking into our bedroom, and then he spent the next 20 minutes on our roof looking for what might be causing the leak. He finally found a small hole (a little smaller than a dime) in our roof.

He first thought it was a bullet hole. After telling him that no one was shooting at our house, he told me he finds bullet holes in people's roofs all the time, especially after July 4th or New Year's Day. He told me that some people just get trigger happy during these times and fire their guns into the air. They just don't realize that what goes up must come down somewhere, even if it is almost two-three miles away.

He then determined the hole was caused by a tree limb that fell from the oak tree that over hangs our home. He estimated the damage for a limb removal, (even though we had removed all limbs several weeks earlier), a roof patch repair and for some repair work for the inside of the home.

We should be getting an insurance check soon to fix the damage. He also told me that our roof, as a whole, can not be replaced yet; however, it is old enough to show any kind of severe wind or hail damage. He suggested the next hail storm that blows through to file another claim and if he is still working this area, he would "find" the hail damage and get our roof replaced. How nice!