Fake Cousins are the BEST!

Okay, real cousins are good too.

Saturday:

I almost never see my cousin Justin. And this trip, we made it happen. I don't think I've ever been able to sit down and have a real conversation with his wife, April. Needless to say, it was long overdue, and I very much appreciated them hosting us. Not to mention their new-ish baby boy is a miracle and so, so sweet.

We ate hamburgers, good ole American beef! And the kids loved playing on Justin's boat! Kees kept talking about "driving" the boat.

After hanging out for a while we walked to the park! Such a good time with family!

We left Justin's, grabbed some Sonic drinks (happy hour!), and headed over to the Bain's place for Taco Casa and games. The Bains have 4 boys! So there were plenty of toys and lots of fun!

Aunt Valeri and Aunt Betty came over too!  I'm usually not too excited to play games, I think it's a combination of having limited attention span and poor coping skills. We play a different version of Apples to Apples, maybe "Bad Apples". I think I won, but I have memory problems so I can't say that with extreme certainty.

Kora is a sass ball, and Carson has a look of mischievousness that is so endearing you'd never suspect him of anything. Him and Kora had quite a few exchanges from rolling around laughing all the way to Kora's bite warning cry. Whatever they were up to, they're cuties. Connor and Caleb shared all their stuff with Kees. Cousin time is always fabulous!

Sunday:

Our last day in Texas was cram packed for this Momma, but Doug and the kids did get a nap!

We were at Saginaw Park Baptist church in the morning. We got there early, set up our table, then went to Sunday school. I went to Moma T's (maternal grandma) class. It was FULL! Kora went to her class, but Kees stayed with me. Doug went to a men's class.

After Sunday School we were with the kid's club, and let me tell you, it was teacher's paradise in there. It ran so smoothly! The kids knew exactly what to expect and how their schedule would play out! So awesome to see, and my favorite part was how little leading the adults did. They facilitated perfectly. The kids led the music, this program is owned and operated by those kids and it was so cool to see. That took intentional work by the adults running the program, and I know those kids will easily step up to lead the church when their time comes. Awesome, awesome!

They sang six songs, great lyrics, hand motions, and everyone sang. I joined in with gusto, Kees looked at me like I was a crazy person, but for once, no one else did. 

Doug and I were able to share with the kids about our ministry with GoodSeed. These kids have skyped us and prayed with and for us. Always great to be there in person!

After we finished up, we headed over to "big church", do people still call it that? Perhaps I should say, the adult worship service. You get the idea, we had about ten minutes to share, and had quite a few people talk with us after.

We loaded up the van, and when I say "we", I mean Doug. Moma T took us out to eat at some place that had "Dixie" in the name. It was awesome, anyplace that has breakfast is alright in my book.

We had just enough time after lunch to let Moma T take her car home and for me to drop Doug and the kids off before we headed to my "cousin" Kim's bridal shower. I swung by to get Moma T and we got there just in time.

Okay, Aunt Betty, is a very good friend of my mom and her sisters, we've always called her Aunt, and we see them every time we're in town. They ARE family. Kim and Keith are her kids, our cousins. So, not technically blood relatives, but we love them! Kim is getting married in March.

My cousins, Kandalynn and Kathryn hosted the shower, their mom, my Aunt Valeri made THE punch. It's so good, but you have to baby sit it. 

I also got to visit with a newer family edition, Sarah. She's good friends with Kathryn and Kandalynn, so she's family too. It was great to catch up with her!

After the shower, I took Moma T home, and visited with her, Aunt Nette, and Aunt Betty, until it was time to leave to pick up my family to go eat dinner with the Knights. We packed our stuff, again, and loaded up. The kids were a little groggy from nap time.

We were already late, and got stopped by this train, then, road construction! We ended up being late, but our hosts were nice about it.

Janette made some yummy chicken chili and we had cake for dessert. Troy is the children's pastor at Saginaw Park, I already mention how great their program was, and they are great hosts to boot!

I was so sad we had to leave early-ish, but we had to get back to OKC because we had a Senior Adult luncheon the next day that we were sharing at. 

Doug was a trooper with all that driving, I slept on the way back! ;)