Vacation Update

Well, we are on the last leg of our trip. We have two more days here in Tampa with my parents before we head home to Louisville on Sunday. We have had a great time so far - both in Texas, with our friends the Gangers and Davis' and in Keystone Heights with Dave's family.

Here are a few pictures from our Texas adventures:


This is us with our dear friends, Daniel and Joy Davis (in the middle) with their sweet kids Reid and Annelise, and Tim and Sarah Ganger (on the end). We all had a great time catching up, since the Davis' moved from Louisville to Texas a couple months ago.

Dave and I had fun loving on Reid and Annelise Davis.


Aren't they amazingly cute kids! I thought about sending out our next Christmas card with this picture in it, but that might be a little weird...

We left Temple, TX where Daniel and Joy are living, on Saturday morning and headed into Houston. Here is a picture of the Houston skyline:


It is quite a spectacle (even from inside the car).

We drove straight into Pearland, TX, which is about 15 miles south of the city of Houston. (This is the area where we are looking to plant a church.) There we met a local youth pastor at a hole-in-the-wall BBQ joint and had some delicious Texas BBQ. Dave was quite impressed - which is a big deal. He's a bit of a BBQ snob.

This pastor, Jason, then gave us a really informative tour of Pearland. He was extremely knowledgeable and helpful and is very excited about what we are hoping to do in Pearland. The Lord was very kind to provide him and we are very thankful for a like-minded minister in the area. After this the six of us (Gangers, Davis', and Ainsworths) drove into the city of Houston for Part 1 of our tour (since Dave and I had never been to Houston before). We drove through downtown, straining our necks to see everything that was being pointed out to us. We stopped off at a Jamba Juice in Rice Village, and Dave and I experienced the wonder that is the Strawberry Surfrider smoothie. We can now join in on the Jamba Juice ravings with our native Texan friends. We ended the evening at Sarah's parents' home in North Houston and stayed the night there. They were wonderful hosts - providing all sorts of refreshments and snacks and a very welcoming and gracious home. Dave was just so thankful for their abundant supply of diet coke.

On Sunday morning we headed back into Pearland to attend Sovereign Grace Church. Dave, Tim, and Daniel had met the pastor of this church at the Together For the Gospel conference in April, and they had been able to keep in touch with him and let him know we would be there. We very much enjoyed worshipping with this body of believers in Pearland, and they were all incredibly loving and welcoming to us. Grady, the pastor, had us all over for lunch after church - which was no easy feat considering his wife was out of town and he was cooking for the 6 of us, one other couple from the church, and his 6 kids! He pulled it off quite well though and the time with him and his family in his home was refreshing to us all. He is a very wise man who has pastored for more than 20 years. If the Lord has us in Pearland to start a church, I know this man will be a wonderful source of godly wisdom and guidance.

The rest of Sunday included tour of Houston: Part 2, including the Galleria area and dinner at Chuy's a local Mexican restaurant. The food was delicious.

Sunday night was spent mostly savoring our last evening all together. We prayed for the city of Pearland and Houston and for the Lord to lead us in the coming year to accomplish all the He desires. It was a sweet time and we were all sad to part the next morning.

We all headed our separate ways on Monday morning: the Davis' to a family vacation in Colorado, the Gangers back to Louisville, and Dave and me to Florida to visit family.

We have had a wonderful time with family, and it's not over yet. More updates to come...