lights out.

Last night around 8:30, Daniel and I were playing a game of back-gammon, when suddenly our electricity went out. No strong winds, no stormy rain. They just went out - and yes, we do pay our bills!! ;-) We thought, "A little early to go to bed," so we lit candles and played by candlelight. The game results: Kim, 2 games. Daniel, 1 game. However, I can't boast too much, before backgammon we played checkers and I think I got worse each game. On our third game, I had crowned 3 of my guys king and Daniel had crowned probably 7-8 of his. So, checkers isn't my forte!!

the big day. reception.

Daniel gives them a fantastic toast - my husband has a tremendous gift with pen and paper!




Their toast to each other.





The first dance.



And away they go - Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Audi!!!

the big day. pre-ceremony pictures.

Joshie and Elizabeth - a quick greeting before pictures begin!




Josh and the nieces and nephews.




Elizabeth and groomsmen.




the 6 Audi brothers and sisters

rehearsal dinner.

mmmm.... Texas Land & Cattle! Great food! Thanks, Dad Audi!!

family in fort worth.

Josh and Elizabeth are now Mr. and Mrs. Audi!! Daniel's brother, Steve, and his family and Daniel's folks all got here Thursday night, so we got to spend some time with them on Friday before all of the festivities got started Friday night. We went down to the most "Texas" place I could think of:

the Stockyards!

Tour de Cafe

Catholic Charities held its annual "Tour de Cafe" last night at the YWCA in downtown Fort Worth. The Tour de Cafe is a celebration of our refugees...and wow, are they truly people to celebrate. I know I can't imagine what their lives are like - some have left behind family that they will never see again and probably didn't even know where they were when they left their country. Many of them have seen lots of blood, lots of guns, lots of death. And those who did not see war in their own countries and grew up in a refugee camp have seen life at its worst - very little food, extremely poor living conditions with many, many people living in a tent-like situation. Awful! And now they have found safety and somewhat of a better life here in America. "Somewhat?" you may ask. Well, imagine if you moved to a new country, didn't know the language, never received education in your own language so learning is difficult because you've never been formally taught how to learn. Imagine that you had little skills in your home country and therefore finding a job with little English education and almost no skills is what you have to offer anyone who might hire you. This is not all of their situations, but it definitely is the situation of the majority of the refugees that I teach from Somalia. Other refugees come from Burma, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Congo, Liberia, Pakistan, Iraq, Cuba.

At the Tour de Cafe we have teas and coffees from around the world and snacks from around the world as well. Some of our refugees perform music from their native country or dances. A family of Sudanese children sang and danced for us last night and they were a HIT!

If you're in the DFW area, maybe you can make it out to the Tour de Cafe next year!

one more egg hunt.

We celebrated Easter with my mom's side of the family on Sunday. Last year Daniel and I began what we'd like to be a tradition - dying Easter eggs together. So, we thought we'd do it together Friday night in Ruston, but didn't. Then thought maybe at Mamaw and Papaw's on Saturday night with our 3 yr. old cousin, Abby, but didn't. So, we were determined to do it Sunday...and we did!<

Annie, our 2 year old cousin, helped us dye Easter eggs. Then, we hid them for her in Granny's front yard. It was super cute to watch her find the eggs! And oh, the excitement when she found them all....

79

My Papaw turns 79 on Tuesday, April 9. We celebrated his birthday together with barbecue, peach cobbler, chocolate cake, and ice cream. After dinner we sat around and listened to Mamaw and Papaw tell stories about their lives and sing songs/tell jokes that we've heard from the time we were kids until now. Sweet memories with my grandparents....here's my Papaw telling jokes/singing songs. Yep, we grew up enjoying the country life out in Dubach with cousins and Mamaw and Papaw!


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my best friend. her husband. their daughter

We got to see Heather, Chad, and Hannah on Saturday afternoon for a short time. Hannah is 19 months old and has LOTS of energy! We could hardly keep up with her, but had fun being entertained by her and visiting with Chad and Heather!

Jesus is Risen!

We went to Ruston this weekend for Easter and had sweet time with family! On the Hood side, we have an annual Easter picnic at my great-great Uncle Sidney's place - his "place" being acres and acres of pasture, complete with cows, cow patties, barns, creeks, and open field! Uncle Sidney has been a hero in our family for years. A few years ago he went to be with the Lord after having lived 99 years here on this side of heaven...99 years!! This was taken probably 20+ years ago with Uncle Sidney, Aunt Alvis, my sister, and my cousins, Will and Garson.

Anyhow, the picnic consists of a softball game, picnic, and an Easter egg hunt. Abby, my cousins' little girl who is 3 and another little boy, 9 months, found Easter eggs in the backyard. Abby totaled over 20 eggs by far!!

It was Daniel's first picnic with us. And here we are - the gents and the ladies!