The Quest

Mable Paisley Mason was born sometime around 1995ish. The first two years of Mable's life are a mystery, ending in April of 1997 when she was abandoned at the Lubbock Animal Shelter. Mable was pregnant and alone. After giving birth and having her puppies (which were all adopted immediately), Mable languished in the Animal Rescue Kennel (ARK) for three months. Meanwhile, I was wishing for a dog. I had decided that on my next payday, I would go adopt. On July 15, 1997, I went to the ARK looking for a beagle puppy, whom I planned to name Paisley, keeping with the tradition of "P" names in our family. Upon arriving at the ARK, I found out that not only were there no puppies (it was Parvo season), but there were also no beagles. In the cacophony of barking and howling coming from the cages, I noticed an angelic face, sitting quietly in the corner. I asked to see that dog... her name was Mable and she not only knew her name, but also knew how to sit. Mable, a cockapoo, weighed ...

The other day I was looking at some church records from Bear Creek Baptist Church (which doesn't exist anymore) and came across a "Brother Gideon" who visited from Lonesome Dove Baptist Church. The entry wasn't dated, but most of the others were around the 1850-1880 range, so I'm assuming this visit was during that time period. Anyway... this precipitated a search for Lonesome Dove Baptist Church, which is still in existence and has a cemetery associated with it. So today's lunch trek took me across the city limit into Southlake for a visit to Lonesome Dove. As I've mentioned before, as I drive around this area I see signs all around me of the lifestyle that used to be here... before wealth and prosperity began to push the old out to make way for the new (and sometimes ridiculous). Driving down Dove Road is a prime example. You cross areas that are still heavy with underbrush, where it seems the Texas wilderness wants to reclaim its lost territory. In ot...

The longer I work in Grapevine and research the area for genealogy the more connected I feel to this area. I can sit in the parking lot at lunchtime and look through the trees at the Moorhead Branch Creek and just imagine how it was when the Gideons and Hudgins first came here. I can imagine them riding their horses past the Terrill-Payne-Fuller house (which is the oldest house still in existence in Grapevine - built 1865) on their way to the Methodist church. I drive by it now on nice paved roads in my air-conditioned Korean car. It's been recently refurbished after the passing of Alice Fuller and is now on sale - fully furnished - for $499,000. Click here for pictures. I've been researching the cemeteries of Northeast Tarrant County in my (so far fruitless) quest to find Gaylon Bohave Gideon's final resting place. What I've found is that there are cemeteries all around that I never knew existed. Many are abandoned (hopefully the bodies were moved to a peaceful place)...

I have to admit... I complain quite a lot during stewardship campaign. Just ask Trudy. I've decided that I'm going to start calling it "Stew." Like the name of an odd uncle you cringe to see coming, not like the name of the comfort food. (No offense intended if your name is Stu.) This year, we're trying our best to entertain Stew online so we don't have to spend a lot of time and resources mailing stuff [that people will probably throw away]. So I've spent the last few weeks designing, editing code, and tweaking the web pages that will make up Stew 2011. I think I'm finally finished! Now, whether you're a kid, youth or adult, you can just go online and commit your heart out! Commit, commit, commit! Just don't expect me to do it too. No me gusta committing to things. I'm ready to do something fun... like redesign the whole website. So that will be the next project! Can't wait!

This morning I went to church at First Methodist in Colleyville for the first time. The pastor was starting a series of sermons about the journey of Christian life. Was it a coincidence that just yesterday I was reading about one man's journeys through Texas? A man named Barclay Gibson has spent the last few years wandering Texas and photographing what he sees. I found his outsider's look at Lorenzo interesting ( http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasPanhandleTowns/Lorenzo-Texas.htm ). What would you take a picture of if you were going through your town for the first time? Maybe if we looked around us with new and interested eyes, we might come to appreciate what's right in front of us. Part of the sermon this morning was focused on enjoying the journey... not being afraid to backtrack a little... not being so solely focused on making it from point A to point B. That's how I'd like to live life, actually. I'm not so concerned about point B (i.e. death)... it will com...