11:33 PM

Hey baby,

This is probably the last email because I don't think we can get in Managua. We will be leaving tomorrow for Managua. Did a lot of work today at the orphanage and had a pizza party tonight with the kids and gave them their boxes which they absolutely loved. I love you dearly and miss you and punkinso very much. Had a little spell today with back but am doing fine now. Can you call momma and daddy and tell them I am ok and wish momma a happy b-day for tomorrow. Thanks.

Well I love you. Give punkin major squeezes for me please. Tell the doggies I love them also.

I love you baby!

Bye,

Brooke

This has been the highlight of our weekend...Getting e-mails from Brooke. So now she's off to Managua so we probably won't hear from her again. Maybe once more if they find an Internet Cafe on their day off. Amanda and I talked today about how it's going to be a long week. And, yes, we did call MaMa Brenda and wished her Happy Birthday today (Amanda sang to her).

We've been trying to keep busy while Brooke is gone. Yesterday, after blogging, I got Amanda up and we drove to Cedar Hill to the vet for the dogs' annual shots and to buy heartrending medicine. Saturday is not a good day to go to or vet (a clinic where you don't get to make appointments...you just show up and wait your turn). It used to be just a matter of waiting our turn. Now it is a matter of waiting our turn and trying to keep Sully quiet. He is a BIG chicken dog! He growls/barks the entire time we are in the waiting room. Some people might think he wants to fight, but the truth is he's just scared. So Amanda waited inside for our turn to come while the dogs and I waited outside. Amanda was in hog heaven! She has been gifted with her mother's love for people...maybe even more than Brooke. And then she was at the vet on top of that. When I finally decided the heat was too much and came to sit down (while smacking Sully, pinching his nose and holding is mouth shut to try and keep him quiet), Amanda told me all the ailments of all the animals in the waiting room. I think she had gone around and talked to most everyone there inquiring what was wrong with their pet! So an hour and a half after we got there, we got into the examining room. Five minutes and $75 later it was over with and we were on our way home.

Dropped the dogs off, grabbed a bite for lunch and then headed to the store to get a few things before Mom and Dad came over for dinner. Back home, grabbed a quick 20 minute nap and then was getting ready to clean the kitchen when Mom and Dad arrived. They kept me company while I cleaned the kitchen and then cooked hamburgers for the second time this week. Hamburgers, corn on the cob and Kool Aid pie. Mm...Mm....Good! Sat around and talked until 9:30pm or so I guess. They left, Amanda went to bed, I worked on a few things and hit the hay as well.

Got up this morning and headed off to church. The youth group shared about their time at camp week before last. A number of them were touched by the Lord and gave their lives to Him. It was pretty cool seeing/hearing students share about the change in their lives...especially ones that were so closed and guarded before camp. As they were sharing, a guy behind me who had graduated from youth group when I was youth pastor asked me if I missed it. I told him no, but it was still exciting to hear what God had done their lives.

After church, we went out to eat at Taco Cabana with Mickey (before he headed back to NC) and Madison and her family (that's what happens when you have kids...You are no longer yourself, just somebody's parents).

We played for a little bit when we came home, then it was another 20 minute nap and time to pack up for the evening. We went to The Rig restaurant in Ft. Worth for a dinner with area geocachers. We hit one cache on the way there (which Amanda found). Amanda was hilarious at the event. There must have been 30 or so people there. Amanda spent her time taking her "log book" around asking everybody to sign it. She met a ton of people and had a blast. Again, it's her mother's personality coming out.

After that, we headed out to an area a couple of miles from there and did five more caches in a wooded area. Fortunately I thought to mark where we parked the car (on the GPS), 'cause we walked around so much I had no idea where it was when it was time to leave. It was starting to get dark and we had to choose between grabbing one more cache and heading straight back to the car. Of course we decided to do one more cache since it was just .15 miles from our current location. By the time we got there, it was getting pretty dark and we had to pull out the flashlight to look for the cache. Since the car was about half a mile away (and I hoped we could follow trails back rather than have to walk through the dense woods), I was not going to look to long. GeoPunkin came through at crunch time again (like she quite frequently does). I gave her the flashlight and I was reading the cache description on the PDA one more time when I heard those magic words..."FOUND IT". We logged it as quickly as we could and hiked back to the car. When we got there, we said a "thank you, Jesus" that the trails we found lead back to the car and we did not have to do any more bushwhacking. We discussed what a great time we had spending time together.

So it was home for a quick bath and then Amanda got into bed since she's got to get up at 7:00am and head to work with me tomorrow. I logged our finds (see our stats to the right), watched "Human Prey II" on the Discovery Channel (I LOVE Discovery Channel) and blogged this. Now it's time for bed since I have to get up at 7:00am and head for work tomorrow.

Still have lots to do this week. Promised Amanda I would take her swimming, we have to shop for a friend's birthday party, and then she gets to go to Six Flags all day on Tuesday (the friend's birthday party). We are hoping this will help pass the time until Mommy gets back.

Six days and counting.

- Rob