Alamo Springs Café

Best Burger

Sherrie and I adventured out to Luckenbach, Texas and the LBJ Ranch (nicknamed as the White House of the West) and then ended up at the Famous Alamo Springs Café, literally a dot on the map.  No road signs, no directions.  You wouldn't know it was there, unless some local told you.  I'm glad my "local" was my sister.

I rank it up there with 

"In and Out" Burgers

and 

"5 Guys" Burgers!

So, if you are ever in the Fredricksburg, Texas area (just 1 hour northwest of San Antonio, Texas), and not visiting my sister, you do have options besides walking down main street. You could drive 30 minutes to Luckenbach, Texas, the LBJ Ranch and even dine at the famous Alamo Springs Café.  Enjoy!  I wonder who else has visited these locations?

~J

Luckenbach, Texas

Luckenbach, Texas

Literally, this and a Dance Hall is all there is to this small town.

Let's go to Luckenbach, Texas

With Waylon and Willie and the boys

This successful life we're livin'

Got us feuding like the Hatfields and McCoys

Between Hank Williams' pain songs and

Newberry's train songs and Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain

Out in Luckenbach, Texas ain't nobody feelin' no pain

Now, enjoy the Video!

 

JBU Family Weekend

Parent Association Council

Last weekend, we participated in the Annual JBU Family weekend, helping out with the Parent Association Council.  Glenn and I served as 2010-2011 PAC Presidents.   We will serve one more year as "past presidents".  We thoroughly enjoyed helping with the many aspects of PAC.  This week-end, we helped with registration, Presidential Brunch, Reception after the famous Talent Show and just getting to know the parents of the students as they visited the campus.

Glenn, you did a great job!

Registration Table

Madison was in the production of Arsenic and Old Lace. 

Great Play.  Job well done!

Gary's Baptism

On Sunday, Feb 20, 2011, our son, Gary, was baptized at Harvard Avenue Baptist Church in Siloam Springs, Arkansas.  Growing up as a missionary kid on the foreign field, he never really expressed a desire to get baptized and we never "pushed" him either.  We wanted him to "own it."

Gary's first birthday was September 20, 1988 and his second birthday was July 20, 1996 

 

We count it an honor to see Gary grow in the Lord during his JBU experience of college.  We've seen him mature in his walk with the Lord and how he has trusted Him daily.  We couldn't ask for a better "gentle giant" as a son.  And the best news, Gary tells us he is graduating on May 7th!  Yippee!

~J

Post-It-Note Car

 Yes, even here in Guatemala, they can get crazy about Post-It Notes, celebrating Birthdays and Anniversaries, etc.

From these photos, can anyone tell me what road we were traveling?

~J

Watch Out for Falling Rocks

 

I guess you really don't need a

sign along the side of the road 

to tell you to be careful!

~J

Skyping

Last week, while visiting Panajachel, we were able to connect Marco and his wife Marta to some "old time friends" from way back, via Skype.  They were so funny talking to Ron via the computer, blowing "kisses" and hugs through the digital age!

I just love Skype.  Simple to use.  Easy.  Hannah and Jordan have communicated several times with their parents in Alabama and we've connected with Karen and Thomas several times in Dallas via Skype.

Our Skype name is JudyMarrStewart 

and

Glenn.Stewart3

Give us a call!

Cool Nikon Pix

While visiting Nancy's store in San Antonio Palopó, one of the Indian ladies come up to us and asked us about her new camera.  I didn't know anything about a Nikon.  My camera is a Cannon.  

However, Hannah's camera was the exact model down to the same color as this one.

Get this, Hannah opened up her new box camera, pulled out the sim card, loaded up the batteries and then began to show the the lady how to take a picture.

Point and Shoot

Hannah explained how you never really need to take the battery out.  She explained how to go back and view the photos.

As I think back, it was great to think how we came upon this shop and the gal wanted instructions on how to use her brand new camera, and here was Hannah with the same EXACT Camera.  God is so good.

Cakchiquel Family

Jordan and Hannah with 

Solomon and Grace

As is customary, we drove over to San Antonio Palopó for the Selfs to experience the Cakchiquel (pronounced cat-chee-kel) culture by having each of them dressed up in the local dress, typical from the area.

The ladies loved holding Grace!

~J

Sunrise This Morning

I got up early this morning and enjoyed the spectacular Sunrise.

Weather Guatemala City is

Perfect

Can't get better than this!

It is hard for me to image all the snow my friends in Texas and Arkansas are getting these past few days!!! The amount of snow is unbelievable!

61°F | °C

Current: Clear
Wind: NE at 8 km/h
Humidity: 88%

Thu

78°F | 57°F

Fri

77°F | 55°F

Sat

75°F | 53°F

Sun

75°F | 51°F

Ministry Trip

Last week, we took 4 days to take Jordan and Hannah out to the campo.

Our first stop - Patzún.  A Canadian work team is here helping the Spaughs with ministry projects.  This team comes yearly.  We especially wanted to connect with Lois on the team.  It doesn't seem possible that 4 years ago, Lois' husband, Bob, who was a team member, doing what he loved to do here in Guatemala, suffered an aneursm and died several days later here in Guatemala.  We grieved with Lois and also helped her for the first few days before she flew back to Canada. It was good to see Lois again.

Check out my March 18 2007 blog entry to read more.

Our next stop was LBN (Las Buenas Nuevas), CAM's Retreat Center on the beautiful shores of Lake Atitlán.   Glenn and I were able to visit with Niel and Diana who work there, take in a beautiful sunset and get caught up on some correspondence.

  Continuing on our trip, we stopped by to see the Scotts in Xela, then visited a work team in Cantel and went on down to the coastal plains for a 1/2 day at Xocomil (pronounced show-ko-meal).

 

Our last stop was the town of Monterrico, on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala.  The beaches are black sand from the volcanic activity over the years.  The sand is very hot and the under-tow is incredibly fierce and dangerous.

In summary, we are thankful for the safe journey on the roads as we traveled over 400 miles to visit our missionary friends.  We're thankful that we could stop and encourage them along the way and also that we were able to share a little bit of Guatemala with Jordan and Hannah.  In a couple of weeks, Hannah will begin language school and I know she will appreciate having seen the beauty of this country as she hits the books hard.

~J

Moody Bible Institute 2011 Alumnus of the Year

Our good friend, Ian Leitch, received the 2011 Alumnus of the Year award from Moody Bible Institute.  For 8 out of the past 10 years, Glenn and I have been in Chicago during the evening session, but not the past two years.  We had WMBI over the internet yesterday to listen/watch here in Guatemala.  I was thrilled that Ian got the Award.  We are so very proud of our dear friend.

{Ian, me and Hugo}

Ian and I served on the Alumni Board together for 5 years.  Secretly, I tried to sit next to him at each board meeting, because he "livened" up the meetings with his "under his breath" remarks.  He has a contagious and sensitive spirit about him.  He is sincere and genuine.  You can't get more real than that.  He speaks his mind with clarity and thoughtfulness.

Ian was the guest speaker for our CAM Guatemala Conference back in 2007.

As I reflect on the past, Ian joins the ranks of other Great Alumnus of the Year MBI with whom Glenn and I share friendships with - Take a look at just a few (yes, I'm name dropping). 

{click on the name and/or Alumnus of the year....to read more}

• John Beekman (1946) Alumnus of the Year in 1963 (He introduced Glenn and me together and really was very influential for Glenn to continue dating me back in 1978)
• George Verwer (1960/61) Alumnus of the Year in 1986 (We served on the Alumni Board together and Glenn's grandmother (Ma Gamble) was his dorm mother)
• Gene Getz (1952) Alumnus of the Year in 1985 (We served on the Alumni Board together and has become a dear friend.  We love "dropping" in on him at his office in Dallas or even a meal out.)
• Forrest Zander (1956) Alumnus of the Year in 1980 (Dear friends of Glenn's folks who served with Wycliffe)
• Howard Whaley (1959) Alumnus of the Year in 1992 (Our mission prof while at Moody back in the 70s)
• Nard Pugyao (1973-1975) Alumnus of the Year in 1996 (attended Moody Aviation with Glenn in Tennessee).
• Bob Conrad (1960) Alumnus of the Year in 2007 (a Wycliffe Bible Translator friend of ours, and attend GPBC and a relative of our dear friends Scott and Carol)

In summary, Congratulations to our dear friend Ian Leitch. Ian habitually would call me "Judy from Moody". We are super proud to have a friend like Ian.  Way to go!  You deserve this highly prestigious award!

~J