home?

I wondered if we would ever get the chance to come back to Tyler, but it's happened. TEC, CAC and I flew into Austin and made the drive up here on Saturday. Judge Parker is celebrating 10 years on the bench and we were able to make it to a dinner honoring him Saturday night. All four of his law clerks were there, along with some of his partners, and of course Miss Thana and Miss Sandy. Very good people all around. It was a wonderful evening and we were grateful that things worked out for us to be here.

We had a great weekend. We're staying with our good friends, the Sandidges. They have really taken good care of us (it doesn't hurt that Amy is a chef, I tell you!). Yesterday we went to our old ward and were surprised at how much it felt like coming home. Though, it was sad to not have all of our kids...so many asked about them. After church we drove up to our old neighborhood and by our old house...twice. It looks like the new owner is taking good care of it and we saw that the big tree out back survived this fall's hurricanes, maybe with a few fewer branches, but still there. I could have knocked on the door and asked to take a nostalgic walk around inside, but refrained. What a great house. Again, I wished our kids could have been there and run around that yard again for old time's sake.

The Sandidges threw one of their signature parties Saturday afternoon for the whole ward, so we had more chances to see everyone and catch up on life. Many asked us about life in Utah and about our kids. There is just something about living in a place where so few people have family around and so all of these people come together and become family to each other. That's what Tyler was to us. We are grateful to live close to our own families now...for our kids to see their grandparents and cousins as often as they do, but we recognize what a special thing we had here--how strong the ward is and also the good it did our family to reach out to and rely on other families.