October 1

SOLTESWEB.NET ALASKA TRIP 2005 - OCTOBER Page 1

Well, this page is going to wrap up our daily journal To Alaska '05, except for a few entries this month, especially with family, whch we missed while on this trip. Look for another journal series coming about end-November or early December on our trip to Montreal, Canada. It'll be called To Montreal '05.

Saturday October 1 - Tuesday, October 4

No pictures. :(

We arrived in Cache, Oklahoma on Saturday morning, and spent the next few days with our daughter Aimee and her husband Gary. Gary is career army, and the two recently moved from Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas to Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma. We're all very proud of Gary...he has just received another promotion to Command Sergeant Major of a Regiment, consisting of several battalions. We are parked outside of Geneva Simmons' house, Patty's mother-in-law, and are enjoying her company as well as Aunt Mabel, 98 years young, living with Geneva.

Saturday was great! There was an "Oktoberfest" celebration on base in the evening, and we all went. Music, games, fellowship...a good time.

On Monday and Tuesday, we were helping Aimee and Gary prepare their house for sale. The Army will be giving them a beautiful and large home on base, consistent with Gary's new duties.

We leave tomorrow for Lindale, Texas, home of son Brady and daughter-in-law Jan, with their children Mary (5) and Caden (3). We also will take our car, which was being cared for by Gary and Aimee in our absence.

Wednesday, October 5

Made our way to Lindale, Texas. It was great to see Brady and Jan and the two children.

Friday, October 7

Here's Caden helping Grandpa install a dishwasher:

Saturday, October 8

This is our son Derek's birthday. Happy Birthday, Derek!

Patty and I went with Mary and Caden to the CountryFest parade and fair in Lindale. Here are some pictures of our fun that day:

Waiting for the parade.

It really was a good parade.

Riding the ponies.

The slide!

Riding the sheep! Ride 'em cowboy!

Oct 13 - Caden helping with the water line

Reading - Mary and Caden

October 14 - Mary's First Day at School

At the library

October 24 - First Day of School - Amelia

Thursday, October 20

This email and the pictures from our son Brady say it all!

Hello everybody,

In case you haven't heard, we are in the process of adopting a little girl into our family. If you are wondering "Wow! When did this happen?" Don't feel bad, our heads are still spinning too. We were approached by Loving Alternatives, the adoption agency connected with YWAM's mother's home, to pray about adopting this little girl from the streets of Houston back in mid September. Things have obviously happened very quickly. We were able to bring her home on Oct. 17th. Her name is Brianna. She will be five in mid January. Brianna is smart, happy, busy and a cutie pie and fits in quite well with our family. Mary and Caden are happy to have a new sister. She is getting to have all kinds of new experiences and is having lots of fun.

We know that God has a special plan for Brianna's life and are glad we can be a part of bringing her from the streets, where she had only a sad past and no future, to a place where we can love on her, encourage her and give her a hope for a future. We are so happy to have her a part of our family. Please pray for us and her in these first months as we adjust to each other, also pray that everything would progress properly as we work through the adoption process and finalize in six months.

We look forward to getting to introduce her to everyone in the near future!
the (New) Simmons Family

Brady and Jan have subsequently decided to rename Brianna to Anna.

Saturday, October 22

We spent the weekend with Derek, Verr and Amelia

...in the pumpkin patch, of course. You probably can't tell, but Verr is carrying Eleanor, who was to be born 5 days later!

Thursday, October 27

At 1:30 pm or so, Derek and Verr became birth parents to Eleanor Elizabeth, 7 lb 11 oz. We became grandparents for the second time this month. Here are some early pictures.

That's big sister Amelia (age 6 on Nov 25) with her new baby sister, Eleanor.

Monday, October 31

Just a few more pictures. These were taken at the Hideway Lake Community church near Lindale, where Patty and I, Brady and Jan and the three kiddos went for some Harvest fun.

Now, who's having the most fun in these pictures?

Well, that's it for the "To Alaska '05" journal We took over 8000 pictures, and selected over 1250 on these pages to share with you. See you next month, as we travel to Oklahoma, Nashville and Montreal, and, of course, places in between.

May the Lord bless you in your travels! He certainly has blessed us!

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