Minneola Texas with Dave and Judy

March 23rd-29thWe left today to go visit Mark’s high school friend, Dave Braman and wife Judy.  They live in Minneola Texas which is three hours north of Lanny’s.  East Texas is just beautiful with rolling green hills and lots of trees.  The weather has been just awesome too.  We have really been blessed.  (Since leaving Ohio the last week in Jan., we have had only a day of rain.)  The drive was lovely and what a sight it was to pull into The Breaman’s farm at sunset.  AWESOME!!!!

What a beautiful place!  We left Miss Jim B at Lanny’s and stayed with the Braemans.  They just finished building their dream home and it is magnificent.  We were very comfortable and especially enjoyed seeing the horses grazing right out the living room windows.  Janae and Stefan had their own suite downstairs and Mark and I stayed in the guest room upstairs.  They could easily charge top dollar for this high end B and B.  We felt very spoiled.  Judy had a wonderful ham dinner waiting for us and Janae was ecstatic.  She had been begging me for ham for quite some time.

I enjoyed getting to know Dave and Judy.   They are a wonderful couple and demonstrate such love and respect to each other.  What a peaceful home and haven they have.  It is truly a sanctuary.  Janae and Stefan were so happy hiking, exploring, fishing and boating on their 10 acre lake.  Mark got to spend some good quality time with Dave and as for me, I was preoccupied with job applications. I spent the better part of our visit writing my application materials and contacting references.  Judy was wonderful in helping me streamline my words and both she and Dave were so accommodating and helpful with the internet.  I did however thoroughly enjoy their loggia (outdoor dining area) and spent many hours teaching and practicing in this room.  This is no ordinary room.  It is an enclosed gazebo with screened windows and a fireplace.  It is also home to an orange tree.  Practicing with the curious horses and the warm breeze scented with orange blossoms was just idyllic. Ahh! We also shared several wonderful evening meals here before taking an after dinner hike.

Mineola is a vibrant, neat little Texas town.  About 5000 people inhabit it and the businesses are all thriving.  One day, the kids and I explored the little shops and tried a local favorite: deep fried pies.  Janae was the only one that liked them.

When your children are happy, mama’s happy.  Stefan was so joyful this week and one night before dinner, Stefan came and asked me for some snuggle time.  How sweet it was to snuggle in the guest room with the sun streaming in for a few moments.  Another night for no apparent reason he got out of bed and just danced around and said, “I’m so happy, I’m so happy.”  I said “Stefan are you happy with being on the farm or the people and he said, “both, I’m happy with everything.”  Janae also was her joyful self and as she often does gave me her big bear hug in the kitchen and said, “mama, I love you”.

Our hostess with the mostess

Our last day, we got to visit with some of Dave and Judy’s grandchildren.  Janae and Stefan enjoyed playing with Teagan and Maddox.  We ended our visit with a southern barbecue meal at a local restaurant.