Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Guatemala!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support this past year. We've really needed them!

December

December has been one of our most challenging months so far. At the beginning of the month I had to leave the country and go to Mexico because of a problem with immigration. Then two weeks ago Yuli came down with appendicitis and needed an emergency operation. We're happy that she's now recovering well. We've celebrated Christmas and the New Year with a bunch of visitors in our house and with Yuli's family. And Yuli and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary last week!

But the hardest thing this month has been the loss of a dear friendship. Elias, who has been with us the past two years, left us three weeks ago. He made some new friends with coworkers this year that have been very harmful and he has wandered away from God. Yesterday he returned to stay with us in order to celebrate the New Year, and I ask you to please pray for our conversations today and pray for our heart. We really miss him and greatly miss our friendship, but most of all we're saddened by his choices. Please pray that God would work on his heart! And please pray that he would return to live with us again.

New Ministry Opportunity for 2014

We're very excited about 2014 and the big things in store for this year!

For the past few years we've been visiting a family with kids that lived at the orphanage for a while. And we've been praying about how to best help the kids. They were sent to the orphanage because of alcoholism and abandonment, and the family is also really poor. Celia really captured our hearts and she graduated from 6th grade last year. They live very remote, and there aren't any schools for her to continue further. Her older sister Estela graduated a year ago and is in the same situation. So we're going to open a girls home!

A small two-bedroom house just down the street from us has become available to rent. Our hope and prayer is to use it for a girls home and create an environment where girls like Estela and Celia can continue to study and break free from poverty, but also to grow into women of God. One of the saddest things to see here is the incredible number of pregnant young girls. Guatemala leads Latin America in the number of teens pregnancies. Many of these girls' friends have already gotten pregnant since finishing 6th grade.

Our vision is a home where the girls can remain connected to their families while having a refuge with us to learn, develop and mature into women. The school year starts later this month, and Christian school that Yuli and I have worked at is looking for scholarships for the girls. There are so many details still remaining that we have to work through! Please pray for us during this exciting and challenging new project.

Our wonderfully happy and energetic little girl

Celebrating Christmas with Jennifer, Edwin & Benjamin

Celebrating 4 years of marriage with my two wonderful girls

Estella & Celia (in the middle in black and pink) with their family

Thank you so much for your support and prayers for Yuli, myself and the ministry. Thank you for enabling us to serve in Guatemala!

Brent & Yuliza

My Bucket List

My biggest item on my bucket list is to visit every, yes every single Presidential Library Museum. Thus far I have been to three. Jimmy Carter (D) in Atlanta, GA; Dwight Eisenhower (R) in Abilene, KS and Lyndon Johnson (D) in Austin, TX.  Eager to find the funds and get to the rest of them. This blog will showcase some of the pictures and a writeup about  each of them. In the meantime I would love to hear what's on your bucket list. 

Lifesize Barbara Jordon Statue (Airport)

Photo Coming Soon!!!

3600 Presidential Blvd (Austin-Bergstrom International Airport --- Baggage Claim level)

The first, life sized statue of the late Barbara Jordan resides in the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Created by California artist Bruce Wolfe, the bronze sculpture depicts Jordan seated, in deep thought, with her finger tips pressed together; her glasses and a book placed in her lap.

The life-size sculpture is the first major, public piece in the country to honor Jordan and it is a landmark for all who visit the Barbara Jordan Terminal, named in her honor.

City of Austin Aviation Department officials unveiled the statue in November 2002.





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Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farms

Recently the city of Austin held their annual Free Museum Day. This year the wife and I journeyed to Pioneer Farms, as it is known locally. Officially known as the Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farms.

photo by Kevin Surbaugh

Inscription:
this historic site along Walnut Creek, at the edge of the famous blacklands prairie, originally was home to Native Tonkawa Indians. In the fall of 1844, Texas Ranger Lt. James O. Rice, an Original Austin settler, laid claim to 1,280 acres at the northward crossing of the creek - including the site of pioneer farms.

Eight years later, Frederick and Harriet Bachman Jourdan settled on a portion of that acreage with eight children, eventually amassing a 2,000-acre farm.

Outlaws and marauders menaced the first settlers, many of whom, like the Jourdans, migrated from eastern states. Beginning in the 1850s, immigrants from Germany amd other European countries settled in the areaand founded Dessau, Pfluggerville and other towns. After the Civil War, freedman farmed around the sprinkle community nearby.  For a time in the 1870s, the Chisholm Trail traversed the area.

 In 1956, the Jourdan grandchildren, Laura and Eugene Giles, donated the core of their ancestors' property to the heritage society of Austin for a park to honor early-day settlers. Dedicated in 1975, the museum  now features an architecturally diverse collection of historic buildings, including some of the oldest extant in Texas. Most were moved here to prevent their demolition and ensure their preservation for future generations.

photo by Kevin Surbaugh

Erected:
1994 by Austin Landmarks

Greg Valdespino plays the banjo
on the porch at Pioneer Farm.
photo by Kevin Surbaugh

Handicapped Accessibility:
According to the staff and volunteers at the park generally all the buildings except one have ramps. However, the day we were there the ramps had been removed because a film crew was filming the soon to be released indie film "A Relative Stranger."

photo by Kevin Surbaugh

Location:
What do you think about this attraction?

Newsboy Statue

This statue used to set outside the offices of the Texas Press Association. However, it was vandalized by some unthinking person(s). After it was repaired, the statue was moved inside to protect it from further vandalism.

Photo Coming Soon!

Handicap Accessibility:
There are steps that leads from the sidewalk to the offices where this statue is located. As of the time being I have not found a handicapped entrance, but will ask when I return to photograph the newly repaired statue.

Location:
Texas Press Association
718 West 5th Street
Austin, TX 78701-2783
moved inside Texas Press Association Offices in downtown Austin.
Phone: (512) 477-6755

Mount Bonnell

Mount Bonnell was part of  a 54-acre tract  of land owned by F. M. Covert, Sr.  A pioneer Austin businessman. Negotiations to give the summit of Mt. Bonnell, to be known as Covert Park, to the people of Travis County began in 1934 but was concluded by the remaining members of the Covert family in honor of their father  on June 2, 1939. Covert Park at Mt. Bonnell provides a fabulous view of the Colorado River valley and the city of Austin skyline.

photo by Kevin Surbaugh

Inscription:
Rising 775 feet above sea level, this limestone height was named for George W. Bonnell, who came to Texas with others to fight for Texas independence, 1836. Was commissioner of Indian Affairs in Republic of Texas under president Sam Houston. Moved in 1839 to Austin; there published the "Texas Sentinel", 1840. Member Texan-Santa Fe expedition, 1841. Was captured but released in time to join Mier expedition, 1842. Was killed in camp on Rio Grande, Dec, 26, 1842. Frontiersman W.A.A. "Bigfoot" Wallace killed an indian he met face to face while crossing a narrow ledge 50 feet above river, 1839. He also took refuge in a Mount Bonnell cave to recover from "flux", but was missing so long his sweetheart eloped. In the mid-1800s Mormons built a mill on the Colorado river at foot of Mount Bonnell. Mill was destroyed by flood and the Mormons moved on west. Mount Bonnell was site of picnics and outings in 1850s and 1860s. As it is today. Legend has it that an excursion to the place in the1850s inspired the popular song "Wait for the Wagon and We'll All Take a Ride". As a stunt in 1898, Miss Hazel Keyes slid down a cable stretched from the top of Mount Bonnell to south bank of then Lake McDonald below.

Texas State Historical Marker
photo by Kevin Surbaugh

Erected:
1969

picturesque view from Mount Bonnell
of the Pennybacker Bridge (on 360)
photo by Kevin Surbaugh

Handicapped Accessibility:
Depends on the mobility issue. If you can't climb the steps (like my wife), there is a hiking trail to the far right of the park base. As you can see in the pictures below, if you are able to use crutches you can barely make it pass the locked access gate. However, if you are in a wheelchair, there is no way for you to access the park at all. That said, even if you get to the top of this access area, you will not be able to make on to the top of the Mount, due to the uneven step like trail from that point on.

Photo by Kevin Surbaugh

Pat Surbaugh at Mt. Bonnell
Photo by Kevin Surbaugh

Photo by Kevin Surbaugh

View Larger Map
Location:
3800 Mt. Bonnell Rd.
Austin, TX 78731
GPS:
N 30 19.270 W 097 46.297
What do you think about this attraction?

The 3rd Annual International Music Festival

This weekend is the Third Annual International Music Festival. I have not been to the first or second ones, so I am kind curious about this one.  But, lets face it everyone likes music, so to have a festival that showcases music from around the world (a complete list of the music at this years festival).
When:
September 7 & 8, 2013
Noon-7p.m.

Admission:
Free
Handicapped Accessibility:
Yes

Website:
www.texasmusicmuseum.org/

Location:
George Washington Carver
Museum and Cultural Events Center
1165 Angelina Street
Austin, TX 78702


Have you been to this festival in the past? We would love to hear your comments about the festival.