Family

- Post by Bryan Bynum, Tool and Firearm Expert

Once you’ve settled into your career and the “real world,” it’s hard to think that life can get any better. You’re on your own, living life to the fullest, and making your own rules, but then you get to a point where you feel like there is something missing. At first, you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know the void is there. This was how I felt until I met my beautiful wife Tiffany.

All of that free time I spent doing what I wanted like fishing, hunting, and wrenching, suddenly became a thing of the past. After we met, all I could think about was the next time I would see her and get to be by her side. The rest they say is history. We fell in love, I proposed, and rushed to get married as soon as I could. (I didn’t want anyone else to steal her away.)

 

It didn’t take long before we wanted a child to share all of this love with and on June 11^th, 2007 our son, Cody, was born. He was a little miracle from God and a blessing to the whole family. Cody is the kind of kid that loves to light up the room, whether he is singing, dancing, or just giving you a wet Willie! Being his father has made me a better man and I love that kid more than life itself.

 

The funny thing is now I get to go fishing, hunting, and work on the hot rod wrenching again. Except this time around, I have two little extra hands to help me and share the fun with. I could not imagine waking up without either of them to greet me or a cute little “I wuv you Daddy.”

 As you can see, family is the most important thing to me in the world. We have another little one on the way who is expected to arrive ANY day now. It is hard to imagine I have any more love to share but with each addition to my family my heart just continues to grow.

Hands Down Family Camp

- Post by Megan Webb, Marketing

Every year Scottish Rite Hospital hosts a Hand Camp and this year I was given the opportunity to volunteer as a counselor. Now, this isn’t just any old camp, it is the most amazing camp in the entire world. Hand Camp is a camp for children, ages 4-9, with upper limb differences and their immediate family members. An upper limb difference can be congenital (present at birth) or an outcome of an unfortunate accident. The most common congenital hand conditions include extra, webbed, or missing fingers. Camp is held in Meridian, TX at Camp John Marc and this year we had 56 families!

My group of counselors was in charge of the seven year olds. Keeping up with 23 seven year olds can be a challenge so we had a lot of fun things planned. The day is broken out into “sessions” such as sports and games, self help, cooking, how-tos, arts and crafts…you get the idea. We went on a nature hike, fished, played soccer, and even cooked squid dogs and astronaut food (delicious).

Saturday night we had a carnival for all of the families. We danced, had a hoola-hoop contest, ate WAY too much cotton candy, and one of our counselors put on a slam dunk show!

Parents and family members are encouraged to come to camp with their kids. This is not only fun for the whole family but also a great opportunity for parents to get together and discuss any questions and/or fears they may have with parents in similar situations. They group together in "breakout sessions" where they have the opportunity to discuss parenting challenges that have come up with their children, and most of the challenges have nothing to do with having a limb difference! For me personally, the most rewarding thing about camp is what I can learn from all of these amazing children. They look at life as if nothing is out of reach and they are determined to overcome any obstacle life throws at them.

Golfers Anonymous

- Post by Brandon Frame, Pricing Specialist 

My name is Brandon Frame and I am addicted to golf. They don’t have an official support group for people like me, but I know I’m not alone. When I am not at work, chances are I am probably swinging a golf club. For my 8th birthday my grandfather gave me a set of golf clubs and I've been hooked ever since! It gets me away from the fast pace of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area for a few hours. Golf is a game that tests you physically and mentally. There are many things that have to take place to execute a good golf shot, but you'll never hit the same shot twice. It seems that every time I play there is one part of my game that is suffering. Whether it’s my driver slicing to the right all day, my 6 iron continually finding the green side bunkers, or my putter not seeming to work right. Hey, even Tiger has bad days. You have to know your strengths to try to compensate for whatever is lacking in your game. Also, living in Texas does not help, the sudden weather changes and random wind gusts can change your shot in no time. 

 

I try to play golf more than once a week during golf season. My buddies and I play every Sunday at Firewheel Golf Course for weekly bragging rights and competitive trash talking via text message until the next time we meet. I also take a trip every year to New Braunfels, TX to play golf with my grandfather for a few days at my favorite golf course, The Bandit.

I love golf. It's an individual's sport that will always keep you guessing; a game that people of all ages have fun excelling at, and a place where I can relax while enjoying time with those I care for. There is nothing else that I would rather be doing on a nice summer day than walking the fairways.

Meet the Garcias

-Post by Krista Garcia, Jewelry Expert

My husband Mike and I both have the pleasure of working here at ReSource. We met over 11 years ago at work, and have never left each other's side. So you might ask, what do we do together in our free time?   

We spend our time with friends, family, and our animals. Our animals include our dog, Lady, who is a German Sheppard-Husky mix that we rescued from a bad home. Precious is our cat and she is constantly talking, although I’m not quite sure what about, and they both follow us around like they think they are humans!

The weekends are packed with Church and lots of food! We pick up the family and off we go to the early services, followed by a wonderful brunch. We love to start the day off inspired and with full bellies ready to tackle whatever the day has to hold. 

We are also homebodies, we enjoy renting movies and hanging out with the neighbors. They see the grill and come running. I think they are always over for the fajitas, and playing poker in the dining room. There is no satisfaction like taking their money! :-)  

  

Mike is a huge Green Bay Packer fan. He even made the trek to the freezing cold north to see them in Green Bay last year to play our hometown Cowboys! I bought him the tickets for our 10 year anniversary and he had an absolute ball. You would think he would root for the Cowboys, being from Texas, and unfortunately we get tons of grief on that one.  He is constantly wearing his gold and green gear out, even to the grocery store. It is so embarrassing when he wears his Cheese Head in Public!

Who knows what our future will bring, but for now we know that we are truly blessed in our lives. I hope you have enjoyed getting to know us, and stay tuned to the blog for our future adventures!

Texas Bluebonnets

 - Post by Amanda Brown, Purchasing Dept

Springtime in Texas brings a variety of elements to the state; thunder storms, crazy winds, temperatures all over the spectrum of hot and cold, and of course, bluebonnets! The bluebonnet is the state flower of Texas and during spring you can find them littered all over our highway embankments and fields.

 

Taking family portraits in the bluebonnets is a long running tradition for many families in Texas, and mine is no exception! Last weekend Chris and I took Kayla, our 14 month old daughter, to sit in the bluebonnets near our home and get some pictures of her. I love taking pictures, and for the most part, Kayla tolerates it being directed at her pretty well (even if she chooses to make silly faces instead of smile most of the time).

 

The ground of the field we took her too was very uneven, and as a fairly new walker she found the terrain very hard to navigate. She isn’t much of one for getting her hands dirty and especially doesn’t like to touch grass or plants unless it’s on her terms. The tripping and subsequent touching of the ground was a little traumatic at times but, with a little help from mom and dad, she made it through the experience unscathed.

 

After searching the small field for the perfect spot we ended up settling on a nice little patch that already had an open spot (other picture takers had ventured here before). We were able to get a few snap shots in before the outreached hands and whimpering got the best of us and Kayla got picked up!

When we got home Kayla took a long nap, apparently she had an exhausting experience that afternoon, and I got to look through all my pictures and take them to get printed. Now my desk is decorated with Kayla and bluebonnets and I couldn’t be happier! :)

Wheeling with the Brown's: Canyon's Offroad Park

In pursuit of following the Fun Side of ReSource, our blog comes back around to the Brown's, a husband and wife combination working here at ReSource and their off road adventures.  On the weekend of Feb. 26 Amanda and Chris decided to go on an uncharted adventure to a previously unexplored (by them) park here in Texas known as Canyons Off Road Park.  Canyons is nestled just outside of a small tourist town in the Hill Country known as Fredericksburg, Texas, a hot spot for many around Texas wanting to visit the early German culture that originally settled Central Texas.  The park itself is actually located 10 miles to the north of town on private land.  The weekend held the largest turn out Canyons Off Road Park has ever had with 53 vehicles coming out to explore the property.

Dairy Queen is the Texas Stop Sign and a sure stop on any road trip!

The drive from Dallas to Fredericksburg is no short one and Amanda and Chris took off fully loaded on Friday evening after work and pulled into camp just after 10 PM.  After setting up camp and sitting down for a few beverages they turned in for the night, electing to sleep in the Trailer with the heater running!  After a very cold night, they woke up early and loaded up the buggy for what was sure to be a very promising day.  They rounded up their good wheeling buddy John and his Bronco and hit the trails.  The pictures below show just a few of the obstacles we saw.

Looking down on a little grade in the trail!

John and his Mighty Bronco.

"If you just rock it a little..."

After a full day's worth of wheeling, dinner was had on the main street of Fredericksburg, Tx at Wheeler's Cafe chosen aptly for the name and how it related to the day's events.  Once back at camp, a fire was had and many frosty adult beverages were consumed.  It was a good time had by all and once again to escape the cold of night they elected to sleep in the trailer.  On Sunday it was time to pack up and head to the house, a successful weekend of wheeling was concluded.  Stay tuned for Chris and Amanda's March trip to Katemcy Rocks in Mason, Tx.

The Little buggy that could climbing a dirt wall.

Vaya Con Dios!  All loaded up and headed home!

Go Pirates!

- Post by Staci Wiser, Purchasing Dept 

Ok, I know that you must be thinking, “Wait, isn’t ReSource in Texas? Why is she cheering for Pittsburgh?” Well yes, you are right, so while it is hard to cheer for a baseball team other than the Rangers, I make an exception every Saturday morning to cheer on my Godson, Jordan, and the Pittsburgh Pirates! (And I’ll just secretly hope that next season they get to be the Texas Rangers!!)

I love watching baseball, but another reason I enjoy going to the games is to soak up some sun and to spend time with Jordan’s mom, my best friend of almost 15 years! Baseball games are a great time for us to sit back, relax, and enjoy a nice iced coffee. Oh, and we keep the books, so we have to pay pretty close attention to the game too! In fact, I have learned quite a bit about the game from watching Jordan play over the past couple of years. For example, this is him being “baseball ready”.

Although we lost this past Saturday, there were a lot of good hits and good plays, and some funny ones too! You’ll have the occasional player that would rather draw in the dirt and sometimes you wonder why you don’t have a left fielder, and then you see that it's because they’re asleep in the dugout! You can be sure though that come time for end of the game snacks and stickers, no one is left sleeping!

Next Saturday is sure to be another fun game. You never know what you’re going to see in little league, but I know I’ll be there cheering on my favorite # 6! Go Jordan!!