In a few minutes, I will be meeting Nadia and Buck, who I stayed with in Sofia this past winter.  In the meantime, they have moved to Texas.  I will give them this year’s two books, since they figure in four chapters in one book (Dancing in My Dreams), and the entire first part of the other book (more than 50 pages of Graceful Flight) was written at The Promised Land, owned by Nadia’s brother-in-law, Bobby.

It will be interesting to see how they are adapting to life in the US.  They met at seminary here, but since marriage (more than 20 years ago), they have lived in Bulgaria.

–        Later     –

Joe T. Garcia’s–a Fort Worth experience!

They were going to pick me up at my hotel, which is close to their apartment, but they went to a different location of the same hotel brand from where I’m staying.  That little snafu was typically American, and sort of indicative of how they’re managing in the US.  Instead, we met at the restaurant that I had suggested: Joe T. Garcia’s.  I discovered Joe T’s before it became the hotspot that it is today.  Back in about 1980, when I was working as a law office runner (messenger girl), a co-worker told me about Joe T. Garcia’s.  Her husband was a cop in Fort Worth, so he got around a lot and knew all the really good places.  In those days, it was a tiny restaurant in a clapboard house in the neighborhood of the Fort Worth Stockyards (not the nicest part of town).  There was no menu, you just ate whatever they were serving, but that was always excellent.  And you had to walk through the kitchen, past the cooks stirring steaming loads of beans in big frying pans, to get to the dining room.  Now they have added on and added on, and have taken over the next couple of blocks for parking, and it went from funky to fancy.  Now Joe T. Garcia’s is very popular, and has photos of celebrities from all over the US who ate there on their visit to Fort Worth.

I can report that their food is still excellent.  On this, my first day back to Texas in over a year, I was suffering from a severe Mexican food deficit.  My fellow Texan agreed that it had been hard, living in Bulgaria without a Mexican food fix.

So over a great meal, we caught up on all the happenings in their lives and mine.  We commiserated about sensory overload at the grocery store and avoiding the mall at all costs.  Nothing good can come from the American culture of consumerism.  It creates a perceived need that develops dissatisfaction in people, whereas, I’ve noticed that I’m happiest when I remember to be grateful.  Plus, they had moved from a really nice apartment in a nice part of Sofia, where they were paying a lot less for a lot more than they are paying here.  They were surprised that Fort Worth is as pricey as it is.

But despite all that, they and their family are getting along fine.  Now all they need is to get that green card so that they can both work.  It will take both salaries to make it in the US.  But God provides for His children, and they have enjoyed some very wonderful and miraculous provision—praise His wonderful Name!  God is good!