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We are truly blessed. A few weeks ago, a customer came into my office with a different request. Where would I suggest that he relocate as he did not like the way our country was heading. What would you have advised? Is there any country in the world that offers as much freedom and opportunity as we have right here in the United States? Many of us do have some concerns for the future of our country. Would this not be true wherever we lived?

All too often we take for granted the freedoms that we have. We can choose where and when we travel. We can choose a public or a private school for our children. We can choose the church we want to attend.

Yes, we have some rules and some laws to live by and some taxes to pay. That seems to be true in all civilized countries. We need to think carefully before we jump from the frying pan into the fire. It is true that the dollar will buy more in some countries, but will that country give you the same opportunities as you have here at home?

My mind always remembers a friend whose father was an immigrant to the United States. That man migrated here with nothing. Through hard work and determination, he managed to provide for and educate his large family. My friend - who was one of those children - became a manager in a large retail store. Today he owns fifteen hundred acres of farmland and is highly respected in his community.

If we all look far enough back in our family history, we no doubt will find that at one time there was an immigrant who made it into the United States or Canada to start a new life. Beginning a new life sometimes not even speaking the language must be a real challenge. If starting a new life isn't a challenge, then why do so many churches and towns have "refuge" as part of their name? Most of us have traveled through Refugio as we leave the Valley for Houston or some other city. How appropriate that name must have seemed for those tired settlers who had made their way overland from the Gulf Coast. They had finally reached their refuge. They were home.

We had a historian in our family who studied the family history tracing it back to the original settlers on the East Coast. Even from the East Coast there was a path of migration with relatives on my father's side among the original three hundred who were granted land to settle Texas. It's an interesting history. I am proud they migrated. I am proud to be a Texan.

Travel and the opportunity to share that experience with other people has been one of my many blessings. So, pack your bags and let's go traveling. The biggest blessing of all is to have a home to come back to.

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