...again! We left yesterday afternoon and drove the 4 or 5 hours over to Alamogordo, New Mexico. Did a little shopping, but didn't find very much. (Mr. Choleric is wanting to get as much Christmas shopping done as possible so we won't have to worry about it later on while we're--hopefully--busy moving.) We did get some Spiderman ghandi's for Sam. Good thing, too. I forgot to bring any underwear for Katie, so... ~sigh~ I'm so ashamed, but my little girl had to wear (is still wearing, come to think of it) little boy ghandi's!!! I can pack for the big trips--Camp, Conventions, Assembly, month long treks across the country... but give me a one-nighter and I'm doomed to forget something important. Did it last time, too. Anyway, after our shopping and a nice kids-eat-free meal at Denny's we headed back to the motel and I gave all the kids showers. That's the problem with Motel 6--no bathtubs, just a shower. But we had to do the Motel 6 thing because we took Hershey Dog with us this time because the realtor was having an Open House here today and James didn't want the dog around and... Wow, this is the most jumbled up and mooshed together post I've written in a long, long time!

Anyway, at shower time I realized Katie's lack of underwear. Sam was a bit stingy with his new prized possessions (it was a 3 pack) for a few minutes, but then had a change of heart and allowed his sister the use of one pair. Sad. So sad. We watched a few home improvement shows before turning in for the night, one of them that fixed up a couple of rooms at a white water rafting place we used to pass all the time in Canon City, Colorado. Cool!

We got up this morning and headed to Burger King for breakfast. Dumb. Really dumb. We had forgotten how Sunday School is done in Alamogordo or we would have just gone straight to church! Ha! They set out grapes and strawberries and bananas and tomatoes and all sorts of juices and... Seems like there's a little more than last time, every time we go! We had a really good service there and, as always, were so blessed. The Coyazo's are such amazing, wonderful people and they always seem to have new people coming out to church and others they've been working with.

After service we went out to Golden Corral, Brother Tanny's favorite. (We were hardly hungry after our double breakfast, but you know!) We had so much fun visiting with the Coyazos and Sister Pauline and Sister Angie. We just laughed and laughed--funny, crazy people they are! Afterwards we went out to see the Coyazo's new house. Brother Tanny runs a construction company (his sons each manage different aspects of construction) and they've been working on a huge house that will have room enough for their massive family to get together for holidays--and also host meals for our church folks when we have Conventions there. I was amazed at what I saw. The house is very, very large, but the craftsmanship is what was so incredible. It's as good as I've ever seen. It was just beautiful!!! They are such generous and selfless people, and God has truly blessed them. It's always wonderful to see God's good blessings on people who are sure to share it with others!

We got home at about 8:30 tonight. Had a nice drive, for the most part. James was quizzing Katie and Joe and giving them lots of math problems to solve. "Katie, what's 2 plus 8 plus 4 minus 3?" Both kids just amazed me at how well they do at stuff like that--and how quickly. Sam was feeling left out though. "Give me one, Dad! Give me one!" "Okay, Sam... what's 1 plus 1?" With complete confidence he blurted out, "38!" Ha! Okay, so we've got some work to do with Sambo... The math soon turned to word problems. "Joe, if the speed limit is 55mph, but Mom is driving 61, how many miles over the limit is she going?" I've always hated word problems.

Got home and put the kids to bed, then just sort of loafed around the rest of the night. Oh, the Open House! HA! What a joke!!! Tammy told me that she was going to come check it out so she could let us know how it went. Well, it was scheduled from 4:00-6:00 and Sam & Tammy came at about 4:30. They stayed for about half an hour... and never saw a soul but the realtor! Ha! When we got home tonight the "list" was on the table. It had the name Sam Kaufman on it and one other lady. HA! Is that hilarious, or what?! The realtor told Sam & Tammy that she just planned it at a really, really bad time. The Cowboys were playing the Patriots during that time--both teams undefeated--and we're in TEXAS, for goodness' sake! Like anybody is going to be out looking at houses when there's a Dallas game on. Ha! Anyway, the house goes "open market" tomorrow, meaning that any realtor from any company can show it. We're hoping that helps. Actually, I've been doing better at praying and putting it in God's hands and trying not to care what any of the realtors do. Realtors are kind of like doctors. Once you put things in their hands you find yourself trusting them to do things... and then you get frustrated with them when they can't! Ha! God is the one who is going to sell this house, in His own good time, so there's no sense fretting over what a bunch of dopey realtors do or don't do. Right?! :-)

Well, I'm going to call it a night. I'm hoping to do something NORMAL and REGULAR tomorrow. Like, perhaps some school with the kids! That would be nice!!! Ha! Talk to you later...

~Becki~