The kids really got the short end of the stick while we were packing up the house. If not for Aunt Sue and Tammy taking them and giving them a little attention they would have gone totally neglected those 9 days we were packing and cleaning! But there was a little fun for them even in the midst of the chaos. They had a blast with the packing paper!

It was a long, long drive to Pennsylvania once we finally got moved out. Hershey took it rough. I only wish I could relax like he always seems to be able to do!

This was the only really good picture we got from Christmas morning. I love it! Ha! It's just... so SAM!
Here are the kids, getting ready for their very first boating trip (ha!) with Granddaddy!

Neat-o, hu?! I was hoping for a cool picture with the sun and the reflection on the water.

Joe and Sam spent quite a bit of time playing "Alamo" at Mom & Dad's house.

Katie got a weaving loom for Christmas and she LOVES it. I can't tell you how many pot holders she has whipped out since then! We've bought packs of extra loops so far, I know that much! I'm just glad that the Hobby Lobby here in Albuquerque carries the great big bags of loops--for only $2.50 or something. That should keep her busy for a little while. (I hope!)
The kids with Granddaddy. It's when they're ALL happiest--including him!
Driving west after our family visits we stumbled across this "Santa Land" place, somewhere east of Dallas, I think. It was the last day they were open before shutting down for the season and they boasted having over 2 million lights, so we thought we'd give it a try. It was pretty neat! I took TONS of pictures (there was soooooooooo much neat stuff!), but most of them didn't turn out very well. Anyway, here's the entrance...
Just past the entrance you drive through this grove...
This picture didn't turn out at all, but it was soooooo cool! It was a tunnel (pretty long, too, I thought!) made entirely of Christmas lights.
They had lots of "animated" displays, where things would light up in sections to make something happen--like a lion jumping through a flaming hoop.
And this guy swinging from a rope and meeting an unfortunate end.
These were all sooooo pretty! I'm usually not into the girly stuff, butI just loved the flowers and butterflies!
This was a tornado--that had captured a cow. When I took the picture the cow was upside down over on the left side. It's kind of hard to tell because of the stage coach behind him!
This was taken at Aunt Sue's house one night. I went to check on the boys and this is how I found them. Sleeping like a litter of puppies. Weird-o's.
Okay! And here we are! Home, Sweet Home! This is our motel room here in Albuquerque, our home until we get to actually MOVE IN to a "real" home. This, of course, was taken just after we had unloaded the van. Pretty ugly!
Amazingly enough, all of our things found a place to "belong" here and this room has been working quite well for us--in spite of it's size (12'x16'--for real, I measured it! With a 3'x5' kitchen, and a bathroom about that same size) and lack of storage space.

Here is my kitchen for the past week and the next month! Definitely a one person kitchen! Ha! It's been so nice to have even just this, though. And check out our new fancy-schmancy toaster oven! I've never had anything but the $12 Sunbeam brand ones that burn half of your toast to a crisp while the other half is still squishy. This one is fantastic--and we paid just more than the usual $12 for it, so that makes me very happy. Of coure, all we've used it for so far is Pop Tarts, but no matter! :-)
Our bathroom! Our counterless, tubless bathroom! This was what I was most worried about, but it's been no biggie. Everything is working out just fine!
And here is our living room/dining room leading into the kitchen. Hey, isn't that what they call a great room?! I have a great room, right now! Ha! How cool is that?! If you're wondering about the two chairs at the table, we eat in shifts. ;-) And that dresser there is for the men. James, Joe and Sam each have a drawer.
And this is Katie's drawer and my "hole" for storage. See?! Plenty of room! :-)
Here's James, at the Regional Office... Tee! Hee!
And happy kids, loving the motel life. For now!

~sigh~ It's been a good month.

Let's see... what's been going on the past few days??? On Tuesday we got our counter offer from the guy with the two bedroom house with the great view. We had offered him $10,000 less than his asking price and he came down $7,000 and agreed to pay all of the closing costs and inspections and all that junk. And take the speakers out of the ceiling and patch it up. Ha! I didn't mention that last time! This house has four speakers in the living room ceiling. I don't mean nice little speakers that are intended to be in the ceiling and unnoticed. I mean SPEAKERS! Four great big honkin' speakers (3' long?) sunk into the sheetrock up above you. Ha! Anyway, we went and signed the counter offer, so now it should be a done deal! Jason, who is the eighth wonder of the world in my opinion, tells us that he's got everything covered and not to worry about a thing. He has renewed my faith that there is at least ONE really terrific realtor in the world. They're not all slimeballs! Wow!!! Who would've known?! :-) He's been truly amazing and I just can't get over what a blessing it has been that God led us to him.

The owner of this house has no idea where he's moving to, so he needed at least 30 days to figure it out. That means our closing date on this house is supposed to be February 14th. We'll see! We are booked at this motel for 30 days, ending on February 8th. We'll either pay for another week here, or we'll go bum off of friends somewhere for a little while. ;-) Anyway, we've got a few more weeks in a motel. So far it's been going good, but I am going to be soooooo ready to actually be in a real house, with my stuff again. There's only so much you can do in a motel room, you know?! I read a book while I was in Pennsylvania, another one on our drive from Tennessee back to Texas, and another one over the past day or two. I bought a cross-stitch kit a few days ago (had to go with a kit because all of my floss and equipment is packed away!), so I'll have that to do. It's wonderful to actually have time to do these kinds of things... but it's already getting old! There's only so much vacation a person can take before they go batty and I'm already headed that direction! Ha! We're just shy of one month being homeless.

In reality, it hasn't been bad at all. The worst part about motel living is that we've got three kids and a dog who get stir crazy pretty quick. I take Hershey outside and RUN him around the motel 2 or 3 times a day, just to get him out and give him a little exercise. I may give myself a heart attack in the process (I am sooooo out of shape!), but he needs it. Yesterday I took the dog AND the kids for a run around the motel! We get out most days and take them to a park or something, but it's been pretty cold and hard to do that. Today we took them to the Hot Air Balloon Museum. That was nice. It's something they would enjoy a lot more in a few years, but there was still lots of cool stuff that they enjoyed. James bought me a pair of hot air balloon socks (gotta love that!), so Katie thought she needed a pair, too. We told her that we weren't going to buy them for her today, but if she wanted to use some of her own money she could. They were going to cost her $4 and she said she had $14 and she wanted to do it. Her money was in the van, so I bought them for her and told her she could pay me back. We weren't even out of the gift shop yet when she started struggling with the idea of parting with $4. But it was too late--the socks had been purchased and she needed to pay up. When we got to the van she counted her money and realized she only had $10, not $14. That's when the world really fell apart. She paid her $4, but the tears were just streaming down her face as she rued over the fact that she now only has $6. "How am I ever going to earn more money, Mom???" That kid. I don't remember caring anything about money at that age! I do remember the agony of SPENDING money (I still feel it on occasion!), but she seems way too young to be so disturbed by such things. Anyway, I told her that she's got $6--which is more than any 6 year old needs, she's got a great pair of balloon socks, and a birthday coming soon to replenish her stash with--she ought to be HAPPY. It did help when she remember her upcoming birthday. I can't believe it slipped her mind at all--she and Joe have been planning it non-stop for the past week, making lists of everything they want to to and what kind of cake they want and who knows what all. Goofy kids.

Well, I guess that's about it. Pray for the Church here in Albuquerque. Some things have come up and the members here are facing some difficult things concerning the church building and the CoGoP coming after it and whatnot. They need wisdom and they need peace. And we need the will of God to be done, whatever that is. In connection with that situation, plans have changed and we will now be able to go to Colorado this weekend so James can attend Men's Retreat after all! Wa-Hoo! The kids and I will be staying with Emilee and Haley and their little ones. 10 kids and a dog again this year. Fun, fun, fun! :-) We'll leave in the morning and be back Sunday night. I probably won't be posting again before then, so I hope the plethora of pictures will tide you over for a little while. ;-)

G'night!

~Becki~