This is so wrong. James is gone for the weekend and I'm home alone with the kids. This is supposed to be party time! Girl time! The time when Tammy can come over and we can spend all afternoon chipping away at our Eternal Rummy game! I can make taco salad (James doesn't like it) and Sam will come join us for dinner and then the three of us will play games well into the night. Maybe Tammy and I will watch a chick flick or something--but it's time to party in one way or another! But no more. ~sigh~ Tammy is 6 hours away and for the first time since moving to New Mexico, I'm lonely. Isn't that pitiful?! I hate hearing people say pitiful things like that. Oh, woe is me and all that stuff. But for the first time in years I actually miss my husband! It's not as terrible as it sounds, really! Ha! It's just that even when he was gone (before), there were plenty of things to do to fill my time and make life fun, -- but not now! "I am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop," Emilee! Ha! ~sigh~ Nevermind. Emilee won't be reading this anytime soon. She's at the District Convention that James is at. The one I'm missing so I can be home alone with nobody to party with. Oh, woe is me! Some more. ;-)

Yeppers, James is at the District Convention in Colorado right now. It's one of the very first things that I've missed and I'm not liking it one bit. Still, I'm sure it was the right decision. Our family is on the go soooooo much and it's so hard to maintain any kind of consistency for the kids. We came to the conclusion some time ago that our family suffers when we stay gone more that we're home and the kids just sort of fall apart on us. They do so much better (in every possible way: happiness, good attitudes, obedience, schooling, etc.) when things are regular for them--at least for a little while! So that fact (along with how expensive it is to take the whole family everywhere) made us realize that the kids and I are going to have to start staying home every now and again. We'll still attend all of the Regional functions, of course, but for the Convention that isn't in our district and for some of those Overseer visits we're just going to have to let James go alone. ~sigh~ So here we are.

James flew out of Albuquerque this morning and will be getting back on Monday. The kids and I are doing our best to party, even without Sam & Tammy. (It's just not the same though, Tammy!!!) We came home and had spaghetti-o's for lunch. Actually, the kids had that. I fried myself a hot dog and cooked some french fries so I could enjoy some Arctic Circle fry sauce for the first time in months. (Thanks again, Kasey!) We took a nap (fun for me, not so much for the kids), then we had a pizza party tonight, with popcorn and vanilla coke. We don't have a tv, so I dug around in the garage and found James' projector and a DVD player. :-) I decided to let the kids watch National Treasure. They saw part of it when we were in a motel sometime and were dying to watch the whole thing, so tonight was their night. They loved it--especially Joe. And especially because it was HUGE on the wall of the living room. It was fun! Tammy called while we were watching it, so it was nice to at least be able to talk to her. I'm going to have to see if we can set up a way to play our games on the Internet or something. ;-)

After we had devotions and I put the kids down I headed out to the garage again. You see, it's like this. James will be gone for Sunday services--visiting some churches in Colorado. We don't have a preacher to cover for him this week. That means I have to come up with something. It wouldn't be that big of a deal if it was "just us," but on Sunday mornings we can have between 30 and 40 people! (I'm amazed at the numbers of visitors!) I'm no preacher and I'm not about to pretend to be one. So I figured since I found the projector and a DVD player... :-) "Show a video!!!" Right, Mom?! Ha! That's the plan. I decided I would hook it all up at the church and after Sunday School we could watch a message from the Assembly or something like that. It's a little awkward, I know, but not nearly as awkward as me trying to cover the service myself! So I spent, oh, 45 minutes out in the garage tonight clawing my way through the mountain of boxes in search of the Assembly DVD's. I climbed up and over and sometimes tumbled into or off of all shapes and sizes of boxes as they collapsed under me. It's a pretty ugly sight out there after all that. But just as I was about to give up hope I did, indeed, find the Assembly DVD's! Wa-Hoo! I was afraid I was going to have to substitute a Veggie Tales or something. (Ha! Just kidding!) I also found a DVD of a message that Dad preached in Bessemer some time ago about the Pearl of Great Price. WOW, what a great message! I watched that one tonight so I could see how long it was and if it would be a possibility for Sunday. 40 minutes. Not bad for Dad! He seems to be getting longer winded in his old age. ;-) I never remember him being that way in my growing up years, but if he gets enough encouragement while he's preaching, well... :-) Anyway, I'm going to pray about it some more and look through the Assembly messages and try to figure out what to do. There's a CHANCE we may have an ABM boost Sunday morning (I'll have to find out tomorrow), but if not, I want to be prepared. It's nice to have a preacher in your pocket. (Or your DVD player, as the case may be!) The blessings of modern technology. :-)

I also ironed tonight. You'd never know it though. Didn't even make a dent in the mountain. I haven't ironed since we moved into the house a month ago. I ironed just enough for us to be able to make the trip to Arizona, then I ironed just enough for James to make this Colorado trip. I decided to move the mountain out of the closet yesterday and onto (and around) a chair in the living room. Maybe if I have to look at it I'll finally take care of it. We'll see! I'm hoping tomorrow will be my day to ascend the mount and press and prevail. ;-)

That's it for now. So many things to write about, but I (like my Dad?), seem to be too longwinded. I'm going to call it a night. Have a great weekend!

~Becki~

~Poor, Lonely Becki~

~Poor, Lonely I-Miss-You-a-Whole-Lot-Tammy! Becki~

;-)