That’s what you’re about to get. You see, I started writing up this great big post a few days ago, detailing all of the happenings of our trip to Andrews and whatnot. Before I knew it, it was already way too long and I still had a day or two to write about and—worst yet—it was… boring. Yipes! A post both forever long AND boring! That’s the lethal combination in the blog world. So I decided to chunk everything up by topics rather than the usual timeline approach and divide it into a whole plethora of categorized posts. Pretty clever, hu? Now you’ll only be bored throughout several small sections of writing instead of through one endlessly long one. :-) Actually, I’m fairly certain that very few of you will make it through all of the posts (hi, Mom!), but I’m gonna write ‘em up anyway. Here we go!
There’s really not much to say, but it seemed like the place to start. I spent most of the 6 hours while we were traveling to Texas with laptop in hand (on lap, actually), working on the Western Skies. I hate having to do that, but we had no choice. I made some headway, but had to finish things up over the next few days at Aunt Sue’s house and Sam & Tammy’s house.
The drive home was equally thrilling. I took one small nap (after all, Tammy and I had stayed up until 3:00 the night before!), but most of the drive was spent reading—aloud—some Sunday School literature that was needing “reviewed.” James is on whatever committee does that sort of thing, so I read it out loud and make all of the grammatical corrections (although my spell check just had to correct the word “grammatical” for me! Ha! –There are surely people out there who are better qualified for such things!) while James listens to the content and checks for any doctrinal problems. We only had to take out four lessons this time. Kidding—I’m just kidding! It was actually very good. We finished up just as we got back to our little mountain town, so James pulled into the parking lot of the Post Office and I finished reading the last page, we stuffed it into the envelop and dumped it off. ~sigh~ Feels so good to get that done! (We were a week late already!)
The drive home was equally thrilling. I took one small nap (after all, Tammy and I had stayed up until 3:00 the night before!), but most of the drive was spent reading—aloud—some Sunday School literature that was needing “reviewed.” James is on whatever committee does that sort of thing, so I read it out loud and make all of the grammatical corrections (although my spell check just had to correct the word “grammatical” for me! Ha! –There are surely people out there who are better qualified for such things!) while James listens to the content and checks for any doctrinal problems. We only had to take out four lessons this time. Kidding—I’m just kidding! It was actually very good. We finished up just as we got back to our little mountain town, so James pulled into the parking lot of the Post Office and I finished reading the last page, we stuffed it into the envelop and dumped it off. ~sigh~ Feels so good to get that done! (We were a week late already!)
…was great! We were so excited to have several visitors—four brand new ones the first night who had never been to service before. A few of them came back the next night and I hear they were at church again just last night. Praise the Lord!!! Andrews is a small church, but God is really moving and blessing there and it just feels like they’re on the brink of something truly grand. They’ve got some ladies who’ve been attending regularly for nearly a year now (over a year now???) and we’re praying that they’ll be ready to join the Church very soon. And now they’ve got some brand new folks to work with! Wa-Hoo!
All of the services were very, very good. James preached some really good salvation messages, the first on the infallible Word of God, the second on light and darkness and the third… hhmmm… well, two out of three—that’s not bad, right?! Oh—the third one was on “This Same Jesus” and was about all of the people who claim to be Christians, but who have really never known the real Jesus who changes your life. Anyway, they were very good. We had really good worship services, too, and I felt very refreshed by the revival, personally, and I think everybody else did as well. :-)
All of the services were very, very good. James preached some really good salvation messages, the first on the infallible Word of God, the second on light and darkness and the third… hhmmm… well, two out of three—that’s not bad, right?! Oh—the third one was on “This Same Jesus” and was about all of the people who claim to be Christians, but who have really never known the real Jesus who changes your life. Anyway, they were very good. We had really good worship services, too, and I felt very refreshed by the revival, personally, and I think everybody else did as well. :-)
We stayed there the first two nights and had a great time, as always. Staying there is kind of like staying at a Bed & Breakfast or something. The bedrooms are so… cozy and homey-like. And she pampers you like crazy. Which drives me crazy because of the kids—they get wa-a-a-a-ay too much junk there! I guess that’s what aunts are for. Her home is so comfortable and relaxing and we enjoy the time with her. And I even enjoy getting beat at pool by Uncle Jerry. I would enjoy it more if I won, but I’ll just be happy to be able to play. :-) And the kids, of course, love watching endless episodes of I Love Lucy and Wanted: Dead or Alive.
The first night we were there we didn’t have church, so we just ate tacos and spent the night talking. It was great! The next day we went down to Stacey’s store in Odessa to have a dedication service there. James did a really good job with it and it was very neat. Stacey’s been wanting to dedicate the store ever since she opened, but this was the first chance we had.
After the dedication service we walked next door (handy, hu?) to the hair shop and Stacey worked her magic on all three kids and me. :-) Everybody’s hair looks and feels sooooo much better now! We went out to eat a Fazoli’s, then went back to Stacey’s store to do some serious shopping. We've been needing to get some things for the house and this was our chance! Stacey gives us the same fantastic family discount that Aunt Sue does (at least I think she does! Ha!), but still--things add up! I can't bear to spend even small amounts of money, so I wouldn't let James tell me how much it all cost. I can't handle knowing. But I did get a lot of really great stuff, so that makes me happy! Ignorance is bliss, you know. ;-)
The next day we went to Aunt Sue’s store to do yet more shopping. Sue and Stacey carry a lot of the same things, but each store has it’s own “feel,” you know? They’re both terrific and I don’t think I could pick a favorite. Even if I did I couldn’t blog it because what if one of them read it?! Ha! Anyway, we got a whole bunch of stuff at Aunt Sue’s store, too. James made me do it. For real. Most husbands say, "Don't spent too much money!" James tells me, "Now when we get to Sue's store, don't just pick out one or two things--really shop and get everything you think you might need!" He's well familiar with my money spending phobia. With his prompting and encouragement, we walked out with quite a bit. :-)
The first night we were there we didn’t have church, so we just ate tacos and spent the night talking. It was great! The next day we went down to Stacey’s store in Odessa to have a dedication service there. James did a really good job with it and it was very neat. Stacey’s been wanting to dedicate the store ever since she opened, but this was the first chance we had.
After the dedication service we walked next door (handy, hu?) to the hair shop and Stacey worked her magic on all three kids and me. :-) Everybody’s hair looks and feels sooooo much better now! We went out to eat a Fazoli’s, then went back to Stacey’s store to do some serious shopping. We've been needing to get some things for the house and this was our chance! Stacey gives us the same fantastic family discount that Aunt Sue does (at least I think she does! Ha!), but still--things add up! I can't bear to spend even small amounts of money, so I wouldn't let James tell me how much it all cost. I can't handle knowing. But I did get a lot of really great stuff, so that makes me happy! Ignorance is bliss, you know. ;-)
The next day we went to Aunt Sue’s store to do yet more shopping. Sue and Stacey carry a lot of the same things, but each store has it’s own “feel,” you know? They’re both terrific and I don’t think I could pick a favorite. Even if I did I couldn’t blog it because what if one of them read it?! Ha! Anyway, we got a whole bunch of stuff at Aunt Sue’s store, too. James made me do it. For real. Most husbands say, "Don't spent too much money!" James tells me, "Now when we get to Sue's store, don't just pick out one or two things--really shop and get everything you think you might need!" He's well familiar with my money spending phobia. With his prompting and encouragement, we walked out with quite a bit. :-)
It was so great to spend some time with them this trip. And I’ve got to say right off the bat… I am sooooo impressed with Tammy’s guest room! Wow! She’s worked so hard to make it nice and neat and pretty and homey and comfortable… She’s getting it decorated little by little and she was sure to have the dresser drawers and closet empty so we could really “move in” while we were there. She even had a little “guest basket” thing made up (a cute little tin bag actually--which I FORGOT and left in your bathroom, Tammy!) with little containers of shampoo and conditioner and toothpaste and brushes and q-tips… Wow! She’s become so very hospitable!!! She’s always been that way at heart, but now that I’ve stayed with her I can testify that she’s a follower-througher. A doer of the work, and not a hearer only. :-)
We were able to play I Buy, Pictionary, and Balderdash while we were there, one time each, so that was fun. We didn’t have a whole lot of time for such things because of the tight schedule, but we were sure to work them in. :-) We also watched a movie we’d been wanting to see for a while. It was great!
On Saturday Sam delivers papers to all of the businesses around town (don’t most editors double as the paper boy?! Ha!), and Tammy had to run the regular route on the southwest side of town. The kids helped her fold and band all of the papers, then I drove the van all over that side of town while Tammy and the kids took turns chucking them out the windows. It was fun! Reminded me of the mail route I used to carry. I loved that job! Stuff like that is fun.
That afternoon we zoomed down to Odessa so we could go to Johnny Carino’s, for old times’ sake. :-) I broke my own record and had four Italian sodas! I wouldn’t have been so greedy except that there is no place in Albuquerque (that I’ve discovered anyway) to get a good Italian soda without paying a fortune—for just a little tiny one. So I haven't had one in months. And they give free refills at Carino’s. :-) I started with cherry cream, then raspberry cream (oooooh, so good!), blackberry cream, and finally orange cream—although I couldn’t finish the last one. I ate very little chicken parmesan (imagine!), but I sure enjoyed the sodas and bread and salad! :-) And I enjoyed the waitress trying to figure Brother Sam out, as they all do. He’s such a nerd! Ha!
We were able to play I Buy, Pictionary, and Balderdash while we were there, one time each, so that was fun. We didn’t have a whole lot of time for such things because of the tight schedule, but we were sure to work them in. :-) We also watched a movie we’d been wanting to see for a while. It was great!
On Saturday Sam delivers papers to all of the businesses around town (don’t most editors double as the paper boy?! Ha!), and Tammy had to run the regular route on the southwest side of town. The kids helped her fold and band all of the papers, then I drove the van all over that side of town while Tammy and the kids took turns chucking them out the windows. It was fun! Reminded me of the mail route I used to carry. I loved that job! Stuff like that is fun.
That afternoon we zoomed down to Odessa so we could go to Johnny Carino’s, for old times’ sake. :-) I broke my own record and had four Italian sodas! I wouldn’t have been so greedy except that there is no place in Albuquerque (that I’ve discovered anyway) to get a good Italian soda without paying a fortune—for just a little tiny one. So I haven't had one in months. And they give free refills at Carino’s. :-) I started with cherry cream, then raspberry cream (oooooh, so good!), blackberry cream, and finally orange cream—although I couldn’t finish the last one. I ate very little chicken parmesan (imagine!), but I sure enjoyed the sodas and bread and salad! :-) And I enjoyed the waitress trying to figure Brother Sam out, as they all do. He’s such a nerd! Ha!
Tammy fixed us a great breakfast of pancakes and bacon, then we all got ready and headed to church. We had a good service that morning and I really, really enjoyed the Sunday School class (Tammy taught the kids so I could be with the big people) and Brother Sam’s message. Good stuff.
After service we zoomed to Sonic to grab a Frito wrap (the best!), then headed off to Merkel. It didn’t take quite as long to get there this time—less than two and a half hours. We had a really good service there, too, and enjoyed our visit with the Lunas, as always. Sister Luna cooked the usual feast: monstrous pots of rice, beans, and brisket, then individual plates for each of us with 4 or 5 enchiladas on each one! Crazy!!! We did our best not to offend her (which requires clearing your plate—at least once! Ha!), and then headed off to our next traditional stop: K-Mart in Sweetwater. We have to go walk off some of the feast or we’d be miserable the whole way home. Sam & James both found a couple of shirts and some odds and ends at great prices, as we always do at this store—and Tammy got a corduroy skirt for $1, if you can believe that! We picked up a raspberry lemonade at Schlotzky’s (our final tradition) and headed back to Andrews.
Tammy and I tried to doze a little bit on the way home in hopes it would give us some extra energy upon our arrival so we could stay up and play games or something. But by the time we made it home at nearly midnight we were all zapped and just crashed immediately! ~sigh~ So much for acting 18, hu, Tammy?! Ha! Although...
After service we zoomed to Sonic to grab a Frito wrap (the best!), then headed off to Merkel. It didn’t take quite as long to get there this time—less than two and a half hours. We had a really good service there, too, and enjoyed our visit with the Lunas, as always. Sister Luna cooked the usual feast: monstrous pots of rice, beans, and brisket, then individual plates for each of us with 4 or 5 enchiladas on each one! Crazy!!! We did our best not to offend her (which requires clearing your plate—at least once! Ha!), and then headed off to our next traditional stop: K-Mart in Sweetwater. We have to go walk off some of the feast or we’d be miserable the whole way home. Sam & James both found a couple of shirts and some odds and ends at great prices, as we always do at this store—and Tammy got a corduroy skirt for $1, if you can believe that! We picked up a raspberry lemonade at Schlotzky’s (our final tradition) and headed back to Andrews.
Tammy and I tried to doze a little bit on the way home in hopes it would give us some extra energy upon our arrival so we could stay up and play games or something. But by the time we made it home at nearly midnight we were all zapped and just crashed immediately! ~sigh~ So much for acting 18, hu, Tammy?! Ha! Although...
Tammy had me take this online "test" while I was there to determine my "real" age based on my health and eating and exercise habits and all that. Tammy tests right at her actual age, but I tested 2.7 years younger than my actual age. Ha! Gotta love that! I told her that I KNOW James would test much older than his actual age, so I really kind of did marry an older guy. It was always my plan to marry a guy 4 years older than me, you know. I wonder if God chuckles at such things, knowing all the while he had me scheduled to marry a guy two years younger--I missed it by six whole years! Anyway, despite my graying hair, the rest of me is only 27 years old. :-)
We were supposed to head back to Texas on Monday, but James decided we could take one day to just “vacation.” It was great! In the morning we all sat down and watched the bonus material from the movie we’d watched a few nights earlier. I know, I know—we’re nerds! But it was cool! It makes you mad though. Some of the deleted scenes are so good and you feel like yelling, “Hey!!! Why did they take that one out—it’s so cool!!!” I guess it’s fun to see what almost made it into the movie. ;-)
That afternoon Tammy and I watched a girl movie (talk about a worthless day! Ha!) that we hadn’t had a chance to watch yet. Fun! It’s so much fun to watch a good girl movie with someone you know will really enjoy it! James took a nap and Sam played outside with the kids and the horny toad that my Sammy had caught earlier in the day, so Tammy and I were almost “alone” for our chick flick. We’ll take what we can get!
That afternoon we went over to Aunt Sue’s house for a cookout. What originated as a simple burger and weenie roast somehow evolved into barbequed chicken and ribs, shrimp shish kabobs, and New York strip! Whoa!!! It was great. The kids enjoyed taking turns driving the golf cart with Uncle Jerry while the other guys did the cooking.
That afternoon Tammy and I watched a girl movie (talk about a worthless day! Ha!) that we hadn’t had a chance to watch yet. Fun! It’s so much fun to watch a good girl movie with someone you know will really enjoy it! James took a nap and Sam played outside with the kids and the horny toad that my Sammy had caught earlier in the day, so Tammy and I were almost “alone” for our chick flick. We’ll take what we can get!
That afternoon we went over to Aunt Sue’s house for a cookout. What originated as a simple burger and weenie roast somehow evolved into barbequed chicken and ribs, shrimp shish kabobs, and New York strip! Whoa!!! It was great. The kids enjoyed taking turns driving the golf cart with Uncle Jerry while the other guys did the cooking.
We stayed and visited for a while, but I was just counting the minutes until we could go put the kids to bed—Sam was driving me nuts! He was WIRED that night and needed to be tied up. Actually, he was tied up for a little while, but not nearly long enough! And he wasn’t tied to anything, just had the rope around his ankle and got drug across the room any time he tried to move. That part was fun, I must admit. :-)
We went back to Sam & Tammy’s house, put the kids to bed and played some more games. There was lots of excitement involving the cops and the neighbors (read Tammy’s blog for the full account! Ha!), but we still had a good night. James went to bed and Sam & Tammy and I played Rummy 5,000. I won. :-) Tammy and I played a little Eternal Rummy that day, too. Just enough for me to take a pretty good lead. ~sigh~ Life is Grand. :-)
We made it home Tuesday afternoon and had enough time to unload the van, get settled in a little bit, and get ready for church.
We had a good BTI service that night with lots of good input and discussion. Afterwards we headed to the other side of town to look at a table and chairs that were for sale. We had taken separate vehicles to church in case we decided to buy the stuff so we'd have room to haul it all. James stayed behind to help Sister Bailey with some paperwork while I headed on over. Sam was in the very back seat of the van and started asking questions about whether that seat "laid down" (reclined) or not. Immediately following the question there was a big "whump" and an "Ooof!" and then some, "Uh, Mom? Hey, Mom???" I looked in the rearview mirror and all I could see were some little black cowboy boots sticking up in the air, kicking! Ha! He had pulled some lever and the seat had fallen completely backwards so he was laying on his back—still strapped in—with his feet straight up! Ha! I laughed so hard!!! I pulled over and got Sam and the seat fixed and instituted some new rules (I do that sooooo much with Sam—rules that none of the other kids ever need) and we were off again.
We got to the girl’s house and the kids played with some kittens while I looked over the table and waited for James to arrive. We decided to get it (that's another story entirely), so we loaded everything into the van and headed to Wendy's to grab a bite to eat before heading home. Katie mentioned that her eye was hurting and she just kept rubbing it. By the time we got there it was all red and bloodshot and swollen half closed--and she had all of these little tiny bumps all around her eye. Weird! I figured it had something to do with the kittens. I don't think she's allergic to cats necessarily, but maybe one of them was sick or something—the room was beyond filthy, so who knows what it was. We prayed and got her hands and faced scrubbed down and everything seemed to clear up after a little while.
We made it home that night and crashed again. We had a great trip, but it’s always sooooo good to be home!
We had a good BTI service that night with lots of good input and discussion. Afterwards we headed to the other side of town to look at a table and chairs that were for sale. We had taken separate vehicles to church in case we decided to buy the stuff so we'd have room to haul it all. James stayed behind to help Sister Bailey with some paperwork while I headed on over. Sam was in the very back seat of the van and started asking questions about whether that seat "laid down" (reclined) or not. Immediately following the question there was a big "whump" and an "Ooof!" and then some, "Uh, Mom? Hey, Mom???" I looked in the rearview mirror and all I could see were some little black cowboy boots sticking up in the air, kicking! Ha! He had pulled some lever and the seat had fallen completely backwards so he was laying on his back—still strapped in—with his feet straight up! Ha! I laughed so hard!!! I pulled over and got Sam and the seat fixed and instituted some new rules (I do that sooooo much with Sam—rules that none of the other kids ever need) and we were off again.
We got to the girl’s house and the kids played with some kittens while I looked over the table and waited for James to arrive. We decided to get it (that's another story entirely), so we loaded everything into the van and headed to Wendy's to grab a bite to eat before heading home. Katie mentioned that her eye was hurting and she just kept rubbing it. By the time we got there it was all red and bloodshot and swollen half closed--and she had all of these little tiny bumps all around her eye. Weird! I figured it had something to do with the kittens. I don't think she's allergic to cats necessarily, but maybe one of them was sick or something—the room was beyond filthy, so who knows what it was. We prayed and got her hands and faced scrubbed down and everything seemed to clear up after a little while.
We made it home that night and crashed again. We had a great trip, but it’s always sooooo good to be home!
I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but it took me a whole day to decorate my house with all the loot I got from Sue & Stacey. Not that there was THAT much stuff, but I arranged and rearranged and re-rearranged it all so many times I was dizzy. There are still a few groupings that I’m not real crazy about, but this is how things are looking so far…
I got a whole slew of these stitch prints. I just thought they'd be sooooo perfect in this particular house. :-) And I love the sayings I picked out, too...
I got a whole slew of these stitch prints. I just thought they'd be sooooo perfect in this particular house. :-) And I love the sayings I picked out, too...
I got these terrific beady things for above the windows in the kitchen. I always hated beady stuff, but again--it's just so great in this house! I also got the wire basket (hard to see from this angle) and the pitcher on the right with the flowery stuff. James brought the crocks home from an antique store yesterday. 
These walls were formerly blank, but I found some more great pictures. :-) The one on the left has the Lord's Prayer (KJV, even!). 
And this is the picture on the right. I LOVE IT!!! Ha! And I'm just noticing that I still haven't taken the price tags off yet. James will love that! Ha! Just keep in mind that we don't pay anything close to the retail prices you see--but still, don't add 'em up and tell me what they come to because my brain would compute the percentage and then I'd know how much we spent! ;-) 
A beady willow tree! Who would've thought I'd ever have such a thing in my house?! But I love it! :-) And a few other odds and ends in this shot are new, too. 
LOVE the lantern and the great balls that I found to fill the great basket we bought when Mom was here. :-) 
One of those groupings I'm still working on...
Some new stuff here and there, too. The print on that wall says "REPUTATION is what man and woman think of us; CHARACTER is what God and angels know of us." :-) 
(Only those of you who read Pat McManus, or whose husbands read Pat McManus, can appreciate that title.)
We’ve had lots of exciting things going on since we got home, not the least of which is our snakes. Yes, snakes. In the plural. The day we got home the kids came running madly into the house declaring there was a snake in the pond. I went to investigate and, sure enough, there was a snake in the pond. A dead snake. A little snake tale was hanging out from underneath a rock, floating in the water. I jabbed it a few times with a stick and determined that it was, indeed, lifeless. What kind of a dopey snake crawls into a pond and drowns itself?! I mean, was it suicidal??? Just couldn’t cope with this cruel world anymore, or what? Weird. Anyway, nobody else was willing to touch the thing, so Sam reached in and yanked it out of the pond for me. We disposed of it and thought that was that.
In the past two or three days since then there have been two or three additional snake sightings, all in or around the pond. They’ve all been 12-18” long; just little guys. I’m not sure what kind they are, but I’m fairly certain they’re harmless. They don’t have any rattles, anyway. ;-) And they apparently like to swim, however, they’re not all very adept at it. At least that first one wasn’t. James killed another one yesterday then went out and bought some snake repellant. Can you imagine?! Who ever heard of such a thing?! Ha! Makes me think of the Batman movie (the only one we’ve ever seen is the old Batman—you know, with Adam West—“Blam!” “Ka-Pow!” “Zap!”) where a shark latches on to Batman’s leg and Robin spends the next several minutes sorting through their defensive sprays (octopus repellant, stingray repellant, jellyfish repellant) until he finally locates the trusty shark repellant, sprays the beast, and watches it drop back into the ocean and then explode. (They just don’t make movies like that anymore. Ha!) Anyway, we have had one unverified snake sighting (they are classified as unverified unless an adult gets there in time to see it, too) since the repellant was used, so we’ll see how the next few days go. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually feel kind of sorry for the little guys. If I knew them to be dangerous I wouldn’t, but as far as I know they’re perfectly harmless. I couldn’t say they’re cute, but I think it’s kind of neat to have a little, tiny snake swim across our little, tiny pond every now and then. (I saw one do that yesterday—it was cool!) If I knew that we had just one little snake I would try to make James leave him alone, but the thought of a whole crop of them out there doesn’t set well with me. Anyway, I’ll keep you updated. The kids think it’s all a great adventure and we hear screams of “SNAKE!” several times throughout the day. Often it’s nothing more than a caterpillar that caught them off guard, but they’re definitely on the look out!
We’ve had lots of exciting things going on since we got home, not the least of which is our snakes. Yes, snakes. In the plural. The day we got home the kids came running madly into the house declaring there was a snake in the pond. I went to investigate and, sure enough, there was a snake in the pond. A dead snake. A little snake tale was hanging out from underneath a rock, floating in the water. I jabbed it a few times with a stick and determined that it was, indeed, lifeless. What kind of a dopey snake crawls into a pond and drowns itself?! I mean, was it suicidal??? Just couldn’t cope with this cruel world anymore, or what? Weird. Anyway, nobody else was willing to touch the thing, so Sam reached in and yanked it out of the pond for me. We disposed of it and thought that was that.
In the past two or three days since then there have been two or three additional snake sightings, all in or around the pond. They’ve all been 12-18” long; just little guys. I’m not sure what kind they are, but I’m fairly certain they’re harmless. They don’t have any rattles, anyway. ;-) And they apparently like to swim, however, they’re not all very adept at it. At least that first one wasn’t. James killed another one yesterday then went out and bought some snake repellant. Can you imagine?! Who ever heard of such a thing?! Ha! Makes me think of the Batman movie (the only one we’ve ever seen is the old Batman—you know, with Adam West—“Blam!” “Ka-Pow!” “Zap!”) where a shark latches on to Batman’s leg and Robin spends the next several minutes sorting through their defensive sprays (octopus repellant, stingray repellant, jellyfish repellant) until he finally locates the trusty shark repellant, sprays the beast, and watches it drop back into the ocean and then explode. (They just don’t make movies like that anymore. Ha!) Anyway, we have had one unverified snake sighting (they are classified as unverified unless an adult gets there in time to see it, too) since the repellant was used, so we’ll see how the next few days go. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually feel kind of sorry for the little guys. If I knew them to be dangerous I wouldn’t, but as far as I know they’re perfectly harmless. I couldn’t say they’re cute, but I think it’s kind of neat to have a little, tiny snake swim across our little, tiny pond every now and then. (I saw one do that yesterday—it was cool!) If I knew that we had just one little snake I would try to make James leave him alone, but the thought of a whole crop of them out there doesn’t set well with me. Anyway, I’ll keep you updated. The kids think it’s all a great adventure and we hear screams of “SNAKE!” several times throughout the day. Often it’s nothing more than a caterpillar that caught them off guard, but they’re definitely on the look out!
Yesterday morning James asked if I wanted to make “a lighting fast trip into Albuquerque.” I managed not to laugh out loud. As I suspected, we made it home at about 2:30 instead of before noon like we had hoped. All trips to town turn out like that. Yet another reason to avoid them altogether. No, we really did need a few things and we had a good time. Went to Hobby Lobby for some supplies, then to Souper Salad for lunch. I like Souper Salad, but going there at lunch time is like going to the mall on a Friday night. I’m a people person for sure, but I get no pleasure out of being crammed into a room with twice as many people as the legal allotment, all strangers no less, and having to scream to talk to the 4 people I brought with me. Not fun. Anyway, then we went to the other Hobby Lobby to get what we couldn’t get at the first one.
I did some housework once we got back, got totally unpacked from the trip and got all of the laundry done. I made enchilada casserole and nacho dip for dinner last night, then pretty much crashed.
Today was some more serious housework along with school with the kids and some other chores. I spent the afternoon today making auxiliary banners for the Regional Convention. They’re actually mini-banners, but I think they’re cute! They’ll look good all hanging on the wall there. I had bought some great fabric for some new bloomers for Katie and some denim for a new skirt for her, but after working on the banners for a couple of hours I was already reaching that getting-mad stage that I always get to when I sew, so I decided to put the machine away for the night. Maybe I’ll start fresh tomorrow. Or maybe not. Anyway, this is how the banners turned out…
I did some housework once we got back, got totally unpacked from the trip and got all of the laundry done. I made enchilada casserole and nacho dip for dinner last night, then pretty much crashed.
Today was some more serious housework along with school with the kids and some other chores. I spent the afternoon today making auxiliary banners for the Regional Convention. They’re actually mini-banners, but I think they’re cute! They’ll look good all hanging on the wall there. I had bought some great fabric for some new bloomers for Katie and some denim for a new skirt for her, but after working on the banners for a couple of hours I was already reaching that getting-mad stage that I always get to when I sew, so I decided to put the machine away for the night. Maybe I’ll start fresh tomorrow. Or maybe not. Anyway, this is how the banners turned out…
Neat, hu? I like ‘em. And I’m happy to have them completed so early. My goal was to rush ahead and get them done before James would have a chance to nag me about them. For the first time in 8 years of marriage, I succeeded! Wa-Hoo!!! Where’s my prize??? ;-)
And that’s about it from here. I have lots of ironing to do… But I don’t think I will. I’ve been zonking out (just mentally—not actually going to bed) by about 9:00 the past few nights and can’t seem to work up any motivation to accomplish anything. Oh well. Tomorrow’s another day, completely empty and ready to be filled up with all of the things I don’t feel like doing tonight.
And believe it or not, this is really and truly…
THE END!
That's right, folks! We have a new blogger among us! She's just getting started and will need lots of encouragement (in the form of comments, of course), so go on over and welcome her!
coughhome.blogspot.com
:-)
So here I am. Although it may be the last time for a while. Again. You guessed it--I'm going to be with real, live PEOPLE again for a little while! Wa-Hoo!
Hhmmm. I worked so hard remembering everything that happened during our Dustin & Jamey week that I seem to have forgotten everything that has happened in the week since then! I know that we finally got back into the school groove, which was nice. The kids actually seemed to have missed it and were anxious to get going again--even Joe. We made our Tuesday trip to the library after having missed the week before. (Although we failed to go TODAY... never even thought of it!) They were thrilled about that. They each brought home an armful of books and I'm pretty sure they've read them all. Katie read Bunnicula, which is a book I remember reading and writing a report on when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. Something about a bunny that sucks the juice out of unsuspecting vegetables--and all of the other family pets are sure it's a vampire and they're all goners. She seemed to enjoy it and is asking for the sequel. We also checked out James and the Giant Peach. I've heard of it my whole life, but had never read it or known much about it. I read it to the kids over the course of a few days and they thought it was great. "Read some more, Mom! Nooooo-don't stop now!" I love it when they're like that. :-) It's been many moons since I've read a book to them, so it was really nice. For all of us.
We've been working some more around the house. We found some fantastic flowers the other day so we brought them home and James planted them down by the pond. My favorites are the Foxtails. At least that's what James told me they are called. (He knows much more about such things than I do. Weird.) They are sooooo neat--and look PERFECT there by our little pond! James also bought three more goldfish--big ones this time--to add to the pond and they seem to be very happy. The little guys have made friends with them and they all school together, which makes me happy. I was worried about a gang of three big bully goldfish beating up on the scrawny little guys. Next comes the graffiti and it all goes downhill from there. But instead they made friends. :-)
Things are happening inside the house, too. I've had this plan for the kitchen for some time now and James executed it this week. I wanted a "box" built around the upper cabinets that go above the stove and island. This first picture of the kids tea party KIND of shows it--look to the far right. What is currently red on the top--it came down lower over on the side where the oven hood was. And underneath it was just plain white sheetrock.
Hhmmm. I worked so hard remembering everything that happened during our Dustin & Jamey week that I seem to have forgotten everything that has happened in the week since then! I know that we finally got back into the school groove, which was nice. The kids actually seemed to have missed it and were anxious to get going again--even Joe. We made our Tuesday trip to the library after having missed the week before. (Although we failed to go TODAY... never even thought of it!) They were thrilled about that. They each brought home an armful of books and I'm pretty sure they've read them all. Katie read Bunnicula, which is a book I remember reading and writing a report on when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. Something about a bunny that sucks the juice out of unsuspecting vegetables--and all of the other family pets are sure it's a vampire and they're all goners. She seemed to enjoy it and is asking for the sequel. We also checked out James and the Giant Peach. I've heard of it my whole life, but had never read it or known much about it. I read it to the kids over the course of a few days and they thought it was great. "Read some more, Mom! Nooooo-don't stop now!" I love it when they're like that. :-) It's been many moons since I've read a book to them, so it was really nice. For all of us.
We've been working some more around the house. We found some fantastic flowers the other day so we brought them home and James planted them down by the pond. My favorites are the Foxtails. At least that's what James told me they are called. (He knows much more about such things than I do. Weird.) They are sooooo neat--and look PERFECT there by our little pond! James also bought three more goldfish--big ones this time--to add to the pond and they seem to be very happy. The little guys have made friends with them and they all school together, which makes me happy. I was worried about a gang of three big bully goldfish beating up on the scrawny little guys. Next comes the graffiti and it all goes downhill from there. But instead they made friends. :-)
Things are happening inside the house, too. I've had this plan for the kitchen for some time now and James executed it this week. I wanted a "box" built around the upper cabinets that go above the stove and island. This first picture of the kids tea party KIND of shows it--look to the far right. What is currently red on the top--it came down lower over on the side where the oven hood was. And underneath it was just plain white sheetrock.
James bought the beadboard that I wanted (and quickly discovered that he HATES working with) and did THIS...
Then I whipped out the paint and did THIS...
Doesn't it look GREAT?! I LOVE it! Wa-Hoo!!! One more purtifying-of-the-house job done! The only bad thing about it is that each time you do something pretty in a room it makes all of the things that are still undone look sooooo much worse! Ha! I'm anxious to get to the next couple of projects we've got planned, but this one makes me very, very happy. I just LOVE how everything is tying together in the kitchen--the colors in the cabinets and my new beadboard and how PERFECTLY they go with the wallpaper. And to think--we started with the paint! That's so backwards. You usually have to find wallpaper you like, then go get paint to match. All I can say is that this just was just meant to be. :-)
And I'll post a couple more pictures of the same thing (!) so you can see some of Brother Dustin's handiwork. This first one shows the light that he installed to go above the chuckwagon table. Of course, you have to open the table (!), but even without the table it's GREAT to have light in that corner!
And if you look closely in this picture you can see the lovely glow of yet more lights where once there were none! Above the sink and the window off to the right and above the island--all hidden up underneath the shelves and beadboard (all of which James did)--there are these glorious little "puck lights" that actually make it possible for me to see what I'm doing after dark! Wow!!! What a novel idea! This entire area of the house used to have just one bulb above the sink. Can you believe that?! It was a dark, dirty, dreary kitchen. But now it's beautiful and well lit, too! I keep thinking of Cavis from The Star of Christmas. Lights! Lots of electric lights... on the scenery!!! ;-)
These are the reasons why we still allow Brother Dustin to be called a friend. Even after he dropped a boulder on my son. ;-) I just love, love, love all of my new lights! And my new beadboard! And how GREEN it is! Now, now, NOW I'm happy!!! ;-)You can also see the fabulous wood slat blinds that James installed this week. Wowzers! I've never had anything like them before, but they are wonderful!!! I've only ever had those cheap-o little mini-blinds before. They get bent up and filthy and there's no way to really clean them. But these things are fantastic! James bought these two sets and one for the front window. :-) I still need to remove the extra slats from the set in the window on the right. Soon as I find the time!
As for the bathroom, I'll have to wait to post pictures of that. I don't have the energy to go clean it up nice and purty so I can take pictures. After our Texas trip, if I remember.
Ah, yes! Did I mention that we're going to Texas?! We're going to Texas!!! Brother Sam asked if James would come and preach a weekend revival, so off we go! We'll be leaving in the morning. The revival doesn't actually start until Thursday night, so we'll have tomorrow to just dink around. We'll stay tomorrow and the next night with Aunt Sue & Uncle Jerry, then move over to Sam & Tammy's house for the rest of the time. I'm sooooo excited! I'm excited to go and see everybody, I'm excited about the Revival there and all the good things God has in store, I'm excited about going to Sue & Stacey's stores and doing some shopping, I'm excited about playing GAMES, GAMES, GAMES... ~sigh~ So many things to look forward to. :-) Oooooh, I'm excited about having a hot club sandwhich at Cassidy's. Gotta make sure we don't miss that. ;-) The only thing I'm not excited about is doing the Regional Paper while we're away! I'll take the laptop with me and have to do all of the formatting on the trip. Whenever I get it finished we'll print 'em (we're taking our giant Oki Data printer with us! Ha!) and have Sam & Tammy help us fold them and get them ready to mail--just like old times! ;-)
So if you don't hear from me before (you never know!), we plan to be back home on Monday night. Please be in prayer for this Revival. I know that a lot of prayer and fasting has gone into it and there are needs that only God knows about and can meet. Until next time...
~Bec~
--Oh, wait! James would KILL me if I forgot this! It's the most exciting news of all!!! Last week a lady sent an e-mail to the Church website inquiring if we had a church in Albuquerque. Brother Dupre forwarded the e-mail to James and he started corresponding with her. To make a long story short, she is a member of the church back east and has been living here for quite some time, but never knew that we had a church here--and we never knew anything about her. She was thrilled to find that we do, indeed, have a church in the area and she was at service Sunday and again tonight. :-) I think she's almost as excited as we are. What a blessing! I'd tell you her name, but I'm pretty sure I can't spell it. In any case, God is sooooo good and we are just sooooo thankful to have found her--or that she found us, or whatever! :-)
To start off with, here are a couple of pictures that I failed to include last time. :-) Zeke is sooooo cute. Even though he appears to be holding up Isaac. Ha! Not sure what Nathan and Katie are doing...
Tuesday. That's the day that Brother Dustin called in sick. He wasn't feeling well at all and kept trying to blame it on the waffles I made that morning. Everybody else ate waffles, too, but he and Joe were the only ones who got sick. Coincidentally, he and Joe were also the only two in a competition to see who could out-eat who. Hhmmm... very interesting. Anyway, even though he wasn't feeling quite up to par, Brother Dustin managed to accomplish the first of the grand and glorious things that took place while they were here: a LIGHT over the chuckwagon table! Wa-Hoo!!! That entire corner of the room had NO light whatsoever and it was sooooo dark over there. But no more! Of course, he needed the assistance of my long skinny arms (the only part of me that has ever been truly skinny, I'm afraid) to stretch up a small hole in the wall and do half of the wiring for him. (Speaking of a stretching things... HA!) He did a few other odds and ends that day, too, but everything runs together now and I can't remember what took place when.
The kids all got along great for the most part. Isaac and Aleah crack me up--they are some crazy kids! And my kids LOVE them. And Aleah loves James. Ha! It's so great! Ever since that time about 6 months ago that he gave her a tiny little swat on the leg. She worked herself into a crying frenzy you wouldn't believe--like she was absolutely going to die. And after that, she's crazy about him! Calls him "Dede," which is what she calls her Uncle Derek, I believe. Too funny. Sometimes she even calls him "My Dede"! Ha!
Ah yes, one day we drug three boxes of old Katie clothes out of the shed (the three you just brought to me, Em!) and Jamey was able to find some things that will work for Aleah. This nightgown and cap are some of them. :-)
Let's see... I seem to have left my time-line. I think I was on Wednesday. Ah yes,
Once we had bandaged the victims and got everybody put to bed, we whipped out the games again. Pictionary one more time. This time James chose to be on Jamey's team, which left me with Dustin. You're welcome, Dustin, for the win. ;-) We then moved on to Balderdash. It was fun, but not thrilling.
The day after the boulder incident we decided to give it another go. James just knew that rock would look great by the pond! After experimenting with various approaches (and totally destroying one wheelbarrow along the way) we finally managed to wrestle the thing into place. Mostly Brother Dustin, but of course we can't give him ALL the credit for doing anything. Except dropping the thing on my son. ;-)
This is what the pond is looking like NOW. James even has a couple of goldfish who seem to be living there quite happily so far. Time will tell. We don't have the greatest track record with keeping fish alive, but we're hoping!
Jamey and I made a batch of strawberry jam for her to take home on Thursday. (Have you tried it, Jamey???) Then we put the kids down for naps and locked ourselves in the other room so we could watch a girl movie. :-) How great is that?! It was fun. Brother Dustin finished up on all of his electrical work that night, so that was great, too. We had poppyseed chicken casserole for dinner that night and it seemed to be a hit. We played I Buy and Balderdash again before bed.
We witnessed a very interesting visit from the "Tooth Fairy" that night and even have the video to prove it. Just ask the Hays. ;-)
A few parting shots before I call it quits...
And this! HA! Sam borrowed Isaac's cowboy hat and managed to poke a hole in it. I tried to discipline him, but it wasn't easy when Isaac's parents were cracking up over the arrow through the hat! Ha! I must admit, it was pretty great!
~Becki~
That's me. I have been sooooo wiped out this week. Just can't seem to pull myself together and get anything done, and the past few days I've been feeling pretty "puny," too, as my Grandmother would've said. Just weak and tired, sore throat and stuffy head. No actual sickness, just a severe case of the blahs. All I can figure is it's the aftermath of all the excitement of company-convention-more company. It all seems so pitiful. How could such things affect me so much?! I mean, it's not like I was doing anything strenuous! Just sitting up talking, playing games, laughing, teasing, taunting... The only real work I did was meal prep--once a day! Ha! Mom says it's because I never truly relax when people are around. (I might miss something, you know!) That's pretty pitiful, but I can only assume she's right! ANYWAY, that's the excuse I'm claiming for having not concluding my series of blogs. At the moment, blogging sounds better than doing the laundry I've been trying to get done for four days now (I'm averaging about a load a day... talk about pitiful!) or anything else constructive, so here I am!
Let's see... where was I? I think I left off with the trampoline pictures from last Sunday. ~sigh~ What great fun it was. :-) After the jumping party ended the folks started to load up one car at a time and drive away. It would have been depressing except I knew that some of them were scheduled to stay for at least a few more days. :-)
So the Smith's moved out and the Hays moved in. And, of course, we still had Brother Tim with us that night. James whipped out the projector and made everybody sit down and watch "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium." I can't decide what I think of that movie. There are some really fantastic one-liners in it, but the movie itself seems to drone on... and then drop off abruptly right at the end, leaving you thinking, "What?! No way--that's the end?!" I hate movies like that. Anyway, James thought the kids would enjoy it. When the movie ended and we put the kids to bed all of us adults sat down and played a rousing game of I Buy. I think it got a little late for Tim--he was acting rather tipsy by the end of the game. If I hadn't made the punch myself I would have wondered if it had been spiked. Ha! No, it was fun, but we were all wiped out by the time it was over.
The next morning James took Brother Tim to the airport while the rest of us slept in a bit. I got up long enough to say goodbye, but headed right back to bed when they walked out the door! Monday was the day we did lots of planning. We had a whole slew of electrical jobs lined out for Brother Dustin (he's a master electrician, so he says--though I was demanding to see his credentials by the end of the week. I'm still thinking about calling whoever gave him a license and having a serious talk with them... Ha!), so we basically spent the morning walking around the house, exploring all of the options, and watching Brother Dustin make a list of everything he would need to make us happy. The guys finally left for town and spent a good, oh, 6 or 8 hours shopping. That's what it seemed like, anyway! It was really a pretty slow day. We were all tired from Convention and having a hard time working up any gusto to accomplish much. I did manage to plan some meals and get a grocery list together.
Jamey and I loaded up all the kids in the afternoon and drove out to Wal-Mart in Edgewood to do some grocery shopping. We came home and threw some chicken in the oven for dinner. I think we at at 7-something that night. A little later than I had fed them the night before... which was way past regular dinner time! ~sigh~ I'm such a terrible hostess. Oh well. The chicken was good and I'm sure we appreciated it more than if we'd eaten at 5:00. Right??? :-)
That night we played a couple of games of Pictionary, Dustin & Jamey vs. James & Becki. We won the first game handily and were about to put it away until Brother Dustin started making lame excuses for their loss. I, of course, couldn't let it go at that, so Game 2 began immediately. This time we used the extra die--the one that tells you to draw with your "off" hand, with your eyes closed, using one continuous line without picking up your pencil, and so on. We won again. :-) And we discovered it was really much more fun playing with the wacky rules anyway. Especially when you win. Again. ;-)
Rats. I had every intention of making this one, great, glorious, long-winded post all about our week last week. I started writing this during nap-time today. Then James came home and sat down next to me. Don't know what it is, but I can't write with somebody sitting next to me. My brain totally freezes up unless I feel like I've got some privacy. Weird. Anyway, after a little while he said, "Why don't we load everybody up and go to Albuquerque to take care of some business?" I said, "Be...cause...I hate Albuquerque???" I guess that wasn't a good enough reason. We left at 5:00 and just now got home--at 10:00. I hate nights like that! But we did get a lot accomplished. Namely...
We went to the Cottonwood mall for the first time since we moved into this house 3 months ago. I haven't been to the Christopher & Banks up there for longer than that, so it was exciting all over again. So exciting that I walked out with two shirts and a sweater! They've got a ton of stuff on sale right now. :-) Our bigger reason for going to the mall, however, was... (insert drum roll here)... to get CELL PHONES!!! Can you believe it?! James & Rebekah Horne now have real, true-blue cell phones! Whoa!!! I'm still in shock. We've had that tempermental little TracFone for a few years now and just kept buying more time for it, but it was so unreliable that it was definitely time to do something different. With James being an Overseer and all, I think I finally convinced him that he needed a real phone so that people feel like he's available all the time and they don't have to wonder if the phone is on or if it's going to decide to work that day or not, or if will give us our messages that day, and so on. James still isn't very happy about it (he HATES cell phones), but he finally gave in. And I got a phone, to boot! I never counted on that one, but it's pretty exciting. I think. If I'll ever use it! Ha! Anyway, that's our big news of the night. We are now official cell phone owners. (I know a lot of you punk kids out there are DYING right now to think we've lived this long without them, but it IS possible to live--even happily--without them. Now you know. Still...I'm excited to have one! Feels like a new toy.) ;-)
We also went to Lowe's to get some more supplies for the kitchen project, but they didn't have what we needed. So we bought other stuff instead. There's always SOMETHING you need there, you know?! Now if only I can pull myself out of this slump and find some motivation, maybe we'll start getting some more things accomplished. I'd LOVE to get some things done between now and Regional Convention next month. I guess we'll have to wait and see how things go. Anyway...
I'll continue my story next time. I'm shot and gonna call it a night. ~sigh~ By the time I get a chance to write about last week I will have forgotten all of the great stuff I was going to say. I'm sure I'll remember the very most exciting event of the week though... no matter how desperately Brother Dustin may wish that I would forget it. ;-)
G'night!
~Bec~
What’s to say about Youth Convention?! Way too much to remember, that’s what! We had the Convention at our local church here in Albuquerque this year and it was a great blessing to our local members—it’s been ages since they’ve seen the church filled up like that and been able to host a good, old fashioned Church of God Convention! It really was wonderful.
Friday night featured (ha! That sounds so… cinematic or something!) messages by Brother Dustin Hays and Brother Tim Cox, both of whom did a really great job. There was a good, good spirit and we were all blessed and encouraged. Brother Tim wasn’t feeling very well, so James left pretty quick after service to bring him back to the house to get some rest. He was feeling sickly anyway and the two hour time change from Virginia didn’t help things much. When I left the church that night I found myself stopped at a red light next to Brother Dustin. What was I to do?! I had to challenge him. :-) Of course, we both drive mini-vans, so it doesn’t make for an extremely thrilling race. Brother Dustin did manage to peel out and fishtale a little bit off the line, so that was pretty cool. I don’t think we actually did anything illegal and we had the good sense (well, one of us did) to call it quits before things got too out of hand. ~sigh~ It was great. As for who won, well, Brother Dustin thinks he did. I, of course, know that I was just letting him feel that he was doing well before I overtook him at the end.
Unfortunately for poor Brother Tim, we only have a two bedroom house—and it was currently filled with my family and Jon’s family, adding up to four adults and eight children, not counting Tim. All I had left to offer him was the couch in the living room. He even found a poodle in his bed (literally IN his sleeping bag) the first night, but he handled it all like a trooper and saved all of his complaining for when he went home to Virginia. I assume that’s what happened anyway because he sure didn’t complain here! Jon & Em and I stayed up and visited for a little while that night, addressing the various character flaws we’re combating in our children right now… particularly my children! Ha! It’s usually very insightful to talk to (or rather listen to) Jon, and it’s always very entertaining. :-)
Saturday morning we threw some frozen cinnamon rolls in the oven and ran around crazily trying to get everybody ready to go. We horked down our breakfast and zoomed into town for the first session of the day. Brother Luis preached an outstanding message, as he always does. He’s becoming one of my most favoritest preachers to listen to. He’s got such a good spirit and is so very sincere. He truly feels what he is preaching. He’s always quite “churchy,” too, which is rare for most young ministers. Jon preached that morning, too, and had some really great points. ALL of the messages were so good throughout the weekend.
We had a pot-luck that day with lots of great food from the locals as well as the Hatch and Alamogordo folks. It was nice to be able to just stay there at the church and fellowship with everybody—and there was tons of food left over. We were actually able to bring home a bag of tamales! That NEVER happens (they’re always the first things to go), but there was so much other good food we actually got to enjoy them during that meal and beyond.
Saturday afternoon we had a Camp Boost by Sister Shuler… in a suit and a goatee. Weird. Brother Dustin seems to be the perfect fill-in guy, so he took over the job in the Shulers’ absence. Brother Sam Kaufman preached that afternoon and that’s always a highlight. For various reasons. ;-) He has become quite an excitable preacher in the past few years and I can’t help but chuckle over his “I’m just a teacher” claims in the beginning. It’s always especially great in our Conventions when everything is being interpreted into Spanish. Brother Sam has this thing about getting all wound up and either leaving his interpreter in the dust or yelling at them while he preaches. Ha! We decided to give poor Tayde a break this time and so Sister Coyazo translated for him. Sometimes she’d just quit trying to keep up with him and start amen-ing him until he took a breath. :-) Seriously, he preached a wonderful message, as always.
Saturday evening was undeniably the highlight of the entire Convention. Brother Chris Clarkson was on program to preach, but nobody knew until the very end if he’d be able to make it after being away from home so long due to his father’s funeral and such. Even if he did come, we didn’t know if he’d feel able to preach. He received a real blessing that morning though and felt led to say “a few words.” WOW. It was such a blessing—I can’t even begin to describe it. All of our hearts were just breaking with him in his pain, but the Word of God that he shared was just so very rich and meaningful—no doubt because he is presently right in the midst of what he was preaching about. He spoke about being an encouragement to one another in this race that we’re running (like the support their family has received during this difficult time), but that in the end, it’s your race to run and nobody can do it for you. The spirit of the Lord took over and several came to the altar and we had a marvelous time of prayer and worship and intercession. ~sigh~ It was glorious. I can’t remember if it was during that time (I think it was) or after it, when we went into our VLB march, when somebody felt led to grab the big church flag and begin waving it. Before it was all over three or four or five (?) different guys had all taken their turn with it as the blessings of God just poured down in the building. It really felt like I was 13 years old again at youth camp—that same freedom to pray and worship that I felt when I first received the Holy Ghost, and the feeling that you love God sooooo much that your heart could just burst. ~sigh~ It was just so wonderful.
We enjoyed a good VLB march that night and another good message by Brother Tim. One of the nights (they run together, you know) he preached about the weights that so easily beset us and he had several balls—a football, a basketball (right???) and a bowling ball—as illustrations of the trials we go through, the burdens we bear, the weights we endure and so on. We want to lay those things down at the altar and walk away with the things God wants us to bear—His yoke that is easy and His burden that is light.
James preached on Sunday morning, and Brother Tim again. My favorite part of the day, however, was Jon’s special song. HA! He’s such a nerd. He strongly dislikes singing specials and he just keeps getting put on program to sing at conventions. He tries to do something a little “worse” each time (he writes all of his own songs) in hopes that it will free him from having to sing next time around. It never works though. I can’t remember much about the song now except the line about being “a runnin’ fool” (our theme was on running the race) and so on. The very best thing though was when Sister Erika got up front afterwards and said, “I didn’t think it was that bad, Brother Jon—maybe you could sing it again!” Ha!
After everything ended on Sunday most of the crowd went to Panda Express for lunch. Filled that little joint up, we did! The most humorous thing that happened came in the form of Brother Dustin illustrating a certain form of “worship” for us. I think Sister Jamey and James and I were the only to witness it and it just wouldn’t come across right in written form (you’d have to SEE it to truly appreciate it!), but it still makes me laugh right out loud when I think of it! Ha! He is such a dork!!!
When we left Panda several folks (the Smiths, Hays, Wantuloks, Kaufmans, Brooks/Cliftons, Brother Tim… I think that’s all!) came up to see our house. :-) James had asked Brother Sam if he’d do a little house dedication ceremony for us. Ha! Ha! Ha! It’s another one of those things that just wouldn’t come out right on paper (or screen)—you just had to have been there. I’ll just say that it was very, very Sam and we all laughed a lot. ;-)
Everybody stayed and visited for a while, which made me so very, very happy. ~sigh~ People. Real, live people. At my very own house!!! And I love my house even more now. We had 12 or 14 adults all seated comfortably in the same room (living room/dining room) with plenty of room for more! Wa-Hoo! A company compatible house!!! Now if we only had more than two bedrooms and could keep more of them here overnight I would be beyond happy. :-)
The troop of kids (12, I think) all took turns (or not!) on the trampoline, but after a while it was time for the big people to take over. Brother Sam was the first on, so I ran and put some pj pants on so I could join him. We shooed all of the kids off and I set to “cracking” Sam. (One person is supposed to sit Indian style and hold onto his feet while the other tries to “crack” him from that position. It wasn’t too hard with Brother Sam!)
Just so you know, you have to click on these pictures to enlarge them if you want to enjoy them in their full glory. -- I love Brother Sam's expressions!!!
Friday night featured (ha! That sounds so… cinematic or something!) messages by Brother Dustin Hays and Brother Tim Cox, both of whom did a really great job. There was a good, good spirit and we were all blessed and encouraged. Brother Tim wasn’t feeling very well, so James left pretty quick after service to bring him back to the house to get some rest. He was feeling sickly anyway and the two hour time change from Virginia didn’t help things much. When I left the church that night I found myself stopped at a red light next to Brother Dustin. What was I to do?! I had to challenge him. :-) Of course, we both drive mini-vans, so it doesn’t make for an extremely thrilling race. Brother Dustin did manage to peel out and fishtale a little bit off the line, so that was pretty cool. I don’t think we actually did anything illegal and we had the good sense (well, one of us did) to call it quits before things got too out of hand. ~sigh~ It was great. As for who won, well, Brother Dustin thinks he did. I, of course, know that I was just letting him feel that he was doing well before I overtook him at the end.
Unfortunately for poor Brother Tim, we only have a two bedroom house—and it was currently filled with my family and Jon’s family, adding up to four adults and eight children, not counting Tim. All I had left to offer him was the couch in the living room. He even found a poodle in his bed (literally IN his sleeping bag) the first night, but he handled it all like a trooper and saved all of his complaining for when he went home to Virginia. I assume that’s what happened anyway because he sure didn’t complain here! Jon & Em and I stayed up and visited for a little while that night, addressing the various character flaws we’re combating in our children right now… particularly my children! Ha! It’s usually very insightful to talk to (or rather listen to) Jon, and it’s always very entertaining. :-)
Saturday morning we threw some frozen cinnamon rolls in the oven and ran around crazily trying to get everybody ready to go. We horked down our breakfast and zoomed into town for the first session of the day. Brother Luis preached an outstanding message, as he always does. He’s becoming one of my most favoritest preachers to listen to. He’s got such a good spirit and is so very sincere. He truly feels what he is preaching. He’s always quite “churchy,” too, which is rare for most young ministers. Jon preached that morning, too, and had some really great points. ALL of the messages were so good throughout the weekend.
We had a pot-luck that day with lots of great food from the locals as well as the Hatch and Alamogordo folks. It was nice to be able to just stay there at the church and fellowship with everybody—and there was tons of food left over. We were actually able to bring home a bag of tamales! That NEVER happens (they’re always the first things to go), but there was so much other good food we actually got to enjoy them during that meal and beyond.
Saturday afternoon we had a Camp Boost by Sister Shuler… in a suit and a goatee. Weird. Brother Dustin seems to be the perfect fill-in guy, so he took over the job in the Shulers’ absence. Brother Sam Kaufman preached that afternoon and that’s always a highlight. For various reasons. ;-) He has become quite an excitable preacher in the past few years and I can’t help but chuckle over his “I’m just a teacher” claims in the beginning. It’s always especially great in our Conventions when everything is being interpreted into Spanish. Brother Sam has this thing about getting all wound up and either leaving his interpreter in the dust or yelling at them while he preaches. Ha! We decided to give poor Tayde a break this time and so Sister Coyazo translated for him. Sometimes she’d just quit trying to keep up with him and start amen-ing him until he took a breath. :-) Seriously, he preached a wonderful message, as always.
Saturday evening was undeniably the highlight of the entire Convention. Brother Chris Clarkson was on program to preach, but nobody knew until the very end if he’d be able to make it after being away from home so long due to his father’s funeral and such. Even if he did come, we didn’t know if he’d feel able to preach. He received a real blessing that morning though and felt led to say “a few words.” WOW. It was such a blessing—I can’t even begin to describe it. All of our hearts were just breaking with him in his pain, but the Word of God that he shared was just so very rich and meaningful—no doubt because he is presently right in the midst of what he was preaching about. He spoke about being an encouragement to one another in this race that we’re running (like the support their family has received during this difficult time), but that in the end, it’s your race to run and nobody can do it for you. The spirit of the Lord took over and several came to the altar and we had a marvelous time of prayer and worship and intercession. ~sigh~ It was glorious. I can’t remember if it was during that time (I think it was) or after it, when we went into our VLB march, when somebody felt led to grab the big church flag and begin waving it. Before it was all over three or four or five (?) different guys had all taken their turn with it as the blessings of God just poured down in the building. It really felt like I was 13 years old again at youth camp—that same freedom to pray and worship that I felt when I first received the Holy Ghost, and the feeling that you love God sooooo much that your heart could just burst. ~sigh~ It was just so wonderful.
We enjoyed a good VLB march that night and another good message by Brother Tim. One of the nights (they run together, you know) he preached about the weights that so easily beset us and he had several balls—a football, a basketball (right???) and a bowling ball—as illustrations of the trials we go through, the burdens we bear, the weights we endure and so on. We want to lay those things down at the altar and walk away with the things God wants us to bear—His yoke that is easy and His burden that is light.
James preached on Sunday morning, and Brother Tim again. My favorite part of the day, however, was Jon’s special song. HA! He’s such a nerd. He strongly dislikes singing specials and he just keeps getting put on program to sing at conventions. He tries to do something a little “worse” each time (he writes all of his own songs) in hopes that it will free him from having to sing next time around. It never works though. I can’t remember much about the song now except the line about being “a runnin’ fool” (our theme was on running the race) and so on. The very best thing though was when Sister Erika got up front afterwards and said, “I didn’t think it was that bad, Brother Jon—maybe you could sing it again!” Ha!
After everything ended on Sunday most of the crowd went to Panda Express for lunch. Filled that little joint up, we did! The most humorous thing that happened came in the form of Brother Dustin illustrating a certain form of “worship” for us. I think Sister Jamey and James and I were the only to witness it and it just wouldn’t come across right in written form (you’d have to SEE it to truly appreciate it!), but it still makes me laugh right out loud when I think of it! Ha! He is such a dork!!!
When we left Panda several folks (the Smiths, Hays, Wantuloks, Kaufmans, Brooks/Cliftons, Brother Tim… I think that’s all!) came up to see our house. :-) James had asked Brother Sam if he’d do a little house dedication ceremony for us. Ha! Ha! Ha! It’s another one of those things that just wouldn’t come out right on paper (or screen)—you just had to have been there. I’ll just say that it was very, very Sam and we all laughed a lot. ;-)
Everybody stayed and visited for a while, which made me so very, very happy. ~sigh~ People. Real, live people. At my very own house!!! And I love my house even more now. We had 12 or 14 adults all seated comfortably in the same room (living room/dining room) with plenty of room for more! Wa-Hoo! A company compatible house!!! Now if we only had more than two bedrooms and could keep more of them here overnight I would be beyond happy. :-)
The troop of kids (12, I think) all took turns (or not!) on the trampoline, but after a while it was time for the big people to take over. Brother Sam was the first on, so I ran and put some pj pants on so I could join him. We shooed all of the kids off and I set to “cracking” Sam. (One person is supposed to sit Indian style and hold onto his feet while the other tries to “crack” him from that position. It wasn’t too hard with Brother Sam!)
Just so you know, you have to click on these pictures to enlarge them if you want to enjoy them in their full glory. -- I love Brother Sam's expressions!!!
It was Brother Sam's first time, so we had to take a moment to explain the rules
Just getting started
Easily cracked ;-)
Brother Dustin can't stay away from the action any better than I can, so he was the next one aboard... displaying great form, I might add. :-)
Preparing to crack the Dustin egg
He proved to be tougher to crack than one might have guessed by his "pretty boy" persona. Ha! Actually, we were all pretty surprised that he went to play in his schnazzy dress clothes at all!
Brother Sam never could crack him, so Daniel Wantulok gave it a shot. Just getting warmed up...
I think Brother Daniel did finally crack him, but Brother Dustin, sore loser that he is (ahem), declares that he cheated.
Working over the Sara egg! I never did crack her. My legs had long since given out!
James giving it a shot with Brother Tim. He proved to be a very determined egg!
Still not gonna crack!!!
And here we have Jon trying and finally succeeding at cracking the James egg. I love these pictures! Ha!
I can't remember who James was on with, but sometime after these pictures were taken James bottomed out and decided he was DONE for the day! Ha! Ha! Ha! Oh, it was so much fun. I really think we ought to have a trampoline at every convention. ;-)
And that's it for tonight. I have a sea of laundry spread all over the floor in the other room. There were 8 loads to be done today! Can you imagine?! We played and worked lots this past week with the Hays family and I make it a practice to do as little housework as possible when we have guests (ha!), so things really piled up. Besides the fact that I have four sets of sheets, a bedspread and every towel and wash cloth in the house to wash. Anyway, I'll post about our wonderful, fantastic, way-too-much-fun week with the Hays as soon as I can. Maybe even tomorrow. Wouldn't that be something?! Three big, newsy posts right in a row! It might even make up for my taking two weeks off from blogging. Right??? Don't count on it. Until then...
~Rebekah~
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