I took this picture sometime this past week. I don't know how one girl can sleep with so many companions!

This week the kids got a package from some cousins in Pennsylvania. They had found coonskin caps for the boys and the PERFECT gift for Katie, as well--something to lug more STUFF around in! Ha! They all got coloring books, too. They were all pretty happy, but I've never seen a kid so excited about a backpack before--Katie just went on and on and on about it. She LOVES IT!!!



I also had a package waiting for me when we got home from Colorado. James insisted on buying these dishes for me. Are they cute, or what???

On Friday we threw a few things in the van and headed down to Hatch for our southern Minister's Meeting. We checked into the Village Plaza (the ONLY motel in Hatch--it's pretty old and I think it still has it's original furnishings (HA!), but we've grown sort of attached to it over the years!), then went to get a bite at Sister Banuelos' restaurant. Yum!!!

The meeting went really well in Hatch, just like in Colorado. It's so cool to me how we had the very same program, but with different people filling the slots, and how similar AND different it was! Some of the very same thoughts and ideas came across, but then some things were brought out in a whole new light. Brother Banuelos preached the message on feeding the flock of God at this meeting and it went in a TOTALLY different direction than Jon's had in Colorado--but they were both soooooo good! Brother Banuelos always reminds me of my Dad, but a lot darker. ;-) His messages are always so good and he finds deep little nuggets that I've never thought about before and I always get so much out of them. Everything at the meeting was really, really good and we just love these people so much!!! It was mostly our Spanish folks from Hatch and Alamogordo, then Chris & Shanda from Arizona and Sam & Tammy from Texas. It was great to be with ALL of them! We shared a room with Sam & Tammy (the Village Plaza has rooms with separate bedrooms), so it was fun sitting up and visiting until after 2:00am--although I was disappointed that we didn't play a single game. (What's happening to us, anyway?!) Chris & Shanda came over and visited for a little while too, so that was nice.

The meeting went well on Saturday, too, and amazingly enough none of us seemed to be very tired! :-) I took some pictures, but none of them turned out very good except this one. But it's SO good it makes up for the lack of more!

Erika is 7 months along now, though she hardly looks that far along! She's SO CUTE. :-)

After the meeting was over we all went to the Banuelos' restaurant to fellowship for a while, then to see the house that Hector & Erika are building. It's going to be so nice--I'm so happy for them!

By the time we left Hatch to drive home at 3:00 or so the late night was beginning to catch up with me! I napped for a little while, but I opened my eyes and noticed that the driver's eyes seemed to be closed more than they were open! So we traded places and James snoozed while I finished the drive. I was wiped out last night, but managed to get some ideas together for Sunday School for the kids for today. We haven't had Sunday School for them for a long time now--since losing the church building, I guess. It's hard to find a place to do that when you're in homes, you know? But Sister Galaviz said I could use one of the spare rooms when we have services at her house. It went well today and we had a cute craft--maybe I'll post a picture tomorrow.

We had a really, really good service this morning and the Lord really moved. He is so good to us and we are just so very, very blessed. It was CHILLY here today and I got to wear my leafy turtleneck and my fall sweater for the first time this year! Wa-Hoo!!! If that doesn't make for a great day, I don't know what does! ;-) But it got even better. Not only did we have a great service and I got to wear my fall clothes, we came home and James built our first FIRE of the year! Not only that, but I was able to take a nice Sunday afternoon nap on the couch in front of a nice, cozy fire for the first time this year!!! ~sigh~ Life is grand. :-)

We had another good service tonight, then had to go to Wal-Mart. What a terrible way to end an otherwise wonderful day! I HATE Wal-Mart in Albuquerque. I would rather leave Albuquerque and drive 10 miles past our house out to the Wal-Mart in Edgewood, just to avoid the noise and crowds and chaos and really rude people. It was the worst tonight it's ever been--I think it's because thousands upon thousands of EXTRA people are in town for the Balloon Fiesta this week. It's nuts. I'd like to go see the hot air balloons, but I really just want all of these people to go home! Ha! Anyway, we got what we needed and FINALLY made it out of the mad house and back to our own quiet little house in the mountains. ~sigh~ Have I mentioned that I LOVE IT up here?!

Guess that's about it. I should be able to STAY HOME from now until Ladies' Retreat four weeks from now. Maybe that will help my poor blogging habits to improve a little bit. Only time will tell! ;-)