you officially live in New Mexico…

once you attend your first cattle branding (or brand or brandin’- whatever it is called)! And today, we did! It was quite the educational experience. I will make this short as I am very sleepy and still need to do my quiet time, but the boys had a blast. They had the opportunity to see the cows be branded, castrated (yes, that’s right), and given their shots. The branding was interesting. I found myself feeling sorry for the cows (that’s how I know I was the city girl among many cowgirls). The smell was…well, it was burning flesh. It was unforgettable, that it was. I was intrigued to be introduced to cow testicles (or cajones- as they called them) and then watch all the young children grill and eat them. My kids were never offered any cajones, but I just know Sammy would have eaten it given the opportunity!

After the branding, we headed up to the ranch for hot dogs and hamburgers. The boys were in love. I think it’s the most fun they have ever had in their lives. They absolutely did not want to leave. Noah summed it up best as we were leaving: “Mommy, I can’t wait to grow up and be a cowboy!”

As it always seems to go, my camera batteries went dead after my first picture. I will have some pictures to put up as soon as the girls email me some of their’s.

One would think…

we’d be used to it by now. Used to what? Leaving. Not us this time. But if it’s not us, it’s usually friends.

Our closest friends in New Mexico are leaving today. Leaving ones you love should be entailed in a job description of ministry or in this case friends who build hospitals across the country for a living. I am not even sure if Jeremy and Emily know what their friendship has meant to us.

In a sense, they made our transition here easier. It was nice to have friends who understand that some things about New Mexico are just plain weird if you are from the south. When we had a hard day, we felt like we could talk to them about it. They always listened.

And they were fun! Not a lot of couples get mine and David’s sense of humor and hint of sarcasm that polishes the way we look at the world. They got it. At least I think they did LOL=)

I guess what it comes to is that we will miss them. It’s not going to be easy at first when they leave. New Mexico felt more like home with them here. *Okay, now I’m crying.*

It reminds me, though, of our need to constantly rely on Christ. As long as we dwell this side of eternity, life will be full of pain, hurt, and hardships. I believe we experience these things to 1. teach us something or 2. make us yearn for our eternal home- Heaven.

I guess knowing that makes it all okay=)

Thanksgiving Day Happenings

We had a great Thanksgiving! To be the first time ever out of God’s country (Kentucky=)) on Turkey Day, it was less emotional than I had anticipated. I cooked the full meal and our friends Jeremy and Emily came over.

We played a fun game. Thanks to my friend Kristian (thanks Kris!), each of us wrote down 3 things that we are thankful for. Then we took turns passing one out at a time and tried to guess who said what. It was pretty comical. Among mine: pizza, undented fenders on my car (more to come later on that story), and reliable gravy boats.

There was an incident with a naked 2 year old at the dinner table and defective gravy boat that sent nearly everyone back for a new plate, but other than that, it was a great day!

The turkey was amazing! If anyone is interested in the recipe, I would be glad to post it! I am turning out to be quite the cook, I must say. And to think, my Mom and Dad had no faith in me.

My diet has been limited, however. I am having to be tested for Celiac disease, which is an allergy to gluten. Since I had my surgery in February, I have had a lot of problems with eating. This blood test will provide some answers hopefully. In a sense, I am praying for a gluten allergy, since then I would know what was going on with me and I would have an answer to all these question marks. However, if it is a gluten allergy, there goes my entire diet! If you don’t happen to know what gluten is, it is in nearly every cookie, cake, pie, cracker, bread, and noodle that you eat. I would have to drastically change my diet and probably begin shopping for all my flours at Whole Foods or somewhere like that. Nice, eh? Not nice on the budget.

I made gluten free cookies and pancakes earlier this week. They were do-able, but nothing to call home about. We’ll see how it goes. Pizza IS my favorite food in the whole world. This allergy would turn my eating upside down. The good news: I weigh almost 25 pounds less than I did in high school LOL. I guess that is a good thing.

One more thing: how does it make sense that in order to be tested for a gluten allergy, you have to be consuming gluten at the time you have the test done? That being said, I am being forced to continue eating something that I believe may be contributing to a significant amount of pain that I am experiencing. Funny how medical technology works. But I suppose in order for your small intestine to come back as sensitive to the protein it would need to be present when being tested. The ultimate catch-22? I believe so.

Remembering High School

10 year reunions…

are fabulous! And I haven’t even been to my own.

David’s 10 year was this past weekend and I had a fantastic time! I just have this “life of the party” feel to me. I simply cannot help myself.

I immediately made friends with 5 or 6 girls while my husband and their hubbies were out having their 10 year photo taken. When he returned I said “I sure hope you were friends with their husbands…cause we aren’t moving!”

LOL.

The food was great, the people were great, and it was overall a wonderful night to get out for the first time in a long time.

I really wasn’t looking forward to my own, but now I really am. I realized from David’s reunion that by the time you have been out of high school for 10 years (and I pray this is the case with mine) there are no jocks, cheerleaders, band members, and otherwise. Everyone is equal and hopefully we have all grown up! At least that is what I am hoping for!

KY Countdown!

9 Days!!!

I am starting to get thrilled. It will be so good to visit!

Louisville seminary gals (and hubbies): Will Saturday night (the 22nd) work to get together for the evening? I talked to Kacie a little bit but I wanted to clear it with all of you. I am really hoping to see all of you!

Associational Lunch Follow Up=)

The church had an excellent lunch today full of brisket, our church hostess’ famous ranch bread, as well as homemade ice cream and pies! Mmmm! You would think I was pregnant again=)

But I must say that the highlight of the afternoon was making a new friend! Her name is Rebekah and her husband (I hope I get the title right!) is State Director of Evangelism. She was such a sweet gal and the fact that she is 3 hours away and not 3 days away is really nice. She could really relate to many of my moving and ministry struggles and that was a blessing. She and her husband have a beautiful (almost 2 year old) daughter. She was a real sweetie.

I guess my point is: I went to lunch thinking I was just getting lunch. It was a real blessing to make a friend as well!

May I Have Your Attention, Kentuckians?

Woo hoo! Only a few more weeks til our KY visit! We are ecstatic!

Oh yeah…the reason I’m writing is…we would love to see as many of you as possible. However, due to the amount of travel we will have already done by the time we get to the Bluegrass State, we will be spending most of our time in western KY and about 3 days in Louisville (provided we find somewhere to stay). If anyone knows of anything going on during that time or something fun that we could do together, we would love to work out the details now so we can plan accordingly.

For the seminary girls, there isn’t Pendergraph that week, is there? I would love to go to Pendergraph!!!

Just let me know. We are super excited!!!

California…How I love thee…

EDIT: For some reason, there is a huge gap between where my writing ends and the first picture begins. I have no idea why and I have tried repeatedly to fix it. I give up…

let me count the ways…

Ok…so I don’t love California that much, but The Beach Boys would argue that they “wish they all could be California girls…” and, sometimes, so do I.

I have an inclination toward California. The culture, the scene, the SHOPPING. I must say that I have to be on the guard to not become too into it when I am there, but I really love it. And David did too. We had such a blast. We love our friends Nate and Nicole and would consider it an absolute honor and joy to live near them. Not just travel to see them.

Pictures usually do a better job of telling a story than I do, so I will let them speak for themselves…with maybe a caption here and there=)

(We flew into LAX, but then jumped a teeny tiny lil plane into Orange County…a plane full of lots of rich people…except us!)

(A view of LAX you might recognize from the movies…)

(And no sooner than we deplaned did we see a sign that we thought was quite humorous and quite true of Hollywood)

(Later that night, we went to Huntington Beach and got our first glimpse of a Pacific Ocean sunset…absolutely beautiful!!!)

(Now I would like to be able to say that David just happened to captured this pose as I was lost in the captivating beauty of what surrounded me, but he didn’t. I told him to take a profile shot of me gazing with the pier behind me LOL)

(Wednesday was the 4th of July. We had a great time with Nicole’s family in Garden Grove. Later that night we let off fireworks and I was utterly amazed by the amount of people lighting very ILLEGAL fireworks in the area LOL. This is a pic of me and David right before we set off fireworks. David could try to look a little happier. Did I smell bad or something?)

(Since you do have a brain, I guess you can figure out where we were here. We spent Thursday in the greater Los Angeles area. Besides Santa Monica, we saw as follows: amusements on the pier, Malibu, Hollywood (not pictured LOL- too crazy to get out of the car!), the city of Los Angeles, and Grace Community Church (along with The Master’s Seminary), and many others)

(Ok, it was a cloudy day, but the smog was quite remarkable- and remarkable does not have a positive meaning in this case…)

(Nicole’s daughter, Tay, and I. I just love her. She is so precious. Sorry this one’s blurry)

(We spent a LITTLE bit of time at the actual ocean. Here are a few pics. Starting with the Robbins family themselves. Quite hospitable, I must say…)

(Check out David’s new shades LOL. Nicole and I took turns calling him random suitable names, like “Goose” and “Maverick”)

(Say it with me, all in unison, AWWWWWW…)

Well…that was about it. What a refreshing and wonderful week David and I had together. It was so nice to have some time together, although I missed my lil men so much.

Yay for vacations!

Good Morning!

Long time, no see…

It’s early morning here at the King household. The boys were up by 5:30a.m. (I think they are on Eastern Time.)

Well, David is home, praise the Lord! After 21 days, I just couldn’t take much more of him being gone. Yesterday was a wonderful day that we enjoyed together and played with the kids.

I have been to the eastern U.S. and back twice since the beginning of June and tomorrow David and I head to the Pacific Ocean for a well-deserved vacation together. I simply cannot wait! I am a little nervous about leaving the kids for that long, but I am sure they will be fine.

Congrats are in order to my friends Becky and Courtney. Becky will have her third baby (a girl by my guesses- please let me be right…just once!) on Wednesday I think? Is it Wednesday, Becky? And Courtney just found out she is pregnant with her third! Yay for Bill and Courtney!!! She is such a good mommy!

That’s all for now. I will be back with more next week!

Noah and Jonathan

I found this today. And I nearly cried. Noah started going on and on about Jonathan. He said:

“That’s Kentucky!”

Ahhh…memories…