Sun., Nov. 4

Today was a pretty normal Sunday except that Tommy and Shavon, Teah, Zane/Nathan/Bubba, and Chris were here with us all afternoon and evening - except when we went to the building for evening services and Fingerfood Fellowship. In an effort to have more than just five people on the Ladies' Day Planning Committee, we scheduled a meeting on Sunday evening after services to see if more ladies would like to be involved if the meetings were scheduled for a different time. Sure enough! Kathy, Susan, Lillian, Linda, Elaine, Oneta, Donna, Vera, Shavon, Tammy, & Leota were all there; Gail and Margaret are already part of the committee but were out of town. I THINK WE HAVE ENOUGH PEOPLE TO PULL OFF A PAINLESS LADIES' DAY THIS YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a relief!! The meeting was very productive, I'm happy to say. My favorite item was when an extremely capable coordinator was established that's not me! :)

Here are pictures of Natasha, Teah, and Nathan/Zane/Bubba playing in N's room this afternoon. Believe it or not, Nathan has the same amount of Mexican blood in him as does Teah ... but the genes of his one white grandparent turned out dominant for his skin and hair color!! He was remarkably sweet and cooperative today. Teah and Natasha had lots of fun together as well, including quite a lot of work: smashing a garbage bag full of soda cans for N's & J's college fund (lol), and taking the trash bins and recycle bags to the street. We did have Justus sleep this afternoon even though there was that much commotion going on. Oh - the whole point of the Balderramas coming over for the whole day is so they could do a week's worth of laundry here this weekend instead of at Jim & Lillian's. Skipping the laundromat is one way they're pinching pennies as their budget tries to adjust to having a.) Teah, whose father's recent incarceration prevents him from sending child support, and b.) Chris, 16, (Shavon's half-brother) for whom they receive very little money to help defray costs. It's a frustrating situation in that way, but full of many blessings.



Tommy & Shavon's work here was done at 9:45pm and they were happy to begin the hour drive back to their house.... I was able to talk to Stephanie tonight! Hooray! It had been a while.