SNOW!

When I planned to come to New Mexico I wanted to see some snow. We have very little snow where I live, but I love to see it. The weather has been beautiful the week I have been here, with cool sunny days and cold nights. However, last Friday night it snowed up in the mountains. We saw the clouds hovering low over the mountains when we got up Saturday morning.

About mid-morning my brother loaded us up in his truck and we took off for the mountains. We went to a lovely restaurant for lunch and had to step over a few snow piles to get inside. It was much colder there than in the valley, but it was lovely with snow dusting the cedar trees, the fences, and the ledges of the buildings. I was so excited! It was wonderful!

The other good news is that my sister-in-law, who had a kidney transplant just before Thanksgiving, is feeling better each day! Way to go! See how great she looks at our lunch in the mountains?

And I LOVE the sunsets here! I just run from one window to another looking at the gorgeous colors on the mountains! My brother says I am "sky deprived" because I live in a neighborhood where the trees hide much of the sky. I guess growing up in the Texas Panhandle instilled in me a love of the sky and I miss seeing the sky where I live now.

PICTURES TO PAINT

I have been taking pictures here in New Mexico and have a few that are making me ITCH to get back to my painting! Here are a few that I have taken in the past two days. Sunset--oops! For some reason there seems to be some disconnect between the pictures I saved to my desktop (on this borrowed laptop with which I am vastly unfamiliar), the blog picture loader and my limited technological skills. So--you will just have to use your imagination that I have taken luscious ice cream pink colored clouds over the mountains in the evening, brilliant orange sherbet colored clouds over the mountains this morning and lovely powdered sugar dusted mountains drenched in winter sunlight with lots of filmy white mare's tail clouds overhead this afternoon. It is marvelous to watch the mountains change in the changing sunlight.

And I must be hungry judging from the descriptive words I used about the clouds. I am trying to imagine the paint colors that I will mix to achieve some semblance of those colors.

Meanwhile, my sister-in-law and I went downtown for lunch with my brother. She did very well considering that she just had kidney transplant surgery six weeks ago. I think she was a little frustrated at how quickly she tired, but I was amazed at how well she did!

WE HAD VISITORS!

Today we had visitors. My sister and her daughter and two children came over. My sister brought flowers for our mom and we went over and the children watched Mom knitting a scarf and then helped decorate her little tree.




Then we called my nephew and invited his family over so the cousins could play and we could have an impromptu Bar-B-Que dinner together. We counted and found four generations at the table tonight. What a blessing to be able to share this time amongst family members.






Of course, we took pictures and were quickly able to share them with my brother and his wife who are still at Mayo where my sister-in-law is quickly recovering (quite miraculously--thanks to many and their prayers!) from a kidney transplant about three weeks ago.

A COUPLE OF PRAYER REQUESTS

Just a short note to ask you to pray for my friend's grandson, Rudy, who was born with serious heart problems and remains hospitalized at seven weeks. The parents are experiencing a bit of caregivers stress, so please keep the whole family in prayer. You can stay informed about his condition at http://rudysbeat.wordpress.com/.

Also, my sister-in-law, Jacki, has been given the green light for her kidney transplant on Tuesday so they are excited and also a bit apprehensive. Their sons are gathering to be with her this next week. We wish her well!

Another Prayer

My sister-in-law, Jacki, is going to Mayo Clinic on Tuesday to prepare for her second kidney transplant. She had a transplant 4 years ago but it failed last year. She has been on dialysis for almost a year now and is ready for another kidney because she has not been feeling well lately. She is lucky that she has a donor and is anxious to return to her normal busy routine. Our family is praying that things go well for her and that she will be able to return home in time for Christmas with all of her children and her grandchild.









Please join me in praying for Jacki these next couple of weeks.