El Paso on September 13

I'm not sure exactly WHY it is, but every single time (it seems) that I come to El Paso, it gets COLD. The high here today was 73 degrees! That's exactly what it was in Grand Rapids! But 73 feels COLDER here for some reason. There was a very brisk wind blowing all day long, which added to the general chill of things. But for the most part, it was sunny and pleasant, although for about an hour or two this afternoon, the sky got real dark and cloudy and we counted about a dozen raindrops before the sun came back out. 

I walked with the children up to school this morning, ate breakfast with them, and then went on a little walk up the road, under a viaduct, all the way to the high school, trying to get a decent picture of the Franklin Mountains. 

I was a little disappointed in my day at school. First of all, because lots of stuff has changed there. All of the playground equipment was removed over the summer, and in its place there is absolutely NOTHING. The children don't have anything at all to do at recess now. There are several fields surrounding the school, and they are allowed to play soccer and kick ball, etc. but nothing is very organized about it, so it ends up being quite chaotic.

Chris and I shot some hoops at noon today, but the basketball was sadly in need of air, so dribbling the ball was completely out of the question.

Also, when I spoke with the teachers about joining their classrooms, I was told by two of them that classrooms were so crowded this year, they weren't sure another chair could be found for a visitor! Although Ms. Morales, Chris's teacher, said I could join their class for awhile next Tuesday morning. Emma's teacher asked that I check back with her next Wednesday to see if she could fit me in somewhere. Matthew's teacher was the only one who responded positively and said I could come any time that was good for me. 

After school was over, everyone came home and worked on homework until dinner time. Afterwards, we kind of just hung out together. The boys went outside to play with neighbors for a little while tonight, but Emma and I were too cold to go with them! 

Baby Kaity came home from daycare all tuckered out. She pretty much cuddled up with her daddy for the rest of the evening until she happily fell sound asleep.

Christopher and Matthew drew some nice pictures for me. 

Jesse passed over Kaity to Diana due to a very overloaded and quite unpleasant diaper (!), and after Diana got the lovely task of cleaning up the mess, Kaity cuddled up with her mama for a little while too. Look at how tiny her hands are! 

And I'm not sure what Kaity was thinking in this picture! Look at that little face on her. So precious. 

I snapped a quick picture of Emma finishing up her homework. She had so much to work on tonight! She is looking forward to the weekend very much. 

We read some good stories together: "Get Well Good Knight", "Rapunzel" (which I am misspelling probably), and chapter one from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." We also began working on memorizing Ephesians 6.10: "Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power." We talked for awhile about what that verse means, and each of the children were able to say the verse after we studied it for awhile. All in all, a very good day!