El Paso trip: December 6

When I planned this trip to El Paso I knew my time would be short. There was no way to book an entire weekend without having to pay almost twice what I had paid for my tickets. I wondered how to make the best use of the short time I had with the kids ...
When Di mentioned that the kids eat breakfast at school, I asked if it would be possible for me to eat with them. She didn't see any reason that it wouldn't be allowed! So, Monday morning I went to school with the kids! I can't begin to tell you how excited I was to be able to SEE where they spend their days! We ate a very nice breakfast together every single morning ... at school! I met so many beautiful children along the way. I wish I could tell you about each and every one of them.
After breakfast, the children are allowed to play on the playground until the bell rings ... I was standing near Emma's line when one of her classmates (Malachi) came up to her kind of got in her face!

Malachi: "Hey, Emma, you owe me a transformer!"
Emma and I exchange glances, my eyebrows raised ...
Emma: "I don't have any transformers, Malachi!"
Me: "What's this about?"
Malachi: "I gave Emma one of my chocolate fudge poptarts the other day ~ she asked! ~ and she said she would bring me a transformer if I did!"
Me to Emma: "Do you have any transformers?"
Emma: "No."
Me: "Emma doesn't have any transformers, Malachi. But she does have quite a few dolls. Would you like her to bring one in for you?"
Emma smiles.
Malachi: "No!" (very indignant)
Me: "How about ... would you like me to bring you ONE piece of chocolate mint ice cream flavored gum tomorrow?"
Malachi: "Yes!"
So the chocolate mint ice cream flavored gum sealed the deal and rescued Emma from her plight. The bell had rung and the children were walking inside ... and I really meant to talk to Emma about promising something she couldn't deliver ... but I never did! Sigh.
When the children hear the bell, they line up outside according to class and then their teacher escorts them inside the building. I wasn't sure they would let me come in ... but they did! This is Emma's classroom and the table where she sits. I was told to be very careful only to take pictures of MY grandchildren ... so I tried to comply as much as possible.
Here is Matthew in front of his morning class. Matthew actually has a morning class and teacher and then switches to another class and teacher for the afternoon.
And this is Chris sitting at his desk! Of all the teachers I met, I liked Chris's teacher best. She was so warm and friendly and ... happy!

There are THREE boys named "Chris" in Chris's classroom: Chris H., Chris P., and Chris R. And that's how each are designated ... but I didn't realize this until one of the days we were eating our lunch (!! ... I got to eat LUNCH with the kids too!) one of the boys at our table said, "See you out on the playground, Crispy!" And Chris answered him. And right after that, another one of his friends called him, "Crispy." I looked at Chris rather stunned because I thought these kids were referring to him as C-R-I-S-P-Y as in a Crispy Critter! And then Chris explained the THREE Chris problem to me and how they solved it by adding the last name initial ... his is the only combination that comes out sounding like a real word! I asked him how he feels about being called, "Crispy" and he said he was "OK" with it and then smiled real big. I think he rather likes it.
I was able to roam the hallways and take some pictures of the hallway art ... I did go to the front office, though, and fill out the appropriate papers in triplicate, so that I could come and go in the building at designated times. I was so glad to be able to do this! And I was very impressed with the school.
This is their science lab!

After lunch on Monday, I walked home to find that Jesse had a "short" day at work. I asked him if it would be possible to drive up Transmountain for a little while ... so that's what we did!
There is something about the mountains ... don't get me wrong ... it's not the same as my love for Lake Michigan ... but the amazing beauty just stuns me every time. And the air is SO fresh and clean up there.
Transmountain highway cuts right between the Franklins, right through El Paso. Jesse drove all the way over, we stopped and took a bunch of pictures, and then we drove back!

So nice to spend some one-on-one time with Jesse ... a very rare occasion during the last ten years!

I love to see for miles and miles and miles ...

Diana and I picked the children after school and they worked on their homework first ... and THEN we played.
On Monday, Emma comes home with 15 spelling words. She takes an initial home test and any words she misses, she has to write out three times.
We had a bunch of fun stuff planned for Monday evening and we accomplished just about everything I hoped we would! We ate homemade wet burritos for dinner! We did a lot of art and games and just had fun.
We colored in some special Toy Story 3 pictures together ...

And we decorated some foam Christmas trees ...

We read "Turk and Runt" together at bedtime and laughed so hard! What a fun book for kids (thanks, Shelley!)! We also read "The Candymaker's Story" about the origin of the candy cane and the beautiful meaning of that candy!
This is Macy and Lacy, my roommates! The spare room is actually a study/office/playroom/futon room ... it's where I slept. These lizards sleep there too in a nice warm tank. We got along just fine ...

El Paso trip: December 7

Tuesday I was back up at school to eat breakfast. Plus, this was going to be my first day to eat lunch with the kids ... three shifts of lunches! I had hardly been at the school at all ... really ... just for breakfast the prior day. But when I arrived with Emma, Chris and Matthew Tuesday morning, there was a whole group of kids wanting to sit with us and share our fun! One little girl, Katiera, gave me a big hug and said she was so glad to see me!
The school has been emphasizing the problem of bullies and ... what to do! I'm glad for it. We had a nice talk together, the kids and I, about what it means to have someone do or say something to you that is mean ~ and also, how NOT to be a bully ourselves! But then, if we all just did what Jesus instructed: "Love your neighbor as yourself" that would completely take care of any bully problem whatsoever!
In the cafeteria, there are beautiful murals painted on most of the walls ...
This picture of Diana was taken as she was leaving for her newspaper interview regarding her winning science experiment that is going to launch with the very last shuttle flight! We're so happy for her success with this project.

I met the children for lunch, but didn't take any pictures. It's tricky to take pictures and ONLY have your grandchildren in the photo ... so many other children are crowding around!

Matthew's lunch is first, so we sat together and enjoyed a nice chat. A little girl in one of the other kindergarten rooms came into the lunchroom crying her eyes out. It just about broke my heart to watch her. So I gave her a sympathetic gaze and she went through the lunch line and found a spot right next to me to eat her lunch. Her name is Liberty (how beautiful) and she is a beautiful Hispanic girl with thick waist-length black hair and the saddest eyes I've ever seen. I asked her why she was so sad and she told me that she missed her mommy. So I just right away jumped to the conclusion that her mom was deployed (because lots of moms are!). So I told her how sad that must be to be so far away from her mom. I asked her when the last time was she had seen her ... and was so surprised at her answer! She told me she had seen her mom that morning, that she just lived across the street from school, and she missed her mother (this was told to me while Liberty was sobbing her heart out). Whew. I tried to distract her, so we talked about her name and how pretty it was and I asked her a bunch of questions, coaxing her to eat her lunch ... and we became friends.

Chris's lunch period was next. We had a whole bunch of his friends join us at the table. He is a very friendly young fellow and enjoys lots of social interaction. Chris is just an easy kid to be with! As each group finishes eating, they go to the playground to play, making room in the cafeteria for other classes.

Emma's group came next. She was so excited to see me! She introduced me to her good friend, Rochelle. Rochelle is a little Philippine girl ~ she is darling! I also met Cheyenne (who is NOT American Indian ... she's as blonde as Emma!) and a few other friends. Everyone ate their lunch and then Emma showed me around the school a little bit until the bell rang!
We did homework again Tuesday after school ...
Christopher made this "shaker" at school Tuesday ...
Matthew resumed a bunch of coloring projects he was working on ...
Christopher found time to paint quite a few pictures ...
Matthew joined in on the fun ...
Emma finally finished her homework and was able to paint too ...
It was Emma's turn to help in the kitchen, so she made the chocolate pudding we had for desert and used her new piggy utensil to help her stir it all up!

Our mission after supper was to make Christmas cards and pictures for a few folk the kiddos haven't seen in awhile (like Grandpa and Grandma Hand, Grandpa Pahman and Shane). So that's what we did! We used foam stickers and markers. The children did a beautiful job. Now all I have to do is remember where I put them, get them in the correct envelopes and mail them!

We read a cute story at bedtime ~ "Auntee Edna" by Ethel Footman Smothers, illustrated by Wil Clay. I picked it up over at Eerdman's clearance a few weeks ago. It's just a sweet story about an old aunt and her nieces ... but it's well written and everyone seemed to enjoy it!

El Paso trip: December 8

Wednesday. My last day really. I knew I could eat breakfast with the kids on Thursday, but then I'd have to go! So how to best use this day?
We enjoyed a healthy breakfast again together. By now, we have a whole crowd of children who eat with us! After the bell rang, I walked around and took more pictures. The one above and below is of the library. It's really a big and beautiful room. The tables are decorated with children's art!

I joined the kids for lunch again and Emma took me inside the library ~ she had to return two books and check out two more ~ and she showed me all around. Also, little Liberty came into the lunchroom sobbing again. We sat together, with Matthew, and ate lunch. After she went to the playground, I talked to one of the lunchroom adults and they told me Liberty suffers from "separation anxiety" (no kidding!) and that she was doing better until the break they had during Thanksgiving week ... and then her anxiety started all over again. Whew. Poor little thing.
This is the back side of the school playground, with the mountains in the background. I almost got in trouble for taking this picture! I was actually across the street from the school, just walking after lunch, thinking I could snap a few pictures of the area. I took TWO pictures and then saw a teacher motioning to me. I crossed the street and was interrogated about my intentions! I'm glad they are protective of the children and watchful over them ... but isn't it a sad world we live in where a grandma can't even stroll past a school and take a few pictures? I explained who I was and who my grandchildren were and then I was told, "No more pictures." Yikes.

I had a few hours before the children would be home from school. Jesse was at work. Diana was taking a final exam. And the mountains were ... out there ... so close, but so far! I wondered if I could walk to them, perhaps just to the foothills ~ it would be good exercise and something to pass the time!
Sabrina once told me that Texas reminded her of Israel ... the geography, the lay of the land, etc. I completely agree! There are rocks and stones everywhere! Israel is just like this! And the mountains are very similar too ... not extremely high, but very rough and irregular.
I had a great time walking and taking pictures ~ at least here no one could restrict me! It was a gorgeous afternoon. I walked wearing just short sleeves with my jacket tied around my waist. The sun was wonderful.
I took some off-road paths and felt like I was in the old west ... like an old cowboy movie! It sure is dirty and dusty in El Paso!
I walked for two solid hours, but I never really made it to the foothills. I only went so far before I turned around and headed back to the house. I didn't want to be late and have the children worry.
Isn't it beautiful here?
I had to cross over an elevated pedestrian walkway (over a highway) where these pigeons greeted me!
I'm not overly fond of the cactus ... but I'm sure there are many kinds that are prettier than these.

After school Wednesday afternoon, the kids did their homework, and then we got the Hotwheels back out to play with.


We colored more pictures ... these are ones using color changing markers ... they really are not worth all the hype they receive ~ but the children did enjoy them.
I had completely forgotten I had brought my thumbprint book with me and an ink pad ... but then I remembered ...
so everyone made thumbprint pictures!
Chris turned all of his thumbprints into little fish ... and a few shark!
I love this lion Chris drew!
The tiger completely cracks me up!
But Christopher is a very good artist and I just love watching him create!

We had a real nice time reading books Wednesday night. We read a good story by Max Lucado, "The Crippled Lamb" that was new to the kids! They really got into it and loved how it finally had a happy ending.

We also read a well-known story: "The Tale of the Three Trees" (a traditional folktale). This is one of my favorites from way back. I read it to the children a few years ago and right away I knew this would become a favorite of theirs as well ... and it is!

This was our last night together and everyone did just fine. We looked forward to having breakfast together in the morning and didn't spend much time talking about it being our last night!

After 23 hours, finally HOME!

I love to travel ... because it's kind of like an adventure every single time ~ you never really know what will happen ~ and so many things are out of your control. But I'll get to the adventure part later. These are the Franklin Mountains from the air, about five minutes after lifting off from the El Paso International Airport right exactly on time (at 2:05 p.m.) yesterday afternoon.
I know I've shown you the Franklins before ~ and it's not like they are the Grand Tetons or the mighty Rockies ... but I think they are lovely and they intrigue me every time I see them. Seeing them from the air is a real thrill for me. When I'm on the ground in El Paso, I have an overwhelming desire to climb them ... to the very TOP ... and getting an aerial view of them helps to alleviate that a little bit.
I'm not sure which mountain this is, but I'm pretty sure we are flying over New Mexico ...
And I'm also pretty sure that white blotch out there near the horizon is White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, outside of Alamogordo ~ we've been there before and played on the sand mountains ~ great fun!

Pretty soon, though, we reached cloud cover and as we ascended through them I was listening to my I-pod (thanks, Adam and Emily!) ~ "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" by Michael W. Smith was playing. Do you know the words? "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look FULL in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim ... in the light of His glory and grace." We flew through the clouds, leaving the earth behind, back out to the brilliant sunshine as "Awesome God" played in my ears ... it really was a wonderful experience.

This next photo is right after landing at O'Hare ... they are de-icing the jet at the next gate ...
We landed in Chicago exactly on time last night. I naively thought I had a two hour layover before I had to board my flight to Grand Rapids. But when I deboarded and went to the American Airlines desk to find out which gate my Grand Rapids flight would be departing from, they very casually told me, "That flight has been cancelled." You can't imagine HOW surprised I was to hear them say that! I thought surely they were joking! So I asked why (naturally). They lamely told me that the weather in Grand Rapids was prohibitive and that they would book me on the next flight. Well ... what could I do? I figured the next flight would just be a little bit later!
Without flinching, the airline attendant told me the next available flight was leaving O'Hare at 8:30 a.m. the NEXT morning. He offered a hotel at 40% off the regular rate, but was honest enough to tell me it would still cost me $60-$80. No way. I hadn't eaten since early that morning, so I let the gentleman book that 8:30 a.m. flight and then decided to go to Gate G2B where I would board the plane the next morning. O'Hare is a big place, but having connected through Dallas/Ft. Worth on the way out to El Paso, it felt almost tiny! I purchased a newspaper, walked into a Chili's and ate dinner. And then the rest of the night was spent walking the vast corridors, seeking enough quiet and warmth to actually catch a few winks. Quite and warmth. I never did find it ~ butI did catch a few intermittent hours of sleep. And by the way, the weather in Grand Rapids was NOT that bad. I think they simply didn't have enough passengers to fill their plane and randomly cancelled flight! I think I'm going to write a letter of protest to American Airlines!

I did have a problem to solve, though, even before I settled down for dinner. I needed to reach Mr. Jones and tell him about my cancelled flight so that he would not drive out to the airport in bad weather for absolutely nothing! However, Thursday nights are "train" nights and a group of 6-8 guys rotate hosting the fellows at their houses to "play" trains. I could not remember which house Mr. Jones was supposed to be visiting! In fact, I couldn't remember the NAMES of half of these fellows. I finally remembered a few first and last names, so I phoned Jesse back in El Paso and he got on his computer (thanks, Jes!) and found their phone numbers for me. I was finally able to reach the right people and, thankfully, Mr. Jones didn't drive out to the airport.

There were a few other passengers whose flights had been "cancelled," who were hanging around the G concorde. I had a terrible sore throat (and still do) and one kind lady gave me a handfull of throat lozenges. I didn't realize all of the stores at the airport actually shut down for the night ~ I had the mistaken notion that I was going to at least be able to entertain myself for a few hours combing through the book stores, etc.
This morning, pretty much right on time, my American Eagle flight took off at 8:30 a.m. Taking pictures through an airplane window is a bit of a trick, but I never give up! It was fun to see Chicago from the air.
I have never flown OVER Lake Michigan in the daytime when I could actually SEE it. This morning, I did! My pictures of Lake Michigan are completely unremarkable. There were lots and lots of low clouds this morning. Except we were only in the air perhaps 3 minutes when we flew through the clouds ... it was SO beautiful to come out of them and see the sun beaming through higher clouds ... don't the lower clouds look like stormy waters and high waves?
Isn't this amazingly beautiful?
"I will sing of Your tender mercies and Your love forever! Young and old will hear of Your faithfulness. Your unfailing love will last forever. Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens." PSALM 89.1-2

I have 100's of pictures to edit in the next day or two ... beautiful photos of the El Paso grandchildren, Jesse, Di, the mountains ... but I really am too sick tonight to do any of that! I'm just thankful to be safely home in our relatively (!) warm house ...

Ready ... set ... F L Y !

I've been packing, for what seems like weeks, to go to El Paso to celebrate an early-Christmas with Jesse's family. I booked this trip right after our fall Texas trip in September because I wanted to get the best possible ticket price at just the right dates in December. I had wanted to stay a full week, but no matter how I tried to arrange flights ~ no matter what day in the week I was leaving and returning home, staying a maximum of five days gave me the best bang for my buck. So I settled for it!

I love to fly ~ it kind of goes along with my love of heights and semi-adventure and love of travel in general. But flying isn't what it used to be, and packing can be a bit tedious. I'm learning, though, and just about have it down to an art. I never check luggage, both because it costs too much and because there is no guarantee I will ever see my luggage again if I do! So I bring a carry-on suitcase and one backpack and ... C R A M everything I possibly can into them. It gets right down to the nitty-gritty as far as what actually travels with me ... what do I really need ~ that becomes the question. Because what is more important than clothing is bringing fun stuff to do with the grandchildren. I have lots of nice art projects prepared for us to do, gifts to make, books to read, games to play ... I'm so excited I've lost sleep thinking about it!
I can't wait to see these beautiful faces!


After reading a book review on my niece's blog, I went over to Barne's & Noble the other day to purchase a copy of "Turk & Runt: A Thanksgiving Comedy" to take with me to El Paso ~ the grandchildren love to hear a new story! I was so disappointed to find that they didn't have one single copy of it in any of their stores in our area. So I ordered it, sight unseen ... and voila'! I got an e-mail from them today telling me it is IN and I can pick it up ... which I am going to do on the way to the airport in the morning!

I most likely will not have access to a computer while I am traveling, so it will be a week or so before I am able to upload any pictures or tell you the story of our Christmas celebration ... but I will just as soon as I am able!

Congratulations, Diana!

Wouldn't you know ... I step away from my computer for 20 hours or so ... and MISS the big news about Diana! So in case you haven't heard, I'll try to tell you! By the way, this picture of Diana doing her homework was taken in September while we were visiting in El Paso. Diana is in college, with nursing as her goal. She has done really well in her classes.

From what I can understand 20,000 students were given the opportunity to participate in a program sponsored by the NCESSE (National Center for Earth and Space Science Education) in partnership with NanoRacks LLC under the SSEP (Student Spaceflight Experiments Program) ... 16 communities joined the program in response to a national announcement of this opportunity distributed to school districts across our country back in June 2010. Out of all of those communities, 447 proposals were submitted from student teams and through a very complicated and lengthy process, ONE proposal was chosen from each of the 16 communities. Diana's team WON for El Paso! Her team's experiment is one of sixteen selected to fly aboard STS-134, the final flight of the space shuttle Endeavor! AND ... Diana gets to go Cape Canaveral to see it launch! WOW. That's exciting stuff!
We send super duper CONGRATS to you, Diana! This is very very cool ... something you will always remember and be proud of! Oh, and the name of Diana's team experiment is: The Effect of Microgravity on Biofilm Formation by E. Coli on Polystyrene Particles! How's that for a scientific mouthful? I never did well in the sciences when I was in school, but I've grown to find them very interesting, although not any more understandable than when I was in high school!