Calabaza Goodness

So I know that October is long gone, but it was a busy month so I'm still posting! ;)

With October and fall comes the inevitable... pumpkin decorating! This is not a 10-minute process as you might imagine... oh no. This is a "I'll work on it every five minutes for the next two days and keep adding small details that no one will ever, ever see" kind of a thing... :)

After returning to Magdalena from my visit to Kansas (see below), I was inspired to carve a pumpkin with the kids... which looks amazingly similar to the one I did at home [grimace]. Not much ingenuity I'm afraid...

The kids thought it was funny (but a little sad) that our pumpkin got older, more slumped, more smelly, and finally more disgusting as each day passed...!

The kids and the pumpkin... imitating the pumpkin, actually! ;)

After we turned off all the lights and invited Jenna, Jodi and their three kids (Jazany, Julissa, and Eduardo) to come see the "awesomeness" of our calabaza ("pumpkin")... they tried to sneak back in and scare us! Above, they were caught in the action by the flash of my camera!

I was blessed to be able to travel back to Kansas in mid-October and catch up with family and friends!

Above, my friend Sarah and her boyfriend, Mark.

I flew into KC and was able to see AP's new place and spend some time with her and her friends Doug & Connie.

It was a blessing, too, to be able to surprise my Grandma Eileen for her 80th birthday party that we celebrated with our family, my aunt, and the great-aunts and cousins!

I was grateful that Tif could come for the weekend, too, since I wasn't going to be able to see her the rest of my time at home.

I was able to spend some time with Grandpa and Grandma Frieden, also... we have all been so blessed to have so many grandparents and surrogate grandparents in our lives! Speaking of which... it was great to see Ralph and Barb & Stub, too!

Chel decided that she and I needed to carve pumpkins while I was there... which I hadn't done for... I don't know... YEARS. :)

It was a lot of fun... although a bit sticky, to be honest!

The finished products!

We had some help from the cats, too... ;)

Thanks to everyone I was able to see at home and didn't get pictures of... Mom & Dad, Shane, Linda, Greg, Kristin, Tyler & Molly, Pat, Kathy, Sheryl, and many more! I appreciate and love each of you... :)

Please keep praying for God's direction in the lives of staff and kids here at CVE. He is a mighty God and worthy to be praised... even and especially through the "stretching" times!