Natalie Goes to the Lawyer

Glenn and I took Natalie downtown to the lawyer's office for her to check about the process of getting a permanent visa.

(I guess if you were not hungry for a Hamburger, you could always get some fresh oranges and plums before going into McDonalds!)

As we drove downtown, we gave Natalie "pointers and landmarks" for her to know the way to get there again.  The mission has been using Betty for years.  Her office is downtown, next to the McDonalds in Zone 4.  So, Glenn parks the car in the parking lot and we buy an egg McMuffin so we can legitimately park at McDonald's, since Betty doesn't have any parking for her clients.

Ready or not, here we come!

Glenn shows her exactly how to buzz in.

Not sure if she wanted to go behind the bars!

And she makes it out alive!

In conclusion

• 1 hour of traffic going to the lawyer's office
• Purchase McMuffin and yogurt at McDonald's to "pay for parking"
• Navigated our way through the locks and doors to Betty's office
• Sat in the hallway for 1/2 hour until Betty was ready - not too bad
• Natalie made a decision to wait until next year to process it, if at all, because of several factors such as name change of mission, email address change, etc
• Stopped off at PriceSmart (your local Sam's Club) to check on new tires for Natalie's 4Runner/Community Bus/"Janet"
• 1 1/2 hours back to the house
• I would say it was a successful day, although we didn't get to cross everything off the list

Morning Walk + Orange Juice

On the weekends, Glenn and I adventure outside of our gated community for our morning walks. Several reasons; we can do this because there is not much traffic on Saturdays and Sundays, plus we feel just a little bit safer on these days.  As we walked over the weekend, this is what we experienced!

I used the excuse that I needed to take a picture of Agua, but in reality, I needed to stop and take a breath as we were walking up a steep street.

Then we stopped at our customary "Orange Julius" Juice stand for 2 bags of freshly squeezed OJ that comes in a plastic bag with my own straw.

 Good morning, Guatemala!

55 minutes 

7,361 steps

2.7 miles and 10 flights stairs

More Thanksgiving Family Shots

Mom and Dad

3 or the 4 siblings (Rick, Judy and Ronnie)

Kelly and Meredith

Meredith

Mom and Dad

Sherrie and Steve plus 2 of their 4 kids (Michelle and Stephen) plus me

How it All Began

Sherrie's family

Decorating the Christmas tree and setting out the train!

My Favorite!

Thanksgiving Day without Glenn but with Family

On Thanksgiving Day,  I drove mom down to East Texas for the traditional Helms side of the family Thanksgiving Dinner.  It use to be that we gathered at the community center where Big Mama (my great grandmother) would come and fix the dinner.  This was in the old school house.

Now, Big Mamma has passed away and all of her kids (my grandfather plus aunts and uncle). But the tradition lives on as the great grandkids make it a point to meet, greet and eat every Thanksgiving.  It is a once-a-year thing.

Here are some photos of food, family and friends.

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;

Oh, Those Grandkids!

Glenn and I took advantage of the $84.00 roundtrip airfare I found for DFW-DEN-DFW!  We were so thrilled to be able to make a quick 3 day visit to see Ellen and Luke and also "spoil" David, Emily, Lucy and Elizabeth.

GrandDad had lots of time reading to Elizabeth

David was proud of the Batman Symbol that Uncle Gary gave to him recently.

Sisters, Sisters...

Free Day at the Denver Zoo was one of the many highlights

Boy, we love Chick-Fil-A plus we took them to the library for Story Time

Look at the process.  Lucy combing Ellen's hair, Ellen braiding Emily's hair and Emily watering down baby Elizabeth's head, and Elizabeth taking it all in.

Emily - age 5 1/2

Glenn even had time to help Ellen's friends purchase a Toyota in just under 2 hours!

Basketball practice

We are so thankful we had a chance to be with the grandkids just for 3 days.  It went fast!  I loved helping Ellen in the kitchen, taking the kids off her hands so she could concentrate on some editing jobs she has, plus give her a little break by providing "babysitting" service for them to go out on a date-night.