Lunch with my sister

Since today was Monday, it was my day off. Circumstances worked out so that I had the opportunity to go to Albuquerque and see some of my familia that I don't see too often. I was really happy to be able to have lunch with my sister, Felicia. We went to Red Robin and both got the Bonzai Burger there. A Bonzai Burger is a teriyaki marinated burger with a grilled pineapple on it. Very interesting, but also very good. After we had a nice lunch, we went to see our parents. It was really good to see my mom and dad. It had been a while since I had seen them. I was concerned to hear that my mom had fallen down a flight of stairs in their home recently. Praise God that she's ok. My brother wasn't available for lunch, but we talked on the phone and it was good to hear that he is doing well and catch up with him a bit. I am very thankful to God for the family that God gave me to grow up in. I would say that my parents have raised me well. I'm far from a where I need to be, but without God's sovereign grace in placing me in a loving home where I was raised with good values and morals I would be in a much worse place. I hope I can be half as good a parent to my kids as my parents were to me. It was good to see them today...

~Issac

Issac Galaxy

One of the funnest and coolest games for the Nintendo Wii is Mario Galaxy. Pretty much all the Mario games rock, but this one is by far the best! Issac has been playing it everytime he has free time and last night he saved the princess! It only took him about a month and a half. We got the game for Caleb's birthday, but it's obvious that Issac plays it more than Caleb! I was able to capture some of the exciting and intense moments in the game...

~Kristi

Oskins & Harry Potter

On Tuesday night we had some of our new friends, Jonathan & Emily Oskins, over for dinner and a movie. Since we are big Harry Potter fans, we introduced them to the movies. We watched the first one (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) a few weeks ago and gave them the second one (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) to watch at their leisure. Over the weekend, they let us know they were ready for the third installment (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) so, we had them over. I made the oh-so-delicious chicken spaghetti and we had some brownies, made by Savannah, for dessert. The movie was a success and I will still claim to this day that Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite thus far! For those of you who haven't kept up with the Harry Potter movies, I suggest taking a few days to hang out with us and you may just become an HP fan!

~Kristi

New Winter Retreat & No More Abby

Yesterday, Issac got some pretty bad news concerning Regenerate's Winter Retreat. We were supposed to take our youth group to Wolf Creek and stay at the Snow Wolf Lodge, but God had other plans. The well/water system at the lodge got a terrible leak and can no longer accommodate us and repairs aren't going to happen until Spring time. The news came as a bit of a shock to us, but we called are good buddies (Kevin and Jenn) at Calvary Albuquerque and it looks like we'll be joining them on their winter retreat to Durango!! It will be a totally different retreat than we had planned, but God's plans are much better than ours!! I know we'll have a blast and I'm SO looking forward to it!

Durango Mountain Resort

In other Lopez news, we gave our cat, Abby, away to a new home. It was getting harder to take care of her, mostly because no one wanted to feed her, change her litter, and she kept peeing on everything. Now all of our cat-allergic friends will actually be able to come over and not have to down Benadryl before they do. We'll miss her, but the lady we gave her to will provide a great home for her as well! Savannah wants to get a guinea pig now, but I think we'll lay off the pets for a while. We'll see.

Abby

~Kristi

Christmas Pictures

I forgot to post the pics from Christmas in my previous blog. We didn't have a ton, mostly because we always forget to take pictures. There are pictures of our house decorations, including a sweet wreath that Wendy Scozzafava made, some Santa Fe snow, and presents being opened by Courtney and Ikey. One of these days we'll learn to take pictures!

~Kristi

Another Month Gone By...

So another month went by without a Lopez update.... sad. A lot happened in December, so here is a recap of everything that went down.



First, we had Caleb's birthday. He turned 8 years old on the 9th and we celebrated by going to Itz, a Chuck-E-Cheese type place with better food and games. Caleb got some new clothes from Uncle Jim and Aunt Jan and Nana Sue and Papa Gus, money for Itz games from Grammy and Papa Ed, a skateboard and helmet from Grandma Connie and Richard, and Mario Galaxy for the Wii from Mom and Dad. We had a really great time. Below are some pictures of that happy event!





After Caleb's birthday, Christmas came pretty quickly. We had such a blessed Christmas this year! We started out by going to the Christmas Eve service at Calvary Santa Fe for some amazing worship and the gospel message. Afterwards, we went to The Lopez House and ate some tamales, pasole, queso dip, and lots of sweet goodies! We opened presents and had a fun time hanging out.
Next we went to The Rivera House and spent the night. We woke up on Christmas Day to more fun of opening presents! I was so excited to spend time with Gram and Pap (my grandparents)! It had been such a long time since we last saw them. Christmas Day was really relaxing, we spent the whole day in pajamas, resting and playing with a new toy here and there. My mom and Gram made a delicious dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, veggies, applesause, and salad. It was really good.
We finally came home to see more gifts outside our door!! Grandma Connie and Richard left the kids gifts of toys and clothes! It was awesome!!
Thank you to everyone who blessed us with so many gifts! The kids loved everything and Issac and I were able to get snowboards this year with the money we got!! Woo hoo!!
For New Years Eve we went to my parents house to see Gram one last time before she went back to Texas. We played a little Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii (yes, we own this game and it's amazing!), ate some Dion's pizza, and then headed out to the Scozz House to bring in the New Year.
Overall, we had an amazing holiday season! I am so thankful that Jesus was born to die for my sins so that I can be reconciled to God. Without a Savior, I'd be apart from God and on my way to hell. God is so Awesome to send His Son for us! My prayer is that all of our family would have a personal relationship with God and trust in Jesus as their Savior. Love you guys!
~Kristi