August has Come and Gone

Wow, how fast time has passed, not one day has been dull or boring. Melissa and the two youngest, Blake and Avery came for one more visit before school started. They stayed a week then I drove back up to Colorado with them and stayed another ten days. The kids did fabulous considering they had to stay in the car seats for 12 hours. We saw some sheep, and a goat, obviously we didn't take the freeway until 6 hours later.

(Freeway all the way would have been quicker)

While in Denver, we also drove up to Vail to soak in the cool mountain breeze and have some fun.

Zach, Blake & Avery playing on a Pirate Ship playground

The Wheeler Family

Melissa watching the children play, and this mom watching her daughter.

Along the way up to Vail, we stop to see the buffalo.

Grandpappy power washing, cleaning and painting the pool before the grandkids come and jump in.

Terry is on the Board at the El Paso Credit Union, works at Ft. Bliss and at the house, and working at closing the West Texas Air Museum. So as you can see who's doing all the work and who's doing all the playing.

Thanks Sweetheart!!! Thanks Dad!!! Thanks Grandpappy!!!!

Before and After

We'll catch up with what we've been doing since we left Russia, through pictures. Since we've been home, it seems like all we've done is work, work, and work. Three months later almost everything has a home including us.












Part of the garage, where we installed our old kitchen cabinets.

Replaced the glass sliding door with French doors and got rid of the fireplace.









Raised the ceiling, added new cabinets and silestone countertops, and moved duct work


















Replaced the pond with a flower bed.

Painted the exterior,

and Landscaped the front yard

Finally we are sitting back enjoying family and friends

and relaxing in the hot sun in the back yard.

Our small house has become a home!

Thanking our soldiers!

Here are my 2 favorite soldiers:












SPC Barrett, Isaiah in Camp Walker, Korea













2nd Lt. Josiah in Ft. Benning, Georgia.

I thought Melissa, their big sister, did such a great job honoring her brothers, I didn't want to add anything so do check out a few more pictures - click here.

Family Visits

When we arrive back from Russia, Pat got on the plane the next day and spent a week in Colorado. So these next few pictures are from May and June. and Josiah came down from Georgia during the Memorial weekend.

Zachary took his first airplane flight by himself when he came to visit us in El Paso in June. We took Zachary to Carlsbad Caverns, the Holocaust Museum, Barnes and Nobles, the public library, the movie Star Trek and also hung out at the house.

Then a week later Melissa came down with the other 2 grandchildren. Melissa helped me decorate my house, the final touch ups. Our roof was being put on so there were a lot of workers a round the house, but we did find some time to play in the pool.

Bonding Weekend

When Melissa got married, I told her she had to train her husband up right, she had to spend one weekend out of the year with her mother. So the beginnings of our Mother Daughter weekend, our weekends have taken us to : Las Cruces, Tuscon, Alburquerque, Dallas, Seattle. This year we were in Colorado for our weekend, and had a blast.

Pat, Melissa and Pat's sister and her 2 daughters have gone ever since; except the time that we were out of the country. Something we all look forward to.

Hot air balloon rides largely depend on wind and weather conditions so we found out after an 1 1/2 hour wait. The ideal wether condition never happened so Pat and her sister, Ana, were unable to ride on the hot air balloon as planned.

As the young girls went to exercise, Pat and her sister walked around in the river pool. Believe it our not it was a work out.

As always we did a lot of shopping. Here you have our three models:
Rebecca, Melissa, and Leah.

Our dear friends had us over for breakfast at 7:00 the day we left. If we knew they ate like Kings & Queens every morning, we would have joined them way before the day we left.

Our driver came to pick us up at 9:00am Moscow time. Our last sites were shared with our friend Jerry, he was also heading back to the states, but only for R&R.

Check out the view from 34,000 ft up in the air and you can see Greenland.


After a long flight, 2 movies, and two meals later we landed in Atlanta, Georgia; where we had a 18 hr lay over. That 18 hr lay over was worth it ...Our son, Josiah is only an 1 1/2 hrs away so we were able to visit him, see his apartment and see Ft. Benning where he is stationed. That was a blessing!

Next morning got back on a plane and hit the sun city, El Paso, and it was hot! I thought I was going to faint at 87 degrees. After seeing Terry's mom, our sister in law, and my sister, we went to the motel and crashed till the next morning.

I knew we were in Texas, check out the waffle from the motel.
Are we proud Texans or what?

Got back on a plane and headed to Denver to spend some time with my daughter, son in law and my grand children. Not to mention it's 50 degrees. nice and pleasant. I'll be in in Denver till Thursday, then arriving to my new home, El Paso May 1st.

Easter with Friends

We we're invited to Easter dinner by Dave and Pat Delamatre, which was such a blessing because the next day was our pack out.

Pat & Dave our host

Mike Brandt, one of my favorite Electricians

Sue and Frank, fellow Texans

Kurt and Cathy Lynch, our neighbors

Mary Freeman, new to PAE, and she is a delight

Our Easter-Russia's "Willow Sunday"

Palm Sunday, which commemorates Jesus' return to Jerusalem one week before his crucifixion, is known as Willow Sunday in the Russian Orthodox Church. At Willow Sunday services, congregants carry small bundles of pussy willow branches and burning candles.

At every metro station, on every marketplace one can see Russian “babushki” – the older women selling little bouquets of pussy-willow, often tied with ribbons. They are intended to represent “leafy branches” which the people of Jerusalem had cut from the fields, spreading them on the road to welcome Jesus (Mk 11:7).

By giving each other Easter eggs, Christians profess the faith in the Resurrection.

Spending time with friends and visiting those last few places we've been wanting to and never took the time to go see.

Donna, Pat & Janice sitting in front of the Grand Triumphal Arch which is decorated with the coats of arms from the 48 Russian provinces. To celebrate the victory over France in the war of 1812, it also includes bas-reliefs of the "Expulsion of the French." The arch was originally built in 1834, but has only been on this site since 1968.

Standing in front of the Peace Wall on Old Arbat Street. The wall consists of scores of tiles painted by Soviet schoolchildren, expressing their hopes for peace and fears for war. I read it was a part of propaganda against Reagan's Star Wars.

April showers bring May flowers, except our showers froze.

Our last Diplomatic Fellowship

Cafe Pushkin

These last few weeks are going by fast. Our bosses took Terry and I out for a lovely dinner. Everything was fabulous:

The company-Mary Ann and Bob Rose

The food was delicious. Here's Bob getting ready to eat the quail egg.

The presentation of the food was colorful and inviting.

Even the bathrooms were pretty, the porcelain toilets and sink were nicely painted.