Good morning sunshine

Well, it is another beautiful day in Rio Rico. The missionaries have moved into the guest house and seem to be settling in. Elder Matute is from Honduras, and his companion is from Boston. He arrived here and moved in on his first day in Arizona. It is definitely not Boston. Saturday he knocked on the door and asked me if I could identify the cool little insect he had found on the floor and which he was holding out for me to see.

It was a little scorpion. Very cute. I told him it would be better just to step on those cuties. And yes, When Elder Matute put on his suit coat Sunday morning there was a lizard in his sleeve. Such is life in our guest house. But they think they have a much cooler apt than the Elders in Nogales.

I don't know if they have figured out yet that the howling you hear at night are the coyotes in the wash. One of the sounds I love.

In another month we'll have to start planting a garden. (Battling rabbits, birds and squirrels. . .)

Happy New Year!!

Well, 2009 is really well and truly here. Party animals that we are we stayed up late enough to wish all of our kids a happy new year across the country. We figured that once the New Year had arrived in NYC at 10:00 pm we could go to sleep, but then went on to greet the year in Central and Mountain time, toasted with pomegranate juice and promptly fell asleep.

It seems that 2009 has started with a bang. Especially if you are in Gaza. Refer to the Joel Rosenberg blog for details and updates. I can't believe Israel will try another ceasefire with Hamas--a 3 hour cease fire that has already been violated 3 times with rockets into Israel in the first hour.

Give peace a chance???

Want more bad news--well maybe it all depends on how you look at it--check out the Prepare Today blog. It looks like the post is 8 months old, but it actually updates every couple of days.

Ford car sales were down 32% this month, ditto GM. Think they'll ask for another bailout when they can't make any money selling over priced cars??

And then I do have a link to the border news blog M3. In the first five days of the year there were 63 organized crime related deaths in Mexico. And today there were 20 more bodies found in one spot. That doesn't count yesterday's count or Tijuana today. What a country!

Well to top off the evening a good friend just called. At the end of work today his boss called him in and told him he was terminated immediately. I think he was in shock. I know I was.

Have a great week. It's all uphill from here.

Post Christmas Post

Well. Christmas has come and gone. And it was fun. Kids came and went. There was lots of food, but mostly we snacked. Steven made it back to NYC. We thought his flight left at 12:50 and in fact it left at 12:15. We arrived at the airport at 12:18, walked to the front of the Delta line, and Christmas miracle or miracles, everyone was nice, helpful, and saw to it that Steven didn't miss his flight. We miss him, but were very glad he made it home.
Megan and Graham went up to Chandler and then Megan went on home to Flagg. Maren and Justin stayed for Christmas day.

I think I'll leave the tree up until January 6--Dia de los Reyes Magos--the day the Wise Men arrived.

Happy New Year. I hope 2009 is wonderful.
Do you think the Middle East will decide to try peace this coming year??? Oh well.

Hopkins 2008 year end report:

Well, as you all already know the financial report this year is in the toilet.
So let’s just skip right to the basics:
1. We wish you all a merry Christmas and a very Happy New year in 2009.
2. Bailouts are alive and well, but the Hopkins’ kids all appear to be solvent and self sufficient!! Miracles never cease.
3. Megan is finishing her last semester at Northern Arizona U, and is then planning to go on to Graduate school, although she still keeps in close contact with GE and with all her siblings. She is truly the surrogate mom. I guess that’s what being #1 is all about.
4. Ariane and Alon are busy running their own business and raising the two most beautiful granddaughters ever born. Alon will get his permanent green card finally in January after a record wait with the US Immigration Service. Nola is in kindergarten and Talia goes to the Hebrew preschool. It’s hard to believe how quickly they grow.
5. Michael and Becky are in Arkansas. Mike is working on his Master’s degree in Spanish and Becky is teaching art. Of course they are busy raising the most handsome grandson ever born.
6. Charlie bought a house this year and is remodeling the upstairs. It’s a do-it-yourself project and it looks great. He is nearly finished with his degree at ASU and continues working at GE having taken over from Megan there.
7. Maren still digs her work. She just uncovered the oldest prehistoric canal yet discovered in this area, and as she worked her way up through the levels she discovered pit houses that are the most recent prehistoric structures in the area. What a find.
8. Morris works for the Tibetan Buddhist Research Center in Manhattan, in charge of the digital library. He loves his work and he loves his girlfriend, Seung Hee, whom he is marrying on January 24. We couldn’t be happier for him! We are of course planning a trip to NYC toward the end of January!
9. Steven is living in Brooklyn working for Ari and Alon. He has discovered the big city and likes it. He is working hard, making money and planning to go to school in NYC next August.
10. Graham, our baby boy, is 18 and attending Pima College in Tucson. He comes home occasionally and keeps us entertained.
11. Finally: Mike and I are basking in the sunshine in Rio Rico. We invite you to come and visit whenever it strikes your fancy to travel this way. We keep busy with family history, with reading good books, taming the yard, and planning fabulous future vacations. We have had a few medical scares, but so far they have all turned out to be benign and we hope they remain that way! That closes out the year, so we will begin to Plan now for a prosperous and pleasant Next Year from our house to yours. (Don’t forget to plant a garden.)

Love,
The HOPKINS.
P.S. We love you more than words can say--beyond infinity!!

Christmas is coming. It was only 71* today here. I actually wore a sweater. We went up to Tucson with Steven and Graham and then came back without them. They'll be home tomorrow, Megan is coming down through the deep snows, and Maren and Justin will be here on Christmas day. We stopped to see Maren's newest work project along I-10. The canal system they are surveying is the OLDEST in all of North America. Cool. I think I got a little sun on my face today. Merry Christmas--we can't wait.

Moon shots

Speaking of the full moon, did you hear the conversation between the two blondes in Arizona? The first blonde asks, "What do you think is closer, Florida or the moon?"
The second blonde replies, "Hellooooooo, can you see Florida from here???" Duh!

Looking down on the little guys

A somewhat stilted pose:

First and foremost. For all of you who have been worrying about Martin and keeping us in your prayers, the biopsy reports were very positive. No malignacy. Now they just want him to keep an eye on his lymph nodes and see if anything changes. I am not exactly sure how one does that. Anyway, every six to eight weeks the doc will check him out and if nothing changes, we will continue as we were. But if things seems to be growing, moving . . .? then the doctor will do some "quick and easy" surgery. Oh my. Anyway, I think all of that news is good.

Second and foremost. Graham and Megan were here for the weekend. Megan for 4 days, Graham for just a day and a half. We had big plans to build fires, play scrabble, make many delicious Christmas treats. We did manage to decorate the tree and eat plenty of Costco pumpkin pie.

Megan and I went to a Relief Society breakfast this morning. She got to meet dozens of my friends who analyzed her carefully--the consensus? She got her dimples from her dad. Also her nose, and her blue eyes definitely. But she looks alot like her mother too??? Hmmm. Maybe dad and I actually look alike? What do you think?

Well the lights are on the tree, Christmas carols are playing softly in the background and this is the biggest full moon of 2008. Go outside and enjoy it!