Road Trip- Day 7- New Mexico

On Day 7, we went to meet Grant's biological father, Rodney and his family, for the second time.  (They had never met Karina, Aurora, or Calyssa because the 1st time we met them was 8 years ago.)  We had a really nice visit in the morning, catching up on all that has happened in the last 8 years, which was a lot for them.  Both Brenda and Rod have had strokes (Rod has had several serious ones) since we were here.  Brenda also told us some more of the details of both Ty and Lee's accidents, which left me in tears.  The story of Lee's accident was so sad that some one could just shoot someone else.  Lee is so incredibly lucky to be alive, after being shot in the head.  I was especially touched by the "angels" who were there for Ty, after his accident.  (He was hit by a car, who was on their cell phone, while Ty was doing road construction.)  When she told us about the guy who held Ty's legs with his bare hands, I totally cried because I thought of our Savior and how Christlike this act was.  Apparently, Ty and him are still good friends to this day.  Ty is also incredibly blessed to be alive. 

Then we headed out for lunch at one of Rod's favorite restaurants.  (I think it was called Gateway.)  It was really fun to see one of his favorite places and all the people who worked there all knew him super well.  That was fun!  It was nice visiting with Rod, Brenda, Angie, and Destiny.  Rod and Brenda paid for all of us, which was incredibly sweet!!  We really appreciated it!  :)  After a wonderful lunch, we followed Angie over to the open mines, where her husband works.  They were amazing!!  We also saw the famous, "Kneeling Nun," up on the side of the hill.  The girls had so much fun with their cousin, Destiny, playing in the giant tire.  Later, we borrowed, Destiny, and brought her back to the hotel with us, where the girls all had fun swimming together.  Destiny is kind of right in the middle of her cousins who live down there.  Melinda (who sadly couldn't make it to see us this time because her family was out of town) has 4 kids who are about 5 years older (I believe) than Destiny.  And her brother, Cody, who we got to see briefly, is older too.  Then the rest of her cousins are about 5 years younger.  So it was way fun to see our girls with her... they totally hit it off... especially her and Riana.  (In fact, they are now friends on Facebook and email/instant message each other, which is way fun!)  Later that night, Angie and Brenda made us a really yummy dinner, which the girls devoured!!  It was really nice to have a homemade meal on our long trip!  Then the girls walked to the park and spent some more time together playing games and playing on the toys.

That night, we had the chance to visit some more and to spend some time with Lee.  He is such a sweet guy, with so much love radiating from him.  He has been through a lot lately and is super forgiving of the whole thing.  What a great example!!  Callie and Rori just loved their Aunt Angie!  I also appreciate how accepting and welcoming she has always been to us.  That night, we also made sure and took lots of pictures.  It was a wonderful day.