Back from New Mexico

We had a wonderful time in NM, thanks to the good people of Immaculate Heart of Mary parish. The guys went on an explore out to Bandilier National Monument on Monday while I hung at the hotel and edited a book. Had a big BBQ that evening the talk went well.

Tuesday, I blew off responsibility and went with Jan and the kids out to the Valles Grande Caldera. Utterly awesome. It will stay in mind forever. A huge grassy bowl that is my abiding image of Rohan, created by the collapse of a vast magma dome. We went for a hike and clambered around on a small hill (also a lava dome) for a few hours. The kids collected obsidian and we even found an elk skull! What a beautiful place! Then we went to Overlook Park and saw the majesty of the Rio Grande and all the blue distances beyond. Hard to put into words. Special bonus, we found some caves with petroglyphs in them! Jan was thrilled to pieces. Wonderful!

The people at IHM parish were so wonderful to us. They opened their homes to us, their kids hung out with ours (and their little kids had a gleeful time assaulting Peter the Human Jungle Gym), they shared their lives and their hearts with us. And they were eager to hear the gospel and find ways to implement it in the New Evangelization. I am so grateful to them all for their goodness to us. Thanks to Fr. Carney, the Hornes, the Markses, and the Kreppses, as well as all the other good people who were so kind and generous to us Sheas. God bless you all through our Lord Jesus!

PS. As you may expect, I am playing catchup now and will try to answer your email when I get my nose above water.