Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta 2007

This past weeked was the start of the Annual Hot Air Balloon Fiesta that is hosted here in Albuquerque. It is the largest event of its kind in the world.

Balloon pilot's and crews come from all over the world to take part of the event. Not only that, but spectators also come from all over the world to witness this annual festival. This year they have over 800 balloons taking part in the event. It really is an amazing sight to see all these balloons launching.

The only bummer about the whole thing is that is is all done very early in the morning. We met up with the Orpilla's and Jess Andersen who is here visiting us at around 5:15 am to unsuccesfully beat the traffic to the event. Other than that we had a really good time at the festival. We were able to meet people from many different countries at the festival.

Not only that II...

September 29th, Sandra and I celebrated 6 long, I mean 6 years of marriage. :) I have had the priveledge for the last 6 years to have Sandra as a wife. It seems like yesterday that I signed my life away. The last 6 years really have gone by fast, and what an adventure it has been. We have been from Italy to Japan and back to Italy and had 4 wonderful monkey's in the process.

We had a great time out together, almost alone. We took Charis out with us for some sushi and red bean ice cream at the Japanese Kitchen here in Albuquerque. It was fun, to talk about how fast and all the things that have taken place over the last 6 years. We are totally blessed by the Lord. He has given us all that we have needed to make it this far and we look forward to many years to come, for all that the Lord has in store for our family.

Not only that...

Not only was it Silas's Birthday party but we had a surprise visitor from Venus, I mean New Jersey come to visit. It really was a huge surprise for Sandra. It was something that was planned a month ago, everybody but Sandra knew about it. Jess Andersen and Ella made a surprise visit to Albuquerque. If, you didn't notice in the birthday pictures.

Vanessa picked her up at the airport and brought her to our house. She was then stuffed into a box decorated like a cake (photos to come), with the baby. Sandra was brought out to the garage to see this big cake sitting there that Jess burst out of. It was great to see Jess and Ella and the surprise on Sandra's face.

We get to spend the next 10 days visiting with them and catching up on things and reminiscing about the good times we shared in Okinawa, pray for Matt who is home in New Jersey while we get the benefit of having his family here with us.

Silas's 2nd Birthday

Happy Birthday Silas! Wow, it seems like every other month we are celebrating birthday's. On the 29th, Silas turned two years old. This year he has started to put on some weight, 3 pounds, I think. Well for him that is a lot of weight. We can't beleieve that he is already 2, it seems as if he was just born, and now we have a new baby are holding all the time. The Lord has been so faithful to us.

For lunch we celebrated his birthday at Chuck E' Cheese. We played games, danced and had a great time together. Silas was joined by J.P. Orpilla and Isaac Snell. They had a fun time together tearing the place down. Then as usual, Silas's mom made a bunch of lumpia and Philippino food for us to feast on. We topped it all off with a Thomas the Train ice cream cake from Baskin Robbin's. Silas received lots of fun toys and clothes. If you like you can leave Silas a Happy Birthday greeting!

Sandra's Baby Shower

Recently the girls here in Albuquerque put on an after baby shower for Sandra. She was so blessed by everybody who blessed Charis with blankets, diapers and a whole host of other things. Hannah was also excited to be a part of her baby sisters shower as well.

Carla made Sandra a cake that was shaped like a baby carriage, it was really cool, but best of all it tasted wonderful.

Charis Priscilla's First Week

Hannah at 1 month

Charis at 1 week


Today, Charis Priscilla is 1 week old, she is doing good and remaining healthy. Also, she has been sleeping very well at night, which is a tremendous blessing. Please continue to pray for her that she will continue to grow and put on some weight.

The top picture is a picture of Hannah when she was just a month old, it is amazing how much these little girls look alike. At first we thought Charis looked most like her brother, but after comparing these pictures, I think it is Hannah she is beginning to look like.

Charis Priscilla Velarde: Take 2

Well, we just wanted to update with some new pictures of the baby on her 2nd day as part of our family. Also we wanted to show her with some pictures of her loving family members and siblings.

It was really great to see Hannah and her new best friend. Hannah has been praying for this little girl for a long time. It is great to see the Lord reveal Himself and even answer the childlike prayer of a 5 year old.

We were so blessed, Niel and Vanessa came and met us at the hospital at 3:30 am to take the other 3 monkey's. Then they brought them back that evening to come and meet their little sister. Micah and Silas thought Sandra's bed was a slide and were hoping we would be able to take it home with us, they thought with all the controls on the bed it would make a great toy for their room. Doesn't Sandra also look stylish wearing her hospital gown, she too wanted to bring it home with her, but the nurse on duty caught Sandra trying to leave with it, j/k. Our first family portrait with all 6 of us. I think Micah needed to use the restroom. :)

Great-grandma came to visit Charis as well. We were so blessed that she could come and see her. For the other three kids we have always been overseas. Charis is our first child born in the US. Grandma also came from Farmington so see Charis and spend time with her.


We pray that you enjoy the pictures and are able to rejoice with us.

Welcome! Charis Priscilla Velarde

Hey everybody, we just wanted to let everybody know that the newest addition to the Velarde family has finally arrived.

Her name is Charis Priscilla Velarde and she came in at 7lbs 2oz and 19.5 inches long. Sandra and Charis both did great through the entire delivery. She is totally healthy and already showing that she is a true Velarde by sleeping half the day. I am sure that she is exhausted from the whole process, not to mention trying to adapt to her new life outside the womb.

We will be posting more pictures soon of our new princess, please pray for Sandra and the baby as we are hoping they will be dishcharged tomorrow morning.

Global Adventures: Passport to the World

Global Advetures is the Missions Department of Calvary of Albquerque. They support several missionaries internationally. They hosted "Passport to the World" it was an opportunity for them to bring home their missionaries or have a representative to show the body all that the Lord is doing in their nations and ministries. They had missionaries from the Philippines, Britain, Africa, China, South America and a whole host of other nations and continents, except for Italia.

They had dancing, music and all kinds of ethnic foods on display and to sample. There were several hundreds of people that came out for the event, PTL. We had a really great time chatting with missionaries as they shared their stories and testimonies of God's goodness and faithfulness.

It was also encouraging to see a church that has such a heart for missions and seeing the lost being reached.

Meet Jeff, Karla and Isaac Snell

A few weeks ago we had dinner with Jeff Snell and his family. It was a blessing to see the Snell's, we know them from Okinawa. They left Okinawa about 2 years ago, so it was really good to reconnect with them. Jeff is in the Air Force and 2 years ago they were relocated to Albuquerque.

Also, a few months ago the Lord allowed them the opportunity to adopt a little boy named Isaac. We had a really great time with them and prayerfully we'll be able to spend more time with them in months to come.

Niel goes hot air ballooning...

This past weekend, Niel and I had the opportunity to go crewing with some friends who fly hot air balloons. It was so much fun, it was unfortunate due to warm weather conditions, only Niel and another guy got to go up in the balloon. That's okay, I have been up before, several years ago with the same friends.

Niel and I also had the great responsibility of holding the throat of the balloon while we were prepping it for flight. The throat is very simply the lowest part of the balloon that connects to the gondola. When they turned on the flame, we thought our faces were going to burn off because of the extreme heat. I was fotunate to have had on a jacket. Niel wasn't as fortunate, I think he may have singed some arm hairs.

Bar D Wranglers in Durango Colorado

Sorry that it has been so long that we have updated our blog, but so much has happened in the last few weeks. I have been incredibly busy laying tile, painting and landscaping my mother's home in Albuquerque. It was last month that I learned how to tile and have done about 3oo square feet in the last month.

The pictures posted above are of the Orpilla's and us in Colorado. We went to eat at The Bar D Wranglers, it is a cowboy dinner show that has been going since 1969 in Durango Colorado. We had a great time spending the day in Durango, visiting the Art Fair they were having and seeing the sites. Durango is a beautiful little town tucked away in the mountains. We really had a great time.

We spent the weekend in Farmington, New Mexico at my brothers house. Which is about 45 minutes from Durango. All in all, we had a fun weekend. We were also able to visit Pastor Andy at Calvary Chapel Farmington for Sunday morning service.

Fellowship with Ernest and Nicole

Last weekend the Herrera family made a trip to Albuquerque. We had a wonderful time fellowshipping with them at Niel and Vanessa's home. Ernest and Nicole moved from Okinawa to Wichita, Kansas last year. They have just recently purchased a home in Wichita as Ernest is preparing to separate from the Air Force. He will be working there in Wichita for a local company.

It has been over a year since we last saw them and we had a great time together. Nicoles mother lives in Albuquerque, so they make frequent trips there. The kids had a lot of fun playing together. We were all blown away at how much Elianna, their youngest has grown. We nick named her Ernestina, for obvious reasons. Please pray for them as Ernest separates and they transition into a new season this fall.

Road Trip: Nashville

When we finally arrived in Nashville we stayed there for a few days with some really good friends. We had a great time there visiting an fellowshipping as well as seeing a little bit of Nashville. Our drive through TN was remarkable, within the Appalachian Mountains lies the Great Smokey's, they were incredible to drive through. Unfortunately everywhere we went the rain seemed to follow us, we were still blessed and made the most out of it.

Road Trip: Havelock to Nashville

We departed Havelock, making our way to Nashville and made a stop in Charlotte, NC to see some old friends of ours from Italy, the first time we lived there. It was good to see Pat and Hope MCgrew and all that the Lord is doing in their lives. Hope fixed us her famous fried chicken and fresh brewed ice tea. After lunch we got back on the road to continue our trip to our destination, Nashville.