James Aquila and Micah Rowen

We went to Joplin, MO for Thanksgiving and got to see my nephews, Quil and Micah.
They are growing up so fast and they are really sweet. Quil is now 2 and Micah is 10 months old.
They are coming here for Christmas. Here are some pictures of them.
Micah Rowen


Micah and Grandpa Albertson

James Aquila


I (Emily) really enjoyed playing and being with my nephews.

Brothers

So Sweet!

Aunt Beth reading to Quil

Quil

Christ Jesus is The Reason for the Christmas Season!

Twas the month before Christmas

When all through our land,

Not a Christian was praying

Nor taking a stand.

See the PC Police had taken away,

The reason for Christmas - no one could say.

The children were told by their schools not to sing,

About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.

It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say

December 25th is just a 'Holiday'.

Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit

Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!

CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod

Something was changing, something quite odd!

Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa

In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.

As Targets were hanging their trees upside down

At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.

At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears

You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.

Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty

Are words that were used to intimidate me.

Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen

On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!

At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter

To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter..

And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith

Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace

The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded

The reason for the season, stopped before it started.

So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'

Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.

Choose your words carefully, choose what you say...

Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS,

not Happy Holiday!

Please, all Christians join together and

wish everyone you meet

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Christ is The Reason for the Christ-mas Season!
- Author Unknown -

A new picture of the Johnstown Albertsons

This picture was taken on Sunday, November 22, 2009 after church. We were happy to have two families worship with us twice this month!

The rest of "what we've been up to" in November will have to wait until after Christmas to be revealed, Christmas secrets, you know!

November bonfire with friends

On November 21, we were invited to join some friends for a bonfire, weiner roast, and devotion time in a farmer's field near LaSalle. It sounded like a fun thing to do, and we wanted to get together with the friends, so we did it. We arrived at 4 PM and the temperature was about 44 degrees. It was 34 when we went home at 8:30 PM.
Ephraim Cruz got a nice fire going. The Cruzes had brought hay bales to sit on and straw to cover some of the mud. After the nice snows we have been having in November, the field was pretty muddy, and there was still snow around.
Ephraim never donned a coat all evening, but the rest of us were not so brave!
Beth had a babysitting job and Jeff had to work until after 5 PM and came later, so they are not in this picture. (Rowen was taking the picture.)

It did get dark soon and very dark later!

We enjoyed our roasted 'dogs and marshmellows and the other salads and food that was available.

After everyone had eaten, we sang some songs and told some stories.

At the end, a new Christian burned two boxes of things she no longer wants in her life. She obeyed God and burned her bridges. I thought it was a lot like baptism--a testimony of a new life to be lived for God alone!

A short visit with friends

On November 13, a couple of Emily and Jason's friends, who now live in WY, were in Loveland for shopping. Because Emily and Amy were desperate to get together, we went shopping at the same exact moment and place, so they could see each other.

Amy and Emily talk almost every day. They play their violins to each other, and read their original stories to each other on the phone.

Daniel and Jason are techno-type friends, so Jason brought his new laptop to show Daniel. They chat a lot on line and learn and share their computer skills with each other.

November Homeschool field trip to LASP, Boulder, CO

We had so many J-M Homeschoolers at the November field trip that we were divided up into 4 groups. This is the group that had our camera in tow, in the machining room. I thought with all of us wearing safety goggles that maybe the innocent would be protected!

A couple of pictures of Jeffrey and Harrison visiting after the field trip. Harrison thinks Jeffrey is pretty nice.

Janet and Beth visiting with Kelly, Quinten, and LeAnna in the stroller.

How we learn colors around here

Since Randy was a little boy, and that was a long time ago, I have had hair fasteners in the bathroom drawer. We have sometimes used them in people's hair, but mostly they have been for entertainment and learning for little children, while I was combing my hair or someone else's hair. If I wanted to have the little child where I could watch them while I was tied up with hair combing, I got out the bag of hair fasteners. This morning as I combed my hair and Emily's, and Lincoln was with me so that Beth could do some school, I thought about how I have taught my kids and those we babysat all about colors, counting, and sorting with these fasteners. Some of them are losing their elasticity from old age, but they are still fascinating to little ones. Today Lincoln sorted yellows, reds, blues, and whites, before he made them into a necklace of sorts. I knew where he was the entire time, and Beth got some school done!

Drummond Family Visit

Dave and Twila Drummond with Lena and Kent visited us over the weekend. They are missionaries in Ukraine. In 2006, Brenda Stevenson (now Albertson) did an internship with them for about 8 weeks. The Drummonds have a special place in Brenda's heart because of their kindness and the good times they experienced together. We have wanted to meet the Drummonds in person, but this was our first opportunity. We were so glad they put us on their travel schedule. They were a blessing to have in our home.

After our Sunday morning service online with Hobe Sound Bible Church, the Drummonds shared their power point presentation of the work they do in Ukraine. Here Dave is explaining about the picture on the computer.

Twila is telling us why we should answer God's call. In these pictures are our friends, the Kaus family who join us for church and who also enjoyed hearing from the Drummonds.

After church, the boys played some Legos.

Beth and Lena looked at some blogs.

Later, Jason, Kent, and Emily played some competitive Foosball.

Our girls enjoyed getting acquainted with Lena.

We were blessed by the privilege of hosting some of God's wonderful people!
It was special also that Jeffrey, having just returned from Ukraine, could share his experiences and pictures with Dave and Twila, as they are very familiar with the places he worked and how much the work was needed! God's timing is so wonderful to put the Drummonds in our lives this weekend!

Jeffrey's home from Ukraine!

On Friday afternoon, Nov. 6, we were excited to welcome Jeffrey, John McVey, and Jonathan Lucas back from the Mission Helps trip to Ukraine. It seemed like forever as we waited. Here are some of the Lucas children and Emily.

John came through first, having preferential treatment because of having crutches. Jeffrey and Jonathan had to wait in the long line much longer.

Finally, we got a glimpse of Jeffrey!

Here is the entire Lucas family glad to have their daddy back!

Jeffrey will be working on getting his blog updated soon, (we hope) to share the work accomplished in Ukraine.

Jeffrey is in Ukraine!

Update on Saturday 10/31/2009:

We just talked to Jeff with live video on Skype!

He is looking good, at the point half way through his time there in Ukraine. He'll return this coming Friday. He'll fly from Kiev to Frankfurt, then straight to Denver.

He said that their entire group "went to town" today; they went shopping in Kiev. He said that there is a major H1N1 scare there right now, as explained in this site: http://blog.kievukraine.info/ Many people in Kiev were wearing masks, and they were "spraying medicine from airplanes". I haven't heard of that before, and can't find anything about it online.

Please help us pray that the work team won't get H1N1 or other severe illnesses this week, or on their long flights home next weekend. Jeff said that everyone is sniffling, and he was coughing / sneezing some.

Update on Monday:
Jeff wrote again on email today and also chatted with Mother, Jason, and Em. He said he's better, and got to work today. He reported that they all worked hard and were tired when they were chatting at 9 or 10 pm his time. He helped one of the guys float one of the concrete walls today... we don't know what that means, but we are excited for the opportunity he has to learn these things! Thanks for praying for him. We are glad he is doing better.
- Beth

UPDATE SUNDAY: We heard from Jeff today by short email. Everyone arrived just fine, but Saturday night (Ukraine time) Jeff awoke twice, sick to his stomach, as was Joanna Sturtevant (their hostess). He said that he was feeling some better, but didn't feel like writing a long or detailed email. Please pray for him, and for Joanna, who has a house full of guests!

On Thursday Oct. 22, which was our 26th wedding anniversary, Jeffrey left Denver to fly to Ukraine. He plans to return on Nov. 6. He is working with a Mission Helps team to finish a church basement near Kiev, Ukraine, to create Sunday School rooms. Jeff is very motivated to be a part of this kind of mission field involvement, and it was a blessing to him and to us to watch how the Lord worked out so many details in his life in preparation for this trip.

We have not heard from him since he left Dulles airport in Washington D.C. on Thursday evening, but we heard from one of the team members' wives that the entire team arrived in Kiev. That's all we know, but we grateful for that news. We'll edit this post when we get more news. We are very anxious to hear how the Lord helped him make it through the Frankfurt, Germany airport and on to Kiev, without the help of any other human that he knew! And no, he doesn't know a word of German or Russian... at least he didn't when he left here...

Jeff was able to acquire many tools to take on this trip, which he will likely use on many missions project at many places in the world.

Please pray for Jeff and the other team members, as well and Jason and Joanna Sturtevant, and Roman's family that they are working with them.

Happy 26th anniversary to us! October 22

Still happy God made us for each other and led our lives together!

We have been blessed with love, unity, children, and now grandchildren.

Squeezo Strainer Apple Day

When our dear friend, Eileen Owen, moved to Minnesota and was downsizing to a small apartment, she gave me one of her treasures: a Squeezo Strainer! This fall I got a bunch of apples and I was able to put the Squeezo Strainer to good use. Two Mondays ago, the children and I made applesauce and applebutter. It was the easiest apple day we have ever had!

All we did was wash the apples, remove stems, cut apples in quarters, and cook for about 20 minutes in a covered pot with a little water. Then we put the apples through the Squeezo Strainer and turned the handle. Out one side came all the seeds and skins. Out another side came applesauce! I measured it and added sugar and cinnamon, cooked it a little longer and canned it.

Lincoln Brown was being babysat by Beth, as he usually is on Mondays, so he learned all about making applesauce too!

We always try to get everybody involved, even Jason!

Jason stirred the sugar in so that none got scorched.

When I made the second batch of applesauce into applebutter, I did it differently than I ever have before. Usually I use the big electric roaster oven to cook the applebutter down, but I really didn't want to get it out. It takes so long, is so hard to clean, and ties up the whole counter. So I put the applesauce, sugar and spices into a very large roaster pan in my oven to cook. I left it in there 1.5 hours and stirred it occasionally and it was done. Then I put the applebutter into jars and sealed them in the oven also! (250 temperature and 20 minutes) It was faster and less mess than waterbathing them.

Finished products: 8 quarts of applesauce and 19 pints of applebutter.

Pumpkin Patch

Our friends, the Browns, wanted us to go to a fund raiser for the local crisis pregnancy center last Friday. It was called Pumpkin Patch Boogie and was in a very large barn north of Greeley. Jeffrey was gone to Ukraine, and Beth was not feeling well, so we only had Jason and Emily with us. There was a BBQ supper, a bluegrass family group who played and sang, and many kids' activities. There was a silent auction and opportunity to buy the centerpieces to help the pregnancy center. Jason and Emily played a lot of the games. Rowen watched his bids on the silent auction and took a few pictures, and Janet chatted with some homeschool friends.

It seemed very strange to only have two kids with us!

Though we didn't win in the silent auction, we did bring home some yummy pumpkin bread on a pretty harvest plate (one of the table centerpieces).

snow day October 28, 2009

So glad Rowen and Emily got the trampoline removed and put away before the storm came!

It's supposed to keep snowing the rest of today and most of tomorrow!

Our Local Quilt Show

For the last 8 years our family has been involved with our local quilt show, which is a fund raising event for the Johnstown Historical Society. We are involved with the historical society in many different ways throughout the year (Rowen is the treasurer), but this is the most enjoyable activity for our family.

We were involved right from the start in 2002 with the hardware to hang quilts on in the local high school gymnasium. We fasten 1/4" braided ropes across the entire gym, attached only by S-hooks to the top row of bleachers. We place three 2"X4" support posts along the 80' span. Then we help to hang the quilts on the ropes with clothes pins, and attach identification forms and quilt entry numbers to each one.

Last night we did all of that again, with several other very good helpers.

Here are Sage and Larry Hamilton (son and father) working together hanging quilts; they were really great help all evening!

It was kind of neat to see families working on this together.
Rowen and Jason on the left, and Jeff, Beth, and Janet on the right hanging quilts

We had over one hundred quilts entered this year. Most of the quilts in the row on the right are ours.


Janet's "Scripture Quilt" that she made entirely this year was on display. We've been using in on our bed, and it is useful, as well as beautiful!


Emily with her own quilt that she helped design and make this year!


This was without doubt the most unique 'quilt' that we had this year. It was the quilter's daughter's baby clothes all pieced together, including the matching socks for some of the outfits. Some rattles were even attached! It wasn't really pretty, or elegant, but very interesting as a memory of a child's baby days...and very heavy!


Janet worked at the quilt show today at the admissions table, where visitors paid their $2 to get into the show.
Janet and Charlene Nelson at the Admissions Table after admitting nearly 500 people the first day of the quilt show


Beth and Emily worked for 2-hours selling the donated baked goods, also a fundraiser for the Historical Society.

Ann Schwalm and Beth at the Bake Sale Tables

Home School Field Trips

On October 15, the Johnstown-Milliken homeschool group had two field trips. The weather last week prevented us from having the field trips when they were originally scheduled. It was a gorgeous day and we had a great time.
First we went to the Watson Lake Fish Hatchery. After a talk, a video about stocking lakes using airplanes in the mountains, lots of questions and answers, the kids got to feed the fish. All of them seemed to enjoy this, the kids and the fish!

After about a half hour of this fun, we moved to the location of the AlpacaKing farm. Mrs. King gave us a tour of the alpacas' living space and introduced us to all of the alpacas by name and told us facts and stories about each one. It was all very interesting. This barn and fenced area is where the new babies and expectant mothers stay. There were two fairly new babies and more to come.

This is Mrs. King's granddaughter, Sydney, whose family is part of our homeschool group.

This is my friend, Kelly, and her one year old, LeAnn, who has recently started walking.

I liked this two-toned alpaca. He was in the pen with other show animals.

Mrs. King and the two-toned one that she knows the name of, and I have forgotten!

Here Mrs. King is showing us how wonderful the fiber is on this young alpaca, who I believe was only three months old.

This is a mother and her yearling. It was amazing to me that the young one did not have a blend of both parents' color of coats. Mrs. King said that the young ones tend to hang out with their mother, and that they sleep together at night.

I thought it was so cute how curiously this alpaca was stalking the cat.

Our young friend, Quinten, Kelly's son, and the guard dog-in-training. She is huge!

Alpacas are curious and like to approach on their own, rather than be rushed upon. The little boy in the striped shirt is Kelly's other son, Harrison.

Emily getting acquainted

We had a great time visiting the alpacas. Go to http://alpacaking.com/ to learn all about them!

Early Winter in Northern Colorado

Here in northern Colorado the past five days brought about a drastic change from the beautiful autumn that we had had for a few weeks. Last Wednesday it was 80'F and a perfect fall day. After I looked at this forecast, I quickly decided to shut-off and drain our backyard water feature and to make certain that the garden hoses were drained and disconnected. I brought firewood into the garage for ready use and uprooted the rest of the garden plants that were barely frosted. It was a beautiful evening, but something about the north wind made me believe the forecast.

Friday morning...


Friday Evening...


Saturday morning




Sunday afternoon

The really unusual thing was that many of the trees in town that still had fully green leaves, seemed to freeze and drop leaves suddenly with the weight of the icy-snow on them.

Though our political climate change has been more gradual, it seems that this weekend weather has been a type of what we see happening in our world. While the post World War II era has had localized battles, the whole world has been in a state that seemed to most of us lazy Americans as late-summer-into-fall serenity. But recently I am sensing a different realization among the humans that I am around; a shocked awareness that the icy cold grip of BIG government control is suddenly upon us, whether we like it or not. For us North Americans, the loss of jobs for real people whose names and faces we know, then the loss of homes, and the certainty of no jobs being available to step into, feels a lot like the coming cold, deadly winter. Can we still trust in God, for each moment and for the unseen future? Can we even think of having a heartfelt Thanksgiving holiday next month? And what about Christmas? Will those with paychecks feel guilty exchanging gifts, when many all around us can't afford a home, or warm clothes? I wonder about these things, but I have no doubt that God is in control, that whatever He allows us to experience will be for our ultimate good, and I trust that these times will draw many to a new or a fresh dependence upon Him. He is still the King of kings and Lord of lords, and He reigns in Heaven, preparing a place for His own...and I doubt it will be icy cold there...And for now, I'm thankful that His own presence can warm our hearts like that fire in the fireplace warmed our chilled bodies last Friday night.

Beth's 16th Birthday

Yesterday, Sept 26, 2009 was Beth's 16th Birthday. After our Saturday work was all done, we went to Rocky Mountain National Park for lunch and the afternoon. Jeffrey was not able to go with us, as he had to work all day, so we really missed him.

The changing aspen trees "quakies" were in their prime this weekend. We saw many beautiful vistas!

We ate our lunch by a picturesque brook (green circle on map below), which Beth, Jason and Emily enjoyed boulder-hopping in and around.











After enough of that kind of relaxing time, we drove on up the Bear Lake road to the trail head to Bierstadt Lake (red circle on map above), which we hiked in its entirety. You can see from this topographical map contour lines
that it was a steep climb for us flatlanders. We climbed from about 8,800' - 9,400 in 1.3 miles on the trail.

(More pictures later, as it won't let me upload them right now)

All of us were fatigued at some points, but we all made it to the top and back. The lake itself was a bit disappointing, as the natural grasses were quite grown up in and around the water, as it was very late in the season.

Here we are at the top of the trail, with Bierstadt Lake behind us.

Rowen's horrible childhood memories...revisited!

Tonight I found myself reminiscing about my childhood... I recalled terrible memories of when I was... oh maybe 8 -12 years old. One thing that I always hated to do was cover the tomatoes with old bedspreads on the first night that frost was threatening. The whole ordeal, of getting out the ragged bedspreads used only for this purpose, to enduring the bitter cold breeze with rain or snow in it, to tramping around in the now-muddy garden soil, to .... you get the idea. The next morning someone had to pull those nasty, wet, muddy bedspreads off of the tomato plants and figure out what to do with them. So often I would think, why don't we give it up already? All this for a few lousy tomatoes?

Now tonight, I found myself, (a 51-year old dad, grateful for every delicious vine-ripened tomato after we thought we'd have no tomato crop due to hail in July) covering our precious tomato plants.

It is the first day of Autumn, and the forecast is for 35'F and rain / snow tonight and tomorrow. It is too early to give up on our garden yet...

I know that autumn actually began on Tuesday September 22, but the first winter storm system moved into northern Colorado on Sunday afternoon, two days prior. The atmosphere turned from summer to winter in a matter of hours, and tonight an early frost, with possible snow is likely. I just love the changes of the seasons, that God set into motion so long ago.