Trip to the Botanic Gardens

Yesterday Mother, Jeff, Jason, Emily, and I went to the Botanic Gardens in Denver, CO. We had two other homeschool kids come with us. There were lots of different kinds of vegetation: some pretty, and some not. :) We spent 4 hours walking through the majority of the gardens.

From left to right: Jason, Beth, Joel Grzenia, Mother, Emily, Stephanie Grzenia (Jeffrey was taking the picture)

The gardens were divided into different places on earth or by the type of flower. It was really neat to see many varieties we hadn't ever seen before. There were desert plants, "cutting" plants, bushes, trees, everything imaginable. We saw blue dragonflies, bees, birds, squirrels, fish, etc. There were lots of school groups there that day for a special event (which we didn't participate in.)

The Tropical Conservatory had a very interesting jungle feel to it.

Throughout the gardens there were water features that added to the viewing pleasure.

This is the Japanese pool.

We walked for about 2 hours and then had lunch on a patio made for that purpose. Then we walked 2 more hours. We were all tired by the time we got done. We really enjoyed our time there enjoying God's creation.

This is a picture of Emily beside some cacti.

Beautiful mauve flowers:

My Best Surprise

This is a personal story I wrote for English 4. - Emily Albertson

It was a well-kept secret. When I woke up at 6:00 am on August 31, 2007, Randy, Joy, and Quil were here! They had kept it a secret; only Daddy knew. They had driven all night and they were very tired. I got to hold Quil. I noticed he had grown a lot since we saw him last. He was very sweet and fun to hold. We had fun together while they were here that weekend. We babysat while Randy and Joy slept. Everybody watched Quil have a bath. We played Dutch Blitz. We went to the mountains and had a breakfast picnic. We drove in the mountains, then we ate at Sonic. They left on Monday morning. We were sad that they were leaving. Then on the way home, their truck broke down and they had to put on a new fuel pump. God helped Randy get a good price for the part and helped him to install it. They had to travel through the night so they got home the next morning. God kept them safe. We still are so happy that Randy, Joy, and Quil came to see us. It was a wonderful surprise and a big blessing to us!
- Emily Albertson

Beth's 14th birthday

On September 26, 1993, we had the joy and privilege of having a baby girl! We named her Elizabeth Janae, but we have always called her Beth.

She has consecrated her life to God, as her name means, and is a wonderful blessing in our home. She is faithful in her devotional walk with God and is as unselfish a young person as I have ever known. She has a servant's heart. She gets up early every morning to share breakfast with the "early crew" so she can empty the dishwasher and make lunches and ice water jugs for anyone working away from home. She regularly does at least half of the vacuuming on Saturdays, cleans the three bathrooms at least half of the time to save me work, does at least half of the ironing...You get the picture. She is a diligent and cheerful blessing to me personally, because she knows "a mother's work is never done" and she knows I would like to have time to do creative things, take walks with Rowen, and even play games. So she does her best to lessen my work load so I can do these things.

Beth has been such a blessing for several years publishing the God's Girls Newsletter (see Beth's Sept. 19 post). A lot of the money she has received as gifts or pay for babysitting or working has gone into the mailing of the newsletters. Other money she receives, she spends on others rather than herself, always remembering to give to the Lord first.

Beth was able to fulfill her desire to make a quilt this year. She worked on sewing the blocks for a couple of years. This spring we put it all together and had it machine quilted. It is on her bed now and is a warm and beautiful symbol of the work that God is doing in her life, putting all the pieces and experiences together and making something beautiful and useful!

We gave Beth a sewing basket with sewing supplies for her birthday. She knows how to cross stitch, crochet, and knit, and she wants to get into sewing more in the future. So now she has her "tool box" to go forward!

I am blessed to have a wonderful 14 year old daughter who daily expresses her love in word and deed, encourages me, and serves our family and the Lord. Happy Birthday, Beth. We love you!

Poudre River Walk

This morning our family (except Tim and Brenda) went walking on the Poudre Trail.

It is a 12ft wide concrete sidewalk following the Poudre River (http://www.poudretrail.org/) for 20 miles (we only walked 2mi into it and back). It runs along side Kodak and Carestream Health (where Dad works). We were walking it to try to find different trees, animals, etc. preparing a study guide for the J-M Homeschoolers October field trip. We found many trees including Russian Olive.

Lots of big Cottonwood,

Chinese Elm, Boxelder, Maple, Aspen, and Ash, that we could identify. We only saw one snake (a garter snake, that was 2-2.75foot), it is not uncommon for people to report seeing rattlesnakes on this trail. We were very glad not to see any! We saw a frog, two crayfish, and about fifteen 15-18 inch bottom feeding fish. A squirrel or two, many different birds, butterflies, moths, large anthills, snake holes, cactus, cattails,

and milkweed.

There were many places where leaves had fallen on the soft concrete when it had been poured, and made "fossils" on the concrete; pretty neat.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning, and there were quite a few bicyclists on the trail. We had to make sure we were paying attention to our surroundings to be sure we didn't get in their way. As they approached they would say "on your left", or say hello and smile.

Over all it was a beautiful walk. Walking is quite slow, so we decided that next time we go as a family that we would like to take our bikes or rollerblades.

Horseshoes?? You've got to be kidding!

Sometimes our family does the funniest things together

like when we went to the local park with our horseshoes,

and some people even got some points, which they were

quite proud of! And you thought horseshoes were a

cowboy thing!

God's Girls Newsletter

God's Girls Newsletter is another part of school for me. It is a newsletter for Christian girls. We started it June 2004. Anyone who is a member can write stories, poems, prayer requests and other things. I use Microsoft Publisher and type up the entries. I try to edit as much as I can, then Mother edits it more thoroughly. The GGN motto is "Enabling God's girls to encourage one another in the Lord, while developing creative communication skills." Our goal is to help girls serve God.
Every month we buy stamps and send it out to over 100 people with girls in 5 different countries (America included). Mostly we send it to girls who are ages 9-19. Some of the girls send in money to help with the postage. GGN gives me good practice in typing, editing, and creative writing.
My prayer is that God is glorified in this newsletter.
Sincerely,
Beth

Life as a homeschool student

My perspective on our homeschool:

My daddy usually awakens me at 5:55. Mother and Daddy prepare breakfast which is served at 6:15 to Tim, Jeffrey, themselves, me. (Most of the time Jason and Emily get up and eat later than that.) After that Dad goes "sneaks off" to work (he always says that) and I do the dishes. We usually spend some time having personal devotions after that. School usually starts sometime between 8:00-9:00.

This year I am studying Algebra 1, (Saxon) Literature, (BJU) the American Republic, (BJU) Health, (BJU) and Writing and Grammer, (BJU). Jason and I share American Republic (history) and Health (science). I usually read Health, history, and reading before doing math and English. I like to read in a comfortable place like our La-z-boy or a couch.

Health has been interesting and fun. In it we have been studying 5 aspects of health.

We started the American Republic book at the end of the last schoolyear and hope to finish it this year. (Last year we spent most of the year studying Colorado History.)

In my Literature book, there are different units such as Conflict, Character, Theme, Structure, Point of View, and Moral Tone, each with several stories or poems that bring out those themes. There have been some neat stories, and some stories I just haven't gotten into.
English I enjoy, but I do need some help from Mother to clarify, etc.

Algebra 1 is easy enough so far... but I make a lot of errors and it takes a lot of concentration. For those of you who care, I don't really enjoy it.

Besides booklearning we learn a lot of home living and life skills. That makes homeschooling even better! Some of the things that Mother has taught me are cleaning, ironing, and laundry. Daddy has taught the boys throughout the years about repair work, car work, basic tools, and I am not sure what else. I do know that our parents have been great teachers and examples for us.

Here is a picture of me after a "hard" day of school last Friday (September 14th) !

Jason doing school - December 2006

Ok, I have to admit.. this is us pretending to do school.
We took this picture last Sunday, because I wanted it for the blog.
So we opened our books and pretended for the picture!!
..but this is what it looks like in real life too.

Rowen's Job

Here in northern Colorado, as perhaps in other places in the world, especially in the summer and fall, many people take Friday off of work, and so it is very quiet today. My work is such that I have nothing at all to do if nothing goes wrong – for the factory, or for the customers that use our products. The thing is, things are almost always going wrong – I think that it has to do with “Murphy’s Law”. . .

I am the only person in my company strictly responsible for “analytical microscopy”, which just means that I use several light microscopes and related equipment to analyze almost anything that people can get through my lab door. I work on almost nothing routine, but only when there is a problem, real or perceived. I comfortably live in a microscopic world, where otherwise very tiny things can seem very big. I spend a lot of my time studying various materials at 100X – 1,300X magnification; sometimes looking through nearly transparent materials and sometimes studying the surface of solid materials or objects. Overall, it is a fascinating job, and quite rewarding when my detective work can provide the key to unlock someone's problem.

I work at a factory that makes XRAY film (and all of the components that go into making it), color paper for consumers and for professionals, some graphic arts film, some color display film, and some inkjet paper and film. Our customers are all over the world, and so I get customer complaints from everywhere that people live on the planet.

I started in this job with Eastman Kodak Company, and worked for them for almost 29 years. May 1, 2007 a company called ONEX bought all of the Kodak XRAY film manufacturing and marketing organizations and facilities in the world. A new company was formed to be self-managed and is called Carestream Health, Inc.; this is who I now work for here in Windsor, CO, just 12 miles from our house in Johnstown. I work from 7:00 am – 3:30 pm MST Monday –Friday in a lab that is designed for 4-6 people, and now I work here all alone.

I'm looking forward to the weekend, though we aren't doing anything too exciting. I have many home maintenance jobs to do, which I am anxious to get done. At our house, I keep a list of what some might call "honey-do jobs". I make my own list, so that I don't feel like others in the family have to nag me to get them done. Also, I keep the list posted in plain site, so that EVERYONE knows that I do accomplish things around there. I boldly check off completed items ;-). Have a great weekend!

Jason on the Piano

All of our children have learned some about playing the piano; Beth is doing really well, and Emily is doing great for her age. The older boys worked out of the house too much to spend sufficient time practicing. But Jason (12) has had a particular interest in and apparent God-given talent to play the piano, starting when he was 10 years old. His playing (as well as his sisters') is a great blessing in our home! He learns new songs by the notes in the books, then easily memorizes them by the time he gets them mastered.

Here is a video of Jason playing. Click on the play button twice to listen.

Very Nice! Happy Blogging!
Love,
Randy

Greetings from Beth!

Sunday, September 9, 2007 - from Beth


Ahh, the wonderful feeling of fall in Johnstown, CO! The chilly breezes and pleasant atmosphere... the wind that whips leaves down the street.. the crackle of the leaves. A walk on such a day is a refreshing thing. For me, I like to have a jacket on such a walk. My daddy and I enjoyed such a walk this afternoon. We both decided that we love fall. Winter is coming.. with it snow and coldness.




Just a few unusual and little known facts about myself:



- I like some particular Christian children's songs and poems. I can relate to a lot of them.
- I enjoy working on pictures in Adobe Photoshop.
- I like to play the piano.

- I am going to turn 14 this month and am in 9th grade.


I love my family.

- I thank God for the wonderful Godly parents I have; may we never take them for granted. I haven't said all that should be said about them, but it would be an unending list!





- Of Randy and Joy I say this: I enjoy being around people who are so unselfish and loving and whose testimony for God is shown in these ways.
- Quil - I love you. I want you to grow up and serve God like your parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents have before you! By the way: Me thinks ye are the cutest baby I ever did see!


- Tim is a really great brother and friend! I really appreciate your big brother counsel and friendship!

- I really enjoy Brenda Stevenson living so near us. She is a good friend and perfect for Tim.


(By the way, you can visit their blog at brendaandtim.blogspot.com!)

- My siblings - Jeff, Jason, and Emily - are kind of like peers to me; we are growing up together, home-schooling together. I love you guys! I pray that we will all "...Grow in grace and the knowledge of Jesus.."

A few interesting facts about my family:

- My mother prepares yummy meals which include healthy vegetables!

- My parents like to go on walks in the evenings for exercise and to get out and enjoy some fresh air!

- My family loves going to the mountains for picnics. We do a lot of things together that I will always treasure in my memories.

Quil

I just wanted to put my favorite picture of Quil on here.

This picture just "thrills my little heart".
He's the cutest baby boy I've ever seen.

Sunday

Today we went to church online at Hobe Sound, FL http://hobesoundbiblechurch.com/ and watched their live streaming. We really enjoy the good services. Today is the last day of their school revival with Jonathon Heath. Because of the time difference the morning service starts at 8:30am and at night 4:30pm. When we get done (usually by 10:30am) we sing and pray as a family. Then around 12:30pm we eat dinner. Baked potatoes, salad, roast, cooked carrots, etc.
Then we take naps until 4:30pm when the evening service starts and lasts until 6:00pm. Every other week we have a Bible study with a few other families.

A couple times Dad and I have gone driving on Sunday afternoons in the mountains for my driver training.

I need 50 hours of driving before I can get my license in March 2008, right now I'm at 22hrs. I have to have the permit for a year before I can get my license. For the first six months I could only drive with Dad or Mother, but since Saturday I can drive with others in the car also.

-Jeffrey A.

Tim and Brenda

This summer we have had the priviledge of having Brenda Stevenson living here in Johnstown near us. She moved here after graduating from Faith Bible School in Mitchell, South Dakota in May. Brenda lives with a lady with health concerns, helping her with the daily tasks. She also babysits for a busy family several days a week in their home, and cleans for a couple people.
Brenda moved here interested in maintaining a relationship with our second-oldest son Tim. They got engaged on Aug. 4, 2007, and are planning a July 2008 wedding! Brenda is a great blessing to our family, as she spends most evenings with us, and all day on Sundays.

As you can see in the pictures, we have enjoyed many outings this summer with Tim and Brenda.


They spent Saturday of Labor Day weekend with a couple that was visiting from South Dakota; They went kayaking on Grand Lake in these cool double kayaks.







Notice the rockclimber above the family members! Risk takers they are! This was in Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado Springs.

Randy and Joy

On June 11, 2007 our first grandchild was born in Joplin, MO, where his parents, Randy and Joy, are Associate Pastors at the Church of God (Holiness). The senior Pastor of the church is Randy's Grandpa (Janet's Dad). Randy also works as a painter to pay the bills. They are totally immersed in children's ministry, bus ministry, and friendship evangelism. We were able to be there with them in Nov. 2006, April 2007, and June 2007 (had to see that new baby!).

Joy, Randy, holding two-week old baby Quil in the front of their Church.

Some of the children attending Kids' Bible Club on Sunday afternoons. There are often more than 20 kids on a given Sunday.

Randy's family surprised us by driving out to Johnstown, CO for Labor Day weekend. Monday (Labor Day) was also Randy's 22nd birthday. We went to the mountains, for which they were very homesick!

Here they are sitting beside the Big Thompson River last Saturday.

Grandma (Janet) enjoyed holding her precious grandson.






























Grandpa (Rowen) with Quil































Jason, Emily, and Jeff really enjoyed their nephew, Quil.




















Quil's Aunt Beth loved entertaining him!





























Uncle Tim and (soon to be) Aunt Brenda

New Blog

Hi! We are really new to this thing called blogging. Be patient as we work through a learning curve, and find out how to regularly post comments and images. We look forward to your feedback as well!

Rowen and Janet