So what have we been doing this month? We certainly haven't been blogging enough!

On February 2,"Brenda the Barber" gave Tim a haircut for her first time, with Mother's help and advice. It didn't look too bad when she got done, either!

All done!February 7th was Tim and Brenda's anniversary of when they started writing. They went on a date and ate at Casa Bonita in Denver. BTW, the bottles are root beer.
Jeffrey and I got new lenses put in our glasses this month. Jason is getting reading glasses for the first time, soon. Now everyone in the family will have glasses.

Last Sunday, February 10, Dad made this oatmeal. He put red hots in normal oatmeal and called it Valentine's Day Oatmeal!

We have been enjoying the Sea Breeze Campmeeting (February 7-17) via the internet (hobesoundbiblechurch.com). This is a shot of the computer during service one evening. Tim and Dad bought this truck this week for Tim and Randy's new painting company ABE (Albertson Brothers Enterprises) Painting and Fine Wood Finishing. Tim plans to use the truck to move to MO in late March and they will use the truck for the new business.

We have babysat Alia and Kara R. a lot this month. This is a picture of Kara. She is almost 4.
I made these valentines cards for Mother and for Brenda. I love making cards!
On Valentine's Day we had a Johnstown-Milliken Homeschoolers' game day. Here are some pictures.

The Grzenias, Emily, and Jason

Bonnie and Lexi Peterson with Mother

This week we made some special things for supper: Brenda and I made a chicken braid on Thursday and Brenda made cupcakes for Valentine's Day. Mother made krautburgers on Friday, yum! A lot of work, but worth it!

Oh, yeah, Mother wanted me to tell you about Dad's back problems. His back has been hurting, and it helps to lay on the floor with his feet up in a chair like this. It is feeling much better, thank the Lord!

Daddy and Mother went to the district Republican meeting yesterday. They were both alternates, so couldn't vote, but Daddy was elected to be a delegate to the 4th Congressional District Meeting May 30, and to the Colorado State Republican Convention May 31. Mother will go as an alternate to the 4th Congressional. Next Saturday is the Weld County Republican Assembly which Daddy and Mother will attend as alternates.

Emily and I got new shoes yesterday. Daddy, Mother, and we girls went to 3 stores looking for shoes for Mother, Em, and I. We found some for Emily and I, but not for mother, yet. I am very grateful for my new shoes and beyond that, for parents who are willing to take care of my needs (not always wants); and my parents' practicality.

This is a picture of a cute couple I found!

Precinct caucus Feb. 5, 2008

Because Rowen was a committee person for our precinct, we have been busy for several weeks, attending meetings and trainings, and calling Republicans in our precinct to inform people about the caucus. We have been a part of our caucus two other times and never had over 7 people show up. We wanted to have better involvement in the process this year, so we worked really hard to call everybody whose phone numbers we could find.

Last night, we thought we would have a good turnout. We went expecting 30-35 people to show up in our precinct. There were 7 precincts meeting in the Milliken town hall. We quickly realized we were in trouble. There were more people than the community room would hold. Our precinct alone had over 90 people show up!! We were moved to the seniors' room down the hall, and it was packed out!

This first picture is before the caucus in the community room. I was showing people which part of the room they should go to. If they were on my list, they were in our group. The second picture shows Rowen handing out information at the start of our meeting in the seniors' room. Not everybody had arrived in the room yet, so the picture does not adequately convey the crowd we had.

The Lord helped Rowen to run a great caucus. He was a wonderful committee person. He made the job look so fun that there were 6 volunteers to be committee people for the next 2 years!! We elected 2 of them, but made sure to pick ones who had spouses who wanted to work too! We have been delegates to the district and county assemblies other years, but with so many enthusiastic people present, there were plenty of other people eager for those positions, so we will be alternates.

My personal politics - and my grave concerns

I am deeply concerned about the direction that the mainstream media has been, and continues to steer the American's thoughts. With the Primary Elections coming up on Tuesday in 22 states, it will be pretty much decided by Wednesday morning who will be on the Ballot for president and other elected offices in November. It appears that this is not just another election, but that the very foundations of our society are at risk. The Republican Party mainstream is no longer pro-family, pro-life, anti-abortion, anti gun control, anti-gay marriage, personal rights friendly. Pres. Bush and many others in the Republican Party are in the process of wiping out our national sovereignty as the North American Union is being formed - almost without a complaint in the media. There are surface issues like illegal immigration, the Iraq and possible Iran wars, etc. that the news media concentrates on that are important, but maybe not as important as these other issues that are being largely ignored, and are / will destroy the moral fiber of our nation. I am more concerned than I've ever been about our country, and I urge you to take some time away from the entertainment of your life, and spend at least a few minutes getting informed. You can easily search for the histories and voting / policy records of the candidates online. Our children's world will be much different than we want if something is not done to stop the trend underfoot today.

Here is a link where you can look up the voting records of the candidates, and make up your own mind about many issues. It is very frustrating to me when this shows many NO VOTE entries, by these people that say they want to lead our nation. http://votesmart.org/

Here is one quick glance at Presidential candidates views; don't just take their word for it - take the time to look up the footnotes and prove it to yourselves. I know that the American Family Assn that published this is quite right-wing, Christian-biased, etc., but aren't you also?? http://www.afa.net/pdfs/08vg.pdf

You've got to read this before you even think of voting for Mr. Romney: http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=60022
Wikipedia on Romney shows that he has changed his mind on this... I don't trust him.

Here are some links that provide many, many facts about the Presidential candidates that every voter ought to read.
Romney http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt_romney
McCain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain
Huckabee: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huckabee#_note-146
Paul: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_paul

We'll probably at least try to make a statement by voting for Mike Huckabee, if he hasn't bailed out by August, when our Colorado primary is. Other than Mike, I am at a loss as to who to vote for. Ron Paul shares many of my views, but likely is not electable.

-- Just my thoughts, Rowen

Life from day to day

Life from Day to Day (the extras) -P.E. group, Bible Study, Babysitting, Scrapbooking (this post is a sequel to my post on September 15, 2007 – Life as a homeschool student)

One of the activities that some of the Johnstown-Milliken Homeschoolers participate in is a P.E. group that meets at least twice a month. In nice weather school months we meet in parks and play volleyball, soccer, kickball, baseball, flag football, and other games. The mothers lead the games/activities and we have a lot of fun. The younger kids always have a different activity or we play in two groups of the same game. Now that it is winter we can’t play outside, so the last two P.E. days we played at a Rec. Center in Windsor, CO (about 10 miles north of Johnstown). The first time there we were planing to play walley-ball, but didn’t have the right equipment or know-how. So we just hit a HUGE ball back and forth over the volleyball net. Last Monday (JAN 28) and this coming Monday (FEB 4) we are doing basketball at the Rec. Center. Last Monday we practiced dribbling, passing, and shooting, and this week I think we are actually going to play. We always start P.E. with warm-ups, then do the activity (with instructions), and then we have free time. What free time consists of depends on where we meet. For park P.E.s free-time would be playing on the play equipment, playing tag, catch, or something like that while the Mothers visit. For gym (Rec. Center) P.E. free-time consists of practicing what the activity was, playing other games (dodge ball, etc.) rolling across the gym on scooters. Our homeschool P.E. group is a lot of fun. I really enjoy doing it. I hope to get some pictures on Monday to put on the blog.

Our family has been meeting with several other families for Bible Study every other Sunday night. Over all we have had about 4-5 families at a time in the Bible Study, some have come, and some have gone. We have been studying our way through the Gospel of Mark. It is very uplifting and we love participating in it.

Lately we have been doing a lot of babysitting of Alia and Kara. This is a lot of work, but we make the best of it. Who ever is not doing school at the time plays with them; plus both of them have school different days throughout the week-so that makes it easier. Brenda Stevenson baby-sits most days each week for the Hays family. Over all it is very good training for "Miss Brenda".

When we can, Brenda, Emily, and I like to scrapbook. Brenda’s scrapbook is of Tim’s and her courtship. It is really nice. In my scrapbook are pages about graduations, Randy and Joy’s wedding, Quil (several pages about him!), Thanksgiving ‘05, Christmas ’07, other fun times, two pages display pictures of some girls in God’s Girls Newsletter, and two family pages that have family pictures from ’04, ’05, ’06, and ’07. The family page has the words of a nice song by Ron Hamilton, "Cherish the Moment". I hope to soon make a page about Daddy. Pictures coming soon.

Kinda Interesting. . .

I don't know how many people reading this blog are like me, in that you are easily fascinated by mind-boggling statistics.

If you are one of those kinds of people, you'll appreciate this website that I ran across this week: http://www.worldometers.info/

Here is another site that may be more alarming, but interesting just the same. http://www.globalincidentmap.com/home.php This site is very interactive. Take time to hover your cursor over the blinking icons, then left click if you want to know more. Scroll down to see the tabular data. Amazing.

Let me know if you are shocked by what you see on either of these sites.