Jeffrey's quilt top done

I finished putting together Jeffrey's quilt last week.  Since then, I have been helping Beth finish up the quilt she started in 2011. 

George Beverly Shea

This week, a wonderful man, George Beverly Shea, finished his earthly race at age 104, and went to be with the Lord.  The song for which he was perhaps most well known was "I'd Rather Have Jesus."  I thought it would be a blessing to others to hear him sing this and tell how it came to be.  Click here to this 1965 recording to listen and be blessed.  Here's another one, recorded in 1983.  His voice just got richer through the years of singing for the Lord.  One more, from 1987.  I noticed this was a slightly lower key.  I'm sure he is having a wonderful time singing praises to Jesus in heaven today!

Quilting Update

 Here is the "stained glass window" (Carousel pattern) quilt as I am putting the binding on it.

 It turned out very pretty.

 It is a twin size, so doesn't fit this queen bed.

 Close up of the quilting.  I requested black thread on top and white on the underside.  This quilt has been delivered to the little boy for whom it was made.  I hope he sleeps well under it!

 This shows the progress on Tiffany's quilt.  Next time LaDeana and Tiffany have time to come over, we'll be working on the borders, and hopefully get it completed!  (This is the same quilt pattern as the one above.)

 This is a twin size quilt for Jason for when he goes away to college in August.  I will be making a similar one for Jeffrey so they will have coordinating quilts in their dorm room at God's Bible School.

Belated post about Emily's 15th birthday

 Emily had a wonderful 15th birthday on March 17.  We have been busy with other things and neglected to blog about her birthday.  On March 16, Mike and Carmen Durkee and baby Michaela spent the evening with us to honor Emily on her birthday.

 Michaela is very sweet, and she seemed to like her "adopted" grandparents and aunties and uncle!

 We played some ping pong with Mike and Carmen.  Emily bought this ping pong table off Craig's List in February and we have been enjoying playing it most days.

 This is Emily's actual birthday.  Emily has become a great helper and companion, filling in the "holes" Beth left when she moved to the R's to be their nanny.  She has been a diligent 9th grader this year and is growing in so many ways.

 Beth gave her a cross stitch bookmark set.  Emily loves to cross stitch.

 Emily wanted a study Bible for her birthday this year.

 She is enjoying the benefit of the color coding for the different themes in the Bible, though it's hard to find those "favorite" verses in a new Bible, because they are not in the same place on the pages.  :)

 We had our favorite doctors and their children for Sunday dinner and the afternoon. 

 Emily wanted Dirt Cake for her birthday dessert this year.

 Opening gifts from the Browns.

 Hope and Emily

 The Browns gave her a special ping pong paddle and balls set.  They have gotten a lot of use since then!

 They also gave her chocolates and chocolate covered raspberries--health food, of course!

 Drs. Matt and Cara:  We love these people so much!

 Faith, Hope, and Lincoln with Matt and Cara.  We have been privileged to be part of their lives for 5 years now.  Lincoln was barely one when Beth first babysat him.  Now Emily gets to babysit them because Beth is too busy.

 A view of Emily's dresser with her cards and other remembrances for her birthday.

Field Trip to Colorado History Museum

 Yesterday, Rowen took a day of vacation and went with us to the Colorado History Museum in Denver.  It is a fairly new facility.  When we arrived, it was full of students.  When these pictures were taken, the students had left for the day and we could use the time machine.

 This is a time machine that you pull to different spots on the floor map of Colorado. 

 We had the machine positioned over the Grand and Gunnison Valleys spot on the map.  At this location, we could choose between two dates to select a story.  Pull the lever on the right!

 This was a story about mining. 

 

The map on the floor shows the land formations and cities in Colorado.

 There was a big display about one of Colorado's ghost towns:  Keota.  It was a nice booming little town in the early 1900s, but then there was a drought, the Railroad company quit coming there, and people moved away.  Some of the last folks to live there donated so much stuff to the museum that it is a wonderful display of how people lived on the plains.  These pictures are in the "school house."

 We positioned our faces in the mirror and took our pictures.  Then we selected a hairstyle from early 1900s and made our pictures for the Keota Yearbook!  We emailed the pictures to ourselves!  We thought this was a very clever activity.

 Here we are, a blast from the past!  I love how it makes me look young and thin!  :)

 Here's Emily!

 And can you believe--Rowen?

 

Another interactive display that we tried:  this is a ski jump at Steamboat Springs with wii technology.  The skis actually change tilt as the wind blows your hair and you are in the movie flying down the hill!  We crashed several times, but we also did some Olympic qualifying jumps!

 Rowen taking off on the jump!

 We got the best scores when we followed the instructions of the little guy on the screen.

 There were so many things to see and learn from.  We thought it was an amazing museum.  Most of the time, we were too busy learning to think of taking pictures.  We even got to place dynamite in a gold mine and blow it up!  Just pretending, of course, but it was very educational.  We were so glad to have Rowen along with us for the day.

Recent Concerts Jason and Emily were in

(Click on the blue words to see and hear the concerts.
This is the instrumental ensemble in which Jason and Emily played cello and violin with other home schoolers.

This is the choir in which Jason and Emily sang with other home schoolers.

 These events ended the Spring semester at CHESS, our home school private school.  The ensemble was directed by Mrs. Teri Ong, who with her husband Steve started CHESS 22 years ago.  Our family has been enrolled in CHESS 21 years!  The choir was directed by Mr. James Clifford, who has been the administrator of CHESS for 10 years.  We appreciate these folks who have invested in the home schooling community and in our family.  Next, CHESS will be doing achievement testing.  Emily is scheduled for that April 25-26.