Jeffrey with Quil time

Here are a few pictures from Jeffrey's time with Quil. This is Joy's dog, Goldie, with Jeff and Quil.

Great-aunt Marlene visited over the weekend. Quil likes dogs, so he didn't mind G.A. Marlene's Furby being in this picture!

Our Friend's Mountain Rental Cabin

Our friends, Derald and Kim Hunt, have a mountain vacation cabin that they rent: Heavenly Hideaway. We have not been there, but we know people who have, who highly recommend it. I just thought that I would let you know about it, in case you need a place for a remote get-away high in the Colorado Rockies. They are especially friendly to Christian workers, e.g. pastors, missionaries, etc..

Daddy's back is all better!

Update from Feb. 17th blog entry:
Daddy's back trouble is over! After having a few weeks of terrible pain all the time, we are so grateful to the Lord for his touch on Daddy's back. The other day, Mother dropped something. Daddy bent downto get it and Mother said, "Don't lean down like that, you'll hurt yourself!"
He replied, "No, my back is all better. It doesn't even hurt to lean down anymore."

Babysitting and Cross-stitching

From Beth:
This last Thursday, I got to babysit Lincoln again. He was a very good little boy.

Above and Below: Me feeding Lincoln.
Below: Emily and Lincoln playing with this punch balloon. Lincoln seemed to really like it.
I have been working on this cross-stitch for Tim and Bren's wedding since December or sometime like that. Below: left-bottom side of X-stitch.
Below: right-bottom side of X-stitch.
Below: the uncompleted project and what it's going to look like when it's finished.

Later March happenings

We are sorry we have been negligent about updating this blog. Thanks to anyone who has been checking and patiently waiting for the exciting stuff we have been up to!!
On Easter our dear friends, Mathew, Nicole, and Phoebe Hinkle joined us for our online church service at Hobe Sound Bible Church. After church, we sang all the resurrection songs in the hymnal, and enjoyed lunch and visiting. We were blessed to spend a big part of the day with them in sweet fellowship. (The Easter lily was a gift from Brenda.)

This picture is of Brenda and Emily in their matching dresses. Beth has material for a dress like theirs too, but I haven't gotten around to making it yet.

Jason is growing a mustache! When Rowen was about 12 like Jason is, he started growing his mustache, and has never shaved his upper lip. I guess it remains to be seen whether Jason will have a story like his daddy's.

During Tim's packing and moving activities, he decided to part with a bunch of old ties he and Randy had collected--mostly from the Methodist Rummage Sale. We advertised them for free on Craigslist and had at least 4 people "dying" to get them from us. The first person here was the winner. Before getting rid of them, however, Rowen had a "tie tying seminar" for Brenda and Beth. Hopefully it was a useful thing to learn and they will be better for it all their lives!


We were privileged to go to Colorado Springs last weekend for the Arms Around the World Missions Convention at the Immanuel Missionary Church. The highlight for me was getting to see Ken and Vicky Thompson again. Ken and Vicky have always been dear to me since my young teen years when I looked up to them as older, wiser teens. I enjoyed corresponding with them when they were missionaries to PNG. During the years, 1993-1999, we loved having them in Colorado when they pastored at Littleton. I think I have only seen Vicky once since then, except in pictures, so it was so special to spend time with them.

Here more of our family are visiting with them. Ken was the main speaker for the missions convention and the Lord helped him preach!

Tim enjoyed visiting with Jonathan Lucas, who goes on many missions trips with "Mission Helps."
Seth, Brenda's brother, was with us for that weekend and we enjoyed getting to spend some time with him. Brenda tried to catch up on teasing and frustrating her brother!!

The next morning (3-31), at 5 am, Tim and Jeffrey left for MO. Tim was moving there, and Jeffrey went to be co-pilot and helper. Jeffrey will return on April 8 on his first commercial airplane experiences. He will fly from Joplin, to KC, to Milwaukee, to Denver!
Here is a peek at the load of furniture Tim and Brenda have acquired:

It was a sad goodbye for Brenda and Tim. Brenda has been very brave and is looking forward to flying on April 11 to spend her birthday, April 12, with Tim in MO.

They are off!!!

The Lord gave them a safe trip. They spent the night in Ottawa, KS with Brent Susan that night and arrived in Joplin on Tuesday morning. They unloaded the truck, then outfitted it for their painting business, and Tim and Randy started painting for ABE Painting on Wednesday morning!! We thank the Lord for His help in giving them jobs to do in their new careers. Tim is getting his house put together and looking forward to Brenda's visit next week.

I have two more dresses to make for the wedding: Emily's and the flower girl's. Brenda has started on addressing the invitations. I got to be election judge for the town of Milliken this week. We have been keeping busy and out of trouble!

Emily's 10th Birthday!

Emily, our youngest child turned 10 this week, on March 17th - yes, she was born on St. Patrick's Day. She is energetic and socially butterflistic. She never saw a stranger, and is a blessing to all she knows. She loves all physical activities that she has tried, loves all games, and will talk your ear off if you'll let her. She is almost always laughing or crying. She doesn't do well when there is no scheduled activity. Almost every night at the supper table, Emily has two questions; 1) "Can we have ice cream?" and 2)"So, what are we doing tonight?" I always tease her by replying to the second question with the same words every night, "We are doing it - you know, eat supper, then do the dishes, then take baths. Any more questions?"

We took this picture for a particular reason; in Janet's childhood, it was a tradition for the children's birthdays to have an old 8mm (before Super 8!) silent movie of the birthday party, and each year the child (parents did it for the babies) would hold up how many fingers, so that they would always know what year it was. We were remembering that when I took this picture, and asked Emily to hold up her fingers to show that she is ten. I made it sepia, just to look old fashioned, even though those old silent movies were Kodacolor!

Emily loves to have friends, and this year she has gotten acquainted with Amy. When they can be together, they love it, but several times a day they are online - emailing, google-talking (chat session), or on the phone. They each seem good for the other.

On her birthday, our friends, the Cruzes, (only three of them were available), came for supper and birthday cupcakes and ice cream, and of course, energetic game playing.

On March 19th, in honor of Emily's birthday, Amy, her brother Daniel, and Emily's cousins Hadassah, Sarah, and Kwani, along with Jeffrey and Jason went ice skating at an indoor rink near us. They mostly had a great time, though they pulled a few muscles. (Sorry Sarah, we failed to get you in a picture!)

J-M Homeschooler's Sculpture Day in Loveland

March 13, the Johnstown-Milliken Homeschoolers had a Sculpture Field Trip Day. It started at 8 am at Bronze Services in Loveland. It was very interesting to learn what the bronzing process involves from the artist's clay to the finished bronze product. It is quite a complicated procedure! We all have a better understanding of why a bronze statue is so expensive (valuable)! This picture was taken outside of Bronze Services. It is an elephant in progress.

Next we went to George Lundeen's studio. We got to see some of his work on display and were privileged to meet him and learn about his current projects. George is a very kind person to allow our group to interrupt his work. We appreciate all he taught us! This is the group, except for Emily, who took the picture, listening to George. Here George is explaining the use of calipers to us.

George is working on a sculpture of a man and his father.

These pictures were used to create the sculptures.

An example of George Lundeen's sculptures. He specializes in people statues.

These kids were on the early tours: Jeff, Jason, Emily, Celeste, Beth, A.J., Sydney, Brianna, and Blair.

Our friends, Tatiana and Sunshine, with George Lundeen. Tatiana missed getting in the above group picture. After this, we went to the Master's Fine Art Gallery and were joined by 3 other families who had children who were too young to go on the other parts of the field trip. We always enjoy Linda King and her explanations of the art in her gallery, especially her Christian testimony and salvation messages through the art displays. God is honored as Creator and the giver of all creativity and talents! Here Linda is telling the gospel story with the tapestry of Jesus' life.

This was a cute picture of Phoebe and "a new friend!"

This pottery is called Raku. It is a Japanese kind of pottery technique. It is made by Jan Rowen, a potter who lives in Louisville, CO. I had to buy something because of the name of the potter being mine and Rowen's name. She even spells Rowen "correctly" like we do!! The piece I bought is the large bowl in the middle of the table.

Victorian Tea Party

On Wednesday, March 12, we girls were invited to a Victorian Tea Party at Nicole Hinkle's house. We were to dress up as "Victorian" as we could and prepare a pre-1900 prose, poem, or hymn reading to share with the other guests. Our friends, the Nolts, Metiens, and Cross girls were also there. Nicole and Phoebe were our hostesses. We enjoyed various teas, cookies, the visiting, and all the readings. It was a delightful afternoon. The dress Brenda has on was a bridesmaid dress I wore 26 years ago; the dress Beth has on I made 24 years ago!!

Joan's cute hat!

The Cross Sisters: Cheri, Leah, and Erin

Nicole, Renee, and Joan

The smaller girls at the party: Amy, Emily, Jenny, and Phoebe

Erin, Jenny, Phoebe, MaryBeth, and Cheri

Phoebe serving Beth and Brenda, Erin on the left

Phoebe being her own sweet self!

Amy and Emily are really good friends.

Brenda played a hymn on her violin while I accompanied her on the piano.

Puzzling!

We have been working on putting together a few puzzles for a friend of ours who is making a huge project using puzzles. We got the first puzzle done in 2 days, and it was an 1000 piece. We have started two since then - one of animal crackers and one of a garden sort of scene. The animal crackers puzzle has a box, but is just about impossible -we think. The garden one did not come with a box, and we think some pieces are missing. At first the garden one was easy, (the edges especially), but as we continue to work on it, it is kind of puzzling!

A picture of me by the first puzzle right after it was finished: A picture of Mother, Jeff, and I working on the animal cracker puzzle: We gave up on it before completion - it was not "time efficient" for us.
A picture of me working on the garden one (Jason was across the table, working just as hard as me, but somehow he didn't get in the picture). We did not have a box or even a picture of it, so it was really difficult!

Here is the second completed puzzle; it actually had five pieces missing, but Dad Photoshopped them!

The next puzzle is of an old red mill by a river. It is going together lots faster! Check back here to see the result in a few days...

Here it is all done...