Brenda and I participated in a "Christmas Oratorio*" last Saturday evening Dec. 8, 2007, in Loveland, Colorado. It was a very snowy evening, after snow all day. The roads were quite treacherous, but 38 people showed up anyway. It was in a meeting room at the Loveland Public Library, but we were able to worship the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings anyway. Praise be to God!

As you can see in the picture, The Victorian String Quartet was dressed in Victorian attire! Aren't they elegant?

Tim and Brenda after the Oratorio
* Oratorio
An Oratorio is a musical composition for solo voices, chorus, orchestra, and organ, to a religious text generally taken from Holy Scripture. The dramatic element contained in the text depends for its expression on the music alone.

Operation Christmas Child

Mother, Brenda, Jeffrey, and I had the privilege of working at the Operation Christmas Child processing center in Denver on December 6 for 4 hours. We were sorry we forgot to take our camera, so there are no pictures!

Operation Christmas Child is a ministry of Samaritan's Purse. OCC sends hundreds of thousands of Christmas presents to needy children in other countries. People across America put gifts of all kinds (school supplies, hygiene items, candy, toys, etc.) into shoe boxes and designate the gift for a boy or girl of a certain age group. All the boxes go to one of six processing centers in the US before being shipped. In the processing center volunteers do several things:
1. Take out the money which is donated to Samaritan's Purse for transporting the boxes to foreign countries.
2. Inspect the boxes for inappropriate items. (war toys, snakes, chocolate, food, breakable items, liquid items, used items.) Any of these inappropriate items has to be removed. (They are all donated to other charities in the US. They just can't go overseas.)
3. Replace those items with other donated items: toys, toothbrushes, toothpaste, candy.
4. Tape the shoe box shut.
5. Pack the shoe boxes into big cardboard boxes for transporting.


We worked from 2-6 pm, with another home school girl who went with us. We enjoyed it very much, but were tired by the end. There were many volunteers in the warehouse working while we were there, but we five were a team of our own.
My first job was finding the money, then I taped boxes for the rest of the time. Jeffrey's assignment was to pack the transport boxes at the end. Mother and Brenda were inspecting the boxes and Mother also took out money for Samaritan's Purse.
There were over 500,000 shoe boxes processed in the Denver processing center this year!

Members of our family have participated in this Christmas season volunteer opportunity for 4 years now. We think it is a worthwhile project. We also fill and donate one shoebox (or more) every year. The volunteers have to be 13 to work, so next year Jason will be joining us.
- Beth

Our Short Family Vacation to Missouri

As we warned you in this blog, we drove to Columbia, MO for Thanksgiving with Janet's family, then to Joplin for a few days with Randy, Joy, and Quil. We left home on Wednesday morning at 3:15 a.m., with about 3" of wet snow on the ground, and snow falling. The roads were only treacherous for about the first 300 miles! We saw many roll-overs, a jack-knifed semi-trailer truck, and slipped around some ourselves, but the Lord protected us and kept us safe and not too tense. The rest of the trip was quite uneventful; we did enjoy seeing each family member, and benefited from catching up on their lives for a few hours. And, of course, we had tasty food to eat too much of!
In Joplin most of our family was involved in the Kids Club that Joy and Randy have successfully started there. They average about 25 children each Sunday afternoon, which is really capacity for the facilities that they currently have available. They have had 32 at one time! This picture shows Brenda playing the piano while Joy leads choruses.

Janet's parents Wanda and Rex Scoles have each endured physical difficulties this year. Mother had blood clots in her lungs in June, then had her gall bladder removed in October. We were grateful to see them both stronger and healthier than they've been for some time. They really enjoy their only great-grandson.

Our Overnight Guests

We were priviledged to host the Faith Bible School traveling quartet last night. They are on their journey to Phoenix, AZ for their campmeeting over Thanksgiving. We have known most of them for several years, and they are always a blessing to us when they can stop by our 'way station'. They are always welcome, as are you and yours!

Left to right: David, Stephanie, Nora and Nathan, and Jessica.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are planning to travel to Columbia, MO and then to Joplin, MO this next week to sharing a few hours with most of our Scoles family. There is snow and cold weather in the forecast for the middle of the week, so we don't know for sure how that might influence our travel. Most of Janet's family (her parents, her five siblings / spouses, many nieces and nephews) plan to be together on Wednesday night / Thursday morning. We will be in Joplin with Randy, Joy and Quil over the weekend.

We trust that whatever your activity, and whomever you are with, you will know the presence of our Lord as you are able to give thanks for His blessings in your life. I know that some will read this that are not in the USA, but please be thankful anyway.

Please let us know who you are, where you are, and what your Thanksgiving was like!

What do you discuss?

"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people."
- Eleanor Roosevelt

If this is indeed true, what if you find yourself discussing nothing at all? Let me know what you think. . .

A wedding quilt for Tim and Brenda

On September 15, I bought material to start a quilt for Tim and Brenda for a wedding gift. The colors are cream, plum, sage, and yellow with plum/sage in it. Plum and sage are her wedding colors. The pattern I decided to use is Garden Wedding, a variation of the Irish Chain pattern. I got the pattern and instructions from the book, Quick-Method Heirloom Quilts. On September 24, I started cutting the strips of the material. After all the strips were cut, I sewed them together as per instructions, and cut them to the sizes required. After that, I started building patterns and then rows. In the picture below, you can see the rows on the foosball table and ironing board.

In this next picture, I am pinning the rows together. The following picture, Beth and I are holding it up about half way done. This method of piecing is so much faster than the quilts I have made before. I really recommend it! I got completely done with the quilt top yesterday, Nov. 9!

The top, sides, and bottom of the quilt have the plum edging shown in the last two pictures. Last evening, Brenda and I were working on designing and starting pillow shams to match. She has also purchased more of the cream and green, so she can make curtains to match. Right now, Tim and Brenda don't know where they will live after they are married, so we can't make curtains yet.
My goal was to have the quilt top done by Thanksgiving, so I can take it to Missouri to get it machine quilted by a couple there who do such a nice job for a very reasonable price. It is very expensive to have it machine quilted here in Colorado. I am thankful to the Lord for His help, and to my family for letting me have the time to work on the quilt "every spare minute" for the past 7 weeks!

This picture is of the quilt top laid over the guest bed for viewing.

This picture shows the bottom edge of the quilt.


This picture is of the corner.

THIS QUILT IS NOW DONE! ON JANUARY 23, 2008 JANET FINISHED HAND-SEWING THE BINDING ON! Not bad - 4 1/2 months - and it looks wonderful! Congratulations Janet!

Christy Mendez and Manoj Manoharan

November 3, 2007 Rowen's niece, Christy and Manoj Manoharan renewed their vows in a lovely ceremony in Greeley, CO. They were married October 23, 2006 in India. Manoj came back to the US in September to join Christy here. They were required to be married here for their marriage to be recognized. Christy is one of our special nieces. She lived with us for a month when Emily was born 9.5 years ago and was a great help to us. Manoj is a wonderful Christian man. We enjoyed making his acquaintance and hope to see much more of him.

Our Precious Grandson Quil

Our Grandson Quil is 5-months old this week! Don't you love his big eyes? And what about his maintenance-free hair do? We love him, and look forward to seeing him in a couple of weeks!

Johnstown Quilt Show

This past Friday our whole family worked to set up the Quilt Show for a weekend (Saturday/Sunday) event here in Johnstown. The event included a quilt show, craft fair, and old time craft demonstrations. It is an annual fundraiser for the Johnstown Historical Society.
For setting up the quilt show, we used the big gym of the local high school. We fastened clothes lines to the bleachers (risers) that are on opposite sides of the gym and put up 3 posts to support each line. (see pictures below.) We used clothespins to hang up the quilts. Other volunteers helped us hang the quilts.
It is really fun to see all the patterns, fabrics, and handiwork that goes into each quilt.

Those who come and look at the quilts get to choose their favorite one and write down the number of the quilt. The winners get a prize.
- Beth for the Albertsons

Pictures of us setting up the quilt show:

Brenda, Tim, and Daddy fastening the lines that the quilts hung on.

The lines and poles that we hung the quilts on.

Jeffrey and Jason on the risers in the gym (where we fastened the lines)

Mother, Brenda, and Tim hanging quilts.
(Notice Brenda and Tim's fancy necklace and tie- clothes pins! Also, notice that we wear white gloves to touch the quilts.)

Mother and I hanging a quilt that a friend of ours made.

Tim, (maroon shirt) me, (blue jumper) and Emily, (red shirt and skirt) and a friend hanging quilts.

Part of the gym-full of quilts when we were all done at 9 pm. There were over 150 quilts and wall hangings!

Pictures from the day of the quilt show:

A friend of ours (with her grandson) pictured with her latest, not-quite-done quilt behind her.

Me 'n' my quilt that was finished in April!

Jeffrey and his quilt that he is continuing to quilt on.


Mother and Tim beside Tim's quilt which Mother made.
On the squares of this quilt Mother has embroidered the names and birthdates of our Scoles and Albertson cousins (and their kids). She made it when Tim was little, and has to add on more names as more cousins are born.

Balloon Fest

This Saturday we woke up at 5:45am and left our house at 6:30am with the destination of 71st Ave & W 10th St Greeley, CO, where there was to be the event of a Hot Air Balloon Rally, The ‘Great from the Ground Up Hot Air Balloon Harvest’. When we got there at 7:00, they didn’t have any balloons set up yet. They were serving a free breakfast of pancakes, syrup, juice, and bacon for attendees!

After we ate we sauntered ourselves down to the launch field and watched them set up the first balloon that would take off. The first thing they did was stretch the balloon out over a length of ~200 feet. Next, they hooked the balloon up to the basket which was laid on its side so that the balloon would have an anchor. They then started a fan which inflated it partway, making it possible to inflate it the rest of the way with the burners. Slowly as the balloon was filled with hot air, it tipped the entire apparatus upright.

We watched as it lifted off, a very dramatic event.

After that balloons were lifting off right and left.

Interesting designs included the Dragon

and the Tetrahedron.

After we thought we had seen enough of taking off, we went back home to do our housework, go to the Quilt Show, 'Stitches in Time'(see later post), then we went back at 6:15pm to see the Harvest Glow. There were quite a few countdowns, after each of which the various balloon pilots hit their burners, causing the balloons to glow.

The balloon below is the Circus balloon which is scheduled to go to Europe for a balloon exhibition in January.

After that we went to Culver's, a restaurant, and had variously flavored shakes; most had Pumpkin Spice, which tasted exactly like pumpkin pie.

Our Love Story (the short version)

In 1983, I was an RN working 3-11 shift in Overland Park, KS while attending Bible School. I lived in the Kansas City College and Bible School dormitory and enjoyed a good relationship with the girls' dorm mother, Becky.
One day Becky talked to her brother, Rowen, on the phone. “What’s new?”
“I just bought a house in Loveland,” Rowen replied.
“Now you need a wife,” Becky quipped.
“Pick one out for me. You live in the henhouse!” Rowen challenged.
Becky began praying about who would be a suitable wife for her brother. She asked me if he could write me.
Soon, a letter of introduction came. I wrote back telling about my life. After writing letters for a month, Rowen decided to come to Overland Park to meet me in person.
After getting off work the day he came, I went to the matron’s apartment to meet Rowen. He was so calm and personable that I felt at ease at once. We visited for half an hour and discovered each of us had prayed for the other all day.
“I’m not a person who wants to play games with your emotions,” Rowen said. “I’m interested in a long term relationship with you. If you are not interested, I’m willing to drive back to Colorado tomorrow.”
“I don’t want to play games either,” I agreed. “I’m interested in a long term relationship also.”
That night Rowen knelt by the bed and prayed. “This is the person I want to marry, Lord, only she’s too wonderful for me.” He felt as if he audibly heard God say, “I’m giving her to you, Rowen.”
After a week of getting to know each other, we had confessed our feelings of love.
We were engaged in Greeley in May, and married in October that same year. Many letters, phone calls, and trips had confirmed what Rowen heard from God at the start, that we were meant for each other. After 24 years we still thank God for leading Becky to choose me for Rowen!

Mother and Daddy's 24th anniversary tomorrow

Mother and Daddy, Friday October 19, 2007

Happy 24th anniversary tomorrow, Mother and Daddy! We all love and appreciate you so much.
- Your Children
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Mother and Daddy, before marriage sometime in 1983.

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Daddy got Mother 24 roses last Friday - 18 red and 6 white - the red is for the years of marriage they didn't have a baby, the white for the 6 years they did.
The roses smell beautiful and look beautiful too!

Our busy lives in the past two weeks

The past two weeks the Johnstown Albertson clan has had several unique activity opportunities! Last Saturday we all laid sod (6500 sq. ft) at some friends' house. Last Sunday we went to the Life Chain. (You can read about that in Dad's post.) This week on Tuesday we went on a free day to the zoo. On Thursday we had a Johnstown-Milliken Home Schoolers' field trip on the Poudre Trail. We had devised a scavenger hunt with pictures from our previous trip to the Poudre Trail (read Jeffrey's post about the Poudre Trail) for everyone who came so they could look for different animals and vegetation.

These are two pictures of part of the J-M homeschoolers on the Poudre Trail. If you want an electronic copy to save or print, just email us and we'll send it to you!

Yesterday we helped at our food co-op distribution. We enjoyed helping at the co-op very much. It is fun to work together. The lady, Claire R., that runs the co-op is very organized and that makes the process flow well.
This is what we did last night:
1. Starting at 4:00 pm working with other volunteers, we unloaded the miscellaneous food items off the many pallets and piled them on the floor or tables according to item. (Taped on the floor and walls were orange paper signs with the code, quantity, and name of each item listed.) There was ~ 45,000 lbs. of food. It was mostly 25-50 lb. bags, boxes, and pails of bulk food items.
2. We labeled each item with pink coded stickers.
3. For supper, Chipotle restaurant donated food for free and it was yummy.
4. Working in teams we made piles filling each individual order. One person would be the scribe/sender and the others in that group would be the runners/carriers. By the time we left at 8:30 pm, almost all of the orders were filled.

This is a picture of us beside a large order. This was when we were getting ready to leave last night. Rowen, Tim, and Brenda worked too, but are not shown in this picture.

Life Chain Sunday

On Sunday Oct. 7, 2007 we were happy to be able to join about 250 other folks on the sidewalk along a busy street in Greeley, CO, in an event called Life Chain. It was to protest abortion being legal in the USA, and to turn public sentiment against this atrocious practice. It is also hoped that many women who have had abortions will realize that our gracious and loving God will forgive them, and bring healing to their lives.
The forecast was for cold and rain all weekend, especially on Sunday. But the Lord had a different sort of day for us. It was 60'F, almost cloudless dark blue autumn sky, and only an occasional light breeze. Some of us wore jackets, but it was altogether quite perfect weather for it. We stood for 1-hour representing what has become known as the pro-life point of view. I (Rowen) was also a participant, but I took the pictures!

Lawns and God

I did not write this, and can't find out who did. You very well might have seen it before, but I still think it is good to reconsider it. I do not agree with all the details, but I appreciate the intent. I trust that you won't be offended, or think of me as irreverent for having posted this. I just want to share it, to get us North Americans to think a little bit! Please comment with your thoughts - good or bad. - Rowen

GOD: St. Francis, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there in the USA? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect, no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the longlasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honeybees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But all I see are these green rectangles.

ST. FRANCIS: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers weeds and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.

GOD: Grass? But it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees, only grubs and sod worms. It's temperamental with temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?

ST. FRANCIS: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.

GOD: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.

ST. FRANCIS: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it, sometimes twice a week.

GOD: They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?

ST. FRANCIS: Not exactly Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

GOD: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?

ST. FRANCIS: No, sir -- just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.

GOD: Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?

ST. FRANCIS: Yes, sir.

GOD: These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.

ST. FRANCIS: You aren't going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.

GOD: What nonsense! At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stoke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. Plus, as they rot, the leaves form compost to enhance the soil. It's a natural circle of life.

ST. FRANCIS: You'd better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.

GOD: No!! What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter and to keep the soil moist and loose?

ST. FRANCIS: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.

GOD: And where do they get this mulch?

ST. FRANCIS: They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.

GOD: Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore.