Janet is looking and feeling quite grandmotherly

I just found this picture of Janet, enjoying some 'quality time' with our precious grandson. Aren't they cute together?

Snow!

Last week it snowed, but when Emily and I tried to play in it, we discovered that it was too powdery. Yesterday, we decided to try again, and got slightly different results. The snow had been melting off and on, and therefore stuck together quite well.

<--Our snowman, Fred. Emily insists on calling him "Fredrick"

I rolled the bottom ball and Emily rolled the second one. We used a board for a ramp to get the second ball on top, as the melted snow was extremely hefty. I then rolled the top ball and set it on top, where Emily and I made modifications to him as needed. I chose to rub out the snow in his head to create eyes, because I think that if something has rocks for eyes, you can't get to know him. The same is true with the mouth, ears, and nose. A creature needs to be made of the same material all over to appear realistic.

Emily and I proudly standing by our creation.

Today we played in the snow some more, starting the production of an igloo, of which we have no pictures.

Jason

Growing

We were glad for the priviledge of having our entire family together for a few days this week. Randy, Joy, and Quil arrived on Monday morning 24-DEC, after driving all night from Joplin, MO. They had a good trip, making it in about 11.5 hours. It seems like Quil has grown up so much since we were with him at Thanksgiving! We enjoyed having them here. We were able to help them with several projects that they seldom have time for. They returned safely, again overnight, on Friday 28-DEC. On Tuesday 25-DEC Tim and Brenda returned from their 10-day trip to Vineland, New Jersey where they had an busy and exciting time with Brenda's entire family. It was really good to have them return as well.

A tradition that we have had for many years is to line up - in order of descending height. When we did this again this week, we could see a great change from two-years prior! The ages now have nothing to do with the order. I wonder how long it will be until Emily is taller than her mother...
Rowen (49), Randy (22), Jason (12), Jeff (16), Tim (20), Beth (14), Janet (46), Emily (9)

The picture below was taken on 01-JAN-2006, just two years ago this coming week.

Janet's Holiday Baking

Though I am a careful diabetic, I am so proud of my wonderful wife! Janet just completed her working in her kitchen all day, having made five loaves of whole wheat bread, eight pies (apple, cherry, pecan, coconut, and pumpkin), and four loaves of whole wheat pumpkin bread! Maybe I can have just a taste of each one... If you click to enlarge the picture, you'll see the appropriately shaped dough appliques that Emily cut out for the top of each pie. These miniature shape-cutters were a gift from our friend, Susan, this past week. They are very special!

Janet is really looking forward to having Randy, Joy, and Quil, as well and having Tim and Brenda back from Brenda's family home in New Jersey, next week. I hope they have all been dieting ;-)

The Hammond's Candies Tour

On Thursday, December 13, 2007, most of our family went to Hammond’s Candies for a field trip with our homeschool group.

When we arrived we went into the café-style waiting room. We visited with many of our friends who had gotten there already. We waited for approximately 30 minutes before our tour. At 10:30 we heard our tour guide’s voice over the loud speaker, requesting that we line up to start the tour. We stepped into the first room on the tour and sat on the long two-leveled wooded benches. We watched a video introducing the factory processes, and informing us briefly of Hammond’s Candies’ history. We took pictures of the 32 homeschool tourists.

The reason I'm not in the picture is I was taking it. We had to take three pictures, and Dad had to "patch" them together!

Then we walked into the production room. There was thick glass separating our assemblage from the workers as they fashioned the candy. The smell of peppermint was enjoyably potent. The tour guide spoke through a PA system explaining the process throughout the tour. On the right side of the large room there were a few huge copper kettles heating the candy mixture (sugar, corn syrup, and water) to 220 ºF. On a table near to that, were two men pulling and stretching candy. After they had done this, they created a 50-lb. wad of candy wrapped in a 20lb. red and white candy blanket that they would warm, work, and shape into candy canes. Three women on the left side of the room were forming the candy into ribbon candy using an antique mechanism that squeezed the candy into the desired shape. Two men in the middle of the room were taking the boiling candy mixture and pouring it onto the cooling table. One man added coloring, while the other added crushed broken candy that is reused by putting it back into new candy. Next we walked down a hall to see the next big room where numerous people were packaging the candy by hand. We had the pleasure of sampling the Mitchell Sweets they had been making. They were comprised of marshmallows coated with thick caramel. We were also given a sample of candy cane to eat.

After questions and answers, we exited through the door to the gift shop where we perused the many items for sale. We had an uneventfully safe trip home. ~ Jeffrey

To be like Jesus

Our hearts were challenged today as we listened intently to our internet Pastor P.D. Wolfe preaching in Hobe Sound, Florida. He preached from Phillipians 2:5-11* . Please read it, and think about how:

• Jesus gave, so we must give


• Jesus came, so we must go


• Jesus served, so we must serve

I'm sure that there are other examples from Jesus' life that we should emulate, but this is a good list for a start. "Lord, help us this Christmas season to see our individual and group responsibility to follow Your example in these ways."

*Philippians 2:5-11 (New King James Version)

5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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!