Joy's birthday picnic pictures at Schermerhorn Park, Galena, KS

On Joy's 21st Birthday, April 28, we went to Schermerhorn Park, Galena, KS for a cookout/picnic. It is a beautiful park with a river, a "mountain" hiking trail, a cave we couldn't go in, and playground equipment. Rowen and Randy barbecued brats.

It was chilly that evening. We made Quil wear a hat. He was sleepy, so he had a nap while the guys cooked. Joy and I rolled his stroller back and forth while we hummed his "naptime" tune over and over!YUM! YUM! BTW, we had cheesecake with strawberries for dessert!
Birthday girl, Joy!
Tim and Brenda were so happy to be together again. Since Tim lives in MO now, and Brenda still lives in CO, they both get lonely for each other!

The Albertson couples: Rowen and Janet, married 25 years this October; Joy and Randy, married 2 years this August; Tim and Brenda, to be married July 11, 2008!

Auntie Beth and Quil
The "Mountain" Hike
The Cave we were not allowed to enter. There are special salamanders in there to protect!!

More people pictures from our time in MO

Uncle Jason and Quil
Quil crawling
Great Grandma Scoles and Quil. She is Quil's babysitter when Randy and Joy are doing kids' ministry and calling.

Beth and Quil in the car, waiting for Aunt Brenda to come out of the store.
Quil's favorite place to sit to look out the window.

Quil loved his Aunt Emily.

Pictures of Grandson Quil and others

Grandma Albertson with Quil
Randy, Joy, and Quil in their matching outfits on Sunday afternoon.
Quil's Great Grandma, Wanda Scoles.

A Short Visit with our Albertson relatives on the way to MO

You all know by now how we had a week's vacation in Joplin, MO visiting our kids and my parents. There will likely be another post about that, as the subject is not exhausted, but now I wanted to mention that we saw our oldest nephew and his family as we traveled through KS. Herb and Jenny Albertson have been in Boston for 5 years. Earlier this year they moved to the Sterling, KS area. Herb is working at Sterling College, helping to direct the students into their future vocations. His official title is: Career Services Director. We ate lunch with Herb's family at the college cafeteria, and then got a tour of part of the campus. Pictured here is Cooper Hall, which was built in 1887 and was recently totally restored. It is a beautiful building, inside and out. Herb and Jenny are very special to us, and we are excited about the possibilities of being able to see them more often. Here are all of us together, except that Rowen is taking the picture.
Post actually written by Janet, not Beth!

Trip to Joplin, MO

We just returned from a 7-day stay in Joplin, MO. We have several very important reasons to go there; our son Randy, his wife Joy, and their son Quil (10-month old), our son Tim, who rented a house there in preparation for his marriage to Brenda on July 11, and of course we love to spend time with Janet's parents, Rex and Wanda Scoles when we are there. I'm sure that other family members will share their favorite memories of our trip with pictures, but I wanted to take time to share with you about that part of the country.

Joplin in only a few miles into Missouri, and is very near the borders of Kansas, Okla., and Arkansas. This entire region has a mining history, which is the reason that the cities and towns are there. After the civil war Lead and Zinc were found in abundant supply under this area. STRIP mining and UNDER mining were both used to harvest these valuable minerals.

Unfortunately many bad things happened to the environment because of the mining. Ground water contamination and sink-holes are some of the most evident in the modern day Joplin area. As you would expect, the miners were poor, and so many, many homes were built with sub-standard materials and techniques. Many of these homes are slowly falling apart. Sink holes occur in occupied and un-occupied areas. I was reminded of this again yesterday morning as I drove across extreme southeast Kansas; I read the signs posted by beside the modern highway that boldly states "ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK: THIS LAND IS UNDER MINED".

We had a delightful cook-out picnic south of Galena, KS last Monday evening, in honor of Joy's 21st birthday. Galena is one of the most recent locations of a sink hole collapsing right in town last year. Our picnic was at Schermerhorn Park, which has a wonderful hiking trail that we went on.

Picture shows a couple that we came upon, as we hiked on the trail. Aren't they cute, standing by their new home?

I just looked up the facts about Joplin: "The main part of Joplin itself is nearly 75% undermined, with some mine shafts well over 100 feet deep. These mine shafts have occasionally caved in, creating large sink holes."

All of this, along with the evil society that has been prevalent throughout the years of Joplin's existence and certainly still exists, give us much reason for prayer for our children being there - as they attempt to share the good news and of the gospel and the hope available through Christ - to those totally lost in heathen darkness - right there in mid-continent USA. Please join us in praying for them!

I Just Did It!

I did it! I got bright green valve stem caps put on my family car tires.

I was quite easily convinced this past week to have my tire shop replace the air in my tires with nitrogen, after which they installed these green caps. Now, if you see a vehicle with green caps, you'll know that they have taken this plunge. I do feel a little bad about the green thing -- I mean it is an environmentalist thing, and was half price in honor of earth day, but other than that it still seemed pretty sensible to me. Have you ever heard of it, and what do you think of it? Read about it at:

http://www.getnitrogen.org/why/index.php

http://pumpemup.org/

Meeting the Myers family in Colorado Springs

While we were in Colorado Springs for the Arms Around the World missions conference, on March 29th, we had the privilege of meeting Gary and Mary Myers and their children. Jayme Myers, their daughter, has recently joined God's Girls Newsletter and so I had had several email conversations with her before meeting them that Saturday.
Above: The Myers family. Below: Jayme and I.

Weekend Company

Brent Susan and Jaron Byler visited us from Saturday evening, April 12, until Tuesday morning, April 15. Brent is one of Tim's best friends, and Jaron is Brent's best friend from college days at Penn View ('04 grads). They spent some time in Colorado Springs at Garden of the Gods, which they really enjoyed. The weather was beautiful on Monday as they hiked and snowshoed in Rocky Mountain National Park. We had a great time visiting and playing foosball with them in the evenings.

Brenda's birthday, April 12

We celebrated Brenda's birthday on April 10 in the evening, because on April 11, after we were done at the capital, we took her to the airport and she flew off to Joplin, MO for the weekend!!
That night, we had Phoebe Hinkle with us for the evening. Brenda asked for cheesecake, so we had PTA Dessert instead of a traditional cake. It was yummy. We gave Brenda a zippered case holding a set of assorted sizes of crochet hooks. We sent her new Rada knives and peeler to Joplin when Tim went. Brenda had a wonderful weekend in MO seeing Tim, Randy, Joy, Quil, Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Tim, Aunt Sherry, Caleb, and Tasha. She and Joy got her kitchen all organized, rearranged some furniture, and hung some pictures on the walls. Quil gave her lots of kisses! Joy made her a birthday dinner and a cake shaped like a hat with flowers on it.
Brenda came home to us late on Monday night.

Homeschool Day at the Capital

April 11 was Homeschool Day at the Capital in Denver. Brenda went with our family. Her Uncle Phil Brown is the Chief Sargeant of Arms for the Senate. We got to meet him and he had a senator invite our family into the Senate! We got to sit in on discussions of 2nd readings of some bills. Brenda's cousin, Lori Brown, also works for the Senate, so we got to meet her and Brenda and she visited.

Uncle Phil grabbed a couple of miscellaneous Senators and the other two Sargeant of Arms he works with for this picture with Brenda in the Senate chamber.

We climbed the many steps to the dome, which hasn't been open other times we have been there since 9-11. At noon, the homeschoolers had a rally on the west side of the capital, which was said to be the largest homeschool rally attendance ever. We celebrated 20 years of the legality of homeschooling in Colorado. In this photo, you can see some of us in the front, right of middle. Also the Cruzes and the Mendezes are nearby.

This is only the middle section of the crowd. There were probably twice this number on the sides that are not pictured.

J-M Homeschooler Field trip to NCAR

One April 10, our family went to the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder. It was a cold, snowy day on our trip down there. On the tour we learned about our atmosphere, weather, density, and the super computers used there. Here is a picture of the girls trying out one of the lobby displays.
Jason blew up several balloons from NCAR. Three of them popped from being so stretched.

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!