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!

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!)