December Year End Summary aka Christmas Letter 2011

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and loved ones! May Christ’s presence be your treasured gift!

Our year has been full of activities, surprises, difficulties, and rewards. Besides the usual schooling, babysitting, quilting, historical society activities, Sunday School ministry in Denver, etc… This is what happened this year:

In January, Beth flew to North Carolina to spend three weeks at cousin Shari’s, helping after the birth of the newest little Earhart. While Janet got to be judge at the town election, the rest of the family hosted missionaries from Russia, Richard and Judy Grout.

In February, Jason got his wisdom teeth out and interviewed to work at ACE Hardware with Jeffrey. We bought a used 8-passenger van. Our dear friends, Brent and Alicia Susan, and daughter, Tirzah, came for a fun visit. At the end of the month, Rowen, Janet, Beth, and Emily drove to Joplin to see our kids and to go on with them to Indiana to the Bus Convention (Children’s Ministry Convention). Jeffrey and Jason stayed home and worked at ACE. We all enjoyed the Bus Convention immensely. The workshops were inspiring and the evening services were a blessing. We loved seeing old friends and meeting new friends.

After arriving home from Indiana, Janet had a routine mammogram. Because it was suspicious, the following week, she had a diagnostic mammogram, ultrasound, and then the next week, a breast biopsy. On March 22, we learned that she had breast cancer on the right side. Then followed a flurry of appointments with surgeon, plastic surgeon, and MRI. One very good thing that happened during all of this, was learning that Tim and Brenda were expecting a baby in November!

Beth passed her driving test in April. Jason and Beth took the ACT test. Jeffrey had his second gum graft surgery. Beth, Jason, and Emily had Achievement testing. The Steve Geise family, missionaries to South Africa, were here for a short visit. On April 28, Janet had bilateral mastectomy with immediate reconstruction, staying overnight at the hospital.

May was spent waiting on Janet as she recovered from the surgery. The girls took over all the meals and housework. The highlight of the month was Beth and Jason’s high school graduation at Colorado Heritage Education School Services (CHESS) in Greeley. Janet got her drains out the next morning, just in time for the simple graduation party for Beth and Jason at our house with >60 guests. The following week, Janet and Rowen visited Dr. Ann Stroh, the oncologist we selected after learning that two of the eleven lymph nodes were positive for cancer. After this, Janet had a PET scan to rule out cancer anywhere else “from the eyes to the thighs.” Thankfully, the PET scan was clear, and on May 31, Janet had a Power Port placed in her upper left chest for chemotherapy.

On June 1, we were eating breakfast when we heard a noise in our garage, then a knock on the kitchen door. Rowen went to the door and found that Randy, Joy, and family had come for a short visit “on their way” to South Dakota for camp meeting! We packed all the fun we could into the two days they spent with us! The girls started attending Bright Lights Bible Studies with a fun group of homeschooled girls in Greeley. Knowing she would start losing her hair two weeks after the first chemotherapy, Janet decided to donate the bulk of her hair before starting chemo. So on June 3, a friend helped with cutting off 33 inches to donate to Locks of Love. Chemo number one was on June 6. Janet was fortunate to get a bone marrow stimulating shot the day following each treatment which kept her from going too low in immunity. After several days of hair falling out dramatically, on June 18, the family cut off the rest and shaved Janet’s head. The following week, Rowen, Janet, Beth, and Emily went to Joplin. It was time for the annual Woods Reunion, and also Janet’s dad’s Retirement from Ministry Party. It was a fast, hectic weekend, filled with lots of people that we love, and we were back home again to have the second treatment on June 30. We left Emily in Joplin to help with VBS and other children’s ministry. She had a great month with her brothers’ families!

In July, Jason spent a week in New Mexico at a primitive youth camp called Keep Camp. Jeffrey and Beth were the only “kids” at home, and Jeffrey was at ACE a lot, so Beth was busy taking care of so many things for the family. July 21 was Chemo #3. July 28, Tim, Brenda, and Emily arrived home and we had a fun time as Tim and Brenda stayed a few days.

In August, Beth and Emily sang at two nursing homes with their Bright Lights group. Janet had Chemo #4 on the 11^th. Jeffrey flew away to Cincinnati, OH to God’s Bible School to begin his college career. Janet and the girls helped give a baby shower for a dear friend. Emily started 8^th grade, the only student in our home school! Jason took his test and got his driver’s permit. Rowen bravely began driving with him and found him to be the least scary new driver that he has trained!

September 1 and 22 were Chemo treatments 5 and 6, and we were done!!! The girls started back in Bright Lights Bible Studies. Beth was in charge of all the advertising for the Johnstown Historical Society Quilt Show and Craft Fair.

Besides the Quilt Show in October, the highlights included having the Power Port removed and going to the Brown Cabin west of Colorado Springs for the 19^th-21^st. The vacation was to celebrate our 28^th anniversary and being done with cancer treatment! The weather was beautiful and the kids had a great time hiking and exploring in the mountains. Janet enjoyed things tasting normally because of the chemo effect wearing off.

November brought returning strength to Janet and a beginning to the five year follow-up anti-estrogen meds and a drug trial participation to prevent recurrence of cancer. We were able to go to Joplin for a couple of days to see our new granddaughter, Charissa Joy, born to Tim and Brenda on November 12! We also got to see our grandsons, Quil and Micah and their parents. We spent Thanksgiving with most of the Scoles family in Columbia.

We are thankful: for God’s help throughout the cancer treatments, for Rowen’s job and relative good health, despite his diabetes, our children all walking with the Lord, and for God’s faithfulness to supply our needs. We are looking forward to having all the family together for Christmas here. We are trusting God’s presence and help throughout every uncertain day ahead. We know Who holds tomorrow!

Much love from the Johnstown Albertsons, Rowen, Janet, Jeffrey, Beth, Jason, and Emily

P.S. Thank you to each of our faithful blog readers who already know all the details of this year! We have been too busy lately to blog, but when we get time, we will get all the pictures up from our visit to the new granddaughter, and Thanksgiving pictures.

Why are there book reviews on our family blog?

When I was flying to Indiana in September 2010, I had an interesting seatmate who was heading to a Christian Writers' Conference in Indianopolis. He shared with me about the books he reads and reviews from Thomas Nelson Publishers. I decided to try it. I went to http://booksneeze.com to sign up.
In 2011, I also signed up with http://www.waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks .
Since it is a departure from our usual family happenings posts, I thought I should explain that you will see book reviews from time to time!

Janet

Heaven is for Real for Kids book review

Heaven is for Real for Kids as told by Colton Burpo to his parents Todd and Sonja Burpo (e-copy)

After reading the original Heaven is for Real book, I was very interested to know how the book for kids would be the same or different. The book for adults has much more time spent on the family, Colton’s illness and treatment, and the way the story of Colton’s visit to heaven comes to light in his conversations. In the kids’ book, the fact that Colton became very sick when he was four years old, and when he was in the hospital he went to sleep and woke up in heaven, is the only mention of his illness. The bulk of the book is telling what heaven is like, in a way that kids can understand and not be afraid about going there.

The book has sweet pictures of what Colton saw in heaven which add to children’s grasp of the words. There are also appropriate Bible verses that go along with each page.

I read this book to my grandsons, ages 4.5 and 2.5. The 2.5 year old did not stay engaged with the story as I read. Probably a good target age for this book is four and up.

The first e-copy I received had capitalization errors, but since I posted the review, the publisher sent me a new file with all errors corrected. I recommend this book for parents to read to their children to start conversations about heaven.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Our Joplin Family 22-NOV-2011

Click on the Title above to see some pictures of our Joplin Albertson families taken in Joplin November 22, 2011. Randy, Joy, James Aquila (4), and Micah Rowen (2). Tim, Brenda, and new daughter Charissa Joy (10-days old). (Said like Cheryl, Charlotte, Chevy..."Shu-rissa')

Tim and Brenda's baby girl!

Tim and his sleeping baby girl 11-20-2011

Uncle Randy and Charissa getting acquainted 11-20-2011.



Charissa Joy Albertson was born at 12:16 a.m. at home on November 12, 2011. She was 7#, 9oz, and 21 inches long. She has lots of hair! This picture reminds me of Tim's hair when he was a newborn!

Pray for her to nurse well; she wants to have her fists up to her sweet face! Pray for Brenda to recover well. She is tired and weak from the long labor.
We praise God for this precious gift!

Mountain cabin vacation 2011 Day 3

We're currently waiting for little Miss Albertson (Tim and Bren's girl) to make her appearance any time now, so I thought I'd write this last post about our cabin vacation; so that when she is born, the post announcing her arrival can be at the top of our blog for a while! (Just to be clear, we are not in Missouri waiting for her, but just waiting for the news.)

On the quiet Friday morning of our vacation we decided to play Scrabble. We did have a hard time coming up with any high-scoring words.

Then we took anniversary pictures of Daddy and Mother and went on a little walk around the property's woods.

Daddy and Mother at "Cell-phone Signal Rock":

Beautiful!



Such a restful, quiet, solitary place.




Mother sitting on the porch just before lunch.

After lunch we packed up, cleaned the cabin, and headed down to Colorado Springs. We went to a dollar store and stocked up on prizes for the Federal Heights Sunday School. When we got out of the van to go into the store, Jason's wallet fell to the ground unnoticed. After shopping we went to meet our loved-ones for supper, but when that didn't work out due to an unanticipated doctor appointment, we ate at Carl's Jr. It was there we discovered that Jase didn't have his wallet. We searched the van, and went to the couple of places we had been in Colorado Springs (the store parking lot and our relatives' house), and realized that it had to have fallen out when he got out at the store and was not there anymore. We drove the two hours home. Even though we were concerned and praying about Jason's missing wallet, we enjoyed singing hymns on the way. It wasn't until Saturday morning that we listened to our answering machine. The Christian lady who found the wallet in the parking lot had taken it home with her, not leaving it to be stolen. She found an I.D. card in it that Tim had made for Jase when he was around 9 years old, saw our phone number, called, and left a message. She mailed the wallet and he received it safely in a few days. We are thankful for God's hand in our life situations such as this. He truly cares and answers prayer!

Book Review: Lonestar Angel by Colleen Coble

From the first two pages of this book, I was captivated by the story line. Eden was in a restaurant, just about to be proposed to, when her former husband showed up! Clay and Eden’s marriage had ended five years before, after their six week old baby girl, Brianna, was kidnapped, and presumed killed. Clay had never signed the divorce papers, and Eden’s lawyer had not followed through when he became ill. Clay had not given up on finding Brianna alive. Now he had news that she was alive and at a youth ranch in Texas. The ranch needed to hire a couple as counselors and dorm parents for foster children. It was a perfect chance to help all these children, but also to find and identify their lost daughter.

Clay and Eden moved to Texas to take the job and fell in love with all five of the little girls in their charge. How were they to find out which one was theirs, since they had not seen her since she was a newborn? From the first night there, some unknown person was intent on causing danger to Clay or Eden. Very soon, Eden found her life in lethal danger. It seemed someone on the ranch must know about and be connected to the kidnapping of their child.

Clay and Eden had both become Christians in their time apart from each other. They had to learn to rely on God and each other for their very lives.

Suspense, danger, romance, and love for children are part of this book. The hurts possible in the foster system and the hurts caused by divorce and unfaithfulness are also revealed in an instructive way.

I enjoyed reading this book. It seemed like all these things couldn’t happen to two people, but if you throw in schizophrenia and drug cartels, maybe it could.

I received a free copy of this book from Thomas Nelson Publisher in return for my review. I was not required to give a positive review. The opinion expressed is my own.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Early snow October 25-26

We interrupt our regularly scheduled "Beth's cabin vacation posts" to bring an update on our early snows and tree damage! The evening of October 25, rain and then snow began falling--just as the weather people had predicted.
By Wednesday morning, there were 10.25 inches on our deck rail, and snow continued lightly throughout the morning. You can see from this picture how the trees still had leaves and they are bent over by the heavy snow. None of these trees are on our property.

We were very glad that Emily had removed the trampoline mat from its in-ground setting the day before, and that the pavilion was also taken down from the deck just in time!

When I took Jason to work at 8:00, we saw that there had been much devastation to our town's trees. There were branches down in almost every yard and even in the streets. Part of the town was without electricity. ACE Hardware, where Jason works, had to be open with no electricity until 11 a.m. They had a generator to run one cash register and used flashlights to take customers to what they needed to buy. They sold a lot of snow shovels that day!
At lunchtime, we were feeling grateful that our tree had not broken. While Emily watched out the window, our Linden tree in front gave way and broke 4 different large branches. Thankfully, nothing was under it to be damaged, like happened for other people in town.

The snow was very wet and heavy.

That afternoon, Jason and Emily built snow walls and had a snowball fight.


On Friday morning, we had Lincoln here to be babysat, so the kids took him to a sledding hill near his house to play in the snow.



This is what our tree looked like on Saturday morning, when Rowen and Emily started cutting out the broken parts. Nearly all the leaves fell off because of the snow.

Looking at the tree from the street view.

Rowen cutting out the broken parts.

There was still snow on the truck he had to clean off so he could haul the branches away. Because it was so warm just days before, the ground was warm enough to melt the snow quickly.

Rowen surveying the mess.

One of the two truck loads of branches ready to take downtown to the branch dump.

Rowen and Emily cut up the larger branches for future firewood.

The pile of firewood from the tree.

How the surgery looked this week after we got another 9 inch snow exactly a week later than the first one!