Hymn Sings

I know everybody must think we quit doing anything interesting or fun because I have not been blogging much recently.  This is not true.  We have been busy and having a good time in the Lord, just not much that is photo worthy.  If I have pictures to put in, it saves me writing 1000 words per picture...  So here is a picture of something we have done twice lately--gone to a Hymn Sing at Reformation Baptist Church where some of our good friends attend church.

This is a picture stitched together from two pictures.  This was the February Hymn Sing, which was not as crowded out as the January Hymn Sing.  Rowen caught me texting one of our kids during this song.  I was recovering from a cold that affected my voice, so I had to take breaks from actually singing part of the one- hour singing time.  We have really enjoyed going to these Hymn Sings.  

Quilt for Charissa

 This is the quilt top that I made for Charissa recently.  This was the first time for me to use a kit to make a quilt, but I did add on to it, and change the blocks' orientation from the pattern instructions, just to make it more butterfly-ish.  Look for the yellow and green butterflies which share the pinks.  When it was done, it was too yellow, so I added some pink to bring it back to pink enough for Charissa.

The quilt has been quilted, and picked up by my mother and daddy.  It is waiting for a trip out to Colorado, so I can get it finished by binding the edges.  Today, Charissa got to see it when she went over to Great-grandma and grandpa Scoles's house for Sunday dinner.  Her daddy sent me this picture, entitled 

"I wike it, Grandma!"

A Stillness of Chimes by Meg Moseley Book Review

A Stillness of Chimes by Meg Moseley

This book introduces the characters Laura, Sean, and Cassie as twelve-year-olds picking blackberries in Prospect, Georgia.  They are great friends and promise to protect each other forever.  The next chapter is 18 years later.  A lot has happened in the intervening years.  At 14, Sean was rescued by Laura and Cassie's dads from his abusive father.  When Laura was 18, her father, a Vietnam veteran who had "spells" of darkness in his life, was presumed drowned, though his body was never found.  Laura and Sean, who were childhood sweethearts, broke up their relationship in the pain of losing Laura's dad.  Laura went to college in Colorado and became a teacher there.  Cassie has married and moved to California where she and her husband are struggling to make ends meet.

The three have met up again in the hometown because Laura has come home to settle her mother's affairs after her sudden death.  Cassie has come home to help her father figure out what is wrong with her mother, who seems to be losing her mind.  Sean has stayed in Prospect and is still single.  He wants Laura to know from him before she hears the town gossip, that people are claiming to have seen her dad alive!  Laura doesn't know whether to hope her beloved daddy is still alive or not.  The implications of him having staged his drowning and abandoning her and her mother is too staggering to consider.  Had he loved them, despite his PTSD, or not?

Sean and Laura have to figure this out:  find out if he is alive, and support Cassie as she deals with the strange things her mom is doing.  Is there a connection in the strangeness?

Questions I asked:  Will Sean and Laura rediscover their love for each other?  Will Laura's father be found? Why is Cassie's mother 'losing it'?  What are the secrets that their parents have hidden from them?  And what kind of trouble will Sean's alcoholic, hateful father cause to all of them?  Will Laura be able to recover her faith in God that she lost when she lost her daddy?

This book was a page turner for me.  It is a pretty fast read, and very enjoyable.  The title was cleverly chosen, as the night the wind chimes were stilled, the mysteries began to be solved.

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

Read the first chapter now.

Beth away at college

In December, Beth decided to go to God's Bible School and College for the Spring semester, instead of waiting until next August.  Because Jeffrey and Jason were home for Christmas, we wondered if she could fit all of her stuff into their van; but because of the passenger they had to pick up on the way, AND getting all three of them moved back out of dorms for the summer, we knew it would never work.  Therefore, we decided to have me (Janet) drive to Cincinnati with her in our other Chevy Venture van (Jason has one also), leave the van there for the kids to drive, and fly back afterwards.  We had a wonderful time together, driving those many miles.  We never slept a wink while we were in the van, but kept each other awake and traded drivers often.  In the two days, we had two great Bible studies, sang lots of songs, listened to music and sermons, told stories, prayed together. It was a very special time to spend together.  I got to help her get moved into her dorm room, decorate, clean, and organize.  I spent two days there, and enjoyed getting to visit with some of the girls who were arriving back from Christmas break.

We had prayed for the Lord to give Beth the very roommate He saw that she needed.  And He did.  Heidi Rebman is Beth's roommate.  They are becoming good friends and an encouragement to each other.  This is a picture I "stole" from Heidi off Facebook today.  

We miss Beth, Jeffrey, and Jason, but we are so glad they are in a place where Christ is honored, where they can have friends and relationships that will last for their lives, and where they can become prepared for the work God has for them to do.  We enjoy video chatting with them every now and then.

Emily is our only child at home now, but we have two boarders, so we are keeping busy and happy in the Lord.

Book Review: Emma of Aurora

I received Emma of Aurora as a Kindle book.  It is written by Jane Kirkpatrick and is actually three books in one.  Included is A Clearing in the Wild, A Tendering in the Storm, and A Mending at the Edge.  It is historical fiction about the founding of Aurora Colony in Oregon. 

This is an intensely interesting tale of Emma, one of the most headstrong and independent thinkers in Wilhelm Keil’s German Christian Community.  The story begins in the 1850s in Bethel, Missouri where Wilhelm believes his people are becoming too influenced by the people around them.  He decides they need to move the entire colony to a new site in the Pacific Northwest.  Wilhelm, as the colony leader, controls almost everything in the people’s lives, and everyone works toward the common good, rather than owning anything.  He chose scouts to travel to the Northwest to discover a perfect place for the colony to relocate.  Emma was married to one of the scouts, Christian Giesy.  Wilhelm, who was not in favor of their marriage, kept them apart from each other much of their early married life, sending Christian on missions here and there.  When Christian was going to be sent so far away, for such a long time, Emma insisted that she also go along.  The first book is mostly about the trials of the trail and the finding of, what the scouts believed, was a perfect location for the colony at Willapa, Washington.  They found out that the very large trees took very long to cut down to make houses, so that when the first wave of Bethel immigrants got there, there were only a couple of houses ready for them.  The rainy weather was also very disheartening, and Wilhelm railed against the scouts for their decision to build there.   He blamed Emma for their choice.  Wilhelm took most of the people on with him to Oregon where he bought land and called it Aurora Mills after his favorite daughter.  Emma and her husband’s family stayed on in Willapa for several years. 

The second book is split between Willapa and Aurora with chapters from Wilhelm’s wife, Louisa’s point of view in Aurora, and Emma’s continuing story in Willapa.  Emma’s husband drowns tragically and in her grief, she makes disastrous decisions for her family.  In the end, she moves to Aurora and rejoins the faith community there.

The third book chronicles her attempts to become accepted, heal, and give to others.  The leader has the power to crush her spirit by taking her boys away from her, but she learns to make the best of the situation and find ways to bless others who are hurting.  Emma’s struggle is between being independent and yet needing others.  Perhaps each reader can relate to that in their own lives. At the end, she has come to peace with herself and the community she lives in.

This trilogy is very true to history, though of course where the history was not known, Jane Kirkpatrick’s imagination comes in.  At the end of each book, she gives credit to the old Aurora Colony Historical Museum for all the information, documents, artifacts, etc. that made the story true to life.  There is a glossary of German words and expressions that is helpful for understanding the language used occasionally in the book.  Each book starts with a map of the areas, and a listing of the characters and their relationships.  I found the author’s notes and acknowledgments very interesting, as she told what was fact, and what she had added to the story. 

I enjoyed reading these books because I am a fan of historical fiction.  However, there are 1168 pages in the trilogy!  It takes a while to read the whole thing.  WaterBrook Multnomah Publishers and Edelweiss provided me with a complimentary e-copy of this book for review purposes.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the Blogging for Books 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.”

As promised: Albertson Family Portrait December 2013!

This is how we looked on December 27, 2013 at Penney's Portrait Studio!  We were thankful all of our family got to be together for a few days!

2013 Year in Review Christmas Letter

December16, 2013

Christmas Greetings to our dear Family and Friends,

We Albertsons are praising the Lord for another year He has given us to serve and enjoy Him and others He has placed in our lives.  We are all in good health, as far as we know, and God is the Source of every good and perfect gift we have received.

Some highlights of 2013:

January through April, Jason and Emily enjoyed being in CHESS (Colorado Heritage Education School System) homeschool choir and orchestra.  Janet was blessed to be able to be study hall supervisor during their class times.      

In May, we participated with the Johnstown Historical Society’s Tea at Two.  Jason was asked to play piano music for a couple of hours before and during it, which he loved doing!  He got to wear tails and a top hat, provided by the speaker at the tea.   

We were thrilled to get to meet and have in our home some of our missionary heroes, the Phillip Dickinson family.  The time together was too short, but all enjoyable.   

Then also in May we went on a trip to Missouri to see our loved ones there. Jeffrey came home from God’s Bible School in Cincinnati for the summer and was grateful to be able to work at Johnstown Ace Hardware again with Jason and Beth.

June brought the Christian Home Educators of Colorado Conference.  Emily signed up to have a booth in the Youth Vendor Hall where she sold her photo card sets.   Rowen and Janet took the time to go to everyday of the conference with her where we enjoyed the workshops and speakers, and browsing in the curriculum booths.  Emily has named her business For His Glory and Honor Photography, because she intends to give God the glory for both the talent He has given her and the beauty He has created that she photographs.  Her photography website is: http://forhisgloryandhonorphotography.blogspot.com 
The conference was a great growth opportunity for Emily because she got to meet the public and get comfortable selling her product.  She sold almost every card that she took to the conference!  Several sets she sold out of and she had to make more for ones who ordered them.

In July we were blessed to go to McPherson, Kansas for the Kansas State Holiness Association camp meeting.  Beth and Jeffrey missed out on it because of the need to work, but Jason, Emily, Rowen,and Janet truly enjoyed it.  We got to see Tim, Brenda, and Charissa briefly when they came to the camp also.

Mid-August, we said good bye to Jeffrey and Jason when they took off for Cincinnati for Jeffrey’s junior year, and Jason’s freshman year of college.  They are roommates and have enjoyed being family away from home.  Janet made them quilts to give their room a color theme and touch of home.  We miss them, but try to videochat with them about once a week.  The Lord has helped both of them as they carry heavy school loads and work 15 hours a week in the work study program.  Jeffrey has continued in the Prayer Station and Jason is in a Personal Witnessing Team for his Christian Service assignment.  We look forward to them being home for Christmas from December 19-January 4.

In April, we heard of an opportunity to bless someone by opening our home to a college student.  Nicodemus Connor came and visited us for a weekend to get acquainted, and decided to let us “adopt” him for the upcoming school year.  He lived with us from September through November, and plans to return in January for the next semester.  He gave Emily piano lessons, and tried to fill the gaps in our family of not having any“ Albertson Boys” at home anymore.  We especially enjoy hearing him play the piano, which helps us not miss Jason quite as much.

In August, Janet flew to Joplin, Missouri and drove back with Randy and Joy and the boys the next day, helping them make the move to Federal Heights, Colorado.  They are now living in the parsonage next door to the church where we were involved in children’s ministry for several years.  The church had been closed since December 31 last year, so Randy has reopened the church and been having regular services on Sundays and Tuesday evenings. Some of our children from before are still in the neighborhood and were glad to come back to church and bring their friends.  We are praying that their parents will start coming too.  There are two older gentlemen who regularly attend.  Our family goes down on Sunday morning to help all we can.  There have been several others visit.  Each Sunday morning has a song service using song books.  (We are teaching the children how to find page numbers and sing songs with verses.  Apparently this is not taught in school anymore?) The children are encouraged to participate in thanking God for helping them and requesting prayer for their needs.  Randy preaches a shortened sermon appropriate for children and adults, and then we have children’s songs and a story for them.  Every age can be ministered to in this service.

There has been a lot of work to do on the church and parsonage.  Rowen has helped Randy quite a bit with putting siding on the church, framing around the windows, putting new front door in, and Randy painted it.  Randy also painted the house.  The basement rooms had to be dry-walled and painted, some rewiring, and the house totally re-plumbed.  So it has been busy around there!

We are enjoying getting to see our grandsons often and be in their lives.  Their family is expecting a little girl near the end of April!  We are excited for them to have a girl.

In September, Emily got braces.  In July our favorite orthodontist (that Jeffrey had) had a Facebook contest for free braces.  A dear friend nominated Emily!  All of our friends and their friends voted for Emily and she won by a landslide!  We are so blessed! She is doing well with them. We are hoping when her teeth are straight, that she will have many less migraine headaches.  We took her to two neurologists this year who tried different drugs which did not help at all.  She hates being on medicines so she is being tough and eating lots of peppermint.

Emily enjoyed being in Choir and Orchestra again with CHESS fall semester.  Janet again was blessed to be study hall supervisor when she was in class. Nicodemus was also in the choir class. The end of semester concert was excellent, and we enjoyed getting to meet Nicodemus's parents.

In October our family helped with the Johnstown Historical Society Quilt and Craft Show.  It is always a big deal and a lot of work, but rewarding too. 

A week later, we took off for a road trip to Cincinnati in honor of our 30th anniversary.  We got to see our Joplin family on the way there and our Columbia, Mo. family on our way back, and enjoyed being with our Profitt relatives and Jeffrey and Jason, and many of their friends in Cincinnati.

Janet was honored to be chosen to work as Early Election Judge, which gave her 8 days of work for the election department. During that time, Beth finished up her time living away from home in her nanny job and moved back home.  She continued to help babysit a couple more times in November.  She learned a lot in that responsibility, but she has been glad for a month to just work one job (Ace) and seek God’s will for her future.  Since our October trip, she has been asking God when she should go to God’s Bible School.  Now her decision is made to go January 4 when Jeffrey and Jason go back.  We will miss her dreadfully, but we have always encouraged our children to “Do the next thing” and at this time in her life, college is the next thing.

Emily is working hard in her 10th grade year of high school.  It is comforting that we have at least a couple more years before our nest is completely empty.  Emily was a babysitter for our favorite family during the summer, and since September has been babysitting about four hours a week for another family.  She has continued her drawing skills and completed her first drawing for pay! Photography, drawing, and the violin have been her passions, but she is also enjoying piano.

We are thankful for Rowen’s continued employment with Carestream where he is valued as the only microscopist in Colorado and works on jobs that come in from all over the country and other countries also. His diabetes seems to be stable and he works hard for our family.

Janet has had good health and continuing regrowth of hair.  She has made five quilts this year and helped Beth finish one she had started in 2011.

Tim, Brenda, and Charissa are coming next week and then all of our family will be together for a few days for Christmas. We intend to have a family portrait made while we are all together.

We are thankful that all of our children love the Lord.  God has been so good to our family through the years and we know He will continue to be our faithful God.

We pray that each of our family and friends will feel His presence and live close to Him.

Merry Christmas!

The Johnstown Albertsons:  Rowen, Janet, Jeffrey, Beth, Jason, and Emily

PS Be watching for the new family portrait!

Thanksgiving

 One thing we are thankful for is time with our grandsons!  This was taken the night of the C.H.E.S.S. concert that Randy, Joy and the boys came to.

 We were blessed to have our friend Augie spend time with us around Thanksgiving.

We played  Ticket to Ride with Randy, Joy, and Augie.  Randy and Micah won.  Augie also played many games of chess with Randy and Emily. Emily finally beat him! We told him he had taught her only too well!!

Sole Hope Party

Friday evening, Beth, Emily and Janet went to some homeschool friends' house for a Sole Hope Party.  It was a fun evening of visiting with like minded girls and mothers while we cut out shoes to be sewn for barefoot children in Uganda.  Jiggers is a sand flea parasite that burrows in children's bare feet and causes great distress, pain, and eventually not being able to walk.  Sole Hope is a way to help these precious children, through shoes, medical supplies and intervention, education, and jobs.  Our family decided to contribute to this ministry as a Birthday gift to Jesus this year.
Matthew 25:40:  Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.  (Jesus)

 Makenna, Nicole, Beth, Janet, April, and Bonnie

 Raegan, Natalie, and Emily

 Emily and her friend Eliza

 Some of the shoe kits we worked on that evening.

End of semester concert 11-22-13

On November 22, Emily participated in the end of C.H.E.S.S. semester concert.  First was the Heritage Ensemble.  We were up in the balcony so we could get good pictures.

 Here is the link for the ensemble part of the concert:  Heritage Ensemble
Next was the Heritage Chorale.  Emily is in the back row toward the right.  Our college boarder, "Bartholomew" is left side back row.

 Because of being in the Ensemble, Emily got to wear a black dress instead of black skirt and white top like most of the other girls.

 Here is the link for the choir part of the concert: Heritage Chorale  One thing you will notice is that several of the songs are in Latin.  This was a new experience for Emily!  The Lord helped and all the kids did a great job.

Cincinnati happenings on our trip

The first thing we did on our 30th anniversary, was go see my old friend, Retha Elger.  (Not that she is old, but we have been friends since 1969!)  She lives in Kentucky, close to Creation Museum, where she volunteers.  She showed us a lot of her quilts and crafts, and we took these pictures before we left.

After visiting Retha, we went to the Creation Museum.  We put many pictures on this blog the last time we visited there, so here are just a few.  The next seven were taken by someone at the museum in front of a green screen.  All the backgrounds were added in to our pictures, and we bought the CD.

     These next ones are taken in the garden on the swinging bridge.

 We got to visit a few of our relatives while we were "stationed" in the Cincinnati area.  Of course, the main ones we went to see were Jason and Jeffrey.  :)

We spent two evenings visiting with our boys in the hotel. 

Part of our time with Jason was spent in the library where he works three evenings a week.

 Since Jason was busy working, Jeffrey went with us to see Adam and Valerie Profitt, Aubrey and Annie one evening.

                      Lisa Profitt and Eben

 Simon Profitt really liked for us to play games with him.  His big brother, Elliott was at school, so we didn't get to spend time with him.  His daddy, Aaron, was on a trip so we missed seeing him.

 Simon was the most frequent winner of every game we played!

 My sister Brenda Owens and niece Rebekah were in the area attending Youth Challenge.  They wanted us to meet them at Jungle Jim's (a huge international grocery store and tourist trap) for a short visit.  We visited as fast as we could for the time we had.  Whoever heard of going to a grocery store to visit relatives?

 We went to Jason's Symphonic Wind and String Ensemble (SWSE) class and really enjoyed that!

 (Jason has gotten to travel with SWSE the last two weekends and loves performing when the Lord helps and blesses.)

 We enjoyed hearing from Dr. Dan and Martha Glick about their recent trip to Israel.

 We all enjoyed visiting with Mikah Litchfield, someone we have known "virtually" for years.  Mikah took Beth and Emily to several of her classes and she took time for us several mealtimes.

 One day, Jeffrey took us to the Carew Tower in downtown Cincinnati.  This is what the building looked like from below.

 We went up a 45 story elevator, got out and went on another elevator for 3 more stories, then climbed up another story by stairs, and came out on the observation deck on top.

 This is looking out at the city of Cincinnati from the top.

 This picture has God's Bible School and College in it left of center. 

 In case you can't find it, we zoomed in for you.  Chapel, classrooms and boys' dorm building on left, white administration building in middle, girls' dorm and Academy building on right, dining hall, classrooms building foreground right, and library nearly hidden in the trees foreground center.  Music building across the street from chapel did not make it in the picture.

 This picture shows one of the bridges we drove on several times a day going from Ohio to Kentucky to where our hotel was.

 Zoomed in shows our hotel

 In the background of this picture is the only structure in Cincinnati taller than the one we are standing on.  It was a cold, windy, spitting snow/sleet type of day up there.

 This trip was all about our 30th anniversary, so we had to take pictures of just us every chance we got!

 One day the girls and we went to the William Howard Taft Childhood Home Museum.  It was very interesting, but extremely warm in there.  It was refreshing to go outside and get cooled off.

  Several mornings we ate breakfast at our hotel, overlooking the Ohio River.

 All good things must wind down to an end, and we started home.  We drove from Cincy to Columbia, Mo. on Friday, arriving at Marlene and Scott's house for supper.  Then they took us to a church Lyndell was speaking at in the evening.  We were so glad we were privileged to be there for that.  We pray that the message he gave and stories he told will be brought to the minds again and again, so that fruit will grow.

 After that, we went over to Lyndell and Sharen's for brownies and ice cream.  Pictured below:  Scott, Marlene, Sharen, Lyndell, and Austin.  Austin had been dressed as the school mascot at a game that night, so he had to cover up his "bad hair day" with a baseball cap.

Counting Sherry I saw in Joplin, Brenda in Cincinnati, Marlene and Lyndell in Columbia, I saw all my siblings on this trip except for Wesley.  Florida was just a little out of the way, or we would've seen him!
We came the rest of the way home on Saturday October 26 and were thankful for every safe mile and every joy and blessing of our trip.