Happenings in June 2015

Our grandson, James Aquila turned 8 years old on June 11.  On June 13, we went to the mountains west of Boulder to celebrate his birthday and have a nice mountain drive, picnic, and hike.  Here is Quil.

and Micah

Quil and Jonathan with the birthday cake

Grandpa with Jewelyn riding high

Joy helping Jewelyn to climb mountains!

Rowen and Janet

Emily with the nephews and niece after our hike

Randy's family

Randy and Joy

Jonathan and Jewelyn making bubbles

 The boys playing blocks on a Sunday afternoon

 Aunt Elizabeth and Jewelyn

 Rowen and Randy on Father's Day.  They are actually the same height.  The ground is sloped there.  They are grinning because Emily had just taken pictures with their positions reversed and Rowen was much taller.  And oh, yeah, because the photographer always says, "Smile!"

 Jonathan and Micah in the Book Nook Corner.  Micah lost his first tooth in June!

 Elizabeth

 Aunt Elizabeth and Micah and Quil.  Quil has on one of his birthday shirts.

During June 18-20, Emily and Janet went to the Christian Home Educators of Colorado Conference.  On Thursday, the Vendor Hall did not open until 5 p.m., so we were able to go to different workshops during the day.  Randy and Joy were there also with their family, and we helped them out by having Jewelyn with us.  She was a good girl and even let Grandma take notes during this workshop!

 This was in the evening after the Vendor Hall was open.  Emily was in the Youth Entrepreneur Hall for the third year, selling her beautiful photography cards.  She had an 8x10 picture for sale too, of the Pacific Ocean, which sold on Saturday.  She had good sales during the three days.

 This was the young vendor directly behind us, Natalia, whose family is from Russia and still speaks Russian to each other.  She made crocheted dolls and other things to sell.

 Jewelyn and Grandma

 Jewelyn playing with some toys by our booth.

 This is a Saturday picture of our booth, taken by the mom across the way from us (pictured below).  On Saturday, Elizabeth took off work to babysit QMJ and J, so no Jewelyn pictures for Saturday!  The notebook on the left of the table shows all the sets of cards that Emily has for sale, which are tied into cute bundles on the table, (and in the box hidden under the table).  The mountain set was out as a sample (unbundled) so customers could see what the set was really like.  On the right side of the table, we had little cards (Thinking of You, Praying for You, and Thank You) that people could choose their own sets.  The blue dish was full of 135 of those little cards when we came, and we only had five to bring home at the end.  They were very popular!  The two open books show Emily's photography--not necessarily her card sets.  Emily's business name (For His Glory and Honor Photography) expresses her desire that her gift of photography bring glory and honor to God for His beautiful creation.  Rowen also came on Saturday and helped Emily at the booth and got to attend workshops.  It was very enjoyable.

 We visited quite a bit with Kendyl and her mother, Nita, at their booth across from us.  Kendyl is the painter of these beautiful Aspen scenes.  One interesting thing about the paintings is that the tree trunks are all torn from America the Beautiful sheet music!  Kendyl sold a lot of her beautiful paintings.

Our trip to Iowa and Cincinnati for Jeffrey's graduation

On May 13,we traveled to Jeffrey's graduation in Cincinnati.

Jason preparing to play for the Friday evening service of Commissioning Weekend.

SWSE praying before playing the prelude before service.

Jason was blessed to sing bass in a double quartet as part of SWSE this year.

On Thursday night, Jeffrey took Rowen and Janet on a long walk to the Purple People Bridge.  On Friday night, we did it again with the whole family, only a shorter walk.  This picture is one of the bridges we saw as we walked on the PPB. This is the Ohio River, which we crossed many times since our motel was in Kentucky.

 While we were at the Purple People Bridge, the Cincinnati Reds game ended and as always, there was a spectacular fireworks show.

Graduation morning.  We got there early to get the seats we wanted.

Jeffrey in his cap and gown before the service.

Retha Elger joined us and was part of our family for the day.

Jeffrey coming in during the Processional.

Jeffrey receiving his Bachelor of Arts in Intercultural Studies and World Missions from President Michael Avery.  Dr. Aaron Profitt is pictured between them.

Jeffrey turning the tassel.

Jason receiving the best Greek 1 student award from Dr. Alan Brown. 

Zooming in on Jeffrey's happy smile during graduation.

This is the picture scanned from a GBSC letter we got which shows the graduating class better than our picture below it.  Jeffrey is near the top right.

The graduates tossing their caps in a traditional photo. The burgandy gowns indicate AA degrees, and the black BA degrees.

Jeffrey after graduation

Jeffrey with his proud and thankful parents

Jeffrey and the young lady he is courting, Lisa 

The Albertsons who were there for Jeffrey's graduation

The Albertsons joined by Lisa

Jeffrey flanked by Dr. Allan Brown and Dr. Phil Brown

Janet and her boys

Jason and his friend, Karen Olson

Jeffrey and President Dr. Avery

Jeffrey and his mentor, Divisional Chair, and friend, Dr. Dan Glick

After graduation, we drove to Goshen, Ohio where Mark and Kristal Becker had graciously prepared for us to have Jeffrey's graduation party.  The Beckers are a vital part of the Christian Nation Church that Jeffrey (and Elizabeth) have attended while they lived in Cincinnati.  Even though it was quite a drive there, Jeffrey wanted his party close to where his church folks live, so they would be more able to attend.  In the photo below, Brother Mark, Jeffrey, Rowen, Retha, Elizabeth, Lisa, and Joanna are preparing the food table, or supervising.  :)

Brother and Sister Becker and Rowen

The Alexanders meeting Janet.  They have been special friends to Jeffrey and Elizabeth.

In this picture, Amy Weddle, Amit Dutta (with his head hiding behind Amy), Jeffrey Paulus, Sister Eisenhart (pastor's wife), Corrie Becker, Rachel Pohl, and Bethany Probst are sitting under the pavilion.  Even though it was raining off and on all afternoon, almost forty people came to the party.  We appreciated each one who came and celebrated with us!  It showed the value they placed on Jeffrey's friendship.  Others had wanted to come and weren't able to.

  We took this picture before the chapel filled with people.

Pictures of Jeffrey and Lisa

Lisa and Jeffrey visiting in front of the Girls Dorm

The Sunday afternoon service was dedicated to student ministries.  Here Jason is talking about the students who go to Connorsville, Indiana to preach, sing, teach, and do music each Sunday this past school year.  Jason and his friend Patrick will continue preaching there throughout the summer.

We posed in our "match-match" sets in the front of the chapel between services.

Just the Albertsons

The Albertsons plus Lisa

The Albertsons plus Joanna

We enjoyed all the music of the God's Bible School & College choir, SWSE, and quartets!

The Commissioning Service Sunday night closed with all of the Board and Faculty of GBSC and the graduates' parents praying for the graduates.

After the Sunday evening service, we went over to Aaron and Lisa Profitt's home for snacks and visiting.

On Monday, May 18, we helped Jeffrey pack up his dorm room and load the vans.  Then we left Cincinnati and started for home.

 Jeffrey and Lisa will be attending Summer Institute of Linguistics all of June and July in Grand Forks, ND at University of North Dakota.  After that, they will be working together as Youth Leaders at Omega Church in Oskaloosa, Iowa.  It will give them a year of working together before finding what God has for them to do next.  A missionary family has graciously given Jeffrey the privilege of living in and caring for their home while they go to the mission field in Africa.  We are excited for the way the Lord is leading and providing.

After a SWSE music and work trip to Grand Cayman, Jason is back in the U.S. and will be working this summer at Higher Ground Conference and Retreat Center in West Harrison, Indiana. He will work hard and keep very busy as a grounds keeper and anything else they need him to do, plus preaching at Connorsville every other Sunday.