A Trip!

I'm so excited that I get to fly directly from Denver to Vancouver on Tuesday, June 14th! I'm going up to Sarah's wedding, which is June 18th, Ernie's 62nd B'day. Sadly, he can't come up for the wedding since he couldn't work for almost 10 weeks in March and April because of the snow and rain. It made the roads impassable, so he did odd machine jobs around here.
I'll take him out for dinner in Denver on Monday nite, where we have to stay, since I need to be at the airport early Tues. I got him an 8x10 picture of me and the grandsons in a nice frame. I hope he likes it! I can write this on here ahead of time, because he doesn't read blogs! :)
So I'll see some of you bloggers soon, and others will have to wait till I get back. Blessings to you all.

June 5th

Well, today will be a fun day in Grand Junction. Wade, Wes, Arlin, and friend Matt, are playing in the King of the Court volley ball tournament. Jenn and I go with the kids around noon, so we don't have to sit there all day. It's supposed to be up in the 80's today, so that will be great! The guys will get a good sunburn.
We had our homeschool graduation yesterday, and it's so nice and personal. The parents hand the diploma to their daughter or son, and give a bit of a speech. I know it's scary for the parents sometimes, but it displays a bit of the relationship the parents have with their kids. There were about 10 or 11 that graduated yesterday, and some of them were good friends of Wes' and Arls'. They went to a couple grad parties (sort of like and open house afterwards) It's just such a great homeschool association in this area!! We are blessed.
Sure hope you've all checked out the cute pictures Jenn had taken of Kaden's first B'day at a photography place. He's so loveable! The place to see it is: Once Upon A Time in Colorado.blogspot.com. :)
Well, I'm looking forward to flying up to Vancouver, BC from Denver on Tues, the 14th fo June!! Going up there for a niece's wedding, Sarah Neufeld. Hope to have a good time with my sisters and brother's families.
P.S. No one has told me where Macedonia is! Re: last entry in my blog!!

We're all together! 

Finally digging in 

1st B'day 

A wonderful weekend

Yes, it was great to have Mark and Tamara up from Sante Fe! They brought a friend, Katisa, (Kate in English) who is in the same Master's program as Mark. She is from Macedonia! So, I'd like you all to find it on the map, and tell me where it is! It sure is different from where it was in Bible times. So please comment! :)
I guess we celebrated Victoria Day with all you Canadians! Mark and Tamara leave at noon, today, so that's what makes the weekend special. Next weekend is Memorial Day, the biggie here in the US. (GO! Heidi!)
Yesterday was Kaden's first B'day party, even tho his B'day was Tues., the 17th. It was fun to see him dig into his cake, the cookie that Cookie Monster loves! The kids had to put his hands into the cake to get a taste of it, then away he went! I'll post some of the pics.
The older kids played volleyball for quite awhile. It was good to have all our fam together! The Kastendiecks were in CO Sprgs. for one of Jenn's brother's softball games, so they missed it. :( Three of Jenn's older siblings were there, tho. Wade got a video of most of it.
It was over 90 degrees here on Sat!! We got hot watching the homeschool softball tournament! But Arls was on the team that won! Ernie was a good score-keeper. Sunday afternoon, Tamara and I took Kate to the Black Canyon. It was great to see how impressed she was.
On Friday nite, when we were all relaxing here after the kids got here, Keagan was talking to Kate (Date in his vocab!), and asked her if she was tired. She said, "Yes". He asked "Why are you tired? You didn't do anything today." She got a kick out of that! He's pretty clear in his speech, except for his 'k, g, and c's'! It's fun. I'm Dama!
Well, have a great week, and HAPPY B'DAY, CHERIE!

Mark, Tamara and friend, Kate from Macedonia 

Okay!

So, why did that one picture come up sideways when it looked right in bloggerbot? Just don't know these things!
Well, Sheila and girls (in the following pictures) just went back up the mountain. Her husband Kent went overseas, to Pakistan !! to be with the DTS, and then take three of them into Nepal and Lhasa, Tibet! That is where the focus is for YWAM-Cimarron! Their DTS grad will be June 24th, so that's why I want to be back from Sarah Neufeld's wedding that week. It all works out!
Well, I've got to get ready to go for lunch with a couple friends. Then I have to make lasagne for the company tomorrow (Tamara and Mark!), and that also a picnic at the softball games. A fun weekend ahead!

This is Hannah with Kaden. Hannah is the third daughter of Kent and Sheila Martin who come down from YWAM and spend some time with us. 

Kaden loving his lunch! 

Natalie on the left, and Katie to the right of Keagan are two of the Martin girls that call me 'Grandma Lil'. For Katie, it's Grandma Yil. :) 

Looking forward . . . .

Yes, Mark and Tamara come up from Sante Fe this weekend, bringing a friend named Kate. She is in some of Mark's classes at St. John's college. So they will show her a bit of Colorado, coming up thru Pagosa Springs, Durango, and Ouray. Then on Sat. we go to Black Canyon, and maybe play some softball. Arlin has a tourney, and they need some adults to make up a team.
Then Sunday is church and Kaden's B'day party! Now that I know how to post a picture, I'll try and do that again. We're going to be at a park with lots of playground equipment, so it should be fun! Then Mark, Tamara and Kate leave on Monday morning.
So Terran and Naomi will come from Fruita, so we'll all be together! Praise the Lord!

One of Keagan's 1st rides at Carnival 

May Update

I better write again, or you'll all think we're still in snow! That's true for the logging crew, but I'll tell about them later.
It's so good to read all the nieces' and nephews' blogs! So good to keep up with you all.
Well, it's supposed to be 80 degrees here today, but I don't think it will reach that. We did have a lovely day yesterday! It was quite warm, and you could get a sunburn if you were in the sun. We went to a Mumu, which is a Papua New Guinean feast! It was a fund-raiser for a family of six, where the husband is PNG, and the wife is American. They are going back to PNG for a few weeks, and then will join the King's Kids outreach in New Zealand. Needless to say, a family needs to raise alot of money!
But the way they did it, was to feed us all! There were about 100 people there, and they had roasted chicken, sweet potatoes, corn, collard greens, and regular potatoes all in one huge pile, wrapped in foil, and roasted in the ground with hot rocks!! It traditionally is wrapped in leaves, but in the US you use foil. :) It was very good.
Ernie missed it all because he and Wes went back to work after 10 weeks off! BECAUSE OF SNOW! Hard to believe that, but it's like the spring breakup time down here. They are at quite a high altitude, also, so that's what kept it soft for so long. Ernie got to fix some machinery, and also was forced to do some. :-) His Dodge 1 ton had the transmission fail while he was hauling his Cat from one place to another. So he had that fixed, with a rebuilt tranny from Portland, and then found out he had to have the clutch fixed, and the rear brakes. So it was a good time to be 'down'.
We had a most lovely Spring Tea at our church on Sat. Hostesses set their own table with a theme, their own dishes and decorations. Each table was so different, but so lovely! We had some special music and a special speaker after a fruit and muffin brunch.
Saturday we were in Grand Junction for a two-on-two voball tournament. Yes, the Goodwin bros won. Wade and Wes are great as a twosome! I guess they need to challenge some of the volball cousins! Arlin played with a friend, and he sure had the sore leg cramps afterwards! It was fun to hang out together with Wade, Jenn and boys, and we went to Olive Garden to celebrate.
There also was a carnival at the Mesa Mall, and Keagan had his first rides there! Sure was fun to watch! If I can figure out how to load them to a blog (following Cara's instructions) I'll show you!
Okay, will write more in a week or so.

Cold Colorado!

I just love reading everyone else's blog, that I don't get to mine too often. Sorry, but I'll try harder. Esp. IF we get a new computer! The Lord blessed us with a tax refund, so maybe tomorrow we can shop for a new one. Any brand you guys recommend? I just want it for blogging, :) emailing, digital pics, and printing out stuff. So nothing fancy, but HANDY!
It sure has been cool lately. Ernie and I went to Champions on Ice at the Pepsi Center in Denver Sunday afternoon, and when we got to Silverthorne (on I-70), it was snowing! So I had to wait a few hrs. on Monday before I could get thru the ice and snow on the roads with our 2 wheel drive van.
The time is running out!!