Fall Soccer

Saturday Wesley had an Alumni soccer game with Eagle sports…and he was the Alumni!  That’s hard to believe.  Wesley played two years for Eagles sports while he was in high school.  It was fun to see him play again.  The game was scoreless for the first half.  Then it was tied up one to one.  And can you believe in the last minute of the game, the current Eagles team scored!

I always loved it when the team circled around to pray before each game.  This one was no different!

Coach Felix Vega and Donavan McNew

Here’s my best attempt at an action shot, that’s Wes with the white sleeves. 

  This is Landon Tucker and Wes.  Landon is in our youth group at church and Wes has been helping with the youth.  I guess Landon was supposed to defend Wes. It seemed every time I looked at them, there they were….

     

I think he hurt his finger??!

 

I always liked this park. it is so pretty.  Especially in the fall. Though Wes says the field is awful to play on.  I can remember the weather being unpredictable during fall soccer.  I have a memory of a big rain storm at this park, then snow and then sunshine, all in one game!  But look at the beautiful trees!

 

Some Days it is Worth going to the Mailbox!

Look what came in the mail for us!

    

So…we are going, all the way to Brooklyn, NY to celebrate!  I can hardly wait!

(Andrea made the cute invitation)

Birthday Days

I must confess that I missed a lot of family Birthdays this fall.  I think I fell behind when Bible Study was getting under way and when Pop went home to be with the Lord.  Not an excuse and I do feel badly.  So Solomon’s and Werner’s, I do apologize!  Will it make you feel bad if I show off some cards I did get made to give?  Lame, I know---

This is my Mom’s Birthday Card, outside and inside.  It is also my first gatefold card!

 

This is Robin’s Birthday Card.  I took the idea form the Stampin’ Up catalog.  I never thought of brown being a “Birthday” color, but I really like the way it looks.

This is not a Birthday card but a long overdue Baby Congrats card!

 

This card was for Becky. Did you hear, Kenny popped the question and Becky answered “yes”! The special date is June 11, 2011!

HaPpY bIrThDaY MoM!

Yesterday was my Mom’s Birthday.  She turned 78 years old!!  I don’t very often think of my Mom as a little girl, but she was once!  As well as a teenager and young wife and new Mom!  

I think this is kind of cute…. a couple different times when she was asked how old she was going to be, she lowered her voice as if she were keeping a big secret and slowly answered, “78”.  Then added in a bit of disbelief, “that’s pretty close to 80”!  It certainly is!

          

I think the top picture looks like my sister Robin and the bottom one like my sister JoEllen!

Here’s my Mom years ago when she and Dad were still farming.  Those baskets are full of eggs.  I do not really have any “farm” memories as my folks moved to Colorado when I was three. So I always love hearing stories about  life on the farm.  Many times I heard  how my Mom married my Dad and moved to the farm, not really knowing how to cook.  She then had to prepare big meals to feed him and at times the extra help!  (My Dad used to eat five eggs for breakfast)!!

Mom and Dad have lived through a lot of tough things.  Both my parents were growing up during the Great Depression years.  My Mom lost both of her parents before she graduated high school.  She also had a brain tumor as a teen.

One experience my Mom had as a teenager has effected my life greatly.  Her friend Darlene invited her to a Youth for Christ Rally with Billy Graham in Des Moines, IA.  When the invitation was given at the end of the rally, it was really a challenge for youth to surrender their lives for the mission field.  But my Mom said she just followed her friend and was taken to a separate room for some counseling.  When the counselor came in she asked if there was anyone in that room who had never asked Jesus to be their Savior.  That was my Mom.   So someone took her aside and showed her from the Bible how she could know for sure that her sins were forgiven and introduced her to a personal relationship with  Jesus. 

I know that because my Mom (and later my Dad also) trusted Christ as their Savior, my life has been very blessed!  My Mom had six children and also worked full time.  I know she fretted because the house was never as “clean” as she liked or because things never seemed to be as organized or run as smooth as she liked.  But what I remember is we ate together as a family…breakfast and supper.  We went to church as a family, faithfully, where my Mom taught Sunday School.  She also had JOY club in our home and one of my playmates was saved as a result.  My Mom sewed almost all of our dresses for church and special occasions.  And many of my other outfits as well.  My Mom has always helped others. My Mom has and still is a prayer warrior. I can remember walking into the bedroom unexpectedly and finding her and on her knees.  It was also my Mom who introduced me to Bible Study Fellowship!  What a blessing her 78 years of life has been!

   

Its become a kind of tradition that Robin, Mom and I get together to celebrate our Birthdays by going to lunch or tea.  Robin and Mom both have October Birthdays.  Last year we got started going to breakfast together at the Original Pancake House.  And we also started letting Dad tag along with us!  I guess this is a tradition too; Robin likes to bring a party hat or crown for the Birthday girl.  This year Mom got a lovely flowered headband!

^{Not the best picture of Robin and I, there was too much light behind us.  We meant to take another one later on but forgot.}

“Therefore we do not lose heart.  Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.  For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

II Corinthians 4:16-18

 

Nellie’s Makeover Completed

Engines and mechanics are important to a car but not very exciting, unless you understand them.  But the interior is pretty…kind of like a new outfit.  So I saved the best for last. 

This is Wayne.  He did the interior work on Nellie.  Wayne is our neighbor. Wally met Wayne through business.  M&R, Wally’s company reroofed Wayne’s house.  In conversation, Wally discovered Wayne did upholstery work.  He did a great job on Nellie. 

The seats were covered with original 1964 Ford Fabric

The headliner…we need to find a new dome light cover

Yes, I have air!

Wayne carpeted  the trunk and made a cover for the spare tire

So Nellie looks great and she is close to running great.  Some of the bugs we have had to work out.  Remember the issue with the transmission? The casing was bad.  It had to be rebuilt from the parts of the two we had.  It took about three trips back to Midas to resolve the exhaust leaks.  One major hurdle left is that the new engine has a leak in the valve cover and oil pan.  That is under warranty at least. 

Well, there’s the makeover story.  I keep thinking after all the work and cost, I hope I don’t have an accident!  It is fun to drive Nellie! Sunday at church, several of the older gentlemen were giving her a good look!  Driving down the road I usually find someone looking her over.  Last week as I was pulling out of Starbuck’s drive thru, a woman came out of the store, calling to me as I was pulling away.  She was so excited because she had a car like Nellie when she was 16!  (That was a first!)  To top it off, Wally has discovered that in 2011 the Falcon Nationals are going to be in Steamboat Springs.  He is getting excited thinking about going…and entering Nellie in the “daily driver” category! 

fb free for two weeks!

I knew I was probably (weak confession here) spending too much time on fb.  I would justify it like this---

• I want to keep up with family that live far away
• I have reconnected with old college or military friends
• I know more about people in my church from fb than I do from going to church together
• I get to see pictures

Unfortunately I was settling for the good instead of receiving the best.  Mostly because I am just not very well disciplined.  So I would go to check my email in the morning and wind up on fb and then wonder what happened to my morning and why I did not get more accomplished.  Then I heard a podcast from Revive Our Hearts offering a 30-Day Media Reduction challenge.  I felt pricked to take part but did nothing about that.  A few weeks later Andrea blogged about that challenge.  I made a half hearted commitment to do it with her.  But I could not believe how many times I “just took a peek” at fb!  I am very fickle sometimes. 

So then the Lord just brought it straight home to me…”could this be an idol”?  We are studying the book of Isaiah this year in BSF and the people of Judah were being confronted by God, among other things, for their idolatry.  I rationalized that fb was not an idol because I still had my quiet time.  Then Alethea, our teaching leader gave this as a definition of an idol…anything that I put the word “I” or “My” in front of. I immediately thought of “my time” and specifically “my time on fb”. Well, maybe it is an idol??  Still, very little action. 

So the next Sunday while we were watching the Broncos, I had my laptop out.  I needed  to do some things on line for BSF.  But first…just real quick…I was going to check my fb.  I was flattered to be getting a message from someone I knew in my youth group…who never before talked with me on fb.  I opened the message and things started happening to my lap top and just like the Broncos, in a matter of minutes, everything was gone!  Unbelievable!  (It seems we had never gotten around to getting bsafe put on my laptop.  Thankfully though, I did have carbonite!)

Wally was very good to take my laptop in right away and even paid extra for a fast diagnosis.  I had it back the next day.  So it was a hard-learned lesson, not to mention expensive, but I finally was willing to give up fb. The truth is Wally has never been too crazy about fb.  The day after my laptop meltdown, he heard some things about it on talk radio.  So we just decided to part ways with fb!

You know what, after more than two weeks…and not even taking a little peek… I have not missed it that much. All those reasons for wanting to be on fb…

• Most of my family hardly gets on fb.  email and the phone are still the preferred methods
• The reconnection of old friends and school mates was also weak.  We are just as connected on email
• I don’t have to know the day to day comments of my church friends to stay connected…that’s what prayer and fellowship is about
• My nephew’s wife sent pictures to me in the mail this week of their girls.  And it was fun to get them in the mail!
• I can still stay connected to those in fb because Andrea linked my fb to my email.  If someone does want to talk to me I can see it without having to  “be on fb”!
• I might miss a little bit but I really like my blog and the blogs that I like.  I have more time for them now
• When we want to, Wally and I can catch up sometime

I think that is more reasons why not to be fb than I had to be on it! 

Nellie’s Makeover….Getting There

This has been quite a makeover.  I thought I would be tooling along most of the summer in Nellie.  But it has been one little setback after another!  Like people, I guess cars that are old get tempermental and need gentle handling also.  (I am not thinking of anyone in particular here! )

Here’s Nellie’s bits and pieces waiting to get back in their place.

When Wally was replacing the shocks, he decided to pull the axle and take it to be turned.

For the motorheads, here is the brand spanking, shiny new engine!  A straight 6 cylinder/200ci.  (Wally told me, I don’t really know!) These pics were taken at the shop when we picked it up.

Wally made arrangements with a gentleman in our neighborhood who is a master mechanic to help get the engine reconnected and to do the brakes.  But three different times the man cancelled.  We had our eyes set on a big Cruise here in Denver and thought we had plenty of time to get Nellie running.  But now we were scrambling.  So, I encouraged Wally to just go for it.  He has rebuilt engines in the past and although it has been awhile, its just like riding a bike, right?  Well, maybe not but things went pretty well.  And I think he was pretty pleased with himself.

We were burning the midnight oil the night before the big cruise.  Wally found a mechanic who made house class and he was there doing the brakes.  Wally’s childhood friend Mike Durham had just arrived from Indiana but he was out there with Wally in the garage. The moment came to turn the key…and…absolutely nothing! Not even a little click, and definitelu no vroom-vroom!  I could not even believe it!!  All heads were bent over the hood, questioning and examining…loosening wires and reconnecting them.  Still nothing.  Wally and Mike came inside to eat something.  When they returned to the garage, believe it or not, the brake mechanic’s wife had solved the problem…with a baby on her hip!  She had unconnected the wires that went to the starter solenoid and reconnected them.  Something was not right in there but it was working now.

So, we made it on the Cruise, one end of Colfax to the other, ending up at Mile High. It was sort of fun, we were late of course and the cars at Mile High were packed up and gone by the time we got there.  But the drive through downtown was fun and we saw lots of old cars along the way.  There were several stops along the way where cars could park and show off.   I got Wally to stop so I could take a picture of some cars.

Nash Metropolitan

This is a ‘58 Ford Fairlane with a retractable hardtop.  They were just putting the top down when I saw it.      Pretty cool!

By the end of Nellie’s maiden voyage, she was not sounding very good.  There were obvious problems with the transmission and the new exhaust was leaking.  But we were getting there!

Yes, I Can!!

I have never been crazy about baking or making bread or any of that yummy goodie stuff in the kitchen.  But for some reason, I do like to can!  Part of me likes that cozy feeling of getting ready for the coming winter. And part of me just likes to look at jars, filled and colorful bits of fruit or veggies!  This past week I canned 21 quarts of salsa!

         

Earlier, in late August, I did my peaches, pears and peach jam.

I tried something new this year since I seemed to have a bumper crop of jalapeno peppers.  I discovered a recipe for hot pepper relish.  It’s pretty tasty! 

             

 

Here’s a little twist on “canning”.  Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”  This is the best kind of canning and it is not seasonal!   We sing a song with the kids in Sunday School that just says it all…

I can put my faith in Jesus…Yes I Can!

Thank Him for His loving kindness…Yes I can!

I can have my sins forgiven,

Have a promised home in Heaven,

Win the battle when I’m tempted…Yes I can! 

 I can serve the Lord my Savior…Yes I can! 

Each day grow to be more like Him…Yes I can!

I can read God’s Word and pray,

Find His will and then obey,

Share God’s message of love today…Yes I can!   

I hope you have a “Yes, I can” kind of day!              

Nellie’s Makeover…Before

I guess every makeover has a story attached to it.  Here is Nellie’s story.  In July of 2001 we bought a 1964 Ford Falcon.  It was an original Colorado car and we are the third owner. It was to be my “daily driver” car. She got the name of Nellie because when we would go to start her up and the engine was cold the kids would say “come on Nellie”.  Or when we were coming to a stop it would be “whoa Nellie”.  Nellie was always in pretty good shape but the interior was stained and the stitching in the headliner had dry rot and so it hung down.  To keep it out of the faces of those in the backseat, I had pinned it up with some jumbo safety pins.  We drove it like that for quite awhile.  Wally installed an air conditioner.  He also had a radio installed that had a hook up for an iPod…we didn’t even own an iPod then.

One day Wally and I ran an errand and left Wesley at home to work on his school work.  It wasn’t too long when we got a call from Wes.  He had decided to run an errand also, to the mall.  The thing is, he was not supposed to go anywhere and he was not supposed to be driving the Falcon.  Well he went over to the mall and somehow the transmission got hung up between first and second gear.  I seem to recall that old saying, “be sure your sin will find you out”  being quoted to him! 

Well Nellie ran for a bit longer. She really never died. Wally went to replace the transmission and while being installed, it just kind of fell apart.  He had a hard time getting another one and so Nellie just took a long rest in the garage.  Its not that the transmission was so difficult.  But Wally decided that if her took that apart, he’d really like to replace the engine with a bigger one. It was not that strong and when I ran the air in the summer and came to a stop, I would have to quick turn off the air or the engine would die.

So, time went by.  Until this spring.  Before we left on our big road trip back east, we parted Nellie out.  Her engine was taken into a shop to be rebuilt. 

Gutless!

Then we towed her to an upholstery shop for her makeover on the interior.  Actually, our neighbor did the interior for us.

She looks so sad, grill and hood removed

Here’s a couple of pictures when Nellie was still up and running!

Andrea and I drove Nellie to the Wild’s of the Rockies near Steamboat Springs to attend a Ladies' Retreat in 2002

 

Andrea and Kenny went downtown to hear the Irish Tenors in July of 2003.  I remember it was a really hot afternoon when they left.  They drove Nellie to the light rail and took that downtown.

I’m not sure when this one was taken, but I have always liked it!