Fletcher got to baptize Paris

Fletcher shared the gospel with Paris on June 8, 2009 and she said, "I want to pray and ask Jesus to be my Savior." Six year old Fletcher led his four and a half year old sister through a prayer that went something like this, "Dear Jesus, I'm a sinner. Sinners die. I want to be forgiven of my sins, Jesus. Please come into my heart. Thank you for being my Savior. Amen." I got to hear the whole conversation about sin, death, and being separated from God by our sin from the kitchen as they talked around the picnic table on the back porch when we lived in the Walsh's house. I was eavesdropping on them as I put lunch together. I'd heard him sharing Truth with her in the past and she'd always say with an annoyed tone, "Fletcher, I know!!" Occasionally, she'd say, "Fletcher, stop telling me that!" But not on June 8th. She listened quietly. Apparently her heart was softened because she had ears to hear what he was communicating. The cool thing about June 8th is that I'd prayed that same prayer asking for Jesus to forgive me of my sins and be my Savior sixteen years ago to the day! Paris became my sister in Christ that day...my daughter always and now my sister, too! I am sixteen years older than her in Christ. God's timing is so fun!

Our adventure at the Buckhorn (circa 1893)

The Buckhorn was started in 1893 and is Denver's oldest restaurant. They are famous for their ambiance as well as their quality food...almost every imaginable animal hangs on their wall somewhere (and it's not a huge restaurant, quite small in fact!) They had SO many choices of meat (supposedly you can point to the animal on the wall and say you'll have that tonight for dinner!) Sarah had her heart set on trying rattlesnake so she tried it in the form of rattlesnake queso (chewy I'd say!) I ordered duck and the sauce was good; the dish was okay overall. The elk was by far the best meat ordered by our party (thanks to Mom who picked it! We'd heard it was the favorite dish to order at the Buckhorn.) The quail was also good. Paris LOVED her Daddy's ribs (of course, Charlie ordered RIBS, his favorite!) Parie still talks about how good she thought they were, "I Woved Daddy's wibs!"

Kids' first ski lesson (thanks Gammy and Popsy!!!)

We headed up to Loveland for the first of three ski lessons the Thursday that Gammy and Popsy were in town. We all decided we are a Thursday ski family....awesome day to go to Loveland! An hour and a half drive, free (close!!) parking, GREAT SKI INSTRUCTORS...we LOVE mr. steve and "marley" who the kids got for their first lesson. Mr. Steve was SO kind, patient, and helpful to Paris and Fletch. Paris said on the way home, "Mom, Mr. Steve was my nicest teacher EVER!!" Sarah's coach, whom we nicknamed "Marley" b/c of his (fake) dreds on his ski hat, was the greatest as well. He and Steve praised the kids highly and were super sweet to them the whole day. We loved Loveland! The kids could NOT wait until their next lesson!

New Year FUN

Some great pictures from January 2010!

Snapfish prints from Dec. 2009

50 prints for 50 cents! Thanks, Marts, for the tip about that deal. :)

Snapfish album 01\06\2010 Gammy and Popsy Visit

Tommy and Daddy (Nov. '09)

Tommy LOVES sitting as close to Daddy as possible, preferably on his lap or in the crook of his arm. His funny habit of the moment is to pound Charlie on the chest and point to what he thinks is interesting in the book or on the computer, TV, etc. He doesn't just do it once or twice but over and over and OVER! He will literally smack and point, smack and point, until it's not even funny any more! He has done it to me and to Gammy as well while she was visiting. He SO wants to interact with us but doesn't talk really at all. (Tommy does say a version of a few words: Mom, Dad (occasionally), truck, hat, hot, ball. He doesn't attempt many other words yet. He is a VERY fluent listener, however. He understands EVERYthing!)

One other silly communication technique he has...point, touch, point. He has on many occasions "explained" to me how he got his boo-boo. He'll come running to me ouchy (in pain but not crying), and Tommy will pat his head (the spot where he bumped it) and then point to the item that hurt him. He has lots of times patted the corners of walls, tables, and other objects which he bumped into and hurt himself on. Kinda cute. :) I then narrate something like, "Oh, poor Tom Tom. You bumped your head on the wall." Little Tommy then nods his head slowly to indicate I understood him correctly.

Tommy has also cracked us up with his shoulder-shrug-palms-up move that indicates, "I don't know" in Tommy language. We'll ask him something like, "Where is Sarah?" and if she's not around, he'll whip out the "dunno" pose with his arms. He almost always can take us to toys or other important objects that we ask about. For example, if I ask where his doggie (blankie) is, he will inevitably take off running and go straight to it. He is remarkably adept at taking me straight to stuff that is important to him, i.e. a missing (to Mom) milk cup that I want to find or some book that we read (Tommy LOVES books!)

520 middle and high school kids for New Year's Eve!

What a fun night with all these kiddos for the 8pm to 8 am Lock-In! The adult volunteers and staff were amazing to watch in action! What a great group of adults who were willing to serve these students all night!