Finished! Done! Nix! Nil! Zip!

Dear friends,

A few weeks ago, the Rocky Mountain News shut down. Just too many people reading news on the web these days; there wasn't a need anymore for printed news delivered to your doorstep each morning. By the time it arrived, it was old news. The web keeps us updated (and infautated with the future) so efficiently that people don't read paper anymore.

There's another phenomenon taking place as well and in conjuction with all of this. The younger generation, represented in our family by my wife and kids, are much more savvy and efficient on the web than I am. I got to thinking about this not too long ago when I realized that I hadn't updated our family's blog in quite some time...then realized that I didn't need to. Noel and the kids are on Facebook, and they do a much better job of keeping people abreast of their lives than I could. Noel, who is 44 (Ha! I'm only 43...for a couple more months) has friends galore on facebook who know more about our lives than even I do. Dennae (18), Jami (16), Ivy (14) and Michael (12) all spend countless hours updating their facebook profiles, uploading pictures and videos, chatting, etc. So, why spend my time telling people what they've already known for weeks on a blog when people can just go to their individual facebook accounts on a daily basis and stay up to date? Yes! One less thing I have to do! This is a good thing! Right?

Me? I'm the "Anti-Facebook" in our house. I have no intentions of getting an account. Plaxo? Deleted. Myspace? Not on your life. So, since people generally could not care less about me and I could really not care less that people could not care less about me (OK, maybe it's not that bad and this really isn't a pitty party - and as I said, people who want to can know more about me than I do from Noel's Facebook account), I am officially ending this relatively brief (compared to the over 150 year old Rocky Mountains News) news source for the DeVries family.

If you would like to see what's going on here in the Wild, Wild West (or "God's Country" as I call it), then please feel free to get a Facebook account and find Noel and the Fantatstic Four! They're fun! They're active! They love the Lord! And they keep me happy and satisfied seeing them day by day in person so much so that I have no need to see them on the web. And if you would like to see the DeVries family in person, you are always welcome to come and visit out here when you can arrange a week or two to do so. If you are satisfied seeing us on the web, you are always welcome out there, in cyber-space, wherever that is and whenver you can arrange a few minutes or so to do so.

Now, I need to go read the Denver Post and read about some ancient history before they discontinue that publication as well!

For Christ's sake,

MJD,Sr.

Jami is Sweet 16!!!

Wow! It's been two months since I've updated the blog. That means it's been two months since I"ve taken any picture. What a shame! Such a beautiful family I've got and no camera action! Idiot!

Anyway, to catch you up to speed, this past weekend Noel and I took Jami to visit Jim and Loretta Frawley and sons in Seattle, Washington in celebration of her 16th birthday. Jami and Loretta have developed a great relationship via email, so it worked out great for us to take her there. Western Washington is also the setting for the Twilight books that Jami has read. She has become and official "Twird" or a "Twi-hard" as they've been called. Anyway, we wanted to take her to see the setting for the books' plot, to visit the Frawleys and just to have some good fun time with Mom and Dad. And a fun time we had! From the Space Needle to a ferry ride, to Forks, to the Hoh Rainforest, to church, to catching crabs at low tide... we had a great 4-day weekend. It will be remembered for many years to come.

The other three kids went on a youth retreat up to Winter Park over the weekend, so they were in good hands in our absence. Jared Kidder, our youth director, led the discussion on various cults along with another gentleman (and both their wives); everybody had a great time studying, praying, tubing, playing, eating, etc. You know; all the stuff you did on winter retreats in high school.

Anyway, hope you're all doing well. Please know that Christ is a faithful Savior and that He ever lives to intercede for you if you know Him. If you don't know Him, I'd love to introduce you to Him sometime!

For Christ's sake,

MJD,Sr.

Guests Temporary and Permanent

G'day all!

Since our last blog, we've had lots and lots of guests here at the DeVries homestead. First, we had the wonderful privilege of having Noel's sister and brother-in-law, Ed and Tammy Carroll, come for a brief whirlwind visit. They haven't had many chances to visit us here in Colorado, so it was a special treat for us to have them here. The kids thoroughly enjoyed messing around with "Uncle Ted" and Tammy was a huge help to Noel in preparing for Christmas with Noel. We are so glad they were able to come.

Speaking of guests, we also picked up the old tradition of Christmas with Noel. Noel was due to be born on December 25th; that's why she has the name she does. And she loves to show hospitality to people. So we give people Christmas presents by opening our house and "puttin' on the Ritz." We invite our church family, our friends, neighbors, co-workers to our house so we can love on them and let them know how thankful we are that God has put them in our lives. We had over 90 people come through our house last Friday night, and we are thankful for each one of them. As I said, Tammy was invaluable in helping Noel prepare for it. The food has never been better, thanks to her. We are thankful for others in the church who came to help as well. They will most definitely receive rewards in heaven.

Our last guest will probably be with us for a long time...hopefully. We had the unfortunate responsibility of putting our little Boston Terrier, Angel, to sleep this past week. She has been a part of our lives for a very long time, thirteen and one half years to be exact. She is one day older than Ivy, and we purchased her when she was only 4 months old. Anyway, she was really struggling to breathe, and it was time to do the humane thing and send her to doggy heaven. We will miss her. But, being convinced that a necessary Biblical element in growth is "replace" (i.e., replace bad habits with good habits), we have already secured a new dog to fill the void left by Angel's passing. For Jami's Christmas present this year, we got her a retired racing greyhound dog. He is a fabulous creature, very loving and docile. So far, we highly recommend the breed. His racing name was Dexter, but Jami has renamed him Sir Percival Blakeney, Baronet; that's the role Anthony Andrews plays in the movie, The Scarlet Pimpernell, a family favorite. Anyway, we say good bye to Angel and hello to "Percy." Jami cried when Angel died; but she is thrilled to death with Percy. We hope he is will be with us for a long time.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We'll update in a week or so with photos of the visit of Noel parents and 96-year old Grandmother after the first of the year.

Don't forget to look at the pics at the bottom of the blog.

For Christ's sake,

MJD,Sr.

Thanksgiving - Ivy style

Hi all,

Hope you're all doing well.

This past month we've enjoyed Thanksgiving, a surge from the Denver Broncos toward the playoffs (fingers crossed!), another edition of the "Dump Meal" and Noel's 44th birthday. Last night, we went out to the Boulder Cheesecake Factory to celebrate together. All the kids had other things to do, so it was fun for the two of us. The snow was falling on the Pearl Street Mall. The Christmas light were up. The restaurant was quiet. It was a great time! Bummer I forgot to bring my camera to take pictures! Doh!

This blog's pictures will feature Ivy. She is our 3rd daughter, 13 years old. And a very funny child! The kids took some pictures of themselves "jowling." When you jowl, you shake your head back and forth as fast as you can while somebody is taking a picture of you. Some of the faces that end up as photographs are quite hilarious. I put them on the blog (hopefully they won't see them and kill me!) to show how how crazy our family life is. Never a dull moment.

We had a great Thanksgiving. Matt and Simone were out of town, but Mom and Dad, Mark and Steph, and all the cousins were able to get together. It's my favorite day of the year, and this year was no different. We started off with a fun (and very physical!) game of touch football with some guys from the church. Then Monk and I went out and had some hot chocolate at a local coffee shop what was open; that was fun. Then we came home, showered up and got ready for the Thanksgiving meal. My job is to carve the turkey every year. I volunteer for it because I know that I'll get first dibs on the turkey skin! Yes, turkey skin. Fatty, greasy, heart-attack-on-a-plate turkey skin. I love it. But others have figured out my ploy and have started to carefully watch me as I carve the turkey, so I have to be extra sneaky! Anyway, we had a great time.

We also went to Mike and Paula Fisk's house for our annual "Dump Meal." It's a low country boil, but we put tin foil on the table and just dump the food out and eat it like a bunch of carnivorous, pagan barbarians! It's great! King crab, shrimp, sausage, corn, potatoes, etc. We even try to convince one of the kids to try a large clove of garlic. They've all figured out that's not too smart, so we couldn't sneak it in on anybody this year. Anyway, it's always a highlight, and this year was no different.

Hope you are doing well. I'll update the blog probably after Christmas sometime. It snowed last night and the sun is out, so Colorado looks as beautiful as you could possibly imagine!

Dont' forget the pics at the bottom of the blog.

Take care for Christ's sake,

MJD,Sr.

Ah! November!!

This is my absolute favorite month of the year. Thanksgiving, soon to be here, is my absolute favorite day of the year. I love fall but November the most! Yes!!

Football season is done, and Monk has now started basketball practice. Their team did really well, took 5th place in the end of the season tournament. Michael actually caught a two-point conversion on a tackle eligible play. That was the highlight of his year. He is a natural tight end, but he weighs too much to play the position according to league rules. However, they do allow for the heavier "patch players" (as they are called) to catch 2-point conversions, so he was very excited to be able to do that. He is also quite the musician; he is working on the tuba and the drums and really enjoys them both.

Ivy's soccer season is over too. Their team did well, and we look forward to the spring semester when it is upon us. She wants to play volleyball over the winter months. We'll see if she's able to fit it in with all of her extra-curricular activities with her friends, etc.

Jami continues to read voraciously and has actually done a fair amount of writing. She loves to read/write in the science fiction genre; some of the stuff she encounters can be downright weird. She is so creative and thought-provoking. I never fail to benefit from the conversations I have with her. And to make sure that she is reading biblically faithful and spiritually stimulating books, I have her read a book of my choice between each of her choice of books. So far, she's read a missionary biography, a book on apologetics, one on basic Bible doctrine and one on church history. She retains a lot of what she reads so we're able to have some pretty good discussions on these issues. Lots of fun for a Dad who is also her pastor!

Dennae recently landed a job as a nanny for a family with 8 children. Her responsibilities are varied and challenging. She takes care of children from infancy on up, so she is always doing something new. She continues to home school as well. She and Noel spend a lot of time together. And of course, Brett is always in the picture. They are developing a very godly and spiritually sharpening friendship. We are proud of both of them.

Noel continues to work hard at selling real estate in a very difficult market. Pray that her spirits would stay high; there are lots of setbacks. But she's doing a great job.

We don't make a big deal out of Halloween as a family, but the kids did dress up in goofy costumes this year and took their younger cousins out "trick or treating" in the neighborhood. Michael was Indiana Jones, Ivy and her friends were pumpkins, Jami was a vampire (yikes!) and Dennae and Brett were a boy and a girl respectively. You'll be able to see what I mean from the pictures.

Also, I went hunting with a great friend, Jeff McKinney. I shot a very big buck with a very nice rack. Nothing world record but most undoubtedly the biggest one I'll probably ever shoot in my life. Now, to get Noel to disguise the meat so the kids don't think they're eating a dead deer!

Hope you are all doing well for Christ's sake. Don't forget to look at the pictures at the bottom.

MJD,Sr.

Made it to the playoffs!

This is my favorite time of the year! Fall! The aspen are changing, the leaves are falling, the sky is gray, the sweatshirts are out, the marching bands are playing and the footballs are flying! Yes! How I love fall. Thanksgiving Day is my favorite day of the year and November my favorite month, but October tells me that it's right around the corner! Yes!!

Dennae and Jami's softball team has gone through a dramatic time this season. Their coach resigned due to a series of run-ins and conflicts with some parents and players. Another gal stepped in and did an admirable job. My friend, Andy Roob, agreed to help out as an assistant; he's brought a lot to the team. But in spite of all that, they made district playoffs and will go down to Aurora to play next weekend, October 16-18. This is also most likely Dennae's last year to play (she has another year of eligibility - but would rather get a job she says); Jami has a couple to go. They have both improved dramatically, and it's been fun to watch Dennae at shortstop and Jami in center field throughout the year. They've played really well; we'll see how they do in the tournament. I'll keep you posted. The pictures are of their last regular season game and the "farewell seniors" party they had afterward. Jami "roasted" Dennae during the whole thing; it was quite funny.

Michael's football team made the playoffs too. I've been an assistant coach on his team, and that's been a lot of fun too. Ivy's soccer team is doing very well also. They should move up to the next level, Premier 2, after this season. Everybody seems to be doing well in school. Michael continues to excel on the tuba. I also feel like we are going through a season of spiritual growth as a family. That's been very encouraging.

Noel continues to work hard in a very difficult real estate market. We've started a little side business with the rest of the DeVries family out here, and her real estate experience has been an invaluable tool in getting this business up and running.

The church continues to grow, thank the Lord! I am excited about what God has called us to and enabled us to do. Please pray for us! Trust you all are continuing to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ yourselves!

Don't forget the pics at the bottom of the blog.

For Christ's sake,

MJD,Sr.

Taking a step back in time

I, Mike, had the chance to go on a 2-week trip to China and visit a country of mystery, progress and darkness. Along with Mark and Brett, two members of NRBC, I went to visit a friend who teaches English in a university in Yunnan Province. It was 12 days of action-packed adventures that left my mind spinning with the cultural differences as well as the opportunities to minister to some very needy and searching people. I wish I could tell you more on this site, but security demands that I be brief and concise.

Regardless, during the trip we also visited a spot on this globe which I'd hoped to visit many years ago. About 15 years ago, I was sitting in my sister's house in Michigan, looking at a picture book of beautiful places on this earth. One place caught my attention, and lodged a longing in my heart to go and see this unique place on God's green earth. Little did I know that I would actually get the chance to visit. Well, this trip was that dream come true for me. I wish I could adequately my thanksgiving to God for giving me so many of my wants as well as supplying all of my needs.

In the meantime, things progress at home with a busy fall season, sports schedules, school, church growth, etc. Noel continues to work hard in a struggling real estate market; her niche has been to help young couples, first time home buyers, go through he intimidating process of securing that first big purchase of life.

Hope you are doing well and growing in God's grace. Enjoy the pictures below!

For Christ's sake,

MJD,Sr.