Milestones and Moving On

Friends and Family,

Just a quick blog to let you know that all is well at the DeVries homestead. These past couple of weeks have seen the beginning of another school, Noel's 25th high school class reunion, and a sports schedule for 4 children that would challenge any parent's organizational skills.

First, Noel just got back last night, August 27th, from a trip to SC/GA for her 25th high school class reunion. She had a great time and was actually very encouraged to here that so many of her class mates are now serving the Lord and raising their children to do the same. She was full of stories when I picked her up at the airport in the midst of a Colorado rain storm. I'm glad she got to go, but there's a consensus among us that we're much gladder to have her back home. She got to see family while she was down there, and she really enjoyed that. If you can't tell in the picture at the bottom of this blog, Noel is the one sitting at the left end of the 1st row. I told her I got the pick o' the litter from that bunch; that's for sure.

Dennae and Jami are playing for their high school softball team. Dennae is pitching and developing a pretty good windmill. Jami has played left field and pinch hit a couple of times. They really enjoy it even though this is going to be another rebuilding year for the program. The coach from last year had to bow out of coaching the team just before the season began because of a work conflict. We are thankful for the gentleman who stepped in at the last minute. I'm sure he'll do a fine job.

We are sad that within a few weeks Jami's violin teacher from the beginning will be moving to Southern California to continue his schooling. Tim Gathman has been tremendously patient and helpful for Jami; he will be sorely missed. He is an excellent violinist, and the future is bright for him in that arena. We pray the best for him. Hope you enjoy the video clip of Jami and Tim playing a duet.

While Tim leaves, Brian and Kayla Dare have just moved out to help out in the church plant. Brian just graduated with his M.Div. from Faith Baptist Theological Seminary; Kayla is Tom and Nancy Miller's daughter. The Millers serve on the CU campus through Flatirons Baptist Church, our former ministry. Kayla has also taught our kids piano during the summers in the past; maybe she'll get to continue now that she's back in the area. We are very excited to have them here.

We hope you are doing well and that you are growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Sorry for the "red eye" effect on so many of the pictures this time.

Have a great week for Christ's sake,

MJD,Sr.

The end of vacation and life as "normal"

The last day of our St.George vacation found us in Moab, Utah. We visited Moab Baptist Church, toured Arches National Park and headed home. Boy did we have fun; boy was it good to be home. We have lots of memories and lots of pictures from the trip; it was a great way to wrap up the summer and get a good start on the impending school year. This week, Michael got signed up for football. He weighs 130 pounds at a 10-year old, so he it too heavy to carry or catch the ball during the games. The coaches have him projected as a defensive end at this point. He's disappointed that he will not be able to score touchdowns, but he's pretty excited about getting to prevent them. I also passed the last requirements for my physical to become a chaplain in the Colorado Air National Guard; my resting EKG came back normal - good to know. Now they have to pass some waivers for my age, etc. We'll see what happens; the doc said it was a "slam dunk." I may be a chaplain sooner rather than later. On Thursday, August 9th, Noel and I celebrated our 21st anniversary. We went out to eat (one of our favorite things to do!) and then sat at the mall and watched people walk by while we ate some Coldstone Creamery ice cream. We laughed about it while we were doing it saying, "We're getting old! We would have never done this 21 years ago." We went to Orlando/Disney World for our honeymoon. Now, if we were to go somewhere, anywhere in the world that we would like, it might be something like a coffee shop to read or something exhilarating like that. We're still up for fun, but we are getting more and more sedentary. Whereas I used to play lots of ball, now I watch lots of ball. Dennae and Jami start softball, Ivy soccer, and Michael football. That means we'll have lots to watch in the next several months. We'll keep you posted!

Hope you have had a great week as well. Noel is in the full swing of real estate, the kids start school, and I'm just trying to hang on for dear life. That's what "normal" means for me.

Don't forget to look at the pictures at the bottom.

For Christ's sake,

MJD,Sr.

St. George Vacation 2007 - Days 7-9

Thursday saw us head back to Zion National Park to hike the Narrows. This famous hike goes up the Virgin River in Zion National Park as far as you'd like. You just head up the river IN THE RIVER, and when you get tired of going up the river, you turn around and go down the river (in whatever way you deem best). Our kids are never at a loss of making the most fun of any situation so they took full advantage of the opportunity to "get wet" and spent much of their time submerged in the very dirty and silty river. Hopefully you can tell from the pictures how dirty the river is; there's been lots of rainfall up the canyon lately that has swept countless tons of silt down river. In fact, the day we hiked the Narrows, the Forest Service had flash flood warnings out. Few survive a flash flood in the Narrows, but we decided to do it anyway. We're glad! It was a great time! Friday was "hang out at the condo day" topped off by pizza at the Wright's house. The kids had an absolute blast hanging out with their kids the past week. We road their ATVs in the dunes out behind their house, hiked up a little canyon to some petroglyphs (cave drawings - Jami fell and hurt her foot pretty badly. Hope she's OK.), and Noel and I even got a chance to take a lengthy spin on the ATVs (sometime you should ask Noel what it was like to get stuck on top of the scrub bush!). It was a lot of fun! The kids are already talking about going back to St. George to visit the Wrights on a family vacation in the future. Saturday, we headed back home, stopping by Bryce Canyon on the way. Bryce Canyon was one of the sights I definitely wanted to see on the trip; I wasn't disappointed.

Hope you all are having a great week as well. Please pray that we have a safe trip home. We will visit a local church tomorrow morning, take a scenic drive through Arches National Park here in Moab and then head home. Hopefully, we'll be home by Sunday night.

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

For Christ's sake,

MJD,Sr.

St. George Vacation 2007 - Days 2-6

Lots has happened since I updated the sight. As you can well imagine, taking a family on a vacation that encompasses nearly 3,000 miles of road time doesn't leave too much time for web work. Regardless, I'm up this Wednesday morning while most of the family is still sleeping (it's 9:30 a.m.!), so I thought I'd take the opportunity. Last Friday we continued our trek toward St. George and visited the Pueblo Indian ruins at Mesa Verde - of much more interest to Noel and me than to the kids. Then we stopped at Four Corners monument, the only place in the US where 4 states are contiguous (don't know why, but it's been a childhood dream of mine to visit here). It was hot and barren - nothing around for miles except the landmark and some outlining booths manned by local Indians from the Navajo Reservation. We stopped by to peruse some of their wares. I'm sure Ivy bought something there. From there we went to Kayenta, AZ for the night in a Holiday Inn that left much to be desired. On Saturday, we drove through the famed Monument Valley of many John Wayne movies. I'm very glad Noel talked me into going there; the rock formations were absolutely stunning! From there to an afternoon swim in Lake Powell at Lone Rock (forgot to take pictures! Dough!) and from there to St. George and to our condo. Our condo is very nice - sleeps 6 comfortably and is perfect for our family. It was 103 degrees at 7 p.m. when we pulled into St. George. I guess that's about average for this time of year. Sunday we visited Westside Baptist Church where Greg Wright, a friend of mine from school, pastors. He planted the church about the same time we planted Immanuel/Flatirons back in 1993. Anyway, I had forgotten that he was here so it was a blessing to see his name in the phone book and surprise him when we walked into church. It was a great sermon from Numbers 11 on the flesh and its tendency to complain. Made me wanna preach the text myself. Then a lazy afternoon and back to church that night for a follow up sermon from Numbers 11 and then volleyball afterward. Lots of fun! Monday was a "lay around the condo" day ending with dinner at the Red Lobster and dessert at Coldstone Creamery. Boy am I gonna have to lose weight again after this vacation! Tuesday, July 31st, we took our day trip to the Grand Canyon's North Rim. Drove through the fundamentalist Mormon community of Colorado City on the UT/AZ border. I believe nearly everybody in this little town is polygamist - oppressive even driving through it. Then on to the Grand Canyon for some more grand views and opportunities for Monk and Jami to hunt for lizards. That evening back in St. George we had dinner at the Wright's; our kids mesh really well with their kids (plus they've got a pool and 4-wheelers!). We have really enjoyed the added bonus of being with their family on vacation. Ivy said, "Now that's a family I'd like to come back and visit sometime."

Hope you're doing well in your regular routine or wherever else you might be. I'm thoroughly enjoying my time here but miss my routine as well. We've got much to do yet; I'm sure I'll update the blog in a few more days. Don't forget to look at the updated pictures at the bottom.

Love to all,

MJD,Sr.

St. George Vacation 2007 - Day 1

We left Thursday morning, July 26th, at 5 a.m. The ETD was 4:00 a.m. MST, but I awoke at 3:30 a.m. and suddenly realized in a bit of a shock that I had forgotten to put the car top carrier on the van. So as quietly as possible, I was out in the driveway at 3:35 putting the carrier on top. That combined with loading the car put us about an hour late in leaving. But no worries! We had a safe and enjoyable trip the first leg. We arrived in Walsenburg for breakfast about 9:00 a.m. We enjoyed a Carl's, Jr. breakfast (similar to Hardees in the South) and then headed to the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. It's been a long time dream of mine to visit this place in the middle of the San Luis Valley nestled up against the Sangre de Christo Mountains. There are many sights in Colorado that I haven't seen yet even though they're in my home state. It is an incredible attraction, desert sand dunes in the middle of Colorado. Nobody is yet sure as to how exactly they were formed. We headed to the top (a 650 foot elevation gain about 2 miles from the base in deep, soft sand -- very difficult hiking!), with Ivy, Jami and Monk making it with me. Noel and Dennae felt like they should stay down at the half way point in case one of us fell backward and rolled all the way back down in need of help! Yeah right! Anyway, with the wind whipping, sand pelting our legs and lightning flashing all around us, we made it safely up and down. Noel put together a picnic lunch while the kids played in Medano Creek at the base of the dunes. Then on the way out of the park we stopped at Zapata Falls, a bitterly cold snow melt stream with some beautiful waterfalls. Noel and I have always loved waterfalls. We hope to pass that love on to our kids. They made the short hike and enjoyed the freezing wade through the stream up to the falls. Jami and Ivy are rock climbers so they got the closest. Got to do some bird watching on the short hike as well. We ended the first day at a Days Inn in Alamosa; the kids went swimming at a local water park. Taco Bell and Long John Silvers for dinner. What a blessing...kind of...well, not really at all. ;-)

Don't forget to look at the pictures at the bottom of the blog. Hope you are doing well.

For Christ's sake,

MJD,Sr.

Growing Older

This past couple of weeks have been very busy with getting older. Each passing day reminds us that we are getting older and that one day we will each meet the Lord face to face. It started off with our oldest daughter, Dennae, turning 16 years old. We had this pretty neat party planned for the occasion. Dennae invited 2 of her very close friends from church, Ashlee and Riley. I borrowed a Mustang GT convertible from a friend, drove them (along with Noel) down to South Denver for dinner at the Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant (fantastic!), then to the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver for some shopping a a Starbucks (relaxing), then to a movie to watch the new Harry Potter release (not my first choice but it ain't my birthday!). We had a great time celebrating the 16th year of our oldest daughter. Also, Grandpa Fisk, a member of our church, had his hip replaced even though he is 88 years old. I took Monk and Jami along with their cousin Jason to visit him in the hospital one afternoon. He is doing really well even though he is getting older. Also, I had to do the funeral of a father of one of our church family's members who drowned in a fishing accident. That was a difficult ministry but one that provided an opportunity for the gospel to be shared with many, many unsaved people. Again, sudden death reminds us that life on earth does not last forever, and we should be prepared now to meet the Lord. Last, on Friday we went down to Colorado Springs to see our nephew, his wife, and our niece (Paul, Connie and Keirsten) who were attending a conference with their church group. We got to go out to Carino's, a great Italian restaurant (famous for their Italian nachos!). The kids had a great time seeing their cousins, and we did too.

This next week, we head out for a vacation to St. George, Utah. We hope to see the Grand Canyon among many others beautiful sights in that part of the country. I'll update the blog when I get back. Hope you have a great week as well.

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

For Christ's sake,

MJD,Sr.

Family, Fireworks and Fame

This week my sister and her husband, Mark and Jenn Frederick, came for a visit for one and a half weeks. It is great to see them again along with my nephews, Sam and Joe. They brought their friend, Christie(sp?) along to help out with Sam and Joe. We've been getting together for family meals whenever we can, taking turns at Mom and Dad's, Matt and Simone's and ours. It was Jami's week for a Dad-date, and she chose to go out for buffalo wings; I didn't object. That's one of my favorite meals. Of course, this week also included the 4th of July and a great time with the NRBC church family. We had a barbecue at Waneka Lake Park. People went out on the paddle boats, some fished, played catch with the football, etc. It was the coolest day of the week (only in the low 90s) so that was nice, relatively speaking. On Thursday night, Michael had another baseball game. He played catcher and loved it. He had 2 at bats and 2 home runs! He's quite the power hitter. On Saturday the 7th we went to Olivia's birthday party, celebrated according to Korean tradition. That was very fun as well. Last but not least, we enjoyed a visit from Brian and Kayla Dare. Brian just graduated from seminary, and they are thinking about moving this direction and helping with the church plant.

All in all, a good week. Lot's of counseling opportunities, Bible studies with new believers included. Please pray for our church family as well as our own. We have much to learn for Christ's sake.

Hope you had a great week as well. Don't forget to look at the pictures at the bottom of the blog.

MJD,Sr.