Annual Aspen watching trip

This past week, the kids were out of school on Friday, so we borrowed a friends Mustang GT convertible and went for a picnic in the mountains and a ride along the Peak to Peak highway to watch the changing aspen leaves of the Colorado Rockies. I go up to the mountains every year in the fall to look at the gorgeous colors, and this year I was fortunate enough to take the whole family since the kids were out of school. We stopped off at my Mom and Dad's on the way up, and Mom was available for an impromptu picnic too, so that was really nice. We had a great time sitting at a picnic table at a roadside site that my family has visited for 25 years. You'll see the picture of the mountain stream that runs beside the campsite in the pictures at the bottom of the blog. Monk and Jami caught snakes the whole time, and afterward the two of them went with me to ride the Peak to Peak highway in the convertible and look at the colors. We stopped off at a mountain cafe and got root beer floats too! Ivy had to get back early to go and watch the CU women's soccer team so she, Noel, Mom and Dennae went back in the van. CU was hosting Stanford, the #1 team in the nation. Stanford won 1-0. Ivy got to go out for dinner with the rest of her soccer team; they all attended the game together.

Early on Saturday morning, Ivy and I went out for coffee and watched the US Women's National Soccer team beat England in the semi-finals of the World Cup being hosted by China. It was fun to see some of Ivy's heroes win the match 3-0. Ivy's team tied their game today, and Dennae and Jami's softball team won their game 7-6. Dennae pitched again, and Jami pinch ran a few times. Monk's team has a bye this week.

Noel is gone selling houses, and I'm running the kids around to all their responsibilities. This is a fun time of life for me. I'm having a blast! Hope you are too!

For Christ's sake,

MJD,Sr.

Ho hum and deja vu!

We have settled back into the routine of a normal school year, if by normal you mean running around like a chicken with your head cut off. With soccer, softball, football, music lessons, yearbook, work and other school and church activities, we are very busy. But while we like being busy, we try very hard to have definite family times each week so that we protect ourselves from getting too busy. We have breakfast and family devotions together each morning. On Tuesday, we got out to eat as a family (somewhere exceedingly cheap!). On Friday nights, it's "pizza and a movie" night. On Saturday night, we barbecue. And on Sundays, we have sweet rolls and coffee drinks in the morning and ice cream after church at night. These weekly observances keep us all looking forward to being together and protect us from being too busy for each other. It's been a blessing for all of us.

This past week, we came to the conclusion that it would be in Dennae's best interest if we home schooled her once again; thus, deja vu! So starting this Monday the 16th, we will start that again. We are definitely looking forward to it. This past week, Noel also got her first paycheck as a real estate agent. Jami was home from school sick all week. Dennae got her name in the paper for pitching a 1-hitter in a softball game, Michael's team won their football game, and Ivy's soccer team tied. Monk and I got to go to a Rockies game on Saturday night. Our neighbors treated us and we sat 12 rows up from the Rockies dugout. It was fun to see all those players we watch each night on TV. You'll notice in the picture that our neighbor, Jonathan, is quite the prankster. Hope you enjoy the other pictures at the bottom of the blog.

Hope you have a good week for Christ's sake,

MJD,Sr.

Games and Celebrations

This week saw the beginning of the sports season in full swing. Dennae and Jami are playing on their high school girls' softball team. Dennae is the starting pitcher. Jami pinch hits and plays some outfield. I've been helping out during practices; lots of fun. Michael had his first game of football. they got beat, but big #62 is starting to get a name for himself. At left offensive tackle, he opened some pretty big holes. Ivy's soccer team had the week off.

We had a birthday celebration for the DeVries family; I don't know how many people had birthdays, but we all got together and celebrated a bunch of birthdays at once. We also went to the White Fence Farm, a very popular family restaurant in South Denver. We met Peter and Marsha Landry, the other elder in our church plant. They have five young children, and we really enjoyed the fellowship.

Hope you had a great week for Christ's sake. Don't forget the pictures at the bottom of the blog.

MJD,Sr.

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.