27 Monday Jul 2015
Posted in history, Traveling, Uncategorized
Mesa Verde, a stop along the way.
Highway 160 Road Trip
Exiting I-25 at Walsenburg, Colorado, onto Highway 160 leads to a long westward drive to a wealth of beauty and interest. This most certainly includes Mesa Verde, just east of Cortez, Colorado. In early June 2015 I planned a road trip to the Grand Canyon with my daughters and our exchange student Lea. Mesa Verde and 4 Corners Monument were “stops” along the way.
Mesa Verde. Is so much more than a stop along the way!
25 Saturday Jul 2015
Posted in Truth, Uncategorized
As the days continue darken in this country, of the free and brave, hold fast dear ones, to your confidence and hope in Christ. Let’s not fuss nor pick at one another, but instead encourage and strengthen one another. That is what protects from unbelief and the trickery of sin.
That is what will let the light shine in the darkest of days.
22 Wednesday Jul 2015
Posted in Traveling, Uncategorized
Tags
My Beloved, Builder as he is sometimes known, built a doll house for our youngest a few years ago. She loves it and has filled so many productive quiet hours designing and decorating the house. Then after awhile, she saved up the money to purchase another kit. This one SHE built and now simply asks Daddy Builder for help from time to time.
When our oldest daughter, Nikki, heard about her youngest sister’s passion she sent us info on “must sees” in her old neighborhood …Denver. Top of the list…The Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys. As we continue our Colorado Staycation activities, I felt we had to make sure to visit this museum while all of my older kids were out of town in June.
Doll houses, miniatures and toys from past generations and loads of information on Native American, European and Asian cultures fill this charming old house just blocks from Denver’s City Park. Previously known as Pearce-McAllister Cottage, 1880 Gaylord Street, this house is now the home of the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys. There was just one gentleman staffing the museum when we visited, and he was quite kindly and helpful. Back in the kitchen area, the Oak and Berries Tea Room is where the lovely Roxanne Rose serves tea to visitors. You must call ahead for a reservation as the Oak and Berries Tea Room is a very popular spot! For reservations call Roxanne at 720-351-5123. We hadn’t called ahead as we were taking a rather relaxed approach to the day, and I didn’t know exactly when we would be at the Museum. Well, the tea room was hoppin’ busy and it wasn’t until we were about finished with our visit through the museum that Roxanne approached us. She is a lovely woman and we are looking forward, when time allows, to head back to Denver for another visit to the Museum and for tea!
Looking upstreet at the Somewhere Gazette
From when this house was a home
When this house was a home, can you see the details? Love this house!
Stairs to the 2nd floor
my favorite display!
Love Love Love the display in the picture above! Reminds me of my grandmother’s dining room (where her similar sewing machine was) and the fabric store!
Now this doll house, below. It is made from an 1890 Gun Case. It is filled with hand carved furniture and hand thrown pots. The rugs are Navajo and Granada. This exhibit is on loan to the museum, so isn’t supposed to be there permanently.
Gun cabinet doll house
If you find yourself in the area and have a morning or afternoon to visit, this museum is full of delightful displays and is an enjoyable way to pass a couple of hours.
A couple of throwback memories!
17 Friday Jul 2015
Posted in Education, history, Traveling, Uncategorized
This summer has been completely wonderful so far. While we’ve experience and witnessed some very hard things, I’ve seen a lot of growth and understanding among my daughters, my husband and myself. We’ve traveled a bit, some of us more than others and I’ve finally been able to mark off a small dream…. my youngest 3 daughters, our exchange student and I visited the Grand Canyon! But this post is about a place we found on the way to the Grand Canyon.
Welcome to Arizona and the Navajo Tribal Lands
On the way to the Grand Canyon we stopped in a small Arizona town called Kayenta. A few miles north of the town, a billboard caught my attention and we decided to stop at the Burger King. The Burger King? Yes!
Inside the Burger King in Kayenta, Arizona is a tribute to the Navajo Code Talkers of World War 2. Just this past year my daughters had learned about the code talkers in history, and I am thrilled to have found this small museum display. There are glass case and framed art & information all about the part that the Navajo Code Talker played in the second World War. Many of these men were from this area and the community holds a wealth of information about their opportunity to serve in the US Military, despite the way they have been wronged by our country’s government in the past.
While there are glass cases inside the Burger King, just outside, on the other side of the parking lot there was another museum building full of WW2 artifacts, a video and many Navajo historic displays.
I was able to find this book at our local library. It is a very gentle introduction to the contribution of the Navajo people in World War 2
Outside that small museum there were also 2 model hogans
We spent about an hour and a half at this place and I want to recommend to you, if you are passing through north eastern Arizona on Highway 160, stop in at the Burger King for some lunch and a little history.
So tell me, have you ever driven through Kayenta? Visited the Navajo Code Talkers Museum?
15 Wednesday Jul 2015
Posted in One Life, Uncategorized
Do you love cute earrings? Oh my. I do enjoy a pair of pretty or fun earrings! But rarely will I spend the money on anything but simple silver hoops. That is, until I discovered the Fair Trade Friday Earring Club.
In mid-June I was given my first pair of FTF Earrings, I mentioned them here on the blog. These earrings have quickly become my favorite. They are unique, lightweight and have meaning.
A woman named Bipana made these earrings as a means of support for herself and her family. She is the mother of 2 precious children and a refugee from Bhutan who now lives in Texas. As a part of the refugee project, Bipana and several other women create handmade items and sell them to provide for some of their basic needs. Mercy House Kenya has partnered with the refugee project as a means to empower women, through Fair Trade Friday.
Mercy House exists to engage and empower women around the globe, and to offer them the everlasting hope that comes only through Jesus Christ. The founder, Kristen Welch found that asking God how He could allow so much human suffering presented her with the hardest opportunity to answer His question of her. And Mercy House Kenya was started. My family is inspired by the work of Mercy House Kenya and I am so excited to be able to share how you can join in on the work that is being done and help support women, living in extreme poverty and hardship, earn a living.
You can watch a video about Kristen Welch’s journey here.
Now, you don’t have to travel to Kenya, or someplace far away to make a difference in this world. But you can partner with Mercy House Kenya and take an opportunity to purchase beautiful handmade items, which are fairly traded, from women artisans. When you make a purchase through Fair Trade Friday or the Earring of the Month Club, you will receive beautiful items that you can keep and use, or give as gifts. The women who make these items will receive fair compensation and continued opportunities to make and sell their fares. I gave considerable thought to the idea of joining the earring of the month club and adding it to our monthly budget. I am not sure I can do this every month, but I have made a short term commitment to the earring of the month club. I can hardly wait to see what arrives in my mailbox later this month!
I hope that you will consider checking out the site and the next time you need to purchase a gift, to consider purchasing one of the lovely and unique items offered by Fair Trade Friday.
11 Saturday Jul 2015
Posted in Compassion International, Education, Gratitude, Joy, Letter Writing, Life Long Learner, One Life, Parenting, teens, Uncategorized
For this Sponsorship Saturday post I am excited to share that in June we were blessed by the opportunity to take a trip to the Grand Canyon. What started out as a plan to take another trip with my youngest daughter while her older teen sisters were away, turned into an exciting opportunity to wait and take all the girls to Grand Canyon. I was so excited about this trip, as I’ve wanted to see the Grand Canyon for as long as I can remember. Life has not ever had me anywhere near that part of the United States, until now. After playing with google maps for several days, I decided that “now is the time.”
29 Monday Jun 2015
Posted in Colorado Springs, Uncategorized
Colorado Springs is home to many places of beauty and interest. Stepping away from all the natural beauty one can find a dozen or more places that celebrate the strength and ability of mankind. The Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center one of those places and is located near the downtown area at
U.S. Olympic Training Center
1 Olympic Plaza
Colorado Springs, CO 80909
Take pictures with the Olympic rings
Tours are offered daily, every half hour, for a small fee. The tickets you receive look like this:
The Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center sits on the 35-acre complex that was formally the site of ENT Air Force base until 1976. It is one of 3 OTC in the United States. The US Olympic Committee headquarters are located just a little a couple miles away in the downtown area.
The center has sport venues and support facilities. Athletes in fencing, gymnastics, judo, modern pentathlon, shooting,swimming, tekwando, weightlifting and wrestling can stay at the site, train and receive support at the OTC.
During the tour you will be shown a short video of recent past Olympic highlights and a preview of the next games, which will be, at the time of this writing, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
After the video there is a tour of the site, including a couple of gyms, the shooting range and the swimming pool. While there we saw many athletes training in weight lifting and wrestling.
If you are looking for stay-cation activities and destinations or are visiting Colorado Springs for business or recreation, I encourage you to take a couple of hours and visit the Olympic Training Center. You may leave inspired and energized to tackle the next activity you have planned with Olympic focus!
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
26 Friday Jun 2015
Posted in Garden and Home, Joy, Uncategorized
There hasn’t been a single garden post this year. That is due in large part to the long stretch of rain and no sunshine we experienced in May and early June.
The few seeds we finally did plant only went in toward the end of the first week of June. Much too late for many things. Here is how things looked on June 17.
pretty puny for the middle of June, but I am hopeful that we will have a good harvest of squash, peas, lettuces and carrots. The weeds are sure flourishing though. Seems like they sprout back up day after every weeding.
I am so thankful for the return of the grapevine. It was very late to come back this year and I though we had lost it along with our peach tree.
The honeysuckle is increasing and starting to vine up just as I hoped.
purple clover
The days are much warmer now at the end of June and although we are still getting quite a bit of rain, plants seems to be growing steadily. And it is looking to be a wonderful year for wild flowers! Please share links in the comments if you have posted garden updates. I’d enjoy seeing how other gardens grow this summer!
22 Monday Jun 2015
Posted in Compassion International, Gratitude, One Life, Parenting, Truth, Uncategorized
What could a day with my Heavenly Father look like? Of course, as I try to write this post, the song “I Can Only Imagine” has started running through my mind. But I am going to try and meld together the two different streams of thought that this blogging assignment has stimulated in my mind.
It is said that most people relate to God the Father as a reflection of their relationship with their earthly father. That is certainly true for me. It is only in recent years that I’ve been able to even think about Jehovah God as a kind, gentle and loving Father. And now, I even wake each morning with “good morning Father” on my mind! A habit of saying it out loud was intentionally cultivated and I’ve discovered great joy in starting the day like that! Such a gift.
The other stream of thought that started rolling around in my mind with this assignment was what I think a day with the Heavenly Father looks like. Goodness, I’m not sure what this says about me, but when I imagine Heaven and those first moments with God the Father… I hope to crawl up on His lap like a little child and just hear what He has to say in those first moments. I know that my kids have great memories of that kind of thing and so much more. They each have wonderful times of bike riding, hiking, reading, and gardening, cooking and laughing with my husband, their daddy. So I do believe that as I continue thinking about this, more ideas will come to mind.
hiking
Serving Together
To say that I am very thankful for the husband God has given me, and the way he fathers our many daughters seems like not words enough. So many children, near and far, are growing up without the gentle loving guidance of a kind and wise father. Maybe one has been fully abandoned. Or another lives in the uncertainty and fear of harshness, neglect and abuse. If you are reading this, and that has been your experience, I want to encourage you, as one who has experienced a harsh and broken relationship with my earthly father. I have been brought under the wings of the Most High, the Heavenly Father. He is a kind and wise and gentle Father. I pray to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, of insight into mysteries and secrets, in the deep and intimate knowledge of Him. May it be so.
If you are interested in speaking life and love into a child who may be growing up with out the love and nurture of a father, whether because of the absence or neglect, due to the realities of extreme poverty please consider sponsoring a child through Compassion International.
Now I leave you with the music of MercyMe.
I Can Only Imagine
by MercyMe
What it will be like
When I walk
By your side
I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When your face
Is before me
I can only imagine
Chorus:
Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine
20 Saturday Jun 2015
Posted in Compassion International, Gratitude, Letter Writing, One Life, Uncategorized
The pace of daily life has changed with summer being upon us and I was pleased when I was invited to preview Money Saving Mom’s newest resource, Make Over Your Mornings. While working through that e-course, I found a new time and place to respond to the letters our sponsored children write to us. Now I have a manilla folder that holds each piece of correspondence until I reply to it.
The folder stays in one of the tote bags I keep by my rocking chair.
Each morning, when I settle in for my quiet time, the folder is right there. Some mornings there isn’t time to write a letter, but many more mornings there is time. And I’m loving having this activity attached to my quiet time, as I am finding that telling the children and teens about what I am learning from the Word comes much more naturally.
Letter writing and morning quiet times, those things go together in this season. How about for you? Let’s talk more about letter writing, child sponsorship and even quiet times in the comments!
May the grace and the peace of Christ be with you.
By Quiet Waters 