Month: December 2020

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December 24 – 26, 2020 Christmas time with Mom Johnson, Gary, Wanda, and Kay – Fort Morgan, CO

We were excited to head to Fort Morgan, Colorado for a “Homecoming Christmas”! It has been years since we were in our hometown with our Johnson family – Mom, Gary, Wanda, Kay and us! The roads were clear and the day was bright!

We “went to church” with Mom as we streamed the services online. Mom had printed out the program and we were able to participate. What a different world we live in now with COVID concerns. We’re so thankful that with God’s gift of technology there are still amazing opportunities to worship and grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior – TOGETHER!

Hey it’s really smelling good around here – what’s cooking?

Mom’s special swiss steak recipe with all the fix’ins! Mom is doing so well, still very independent and loves to cook – especially for us “kids”! It was fun to help get the food ready and decorate the table with her fine china and Christmas favors.

Santa’s elves came in with presents at just the right time! Gary and Wanda joined us – and brought each of us our favorite German food – Cabbage pockets! We had a great time of sharing and reminiscing over past Christmases and catching up on what everyone was doing.


So much fun – all of us have kept our sense of fun and laughter – we are truly blessed to have each other and to remain as close as we are through the years!

After a Christmas reading, devotional, and special prayer – we enjoyed a delicious meal together!

We ended the day with a great game of dominoes. We have lots of memories of always playing games when we get together. It was a great Christmas Day – one we will cherish!

Adventure calls…time to head West to see our other kiddos and grand kids!

God painted an early Colorado morning sun rise that was breath taking! We set out and aimed for “that mountain”! It was another sunshine and blue sky day! We’ve always loved the big skies of Colorado, loving our adventure of travel, serving others, and family!

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December 18 – 23, 2020 Christmas Adventures with our Busenitz Family in Kansas!

On the map, Newton, KS (our first Christmas stop) is straight North of Giddings, TX….only 9 hours! Look at all this Texas traffic and spiderweb interchanges we had to navigate – so much fun! Thankful we didn’t have the RV hooked up behind us, we could “fly” through these obstacles without a care!?! (Someday you can ask us about the google maps route that we took after leaving a service area on a toll road…ugh!!)

First stop was at Jon & Becki’s house – we so loved getting close to the kiddos again! It was great to be with everyone, even Megan was home from college for Christmas break!

Presents! Nana had worked hard making each of the family something warm and stylish for the winter months. The kids loved them – and had a lot fun showing them off! We enjoyed lots of laughs and giggles!

We enjoyed a wonderful program at church – the kids all had a part, either on stage or playing/ singing musical pieces. It’s always the best when we can focus our celebration on Jesus!

Hey Papa – can we build a bird house for your cabin in Colorado?!

Whoa! I thought I’d be helping Caleb learn “how” to build and use power tools – but he showed me! This kiddo knows how to plan and build and use the right tools – his Dad has really given him a valuable kick start in life! (He’s only 10 years old!)

Great job Caleb! …and Ryan built a new boat that he can float in the stream next Spring!

Just a few more candid shots of the adventures we had with the Busenitz Family! We had a great time visiting with Arnold & Velma, and learning about Valerie and Megan’s job at Braum’s, and even some caroling!

Washed the truck, saw the “Bethlehem Star”. played games, and enjoyed some great meals together! The grands have such a happy and energetic spirit -we’re so blessed and thankful for the amazing family that God has given to us!

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November 26 – December 17, 2020 SOWER Project #10 at Camp Tejas, Giddings, TX

We arrived at Camp Tejas just outside of Giddings, TX on Thanksgiving Day. God gave us a beautiful sunset! There were fireworks launched the next night for a small group of guests, so much fun! We’re looking forward to a great weekend before our work project starts!

YUM! We met up with our first SOWER friends from January 2020 that were GL’s at Camp Horizon in Florida – Keith & Linda McNeely with their son and daughter in law. We had a great feast of roast turkey with ALL the fix’ins. (The McNeelys are currently SOA’s at Camp Tejas from October through January).

Hmmmmm… the one thing that Dennis said before we signed up for Camp Tejas was that he wasn’t really excited about the possibility of decorating – stringing Christmas lights around trees and buildings. Guess What! This was our assignment! We were the only SOWER couple signed up for December, so we got to decorate!!

The camp had about 60 volunteers show up a few weeks ago to decorate the campus. Unfortunately they didn’t follow the camp instructions to wrap the lights precisely (three -four fingers width). So not only did we decorate, we had to un-decorate first!

We were tagged as the couple “that get it” and so we were assigned to redo so many of the buildings and trees. We DID enjoy this project – and will willingly add “Christmas Lighting” to our skill sheets!

We enjoyed several special times of fellowship at churches, meals, and campfires. This project was our first “solo” project, but we felt close to the group of volunteers that were also there. It was great to work with Steve and Angie Townsend (Independent volunteers) and Keith & Linda McNeely SOA’s.

During the final week, there was a church group attending the camp that even had a “snow” tubing hill! We were invited to the staff Christmas party at Paul & Kelly Biles house (The CEO of Camp Tejas). We had so much fun with games, amazing people, and great food.

We ended the project with some cleaning and organization. The camp’s storage rooms of building supplies and Christmas decorations needed much attention. We were able to reorganize and bring some clarity to their purpose. What a difference – the camp staff were very grateful!

Sunrise on December 17, 2020 – our 48th Anniversary!! Wow – what an adventure we’ve had for so many years, actually “adventures” would be more accurate. We are thankful to our Lord for the life we have shared for this many years! We are looking forward to the many new adventures ahead of us!

Hey family… here we come for some Christmas fun!