Month: December 2021

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December 21 – 25, 2021 Home for Christmas No. 2! More great family love and memories!

Over the plains and through the streets, to grandmother’s house we go…..

What a relaxing, bright, joyfilled Christmassy day we had! Mom served her “famous” salisbury steak. We also enjoyed twice baked potatoes, crunchy salad, and all the other fixins – plus pie! So good! We ate out in the sun room with Mom, Kay Gary & Wanda – lots of stories were remembered and shared!

That afternoon we went to the cemetary and decorated Dad Johnson’s grave with poinsettas. We also saw the grave stones of Mom & Dad Darby & Chuck. It was good to remember the lives of our close family that are now in heaven. “We’ll be there with ya!”

We had more time of sharing life and adventures of the past year. We are all thankful that Kay is now living with Mom, she is doing so well! We also did a bit of work in Kay’s new office, she has made it so cute and practical. We’re thankful for this time to spend with our family – it’s a blessing to have the support, love, and encouragment of each other!

On down the road to Rocky Ford to meet up with the rest of our Colorado family! We all met at Ben & Heather’s house on Christmas Day – they had everything decorated and the food was smelling so good!

Look who we found! Welcome to the family Mary Irene! She’s a precious little doll – so adorable! It was good to get to hold her and give her some love! She’s wearing the same outfit that her daddy Nick came home from the hospital with when he was a baby! How fun!

Had a great time and lots of laughs with Ben & Heather, Josh, Jeremy, and Jayden! They just had to make a unique family Christmas picture, with the caption: “It’s America, we eat beef, drink beer, shoot guns, and speak English – Merry Christmas!”

It was a great day! Full of activities, laughter, stories, pranks, and Christmas goodies!

What another great adventure! It was a very…MERRY 2021 CHRISTMAS!

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December 17 – 21, 2021 Home for Christmas – No. 1! What a joy to share & receive love with family – loving this adventure!

Before leaving Phoenix, we met up with some of our precious kin folk…

It’s been too long since we had our hugs! This is Aunt Thelma and some of our Darby cousins (Papa Lou’s side of the family). Top left picture: Andrea, Brenda, Thelma, Lorree, and Jennifer. (Also pictured Shawna and Chuck in bottom left.)

WAIT! WHAT?

49 years ago (December 17th) we committed to a lifetime together! What an AMAZING ADVENTURE together, and we’re loving each other more everyday! Thank you GOD for giving us each other (and everything in between!)

Nothing like a long road trip on your 49th! (and a late snack in the motel room!) We decided to head from Arizona to Colorado by going through Kansas…? (Yikes – 1,550 miles and 24 hours! Maybe we’d better look at that map again!) Our road trips always create memories!

The next day, look who we found, “Stand’in on the corner….

…in Winslow, AZ!” Of course we had to stop and take some pics to show we’ve been there done that! It was a frosty 25 degrees that bright morning, but we still played a few tunes!

Home for Christmas – 1 (with the Busenitz clan in Newton, KS!)

Gotta get to making those snacks! It seems that it’s always the kitchen that generates the most conversation and fun. We got pretty silly and had some great family fun!

How many games of “Sweep” did we play anyway? Love those smiles!

Jon took the day off and Arnold came over, we had a job to do! Jon decided to add more insulation into his attic to help keep things warm and energy efficient. It worked out very well with all the help and great weather!

Then everyone jumped in to help make a delicious mexican feast! So good!

One evening, we drove to Wichita and saw Christmas lights followed by sharing gifts back at the house. It was a fun evening – lots of joy and laughter!

Papa and Caleb shared a good time making a game out in the shop. Caleb did all the cutting and assembly and Haley and Ryan helped with the sanding. We all played it over and over – it was a fast moving and exciting game trying to shoot all the pucks to the opponents side first!

Just like that, it’s time to hit the road again. We sure enjoyed our Christmas Stop No. 1 in Kansas! Now we’re headed to Colorado for more Christmas adventures with family!

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November 27 – December 17, 2021 SOWER Project #17 Phoenix Christian Preparatory School, Phoenix, AZ

Home of the Cougars! It’s great to be back to school again! We served here in April of 2020 during the Covid beginnings (feel free to go check out that blog). The school was closed then but we had lots to do and worked hard. This year everything is open and students and faculty are busy from sunup to sunset! We met together with Jeff Blake (Superintendent), Veronica (Volunteer Coordinator), and others for a great welcome and orientation meeting.

We’re serving with Mil & Linda Sutter (SOA’s), Jim and Faye Smith (GL’s), and Ralph and Lella Bledsoe. What a great team of SOWERs!

The unique thing about “camping” while serving with SOWERs is that you get to park in some interesting places. Here we are camped for the month literally on the track! We had front row seats to all the field activities. Soccer, baseball, T-ball, football, shot-put, and of course running. We got our exercise just watching!

Our “to-do” list started with all of us working at the pre-school/elementary facilitites.

The gals were asked to clean and organize different areas. Then they were asked to re-do several of the bulletin boards (something new to all of them!) They did a great job and received many compliments!

The guys found some ladders and went to work replacing many of the light bulbs in the chapel and cafeteria, mainly converting old fixtures to be able to use LED’s. The lights in the cafeteria must have been out and dim for quite some time because one of the little elementary kiddos exclaimed, “WOW look at all the lights!!” The cook remarked, “ah-oh, now I can see the dirty places!”

What a treat! On the weekend we found out that “Christmas With The Chosen” was showing at a nearby movie theater. We don’t often get to enjoy a big screen theater so off we went! It was a very enjoyable outing and a great production!

Next week – more “to do’s”! The list they gave us was organic – meaning as things got crossed off, more were added. We kept very busy, what a great variety!

While the ladies were landscaping the elementary school courtyard…

The guys were rebuilding a “barn door” over at the preschool building.

Dennis was asked to paint one of the props for the upcoming Christmas program.

We sure enjoyed our evenings and weekends! Fellowshipping and sharing life together is one of the highlights of serving in Kingdom work with other SOWER’s!

Talk about work! Check out what these ladies accomplished! From start to finish, “clean and organize the student council’s storage shed. There were several trips to the dumpsters! Looks great ladies!

There were multiple sinks, cabinets, and leaks to fix. We also updated the bathrooms in the elementary building to be “touchless” with new faucets and air hand dryers. The leak under the sink in the science lab was probably the most challenging.

We even got to fix tricycles at the pre-school playground! How fun!

So many amazing adventures and memories here at PCPS! The staff here are great hosts and lots of fun! Rest assured that we saved work to do for the next incoming team. Lord willing, we’ll be back again someday soon!