Hiking on the north shore of Lake Superior

We walked 6 miles to see the gorges of the Temperance River racing to Lake Superior...

More Lake Faces

The fun continues...

Fun Faces At Rice Lake

Too much time on our hands and faces...

Working The Lake

Looks like a fun job at Rice Lake...

Visiting in Belvidere

What fun to see friends in Belvidere.

Family Vacations

We are all together watching kids from morning till night...

Erinn and Justin - The Wedding

Erinn Beckman (daughter of my first grade teacher Gary and daughter of Jennifer's assistant, Phyllis) was married to Justin Metcalf on Saturday. It was a beautiful service and they are a dear dear couple. God's richest blessing on each of them and their marriage.

We (Jennifer and I) got to take them to the park for photos. Took this one while the real photographer was working with them...

During the wedding service Justin surprised Erinn with a special song. This is one talented family as the brothers took up instruments and played along.

All three Beckman girls were in the wedding, Erinn in white, Jamie who lives in New York (fourth from the left) and Robyn, who lives and works in Springfield, (on the far right). Lots of lovely ladies in and at this wedding... You should have seen Jennifer...

Art For Haiti

Tonight we were invited to join the art elite of Springfield at an "Art for Haiti" show. Dear friend Penny GC was selling a couple of pieces. We so enjoyed talking with Pen and Ken and Penny's parents who are up from San Antonio... Pen is standing by her painting and Paul and Jennifer are pictured by their personal favorites of the show. Art is such a freeing experience.

The Girls Head North to Run a Conference

Jennifer and Phyllis Beckman took in the sights of Chicago during their visit for the MHCC. Here they are in front of the Millenium Bean.

The pansies were just getting started in Grant Park during the third week in April -- quite a contrast to the full bloom going on in southwest Missouri at that time.

Fortunately, the large fountain was turned on -- it had not been the previous year -- so this was a nice surprise. The two of them had a nice view of Lake Michigan, Grant Park and the fountain from their rooms on the nineteenth floor of the Blackstone Hotel during their visit.

Easter Breakfast At Redeemer

It is time to show off your Easter hats. Miss Addie and Miss Jasmine were happy to model. Miss Stella was not so eager to don her new hat. Maybe next year. Alex impressed everyone when he arrived with his new suit on... Styling! Ms. Miriam and Dr. Jennifer were looking good even with out new Easter hats.

Snow Day Fun - Thursday

Papa found sleds at K-mart and Alex hurried home from work and all had a great time on the hills. In the photo above we were practicing in the house waiting for Alex to get home ...
It was so much fun ... Jasmine allowed us to ride with her on the sled ...

Addison, on the other hand, was a solo sleder. Stella watched a lot and seemed to enjoy going down the hill in a gentle manner. She got some red cheeks while on the slopes. We had to keep a close eye on her so someone didn't grab her and take her home because she is so cute. (That's a grandfather talking there.)

Alex had his "Wellies" on and nearly froze his feet off - he needed more socks. The sledding hill is behind our house and across the creek. Or as the song says, "Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house ..." Sorry this is late... We just got connected to the internet again after being out for the better part of two weeks with our dear friends at "Media Con." It is all looking good for the moment, so I thought I better take this opportunity to post.

Lunch With Friends in Branson

We were able to visit with our friends, the Kolbs, at Chester's in Branson. Great food and the world's best bread pudding ... Barry and Nancy are enjoying a week of rest and relaxation at Big Cedar. Nancy is working puzzles and Barry has attended basketball games at College of the Ozarks. We worked together in Belvidere, IL in the early eighties. Barry and Nancy live and work in Texarkana, Texas. It was such fun to see them.

Greens Get To Open Christmas Gifts

Jennifer created these two beautiful quilts to give to Addie and Jasmine in their favorite colors. We traveled to the Green house to open these gifts.

Addie liked her quilt and posed underneath it for the blog.

Jazz also posed for a picture.

Stella wanted to be photographed so another picture was needed.

Alex added to his beer making equipment. He was just practing with the big glass flask. Where quality was the focus of his early attempts as brew-meister . . . quantity is now available with the larger brewing containers.

Miriam received sewing classes, but declined to be photographed, wishing instead to show off her new book. We are all expecting homemade ties and underwear for Christmas next year. Check back in 12 months for an update.

Old Folks Having Fun

Pictured above are some old folks I know having fun. Let's get together for dinner and lots of great talking and laughing. (Must also serve health food fish, rice, peas etc. ...)

Then we will break out the Sequence game and play a round or two of men against the women folk. As so often happens, the men are able to carry the night with four wins to the ladies lucky two. They were good sports about their situation.

Good Friends - Ron and Sue

Good friends, Ron and Sue, came for a visit today. They live in Livingston, IL. We became friends when we were working at Zion in Staunton, IL. We went to the Urban Flea Market (former Charlie's) where Sue found a book about Ron written some 25 years ago. What a find! Sue also got a metal table.

So much interesting stuff. The girls found more to purchase than the guys. Don't they look like they are having fun? I often see items from my youth as I walk the flea market.

Paul almost got this fur lined coat, great for our cold and snowy winter weather. Jennifer was styling in her red hat. Isn't there a group for ladies wearing red hats???

Cousin Janet

We were able to make connections with Jennifer's cousin, Janet. Janet is a school librarian in the south east part of Missouri. She was visiting her daughter, Melanie, and we met up for lunch.

This is a Lutheran sandwich. Two Lutheran surrounding a sweet Baptist girl. What fun to see relatives. We are looking for a job for Janet so that she can move to town. Anybody got openings? As you can see she is in pretty good shape for work...

Christmas in Texas

Attended Sarah and Andrew's church for their Christmas Eve Party. Here are the Texas Bakers in front of the tree.

Christmas morning the kids discover the stocking table. Oh what fun!

Let the opening begin... Lots of new things to play with...

Kitchen time... Lots of mouths to feed during our stay...

Finn and Jack are always eager to interact and explore. Not many pictures of Sawyer as he was not feeling himself this visit. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good day...

It's All Relative

Jennifer's mother, Lois, had three sisters making four Tinsley girls. When her Lois' father, Ralph died, her mother remarried to Ferdie Haas and had two more children -Jerry and Linda Haas. Ferdie had been married twice before (both wives died) and brought to the marriage 7 children. Yours, mine and ours added up to 13 sibs and step sibs. As you might imagine, this is a bit confusing for an outsider (Paul) to keep straight. Pictured above are Jennifer's cousin John with his wife Jean and their two children, Kyle and Hannah.

This is Jennifer's cousin, Alan, and his two kids and two grandkids... Alan is so much fun at a party. He is often is the bingo caller at family gatherings.

Uncle Bill, Aunt Eva and Aunt Louise are pictured here. Eva and Louise are sisters of Jennifer's mom, Lois. Is this posting clearing up for the family tree for you?

Eva and Bill have three children. You've already met their son John. Here you see their daughter JoAnn and her two kids, David on the left and Jennifer in the middle. Erica is David's girl friend. Jennifer is holding her son, Will, while Joann is holding David's son Colin.

Here is Jerry, Jennifer's uncle. His last name is Haas. Pictured also are his wife Elaine and a street urchin who was wandering the neighborhood. No, really, Hannah is pictured above with her grandfather Alan, but she loves to be photographed.

Here is Jennifer's brother Norm and his wife Sandy, and us with sweet girl, Stella... Any questions?

We all had a great time and I'm doing my best to remember everyone's name and relationship status until next year.

Traveling Home To Bountiful

Jennifer and I had the honor of traveling to Rolla to share a meal with family on her mom's side. These are part of the Tinsley/Haas group. This gets a little confusing because her dad side is also a Haas group. Really Jennifer had two sets of grandparent with the same last name Haas, however her mother and father were definitely not blood relatives. You would think she grew up in Arkansas. We took Stella because the big girls had two birthday parties to attend. Stella was great on the trip and a hit at the party.

When we returned from the Rolla party we were invited to stay for supper at the Green house along with Dan and Mary Magnus. Dan and Mary brought Christmas gifts (outfits) for the girls and here they are modeling in front of Miriam's retro Christmas tree... Ain't it great? Or as my mom would say "nuts is trump!"