Christmas program at school

Since becoming full time at school, Janna now teaches music in addition to math. This year she did a Christmas program at school with the 3rd-5th graders and middle school choir - about 80 students in all. It was a great program (if I say so myself!) The parents are excited to have a music program going full force at the school again. (They had a music teacher a few years ago. She is now the choir teacher at the high school.)

I snuck this picture of Janna while she was lining up the students!

Here's Rachel looking pretty!

And here's Josh as his normal goofy self!

Here's the brass trio that accompanied some of the songs! There were also solos, narration, recorders being played and a dance that some of the middle school girls choreographed for the first song.

Janna feels blessed to be teaching both of the things that she loves. We have met some wonderful people at the school. We love it there. It's like a family.

Christmas Worship Service

This year we did a special worship service to celebrate Christmas. The choir sang three songs, we had some congregational singing and specials. We also had sign language, narration, poetry & the reading of the Christmas story from Luke 2. It was a very special time worshiping the Lord for the gift of His Son, born as an infant in Bethlehem. We also worshiped Him as the One who gave His life for us on Calvary. We ended the service reminding everyone of Luke 19:10, which states that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.

Bri & Janna sang "A la nanita nana"

Kayla sang "Joy to the World" accompanied by her Grandma Katherine.

Marjorie narrating.

Jodi & Tiffany reading the Christmas story.

Paul reading a poem that was written by the late husband of one of our members.

Drew wanted to accompany us on "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" & "Away in a Manger." He did a great job!

Janna sings "Because of Love."
Because of Love He left His home
And made this earth His home.
He did it willingly for you and me
With Heaven left behind,
He came to save all mankind for sin and shame.
He could've walked away,
But instead He chose to stay upon the tree
And take the crown of thorns for me...
Because of Love
(by Bernie Helms & Natalie Grant)

Shoveling Snow

With all the snow this weekend, I wanted to help some our elderly in the church with their driveways & sidewalks. Kevin & Michael graciously helped!

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

We've had our first real snow fall this weekend. This first picture was taken this morning after some of the snow had melted, so it doesn't show you what it was like.

But then, this morning it snowed again! So here's some fresh powder.
Here's a picture of our meeting place.

This is another part of the plaza where we rent space.

Youth Christmas party

Sunday night we had our Christmas party for the youth. We played a few games, then had some snacks. Our Bible lesson was a Discovery Adventure. We read different parts of the Christmas story in different parts of the building. We read the part about the manger in the nursery, the part about the shepherds outside, the part about the wisemen in the kids' room. I closed with Luke 19:10 - "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." I then presented the Gospel. After the lesson we played the White Elephant game. We had a blast! It's always interesting to see what people open up!

One guy brought real, live crabs! They were tiny! This was a popular one to steal!

Another popular one was the Spiderman poster! (See the series of steals in the 3 pics below!)

Thanksgiving Day

We had an unusual Thanksgiving Day! But don't get me wrong, it was fun! We decided to have our big meal on Wednesday night, so Thursday we went out for a drive to show Janna's parents a little more of the area. Our first stop was the Arkansas River in Canon City. The kids were able to explore a little bit. They wanted to go to a little island in the river, so I put a couple of rocks down for us to step on to cross to the island. By the time we were ready to cross back over, the rock were covered with water, so we had to add more rocks!

Here they are with their Papaw...

...and with me!

Then we drove north on Phantom Canyon Road. It was awesome! The scenery was gorgeous! The road was once a narrow-gaurge railway. Behind the kids is one of the tunnels that were cut for the railway. You can read more about it at http://www.goldbeltbyway.com/phantom.htm

During one of our stops, me and the kids decided to explore a little bit!

Josh displays his new glasses. (Reminds me of that character on Fat Albert that had the hat over his eyes!)

School House Rock

Here are some more pics of the students attending School House Rock.

First Snow!!!

OK, I know it's not much! But it's our first snow of the season. Enjoy!

Hay Ride!

We had a church hayride Friday night. It was fun! "That's all I have to say about that!"