Happy Thanksgiving 2013!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with Nick, Julie, Eva, Sofia, Noelle, Ben and Jodi.

Here are some pictures to let you get a peek into our weekend.

Eva, Noelle and Sofia with Grandma  on Wednesday when they arrived.

Thanksgiving toast with Bob, Jack, Biffy, Ben, Jodi, Julie

Sofia, Jodi, and Eva helping Mary make the delicious punch

Sofia and Eva enjoying their special punch

Ippel Thanksgiving

Ben and Jodi leaving their names at 1st canyon where we hiked after the feast.

Natural amphitheater at 1st canyon

Nick and Noelle in 1st Canyon

the view of pyramid

Thanksgiving night hymn sing at Bob and Mary Ippel's

singing and playing Alabare 

On Friday we went to the Huizinga's to hike and share pizza together 

...the view of the canyon in Chris and Abbie's yard on Friday

hiking at McGaffey National Forest with Huizingas

playing "Royal Rummy" without a board and without chips using 5 forint coins.

walking around the pond at Rehoboth

breaking apart cattails at the pond

enjoying the slide at the elementary playground...

love the New Mexico sky in contrast to the red dirt!

What a great weekend! 

Thanks for making the trek here Nick and Julie (and girls) and Ben and Jodi!

El Morro and Ramah

We decided to visit two of our favorite New Mexico sites today. El Morro and Ramah are about an hour's drive south of Rehoboth and within twenty minutes of each other. The weather was predicted to be cold and windy with possible showers, but we figured it was worth trying. We invited fellow teachers Becca and Kate to go with us.

After arriving at El Morro National Monument, we decided to hike past the inscriptions and then proceed to the top to see the Anasazi (ancient ones) ruins. El Morro, also called Inscription Rock, has over 2,000 signatures, dates, messages and petroglyphs on its walls from travelers passing through the area in the past 400 years. They were attracted to this site because of the natural pool at the base of the rock.

It turned out to be a beautiful day, and we really enjoyed the two mile hike.

View of El Morro as we began the hike

Trail along the base of the rock

One of the many inscriptions along the trail

Cliff above the pool

The pool

View from the top of El Morro

 Jack and Cindy and view from the top

Kate and Becca on the trail

The Anasazi ruins on top of El Morro 

It is estimated that there were over 875 rooms as a part of this pueblo, 

but only this small corner has been excavated.

When we left El Morro, we decided to explore another favorite place: Ramah Lake. We had heard that just like other lakes in the area, Ramah Lake had been effected by the drought to the extent that there was no water remaining. When we had lived here in 1988-1990, we often came here for a picnic and watched people fishing along the shores of the lake. The sandstone cliffs made a beautiful back-drop, and we  would often take pictures of the cliffs reflected in the lake. This time we hiked along the woods, found a geocache, and then went down onto where the lake had been. There we found all sorts of fishing lures. 

The sandstone cliffs are still beautiful.

On our drive home we came upon some more 

Anasazi ruins in the cliffs of the sandstone rocks along the road.

There were hoodoos (tall thin rock spires) at various places along our drive as well.

We had a great day and continue to marvel at God's creativity.

Fall Weekend in Colorado

Over the weekend we had an opportunity to join friends Cal and Jeannie and Jim and Short at a cabin in Rico, Colorado. We began the four-hour drive together Friday after school. We took highway 491 through Shiprock and then on to Cortez, Colorado, where we stopped for supper. The landscape is filled with volcanic plugs, Shiprock being the most famous. It's such an interesting and unusual landscape.

One of the volcanic mountains along the way.

When we arrived at Cortez we stopped for supper for Cindy's "birthday meal". We didn't arrive at our destination until dark, so we didn't see the beauty that surrounded us until the next morning. The colors were perfect! The aspen were all just turning various shades of yellow. There are no reds like in the East, but the yellows against the bright blue sky and the white of the snow that had fallen during the night were spectacular. After a big breakfast of Ippel breakfast burritos, we set out for Mountain Village, where we caught the free gondola over the mountains and down into Telluride. We decided to try a hike to a waterfall that begins at the base of the mountain in Telluride. It was 4.5 mile hike through the aspen with beauty everywhere we turned. 

View out the cabin window in the morning.

Jack and Cindy in the gondola.

View of Telluride from the gondola.

Views of the mountains from gondola.

A soon-to-be-busy ski run.

Views on the hike.

Holwerdas, Ippels, and Feddeses at the top

 The next day we decide to do a "shorter" hike after breakfast and our worship time together. "Shorter' ended up being just as long and even steeper, but still an excellent hike. The trail started with a view of "Lizard Head", for which the trail is named. We soon turned up into the pine trees and lost sight of the peak. After a couple of hours of continuous climbing we finally caught sight of the promontory peak and celebrated with pictures and snacks.      

View of Lizard Rock at the beginning of the hike

Lizard Head, at the point where we could see it again.

Jack and Cindy and Lizard Head.

Hiking Pyramid

 It was a beautiful day for an afternoon hike. The weather has changed from the summer monsoon season to more typical fall weather. We've been getting freezing temperatures at night. It was actually 25 degrees a couple of mornings ago. But then it gets into the 70s each day and the air is clear and dry.

We decided to take advantage of the weather and hike up Pyramid. The last time we had done this hike was when we visited in 2008. The hike did not disappoint us. It took us about an hour to get to the top. The view was spectacular.

View of Pyramid from along the trail.

 Interesting sandstone formations along the trail.

At the top.

View of Church Rock from Pyramid.

Both Hands Volunteering to Help Orphans and Widows

Peter and Kari Ippel live across the street from us and are also our "first cousin once removed and first cousin once removed in -law". They have two biological children and one adopted Ethiopian child who is now attending Trinity Christian College. They have joined the organization "Both Hands" towards adopting two more girls from Ethiopia. Both Hands was begun to help the widow in conjunction with helping orphans. Instead of raising money to help with adoption expenses by running or biking etc. Both Hands encourages their adopting parents to have others join them in helping a widow and raising support for helping a widow. That's why it's called Both Hands, because you're not only helping rescue orphans through adoption, but you're helping a widow in her time of need.
On Saturday September 21, twenty-five of us helped with all sorts house projects at a local widow's home; from replacing broken exhaust fans to trimming overgrown bushes to painting to cleaning to repairing the eaves to ripping out old carpeting to putting in new flooring to scrubbing the shower to cleaning the cupboards. There was a lot to do and we got most of it done in the 8 hours we were together. Lots of laughter and caring hands make a big difference. And over $8000 towards the $25,000 that is left to be raised before Peter and Kari get their girls was brought in.
John Van't Land took pictures and complied them here.
http://rehobothcrc.weebly.com/both-hands.html

If you want to find out more about Both Hands and/or donate for Peter and Kari, go here.
http://bothhandsfoundation.org/ippel

Hiking at Rehoboth

Last week we were invited on a hike up the hog back behind Rehoboth. We were together with friends, Mike and Gayle and the Calvin College "Bridge semester" group. It was a beautiful night for a hike and seeing the hog back (what the rock formations are called) as well as the "V" and "First Canyon...all located on Rehoboth property. We also got a beautiful view of the red rocks across the way at sunset. Pyramid Rock and Church Rock are the most prominent of the red rock formations that we can see everyday. This is truly a "Land of Enchantment"!

The group hiking up the "hog back"

The "V" rock formation in front of the hog back

The group above "First Canyon"

Looking down into First Canyon's "amphitheater"

A beautiful bunch of prickly pear cactus with fruit.

A place where the side of the canyon had fallen in since we were last there two weeks ago.

The "path" up to "First Canyon" that was completely eroded by the rains

View of "Pyramid" and "Church Rock" 

Rehoboth landscape at sunset 

Horned toad we came across on our hike...next to aluminum can