One Year in Heaven

One year ago today a very special person in my life went home to be with Jesus. I still remember that night a year ago. I was getting ready for bed, had all the kids in bed, Joel was out of town and the phone rang. It was my mom - she said "Ronnie, Grandad's gone." Oh how my heart broke - you see I had a privelage that I will never forget because just the day before, I had been with my wonderful Grandad. My mom and her sister had taken Grandma to church and I was "in charge" of staying with Grandad. We all knew that his days were limited - didn't really want to admit it but we knew.

That day - the day I was with him- I will hold in my heart forever. You see, although his body was sick and not well at all, his mind was sharp as a tack. I mean, here he was on oxygen, could barely sit up, had to have help with pretty much everything and do you know what he did? That stinker beat me at Rummy one last time! I kid you not - I wasn't giving the old man chance either! I was going to show him that at 32 years old I could FINALLY beat him!!! Nope - my dear Grandad went to Heaven with a smile in his heart knowing that HE was the best Rummy player in the land.....It's okay though - I'm not bitter or mad because well you know - he really is the best.

So today - I sit here and I really want to cry because I miss my Grandad and our times together. I miss the fact that you could just sit with him - neither one of us saying a word and know that you were so loved and that you were with someone special. I miss that he won't get to watch my Tyler and say "Now that one has lots of energy" or "Ronnie you got your hands full with that boy." I miss that I can't go and try once again to beat the best Rummy player around - like that would happen!! Most of all....I miss just sitting next to him and him putting his hand on my lap and saying "Hi sweetie"


However - this I know! One day I will sit with my dear Grandad in Heaven and my oh my what a day that will be! I will be with him, my Grandparents Ashcraft and yes my incredibly wonderful sister Sherri. So - Grandad has been in Heaven for a year now... I can only imagine what that has been like for him. You know two nights before he left - he and I were in his room. Mom and her sisters and Grandma were meeting with the lady from hospice, he knew it was near the end. He was talking about Heaven and he said to me, "I sure miss your sister Sherri, I see her riding her white horse around Heaven." My response to him, "Grandad - I am just so jealous that you will see her before me!" He just smiled and said "I know". So this past year as we went through all the "firsts" without him....first Thanksgiving, first Christmas, first anniversary,etc He was going through his firsts in Heaven....First day to see Jesus face to face, first day to see those who had gone before, first time to worship at the throne of the Father!!!


I love you Grandad and I am coming one day to see you and Jesus. Until that day - I will cherish my moments with you of playing cards, talking about everything, you smiling at my kids, the pictures of you holding my little babies for the first time, the fact that you loved to "sneak" sweets past Grandma (by the way I think she always knew), and yes I will miss going to get ice cream with you. Have another wonderful year in Heaven Grandad!



This is the last time Tyler saw my Grandad and of course it was taken at the "card table"!

September...one BUSY month

September just absolutely FLEW by for the Arrington Family! One weekend we went to Elitch's, the next was a fundraising banquet for our church building project and then the last weekend was our Women's Retreat! As busy as it was, God is SO good to us and so faithful in providing us with the energy to continue serving him.

Here are some pictures from the Women's Retreat. We had 26 ladies attend (good number for our small church) and it was so awesome. It was a little different for me in that I played a key leadership role but it was a good different....

The theme was "Chocolate Boutique: Tast and See that the Lord is Good." We had LOTS of chocolate!!!

These are two of my really good friends here in Bayfield: Bridget and Dani. Bridget's daughter Audrey joined us for the fun!

Dani and I really had a great time. We both LOVE to play board games so that in itself is a fun bond.

Praise and worship was led by Dani and our pastor's wife Pam. They were simply amazing!

Ammendment 48 - Colorardo Ballot

This is a video of Joel giving a speech for his speech class in college. I wanted to share it because it covers a VERY important topic that will face Colorado Voters in November. Ammendment 48 if passed, will define person from the moment of fertilization - meaning they will have rights! This is HUGE... I have pasted the wording as on the ballot below. If you live in Colorado - PLEASE vote YES on 48. If you don't live in Colorado - please pray for this important initive that will be on our ballot.

Amendment Question #48:“Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado Constitution defining the term “person” to include any human being from the moment of fertilization as “person” is used in those provisions of the Colorado Constitution relating to inalienable rights, equality of justice, and due process of law?”

The language proposed to be changed in the code is:
Be it Enacted by the People of the State of Colorado:
SECTION 1. Article II of the Constitution of the State of Colorado is amended BY THE ADDITION OF A NEW SECTION to read:
Section 31. Person defined. As used in sections 3, 6 and 25 of Article II of the State constitution, the terms “person” or “persons” shall include any human being from the moment of fertilization.

Been TOO LONG!!!

Okay so the time has just gone by so quickly!!! I am sorry I haven't blogged in awhile, just crazy.

So let's see in the past month, Joel has had 7 teeth pulled, we have had a fundraising dinner at church, the kids have all been doing well in school, we went to Elitchs in Denver and well work is work. I think that is everything - is that enough for one month?

Joel is also driving a bus for the school this year so back to REALLY early mornings for him! I am doing well - sort of looking for a new job but nothing so far so I have to trust that the Lord has me where I am for now. I just would like to be here in Bayfield and/or making a little more money so that we can get out of debt. I have applied for two jobs this week - one here and one more money but in Durango, who knows what will happen with that!

Oh and we had someone hack our computer so we had to clear our hard drive so I lost all my favorites so if you have a blog - e-mail me the link so I can reset it.

Well that is all for now - no new pictures yet BUT we did replace our camera and I will post some pictures of the elitches trip soon as well as the women's retreat that I am going to this weekend.

Okay - let me know what's happening - got get kids ready for school!

Back to School....

Well you may have noticed I FINALLY got around to updating my blog!!! I decided that in honor of school starting this week, I would change the colors of my blog to Bayfield Wolverine colors!!! BIG step coming from someone who graduated from Pagosa Springs (BIG rival of Bayfield).

Anyway, the kids started school yesterday and it was relatively painless! Hannah is in 6th grade - first year at the Middle School. She is adjusting to rotating classes, locker combinations, harder work, "dressing out" for PE, etc. There have been some "bumps" in the road but overall she is doing great.

Malachi is in 4th grade and looking forward to a fun year. He has several boys from his baseball team in his class so he says that's cool.

Kestra is in 3rd grade and as social as ever! Her biggest challenge every day is "What do I where?" Is she all girl or what? Can't imagine what it will be like when she is a teenager!!!

Tyler is in 1st grade and at the "big" school with Kestra and Malachi. He will spend about half the day in a regular class and half in special education it looks like right now anyway. He is just excited to be there.

Joel is driving a school bus route this year in addition to working at the church full time. He is looking forward to the opportunity to meet more students and also officially be on staff with the school which means he can eat lunch a little easier with students and all.

I am working at the hospital in the Human Resources Office still and most days I enjoy it. Lately we have been SWAMPED with work and I am wishing I had a little slower pace but it is okay overall. I am also heading up our women's ministry team at the church and enjoy that a lot as well. It is a new experience for me and at times overwhelming but the Lord is using it to help me trust in him and remain humble.

Well that is about all for now. I really hope to keep this more updated all though pictures will be scarce for awhile since my camera hasn't worked exactly right since our trip to Mexico. I am praying for a new camera though since blogging and scrapbooking are so important to me!

Mission Trip to Juarez Mexico

This past week was incredible for us! We traveled with a group of 20 all the way from Bayfield Co to Juarez Mexico for a week long mission trip.

The trip started on July 5th with us driving to El Paso Tx where we stayed in a mission house that belonged to First Baptist El Paso. The first challenge we had was that the plumbing in the house stopped up and we had to call a plumber at 1:00 in the morning to come fix it! Although frusterating, we were not discouraged from the task that lay before us.

Sunday afternoon we arrived at Jerusalem Baptist Church in Juarez Mexico. The trip began with us joining them for a baptism service that night! We saw 8 new believers baptized and we hadn't even begun...Talk about a running start!

Although we had originally planned to do 2 to 3 VBS a day, the pastor changed plans and had us helping with some repair and maintainence around the church in the mornings. After working on the building in the mornings, we took a siesta (love that part of Mexican culture) and then we had VBS each evening. This was both fun and challenging! Perhaps the most challenging chore went to four of the guys on the trip that had the challenge of unstopping the shower in both the girls and the guys restrooms!!! It was completely clogged with dirt, rocks, tar, etc. They were all so great and worked so hard on it.

The VBS format was similar to what we have here in America - only in Spanish. We had over 100 attend every single night ranging in age from 4 months to 70!!! What a blessing it was to see people of all ages come and want to hear the gospel and seek the truth. Throughout the week we saw 40 kids and 7 adults come to know the Lord as their Savior. For the adults this was a HUGE step as many of them will be outcast by their family for leaving the traditional Catholic faith. The most encouraging part of this however is that the pastor, Amado Miranda, is solid and knows how to disciple them and help them continue in the committment that they made. He has been at the church for 2 years and has seen it grow from about 20 to 150 in that time and it is most definitely still growing!!!

For me, the thing that changed my life the most was being able to fellowship with the adult class during VBS. I must admit that at first, I was a little bummed about not being able to hang out with the adorable little ones. In addition to that, I was in a class with no interpreter and none of them spoke much English at all and my Spanish is VERY limited!!! However, the Lord revealed to me that He is so much bigger than a language barrier and that the love of God can reach across cultural lines to unite us! My sisters and brothers in Mexico are so special and unique to me. All week I asked God for the opportunity to share my heart with this class that I had sat in and on Friday I had that opportunity. With the help of one of our translators, I was able to give my testimony to the adult class during the Bible Story time. It was a wonderful experience and I will not soon forget how much love they showed me!

I have tried to include some pictures that capture the highlights of the trip. It was hard to limit the pictures (I only took 333) but hopefully this will give you an idea of what the trip was like. The picture of the vacant lot is pretty much what we saw everywhere we went in town - trash. It is a whole different lifestyle there!

4th of July fun!!!

I know this is a bit late but since we left July 5th for Mexico, I haven't had a chance to blog. We had fun on the fourth! Joel and the boys were here in Bayfield and the girls and I joined my side of the family in Pagosa for the day. We then all came here and watched fireworks from my backyard! It was a really fun day!