Home from the Holy Land

Dwight and Sharon spent the last year organizing a Lenten pilgrimage to the Holy Land, using Educational Opportunities as tour host. Our group of 28 left Denver on March 10 and most returned on the 19th, while the rest continued onto Egypt for another week. It was a wonderful experience for everyone except Dwight who landed in the hospital in Tiberias, Israel for two days because of dehydration and exhaustion (a story in itself but we won't bore you with it). The two pastors who were traveling with us, Don Shrumm (Genesis Presbyterian Church, Littleton) and Rob Wilson (Eagle River Presbyterian Church, Avon/Vail) picked up the leadership piece and were a real blessing to the group and to us. Dwight missed about 2/3 of the tour either in the hospital or resting in his hotel room; Sharon missed about half the tour as a result, but it was a great joy to see how meaningful the pilgrimage was for everyone else. Here are just a few highlights:

The Sea of Galilee from the Mount of Beatitudes Church. The natural amphitheater in the foreground is the traditional site where Jesus is believed to have delivered his "Sermon on the Mount".

The Garden of Gethsame, where Jesus prayed before being arrested and later crucified. These olive trees are believed to be 3,000 years old.

Sharon and Dwight reaffirm their baptismal vows in the Jordan River.

Our group, plus Saad, our guide (and missing Dwight who was not strong enough to tour with us the day this picture was taken). Jerusalem is in the background.

The Garden Tomb: A beautiful setting for a tomb very similar to the description of Jesus' tomb in the New Testament. Our group ended it's tour of holy sites here with a communion service.

Dwight exits the tomb. A sign posted inside the tomb quotes scripture: "He is not here - for He is risen".

Pilgrimage leaders: Don, Adnan (bus driver), Dwight, Saad (guide) and Rob.

Sisters: Grace & Ava

Grace is 2yrs+2mos old; Ava is 4 mos old and has her first tooth!

Kyra and Granddad's Alto Sax

Kyra is growing up and becoming a really wonderful person. We spent a special day with her today having conversations about movies, geneology and family. We attended a fun production of "Beauty and the Beast" at Chatfield H.S., then home for lunch. Dwight pulled out the alto saxophone of his childhood/youth and let Kyra play it. She seems to have a natural talent so we've decided to have it reconditioned and loan it to her for the next school year and for as long as she's interested in playing it. Here are some pictures:

Valentine's Day Pictures

Happy Valentine's Day! We're sharing some pictures from our weekend with granddaughter Jordan (age 8, lives near Colorado Springs), and new pictures of daughter-in-law Beth and grandaughters Grace (2) and Ava (4 months). Beth, Steve and girls live in Belen, New Mexico.

Jordan took this picture of Dwight and Sharon during a visit to Starbucks after church on Sunday.

Happy Valentine's Day from Beth, Grace and Ava!

Grace "decorated" Ava with Valentines hearts :)

Wake up Jordan, we're late for church!!

Jordan poses for Granddad.

Dwight's Photo Project - Silos and Windmills!

Dwight is taking his third semester of black & white film photography at Arapahoe Community College (ACC) this winter and decided on a project of photographing Colorado eastern plain silos and windmills. So he and Sharon (and our Great Dane, Kirk) headed for beautiful downtown Limon on Saturday afternoon and spent the night. On Sunday, we started out with wonderful mocha/lattes at Buffalo Bean Coffee (picture above) and then worked our way back toward Denver while Dwight took photos (to be developed later in the ACC photo lab). It was gray, cold, rainy and very, very windy! Sharon decided to record the event with her digital camera. Despite the weather, we had great fun and talked about how wonderful it is that we continue to enjoy each other's company after more than 37 years together!

Holy Land Pilgrims Pre-Departure Gathering February 7, 2009

Only four weeks until our group of 30 pilgrims departs from Denver on March 10th for 10 days in the Holy Land! Dwight will be leading the pilgrimage through Educational Opportunities, a travel agency that specializes in Christian tours. The group met on Saturday at Genesis Presbyterian Church in Littleton, Colorado, to get to know each other a little better and talk about the trip.

Committee on Preparation for Ministry Retreat - January 30-31st

Sharon is finishing up her term this year as moderator of Denver Presbytery's Committee on Preparation for Ministry. The committee held a retreat this weekend at the beautiful Franciscan Retreat Center in Colorado Springs.

National Western Stock Show and Rodeo!

Dwight and Sharon have taken Kyra to the rodeo every year since she was 4 years old and we continued the tradition yesterday. Dwight was recovering from a surgical procedure 2 days earlier so we skipped our usual walk through the animal barns, but enjoyed the rodeo immensely! Here are a few pictures.

Dwight pulls off surprise 60th birthday party for Sharon!

Dwight and the rest of Sharon's family plotted for months to surprise Sharon on December 31st, her 60th birthday! First, Steve and family arrived from New Mexico, the Sunday after Christmas (instead of 2 weeks later as Sharon had been told). Sharon thought that was a great surprise and she rearranged her work schedule to spend a little more time at home between the two holiday weekends. On Wednesday, she arrived home from work around 4:30 (after stopping at the store to shop for food for a birthday party for Grace planned for the next day). When she walked in the door, she found sister Kathy, brother Richard, sisters-in-law Donna and Marcia, plus Steve, Beth, Grace and Ava all shouting "Surprise!" Within the next hour or so, granddaughter Kyra and her mom Angela and Kyra's other grandparents Bill and Rosemary arrived and then cousin Steffani. Food and drink just kept appearing - Wow!!


Beth, Steve and daughters Ava (born October 16) and Grace (2 years old on January 2nd) came up to Sharon's office on her birthday (just a few hours before the surprise party!) to take her to lunch. This picture was taken by one of Sharon's co-workers.


Earlier that week, we had celebrated Dwight's birthday (December 29th) at his favorite steak place.

Steve, Grace and Beth wait for our food at Dwight's birthday dinner. Sharon's thinking we'll be doing this again 2 days later for her birthday ...

Beth and Ava enjoy a rare quiet moment, just relaxing around the house during their surprise visit to GaGa's and Granddad's house while the rest of the family finds its way to Colorado for a BIGGER surprise ...

Sharon (in shock!) embraces sister Kathy after arriving home from work on Wednesday, then looks around to see who else is there. Kathy came from Green Bay for the party.

Sharon's brother Richard and Dwight's sister Marcia "pose" for Grace (who loves taking pictures, but usually holds the camera upside down and sideways). Richard came from Milwaukee for the party. Marcia lives in the Bay Area.


Dwight's sister Donna, Sharon's sister Kathy, and cousin-in-law Steffani enjoy a moment at the party. Donna came from Louisville for the party. Steffani lives in Highlands Ranch.

Look at this cake! Beth took one of Sharon's high school graduation photos to the store and they scanned the image onto the frosting!

Kyra came back the next day for Grace's birthday party (which we held on the 1st instead of the 2nd), then spent the night. The two girls had lots of fun the following day.

Kyra with her newest cousin, Ava.

Donna, Marcia, Dwight and Grace pose for a picture.



Grace gets acquainted with some of the toys she received for her birthday. Here she is in her party dress, playing veterinary doctor! That's her aunt Julie on the left. Some of Beth's family members were visiting in Colorado over the holidays and all came over on the 1st for Grace's party.

THANK YOU EVERYONE for making Sharon's birthday weekend so special!