This weeks highlights

Another week has past and we don't have too much to share.  Dan got the flu bug this week and was in bed for a couple days.  He is better now though.  Thanks to the people who prayed for him.

Emma had her finger shut in the sliding glass door about 3 weeks ago and her finger nail finally fell off...good thing because now it looks like it is healing.

On Thursday night at about 3 am Dan and I were awoke by strange noises, so Dan being the manly man grabbed a hammer to check it out.  As he was checking the house over for intruders I yelled to him..."the noice is up here!"  Dan came upstairs and opened the door to the balcony off of our bedroom to find a raccoon staring back at him!  We got lots of pictures.  I think that is the first real raccoon that I have seen that isn't in the zoo.  (see below)

Lastly, we had our friends Victor and Natasha Padilla from Clarksville, TN visit on Friday night.  We first met the Padillas at our intro/fundraising week with Navs two years ago.  Last summer they came out with their three kids to camp and two of their kids attended camp.  In the fall we went to TN to visit them.  They were in Denver for a military Navigator conference.  They are threatening to come back this summer again for camp and we sure hope they do!!

Easter....He is risen!

Dan and I got to go to the producation The Thorn put on by New Life Church here in Colorado Springs.  It was amazing!  Just to be reminded of the great sacrifice that Christ made for us and the awesome battle that is going on around us at all times.  If you ever have the opportunity to see a production like that we highly recommend it.

Easter this year was different for the Johnson family.  We were without family.  Our friend Eric Lehto from Evergreen, CO came with his two boys, John and Nick.  John is Aarons good friend.  We had an egg hunt and a good meal.  Then we spent the rest of the day in "rest mode."

Today Dan is back at work getting camp ready for campers to come in June.  These past few weeks he has put new flooring in the office and in the infirmary.  Dan said that in the month of March camp got 6 feet of snow!  Our dog Tozer has enjoyed playing in the snow while Dan is working.

That is what the Johnsons have been up to the last few weeks!  Please continue to pray for us here in Colorado.

Maggie

Emma                                                                                              Aaron

Visitors! Lots and lots of visitors!

Last weekend we had a great surprise!  My Uncle Merlin and Aunt Ione Soderstrom from Milaca, MN came to visit.  We had such a great time with them.  I (Beth) took them to Garden of the Gods, Glen Eyrie, up to Eagle Lake Camp, shopping in Old Colorado and to our church Rocky Mountain Calvary.  We shared many good meals and even a couple of very competive games of Five Crowns!  Our kids crave a Grandpa and Grandma so much they never left Grandpa Merlin and Grandma Ione alone!  We were glad that the weather did not coroporate for them and they had to stay an extra day.

Last Monday Greg and Linda Kilpila and their six kids from Cokato, MN came over.  It was so great to have our home filled with kids.  They were in and out and in and out!  Praise God for the nice weather that day.  Linda had a cleaning class for me and a couple friends...wow does Linda know her stuff!  Sadly we did not get any pictures with them...too busy I guess!

Tuesday Joel and Michelle Ostrom and their five kids visited Dan up at Eagle Lake Camp.  We were so excited that they stopped by to tour camp.  We sure hope that they make it back when their isn't so much snow up there! 

On Wednesday our great friends Wes and Suz Greer came over.  We have not seen them since their wedding on New Years.  It was so great catching up with them and hearing how their first couple months of marriage have been going.  Wes and Suz met at camp our first year there.  We have had the privilage of seeing them meet, date, engaged and now married.  They both have been so good with our kids and especially Aaron. 

Aunt Ione, Aaron, Aaron, Maggie, Emma and Uncle Merlin

Uncle Merlin and Emma

Aunt Ione and Aaron

The morning they left!  Ione sporting an Eagle Lake sweatshirt

Joel and Michelle Ostrom and kids standing on the Eagle Lake

Wes and Suz Greer

Pics of the kids!

Here are some updated pictures of the kids.  Emma in red, Maggie in green and Aaron in black.

A week full of work

The last two weeks of work up at Eagle Lake Camp have been full.  Last week Dan hosted 55 volunteers who came up to Camp to work.  They tackled the remodeling of the office and the infermary.  They painted both places and pulled the old, icky carpet in the office and are working on replacing it with pergo.

The weather has been very interesting this week.  Yesterday it was a beautiful 70 degrees and today we had a snow storm and it reached 30 degrees!  Gotta love Colorado weather.

Here are some pictures of our new friends and the new Rez Directors Ben and Rosa Notheis.  Also some of the volunteers and Dan working in the office on the new flooring.

Back at Work

Well we made the trip back to Colorado from our time in Minnesota.  We had a great time seeing and meeting with people.  It is always so much fun to talk about what we are doing out here at Eagle Lake Camp.  God was exceedingly good to us on our travels.  We logged a wopping 10,300 miles on our mini van with 3 kids and a dog.  Some may say that we are crazy...we say that we are blessed!

I think that I am now officially moved back in and settled.  As we told some of you...when we were in MN Shaun and Larae and Ben and Rosa stayed at our townhome in Colorado Springs.  They both have found permanent housing and we are so excited for them for that.

I am back in the swing of things...bible study, visiting friends and everyday life with three kids 4 and under.  I have to say that it does feel good to clean my own house and make dinner every night...I wonder how that will last!

Dan is back at work and loving it.  He came back and they had a long list waiting for him.  This last week and for the next week he has been working on updating the camp office and the infirmary.  And man did those two locations need it!  There will be many different work crews that will be coming up this coming week and volunteering, so Dan needs to be able to use them all efficiently.

Yesterday Dan spent a good chunk of the day working on his saw mill that will be of great use to the building and updating going on at the camp.  Here are some pictures of his very first cut.  He was very excited.

NWC 30-Year Cruise

Eight of my (Beth) college girlfriends, from Northwestern, and me decided 10+ years ago that when we all turned 30 that we would take a trip...well Jan. 10th we headed to Miami for a 5 day cruise to Grand Turks, Half Moon Cay, and Nassau.  It was amazing (as you can see by the pictures).  We all decided that we will be vacationing again together in 10 years when we turn 40!  Here are some of the highlights...

Back: Andrea, Stacey, Angie, Lauren, Abbey

Front: Jana, Karna, Sarah, Beth

Angie, Sarah, Stacey, Jana, Karna, Lauren, Andrea, Abbey and Beth

Beth and Angie Lundeen

Angie, Abbey, Jana, Sarah, Stacey, Lauren, Karna, Beth, and Andrea

The babes of the group. Abbey, Beth and Angie