In October 1996, a young family moved from Anderson, Indiana to Aurora, Colorado. They had no family or friends there, but God knew. He brought them to a little church where there was an abundance of family and love. This family was welcomed with open arms and quickly made their own "family" with several families in this church. A few years later, one of the families moved away. Then a few years after that, other families did.
But the Altmans and the Johnsons remained family. They celebrated almost every holiday together. They celebrated many, many birthdays. They welcomed new family members through birth, marriage, and adoption. They laughed a lot and prayed a lot. They saw other people come and go, but always thought they would be together. Mark called us the "Altsons". Sandy planned for where the four of us would live after all our children were grown.
But God knew. He knew things that would be different from what we had planned. He knew that we would have to say goodbye long before we wanted to. Our dear friends are moving away today. Far away. My heart is broken at the loss of our family being right here, as they always have been. When we started our adoption process, I had a vision of what things would look like; a large part being the "family" we have here to support us. But God knew. And now I need to keep my eyes and heart on Him and what He has for us now. He is bringing the Johnsons into a new season as He is us. He is faithful.
Below is a sort of timeline of photos of the "Altsons" through the years. It has been fun going through them and remembering fun times. (And these are just a tiny, tiny fraction of all the photos I could have included, haha!)
Halloween 1997. Erin, Brittany, Taylor, Nathan, with Katie and Andrew Maurer.
Sandy and baby Keelan at the church carnival. 1999
Brittany and Erin at Brittany's birthday party. 1999
Erin and Brittany on their first day of church camp. 1999
Taylor and Nathan at Chuck E Cheese - Taylor's birthday party. 2000
Sandy (and Graham!) with Keelan at the church picnic. 2000
Nathan and Taylor. 2000
Sandy and Keelan. 2000
Keelan and baby Grahamy. 2000
Erin and Brittany with some really big Disney suckers. No clue what that was about, haha.
Graham and Keelan on the day Justin was born. 2002
Mark and baby Justin.
Brittany and Erin.
Graham and Keelan. 2003
Graham, Justin and Keelan 2004
Keelan and Graham.
Taylor and Nathan on their first day of church camp.
Graham and Keelan
Joy and Sandy - musta been my birthday. :D
Jim, Sandy, Graham and Keelan. Looks like another birthday!
Keelan, Graham, Justin doing what they do.
Jim and Mark.
Graham, Keelan, Justin in our little pool.
Erin and Justin.
Justin and Mark.
Erin and Brittany at the Rockies game.
Keelan and Graham at Erin and Brittany's graduation party. 2008
Brittany and Erin before graduation.
Graduation party!
Halloween 2008. (I think.) Hilarious. :D
Erin and Brittany doing what they do.
Taylor and Nathan doing what they do!
Erin and Brittany and Elitch Gardens.
More Elitch's.
Taylor, Nathan, Graham, Keelan. Don't remember the occasion!
Jim, Sandy, Joy. Looks like another birthday. Probably mine. It's summer, and Jim is handing out the cake. ;)
Graham when he was in my 3rd grade class.
2008-2009
2008-2009
Justin, Erin, Brittany. Christmas Day, 2008.
Trip to Echo Lake on a f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g December day. All of us - the Altsons. :)
Super Bowl! Sandy, Mark, Keelan, Nathan. 2009
Keelan's birthday at Chuck E. Cheese. Justin, Keelan, Graham. 2009
Just one photo of many in the Johnson/Altman style show, starring Erin and Brittany. Summer 2009
Don't mess with these guys.
Graham, Keelan, Justin. Spring 2009
Taylor and Nathan sporting more awesome outfits. 2010
Graham, Keelan, Justin at Aurora Reservoir. 2010
Joy and Sandy at the reservoir.
The crew at the reservoir.
Keelan and Graham at Meadowood Christian School field day. 2010
Mark, Joy, Jim at the Rockies game.
Bocce ball on Christmas Day. 2010 Nathan, Erin, Brittany, Brad, Sandy, Lucy, Jim.
Brittany, Erin, Sandy on Christmas Day 2010.
Taylor and Nathan - Christmas.
Erin and Brittany - Christmas break. January 2011
More classic Taylor and Nathan.
Erin and Brittany at Brittany's wedding shower. Spring 2011.
Nathan's birthday, May 2011. Graham, Keelan, Taylor, Justin, Nathan
Sandy and Joy at Taylor's graduation party,
May 2011.
May 2011.
Erin and Brittany at Brittany's wedding. May 2011
Keelan and Graham at the Rockies game.
Brad and Nathan at Erin's wedding. December 2011.
Nathan and Justin.
Justin and Graham at Erin's wedding. Yeah, that last one was not in the right place, LOL
Brittany and Erin at Erin's wedding. Dec. 2011
Brad & Brittany with Wes & Erin at Brittany and Brad's apartment. Christmas Day 2011.
Sandy and Justin 2012
Graham and Justin at Math Olympics,
Colorado Springs. 2012
Colorado Springs. 2012
Taylor and Nathan - Taylor's birthday at Red Lobster. 2012
Thanksgiving 2012. Brittany, Brad, Jim, Justin, Keelan, Taylor, Mark, Graham.
Skyping with Nathan on Thanksgiving.
Brittany and Mark at Country Buffet for Keelan's birthday, March 2013.
Justin, Caylie and Graham at Aurora Reservoir, summer 2013.
Goodbye, sweet friends. We love you.
We are family.
