September

Our friend Marci was in town, and came for dinner one night.  It was great to see her! 

Caylie's school had their annual Fun Run. 
Nathan is her friend from both school and church!

 Justin and Samuel went to the See You at the Pole Rally at Calvary Aurora.

Tessa and Caylie in their Elsa dresses.  

Justin was selected to go on the Eaglecrest High School Spirit Bus, which goes to all the feeder middle and elementary schools to get them excited about homecoming.

Here they are at one of the local schools. 

And the next day was the homecoming parade! 

 Elias was patiently waiting for it to start.

And so were Tessa and Caylie.  Samuel was there too, but wanted to watch from the other side of the street.

And here comes the Raptor Regiment!

Little Trombone Jussy.  😀

Rowdy Raptor

Tessa and Caylie were very good at drawing attention for the candy throwers!  

They each had a large stash of candy by the end.

The band played for a pep rally in front of the school at the end of the parade.

And of course they played for halftime at the game. 

 Go Raptors!

August Birthdays

Elias turned ONE on August 1st. 
We celebrated at White Fence Farm.  

We re-created a photo of Justin with Thomas Jefferson that we'd done several years before.  😁

Tessa turned FOUR on August 29.  She and Caylie had lunch with Disney Princesses at the Melting Pot.

Justin turned SIXTEEN on August 29.  (Tessa was born on his 12th birthday.)  We went to Noodles and Company  -always his choice! - but apparently I took no photos!

Happy Happy Birthday to all my August loves!  🎈🎈

August

We went to a Rockies game with the EHS Band.  Rockies lost and it was hot, but lots of fun!

Justin's senior high youth pastor left our church to pastor a church in another state.  This picture was taken at their going away party.  Pastor Keegan, on the left, is the junior high pastor, and Pastor Joel was the senior high pastor.  Both have been a blessing to Justin!

Jim started the School of Ministry at Calvary Aurora.  

We are excited to see what God will do!

Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis taught at Calvary Aurora over a long weekend.  It was great to meet him and we learned so much!  

Caylie loves to help bake!

First Days of School!
Caylie started 3rd grade at Global Village Academy Douglas County.

Justin started 10th grade at Eaglecrest High School.

Samuel started 8th grade at Sky Vista Middle School.

Football and marching band season started!

Justin played in the band for the Raptor Rally at Eaglecrest, to kick off the football season.

And Jim officiated in a football scrimmage after the band played.

Caylie's school had a pancake breakfast for the families.  

Caylie and Keelan enjoying their pancakes and sausages.

Sam and Justin, also!

 The awesome pancake-making machine!

Samuel and his friend Piper, who was his foster sister in China.  They lived together at House of Grace in Yangchun.

 Caylie and her friend LiLi, who are both from Fuzhou, Jiangxi.  (And they're the same age!)

The Altman and Ainsworth kids; twice family through China adoption!

Me and Justin at Eaglecrest Back to School Night.