Greetings in 2019

10 Years Later...

Merry Christmas from the4smileys

Dearest Friends and Family,

I hope you are enjoying the Christmas season! I have been hiding out in my house for 72 hours during our huge snowstorm; shopping online, baking, cooking, wrapping… not being a very motivated home-schooler (what happened to those lofty ideas of science experiments, milling grain and sewing are own clothes?) The boys have been outside more than inside(Praise God) and digging a snow tunnel. Also I’ve made my second visit ever to this blog...crazy. So let me take this opportunity to wish you Grace and happiness in 2009 (and to thank our normal editor).

2008 was blessed with trips!! A conference in Orlando in January with Young Life, Kona with the Smileys!, a SW tour with my sister Jan, sunny trips to Calif., my nephew’s wedding with lots of family in Henderson, NV, a quick trip to Colorado (where I didn’t throw up in my husband’s boss’s car), camping in Moab and an American History trip to PA, VA and DC! I love the trips as much as the cherished visits from friends and family. It fills my love tank.

Another highlight for Josh and me included taking kids to camp. We both went to Lost Canyon (absolutely different than living here), but I went for a week during the summer with high school girls that came from a small town an hour away and Josh went with William’s Wyldlife (middle school boys) last weekend for Winter camp. We probably expended the same amount of energy. A huge praise was getting to see the mission of Young Life camping up close and personal (and loving it!). 

It’s been two years that we’ve been here and that is a comfort in many ways. It’s nice to not feel so “new”. It’s a relief to not be as pained about being away from our Colorado community. There’s also the chance I might get to do it “right” because I know what to expect a little bit more, but I still seem to miss the mark on lots of stuff…alas.

Getting to be around the phenomenal staff (and assignment team) and the precious college-aged people who live here all summer (and then visit after) is the reward. I pray God would let us be faithful to whatever He has for us to do.

We have taken some baby steps in hanging out with some great families in our William’s home school group and the boys seem to be happy learning at home. They are taller and a little more adolescent and we are thankful to live life with them. They like to play in the snow, play with the dog, play on the trampoline in the summer, eat candy, watch movies, play video games and read when they have a book they are enjoying. Justin likes the projects he’s continually creating and Ryan likes board games with Josh. Josh likes playing any game and working and is getting to drive tractors today to clear the snow.

We grieve this Christmas with our church family in Colorado for the loss of precious friends Paul (in May) and Vickie (this December) yet are comforted by Jesus' words in John 11:25,26.

“Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.'”

We hope you see God loving you this year. We would love to welcome you here.

Amy, Josh, Ryan and Justin

Just wanted to share with you pictures of our new pet. We think he will do a better job guarding our front door than our dog.

Real Story: This big boy bull Elk hung out at our front door for 4 days before walking into the pond and ending his time here at Lost Canyon (he died). We think he was sick since he was only 4-5 years old. We named him “Moose” because he was so big….like a moose . Was fun to have him around for a bit although we had to go through the garage to get to the front door most of the time. (Staying out of the antler range)

Summer 2008

Hey we fell off the side of the world for Summer 2008, but what a great summer in Williams AZ.

You can see a New York Times article on the town ....one of our friend's daughters made the picture list too. (hit slide show)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/15/greathomesanddestinations/15havens.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Josh

Welcome Bauer Smiley

Yes its true. After much diliberation the Smiley family has gone and got a dog. The Offners had recently acquired a Rot/Retriever mix from second chances but decided to raise a child instead, so the offer went out and we accepted. Bauer joined the family in January 2008. Great dog..still a puppy and the boys love him.

Winter Projects

As the snow pushes activities inside, Justin has been in heaven to have both project time and snow time. He loves both. We recently received an issue of the "Home Times" at our bedroom door stoop from the local Justin paperboy. This first edition of the Home Times included a headline "Outcome of Champion Chip". In this first story, it outlined the championship pillow fight at the new pillow fight city...'come see or feel the feathers fly'. A story further in the paper tells about the new place that opened recently in Justin's bedroom. Other news stories in sports and of course a well placed advertisement of Justin's wish list (Media folks are so tricky). It was a great read, I recommend everyone subscribe. In other news, the Smileys have been hanging out with a few other families in town. Just this past weekend a snow project resulted when one family brought over 4 pairs of skis and we subsequently assembled like a good research team some cutting edge sleds. Wicked fast and dangerous...the sleds were affectionately known as "death sleds" since they could easily take you out with their top rate of speed. Many folks had to bail out to save their skins from the rock garden and various assundry trees. The sleds were great fun. I will post some pictures later.

Merry Christmas to Friends and Family - December 2007

Dearest Family and Friends,

Merry, merry Christmas!! We hope you are well! We are thinking of you and praying that you are experiencing peace and blessing. It’s been one year since we left our home in Colorado and moved to Northern Arizona. The climate is the same (high altitude. snow in the winter) but just about everything else in our life is very different.

November 2006 Josh took leave from IBM for a job opportunity with Young Life (a non-denominational Christian outreach ministry to middle and high school students) (sorry if this is review). He is the manager of Young Life’s camp called Lost Canyon fulfilling a life-long desire to participate in a forum where Jesus is shared and kids are loved (away from the day to day of life). God really used Josh’s time as a manager at IBM to build his skills to be prepared to lead the 20-person team here. He is great at this job, too, and now he drives a golf cart to work. He would also say that work is still work and “people issues” exist in every job to grow us, but he’s where he’s supposed to be for now. The camp is two miles up the road from a small route 66 town (population 3000). We’re about an hour from the Grand Canyon and there is a train that goes to the Canyon that draws tourists to our town (complete with cowboys that “rob” the train and have a shoot-out). I ran into an unknown but familiar man at the William’s community Thanksgiving dinner and my mouth blurted out what my mind had been trying to figure out, “You’re a cowboy!” Apparently, they have other jobs as well. I finally feel at home in my Safeway and post office here, but don’t spend much time in the actual town.
We live in the only house on the camp property surrounded by the Kaibab National Forest with a little pond in front (it looks like winter wonderland right now). Besides college and the 5 years following, I have only ever lived in a suburb (similar houses, community pool etc). This is my first experience without neighbors. When camp is in session, however, I have 400 neighbors 350 yards away. I do not borrow a cup of sugar from any of them but sometimes we will eat with them in the dining hall. The camp has high school or middle school kids here all summer for a week at a time and then the winter has weekends booked for church retreats, conferences, and weekend camps. I like having an indoor gym, game room & gift shop in walking distance and elk poop in the yard, but I miss our wonderful neighbors.
Another big change is that I’m home schooling our boys this year. The local public school was not recommended and driving 72 miles a day (2 round-trips to a neighboring town) became old. I had been deliberating between getting a job and going back to school and I got both. We bought scripted lesson plans with a complete curriculum program to help us figure it out, and we belong to a home school group in town where I’m getting to know some families. We take art with the group and do some recreational things. I love being around the guys and the flexibility, and my patience is growing (?). I’ll let you know how the year goes for the boys, but I am learning a great deal (and we don’t wake up early or make lunches).
Ryan (10) and Justin (9) like to play (outside in the snow, board/card/video/computer games, with Legos and Pokemon, pool, ping pong, disc golf and anything with Dad). They also like to read and jump on the trampoline. During the summer they ran all over camp (and ate most of their meals in the dining hall as well)...we barely saw them unless we had friends here. They are making up for lost time with me with the home schooling thing.
While we don’t have all our amazing Colorado friends and church here, our camp staff is great and they have been a family for us. We hang out with a lot of 26 year olds (average age of our staff). We have lunches, dinners with staff and families, and women and men’s bible study almost weekly. When we “get over” being older than them (or being the boss) we have fun (especially playing games) and we pray we will build friendships with people in town in 2008.
the4smileys.blogspot.comIf I had to pick a couple of many blessings to praise God for in 2007 it would be growing closer in our marriage and the extraordinary love and support from our family and friends with visits, calls, prayer, emails and hosting us so we could get out of town. Moving is certainly the hardest thing I’ve done in a while and God sustained us while we were lonely with 67 visitors (some repeat offenders) during 20 visits (and we left town about 15 times). We appreciated it all so much. You are always welcome here.
God bless you far and wide.