Their Christmas letter, complete and verbatim
Merry Christmas from Ron and Bonny Collins — 2009
Merry Christmas from Ron and Bonny Collins!
2009 has been a busy year with many blessings. Although it has been an exceptionally heavy travel year for Bonny’s work, we managed to get in a surprising amount of sightseeing too. The most important blessing for which we are thankful is God’s provision to spend eternity with him by sending His Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for our sins. Right after that are the blessings of family, friends and good health to enjoy them fully.
Below are some treasured memories from the past year. Christmas 2008, Bonny’s boys’ (Larry and Jeremy) families, brother (Ron W), sister-in-law (Elaine) and Larry’s mother-in-law (Kathy) joined us. Barbara’s family joined us for present opening by computer video teleconferencing from their home in Denver.
Jeremy and Jami organized an Easter Egg Hunt for the Grand Junction grandchildren.
Bonny and daughter Barbara in Telluride, CO, 11,100 ft altitude walking in a 13 mile ‘race’ ascending to 13,185 ft. Barbara completed the race. Bonny simply ran out of oxygen at around 12,400 ft! Son-in-law, Scot, Bonni & Bethani and Ron were cheering at the finish line.
Ron enjoying Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah this summer. In the same trip we also visited the North rim of the Grand Canyon (burrrr),
Canyon de Chelle, AZ, Petrified Forest, AZ, Scottsdale AZ , Monument Valley, AZ, Canyon Lands, UT, and Dead Horse Point, UT. For those of you who know Ron’s love of travel and sightseeing, you won’t be surprised by his ability to cover all that ground in one trip and love every minute of it.
Ron was able to get a much looked forward to trip to Albuquerque to visit his son Charley
Grand Children are a gift from God: (Yes, Kids too, but we can only get so much on one page!)
The Virginia Duo: Ron’s son-in-law, Monte Wilber, returned from deployment to Afghanistan just before Thanksgiving to be re-united with Guenevere (Gen - Ron’s daughter) and their two delightful children, A.J. (3) and Samantha (1). They are serving in the Navy in Chesapeake, Virginia and expecting their 3rd child in January. It has been a stressful year for them. We look forward to visiting them in the spring.
The Colorado Tribe: Thanksgiving we enjoyed having all of the Colorado family at our house.
Here are grandchildren: James (13), Samantha (13), Kasey (12), Avalon (12), Bonni (10), and Bethani (9).
Charlotte (19) in England is missed.
The day after Thanksgiving, Ron and Bonny flew off to St. Thomas and St. John for a week of soaking up sun and … well you can see for yourself.
As we look forward to our 10th Anniversary next month, we are continually humbled by God’s amazing love for us. We count each day as a blessing which includes having you as a friend. We pray God’s grace and love will be demonstrated to you in the coming year in very tangible and obvious ways.
Their one-page greeting, complete and verbatim
Christmas Greetings — 2010
2010 Christmas Greetings from the Collins’ Family
Colorado Thanksgiving 1
Their Christmas letter, complete and verbatim
Update for friends — Christmas 2015
Dear Friends,Merry after Christmas 2015 update!
As we greedily read letters and cards from faithful friends during the holiday season, I am convicted about how poorly we have communicated. So this is our overview to catch you up!
Ron and I rejoice daily in God’s love and faithfulness. How amazing to see His hand at work in our lives over the past 17 years. Our families are healthy and actively exploring life. We are active in our ‘home’ church, River of Life Alliance, in Grand Junction and our ‘winter’ church, Island Baptist Church, in South Padre Island Texas. We are so blessed for God’s grace to be able to continue to enjoy life to the full. Ron is planning to have his ‘other’ knee replacement surgery in the spring.
Most of Bonny’s 3 children’s families are in Colorado. Thanksgiving 2014 we were all together, including Bonny’s brother and sister-in-law on the right. Grandson James (center back) has joined the Army. Two granddaughters have graduated from high school; the other two are in HS. All busy with various activities.
Since I (Bonny) retired one of my enjoyable hobbies has been carpentry. Spring’s project was a raised garden bed so we didn’t have to bend over for another hobby, gardening. Ron was the engineer for the pad it sits on.
Loved making Hope Chests for Bonni, Bethani & helping Kasey make her own.
We visited Gen & Monte Wilber, Ron’s daughter’s family in Buffalo NY and enjoyed the ‘younger’ 4 grandchildren (and their parents). Unfortunately most of the pictures disappeared.
Ron’s son, Charley and wife Becca, came to Grand Junction to enjoy Jr. College World Series baseball (JUCO) with his dad in May and we had Thanksgiving with them in Albuquerque on our way to south Texas for the winter.
This is our 4th winter in south Texas. We are involved in ministry, church and with friends here. We are blessed to be able to participate in God’s family where ever we are. We are more blessed to have friends all over the country.
We pray 2016 will be a wonderful year for you and your families.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Rom 15:13