#42: First Christmas of the year

Because our families are so far away from each other, we have had to make the tradition of spending Thanksgiving with one side of the family and Christmas with the other. We celebrate Christmas with the family at Thanksgiving as well.

This year we were in Colorado for Thanksgiving/Christmas. We have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Thanksgiving day was very relaxing. It was just immediate family and Vince’s uncle and aunt. We played Pit and laughed a lot. And of course we ate lots of good food.

After the Thanksgiving celebrations were over, we started thinking about Christmas. We got family pictures on Saturday, did lots of shopping, and then celebrated Christmas last night. Vince’s sister Alicia and I did a special project for Vince’s parents.  We designed and pieced together a quilt for their bed. They love eagles, and we had not been able to find an eagle quilt for sale anywhere. We had a lot of fun figuring out how to do it. We had to sneak out of the house to use a sewing machine, and had to ask several different people for help. We succeeded in getting it pieced together for Christmas though! Now we are sending it off to get quilted! It was so much fun. I think Alicia is now hooked on sewing

Our gift giving was a little untraditional this year. Basically we would be so excited about a gift that we would just give them at random times. By the time our Christmas celebration actually got here, there wasn’t that much more to unwrap.

After our Christms celebration, we ordered pizza and watched a movie. What a wonderful time to relax and enjoy family. We may not have had the “traditional” Christmas in any sense of the word, but it was amazing none the less.All in all, we’ve had a wonderful time with family. Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

#33: Dushanbi Teahouse

It’s so much fun to experience other cultures. While we were in Colorado with Matthew and Kirsten, we decided to go try out a Tajikstan Teahouse. It was amazing! One of the most impressive parts was that all of the decorations in the entire restaurant were hand carved and painted. So much work went into creating this restaurant. The food wasn’t too bad either. We all got different dishes that were all arranged so nicely, we almost felt bad eating them. Getting to share this experience with good friends made it totally awesome.

Times like these amaze me all the time. I am amazed by God’s generousity in letting us have opportunities like these with great friends. I am amazed by other peoples’ creativity and skill. I am amazed by so many different wonderful varieties of food. All of it combined makes me very thankful that I get to be around to enjoy it for a little while, and it also makes me wonder what heaven is going to be like if earth can be this fun.

This trip to Colorado was absolutely fantastic. It was great fun being a “tourist” for a few days. I got to visit things that on a regular trip we would never have seen. We saw family and friends while we were there, but we also got to hang out with Matthew and Kirsten and just enjoy Colorado.

Worshipping God Under the Moutains

Here I am worshipping with thousands of people with a wonderful view of the mountains. Jeremy Camp is leading worship and I am touched by something he said. I cannot recap the exact phrase but I was reminded that we are all called to worship him with out lives. As I look around at the people around me I am in awe that God is working in each life around me and that God is calling each of them to a ministry to impact the people in their lives.

God is working our lives. I see God changing Joy and I. We are trying to follow God’s desire for us in going to Uganda. The amazing part is the it is not just Joy and I, but in every life around me.

I guess as I am standing a field with hundreds I realize how small I am and how much God is doing in the world. If anything I find myself lost in his world.

I have just one question, one thought, how is God working in your life?

Pictures of the Springs

Pictures of our trip to Colorado Springs at Garden of the Gods.

 

 

 

Our Anniversary

Hey friends, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted a blog…so long in fact that I could no longer remember my password or username.   However, with the help of technology, I am up and running again.

Life has been great.  We spent all of last week running around like chickens with our heads cut off, but we got our house packed up and moved and made it safely to Colorado.  We’ve had a great time with Vince’s family and have even been blessed with the opportunity to spend an evening with two really good friends.  Vince’s good friend Ben came to visit from Fort Collins, and my good friend Tara came to visit from Bennet.  They came the same night, so the girls hung out in one room and caught up with eachother, while the guys were in another room.  Go figure.   It was lots of fun though.

Currently we are in Colorado Springs celebrating our anniversary.  It has been wonderful.  We are thoroughly enjoying the mountain view and just relaxing.  We ate lunch at a wonderful restaurant…P.F. Changs! Then we went to Garden of the Gods and tried to ride our bikes on a mountain bike trail.  The view was spectacular, however, we both decided we weren’t quite ready for mountain biking per say.  So today we have found an 18 mile paved bike path and are going to try that.  I’m still trying to get used to the whole lack of air thing here in the mountains, but it has been great to get away and spend time together.

God has been so good to us, and we are so blessed to have this time.  We look forward to the next two weeks here and then we hop on a plane and head to Africa, which we are eagerly anticipating.

Pictures of our grand adventure in CO Springs will be coming sometime soon.  Until then-God bless.  Take time to enjoy what God has given.