The Sent Ones

The past few weeks have been great - connecting with friends and saying, "good-bye."

On the East Coast we shared at my home church and a friend's church and they prayed for us. Back in Colorado we were prayed out at our Church, and the Y-office, and some friends at the Jericho Center (kind of like IHOP).

I feel very sent...so now we shall go!!

Tomorrow morning we fly out of Denver to NJ and from there, a 14 hour flight to Delhi. We'll spend a few days in Delhi and meet up with J (from Idaho) and meet his wife B. Then we'll take a train to Varanasi. The group of back-packers from Idaho will arrive shortly after us, so it will be fun to see them.

We've been blessed with a lot of special gifts towards our trip - covering the cost of the "School of Hindu Studies" which is 3 months of language/culture training. We've got it all set up to stay at a Guest House (like a cheap hotel) for $100 a month, so we'll have a bedroom and bathroom, with A/C and there's a generator...sounds pretty luxurious to me :)

Back 2 School Extravaganza

We have the coolest church ever!! For lots of reasons, but we'll just start with one. The Back 2 School Extravaganza - a free carnival for local kiddos.

Yesterday we helped set up. The highlight - cleaning the 14 bounce-houses...

mazes, slides, obstacle courses...we even found a leak and closed the opening...we're heroes!!

It's hard work, but someone had to do it...I don't know how kids play on those things for hours. I was pretty tired after a few times down the giant side,

and racing a 10 year-old through the obstacle course. After that, we handed over the cleaning to younger, more energetic people...It's hard to say how clean things got, but they did race through there with spray bottles and rags...

The church had 2500 back-packs full of school supplies to give to kids who needed them. And lots of free stuff - face-painting, cotton candy, pop-corn, snow-cones, Veggie-Tales playing on the big projector screen, and Larry-Boy was there...and a dentist, but that's not so cool...

Today we supervised the kiddos playing in the bounce-houses. At the end of the day, we got to deflate them, fold, and roll - like a GIANT air mattress. Those things are really heavy (they said the biggest one was 700lbs)...it was hard work...apparently we did a good enough job that the one of the guys in charge offered me a job...no thank-you, I'm going to India...

Camping

Immediately upon arriving home (after driving all week from the east coast), we went camping...who does that? Oh yeah, my husband. He said we have to go camping this summer, and we've only got 2 weeks left before we go to India, so why not go now?

One of our newly-married couple friends invited us to go camping. So we un-packed, re-packed and drove off into the mountains. Duane & I car-pooled in the "Just Married" car. They are really enjoying talking to everyone who sees their car and congratulates them. Think about it, when was the last time you stopped at a red-light, and held a conversation with the car next to you? It's even more fun when they are wondering who just got married and we say, "we all did!"

Camping was fun too. There were 12ish people...reminded me of backpacking with the D-school in Idaho, except then there was a context for that group of people - like team-building since we'd be spending the next 6 months together and going to India.

Nope, this was just completely random people who somehow knew each other...and we knew 2 of them. Since we arrived after dark and no one knew us, I was inspired with the idea of sneaking into random camp-fires after dark and pretending like you belong. That could be fun...never know until you try...we didn't do that...

We also went hiking, but only a few miles since we were just a sea-level 2 days ago. It was sooo beautiful!

Church in Denver

Sunday we went to Church in Denver. Fred spoke about the state of the world today and what the church needs to do to get our country back on track.

We had a booth set up in the foyer with a bunch of books - biographies of famous M-workers such as Amy Carmichael and Hudson Taylor. We also had fliers and such with more info about what we do, for those interested in joining missions.

This was my first networking/recruiting event since joining NSI in Jan. I enjoyed meeting people and sharing with them more about what we do. I also loved visiting their church, and participating in anointed worship, and of course hearing Fred speak is always a little mind-blowing.

It's like Christmas!

We got back from Idaho and decided it was time to start looking for a place for me to live. We found a townhouse to rent right around the corner from our friends, so I called, and it was already taken. That's when we discovered a bunch of military people are coming mid-march and they are claiming everything. Apartments are rented within 3-4 days of being advertised.

It looked like our only option was to become OCD about checking the local rental websites, call & visit immediately, and if we like it, sign the lease that day. No pressure...

Then we thought about some things:

1) Do we really want to spend 1/2 of our income on rent?

2) Who would rent to us, since we can't prove that we have an income?

That leaves, sketchy, low-income housing in less than ideal neighborhoods, where I would not want to be living there alone until Duane & I get married.

OR

A co-worker from the Communications Base just so happens to have a basement apartment available and is looking for someone

to rent it. Fully furnished, including WiFi, and nearly 1/2 the price of the places we were looking at.

Perfect!!

So after 3 months, I finally got my stuff out of the storage unit, along with Duane's furniture.

Unpacking all those treasures felt like Christmas. I even discovered our kitchen is pretty sustainable, thanks to the stuff we collected when Dave left Idaho to move to Cali. Thanks Dave!!

For the first time in 3 years, I unpacked ALL of my suitcases, putting stuff away in closets, dressers, cupards, etc.

It's so wonderful. We even have a whole closet just for all of our camping/ backpacking/ climbing gear, and the empty suitcases...

I like Colorado

For one thing, we have the same great view of the mountains like in Idaho, but it's no where near as cold. Ok, so it did get down to -20 last week, but in no time it's back up to 50 degrees. We get some snow, but it melts the next day. If we really want to play in the snow, we head up into the mountains...although sometimes it's colder up there than we realize...

I like my new friends. We enjoy hanging out with our co-workers at the office, or starbucks. Playing card-games or Mario in the evenings with our friends who have "real" jobs. I'm looking forward to the weather getting nicer so we can go hiking and biking.

I like our church, and I started working in the nursery last Sunday. The great thing about living in a city, is bigger churches, which means lots of babies in the nursery. :)

One of my favorite things to do is go to the climbing gym 3 times a week. I like the transverse (horizontal) bouldering routes, because I don't like to climb very high without being in a harness. Although usually Daune or his mom will spot me so I don't die when I fall, but I asked Duane to video what turned out to be my most epic accomplishment on the V2 bouldering route (the blue grips)...I'm pretty proud of myself...

Off to the Mountains

6 of us ladies headed off to the mountains for a few days of fun and bonding...a great way to get to know my new co-workers. Not to mention get some much needed girl-time...

We stayed at a "little" (5 bed room, 4 bath) cabin in the land of 3 feet of snow...

We watched movies, played dominoes, ate lots of good food and enjoyed too much candy...

 One day we went into Breckenridge and tried on hats... among other things...

 Us youngens tried to play in the snow, while the more mature, intelligent ones took pictures of us...

Then we soaked in the hot tub...then cooled off the snow and screamed because it was so cold (20 degrees)...jumped back in the hot tub and screamed some more because it hurt so much...that's all I can tell you, because everything else that happened in Breckenridge stays in Breckenridge...

Duane & Becky's Story

Once upon a time, there was a man named Duane, who loved India. So he came to Cascade, Idaho to work with more people who also love India. That's where he met a cute dread-head named Becky. Together they had fun, hiking with friends, and soaking in the hot springs.

Then their team went on a Faith road trip, which ended up being 3 weeks long. That resulted in suspicious things such as: Duane getting really protective when the home-sick NYC kid gave Becky a hug, because she was from his state. “Sorry” the boy said, “she must be your girlfriend…” Well, not yet, but it sure did appear to be true…Or in San Francisco, when Becky had the worst sinus infection ever, took nightquil and slept for two days. Duane was really concerned…you would have thought she was dying…

Then in Mendocino, California, there was that long walk, barefoot on the beach, watching the sunset, and talking for hours. It was the most romantic date ever, except for the part where Becky didn’t know if Duane liked her, but she knew she was falling for him.

A couple days later, in Discovery Bay, Duane said to Becky, “would you like to go down to the beach and watch the sunset with me?” The response was a smile and a nod. As the sun set he confessed that he liked her, and she said, "I thought so" and awkwardly left him hanging, so he had to ask, "um, do you feel the same way?" "Oh, yes!!!"

After a long, flirtatious drive back to Idaho, the couple talked to their leaders, and officially started dating.

At last it came time to meet the parents on a camping trip in Moab. The couple had fun, mountain biking, hiking, and sleeping outside in hammocks! As a joke they took a picture of them wearing rings, and e-mailed it to some friends. This is referred to as the time they “accidentally” looked a rings… but it worked out conveniently for Duane. Dresses as pirates they returned to their excited friends. It was rather disappointing to admit, it was just a joke.

As they prayed about what their future would look like, rather than Duane stay in Idaho, it seemed that it was time for Becky to move on. At the pirate/hippie good-bye party, Becky was given a “thank you” so big that it didn’t fit on the card, and Duane was awarded with the right to take one staff member of his choice to Colorado.

The day after Becky arrived in Colorado Springs Duane insisted they go for a walk in the Garden of the Gods. She put her camera in her pocket, and noticed he had something in his pocket, which didn’t look like his phone, but it wasn’t a ring box either, so she wasn’t too suspicious.

As they walked, he talked about how this was his playground, and finally it was going to be a romantic spot, now that his princess was here. As they rounded a corner of “Twin Spires” Duane talked about how the 2 different colored rocks somehow merged into one, like a married rock, if that is possible. There were flowers and a card on the ground. Becky figured he must have had a friend put it there. Since he is a romantic guy anyway, this might just be a “welcome to Colorado” gift.

The card had pictures of them on the front and inside a picture of Duane with…her mom and step-dad? Duane said, “I just had a crazy weekend in Pennsylvania, and I called your Dad too,” as he got down on one knee and pulled out a ring and put it on her finger. She kissed him, for the first time, (since they weren’t going to kiss until we are engaged), and now they were engaged!

A distant voice yelled, “so, is that a yes?” That’s when she noticed our photographer stalker, and discovered that the random thing in Duane’s pocket was the voice recorder…so yes, they have it all on video…

I said yes!!!!!

December 15, 2010 Duane and I went to Garden of the Gods. I put my camera in my pocket, and noticed he had something in his pocket, which didn’t look like his phone, but it wasn’t a ring box either, so I wasn’t suspicious.

As we walked, he talked about how this was his playground growing up, and finally it was going to be a romantic spot, now that I’m here. We rounded a corner of “twin spires rock”, with Duane talking about how the 2 rocks somehow merged into one, like a married rock, if that is possible.

There were flowers and a card on the ground. I figured he must have had a friend put it there. Since he is a romantic guy anyway, I thought this might just be a “welcome to Colorado” gift.

The card had pictures of us on the front, and inside a picture of Duane with…my mom and step-dad? Duane said, “I just had a crazy weekend in Pennsylvania, and I called your Dad,” as he got down on one knee and pulled out a ring and put it on my finger.

I kissed him, for the first time, (since we weren’t going to kiss until we are engaged), and now we are engaged! I hugged him for a very long time, because I was shaking too much to let go...

A distant voice yelled, “so, is that a yes?” That’s when I noticed our photographer stalker, and discovered that the random thing in Duane’s pocket was the voice recorder…so yes, we have it all on video…