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...

The Ugly Tree Party

Lesley and I may be without our men this weekend, but we aint no damsels in distress. We've got everything under control. We started off our Saturday with a yummy brunch, cookie baking, and going through the boxes of Christmas decorations. 

Then what does an Idahoan woman do on a wintry December weekend? Go to the Wise's Ugly Tree Party!!

We took our cookies and went to the Wise's. After enjoying a little bit of food, we trapsed off into the woods in search of the perfect Christmas tree. 

After stumbling around in the snow for a bit, we found a snow-mobile, but Sally and I were not strong enough to get it started. So Candy helped us out, then Sally hopped on, "I'm not so good at driving these things," she said, "would anyone like a ride?" I was the only one crazy enough to ride with her. It's wasn't bad, I just held on real tight...what fun!

Soon we found others, more snowmobiles, and a trailer. 

So I joined the kids riding around in the trailer, picking up trees and hauling them to the cars.

Then we loaded up our tree, and headed back to Lesley's to set it up and decorate it...it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Winter Wonderland

Winter arrived bringing temperatures as low as -20, and a couple feet of snow. The scenery is rather romantic, but cold. Perfect weather for listening to Christmas music, while cuddling on the couch by a warm fire. Oh, but I am alone...and whining about it...

Duane stuck around for Thanksgiving week, helping me keep an eye on Steve and Lesley's house while they were away. I got the privileged of living in this nice house, while Duane got to come over for breakfast, put more wood in the fire, and give me a ride to the office. No wonder he went back to Colorado...

I tried biking to work one day. That was...interesting. While the snow falls constantly, the town of Cascade only plows from 2am to 6am. During the day it is the responsibility of commuters to keep a path cleared by driving on the roads. Once a few inches of snow accumulate, it's not so safe to bike, but it is kind of fun...like peddling through peanut-butter and then suddenly breaking free from it and sliding around the corner on 2 wheels...but bikes only have two wheels, further increasing the likelihood of falling over...a nice old guy asked if I had chains for my tires...no, but that might help...

Another thing to watch out for is icesickles. They can be deadly...check out the ones behind our local grocery store:

A couple days ago, I was sitting inside minding my own business and suddenly there was thunder (is that possible in 0 degree weather?), as an avalanche of ice and snow slid off the roof. I looked out the window as the wall of whiteness passed by on its way to landing on my freshly shoveled walkway...this seems to happen every few days depending on the amount of snow we receive, so maybe there is no point to shoveling? I guess I should just be sure to NOT be standing there waiting to get impaled by icesickles sliding off the roof...

We got 6+ inches of snow last night, so I went out to shovel (again). Thanks to the 2am-6am snow plow, there is quiet the mountain of snow at the end of the driveway. I just happened to be struggling with that, as a guy drove past in his little snow-plow cat, and plowed the mountain out of the way. People in small towns are so nice and helpful...

In other news, there was no food distribution today because the Semi delivering the food slid off the road...that gave me more time to sit at the office and print 1600 1/2 page inserts for in our base newsletter. The printer only prints at a rate of 200 (double-sided) pages per hour. I cut and fold twice as fast, leaving plenty of time for me to go to the bank, make phone calls, check facebook, chat with some hot guy on skype, all while waiting for the printer...until it ran out of ink, so I'm done with that for now...

Am I On Fire?

We were up at the camp for the Work Weekend. I was in the kitchen at 7:30 Saturday morning, and having a great time cutting strawberries, when one of our volunteers turned on the griddle to cook the pancakes. "Is this on?" She asked. It was the first time we used it this spring, so I wouldn't be surprised of the pilot had gone out. I walked over and looked underneath. I caught a wif of gasoline, but saw no flame, and then POOF!!!

I was standing a good 2 feet away, and watched in slow motion as all the vapors in the air lit up in swirls of color and flames rushed towards my face.

If you have ever seen "Slumdog Millionaire" there's a scene where a man is on fire running through the street. That's the image that came to my mind, closely followed by "stop, drop, and roll." But as far as I could tell, I was not on fire, however I know hair is highly flammable (are dreads more or less flammable?), and how would I even know if my head was on fire? I could still see the fumes in front of my face, and felt hot and dizzy, so I ran through the kitchen swatting my hair and yelling, "AM I ON FIRE??!!"

At that moment Carrie turned around and saw me running while swatting at my hair, and then sticking my head in the sink (she said when this event is far enough away to be funny, she'll reenact what she saw). She assured me that I was not on fire, and made me sit down, since I was shaking pretty badly.
She assessed the damage, assuring me that I still had hair. The bandanna protected my dreads and the dreads protected my head.
I had singed eyebrows and shortened lashes, and the fuzzies on my dreads were cleaned up nicely and left in small clumps of burnt hair all over my shirt and face.
I was released from kitchen duty to wash my dreads in attempt to remove the burnt hair smell and burnt hair particles. Since it was only 35 degrees out, I had a hot shower, while holding a cold cloth on my burning face...that was rather challenging.

2 hours later, my face still hurt, but someone found burn cream and aspirin...which helped sooo much.
I spent the rest of the morning outside, enjoying the cold fresh air on my face, supervising the kiddos, and taking pictures of the men working...I have never been so glad to stand outside, looking to the sky and letting snow melt on my cheeks (yes it was snowing in May)...
A day later, the damage is not bad. I made the mistake of rubbing my eyes this morning, and my lips and nose hurt - small blisters pealed off both. I guess the left side of my face was closer to the stove...the skin around my eye is sensitive and I have what looks like a "pacifier ring" on my chin/cheek...

other than that, it just looks like I got a lot of sun lately...and it's really quite a relief to be alive and well. Thank you Father!!

Life is Fun...

This past week has been super busy, hence the lack of blogging. Aside from the usual office worky stuff, and other work-related activities (fixing the sink in the office),

we've jam-packed every free moment with fun things to do. Spring is finally here, so we want to be outside! Sasha and I made dinner for the DeZwaans (since they're always cooking for us), although I suppose chicken Alfredo is not the most normal meal for a picnic, but we live in an office...

Then a bunch of us had a sleep-over on the porch at the Depot, and woke up covered in a layer of frost...and I wonder why I have bronchitis...

This week, Beth (our newest staff person) returned from England and the Wallace family came to visit...So we said, "look at those canoes and kayaks, lets go down the river!"
and then we had a cookout with yummy food, s'mores, and some singing...

It's been snowing off and on all day today, but nothing that sticks. Tonight Sasha and I are having round 2 of left-over chicken Alfredo...tomorrow we head to the camp for a Work Weekend...that sums up life back in Idaho thus far...more exciting adventures to come...

Earthquake!!!

We huddled in the lounge near the door, wrapped in our blankets. “If it shakes like that again, go outside the building,” one of the locals told us. She proceeded to say how little tremors are good, because they release the pressure in the earth, which prevents having a big earthquake.

After chilling in the lounge for a bit, us girls we returned to our classroom to finish our movie.
We were having a “girl’s night” complete with popcorn, Oreos, and of course, chic flicks. At one point the guys had interrupted to beg for popcorn. Later, when the tremor had started, at first I had thought it was just the guys pounding on the wall, but how could it be so loud, and make the cement floor shake? One of our staff dove under a table, and then I realized I was experiencing my first earthquake.

Over the course of the last 2 months I had heard people comment on the little tremors they had felt. I had felt nothing, because these tremors had taken place during break/snack time, when everyone was moving around and Scott was making lots of noise. How could we notice a little tremor?

Last night’s “little tremor” was impossible to miss. One of the locals estimated it to be a 4.5, being from around her, she knows what she's talking about. For me, that raises up lots of questions about earthquakes. Was what we felt a 4.5? Or was the epicenter was 4.5...wouldn’t what we felt vary depending on how far away we were from the epicenter?

I looked it up today – it was a 4.6 earthquake in San Jose, and the epicenter was not that far from us. Apparently it was no big deal, because life is continuing as usual...

Things we take for granted

Early Sunday morning, I could hear Carrie in the kitchen preparing for the twins birthday, as Isaac woke me up to crawl in bed. Which was nice, 'cuz I was kind of cold. Little did I know that there were others who were more cold and up even earlier.An overnight snowstorm had dumped 5 inches of snow at the Camp. They had lost power around 4am, and woke up cold. While I chilled in town, with only 3 inches of snow, went to church, ate cake,watched the twins open presents and play with new toys, went to Youth Group and took a warm shower, I missed out on some fun at the Camp: Igloos, bear problems, huddling by the wood stove in the dining hall, flash-lights, candles, brushing teeth in the snow, and a slumber party.

When I arrived at camp Monday morning, I found the D-school huddled on/by the couch in the Lecture Hall. Songs, Quiet time, and Lectures was spent wrapped in hoodies, blankets, and sleeping bags. During break, we joined the Pioneering school in the warm dinning hall, where we toasted bagels on the wood stove...who needs toasters anyway? The back part of the room had been transformed into the Pioneering school's lecture hall, and the front lounge area was still covered in a layer of mattresses, pillows, and blankets, just in case a slumber party was necessary again tonight.
Back in lectures we saw Joe outside shoveling snow...for what, we had no idea. Turns out the meat was thawing, so the guys packed it in snow in the kitchen. Good idea, since we couldn't take the meat outside because of our bear problems...

Life got more interesting when I heard the lawn mower drive past. That's when I was told we had no running water, none-the-less we could still use the bathroom. The guys used the lawn mower and trailer to hull the huge cooler to the stream to get water. Then they drove around to the bathrooms and flushed the toilets. Good work guys! They also brought water to boil for cooking and drinking.

Everyone (even the tow girls who just arrived for Las Vegas Saturday night) survived the weekend quite well and were in good spirits...and it was great prep for India (where at least there won't be snow and coldness). We were all quite happy when the power came back on this afternoon. Lights! Heat! Running water! Hot showers! All the things we take for granted...at least in America...

Fire & New Life

This evening we walked up the road 1 mile to the Fireman's Memorial trail head. From there we took the Fireman's Memorial trail back to the camp.I find it ironic that the trail was burnt in the fire last summer.

But I took so cool pictures along the way...

The contrast of the burnt trees and the new growth inspires hope.

The fallen trees are pretty crazyThere is hope...

Bet you didn't think burnt trees could be so beautiful...

Homes of Hope

Extreme Home Makeover – Mexico Edition
22 people, 2 days, 1 home and 1 very blessed family.
When our team was talking to the Father about what to do this week, we felt Him saying to go to Ensenada, Mexico. Different team members saw us building a house, a fire, a little girl, the name “Hope.” So we went to Mexico.

When we arrived we found out that a team from California was supposed to come this weekend and build a house for a family. However, because the fires in California, their team had been evacuated and someone’s house burnt down, so they couldn’t come to Mexico after all.

So our team got to build the house for this family. The family, a lady and 5 children (a couple or all of them are her grandkids) live in a camper. It was the type of camper that goes on the back of a truck. It has 1 bed, a table, sink, and stove. The area they live in does not have electricity or running water.















In just 2 days we built a house that is 20x 16. It has 2 rooms, and compared to their camper, it seems so big. When the house was all done, the lady cried and was so happy to have a real house. And our team is so happy that we listened to the Father and went to Mexico and built a house.

Disaster Relief

In case you didn't already know this, I have always wanted to do disaster relief work.

Being in Mexico so close to the wild fires is very exciting. We got to go to an area that had been burned 2 days earlier. We painted the community center (which was the only building in the community that was not completely destroyed in the fire).

Then we split into 2 groups went to people’s houses to clean up the mess. My group worked at 2 different houses. We collected all the metal and put it in a pile, and that was pretty much all that was left of their houses anyway. The other group thoroughly cleaned off the remnants of a house, so that the foundation was clean and empty and ready to rebuild.

Blessed to Be a Blessing

In Genesis 12:1-2 the Father said to Abram, "Leave your land, your relatives, and your father's home. Go to the land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation, I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.”

We were blessed that our camp was spared from the fire, and as a result we are able to bless 60 firefighters with a warm place to stay. How cool is that?

Usually the firefighters live in tents in a field, but it gets down to 20 degrees at night. The firefighters needed a place to stay, and we happen to have 5 empty cabins. Now we are able to bless 60 firefighters (11 girls and a whole bunch of guys). During dinner last night I overheard something on of the girls say excitedly, “there is a whole bunk house for just the girls!” That seems like such a small thing to me, of course the guys and girls will be staying in separate cabins. They are just happy to have a warm place to stay, and to the girls, it’s an extra bonus to have their own space away from the guys.