Casa de la Esperanza

This week the Park Avenue youth group is on their mission trip to Casa de la Esperanza.

Around 5:30am on Sunday morning one of the youth group boys sent Matt a text message telling him that they were leaving for Casa. When Matt tried to respond, he accidentally sent it to me instead. No matter how hard I tried, I could NOT get back to sleep. All I could think about were the kids at Casa and how much I longed to be there with them. When I talked to Matt the next morning he said he was thinking about them a lot too. We both have a special feeling in our hearts when we think about Casa and the love that we have for them all and the passion to do the work of the Lord in that kind of ministry.

If you remember, there was one kid in particular that I just really fell in love with while we were there. His name is Saul. This whole week I find myself thinking about him, and all of the other kids at Casa and how much my heart yearns to help them and, if nothing else, just to be there to love them. Matt kind of teased me tonight because when I started talking about Saul and how much I just want to be there to play with him and to love him, I got a little teary eyed! I tried my best to hide it, but he still caught me. There is a very special place in my heart for Saul and every other amazing kid at that orphanage.

Wes has been sending update emails throughout the week, so I requested a picture of Saul if he could get one. If I happen to get a new picture of him, I will be sure to post it. For now, here is a picture that I took with him last summer during our visit...

Keep all of the children at Casa de la Esperanza in your prayers, along with the Park Avenue youth group. This has been something that has really been on my heart and mind lately. Pray that the youth group can focus on what they are doing and why they are there, that they can work hard on whatever projects they've been given, and that they can touch the lives of the people at Casa de la Esperanza and be touched in return. Pray for the orphans at Casa. Pray that they see and appreciate the amazing things that Gil & Becky and the other staff there are doing for them. Pray that they never give up HOPE, and that they see and realize that God has big things in store for them.

Alone and unwanted she's never known love. A young girl arrives with less than enough; not enough sweet dreams or tuck ins late at night, not enough "I love you's" as they turn out the lights. She's taken from abuse, she's taken from the streets, taken from a world that never met her needs. She walks through the doors with tears in her eyes. Could this be the place to rebuild her broken life? She's helpless, she's hopeless, but in this House of Hope she's beautiful! In this Place of Peace she's love! She'll find ONE HOPE, she'll find ONE GOD, she'll find painted nails and fairy tales and more than those sweet dreams could ever bring.

(you can go listen to Matt's song "Esperanza" if you click HERE)

Doggie Lullaby

Matt's mom sent this in an email today and I thought it was cute. :)



If the video doesn't work, click HERE to watch it

Glenwood Updates

YOUTH ROOM

Last week Matt and I gave the youth room a "makeover". It was really just a boring room and certainly didn't give an "inviting" feel. We painted one full wall, then half of another. We also fixed up the bulletin board, then just cleaned up some! Considering how different it looks, we really didn't do a whole lot! We forgot to take "before" pictures, but here are some after we finished...



The section that we painted...

The bulletin board. GYG stands for Glenwood Youth Group. Along the bottom are clippings from magazines. We want them to utilize it as a "prayer board" and post prayers, prayer requests, pictures of things going on in the world, etc. Hopefully they will use it!


Here is a slideshow of all of the pictures of the new youth room...

CROCS

Matt and I finally gave into the "croc" thing. I never liked them that much, really. People always told me they were really comfortable but I never bought it. They look like plastic, so I couldn't imagine that they were comfortable and worth the money. A while back, Justin (from church) told us that he had gotten some and that they were the most comfortable shoes that he owned. He had been kind of like us, thinking they couldn't be that great, but his wife bought him some and from that moment on he was a changed man. :) Haha, so anyway Matt bought us both a pair. Mine are a different style than most of the crocs, but I really like them. For the record, they ARE comfortable! They are really light weight, durable and water proof. So anyway, here is a picture of us in our new crocs...



WHITEHOUSE PIZZA

On Saturday Matt and I took June (the lady I'm living with) to Whitehouse Pizza in Carbondale. I have mentioned going there before. It is our favorite pizza place here! It is VERY good and very different and unique from regular pizza places. We had told June about it and she had never been so we decided to take her. She is so much fun to sit around and talk to! We enjoyed taking her out to lunch and visiting with her for a while.

ASPEN

On Friday we decided to make a trip to Aspen. It is only 40 minutes from Glenwood, but we had never been to check it out. We drove up to Indepence Pass first. Matt had been there before, but I hadn't. The roads going up there were VERY narrow in places! Matt said that it was better now because last time he went they didn't have guard rails in some places! Anyway, here are some pictures from our trip!

Matt got some really cool panaramic pictures! This one was at the Indepence Ghost Town. You can see some tin roofs on some old cabins at the bottom of the picture. There are more pictures from the ghost town in the slideshow below.


Aspen trees....


This was the view from the top of Indepence Pass...

Playing in the snow on August 1st, 2008! This is our snowman, Wilbur.


We would keep slipping/sinking in the snow and we were both wearing sandals! It was SO COLD! We aren't all that used to snow anyway, but especially not in August in our shorts and sandals! We had fun throwing snowballs and making snow angels and snowmen.

After enjoying Indepence Pass and the cool ghost town, we went into Aspen to grab a bite to eat. Although driving through Aspen is really cool, and the scenery is really nice, I don't think I would EVER want to live there! It is crowded (parking was nearly impossible... and EXPENSIVE!) and everyone we ran into there was filthy rich! It is definitely a tourist town. Also, the few places we stopped in town took only cash or local checks... but yet they still charge $7 for a sandwich! We had just enough cash to get two small burritos, a canned Dr. Pepper and a Gatorade! Since we had no money left, we went ahead and headed for our next adventure. We went to the Aspen Recreational Center. We went ice skating and swimming! Matt did most of the ice skating because it was pretty hard on my knee, but I enjoyed watching him! The pool there is really big and really nice! We laughed because we looked like such kids in the pool. They had a lazy river which is where we spent most of our time (along with all the kids) floating on bright colored noodles. They also had these things that shot out big streams of water and a waterfall type thing that we had a blast playing in! There was also a huge waterslide that we both did and a nice big hot tub! Needless to say, we had a good time swimming! :)

On our way back toward Glenwood we drove through Snowmass (just outside of Aspen) and drove around the residential areas some. Snowmass is where Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn live. The houses there were AMAZINGLY huge! We drove all the way to the top of one mountain and found two or three driveways that were blocked off. They had the nice gates and the call box things and everything. Matt and I looked on realtor.com last night at what the prices of some houses in Aspen are. We knew they would be outrageous because we have heard some house prices in Glenwood, and we knew Aspen would be worse. One of the houses listed on the site is $60,000,000!!! Pretty ridiculous....

All in all, we had a really nice trip! Here are a few more of the pictures from our trip...

PREACHER MATT

Matt preached this past Sunday on the topic of Worship. I will just copy what he had to say about it from the updates he sends his family.

Sunday was sermon day! As I told you in my last update, I was in line to preach on Sunday. It went really well. I preached on the topic of "Worship," talking about both corporate and daily worship and showing how they relate. I talked about how we need a change (SCARY WORD!) and at one point I spoke about how, so many times today, our worship has become boring. Surprisingly, many of them enjoyed the sermon (or at least pretended to)--one lady told me I was a great public speaker and spoke with such excitement, but she didn't agree with what I said. It was then that I knew I had done my job. She was still caught up in "worship is boring." She mentioned that "the older songs are so much more meaningful and more deep than the newer songs, so they are needed." She completely missed the point--regardless, I just said thanks and let her know I wasn't necessarily talking about the music (because that wasn't at all what I meant--I think people think of worship as just the music sometimes). BUT, I gave her something to think about--whether she agrees or not, it has challenged her thinking which is a start!

We thought it was pretty funny about the lady who told him she didn't agree with him. It was funny because she kept going on and on about how great he did and how well he presented it then, without missing a beat, said "Now I don't agree with what you said, but you did a great job!" Matt really DID do a great job! It is tough to preach on a topic like that without stepping on some toes, but it went over really well. One lady told him he had guts to be able to preach like that! Haha! I think Matt really enjoyed preaching and is looking forward to having another opportunity sometime soon!

Well, I hope you enjoyed all of the pictures and stories! Matt and I only have a week left here in Glenwood Springs! It is hard to believe that the summer has flown by so quickly! We have a busy week ahead of us, so check back for more updates!

Sylvan Lake

On Saturday Matt and I drove out to Sylvan Lake which is almost an hour and a half away from Glenwood Springs. The church was having a "family campout" for the weekend. Most people brought their four wheelers and rode the trails out there, but there were others who just sat around and enjoyed the scenery. Matt and I decided to drive out there for the day and check it out. It was VERY pretty out there, but I must clarify... it was more of a POND than a LAKE, even though it is called Sylvan Lake. Now, it was a big pond, but when you can see all edges of the body of water at once, I don't much consider it a lake. :) Anyway, we rented a two person kayak and enjoyed some time out on the water! I'll post a few pictures that we took.

Don't I look like a serious, professional kayaker? :)




When we met Matt's family in Durango, Matt introduced me to the "Josh wave". Apparently Matt's brother, Josh, poses for pictures sometimes while waving like this. So, Josh - this one is for you!


When we got to the other side of the lake (which took about 5 minutes, haha) we got out and walked along a hiking trail for a little while. We found a little bridge that went over this creek. We kicked off our shoes and hung our feet over the side. It was VERY cold!

We had a really good time being out with some people from church and enjoying the scenery and the cooler weather. Luckily we brought our jackets because it was much cooler there than in Glenwood! The last few days for us have been pretty adventure packed, so we took it easy today! :) Believe it or not we only have two more weeks left here. Tomorrow at work we are going to try to line up a whole lot of events so we can hang out with the kids as much as possible before we have to leave. It will fly by!

Here is a slideshow of a few more of the pictures that we took out at Sylvan Lake...
(and before I get any smart comments - YES, my life jacket says "HO" on it... I don't know why, but it does. Laugh it up...) ;-)

Oh Yeah...

If you haven't seen the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight" you SHOULD! It is AWESOME!

Matt used to always say that "Batman Begins" was one of his favorite movies. I never thought much of it because I never had any real desire to see it in the first place. Finally, one night he made me sit down and watch it and I LOVED it!!! So since then, I had been anxiously awaiting the new movie. We went and saw it the day it came out and it was VERY good.

SO, if you haven't seen "Batman Begins" then you should watch it then go see "The Dark Knight".

Also, check back sometime tomorrow because I am going to put up some more pictures from our adventures from today. We went to a place called Sylvan Lake and met up with a bunch of people from church there. I will tell all about that sometime tomorrow (Sunday). :)

Children's Book

I made a children's book called "The Ticklish Monster". I wrote the story and drew the pictures for it (with the exception of one monster that Matt drew :)) The big pink ticklish monster, Lester, teams up with his monster friend, Lars, to discover that God made him and each one of us in His own special way. I printed up a couple for my parents and my nephews, but will print up some more later. I will probably print some on my own at some point, because taking it somewhere to be printed was nearly $20 a book.

THAT BEING SAID, if you want one, let me know and I will get one to you sometime fairly soon. :) Here is the cover of the book...

Let me know if you're interested or if you want more information about the book! You can either leave me a comment or email me!

Rafting

Yesterday Matt and I used our free passes (from the lady at church) to go rafting! We went through the Shoshone rapids which are the big deal here in Glenwood. They are the most intense rapids in this area. We had a blast! We had to ride in a raft with two other couples that we didn't know, but it ended up being fine and we still had a great time. The water was a lot warmer than the last time we went! Last time it was 52 degrees and this time it was 60 degrees. Plus the outside weather was a lot warmer this time, so it made it more bearable.

Coming up to one of the first big rapids, our guide told us that they were going to take our picture going through the rapid. Matt was sitting in front of me so I leaned up and said, "Lets make a funny face!" He turned around and laughed and said, "I was about to say that to you!" We weren't sure if we got our silly faces in the picture or not because, believe it or not, it was actually a really tough rapid to get through so we kind of had to focus on paddling, but WE GOT IT! We nearly died laughing after the trip when we saw this picture, so we had to buy it. We don't have a scanner, so these are just pictures of the picture, but you can still get the point. :) (remember you can click on the pictures to get a larger version)



We laugh everytime we look at the picture. Needless to say, we are pretty proud of ourselves. Haha!

After rafting we went to the Hot Springs Pool in Glenwood. We have been saying all summer that we were going to go, but we hadn't had a time that was real convenient. Plus, it is so expensive! Now that we have been though, it IS pretty cool. The pool is HUGE and it is filled with the natural hot springs. There is a strip down the middle of the entire pool with little holes that go into the ground and you can feel the hot water seeping up into the pool. I'm glad we got a chance to go before the end of the summer! Here is a picture we took in the car before going swimming at the hot springs...


We had a busy, but FUN day! We were pretty worn out by the time it was all said and done, but it was worth it. I hope you enjoyed our goofy rafting pictures! :)