Sweet times with friends

 On our way home from Colorado, we stopped in Eddyville, KY to spend time with one of our best friends - Kyle & Emily and their three kids. They serve long-term overseas as missionaries and are home for a 6 month furlough.
We hadn't seen them in 3 years, and we never met Aubrey, their youngest. (Aubrey and Lilia are riding the car pictured right.)
Kyle's parents retired and bought a beautiful lake house that sleeps plenty. We stayed with them for 2 days then drove home Wednesday evening.

 The guys headed out into the woods to shoot some cans with Kyle's dad's gun collection.

 This is Sydney and Lilia. Sydney is 7 months older than Lilia, but they have known each other since they were less than one year old. They connected immediately. Lilia taught Sydney about "BFF's."
I overheard Sydney ask Lilia, "How do you spell best friend?"
Lilia said, "BFF."

Silly boys

 Alex and Stephen are only 5 months apart and were so similar. They both had a stuffed animal they needed to be with/sleep with. They both love super heros and get cranky when they don't eat. Both nights they shared a bed.
Alex loved all the super hero costumes he could dress up in. He wore Captain America for better part of the day.

Boatin' Kentucky Style

We borrowed the neighbors pontoon  boat and headed out into the lake for some swimming and bird watching. We saw a bald eagle, tons of cranes and lots of egrets.

Because Lilia had cut her foot very badly she couldn't go swimming. We didn't want to risk an infection. She was a little bummed, but Kyle did a great job of putting her at the helm and signaling him when there were buoys.
Alex however was super brave and came in with me. We swam around the boat then he got out of the water.

Besties

 Alex, Stephen, Aubrey, Lilia & Sydney

Our time with Kyle and Emily was a taste of heaven. Laughing, having fun, praying, sharing meals, and living life alongside one another.
Dave and I are beyond thankful for the short, but sweet times we share with these two, who truly love Jesus and live life like they do!

"Astounding"

     If I could only use one word to summarize our summer out here I would say, "astounding!"
My classes were incredible. God taught me so much, opened my eyes to the depths of scriptures, brought out my idol of needing people's approval, and humbled me through preparing for my talk.

     The kids had a blast! They played outside everyday for endless hours, made lots of friends, swam several times a week, and had quality time with their dad.






     We certainly got our fill of nature out here. I think I'm ready to go back to the city. However, I will miss the vast open sky, views of the foothills and mountains, access to snow-capped peaks, that unique smell of summer pine (I hope to find a candle that encompasses that smell), and incredible sunsets.




     We've loved our time out here exponentially! It will be hard to leave the beauty of this place, but we are starting our drive back home tomorrow - back to reality. The reality of the city, humidity, school starting for Lilia and Alex, international students flooding campus, and the daily grind. It will be good.

Rocky Mountain National Park

 Friday had marked the finish of 4 weeks of intense classes. Selfishly, I wanted to celebrate by spending the day in RMNP.
We did the longest hike yet with the kids and they did well. It was fairly shaded so that helped tremendously.

 We also headed up the Trail Ridge road to the top of the peaks for a view of the mountain ranges. There was considerable less snow this year than two years ago. This is a growing problem in Colorado. As a result of less snow, there are more beetles that cause the pine trees to dehydrate and die. That adds fuel to the wild fires that are happening more and more.

Dave introduced the app, over, to me. 

Dream Lake

 Our second lake, one mile in, was Dream Lake. It was such stunning views.
We sat for a while, snacking on pistachios and grapes, taking in our surroundings.

The hike starts out at Bear Lake trailhead and heads off to the left. You first pass Nymph Lake, covered in lily pads, doted with yellow flowers. Then you wind around and come upon Dream Lake. The view takes your breath away.

 As we walked along the trail and glanced down into the water, we could see trout swimming along. The water was so crystal clear!

Wild things

This bat was clinging face down to a rock. We didn't touch it to see if it was alive.

State flower: Columbine

Twisted dead pine tree

 These chipmunks were crazy. They are so comfortable around humans that one ran across Dave's leg. I even saw another one perched on a man's leg.
People consistently give them food so they will come over to you or your bag looking for something yummy. We brought pistachios with. The chipmunk consistently come over begging for some.
I just realized that from these pictures my kids are guilty of adding to the comfort level these animals have. (Dave took the pictures. I was busy snapping shots of the mountains.)

Emerald Lake

 After Dream Lake, you hike further to the foot of the mountains to Emerald Lake. The water, again, is so clear you just want to jump in and swim. The water is icy cold because it's coming from melting snow.
Altogether the hike is 3.6 miles with about 450 mile elevation gain. I checked my elevation app and was surprised to find that Emerald Lake sits at 10,000 feet. I think we've been here long enough that the altitude didn't bother any of us.
A hike well worth it!!

The Summer of Grace

One thing I love about my family (my mom, dad, & brother) is our honesty with one another. I've brought that into my family with Dave and the kids. We even have "Honesty" as one of our family values. However, with such brute honesty comes a drawback. We're not so good at grace.
Grace is a hard thing for me to receive, mentally grasp and give. I go right to what's deserved, and what's fair. However the definition of grace is that it's getting what we DON'T deserve.
This summer God has been doing a number of things to help me to grasp and receive grace.
Three weeks before we drove out to Colorado, I got really sick. It started out as a cold. Then for two days I was in bed with a fever, chills, and aches. During those two days a good friend of mine called and said she was bringing dinner over.
This was a moment for me to receive a gracious gift, but my immediate reaction was that I then owed her something. I also felt guilty because she was going to give me something and I had nothing in return to give.
Day one of our time in Fort Collins, Dave crashed his mom's Highlander. For two weeks the auto body place worked on our car. During that time I asked a friend here on staff with Cru if I could borrow her car to go food shopping. I told her to leave the car seats in and my kids would use them. As the time came to head out, she said to me, "Why don't I watch your kids for you while you food shop?"
Ugh, there's that grace again! Again my reaction was that I owed her something. I felt the need to bring her back flowers or watch her kids some time. When I told her that she very firmly said, "No you don't." I didn't deserve for her to be so kind, to extend grace to me, but she did. It was hard to take.
It happened yet again. This time I was biking to class and I was running late. While only a few minutes into my journey, my chain broke. Like broke broke. Like broke in a way that it was dangling on the ground broke. I called the only person I knew with a car - Julia. Julia was already at class, but she quickly and kindly offered to pick me up and my bike, resulting in us both being late. She even said she would drop me off at a bike shop after class so I could get the chain fixed. There it was again - Grace!
When I got in the car I told her right away how God was teaching me about grace this summer and that he was using her. I told her the guilt I felt and that I owed her something. She assured me that I owed her nothing.
Isn't that such a picture of God. We come with our accomplishments, our good deeds, having had a quiet time all week with God, and expect that he will say, "Good job." I love you more this week. Then when we consistently sin, fail to love our neighbor, miss a quiet time or two, we are fearful to go to God because we expect he'll be mad at us. Or we expect that he isn't pleased with us.
Thankfully that isn't how it works! God chooses to love us everyday through grace and grace alone.
I remember in college was the first time I ever heard someone say, "There isn't anything we can do to make God love us any more or any less." That blew me away! I never knew that before. It was very freeing.
So how do you view grace? Do you try to earn God's favor by "owing" him through reading your Bible enough, or praying for others? Or do you lavishly receive God's grace that he freely bestows on you no matter what you bring to the table?
My heart is moving, changing as a result of this summer. I am slowly, and when I say slowly I mean a snails pace, understanding grace more. Thankfully God is patient with us because he knows we are slow learners!

Lee Martinez Farm

We spent Saturday morning at a local farm just outside of Old town. You could feed the goats and sheep, see hens lay eggs, and gobble at turkeys and hear them gobble back.
It was a nice mix of animals that you could interact with, equipment to play on, and museum-like rooms to explore at your leisure.

 For $5 the kids could ride horses for 15 minutes. It was so laid back; the parents led the horses around a track. I couldn't get Alex's horse Dottie to keep moving. Every time she say a leaf or a piece of grass she stopped to graze. She would even push me out of the way just to get to some food.
Lilia's horse, Buzz would see Dottie at the fence eating and as soon as he rounded the corner he would trot for the fence pulling Dave behind him. Dave would have to quick catch up, then pull him away to get moving again. It was a little nutty, but the kids loved it.

Rain storms

Sorry, I couldn't rotate this picture.

 What I love about rain here is that you rarely have a rainy day. Colorado just has afternoon rain storms. I'm thankful to be out here this summer cause I've heard it was the rainiest June on record!
So when those afternoon rain storms roll through they only last about a half an hour. The kids camped out on the porch, under towels, while eating graham crackers and watched the storm.

Meanwhile Dave was making his way home through pelting rain on his bike. His clothes were soaked through. He was thankful to have been borrowing his brother-in-law's bike with disc brakes. Even in the pouring rain he was able to stop on a dime.

This was a rainstorm we could see off in the distance while driving home one afternoon.

Horsetooth Falls Hike

 The 4th of July was sunny and hot.
If I have a day off I'm going hiking! We had off on Thursday so we headed to a nearby place, Horsetooth Mountain. We started our hike around 10am, which wasn't too late, but most of the hike is just out in the baking sun. I would suggest that this is not a great hike for kids because it's all in the sun. Try going after an early dinner, because the distance is perfect for kids.
The kids were miserable! I should say, Alex was very miserable and Lilia complained a bit. Part of it was hunger, part of it was that Alex was tired, but he wined, cried, and complained the whole time.  Dave and I took turns carrying him for most of the hike.

This is horsetooth falls, but as you can see from the picture it's only a trickle.
Once they got to the falls they had a blast. They kicked off their shoes and headed for the small pool of fresh mountain water.


A man and his dog came along. Alex and Lilia were throwing sticks and rocks for the dog to fetch. Of course, all three of them were having the best time. After blueberries and homemade granola bars were headed back to the trailhead.

Behind Dave and the kids is east towards Fort Collins.

Looking west from Horsetooth Moutain area with Longs Peak in the distance.