Our Landlord called last night to say that the closing date on the house has been set for March 31st which means we have just over 2 months to find a new home, pack up our stuff and move etc...I am a little too tired to even think about what all that means. The past month here has been a huge blessing and I knew I would be disappointed when the time came to move.
On another note - apart from a cold that seems to want to work it's way through our family (first Jenna, now me), we are doing well. We had a great staff meeting last night and the students helped take care of the kids. Hopefully we can continue to meet like this once a month. We really are privileged to work with a group of amazing people and I've so enjoyed getting to know especially the staff wives and all the ladies there. You can "meet" them at www.timberlinelodge.org. We are also excited about the possibility of a friend of ours from our church in NC maybe joining the summer staff. Waiting to see what God has planned in this young man's life. Depending on what is going on with our housing situation, we are also hoping my parents will be able to visit for a few days in March.
Reid is inviting the students over for a movie night this evening (Bella) and other than that we have Latin, Piano and Skiing lessons planned for today. It's a balmy 10 degrees Fahrenheit outside and a bright sunny day here today. We were able to finally get to the library this past Monday so our library basket is once again loaded with books (which reminds me, I think I have a fine I still owe in Richland Co that I need to send in). I tend to read several books at the same time, and currently have The Heavenly Man, a biography on Emily Dickinson and another on JRR Tolkien sitting on my nightstand along with two cookbooks (one a Christmas gift from Nannie) written by Jerry Seinfeld's wife...she advocates making large amounts of vegetable purees and secretly inserting them in everything from ice-cream and chocolate cake to spaghetti sauce as a way to give kids their daily dose of veggies....I'm still thinking about what I think about that! I would like to get a hold of a book on the Daniel Diet just to read/learn a little about it.
I think we have a trip to Denver coming up as we are in need of a Coffee Maker and a mixer as well as a few other items. If we're going to be having students in our home we're going to need a good Coffee Maker. And I think my Dad will be hoping we have one here when he gets here as well! :)
I have a newsletter written but Reid hasn't had a minute to breathe so we'll get it out as soon as he can add his parts and edit my grammar! :)
Byers Peak
Friday, January 28, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Indoor pictures
I promised some indoor pictures - but so far these are the only ones I've had a chance to take! :) We celebrated Christmas the other day when Nannie's package of presents arrived - I'm leaving the stockings up for now! And you know what....they may still be right there in May - that is unless we have to move of course (still no word on that! If so we'll need to be out by March 2nd - but waiting to see).
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Weekend
What a day yesterday - we actually thought we were going to be snowed in....but ended up being ok. And got our groceries. Figuring out how to coupon here! :) Enjoyed Sunday and the service at Winter Park Christian Church. Shoveled some snow and now working on the Daley News Newsletter....hope to get that out in the next few days and will post it on the blog as well. Resolved to take some pictures of INDOORS and hope to do that over the next few days. This week promises to be busy as we have to get paperwork taken care of finally - tag, licence, insurance, library cards and all that fun and important stuff. Reid is EXTREMELY busy at work learning the ropes ... more in the newsletter about all that. Family Group Breakfast this week and Reid and I share our faith stories during all community worship. Covet your prayers for that!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Pictures from Cross-Country skiing
hot chocolate afterwards
Ok, these loaded backwards, so ....we'll just have to think backwards! :) But we had a blast today going cross-country skiing at the Y where rentals and lessons are free for the kids on Fridays - the teachers is awesome and the kids have a blast. She has the sweetest dog that takes the kids for rides as well. He is so well behaved! (I just wrote that last paragraph before I added the three pictures on the top...blogger is really confusing me!)
wipe out! :)
So tonight is Reid's and my first date night since being here. We were going to get a bunch of stuff done today as far as licences etc. are concerned but called ahead (thankfully) and the person (note, there is only 1) who handles that was not in today! :) So funny. So - we work on that another day. Then I was going to go to the library - but it closes at 3 on Fridays....sometimes I feel like I'm in a time warp! :) We got an incredible amount of snow this week and the plow has broken down so our drive hasn't been great and we (and others) have gotten stuck numerous times) - you just drift off into the snow if you vear a little to far to one side - and Reid was up to his waist deep in snow with a shovel getting the us and someone else out yesterday. Pretty amazing what all accumulates.
So - I promise that the next post will be about something other than snow - but we're learning that to live here means, you live and deal with the snow 24/7. But there is still so much more going on and we look forward to sharing that with you all as well.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Tubing
We had a blast late this afternoon heading over the Timberline's tubing hill. Here are the Three Musketteers - and they do look pretty rough if you ask me! :)
View of the skating rink from the top of the tubing hill - the students were out playing a game of hockey with some guests. It's literally a field flooded with water that has frozen.
That's not the moon! :) It's a snowflake - and our home off in the distance.
View of the skating rink from the top of the tubing hill - the students were out playing a game of hockey with some guests. It's literally a field flooded with water that has frozen.
That's not the moon! :) It's a snowflake - and our home off in the distance.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Images taken on our way to get Ian from School and then the drive back
The drive to Fraser
PAVEMENT!!!
Part of our driveway
Home Sweet Home...for the time being anyway! :)Settling In
Here is the view from our house to Timberline, straight ahead. (Sorry, don't know why blogger is messing up on my picture placement and don't have time to figure out why! :)
Well, as it always happens with a move, we're missing little things here and there, like the chord needed to hook up our camera to the computer to download pictures...go figure! :) (Change! I FOUND IT!! This is from our front porch - and no, sadly, the hottub does not work!)
So, I type this sitting in front of our living room fire (which is going all the time when we're home). The temperature gage read minus 26 degrees (Fahrenheit) this morning. :) We are doing well and adjusting slowly but surely. The views from our drive and windows still take our breath away and we pray that never changes. We love the drive into town, as Fraser lies in a very wide valley, surrounded by the towering snow-covered mountains. What an awesome Creator God we have. The drive itself has taken some getting used to - as the roads are covered with ice and snow all the time...I(Jen) am learning how to use 4-wheel drive. We've gotten stuck a couple of times - the last time, Reid was waist high in snow digging out the truck and Aaron (Timberline Staff) got stuck himself trying to help Reid get out.
A few changes that have been going on - after much prayer and many conversations, we decided to enroll Ian in the local elementary school for this semester which gives me (Jennifer) focused time to work with the girls on their schoolwork and has been great all the way around. Ian absolutely loves school and is having a blast, even though they have long days here with class starting at 7:30 and getting out at 3:30. But the schools are all closed on Fridays, and we've enjoyed our first ski-class (offered for free, including free equipment rentals, at the YMCA) already. He did manage to bust his nose pretty bad (it may even be broken) on the playground the other day, but didn't want the schoolnurse to call us as he was afraid we could come and get him. We're so relieved he's enjoying school.
One matter of prayer to pass along. The house we are renting went under contract yesterday and if the contract goes through we need to move out by March 3rd. Our landlord is a precious lady and really does need to sell her home, but isn't convinced that the contract will go through for various reasons. We're trying to just take it one day at a time and trust again that the Lord knows the boundaries of our habitation and where He wants us to live. In the mean time we have so enjoyed living within walking distance of Timberline, as neighbors to Dan and Sarah Thomas and have already enjoyed Family Breakfast at their home, meeting and slowly getting to know the students, and having Erin and Jason Pagle over for supper (our first "official" dinner guests", though Sarah and the girls were here for an impromptu lunch. It's been so fun for the kids to get to know the staff).
Reid is staying extremely busy learning the ropes but is enjoying the pace, including staff meetings, occasional fun activities with the students (like broomball on the skating rink - it's a field flooded with water - watching moose spar in a field next to Timberline etc.). We've had to make several trips to Denver already for items needed at the house and are learning to maneuver the truck in snow and ice. You really do get used to it as it's just a way of life here.
We've attended Winter Park Christian Church in Tabernash the past two Sundays and all of us have greatly enjoyed the worship services (and the kids the children's worship). The church is reading through the Bible together this year and the pastor will be preaching on a text from the coming week's reading each Sunday. We've enjoyed jumping right in there as it's been a while (at least for me, Jen) since we've read the Bible from cover to cover.
This week's guest lecturer is Brian Oncken from Greenville SC, (covering the book of Mark) and Chris and Bonnie Thomas will be here in a few weeks.
So, that's the latest here. I'm really bummed about the pictures but that's what moving is like, right? I promise to post some as soon as I can locate that chord....
So, I type this sitting in front of our living room fire (which is going all the time when we're home). The temperature gage read minus 26 degrees (Fahrenheit) this morning. :) We are doing well and adjusting slowly but surely. The views from our drive and windows still take our breath away and we pray that never changes. We love the drive into town, as Fraser lies in a very wide valley, surrounded by the towering snow-covered mountains. What an awesome Creator God we have. The drive itself has taken some getting used to - as the roads are covered with ice and snow all the time...I(Jen) am learning how to use 4-wheel drive. We've gotten stuck a couple of times - the last time, Reid was waist high in snow digging out the truck and Aaron (Timberline Staff) got stuck himself trying to help Reid get out.
A few changes that have been going on - after much prayer and many conversations, we decided to enroll Ian in the local elementary school for this semester which gives me (Jennifer) focused time to work with the girls on their schoolwork and has been great all the way around. Ian absolutely loves school and is having a blast, even though they have long days here with class starting at 7:30 and getting out at 3:30. But the schools are all closed on Fridays, and we've enjoyed our first ski-class (offered for free, including free equipment rentals, at the YMCA) already. He did manage to bust his nose pretty bad (it may even be broken) on the playground the other day, but didn't want the schoolnurse to call us as he was afraid we could come and get him. We're so relieved he's enjoying school.
One matter of prayer to pass along. The house we are renting went under contract yesterday and if the contract goes through we need to move out by March 3rd. Our landlord is a precious lady and really does need to sell her home, but isn't convinced that the contract will go through for various reasons. We're trying to just take it one day at a time and trust again that the Lord knows the boundaries of our habitation and where He wants us to live. In the mean time we have so enjoyed living within walking distance of Timberline, as neighbors to Dan and Sarah Thomas and have already enjoyed Family Breakfast at their home, meeting and slowly getting to know the students, and having Erin and Jason Pagle over for supper (our first "official" dinner guests", though Sarah and the girls were here for an impromptu lunch. It's been so fun for the kids to get to know the staff).
Reid is staying extremely busy learning the ropes but is enjoying the pace, including staff meetings, occasional fun activities with the students (like broomball on the skating rink - it's a field flooded with water - watching moose spar in a field next to Timberline etc.). We've had to make several trips to Denver already for items needed at the house and are learning to maneuver the truck in snow and ice. You really do get used to it as it's just a way of life here.
We've attended Winter Park Christian Church in Tabernash the past two Sundays and all of us have greatly enjoyed the worship services (and the kids the children's worship). The church is reading through the Bible together this year and the pastor will be preaching on a text from the coming week's reading each Sunday. We've enjoyed jumping right in there as it's been a while (at least for me, Jen) since we've read the Bible from cover to cover.
This week's guest lecturer is Brian Oncken from Greenville SC, (covering the book of Mark) and Chris and Bonnie Thomas will be here in a few weeks.
So, that's the latest here. I'm really bummed about the pictures but that's what moving is like, right? I promise to post some as soon as I can locate that chord....
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
WE MADE IT!
My goodness....where to begin. It would take a book to write down all the thoughts, memories, emotions we've had over the past two weeks. And what a two weeks they've been. So fun to spend time with family, so hard to say goodbye to them and to precious friends in SC. It was also sad not to be able to see some other family members (the snow really threw a wrench in our Christmas plans - e.g. Reid's sister and family flipped the van trying to come down a mountain in Cruso - thankfully all are well!). We had an adventurous time ourselves leaving NC and crawling through the Gorge on I-40 - but we made it safely, spent the night in St. Louis and then Colby, Kansas. Contrary to popular opinion, our family was enthralled with Kansas - the plains are beautiful and Missouri was breathtaking in the snow! But words cannot express our thoughts when we caught our first glimpse of the Rockies and then watched them rise up over the high plains. It is beautiful here. This morning I was up early and looked out the window just at the break of dawn and everything looked like a black and white photograph. I hope to take a picture of it tomorrow if I can! :)
So we are beginning to settle in our new home across the field from Timberline. Here are some additional impressions impressions:
- The Rockies are quite different from the Appalachian mountains - not more or less beautiful - just different beautiful - with big/wide valleys and snow-capped peaks.
- We're definitely going to need some time to get used to the altitude...we feel pretty winded after climbing steps, and if you're carrying a box on top of that you really do have to sit down to catch your breath at this altitude.
- we saw our first moose wandering through the field on our way up to the lodge today- and were told that a baby moose wandered through our front yard the other day but we didn't see him/her! :)
- our landlord told us she found mountain lion tracks near the shed...that was a tad concerning but apparently pretty normal. We were encouraged not to wander around alone at dusk. :) Apparently a herd of coyotes also roams around here.
- I successfully baked my first cake at high altitude! :)
- We had our first experience getting stuck in a ditch but were immediately helped by some friends! We're enjoying getting to know ALL the staff at Timberline! What an awesome staff to work with and be family to each other!
- the kids have enjoyed getting to know the Timberline staff kids and eating supper with the guests. Students return tomorrow so we definitely look forward to getting to know them!
There is so much more we could write but I wanted to post an update of some kind. I don't even have pictures to add yet! :( But hope to remedy that soon!! Signing off for now!
So we are beginning to settle in our new home across the field from Timberline. Here are some additional impressions impressions:
- The Rockies are quite different from the Appalachian mountains - not more or less beautiful - just different beautiful - with big/wide valleys and snow-capped peaks.
- We're definitely going to need some time to get used to the altitude...we feel pretty winded after climbing steps, and if you're carrying a box on top of that you really do have to sit down to catch your breath at this altitude.
- we saw our first moose wandering through the field on our way up to the lodge today- and were told that a baby moose wandered through our front yard the other day but we didn't see him/her! :)
- our landlord told us she found mountain lion tracks near the shed...that was a tad concerning but apparently pretty normal. We were encouraged not to wander around alone at dusk. :) Apparently a herd of coyotes also roams around here.
- I successfully baked my first cake at high altitude! :)
- We had our first experience getting stuck in a ditch but were immediately helped by some friends! We're enjoying getting to know ALL the staff at Timberline! What an awesome staff to work with and be family to each other!
- the kids have enjoyed getting to know the Timberline staff kids and eating supper with the guests. Students return tomorrow so we definitely look forward to getting to know them!
There is so much more we could write but I wanted to post an update of some kind. I don't even have pictures to add yet! :( But hope to remedy that soon!! Signing off for now!
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