Family!

Family is a blessing. And we were blessed to have most of my family come for a visit! Dad and Alisha flew in Tuesday afternoon (in Dad's plane) and Mom, Mark, and Derek arrived via vehicle Thursday morning. Since it'd be hard to explain every detail, I'll outline our time together by outings and adventures.

Thursday Night: Clear Creek Hike
Derek was begging to go hiking so we decided that there was enough time to go somewhere close. Dan chose the beautiful Clear Creek area. Other than Mom and Dad getting lost (oh dear) we had a lovely time...enjoying the crisp air and the sound of hard breathing.

My beautiful mom!

This kid has way too much energy! :)

At the top!

Tired and sweaty. Derek took use of the river to cool his face off.

God's beautiful creations!

Friday: Mosquito Pass/Jeepin'Since we weren't tired enough from hiking/climbing, we headed out to try the trails by JEEP. What wasn't sore from the day before was jostled around as we bumped over rock after rock and waded through streams. But really, it was fun! The views were amazing too. The mountains have some snow right now...I think they are most majestic that way.

Park of an old mine...or something.

:) Thanks for the lift!

Saturday Morning: Flight to TellurideAt the crack of dawn, you wouldn't have found Dad, Dan, Derek, or I at our apartment. No sir, we were aboard N926JG (aka: my dad's plane) on our way to Telluride. Smooth sailing (0r should I say flying) all the way there! Maybe not so much on the way home...:(

Coach passengers

Pilot and...um...navigator.

Talk about a cool landing strip! Oh the side of a cliff?!?!?!

Grabbing a snack before going back.

A great chance to see the mountains from the air! Thanks dad!

Sunday: Church and Dinner at Dan's Folk's
After a wonderful couple of services by visiting Willis Ehnle (he also gave talks the previous evening), we enjoyed a delicious dinner at the Leman residence. Mom L. made her/dad's famous Italian Beef! Yumm. Jake's house and Grandpa and Grandma Leman also joined in the festivities.

Monday: Pho', IMAX, Museum, and Downtown!This day may have been our busiest! Dad wanted to eat somewhere "exotic" so we went to Pho' Duy II. It may have been the most interesting meal I have ever eaten. (and I've lived in Haiti!) But we really liked it! (most of us anyways. Derek and Mark weren't too keen) Dan and I are planning a return trip.

Spring rolls and fixings.That stuff in front of Dad goes in the noodle soup.
The place was Vietnamese.

Next we made it to the IMAX in time for the 1:00 showing of "Under the Sea". It was even 3D! The Museum, home to the IMAX, was having a free day so we only had to pay for the movie!

Looking spiffy!

Before Dan headed off to school, we roamed the museum. Taking in rocks and gems, sting rays, the Amazon, brain wave frequencies, just to name a few.

Bugs.

Hmm... Sisters?

Mom & Dad

We ran into some animals. Some quite friendly and full...

...and some quite vicious and hungry!

After Dan was finished at school, we took a walk on the town. Denver's downtown is really quite lovely. It was bit brisk out, but we warmed up at "HBurger". Wonderful burgers, wonderful fries.

Ride 'em cowboy!

Tuesday: Rocky Mountain National Park/Estes Park
We had rested up. So hiking we went! This time in the beautiful Estes Park area. It was stunning! The perfect amount of snow! Though unfortunately, no elk. :( After reaching Bear Lake and Nymph Lake, we wandered around the park for a while just taking it all in. We ladies wanted to scope out the shops in Estes Park and the boys, upon hearing this, opted to go Jeeping.

Grabbing a bit at MickyD's before the hike.
Ah....

See what I mean?!?!

Survivor Mark

I can't really put into words how much it meant to me to have my family come visit. Now they know where we live, what our place looks like, who are friends are, what our church is like, where we like to explore, etc. That is priceless. And so are the memories.

Colors of Fall

Having experienced all the other seasons here in Colorado, I was very excited to finally get to witness Autumn here. I'll admit, at first I was rather skeptical. The colors in the midwest are pretty amazing so I thought Colorado had a lot to compete with. Well, folks, this beautiful state sure surprised me!!! The colors are fantastic!!

Last Friday, rather last minute, Dan and I decided to go experience the changing Aspen trees first hand. Since where we wanted to go was too far to drive all in one day, Dan found a cheap hotel. He was supposed to get off at 8pm but we're so thankful he got off early: 6:30pm. So, we drove up and spent the night in Salida. The next morning, we jumped back into our faithful Jeep and hit the road.

At this point we are thinking, "Wow! This is awesome!"
If we only knew how much better it'd get!

This is where we were headed.

In Gunnison, we talked to a gentleman in the gas station who suggested an area he thought would be full of color. It ended up being the same spot Dan's parents suggested when we were asking their advice.

I've never seen such rich golds and burnt oranges!

So we're driving...trying to take it all in...

And we reach the trail head. Aspen leaves carpeted the ground. (Notice the handsome guy in the background.;)

Suddenly, this pops into view. Pretty sure I squealed in delight!
Like Dan said, how can you observe this (and all God made) and say there is no God? And how can you say that he doesn't want us to enjoy what he has so wonderfully created?!?!

Just the two of us :)

We kept trying to soak it all in, but there was just so much to see!

The Aspens looked lovely with their golden leaves contrasting their white trunks.

Once we left that particular trail, tried to cut over to Crested Butte via Jeeping trails. We never made it through (roads kept dead ending) but the ride was fun nonetheless.

We ran into several ferocious animals...a coyote...and...

some cows... :)

Did some serious jeep'n on roads so narrow we barely fit and
wended our way through some mud.

Yep, God is an amazing Artist!

We dined here; relishing some stone-brick baked pizza.

And ended the day with a sunset.

Wonderful day. Period.

Mmmm....

Looks amazing doesn't it!?!? This succulent morsel is a diet destroyer I know, but boy was it good! What is it? Jewish Baklava. Deeeeeelish. Accompanied by a strong cup of Starbucks java, and a delightful conversation with my mother-in-law, it made for quite the enjoyable morning.

Halfhearted?

I ran into this quote the other day:

"If absence makes the heart grow fonder, some people ought to love their church greatly."

I found it rather convicting. I don't think its only talking about physically walking into the doors of church every Sunday; though that's part of it. For me, the challenge came when I think about where my mind is during my few hours in God's house. Am I there mentally? Do I find myself constantly distracted by those around me? Is my attitude one of willingness to learn? I can be sitting in those pews faithfully every time the doors are open but what good is it really, for my soul, if I don't let God do a work in me? How precious do I view the Living Word of God? How thankful am I that the Truth is spoken?

How serious am I about growing and using every tool graciously given to me to do so?!?!!?

A Celebration of Love

Who's Love???

THEIRS!
God has been good...we rejoiced over 60 faithful years of marriage!

Where was this celebration???

HERE!
In the beautiful Smokey Mountains: Pigeon Forge, TN

Grandpa and Grandma, not too many people can say they have been married to the same person for 60 years. Your marriage is a good example of a three-fold cord...it is NOT easily broken! Thank you for that example and for all that you have taught us! We love you!!!

We had a lovely time. We stayed Thursday night at my parent's house in Francesville as our reservations for the cabin weren't until Friday. Thursday night was a short night! It was the first time in a long time that we had seen my dad so we made the most of our time staying up late talking! All too soon, "BEEP, BEEP", 5 am has rolled around and we're off to Tennessee! We stayed in a beautiful cabin with 12 master bedrooms! Needless to say, it accommodated all 31 of us quite well! Two hot tubs, a pool table, air hokey, huge tables to fit us all, nice big sitting areas, and a wonderful view added to the experience! Being all together in one big house allowed for more quality time and boy did we use it! Game nights were one of my personal favorites! "Mafia" and "I Never" were the group games of choice in the evenings. A myriad of other games were played here and there too!

So...for a smattering of photos. I'll admit that I didn't do so well on taking pictures. :( But here are a few.

The little munchkin! Joel Alan

Saturday we went on a nice little hike. It was paved so my aunt Janice could take her scooter and the couples with babies could push their little ones. It was a good enough workout and the ending was beautiful! A waterfall!

My dear A. Joan and I

All of us minus Brett...he stayed back at the cabin with AJ & Raquel

Yes folks, he's that tall...actually probably taller than the photo lets on!

Enjoying some scrambles

A personal favorite :)

Poor Derek got the flu while were there. :( He did get over it in time to enjoy the place...he was such a trooper! We were right next to the community pool...another plus!

"Deek"

Photo shoot with B! (don't let him fool ya, he was loving it!) We'd show him the pictures on the camera screen and he seemed to focus on them! He also kept trying to grab the camera. :)

Each family took turns preparing a lunch and dinner a day. I loved being in the kitchen again with my mom and sister! Alisha is quite the cook...creative, smart and the food is delicious! I'm thinking she's "one of those" who is an effortless cook with perfect cooking! :)

Stuffed Mushrooms!

We all headed back Monday morning. After the 8 hour drive, Dad, Dan, and Alisha hit the fields! They were up till almost 2am harvesting. Since our plane didn't leave until 7:30pm on Tuesday, Dan and I were able to work in the field the next day too! It was SO good to get back in a tractor! Dan learned how to drive a semi and I was able to drive the auger wagon for a few hours as well as start vertical tillage! (yay!) Grandma Metz even came out and rode in the tractor with me! We had a nice chat.

Oh, Dan also got to work his muscles. As did Alisha and Mark. I won't do too much explaining...lets just say there was an accident and some scooping had to be done. :( We salvaged quite a bit though!

This photo was taken at the beginning of the trip but I had to add it anyways.

Mmmm. Monical's pizza!

Summary: It was a fabulous, well-packed trip! It was wonderful to be together as a whole family again (immediate and extended). Life is always changing and it was helpful to reflect on Grandpa and Grandma's 60 years of happy marriage. And since life has its up and downs it is so good to see how the Lord carried them through it all faithfully. God's promises are sure!