Happy Birthday America!!

Sweet Baylie! Getting ready to be a big sister... no baby yet... we're still just waiting!


We celebrated a nice quiet 4th of July here at home this year! It was the first year the kids got to experience some of their own fireworks on the driveway. They especially liked the sparklers and the black snakes (weird).


Some were a little loud, I guess!


A beautiful evening to enjoy!

Over the Hump!

Using the old metaphor, one chapter in our lives is quickly drawing to a close and the next is about to be written! After 5 gruelling weeks of school, with class nearly every night, Matt has finished his MBA program! (and promises not to even think about going back for a few years). In the midst of that, Melissa and baby Meghan inched along through severe bouts of fatigue. Amazingly, by God's grace, and the love and care of our friends, they have made it through and are doing much better as delivery day draws near.

Here are a few of the "other" things that have transpired since we last posted.

First, Hunter and Daddy were given tickets to a Rockies game -Hunter's first one ever! His eyes sparkled, his little feet hopped up and down as we walked into the stadium and got our first glimpse of the field. It just doesn't look quite that big on t.v.! With lots of hotdogs and cotton candy, Hunter managed to make it through the entire game. He still remembers the final score, even if daddy doesn't (we lost).



Hemi Grandma (Melissa's Mom) came out during the second of the five weeks of school to help out. During the visit the was the graduation for the Air Force Academy. Every year we watch the Thunderbirds perform at the graduation, from Compassion's parking lot, which is right across the highway from the Academy.



In the midst of everything summer weather has arrived!! And with a vengence - a spell of hot weather and little rain has dried things out. To cool off, the kids are learning the art of the "slip -n- slide." Hunter was timid at first, but after watching his friend Ryan do it fearlessly, he has nearly perfected the art of the perfect slide. Baylie is content just to walk through the water and giggle.



Hunter has also begun to learn how to ride a bike with the help of his training wheels. Baylie, never wanting to be left too far behind, tries to keep up with her big wheels tryke.



Finally, in celebration of brithdays and Matt finishing school, he got to go golfing with two of his closest friends. Nathan kicked the snot out of Brian and Matt, but all in all, it was the course that won on this day. Notice Cheyenne Mountain in the back drop.


Oh, and did we mention that Melissa is getting close??? Just a few weeks to go now!!

A little preoccupied....

Hi friends! For those of you who check our site regularly, we apologize for the delay in getting out our next post.
Some of you may know that for the last three weeks, life has been crazy - and will continue to be for the next two weeks. This is due to two main reasons: 1) Matt taking his FINAL two classes for his MBA in a condensed, five week span (thus being in school every night); and 2) Melissa being on "couch rest" for the last trimester of her pregnancy.
Matt will be done with his MBA degree on June 21st - less than two weeks from now! Yay! Until then however, his time will continue to be filled up with studying, time at school, taking care of the family and when he has time, work. :) Thus, this blog will sadly suffer until that time. We promise we'll keep updating it every week again here soon!
We are doing pretty well all things considered - interesting timing on God's part for Melissa to go down at the exact time she's needed most to keep the household in order. :) But He's been teaching us that He's more than enough - His strength is made perfect in our weakness. We are taking it one day at a time and we're getting through. Praise Him for teaching us these valuable lessons!!!!!
Thank you to all of our friends and family for their support. Keep checking back for updates in a couple of weeks!

Lessons from the Trail

One of the great benefits of working at Compassion, and with my team especially, is that annually we are encouraged to set aside a day with the Lord to recharge spiritually. This year, as in the past, I decided to go for a hike, and as is usual, it turned into an adventure. Upon reflection, I was able to see a number of parallels to life and even things I am currently experiencing.

Going in Reverse - "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62) As in life, when hiking, the objective is typically to continue forward motion. However, about a mile and a half into the trail I reached down to see what time it was and realized that I had somewhere dropped my cell phone. Back down the trail I went; nearly a mile, before finding it laying on the ground where it had fallen. Hiking back up the mile you had now seen twice is not the most gratifying of experiences. The same is true spiritually. As we walk with the Lord there are things in our lives that we lay aside as we grow; old habits, tendencies, and attitudes. However, sometimes, without even realizing it, we decide to turn back and pick those things up again, and when we do we realize that we are back down the trail and in need of climbing back up to where we turned back.

Beware of Shortcuts/Patience/and Signs - There is a rare quality in some to get lost no matter how good their maps and how clearly posted the trail. I am one of those rare breeds, and without fail, I found myself way out in the wilderness, miles off course. I should have known better, and did know better, but still thought that I knew better, if you know what I mean. Although the map clearly spelled it out, my eyes and mind were sure that I was right in choosing a quick traverse on the trail that would get me where I wanted to go. It didn't. Patience is a wonderful thing, though not a strong gift of mine. You see, there was a sign, and it did tell me the truth. I simply ignored the sign and didn't take the time to stop and read it. Then, instead of waiting to find the next sign, I saw a trail that HAD to be the trail I was looking for. Again, it wasn't. Spiritually this is so true. God has clearly laid out the path in His word. However, unless we take the time to read it, to follow it, and to patiently wait for His gentle nudging by the Spirit to turn to the right or to the left we can so easily find ourselves way of course, out in the wilderness and off the trail that He had set before us.

Encounters on the Journey - It is no surprise that we are not alone on our journey through life, the interesting part is simply the folks we meet along the way. There are those nice, though slighty rough in appearance folks, that are a bit off the trail but smart enough to realize their mistake early and return to it. Then there are those that are way off the trail and sailing along as if they could careless as to their predicament and hellbent on staying that way. There are those on the trail that are curious as to what it is like off the trail but smart enough to ask and then remain on the trail (I should be more like these folks). Then there was the "bird lady." I'm not sure how to spiritualize a lady wandering with a large bird on her shoulder and so won't.

Lessons Learned - Hiking is a strenuous endeavor when we wander farther than we should. Maintaining the trail, following the signs, and encouraging others along the way can be very enjoyable and rewarding. Finally, it's good to slow down every once in a while to take time to reflect, pray, and ensure that trail you are on is the right one and the one the God would have you on.

CHRIST IS RISEN!!!!

Easter Sunday or Christmas Morning?

For as many years as we have lived in Colorado, Easter Sunday has always dawned bright and sunny, even if a little chilly. Imagine how it felt to wake up to this! No outside easter egg hunts for the kids this year! Nevertheless, it was no less of a supremely WONDERFUL day to CELEBRATE the ressurection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If we think the troubles of this world are bad now, imagine how awful it would be had He not come to earth to die for our sins, so that we may have the hope of everlasting life!!! We love you Jesus!

As is our tradition, our "orphan" friends and us got together to celebrate our annual "Orphan Easter Dinner." No, this does not actually have anything to do with technical orphans - rather, we use the term to describe those of us who are here in Colorado Springs with no other family to celebrate holidays with. We sometimes do this on Thanksgiving too.
















The kids had a fun time searching for their hidden easter baskets, which included candy inside plastic eggs and a couple of fun, small gifts!

Small Victories

One of my favorite courses and topics has been Organizational Development and Change Management Principles. As our world continues to change faster than change itself, being able to keep up and ahead of the curve is near impossible. A great book by John Kotter titled, The Heart of Change, walks through eight critical steps in implementing wholesale change. One of those steps is all about creating short-term wins during long-term projects. The idea is that small victories create momentum and in-turn keeps the motivation going to tackle the next project.

Today was one of those days. For the first time in over 9 months, both of our cars were able to sit in our garage. Silly? Yes. Mental victory? Without question! :) Having finally gone through almost all of our things, sorting out what to keep, what to give to friends, give to charity, and what to pitch, we were able to consolidate our stuff and our garage is all but clean. Here's to a little victory, and one small step closer to the goal.

Oh, and the irony of it all? My poor little car still had to sleep outside for one more night as I have an early morning coffee appointment with a friend and don't want to wake the kids. I felt bad for her as I rolled her out of her long lost home!

Preparing For Rain

A week or so ago, we watched a very inspiring movie titled "Facing the Giants," written and produced by a church in Georgia. We would highly recommend it to everyone to see! http://www.facingthegiants.com/

Though certainly not a Hollywood production (which actually was rather refreshing), it had a very powerful message to share that has both encouraged and inspired us. As the title indicated, facing the giants is about trusting in the Lord and believing in Him when the "giants" of life come before us and we want to shrink away. There are obvious connections to the story of David and Goliath.

In this movie, there was a great illustration of faith in action that really stuck with us - It was the concept of "preparing for rain." It's illustrated in this story: "There were two farmers, both praying for rain for their crops. After praying, one farmer believed and waited for it to rain; the other famer believed and began to prepare his fields FOR the rain."

It is one thing to pray and say "God make this happen." It is another to believe God will answer, and to prepare for His action; being ready to receive what we prayed for.

For us, that principle has really encouraged us lately! It is clearly illustrated in our desire to move. We love and are so grateful for our current home, but we've been feeling led for quite some time to move to a different place. We have two main reasons for feeling moved this way - more space and location. Obviously we've got a growing family we need to accomodate, but we also are passionate for the ministry of community and would love to have a more ideal space in which to host small groups, get togethers and the like (maybe a basement and a slightly bigger living room?). And of course it would be wonderful to be all the more closer to church, work, doctors, etc. And with that same passion for community, we would also be closer to the people we fellowship with.

With these things, we are purposing to begin that journey - A journey that we probably rushed last year as it crashed and burned since we did not wait on God's timing (and now looking back, we are thankful He didn't allow us to rush, although it was a painful lesson for us). But now we feel called to prepare for rain. If God is leading, He will bring it to pass. We simply want to be ready for the day the rain comes. How are we preparing? Currently we are attempting to get our house ready to list, consolidating our stuff and clutter, moving some things to storage for a temporary time, painting, and doing minor maintenance and repair. For several years now, we've felt a strong leading to a new community here called Banning Lewis Ranch - it looks like our oppotunity may come in the next couple of months with it. When it opens (it's only been in planning stages for years now) we feel we will probably have a clear answer of where to move. For now, we are simply waiting, trusting, and preparing for His rain to fall.