The End

This quote was on my July calendar...I did not actually turn to July from June until about ten days into the month! But how perfectly timed was the encouragement that was there for Wally and I. 

"Painful as it may seem, the place of our suffering is the place where we find the freedom to live the life God designed for us."—Dannah Gresh. 

So how does one begin to write about “getting fired?!”  It’s not something you are usually proud of and it certainly is unexpected.  Wally and I have many mixed emotions.  Did we do something wrong?  Maybe.  Something deserving of being “let go?”  We certainly did not think so.  Just what did we do?  I’m not even sure if I know or understand.  But here is what I do know…While this whole experience was a complete surprise to us, it certainly was not to God.  And we trust that what God allows in our life is for our good, and definitely is part of God’s purposes and for His glory.

Wally and I were operating out of a state of disbelief, but determined to trust the Lord.  I had been praying for the Lord to draw us closer together and closer to His Word. In July I participated in a Bible study in the book of Proverbs.  I could not believe how many times I would say to Wally, “Let me read you this verse, doesn’t it sound like what we are going through?”  It was good to be grounded and surrounded by His Word and prayer!  It was also the perfect foundation that was being laid for what we were about to walk through.  I truly had perfect peace, the kind that “surpasses al understanding!”

Here’s what God did for us:

• On Tuesday after we returned from our little vacation, we were signing a lease on a house to rent.  If you know anything about the housing market in Denver, you understand what a miracle that alone is!
• Wally was offered his old job back as a roofing estimator.  In fact they wanted him to start right away. 
• Most of the residents were just as shocked as we were that we were being let go. They were so kind to us!  They began dropping by our apartment with cards and gifts and even tears! 
• One woman especially blessed us.  She had been a tough cookie from the start.  She would roll by the clubhouse and toot her car horn, waiting for Wally to respond.  She always wanted some work done but never wanted to fill out the form required.  Over time, she warmed up to us.  She told us she couldn’t write very well anymore and that is why she never wanted to fill out the forms. We weren’t sure, but we think she was about 90…still driving, still playing Bridge each week, she was a character!  As we were packing to leave, she knocked on our door.  She climbed up the steps, around all the packing mess and plopped on our couch .  She visited with us for several minutes and then gave us a hand written card, thanking us for all we had done!
• We were able to leave knowing we had done a very good job, that there were many things we could not overcome, but we did a good job!

The frosting on the cake for me came from when I read Proverbs 28:11. “The rich man is wise in his own eyes, But the poor who has understanding searches him out.”   I pictured Wally and I as “the poor” in the verse.  Poor when our lives are compared with those of our residents…with the their standard of wealth, success, status and privilege.  But we were rich in God’s understanding, the gospel.  And we had tried to live and give the gospel in the four and half years we lived and worked among these very rich and privileged “poor” people.  I felt God gave this verse to me to bring the perfect close to this chapter in our life. 

We made a lot of trips like this! 

We had the best moving crew!  They worked hard and kept us laughing most of the day!

One of the first pieces of mail at our new address was this encouraging card from Andrea and a Starbucks card with the Brooklyn Bridge on it!

Wild…Wild Ride…Wild Flowers…Not in Our Wildest Dreams!

Wild…that I am actually putting together a blog post!  It has been a long, long time!  But here I go!

Wild Ride…July 14 Wally and I took off after work to ride to Chama, NM.  One of our residents who had been quite special  to us had passed away earlier in the spring.  Her family was having a memorial service for her and then spreading her ashes over the family ranch in Chama.  We decided to combine attending her service with a few days of vacation.  Of course we planned to get out of town earlier than we did, so we did have some traffic.  Just south of Denver we ran into the rain…lots of it.  That slowed us even more and by the time we rode over  the Cumbres pass, it was dark.  Wally told me to keep my eyes open for deer and elk.  We spotted many deer on the side or having just cleared the road as we passed by.  Then we rounded one bend and there on the road was an entire herd of elk!!  We (Wally) veered quite wide and long to avoid a collision and I breathed out many “Thank you Lord” prayers!   We wish  we could have enjoyed the scenery by daylight!  On my list of places to revisit is Chama and to ride the narrow gauge train on the Cumbres-Toltec scenic railway!  We stayed at a sweet B&B, the Gandy Dancer.  It was within walking distance of the little church where Mrs. Binkley’s service was held. 

The little garden at Gandy Dancer had the tallest Columbines!

Wildflowers…After the service we headed on our way to Gunnison, CO.  We had another rainy day to ride in.  Our destination was the Wildflower Festival in Crested Butte, the Wildflower Capital of Colorado!  What a year for the wildflowers, it was amazing!  Since we were on the bike we splurged and rented a jeep  for a day to drive the dirt roads.  We picked up a little book of wildflowers and I think we saw every variety in the book!  I know there are a lot of photos following but I had a hard trying to choose which to use!  And who doesn’t like to look at Colorado?

People aren’t the only ones who enjoy a field of wildflowers!

These were all white Columbines.  I have never seen that before.  I wondered if the blue columbines had faded,  but I have not heard of that either!  Still, there they were!

We packed a little picnic and took a short hike to Judd Falls.  It was very lovely and we had quite a group of chipmunks who came out to keep us company!

  

That’s me…another “dear,” out in a field of wildflowers!!

Not in Our wildest Dreams…Friday morning we slept late and walked uptown Gunnison for breakfast.  We then wandered the town doing a little window shopping in some of the shops.  We saw a cute little fountain of two crows dipping and squirting.  The shop was actually backordered on the fountain…and it was kind of pricey!  So when we went back to the hotel room we looked for one on line…and found it…and it was quite a bit cheaper!!  I had just completed the order and we started to get ready for a ride around the north rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  Wally’s phone rang and while I was getting changed I could tell the conversation was sounding serious.  Wally let me know he was talking to the owner of our company.  After a few more minutes of conversation I  mouthed the words to him…”Are we getting fired?”  I don’t know what made me ask that, but he nodded yes!  

In our wildest dreams we were not expecting that!  This was Friday and we were told not to return to work on Monday.  When your housing is attached to your job,we had a double whammie!  That phone call kind of ended our vacation and killed any desire to go for our ride.  We spent the next several hours in our hotel, on line, looking at places to rent…we had a quick move ahead of us!  (To be continued!)

Fun Stuff

Soccer Fun!

Wesley is a soccer-a-holic!  He plays year round, indoor and out,  he refs, and he coaches!  It’s fun to go to his indoor games, except that they are often so late at night.  I have asked myself, what kind of people are willing to play soccer at all hours of the night.  But I know, it’s Wesley!  It was not a surprise then that while Kenny and Becky were home, Wes invited Kenny to play at one of his games.  I think this one began at 9:30 so it was doable!  Turns out that sometimes even people that play at night don’t show up to play at night.  The opposing team was short quite a few players.  So Kenny and Wesley ended up playing against each other. 

This is Kenny, Tim Pine, and Wes.  Poor Kenny, not only a little out of shape, he was not used to the high altitude he left behind.  He was winded!  Oh and did I mention that this is a co-ed team?  Tim gets to play with his wife, Carrie!

Fun game, fun times. Nate and Patrick Pine showed up at the end of the game.  It was great to see all these young men together again.  They have known each other since Wesley and Tim were in the toddler nursery together!!  My heart thoroughly enjoyed watching them catch up!

Wesley, Kenny, Nate, Tim and Patrick

Tea Time Fun!

Wesley and Kenny had planned a day of skiing together.  It was a perfect opportunity for Becky to join us  girls for our Christmas Tea.  We went to the Briarwood Inn in Golden.  It was a fun afternoon and an opportunity to enjoy time with Becky.

A second Daughter!

Sherry, Becky, Mom. Robin and Jo

Robin and Jo, I love these two a lot!

Church Fun!

We now attend a different church than where the kids had grown up at.  Our current Pastor was out of town over Christmas and his fill in was Jeff Musgrave, the Pastor from our past church!  What fun for Kenny!  Pastor and Anna also got to meet Becky for the first time.  Again, I thoroughly enjoyed catching up with people who have blessed our lives!

Becky, Kenny, Jeff and Anna Musgrave

Family Dinner Fun!

Before Kenny and Becky returned to FL. Wally had to smoke some ribs for them! We had Mom and Dad and Jo join us for dinner and a last visit!

(Sadie managed to snag a bone and enjoy the ribs too!)

Yep, we had fun times!!

Holiday Muddle

Well let’s see, where do I start?  I’m sure Thanksgiving is a distant memory to most people and we are quickly coming up on Valentine’s Day.  I just saw this little quote from a project on Pinterest, “Christmas is down but love is in the air,” and I thought wait a minute!  Christmas is over for me but it is not “down.”  All that to say,  I’m sharing about Christmas!  Please, don’t try to understand!  What I can tell you is that I very much enjoyed our Christmas this year…a whole lot! 

Wally even got into the spirit a bit an decorated the tree in front of our apartment/the office.  We had several added activities like every Christmas, but I do not recall having the added stress. We had a fun Christmas party with our Sunday School class and did a little candle light caroling.  JoEllen had just come home and she came along with us. 

We also had a first ever Christmas Open House for our Bible Study Fellowship Leader’s group.  I went on my own since Wally was hunting.  (Actually on his way home with a nice cow Elk at the time. I won’t share any hunting photos while reindeer might be on some people’s mind!)

I suppose the highlight was that Kenny and Becky came home this year.  That also meant that we saw a lot more of Wesley than we normally do.  It was fun having the boys together again and I remember laughing a lot! 

For some reason that I now have a hard time remembering,  Wally and I kept saying we wanted to make sugar cookies.  I do not know when the last time was that I actually mixed up dough and cut out and decorated sugar cookies. I’m not sure what Wally and I must have been imagining, but I do recall why it’s been so long since we did this…they are a lot of work! 

I think I tripled the batch because I wanted to give a plate of cookies to each of our gate guards over the Holiday shift.  I thought we’d never finish cutting cookies out, but I did not want the laughter to stop!  I laughed so much at the boys that night!

Kenny and Becky also have a sheltie named Bella.  We sort of wanted her to come along, but it was so expensive!!  They missed Bella a lot and Sadie was the happy recipient of all their attention!

These photos are Christmas Eve with my family.  We had a nice photo op of the girls, but I guess we did not do family pictures this year…we need to work on that Robin!  And of course, one of my greatest gifts year round, Mom and Dad!

I used to take a picture every Christmas morning of the kids by the tree.  That’s harder to do in our apartment where we are short of space and sometimes of kids! So here is just the kids on Christmas morning…

One thing I love about Christmas gifts is the wrapping, so  I just had to share the exquisite gift wrapping of our gift from Wesley!

And with that, I can now say Christmas is “down”!  I hope I have not put you all in the Christmas spirit…since it’ll be a few days until it rolls around again!