Pumpkin Carving Party!

For the past few years I have upheld the tradition of a pumpkin carving party regardless of where I've been living. So we threw down some plastic and got to work in the spare garage.  Three in attendance had never carved a pumpkin before which other than Jewel, who is from Ghana, just blows my mind.  How do you get to your mid twenties without carving a pumpkin?!?!?! In America?!?!??!?!

We got to meet John's wife, who will officially be moving here in January and was up for the weekend.  I love getting to meet the families and people important to these guys... makes for more interesting back stories. :o)

Charlie came...although just the sight and smell of pumpkin guts make him want to vomit... in his own words, "Amy, if you throw pumpkin guts at me I will throw up, I'm not kidding" (and that was on the phone the night before!)...but apparently his love of functions is stronger than his weak stomach...:o)

And the end result...beautiful, beautiful pumpkins!!!

The Mill Fall Retreat

This past weekend, over 500 young adults from the Mill at New Life (the Friday night service geared towards college age and twenty-somethings) headed up to Crooked Creek Ranch in Winter Park, CO to run around in the snow and cold for a couple of days.  The rules? No alcohol, drugs, or girls talking about sports to get guys to like them. :o)  It was a beautiful weekend.

There aren't many things more enjoyable to me these days than being set loose to meet so many new people....and having crossovers with people I've met randomly before. Clay, the guy to my left, I met mid-september at one of my wednesday night dinners on Tuesday nights... We remet the previous Sunday at New Life's night service and then hung out a bit here!

I love smores...but in taking the picture, my marshmallows fell in the fire and then when Bradley (the collegiate looking one) went to help me put my second attempt all together...he "claimed" the smoke got in his eyes...oh well, it was still salvageable. Tyler is not wearing a santa clause hat, but we did have to argue over whether I needed to even like sports and he went even more below the belt to say that Virginia wasn't part of the south.... the unclaimed state.  We were friends after I set him back to right.

I didn't see much of the other school of worship kids, but we did hang out occasionally...like Saturday night in the game room eating nachos!

Throughout the weekend I was reminded yet again of my love for people's stories.  Like hearing from a girl that stayed in our room, she was roping in a rodeo like atmosphere, fell, landed in a coma for six weeks, and miraculously woke up and is almost at a full recovery.  She only got out of the hospital at the end of August!  The only reason I even talked to her was because I was straightening my hair and she came in to look at her eye... which had just had a ping pong ball slammed into it! Slightly ironic....

The whole theme of the retreat was LIFE.  The wrestling with questions like am I where I'm supposed to be, or where should I be going next.  We had extended spirit filled times of worship and even when the band stopped playing we kept singing most times.  To be in the midst of a community that so passionately and deeply loves God...well, it gets intense fast!

A couple of hours on a bus Sunday afternoon watching Madagascar 2 and taking a nap landed me back in the Springs.  A good time with good folks...loved it! (sidenote: I actually met my first legit person from Virginia, harrisonburg to be exact and when I said I was from NOVA....he called me uppity! Of all the nerve!)

Daniel Boone Grave

This is the second to last post from the amy goes west road trip... in Kentucky we paused for a little while to see Daniel Boone's Grave.  Now Defiance, Missouri also claims to have Daniel Boone's Grave, but apparently he was dug up at some point and re-interned here.  It was a huge cemetery and fun to mosey around and explore.

Confession: I love cemeteries. It's the last thing that we leave here on earth and even that will deterioate and crumble given enough time.  But for a while, it is a record of history, a place to remember those who have lived and loved and laughed before us.

I did walk a little ways a way from Daniel Boone's rather large memorial to a circle of tombstones on a neighboring hill.  Turns out it was a ring of confederate graves.  I sat in the middle of it just reflecting on how deep the blood of the civil war ran and how many lives were lost in defense of each side's belief.

There was a large sign in the middle asking that the graves and the boys be left in peace since they fought for what they believed in and now could no longer fight, or carry weapons, or cause any harm.

We did find some Coxes in the midst of all the headstones, and I just so happen to have found my sister's name complete with middle initial.  My smile is not to imply anything but just in excitement over my find.

This is the only cemetery we went to, although we did really want to go to Colonel Saunder's grave....but it closed at 4 and we didn't roll up into Kentucky until well after five.... maybe next time?

Supper Club!

We have a bit of an unofficial supper club here in the Springs, a few of us that take advantage of each other's culinary skills.... like this here delicious banana bread.

And if we plan it just right, the dinner will fall on Wednesdays and for dessert we'll head over to the Village Inn for some pumpkin pie!!!!!

I can't help but share Ryan's inability to load his dishwasher when the fridge door is shut... who planned that apartment's layout awesomeness?

Leading Student Chapel

We have student chapel every tuesday which we take turns leading...we've been paired up and assigned weeks throughout the year, mine just happened to be this week...it was awesome to go right now, a few weeks in, but before we've had our worship practicum or band directing classes... to just be ourselves as we've come here and to take stock of how much more there is to learn.

I was paired up with Jarrod, a southern boy from GA.  With similar tastes and positive attitudes, we jumped right in, making changes as we went along in the planning process.  It's hard, more so for me personally, to plan and lead without a firm foundation of trust and relationship, but it's good to be stretched in that area.  And not having played with a band since I left the Vine in August paired with my general excitement and enthusiasm in leading.... it was a good time...:o)

We played Where the Spirit of the Lord is, Your Love is Everything, and Mighty to Save (Same Power), a good time spent in God's presence, I really liked having a guitar back in my hands!

Homesickness

I got a pretty severe case of homesickness over the weekend. It's only happened once or twice before lasting a few hours before receding.  I like to explain it has a piercing of the heart, an ache so deep that nothing can penetrate it.  I don't call home at these times because I don't want to dissolve into tears....I normally settle for surrounding myself with people, activities, and whatever else may distract.

But I went to bed Saturday night torn apart and longing for the familiar.  For my cat Mitch to curl up on the pillow beside me, to hear my nephew yell "tar, tar!", to annoy my sister by looking over her shoulder while she's on her laptop....for sitting down to dinner with my whole family eating my mom's cooking.

As in the case with most things, I went to sleep and got up to face another day.  Pastor Brady Boyd preached on genuine faith and glorious joy....based on 1 Peter 1.... it helped a bit to hear a message on returning to joy and living in God's presence.  But I still spent my afternoon feeling broken.

I felt a stirring to go to the Sunday Night Service at New Life, something I haven't done yet.  So I went and sat with fellow classmate, Adam and his wife Heather.  They and their two boys moved here for the year from Ireland and I am continually amazed by Adam's wisdom and gentleness....maybe some of the Irish are in contention with my Canadian relatives for the winner of the most gentle people award? Just kidding!!!  During communion we were encouraged to share what we needed prayer for and to pray for each other... I didn't really want to do it, who wants to admit weakness?  And one that seems as trivial as homesickness?  But I found the words that had been developing and growing in me all day. I'm pretty sure I said, "I've been feeling really homesick this weekend, which is ok, but God convicted me that I have such a deep ache for home, but I don't have that deep ache for him...."

Saying those words out loud, how healing.  I want that deep pierce and ache for the presence of God, one that leaves me unsatisfied until....well, maybe never quite satisfied.  Someone went on to read from John Chapter 21 where Jesus says to Peter, "Peter, do you love me?"  And I felt God speak to my heart, "Amy, do you love me more than home?"  And Glen Packiam, the pastor at the Sunday evening service, in the mist of his 1 Peter sermon referenced back to John, saying that Peter answered in the greek word for love meaning "friendship" all three times, even though Jesus asked in the "agape" or undying love the first two times, but finally sliding into Peter's word the last time...meeting Peter where he was.  Asking for more, but meeting him where he was.  I'm not sure what greek version of love I would be able to use this week, but I am so reassured and delighted in that God loves me and is working in me and transforming me and softening all the places I've let grow hard.

There are so many other parts to both the morning and evening sermons that just spoke to me, but in the interest of not going on forever, the last point of the Sunday eve service stayed with me.  Glen spoke on how we have a way of trying to end our discomfort, when we are hot we turn on a fan or the air conditioner, when we are hungry we eat.  But we should be careful to not shortcut what God is doing in us.  We should embrace our "crosses", our discomforts and remember the hope we have in Christ.  It is through these discomforts that our faith is proved genuine and maybe, just maybe, we will answer more than just "friendship" when God asks us how deeply we love him.

So I am embracing the ache...and asking God to let that ache be for him all the more.

Bishop's Castle

I had been highly anticipating a visit out to the middle of almost nowhere to Bishop's Castle... a castle built by one man, Jim Bishop, started in 1969.  So one Friday, when local gal, Crystal, informed me she was free, a few of us went galavanting off down to the San Isabel National Forest.

The Castle sits right off of a mountain road, and is an odd compilation of towers, iron work, and rocks taken out of the National Forest that surrounds the property.  Bishop doesn't charge anything for visitors to daringly take their own lives into their hands and climb to the tops of towers and explore his handiwork.... to his success or detriment.. :o)

There are two wooden floors inside, the place is not fully enclosed, and by no means a completed project. As we were leaving before lunch, Bishop was driving back in with another truckload of rocks to continue work.  The place is littered with construction tools, sand piles, and other equipment.

There are of course lots of signs, all handmade, asking for donations, sharing a bit of the history, warning all law enforcement to stay away... very informative.

I did get in the elevator that goes nowhere...apparently Ryan rides elevators with his hands in the air....

There is a gift shop open daily on site where you can acquire swords, guns, and other such trinkets.

These little replicas of the castle can be bought for the cheap price of $100!

I couldn't get very high up the inside flights of stairs despite multiple tries... but I did climb some outside stairs. I even had to bravely step on the open ironwork to get back inside since the stairs were too steep and short-width to walk back down.

A pic of Crystal and I! Her family's house in pueblo has the biggest tree in the backyard... lots of shade....and a huge dog.

For lunch we had a pb&j picnic nestled in a meadow right next to a lake a few miles back down the road... Ryan picked a spot out of the wind and in the sun so we stayed nice and warm while we ate!

Bishop's Castle was quite a popular place for being so out of the way.... fifteen to twenty people came and went while we were there.  One grandma verbalized my own sentiments in speaking to her grandkids, "Jacob! don't go out there! Isabelle...hold my hand, we don't know how safe this place is. Jacob wait for us!"  It'll be exciting to go back sometime in the future and see how far the castle has come.

Colorado Skies

Colorado loses in the absence of real trees, shade, soft grass, and cloud cover...all the things I took for granted back in VA. But it does win in the area of sunrises and sunsets.  Just a couple of shots I've taken when I've left my house at various times.

The Deer of Colorado

In the Springs, deer just chill in the yards of houses, apartment complexes.... wherever they feel like.  One day, Darci and I were driving to meet some friends and saw these three hanging out, eating grass, and watching the traffic pass, so we pulled over and did what any sane tourist would do...took some pictures!

My 6 Minute Speech!!!

I successfully completed my 6 minute speech for organizational communications class last week.  Once I had an idea to run with, I was excited to try it out... a definite change in my heart towards public speaking in recent months...:o)

I began with the above video, which I can't get to upload properly, but suffice it to say it is one of Nate and mine's guitar lessons where he throws the pick into the guitar and just as I am saying we'll have to use our fingers to pick the strings, he has gone booger digging so I say, "not our noses, not our noses."  I loved getting to use the video to introduce Nate and set up the topic for my speech.  I talked about imitating Christ, how in Ephesians it says to "imitate Christ as dearly loved children."  Just like Nate wants to imitate and copy my guitar playing.  The awesome thing about children? They don't always get it right, and sometimes they end up in the uncooperative chair, but they still try.  Anyways, it was a good time.  I got a good chuckle out of the class as I spoke on some of the ways we've all tried to imitate people around us, including "moving to Colorado and beginning to purchase plaid clothing because that's what everyone is wearing"... said as I was wearing my new plaid jacket.

Good times, and the point of the whole thing? Pick Jesus, not your nose.

My First Taste of Bison

A week or two ago (they all blend together after a while), a few of us went to Ted's Montana Grill for lunch.  I ordered my first bison slider!!!! It came with a regular hamburger slider and way too many fries which of course I ate all of.  Bison is really good.... tastes more wholesome than the burger.... I guess to be chalked up to a leaner and far less greasy meat!  I definitely want to explore more in the bison world! Here's to culinary adventures!