CSU

Well, it's that time again....car packed up, directions in hand, and off we go - it is time to once again, hit the road.  Kaleb and I had our last day of the conference yesterday and man, was it amazing!  We feel so blessed to have been able to hear from some incredible speakers and participated in some great/very helpful :) workshops throughout the week.  It was pretty incredible to be surrounded by nearly 5,000 others who are all working in full time ministry....even more incredible to be in an auditorium full of 5,000 people singing in worship!  While here, we were able to meet up with some old friends and meet many new friends :).  I think one of the most exciting things for us was meeting the rest of the Lifelines staff!  The first 2 days of the conference was spent with all Lifelines folks as we had meetings and workshops together.  We got to learn more about what God has been doing within the ministry and what to look forward to.  We are now even MORE excited and passionate, if that is possible ;), about the ministry and where God is taking us with them!!  We SO cannot wait to get to Maine and start work with Lifelines!!!

meet the rest of the Lifelines staff! ...I will not introduce them all, but you should know they are all pretty awesome ;)

the Lifelines Ministry booth at the conference

Women's time with Lifelines - we went horseback riding through the mountains, so fun!

After a morning of horseback riding with all the Lifelines ladies :)

Today we head out to Denver to visit/stay with family for a day before we hit up Colorado Springs and then it's back on the road again as we make our move to Phoenix.  We plan to be in Phoenix by Friday.  Your continued prayers would be greatly appreciated as we transition to life in AZ and continue our support raising there, thank you!  We are really looking forward to our time there and seeing what God does!  We will keep you all updated.

Well, as usual, I will leave you with some pictures :)....

We got to hear from Francis Chan two of the mornings at the conf.....amazing speaker God definitely used to encourage, challenge and inspire us!

David Crowder Band concert....AMAZING.

Meet the Bethel's, one of the couples we will be working with in Maine with Lifelines.

love this candid shot of the guys just admiring the view

enjoying a day off at Rocky Mountain National Park

check out that rack! :)

We made it!

Well, we are here and boy is Colorado gorgeous!  Although...we also drove through some pretty amazing country too.  Our road trip was awesome and is actually now my favorite one yet!  But that could also just be because we got to camp along the way ;).  We made it here late afternoon yesterday and have now settled into our dorm room - yes, dorm room :).  Campus Crusade uses the campus of CSU (Colorado State University) for the conference.  It's been kinda fun to be in a dorm together...we even have meal cards - it's like we're back in college...except we feel super old, lol ;).

Since arriving, we have been so excited to finally meet the rest of the staff working with Lifelines.  Today and tomorrow are ministry days with Lifelines and it's been incredible getting to know everyone more and participating in different workshops.  We are so looking forward to the rest of our time here and taking in the rest of the conference!

Well...I won't bore you with too many words in this blog ;) ....for right now I will leave you with several pictures from our road trip.  ENJOY! :)

We got to meet up with my Aunt and cousin in Reno as we passed through.  So great to spend time with them!

Loved all the snow capped mountains

Northeast Nevada

At our first campsite in a little town called Wells, NV at a place called Angel Creek

Mmm dinner :)

Enjoying the campfire on a cool night

The campsite....gorgeous place I'd highly recommend!

A lot of you know how I love photography...so of course I had fun taking lots of pics and played around with my camera settings a lot - here is one of those pics.  Love taking night shots!

Blue Steel basking in the sunlight ;)

 

Red Bull = a road trip must ;)

 

Flaming Gorge National Park in northern Utah

Second campsite in Flaming Gorge National Park, another beautiful spot!

Kaleb enjoyed some relax time in our hammock

We LOVE our tent - definitely going to get a lot of use out of it!

Another yummy dinner, haha....

Before leaving the next morn, we got up really early and did a short hike to this peak where you could overlook part of Flaming Gorge...definitely worth it!

And here we are!!  More to come later....

Another Road Trip

It's that time again....time for us to hit the road!  I am happy that we both love travel and road trips otherwise, I would think we might be quite miserable by this point, haha :).  This will be mine and Kaleb's, I think (I've lost count), 7th road trip together in the last year - covering 10 different states.  He's a great travel buddy, I must say ;) and we've had quite the adventures! 

Tomorrow morning very early....so early that I should definitely be sleeping right now ;)....we will be heading out for Colorado.  Our faithful little Subaru (or as I like to call her, "Blue Steel"...she's blue and made of steel, what else?) is packed and ready to go.

We feel so blessed to have had some wonderful family time these last few days before leaving!  So happy to have been able to take some time to relax. 

With some of the fam on the beach in Carmel

Please keep us in your prayers as we start our journey to Colorado tomorrow.  We will be breaking up our trip and camping along the way - super excited for camping!  This will help so that we are not completely exhausted when arriving.  We plan to be there by the 15th.  If you could also pray for our time at the conference - we are excited to be with and meet other staff and excited to get to hear from some great speakers like Francis Chan (one of our favorite preachers/authors) at the conference. 

Thank you all again for your prayers, encouragement and partnerships!!  I'm off to bed ;) ....

Preparing to Leave Nor Cal

First off, check out this awesome video that was made to explain what Lifelines does and why.  We are SO excited to be apart of this great ministry and are looking forward to meeting the rest of the Lifelines staff this summer in Colorado!

We are so passionate about what Lifelines is doing all across the country and cannot wait to be involved!  Right now we continue to praise God for his provision and all that He has been teaching us through this time of support raising.  We may not know what's going to happen in the next couple months - but we have our faith and trust in the Lord and we know He will continue to provide and guide us and things WILL happen within HIS timing! 

Kaleb is now done working, as of July 1st, and we have been happy to have this last weekend to rest and relax together (much needed).  The week before last was filled with a lot as we celebrated the marriage of our sister (Kaleb's sister) to the love of her life on June 25th :).  It was a busy/fun week with family and things have just settled down from that this last week.  We feel blessed to still have Kaleb's parents here until we leave for Colorado and have enjoyed getting more time with them.  They are missionaries in Ireland and will be leaving just after we are and so we will not see them again for another year or so.

Kaleb's sister and our new brother in law - Congrats to Anni and Joel!!

4th of July with Kaleb's parents.  It's been great to get some good hang out time with them!

Having fun on 4th of July at a local parade :)

This week we are preparing for our next road trip to Colorado for the conference.  We have been busy packing up where we presently live and meeting with a few more people before leaving on the 13th.  Please pray for us - that our time would be productive and that we would get all the things done we need to before leaving here for a while.  Thank you all!!

 Until next time.....