Weekend Events

On Saturday, Jeremy, Jeff, and I woke up and headed into Alamosa for the big Monster Mash Dash that started at 10am. It was my first 5K to ever run in costume. Part of the fun of this race was they encouraged costumes in lieu of Halloween. I was a fairy princess - kinda - and Jeremy was a ninja. It was also my first 5K since Race for the Cure in May. And my first 5K at 7,500 feet. I don't know which of these last two factors contributed to my slowest time ever, but I am pretty sure the costume only helped! :) There were about 27 participants. The weather was gorgeous - sunshine, about 40F, and hardly a breeze. I started off slowly - Jeremy and Jeff began (with the rest) at a good clip. I just figured slow and steady allows me to survive. We headed north out of town, past the golf course, hung a right down a long stretch of road, before turning right again and then veering onto the dirt trail leading to the bridge that crosses into the park - the finish line! I felt like I ran FOREVER!!! Running the country mile is a difficult thing - there are no landmarks (well, there weren't for me since I had never run this route before). The road just stretches out before you and you feel like it will never end. To top it off, there was no one running with me. I could see Jeremy up ahead quite a distance, but it was just me and the wilds of Alamosa farmlands. There were a couple points of interest along the way - the landmark to Amelia Earhart (she filled her plane up with gas at a farm here in the valley) and there was a dead deer. The other piece of excitement was wondering what people thought as they drove by this lonely girl running with a yellow fluffy crown, pink long johns, and a fairy skirt. I only hope they noted my racing bib with my number - I was an official race participant after all! Jeff blew Jeremy and I out of the water (but didn't come in first) with a time of 23 minutes and some odd seconds. Jeremy crossed the finish line at 32:10. I followed with a "record-breaking" time of 35:19. (The pic to the right is me approaching the finish line. I thought you may want to see the whole outfit - just click on it to see the close up!) It was good to know that I finished though without walking for more than five 30 second breaks. After the race, we had prizes awarded for the best costume. I won first place, and Jeremy won second (mostly because his feet were big enough to fit the socks they had as the prize). The rest of the day was spent laying around and trying to recover from the looooong run. I will try to get some finish line pics tomorrow for you.... check back :)

I did get some very exciting news on Saturday. Steph (my sister-in-law) and Luke had their baby. It was a BOY!!! I had three neices before the summer started, and now I have three nephews to balance it out. His name is Samuel Lawrance (don't quote me on the spelling - I don't have the official spelling yet). I am excited to see pictures. Luke tried to send me a pic via his cell phone. However, due to the technology here in La Jara, I have to wait until we drive to town to get this - our phones seem to only register that there are messages when we get halfway to Alamosa. UGH!

Sunday, we went back to the Lighthouse Church. It is a good church. I am trying to be open to the fact that it is just starting up. We met some more people. There seem to be quite a few people our age. One of them has the Big 10 channel and invited Jeremy over for the Buckeyes games!!! Yeah! We'll keep you updated.

Ummm.... nothing else really. I watched Premonition today. Strange, but not horrible movie. It wasn't as good as I suspected, but I wouldn't consider it bad. The gag reel was worth renting the movie for. We played Outburst tonight as a house - girls vs guys. Guys won, but the girls were one short. (Claire is out of town this weekend.) I think there will be a rematch when she returns. We are watching baseball for what feels like the 20th straight night. The Rockies are not doing so well - and part of me wishes they will just lose tonight so it will just be over. But then again, what else is really on TV??? I think that is all I can say for the day. I will leave you with one parting picture from the City Market (Kroger) parking lot today. Can you guess what animal is in season for hunting?

End of Work Week

Well, it is my first blog of the week - how unusual! I have been between the office and REA (thrift store).
On Tuesday, we had our staff training from 8 - 11am. Just like trainings at school, sometimes I wonder the value of these things. We sat for 3 hours and learned about drugs and gangs in the Valley. I am not really sure what I walked away with, but I only had to go to the office for an hour before lunch!

On Wednesday, I was given the privelege (note sarcasm) of entering all the data into the computer at REA - the same daily summary info I enter here at the office in journal form. Really, it's not bad; it is just that I enter the exact same thing two times, but one onto an excel spreadsheet and one into the accounting program here at the office. It went pretty quickly. I am all caught up except for this past week, which I need to get from Jason (asst. manager).

On Thursday, I took a group of three people from Raton, New Mexico on a tour of the programs. They have a small hunger pantry started with support of the ministerial alliance (various denominations working together) and wanted to possibly expand their services. They were basically on a learning tour. That lasted from 10 - 1:30pm with lunch at Milagros at the end. It was nice to get out of the office and talk with people.

Today, my merchandise from TTV (Ten Thousand Villages) arrived. I was not expecting this to come until next week. So, my huge advertising campaign (with one poster created) has not begun. I guess I will change date and try to get it started by next week. Steve is leaving everything up to me - ordering, advertising, running sales, changing prices, etc - hopefully, this won't flop! I could use prayer with this because it really kinda stresses me out when I think about it. I have not yet been over to look at the products or to try to arrange any type of display, so I'll let you know how that goes!

In other news, we have started watching the Red Sox v Rockies games. I'll be glad when the World Series is finished just so we can see something else/do something else. I will admit that I am more knowledgeable about baseball than I have ever been in my life. The Rockies lost 12-1 the first night (at least I think that was the score - it became a little boring and I didn't pay much attention at the end). Last night, they did better, but still lost 2-1. They are headed to Denver for the next game and hopefully that will bring them more luck. Go Rockies! - you should always cheer for the underdogs, even if they are not in the American League.

Jeremy's Two Cents II

First of all I would like to apologize for the photos from Pagosa that appeared in the previous post. I didn't know that Erin was going to put my those on the www for the entire planet to see, and actually it must have been something in the mineral springs that even let those pictures be taken in first place!!! Have no fear I have attached a censored version for that is safe for the kids, and those sensitive to whiteness (I spent hours and hours on it as you can tell). Don't worry the snow is starting to fall, and the temperatures are starting to drop here, so any photos without many layers of clothes will be few and far between. Actually we did have a really good weekend, though Erin would say I was in a crabby mood after watching the Indians Saturday and Sunday nights. Unfortunately it was a feeling as Cleveland sports fans, we have grown accustomed too. So as we say every year...wait till next year!!!..and how about those Buckeyes!!!

Things with my job are still going pretty well. I had a good conference in Breckenridge earlier this month. I met lots of people and learned all kinds of things about watersheds and different water issues that are occurring all over the state. Nothing too exciting has been going on, most of the field work is done till spring, so lately I have been working on more office things (helping with reports, the website, etc.)

I think Erin mentioned we are still looking for a church here, hopefully we will find something soon. Our unit is unusual in that there isn't a local church that we are associated with, so we have to search for on our own. If you have recently moved, you know that whole process can be quite tiring. One thing for sure is that there aren't many strong churches here, seems everyone that we have attend has been struggling in one way or another... so you can be praying for us for that and for all the churches in the valley on a whole.

Thank you for the emails and blog comments (even if they were about my appearance in the hot springs...or about how my fantasy football team is doing..you guys are just jealous) and feel free to shoot us an email or give us a call. We definitely miss visiting with and seeing everybody.

Weekend Events

We were supposed to go visit my aunt and uncle, but plans changed. Bruce (my uncle) was having difficulty with his back because of painting - back stuff must run in the family, huh? So, Sherry (my aunt) said she would give us a call when they were back in Colorado. Jeremy made alternative plans for Saturday for us since the family plans fell through.

We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning (6am) to go be a part of a hot air ballooning crew. Jeremy's boss (Mike) and his wife (Gigi) are both hot air balloon pilots. They needed to do 3 take-offs and landings each to keep their licenses current. Jeremy, Emmy, Claire, and I rolled out of bed and went to help. They take off near the Spanish Peaks, which is about 30 minutes west of Alamosa. It was really a cool thing to be a part of. The first thing Gigi said during our "training" was - "Hot air ballooning is an inherently dangerous sport"! Made me feel pretty comfortable with the events that were to unfold that morning :) Jeremy helped hold the throat of the balloon open to "blow it up" with the cold air from the fan (see picture to top left). I helped hold the grounding rope at the top of the balloon to slowly let it rise in the air; if there is not enough tension, the throat of the balloon will burn from the flame and be ruined. Mike and Gigi did their take-offs and landings. They then took up two other crew members for a short ride. When they landed, we told Claire and Emmy they could be next (figuring we would go after them or come again). They went up higher than the others and came down harder than the others. They had a pretty rough landing, skidding across the ground curled up in the basket. This picture shows what we saw when we made it to the grounded balloon, which was slowly deflating in the open field. (Note there are three people in the basket - look carefully for all their heads, or hair!) Because the wind was predicted to pick up at 9am, we didn't re-inflate the balloon to take anyone else up; Jeremy and I will just have to wait until next time. We went out the the crew and the pilots for a great breakfast in Monte Vista. There were some neat people that came to be a part of the crew. We are realizing that around here people live a long way away and consider it no big deal to drive a distance to get to work, activities, or church.

Claire, Jeremy, and I went on from there to Pagosa Springs to use the free tickets I had to Springs Resort. This is where lots of people go to enjoy the natural hot springs. It seems to be a pricey resort in general; tickets just for the "hot tubs" were $17 a day. They had many pools fed by the hot springs and nestled alongside the river. Each pool was labeled with a nickname and the approximate temperature. We started in the 102F pool, moved to the 103F pool, and settled at "Clouds in my Coffee" pool with 101F water. We liked this last pool the best because it set higher than the other pools, and we were pretty much alone to talk, soak, and observe other guests. I personally thought all the pools were very hot! I sat with a majority of my body out of the water most of the time, but it was also relaxing. Before we ended our time at the pools we tried the "Lobster Pot" pool which has a heat estimated to be 113F. I could only put my feet and calves in before removing them quickly. It felt like I was being boiled! Claire and Jeremy submerged themselves up to their chest, but then didn't move because it stirred up the water and made them too hot! I included a pic of Jeremy in the Lobster Pot with the sign in the background. We left after showering. Showering was pretty much a futile thing though because the smell of the sulfur had soaked into our skin - even today I still smell it on my body! We traveled home via the southern route through Chama and then to Antonito and La Jara. The Chama-Antonito route is a spot for a tourist train. The aspens, had they not already lost their leaves, would have been gorgeous! It definitely would have been a more colorful route than the train we took to La Veta. Because of all the hot water soaking, our muscles felt like jelly as we rode home. We drug our bodies into the house at 6pm and felt like it was bedtime. Jeremy turned on the Indians game, hoping for a perfect end to a great day. He was fed up by the end of the first inning and resorted to watching the Michigan (yes, you read that right) vs. Illinois football game by the 4th inning.

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No big news for Sunday. We went to a new church today - Lighthouse Christian Church - that meets in the Senior Citizen Center. We enjoyed the pastor's message and met a very friendly younger couple. It is a faction of the Alamosa Christian Church that Jeremy and I had visited two weeks ago that had just lost their pastor. This is the only thing that holds us back from really liking this church. It is hard to believe how often churches split for reasons that can seem so minor to outsiders; was the issue so big that healing couldn't take place? I don't know what the issue(s) were, but it is just saddening to me. If we were to go, I think that I would like to know why they left because I want to know what it was they believe so strongly in that they would pull away from their church body. I love being a Christian. I am thankful for the grace of God. I appreciate the diversity within the Christian community. I value the Mennonite example of service and peace. But I wonder at the devisiveness of Satan. I question the example we set when we, as Christians, cannot resolve our differences - we may not fight wars with weapons, but we can certainly leave wounds among brothers and sisters. I praise God that He is bigger than what we can comprehend and that when we fail to love, He does not.

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Oh yeah, and it snowed here - real snow flurries, some even sticking to the ground for a brief period of time. I'm planning on running (or walking, whichever I can do) in the Monster Mash Dash (5K) sponsored by La Puente next weekend. Hopefully, I am not running in snow! I'll keep you updated.

Week Continued

This week has been pretty uneventful - even just the daily life stuff has just happened. I imagine I should just be thankful. So, I am. I worked all afternoon on Tuesday getting an order ready for Ten Thousand Villages (TTV for short). I looked through ALL of their products. They have a lot of stuff!! I chose enough things to total out to about $2300. I thought that was pretty good, although only halfway to my given spending limits. We'll see how this sells and order from there. I have been trying to think of ways to bring people back to TTV. I may have a Grand Re-Opening Event or something. I only have about 9 days until the merchandise arrives, so I better get cranking on my ideas. I have it on good authority that they hired a manager for REA (thrift store); he'll start in two weeks. He is working in our food bank right now. I really like him - plus, he is a neat freak and has good ideas for REA. I look forward to working with him.

This weekend, Jeremy and I are going to go visit my aunt and uncle (Sherry and Bruce). They are building a cabin here in Colorado. I think it is about 100 miles north of where we are. It will be fun to see the cabin and to be able to hang out with them. Sherry said there are some slick spots because both there and here IT SNOWED!!!! Apparently, it is sticking up there; here it just dropped some flakes/sleet yesterday. We may continue on to Colorado Springs to visit Mike and Anja (friends from Columbus), but it depends on how much time they have available. They are flying out here for some events with other friends and only for a short time. It will be good to see them, but if not we look forward to catching up when we come home at Christmas.

I really have very little else to say. I am needing to eat breakfast and then scoot out the door for work. Hopefully, work will be enjoyable today - or busy so the time goes fast. Hope you are all having a great week. Write a comment or send a snail mail letter. We would love to hear from you ... and I will write back :)

Work Week # 8

I am not really counting the work weeks - I just know what week it is because the title from the week before comes up when I start typing. It is nice to know how time is progressing. Last week of work went very fast; I am hoping this week does as well. I was at REA (Rainbow's End in Alamosa) all day today. I did the daily summary - the thing I enter as journal entries at the office. It was all new and I made many mistakes! I corrected them and tried to create a clean copy of data for me to read back at the office. The day went quickly. I was at the cash register all day. It was good because it was busy. So busy that I hardly had time to eat lunch in between customers. People are friendly that come in. I made deals with some for purchases that they brought to the counter - ie I only have $3, can I have all these things for that amount? or If I buy 3 pairs of shoes, can I have a deal? It is fun to feel like I can do those things to help people. Someone mentioned today that the store looked clean; I said we were trying to clean it up. I am glad someone noticed the efforts. That is about for tonight.

Jeremy has been religiously watching the Indians games now that they are on Fox. He stayed up the other night for the 11 inning win - not nearly as late as some of you may have! Right now we are watching game 3. He loves the early start time - today's game started at 5pm, I think. Anyway, I say (for Jeremy) GO TRIBE!!!

Weekend (non) Events

The weekend was very relaxing. We didn't have any plans for the first time in awhile. On Saturday, we ran errands, and we went to Monte Vista Wildlife Refuge for a bbq Jeremy had heard about from a co-worker. What he didn't know was that the bbq was actually the Kids' Crane Festival. So, when we pulled up, the parking attendant asked if we were here for the Kids' Crane Festival. We said we guessed so, but we didn't have any kids. Oops. Fortunately, we saw his co-worker and adopted her kids for a short period of time, and I helped out a woman trying to balance children and multiple plates of food. We also were going to make paper cranes so that we actually participated in the events, but instead we just helped peel crayons for kids that were coming to color the cranes. All was good.

In other news... I don't really have much to say about what we did because we did nothing - yea!! I just finished reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. This has been on the bestseller list at some point, and I just never got to reading it. So, I found it at Rainbow's End and bought it for $0.50. It is a great book. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it. It is about a white girl in the 1960's that ranaway from home with her African-American "nanny." It tells of their time they spent with a family of sisters, one of whom was a beekeeper; they were their house of refuge. It has lots of great lessons. When I finished it, I had nothing to read, so Claire offered me a book called Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. It is a good book so far. I am almost 3/4 of the way through it. It is about two Chinese girls during the period of time when footbinding still took place. It is very educational, but the story line is great. I could never have lived in a time like that or with the rules the "worthless" women had to live under.

Church... our church "shopping" continued. I really don't enjoy doing this. It feels like if we don't choose a church, they weren't good enough. In reality, we have enjoyed parts of all the churches. We need to find a place where we feel "home." We attended the Mountain Valley Church. It is a non-denominational church housed in the historic Baptist church building. The service was fairly long and the congregational sharing was very emotional - which in some ways was nice because I like that people feel safe enough to share deeply. After church we attended the potluck put on by the Deacons. I quite enjoyed the potato soup. What we didn't realize was that by going to the potluck, we were also attending their quarterly business meeting. It was a bit strange to be involved in those workings of the church and not know how to politely leave. I don't know where we will go next week. The churches in this area are, in general, very small - 20-50 people, children not included. There seems to be a lot of transition - in pastors, in the congregation's ability to fund the church, etc. I think that if some of the churches just combined, things may work in their favor... but that would mean compromise of the denomination... ???