Monday, June 28, 2010

stories...

so, it's been forever. i know. and, i just had a really long blog typed out, but my stupid computer shut down. anyway. here i go.... again.

so, i came to denver on saturday to celebrate our 30th birthdays with bekah and beth. they met me here. it's been an awesome time. saturday we got settled in, went to 16th street mall, ate crepes, walked around in the rain, and went to marakesh. marakesh is a morrocan restaurant where we got to sit on the floors and experience morroco at it's finest :) we got a 5 course morrocan meal, and there was supposed to be a belly dancer, but she wasn't there. bummer. it was a lot of fun, and bekah got a free dessert because it was her birthday.

sunday we went white water rafting which was also totally awesome. and in the evening we went to casa bonita which was fun too.

but today... today we went hiking at the red rocks. it's been awesome to be in Gods beautiful creation and see what he has made for us! anyway, today comes with a story :)

we decided to go hiking from matthews/winters park up to the red rock amphitheater. it's about a 3 1/2 mile hike. but, it is also a 3 1/2 miles back to the car. so i tell the girl that i will hike with them to the amphitheater, but they will have to hike back on their own while i wait for them because there is no way that in my shape i am in a place that i can hike 7 miles. especially in this altitude. it was amazingly beautiful. we got to a place in the trail where it crossed the street, and the girls wanted to eat lunch so we stopped. they ate their turkey sandwiches while i went over to a gentleman in a car and asked him the best way to get tothe amphitheater. he told me that the easiest way would be to walk up the road about a mile. so, we decided to split here as we were all very tired. bekah gave me the bag with the food in it, and i decided to eat in the shade at the amphitheater. so, we parted. they went back to the car and i went to the amphitheater. about 500 feet from the theater i was like, "i hope they got the keys out of the bag." they hadn't. oops. i'm in a bit of a situation here. so, i prayed and asked God for wisdom. (it helps that i've been really close to Him lately:)) i decided i needed to find a ride back to the car because there was no way i was going to walk back there, and i was pretty sure when they got there and figured it out that they wouldn't want to walk all the way back up to the amphitheater again. so, i found some ladies that looked to be about my moms age and told them my dilemma. they told the rest of their party and they ended up taking me to the car. by now i'm dripping with sweat and have a really bad headache from all of heat and walking, and i'm out of water. but, i'm back in the car at least where it is air conditioned :) i'm in a bit of a panic mode as i'm concerned for bekah and beth. what if they were already here? what if they are on their way back to the theatre? what to do? what to do? well, i call michael and tell him my situation. i come to the conclusion that i will wait here and if i see anyone come out of the trail i will describe bekah and beth and see if they have seen them. so, i've decided to wait. i wasn't even finished telling michael what i had decided and i look over by the entrance to the trail, and who do you guess walks out looking really panicked? it's bekah and beth! yipee! i really am thankful that God watches over us. just saying :)

Sunday, June 6, 2010

a new day

i had an amazing weekend with my best friend Michael and my favorite kid in the whole world Maz.... and some great friends.

i've decided that i'm going to read "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. there's been some controversy over the book, but that's not why i'm reading it. i'm reading because i feel like God keeps tugging at my heart and pushing me to read it. today, i read another excerpt from it, and i will share it here.
the prayer especially hit home for me. i made bold the part that was huge for me....

Someone I Can Be Real With
If you merely pretend that you enjoy God or love Him, He knows.
You can’t fool Him; don’t even try. Instead, tell Him how you feel.
Tell Him that He isn’t the most important thing in this life to you,
and that you are sorry for that. Tell Him that you’ve been lukewarm,
that you’ve chosen _____________ over Him time and again.
Tell Him that you want Him to change you, that you long to genuinely enjoy Him.
Tell Him how you want to experience true satisfaction and pleasure and
joy in your relationship with Him. Tell Him you want to love Him more than
anything on this earth. Tell Him you want to experience the kingdom of heaven so much so that you’d willingly sell everything in order to get it.
Tell Him what you like about Him, what you appreciate, what brings you joy.

Jesus, I need to give myself up. I am not strong enough to love you and walk with You on my own.
I can’t do it, I need You. I need You deeply and desperately. I believe You are worth it, that You are better than anything else I could have in this life. I want You. And when I don’t, I want to want You. Be all in me. Take all of me. Have Your way with me.

Crazy Love by Frances Chan

Saturday, June 5, 2010

conversations of a strange man :)

today we were at a party. it was lots of fun... God is good! miracles all around us, but today we were celebrating our good friend maggie who is now cancer free!

my son had a few conversations with a friend of ours that i shall refer to as a strange man :) he shall remain nameless...

strange man: do you know your grammy stinks?
maz: hmmmm.
strange man: do you have any girlfriends?
maz: no. they are not nice to me.
strange man: are you nice to everyone?
maz: yes.
strange man: you shouldn't be nice to grammy. she stinks.
maz: layla is nice to me.
strange man: did you get to see grandpa this morning?
maz: yeah. he got me a balloon. it's cool.
strange man: if i come to your house i will pop your balloon.
maz: that man over there has an angry face on.
strange man: hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

strange man, if you happen to read this, i love ya! but don't pop my sons balloons :)