You Humble Me Lord

Well, I had to leave Georgia begging Phoenix and her mommy to come visit Colorado.  I desperately want to be a part of that little baby's life and it breaks my heart that I am going to miss so many precious moments; but Jesus has always found a way for Emily and I to be a part of each others' lives and I am confident he will do the same with her baby too.

Best Baby!

Cutie Face

I got home just in time for my first day of work with Matthew at Cherry Hills.  In preparation, Jesus had some work to do in my heart.  I have honestly been putting up a big fight and pouting way too much about my new job and especially my pay check.  I am taking a big step down in responsibility and, in my pre-Jesus-working-it-out-in-me perspective, professionalism and definitely pay.  And even though I knew nothing about that was going to change, I have been complaining my way through the last few weeks.  Sadly, as a result, I allowed my own pity party to get in the way of my excitement, preparation and commitment to my job and this awesome little boy I'm working with.
In true Jesus fashion, He kept knocking and speaking and finally sending my mom to take me out to lunch and talk me through it.  I realized that I needed a good humbling, knowing that God has me exactly where He wants me.  I want His glory and I also know that He is a good and loving God who provides exactly what I need.  I honestly have no idea where this will lead, but I do know that I need to give up my pride regarding my paycheck and trust that God knows much better that I do.

And after my first day today, I was reassured that while this might be a pretty big challenge, this little boy and this experience are going to be such a joy.  Plus, Jesus knows that I will have time to give to Jefff during His leap of faith, time to explore other things that I might be interested in doing, and He is always paving the way for us- including financially!  So I am praying that God would continue to work out my pride and allow me to be a part of his good plan for Matthew and me.

(if you haven't seen it yet, there are a few pictures of Wyoming on the "Country Roots and Cowboy Boots" post)

My Bestie's Baby!...etc

God is so good!!! I am in Buford, GA right now visiting my best friend, her husband and THEIR BABY! Phoenix Cash is about the best thing ever! Nixie was born almost three months premature and despite some pretty incredible hardships, she has proven to be a feisty fighter, and an indescribably beautiful baby girl. I have spent the last two months glued to their blog (phoenixcash.blogspot.com) and even those distant descriptions of their little family have brought me to tears numerous times in awe of this precious life. So you can imagine how I felt when I saw her in real life. She is perfect. There is no other way to describe her. Her situation may not be exactly perfect, but she is! And God has done a great work in giving her and her parents the strength to perservere and bring glory to Himself. It is an absolute joy for me to get to know her and to spend time with my bestie. If you think of it, please say a prayer for little Nixie. She has come a long way, but is still on oxygen, which makes things a whole lot more complicated for her parents. She also needs to continue gaining weight, and her parents could use prayer for rest (even in small increments) and strength from the Lord to continue to be strong and patient. They are a wonderful testament of faithfulness and trust, pray that they would continue to do that moment by moment.

Quick update on the last few days:
Jefff and my brothers made it to the top of the Grand Teton and home safely by Saturday afternoon. They had a great time and even got up close and personal with a bear.

My brother Alex stayed in town for a couple days after they got back and it was so much fun to spend time with him.

I had my first day of work on Monday. I will be working as an assistant to a boy with Cerebral Palsey at Cherry Hills Christian School. I attended school there from Kindergarten to Eighth grade so it was so fun to go back and see some of the same people who were my teachers. I think God is going to do great things this year with a huge change of pace and very different responsibilities. I feel completely inadequate for the job, but I am trusting that He has me in the right place. I will say that I am missing my Keller friends a lot. God blessed me with amazing coworkers last year, who turned into even better friends.

We are already enjoying seeing some good friends in Colorado and happily realizing that we don't have to fit it all into one conversation because we live close now. The conversations in Colorado can be continuous.

This is the last time I will apologize for not putting pictures on this blog. Most of the time I write from my iPad, which doesn't have all our pics on it. So I will do my best, but I won't promise anything.

And with that I'm off go bed. Goodnight.

Country Roots and Cowboy Boots

Jefff and I just spent the last week with the entire Reitsema family in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. There are 31 people in our family which makes for quite the loud, busy,sarcastic, warm extraveganza when we all get together. It turns out that we don't get to be all together very often so it is a great treat when it happens.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon to a giant, fabulous home at the base of Jackson Hole ski resort. This was where we were to spend the next 5 days. We spent our time hiking around Jenny Lake, riding the longest tram (gondola-ish thing) in the United States up to some pretty spectacular views of the Tetons (a hike up there again, of course), meandering around Teton Village etc. A couple of highlights included riding on a grey hound type bus with all 30 of us to the best spots in Yellowstone, playing with the two new babies in the family (they are the best!), playing cards late into the night, spitting cheese balls at my uncle's shaving cream covered face, and for me, our big family dinners each night. Each family (my grandma had 4 boys) was assigned one night to cook a nice meal while the rest of the families got to relax. This was a really special time for me to catch up with my aunts, uncles, cousins, their kids and my grandma. While I have been fortunate to come home to Colorado for at least every Christmas time since I left, I really haven't spent much time with my extended family in the last six years. It was a treasure to really engage in real conversation and spend time with my family.

This confirmed for me again, the value of family dinners. This is something that has always been stressed in my family and I honestly believe that it is so important in relating and connecting with one another. I got to know my family again after quite some time of missing most of their lives. I am excited to one day continue this tradition with Jefff and our children.

Jefff and I had to part ways this morning as I got in the car to drive back to Denver, and he, Alex and Nathan got in the car to start their next adventure in the Tetons. They set out this morning to hike into the mountains and starting at about 5:00 tomorrow morning, they will be climbing the Grand Teton. This entails about 12 pitches and 8 hours of climbing before they rappel down and hike out all in one day. People always ask me if I get nervous when Jefff does this sort of thing and while part of me gets a little worried, I know that not only are they three of the most outdoors competent people I know, we also have a great God that is looking after them the whole time. With that said, if you think of it, maybe you could say a prayer for their safety, success and a great time. I am sure I married the right guy-he is passionate about the outdoors and loves my family well.

Thats all for now, I am looking forward to the next two days with not much goin on!

Same Old Same Old

I did warn you that there would be a few gaps in this blog, but I will still apologize for the cliff hanger.  It's not that I haven't been thinking about blogging, it's just a mixture of being really busy and feeling like there's not a whole lot new to write about.  Yes, we moved into a new house, we are adjusting to the fact that this is home and not just a quick visit, etc. But what I would really love to write about is that again, we feel blessed beyond belief.  Since I have already shared that, I felt like it would be redundant to write it again.  But I realized as I was reading this morning, that God's goodness never gets old.  It is always new, exciting, fresh and overwhelmingly abundant.  So in the midst of unpacking, we are experiencing again God's blessings in our life.

A quick overview of the last 3 days: After arriving in Denver on Tuesday night, we had just a couple hours on Wednesday night to dump all of our stuff onto my parents' driveway before returning the van, and our unpacking whirlwind began.  I had a meeting with the team of people who I will be working with next year, Jefff and I had lunch with my brother Aaron, and we went to Denver Seminary to meet with his advisor.  Finally back at home, we had to first bring most of our stuff to my parents' basement and then sort through which boxes we would need at our new place.  By about 4:30 we were ready to head over with three car loads full of stuff.  Two days later, our things are put away, the place is organized and we have a home.

Blessing #1: My Family.  They greeted us with a very fun welcome- welcome signs, a barbecue with my brother, his girlfriend, my parents and my grandma, and then a softball game.  My mom dedicated her entire day to helping us get moved in on Wednesday, and I am so excited to have all of them just a quick drive away.  It has been 6 years since I lived in the same state as my family and while I have enjoyed every single minute in Washington and wouldn't trade it for a thing, my heart as ached to be close to them again.  I can't wait to see the ways God works in us together.

Blessing #2: We have such an incredible place to live.  Our family friends, the VanEssen's, have shared the guest house in their backyard with us.  This is no tiny little one room box, it is a perfectly designed, fully furnished home right off of their house.  This is about 10 times better than the little apartment we came from and there are even raspberry bushes right outside our door!

Blessing #3,4,5: Jefff enjoyed his first "Lunchable" on the way here, and I'm hopeful that these will become a staple in our kitchen;  I am reading the book, The Saving Life of Christ by Ian Thomas and God is teaching me all kinds of wonderful things about Himself.  If you have not read this book, you need to get yourself a copy!;  We visited Denver Seminary and I got to meet the people who God worked through to grant Jefff his scholarship as well as his advisor...They're all so awesome!  We left campus feeling so excited that we were going to be a part of that community.

Blessing #6: My grandma is the jam and she's turning NINETY!  That seems really old, but if you met her, you would never guess it.  In celebration, she is throwing herself a birthday party in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  The entire Reitsema family gets to spend the week fishing, hiking, swimming, shopping, and relaxing together.  So the car is packed (AGAIN!) and we are headed out the door (AGAIN!).  I am praying that God would be present this week in our family and that His love would be palpable.

I promised pictures, and I know from experience that these are way more fun to read when there are pictures so I will try to remedy that asap.  Thanks for reading. :)

Welcome to Colorful Colorado!

At 4:30 this morning we had to say goodbye to our little oasis in the mountains to drive our car back up onto its rickity trailer and head back onto the road home.  Today was spent watching the miles whiz by outside the car, while inside we were gripping our seats (or the steering wheel) in suspense as we listened to The Last Jehad on tape. If you have not read, or listened to, that story we would highly recommend it.  It's a thriller for sure and lucky for us, the tape was about 14 hours long so it took us all the way to the driveway of my parents' house.  After about 12 long hours in the car, we passed over the Colorado border and pulled into Alexander Lane.  Thanks to the ever-faithful creativity and thoughtfulness of my mom, we were greeted by 7 signs lining the dirt road saying, "Welcome...Back...To...Colorado...Jefff...and...Lindsay!" and then one big sign spanning the driveway reading "You Made It!" We had to drive the van through the sign, just like our very own ribbon cutting ceremony-great fun!  We were met with big hugs, a delicious meal, and then Jefff was whisked off to go play in a softball game with my brother Nathan.  True to form for the last month, there is no time to slow down!

We are exhausted and facing the daunting task of unloading our trusty van before it has to be returned at 10:30 tomorrow morning, so we are headed to bed.  We will try to write again tomorrow and include a few more pictures and highlights.  Sleep Tight.