Christ is risen, He is risen indeed!

This is the first year I have ever attended the sunrise service - anywhere! And I loved it! Actually the sun was rising on my way in to church as I was listening to the live sunrise service of the Calvary church (Chuck Smith)...then I arrived at the Crystal Cathedral at 6:30 and snapped this shot of the cross on top of the tower...a little blurry, but I like it!

Then just inside the doors I snapped this shot of the front of the church all decked out in Easter lilies and other Easter flowers and the cross is hanging in mid air...
Later a few friends and I waited in line for the 9:15 service and were entertained by a praise band that performs at our contemporary service...
Here are my three friends - Jose, Danielle and Jose's brother Danny...
Here is the ticket I got to make sure that I would have a seat once inside...
Even though we are not supposed to take photos during the service, I could not resist - I don't normally sit in the balcony and just thought this was a cool perspective. Oh, and my mom and 'precious' Jim also joined us...
After the service, we decided to check out the band...and arrived just in time for a special prayer from my friend Kimmy who is the pastor of the contemporary service...
Then up to the 8th floor to partake of the deelicious food compliments of the members of my Sunday School class...not that I am biased, but I personally liked my dish the best...an egg casserole recipe donated to me by my good friend, Rebecca...mmmmmmm....
Later in the afternoon the family gathered at my mom's and - you guessed it - we played Hand and Foot! This is my mom, my daughter Amanda, her fiance Joel and my brother 'precious' Jim.
This truly was a glorious Easter...full of all my favorite things and people - and my Lord Jesus Christ.

The Rings!

After a dee-licious lunch at our favorite Cuban restaurant - Felix's - Amanda, Joel and I walked the short block to a small jewelry store Amanda has discovered. I felt honored to be included on this most important excursion!

What fun to watch as Amanda tried on ring after ring to see which one looked just right. True to form, being the quite unconventional young woman that she is - she chose a wedding band as her engagement ring and now has chosen an egagement ring as her wedding band...I love that about her!
If you look closely you can see it...from the 1920's it is delicate, understated and looks beautiful on her finger. Here Joel is proudly displaying his selection...I have to admit he has good taste (in rings as well as women!)...they both chose platinum...good choice!
What is that blank stare Joel??? Oh - I see, the sales lady is writing up the invoice...gulp! Oh well, you only get married once...and you will get to wear those rings for the rest of your lives.

We are almost at the end of our three weeks...

Most mornings began with praise and worship. Several talented people signed up for the worship team...here are Ellie, Ryan and Tim.















Here are Steve and Reed...





you can't see Matthew behind Steve, so I snapped this shot of Matthew while he was playing alone one day.
























This morning I woke up and it had not snowed! So I decided to take this shot so you could see what the early morning out my window looks like with almost no snow on the ground. In fact today turned out to be most beautiful and we had the windows open in the training room for most of it.



Can you guess what we are playing here? You guessed it - Hand and Foot! None of them knew the game so I got to teach them...yep I won...no I did not take advantage of them! And - they loved the game...hey, maybe I can entice them to play again this week!

Left to right you see Tara, Melanie and Victoria - we also went to sushi together last Friday - yum!

An Adventure!

Our big adventure started with a 7:30am phone call from my new friend Janet, asking if I was up for a hike with her husband Charles and our 'class mate' Matthew. Not having any plans for this first Saturday I said "sure" until I heard 15 miles round trip! Then I became even more concerned when I saw Matthew's back pack, filled with extra socks, waterproof trousers and other hiking gear. Oh my!

It was only after the group grew larger - encompassing two other women and 8 year old Logan - that I thought maybe I could do this!














Here we are just starting out (actually the ride up the hill in the mini van was its own adventure!) - here is Ellie, Charles, Autumn and Joe (Logan's dad)










Hiking up the trail - yup, lots of snow! But it was the ice that caused us the most trouble...Charles says he is proud of those of us that only had 'tennis shoes' on...I say "Thanks!" to Charles, without whom I would not have successfully completed this hike (which, by the way, turned out to be about 3 miles round trip)

















Here is our first glimpse at the view...spectacular!




Autumn and Ellie...


















Dan and Ryan - buds!








Rest stop where the group enjoys God's amazing creation!









This is Charles snapping a shot of the amazing view...














View of Pike's Peak. Two of our friends, Darryl and Erika are climbing there as we are doing our climb - BIG DIFFERENCE!







Bear climbing tree? Nope - just Dan trying to get a better view...oh my...on his way down he almost munched Joe and Logan!



























Logan is resting as he soaks in the view below...it turns out he and I have alot in common - we both have Strabismus (I think that's how it is spelled) which is basically - crossed eyes and we both had surgery to shorten the outer muscles and we both have a dominant left eye and a lazy right eye. We are both right handed and we both have a lousy sense of direction...now I am wondering if all of these things are related...hmmmm...











Dan and Joe help Logan up the last leg of the hike...








Logan made it to the top! And so did I - thanks to Dan who came back from the top and encouraged us to finish the hike.














On the way down, Logan wanted to walk across this log - he is certainly braver than I am!















Here we are heading down the trail...I was pretty worn out by this time! But it was a spectacular day with perfect weather...


























Here is Matthew - one of our leaders on the hike.













On the way back from the hike we visited this rock formation - not sure what it is called, but it was pretty cool.




















Charles could not resist the climb - I guess it's a guy thing...then of course Joe could not be outdone so he had to take it on as well! It was good entertainment for the rest of us.




















Charles and Logan on a ledge...














I woke up this morning to a snow storm! And it is raging outside my window even as I am writing this blog.

Megan (another missionary here) and I accompanied Janet, Charles and their daughter Grace to an Anglican church this morning - yes we braved the snow!