As of lately, we have had some minor changes.

I am no longer going to be working where I live. I start Monday at a new location. It is much bigger than where I am now and it is beginning a renovation. My supervisors tell me that I will be a good fit because my strengths will help with some of their weaknesses. It will be a big change of pace. I'm glad to have the opportunity where I can prove myself.

Also, last week Ruth and I sponsored a child in Costa Rica. His name is Magdiel and he is 2-years old. His family has a seasonal income of $52 dollars a month. The organization we are working with is through our church and all our money goes directly to his needs (food, shelter, education, healthcare, etc.) We will be sponsoring him until he is 16 and has an education or skilled labor training. Until he is old enough to write himself, his mother will be writing us back and forth. We are really excited to have Magdiel in our lives.

Otherwise, not much else is happening. Ruth is finishing her schoolwork for the semester of grad school. She is interested in some book suggestions for her to read this summer. I have been re-reading The Lord of the Rings and another book called Comfortable with Uncertainty written by a Buddhist nun named Pema Chodron. We took the dogs to the vet today and they are both in excellent health. All the vets and techs said that Madge was the sweetest dog they have ever seen. I will probably spend most of the rest of the day at the dog park. The weather here is gray, damp, and cold. It reminds me of an Indiana winter.

Josh is going to come down tonight when he gets off work. The property where he works is also going under renovation and he is bringing me 2 large potted plants. I'm really excited.

Also, so far our guest-schedule consists of Fred, Kathy, and Papa (Kathy's dad) coming down at the end of April. Des (friend from Tuesday night club, Folk Tales [see previous post]) coming the first or second week of May. Katie and Matt (and more?) are coming early July. Kimbles are coming the end of July/August. Ruth will be gone the 2nd half of June to go back to Malawi so if you want to come visit you better plan in advance.*

*all dates subject to change. :)

Spring in coming in CSC

The days are getting warmer and longer. We are spending more and more time outside. Although we have had a couple snow storms in the past few weeks, the snow will be missed. This was the last weekend for skiing. While Fred was here we went skiing with him and Josh. We had a really good time. It was Fred and Josh's first time but they got the hang of it. Ruth and I also started getting more and more brave on the slopes. As perfect the weather could be, the sun was a bit warm and towards the end of the day the slopes were less like fresh powder and more ice. It proved to be hard to turn and very fast. Here is a picture of the four of us on the top of the continental divide.

The sun was so warm that we had hats off and jackets open most of the time. The only problem was that the UV rays were so strong both mine and Ruth's lips got burnt and we both had sunburn all the way around our goggles. It proved to be pretty funny for a week or so. We also took Freddy to the zoo and Pike's Peak and the other main attractions.

Since Freddy left, Ruth and I have been working and planning for our next visitors. I still love my job, especially living where I work. I am extremely happy working for this company. Ruth has been enjoying her job working with the special needs kids too. She has made some friends at work who invited us to an Easter Potluck. There were about 12-14 other couples there. Most had similar stories to us; they had moved to CSC for work and their families were out of state. We had a good time. Ruth has been invited to participate in an after-school yoga class a couple times a week taught by one of the teachers. We also went to karaoke one night with some people I work with.

Some sad news.. Ruth killed our 'Love Fern.' We've had it for about 6 years and it was a bit droopy so she drowned it. I haven't lost faith, but it looks real bad. Also, Oscar fell in love with a pillow the Cassidy and Annalee made us for Christmas. He would lay on it all the time and carry it around the house with him.. then one day we found it like this.

It's still around but we have to occasionally re-stuff it.

I've collected a few tumbleweeds to fulfill a promise I made to Ruth's sister, Jennifer. Unfortunately, I thought them to be sub-par so I set them free. We had a ceremony where I threw them off our balcony to tumble their way across Colorado, or get stuck in a bush or smashed.

Ruth and I have also reinstated our love for avocados. I've been having one a day for lunch, along with a bean burrito or last-night's leftovers. I'm also saving the pits to grow little avocado trees. I'll keep you all posted on the successes our my labors.

Also, we've shaved Oscar. A bit too close; I'm afraid he may get sunburnt. And Madge is being Madge..

Lunch Break

Well, the perks of living where you work are in full effect. I am currently home for lunch. I don't have to pack a lunch and if I ever need anything I walk upstairs to get it. I'm learning my way around the new office pretty well. There's a lot that's new but I think I'm adjusting pretty well.

Ruth and I finally bought a new mattress so we now have a guest bed. We haven't had any complaints about the couch yet but we're planning on having more family come and visit, and those old people don't like the couch. Ruth's brother Fred is flying in this Wednesday. We have an eventful week planned out including St. Patricks day at Trinity, Skiing Saturday, and even rock-climbing sometime. Of course we'll do the usual trip up Pike's Peak.

The kids need to go out before I go back to work. If you want to come stay, give us a call.

Eventful Weekend

Ruth and I had a great weekend. Thursday evening we drove to Denver to stay at Josh's apartment. We dropped off the kids and Friday morning Josh took us to the airport where we departed for Mobile, AL. It was an early morning but we were picked up by Sean and a fellow groomsman and took a 45-minute ferry across Mobile Bay. Ruth and I joked that we had ridden in a car, airplane, train, and ferry all in one day. It was well worth the trip because later that evening we took a stroll along the beach, dancing with the waves. It was great to see a lot of extended family and especially great to meet Sean's wife, Eleana. We had a great time partying with the wedding party even though we had just met all of them. The wedding was at sunset on the beach behind the house and it was beautiful. It wasn't the warmest of Alabama days, but the sun was plenty hot to give me a pretty harsh sunburn on the back of my neck, arms, and even tops of my feet.

The weekend was ending nicely and we were checking into the Mobile Regional Airport after saying goodbye only to find out that someone had misread our flight time. After we exhausted all efforts, we had to come to terms with the fact that no flights leave Alabama after 6pm and absolutely nothing was headed towards Denver. So we contacted our employers and informed them that we were on the first flight leaving in the morning (which happened to mean we were getting up at 3:30 am). In the end it all worked out really well.

Ruth had her first partial day at her new job. She has an interesting time ahead of her. She has students with a variety of special needs she with whom she will be working. I also found out last week that I will be the new assistant community director at the property where we live. Today on our way in from Denver I found out that I start at my new job today. I have to learn a lot in a short period because the current assistant director is moving to North Carolina at the end of the month. I'm really excited about the new promotion. I will miss The Retreat and the people there, but I won't be complaining about the commute.

To top off an eventful weekend, we were picked up at the airport by Janelle and Stephanie. They just arrived the other day to kick off their Spring Break from their graduate programs in Indiana. They have been staying in Denver with Josh the past few nights, but tomorrow they are coming to the Springs to spend the evening and we are going to my favourite CSC restaurant Trinity Brewing Company. Hopefully Ruth will let me buy a growler of my favourite brew Soul Horkey.

In the next few weeks Ruth's brother Fred is coming out for a ski trip. So far it is Ruth, Fred, Josh, and me but more are welcome to come! We are just hoping we don't see this on the way there.

Bored? Check out this guy,

No excuses

It's been a long time since the last update, and like the title suggests, I have no excuse for not updating.

Last time I wrote I was about to embark on a trip to Seattle. Well, I went and am back again. I had a great time. I learned a lot about the company I work for and I was reaffirmed in my decision to join such an awesome team. I even had the opportunity to meet Mr. Weidner, the president and founder of the company. He was extremely nice and caring; not what you would expect from a CEO. I spent my days in class and my evenings hanging out with another employee from the Canadian region of our company. We had a lot of fun and frequented the local breweries and brew houses in the evenings.

After I came home a lot of our corporate team followed me. We had our annual Weidner awards for the Colorado region and again I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Weidner and also the VP of Operations. It was a great recognition ceremony and I met a lot of other people in the region.

Ruth had been looking online for new jobs because she does not feel satisfied with her current job at La Petite Academy. She feels more like a babysitter and that she hasn't been able to use her degree. She interviewed and was offered a position as a teacher's assistant in the largest district in Colorado Springs. She accepted and she starts March 8th when we return from AL from my brother Sean's wedding. She will be working with special needs children in her new position.

The past weekend we took our first ski trip. We went to Monarch Mountain and spent the day Saturday skiing. We started by taking a lesson to learn the basics. Unfortunately, the rest of our class was in 6th grade and the instructor spent more time latching boots and helping put skis on than instructing. Nonetheless, after an hour we learned the basics and we were off. Ruth had been skiing once before in Indiana, but it was my first time. We each had a few embarrassing spills, but we eventually conquered the bunny hill and were on to bigger and faster slopes. Ruth picked up the S turns relatively quickly. I didn't do so well. I would go really fast, try to do an S, and roll. I picked it up eventually, but by that point my sunglasses has icicles and my cheeks were as rosy as St. Nick. After our hardships there's only one word to describe skiing for us, addictive. We have already looked into goggles, masks, and mittens (with slots for the hand-warmers for Ruth). Ruth's trying to book a ski trip with all the friends and family that are coming out to visit. She's looked into getting a season lift pass for next year. We aren't going to buy the skis and boots until a later date when we have a bit more cash and we know that this is a sport that we can frequent.

Other than that, we've found a church that we're really happy with and this coming Sunday we're going to see what we need to do to become parishioners. We've been going to the same one for a while now and we're really starting to bond with it. We've noticed that CO has a much higher rate of Hispanics than IN and it reflects in the church bulletin (which is half in Espanol).

We're really looking forward to our trip to AL. Sean is getting married on the beach at sunset. I have my suit and everything all fitted and pressed, waiting for the big day. We couldn't be happier for him and Eleana. Unfortunately, we procrastinated on getting the gift we wanted and someone else got it off their registry already.

After the wedding we have two friends from BSU coming to visit for their spring break. We're super excited. We're calling the week they'll be here March Madness. Ruth and I both have to work, but we'll still find plenty of opportunities to have fun that week.

Here are photo albums from our ski trip, Lorin's visit, and Seattle.