journey to colorado

Kevin and I are currently 1/3 of the way on our journey across the nation to our home in Colorado. That means we drove 15 hours, towing my little Mazda-pig behind Kev’s truck in the blistering heat from DE to MI. Although I managed to finish my book, Stonehenge, before sunset, I tried to keep conversation with Kevin (to keep him awake, of course) and tried to block out the music and sermons he insisted on listening to. Not that I was TRYING to block out the sermons… they were some good ones… I mean, good messages and all… I just had to finish my book! Priorities! I had to finish before sunset, and I had to finish so I could give it back to my brother - it was his library book! So.

HOWEVER, I don’t want you to think I was ignoring my husband. Oh no - we discussed favorite moments at PBU, favorite profs, the very distinctive laughs of different profs, theological issues raised by the sermons I was trying to block out…

Some highlights of the trip:

-Kevin’s favorite moment was when his paper for senior seminar was praised by Dr Krewson and submitted as the representative paper of his class (with maybe the work of one other student).

-My favorite moment was when Dr Toews didn’t know what an “apiarist” was, and I was able to tell him very confidently (thanks to an episode of The Office)… he told me to go to the head of the class, “whatever that even means.” I am so proud of that moment. That Iinstructed Dr Toews.

-Favorite profs shall remain nameless (although it shouldn’t be hard to guess at mine….)

-Kevin is exceptional at imitating Victor Jacobs’ and Dr Schnittjer’s laughs. And it just about killed me.

-Theological issues dealt with the necessity of there being a literal Adam and which aspects of the Gospel are “essential” to teach to a new or non-believer.

-The sermons we listened to: three by Ravi Zacharias, and one by John Piper. You know what’s up.

And now, we lounge at my parents’ home in Michigan. I laid out by the lake today, got a bit of a sunburn on my nose, and read some of my book. Currently reading Our Search for Happiness by M. Russell Ballard. Somehow, I got roped into lifeguarding for a group of 8th graders from my old middle school on their annual year-end outing to our camp. Ah well. I’ll never say no to more sun. Or gas money.

Friday AM we leave for the next leg of our journey — from MI to IA.


June 3, 2011

After two days of relaxation in Michigan (read: two days of sunburning & reading), we head out tomorrow on another 12-14 hr drive to another lake house in Iowa! Pray for safety and alertness — we’re leaving in just over four hours. You read that right: we’re leaving at 4 AM. And Michigan hasn’t bought into the whole Dunkin Donuts craze yet. Apparently notall of America runs on Dunkin. Much to the sadness of all involved in early morning car rides, I’m sure.

Boy am I sunburnt.

June 9, 2011

Our journey from IA to CO was expedited (sort of) due to the Missouri River flooding: Kevin and I were planning on leaving Monday morning around 2, but left Sunday night at 10:30.

Some conclusions and observations:

-Nebraska is lame (smelly and buggy and boring).

-I cannot fall asleep to Ravi Zacharias, but I *can* fall asleep to John Piper. I think my ears perk up to an interesting accent.

-Kevin rubs his head in a rather distinct manner/pattern when he’s getting sleepy and trying to stay focused.

-I am surprisingly alert from 2:30 to 5 am.

-People are way nicer out west than on the east coast.

-As we crossed into Colorado, Kevin didn’t cease smiling (he set the GPS to calculate altitude…which continued to rise as we passed Denver).

-Good omens: Kevin saw a deer almost as soon as we crossed the border into CO, and I saw a rainbow.

-Mountains? Yes, we think so.

(I had taken pictures - a lot of ‘em - but… I make it a habit of deleting pics from my camera as soon as I put them on my laptop… and my computer crashed before I backed it up on the external hard drive… so… you’ll have to wait on that!) We arrived at 11:00 am and moved our stuff into our new and completely excellent apartment by 11:30. We live above a coffee shop with free wifi (yes yes yes), and across the street from Beau Jo’s Pizza. We’ve come to anticipate an almost daily visit to the local Walmart. Oy.

Recently, we:

-Bought a 32” TV (we basically had to: our landlords pay for cable!)

-Were blessed to meet Dave S. in Java Mountain Roasters (the coffee shop downstairs) who was reading his Bible… and proceeded to have an excellent discussion about school districts, his church, Denver Seminary, CCU and Billy Graham.

-Met Will, working at ModMood Vintage Furniture, a Mormon with whom we struck up a conversation about religion and life across the States. Very cool guy.

-Visited Denver Seminary and met Cheryl in the Registrar office. I want her to be my… aunt, or something.

-Are anticipating the arrival of our furniture and such on Monday!

-Have applied for work in Idaho Springs… I had an interview at Starbucks today that went really really well!

-Are reading through the letters of John together. Loving the focus on fellowship and togetherness that is brought about by mutual love of Christ and acceptance of the Gospel. We pray we are able to demonstrate that sense of unity to our new community out here in CO!