What we've been up to...

So...people keep telling us that we should update our blog, well here you have it.  We'll just stick with the big stuff that's been happening.

Living in Colorado provides the benefit of mountains, more specifically, hiking them.  We've made it our goal to hike as many "Fourteeners" as we can.  So this past summer we've marked two of those off of our list: Mt. Bierstadt and Quandary Peak.  It's amazing being on top of a mountain where you can see so much and see so far.  We can't wait for the next hiking season so we can check two or three more off of our list.

 

On top of Quandary Peak (14,265 ft)

We made some friends at the top!  There were 4 of them and they were not shy as I was standing about 12 feet away from them. 

It's amazing how far you can see from on top of a mountain. 

For the past couple of months I've been coaching U9 (7-8 year old) boys and girls for Colorado United Soccer Club.  My boys team has gone all season with only 1 loss and were tournament champions for the regional tournament on October 1-2.  My girls started off the season finding it difficult to get a win, or even a goal.  But for the regional tournament they turned it all around and won 3rd place.  Since then, my girls have not lost a game.  It's been so much fun coaching these kids.  I've also been playing soccer in an indoor league with a few friends, and that's been fun to be a part of too.

At the end of July, Carrie and I were on staff at a YFC camp for a week.  Carrie's role was to assist the director in whatever way she needed and my role was the camp photographer.  It was fun to break in my camera and take a lot of pictures all day.  It was fun to see Cassie up there too.  YFC puts on a good program at their high school camps and it was fun to be a part of. 


Seminary classes started at the end of August for me.  It was exciting to start and my classes are really good.  At first it was a little bit of a struggle to get a homework routine while working two jobs and stilling having time with Carrie, but we've figured it out.  There's so much reading it's not even funny.  But the professors are amazing and so knowledgeable.


We love having visitors!  Josh and Sara (and Jake and Bethany) came to visit us in September and we had so much fun.  We went to Dinosaur Ridge in the foothills of the Rockies to see some dino footprints.  I was also surprised by my friends Mike and Brea for my birthday!  It was good to see them again.  We're always open for more visitors and would like to see more of you!

Summer in Colorado

So, some of you are probably wondering what's been going on with us.  Well, let me tell you.

On Memorial Day, Carrie ran the Bolder Boulder.  It's a 10k race that is the second biggest in the nation (56,000 runners).  She ran with a great pace and did well enough to place in the top 3,000 over-all and 12th out of 499 runners in her age group.   

Aww...she's smiling and waving...but this is only after mile 1.  You probably wouldn't have gotten this look at mile 6, at least from me you wouldn't. 

 It was fun to go watch her run and just be a part of the big party that the Bolder Boulder is.  People who live on the streets that the course is on would hand out anything from beer to donuts to all the runners.  There was also live music around almost every corner and the course finished in Folsom Field (home to the University of Colorado Buffaloes football team).  It was an awesome environment.

We went to our first Rockies game!  There was a man in our church who was given a handful of tickets and so he was asking around if anyone wanted to go, so Carrie and I jumped on the opportunity and went, for free!  It was a nice night for a baseball game, the Rockies lost 2-1, but it was an exciting finish.

This was the view from our seats.  I thought it was a good place to catch a foul ball, but we didn't have any come our way. 

Last weekend Heidi came to visit us for a weekend.  It was a lot of fun that included a lot of activities.  Those girls just wanted to keep going and going and going.  I "had" to stay home and rest while the two of them went shopping.  We did a 20 mile bike ride on one of the trails, and also did a brief hike in the mountains.  It was a lot of fun to have Heidi here. 

I saw...this...a lot!

If anyone else wants to come visit, please do. There's so much stuff to do!  We love you all!

A Colorado Spring

We realized, after a few gentle reminders, that we haven't updated this in awhile! So here is a little run down on our lives lately:

As you read last, I (Carrie) got a job! But what we didn't write was that on the same day I got my job, Luke had what he thought was another interview to be a coach for Littleton United Soccer Club, but it turned out they were already planning on him coaching! So it was two huge blessings in one day! Later that same week Luke had an interview with a window cleaning company that employs quite a few Seminary students and got a job as a window cleaner! So God did some major work that week.

We've been realizing over and over how God has such a better plan that we ever had. We would have taken the first jobs we got (within reason), but God had something better planned. We just had to wait for His timing.

So we are now about a month into our jobs. I am liking mine a lot. I work for 6 great people who oversee one of Youth for Christ's national ministries. So I do a lot of planning, booking flights, making newsletters, editing curriculum, just to name a few things! I feel like I have just the right gifts for the job. I'm able to work on multiple tasks at the same time, get everything done in time, and keep organized. The people I work with are great, and it's way better than any other office job I could have had. I love thinking about what my work is going to do for kids around the country. The only downside of my job is that many times I find myself wishing I was on the other end of the job...the one working with the kids. I still have that burning passion to build relationships and love on people that need Christ. The good news is that I'm in just the right organization to get plugged in. I'm going to the next orientation to become a volunteer for the YFC Juvenile Justice program here in Denver. There are many capacities to volunteer in, but I'm hoping to become one of the mentors for youth who are re-entering society after getting out of a juvenile detention center. Building relationships like that really make me excited!

Luke is loving both of his jobs as well. Coaching is the highlight of his week. Right now he is working with the "Academy" program that Littleton United has. He works with a 9 year old girls team. They have a parent that does most of the coaching, but one night a week they get Luke as the "staff" coach and learn more about technique of the game. He loves working with them and they love him too! He also gets other opportunities to fill in as a coach and work with even younger teams. He's going to stick with this and is hoping to continue to get more hours and even move up to older kids someday. I think if this were his full time job it would be a dream come true.

He likes window cleaning too. It's almost 40 hours a week and he gets to be outside a lot, which is nice in the beautiful CO weather! (Until we get snow in April like today!) He's learned the technique and is getting real fast at cleaning the windows! The job guarantees a certain wage, but they get commission from each job, so he has the potential to make more the faster he works. I think what he likes the most is that it's such a nice change from an office job. He gets to be outside, work with his hands, and meet new people every day! And I have to say, he's gotten very good at cleaning the car windshield and bathroom mirror! One time he came home straight from a job and I got to see all his cleaning gear, ladder and everything! :)

So that is our work life. Other things are going well. We are still loving Trailhead and just recently joined a small group of 3 other couples. It's fun to get to know people more and build closer relationships.

The spring is beautiful here! It's so amazing to watch the world around you transform into something alive and beautiful. And they weren't kidding about the Colorado sunshine! We have had lots of days to enjoy the beautiful weather and are dreaming about hikes to take in the summer. Working 40 hrs a week is still taking some getting used to for me. I'm realizing how precious the weekends are and still trying to come to terms with not having a summer break.

We had a fun visit from my mom and Grandma Mickels last weekend. We got to go down to CO Springs to the Garden of the Gods and show them around town. It was a lot of fun! Don't forget, if you ever need to get away, we'd love to have you!

Well that's all I have for now. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

Love, Carrie and Luke

He is our Provider

Praise the Lord! I (Carrie) have a job! After 3 interviews and about two and half weeks of waiting in between, I have a job with Youth for Christ! My title is National Ministries Assistant starting March 14. So basically, there are many different ministries Youth for Christ has all over the country. Ministries like Campus Life, Juvenile Justice, Teen Parents, etc. There are 6 core leaders that each oversee a ministry. My job is to basically assist them with whatever they need. So it could be making travel arrangements for an event, editing a newsletter/curriculum, drafting letters...(I'm sure I could tell you more after I actually start).

It's not a Social Work job like I was looking for...but the longer I looked for Social Work employment, the more I realized it is so hard to get a job like that without experience. And, most of the places I would love to work for only employ a few full time staff. So I thought maybe I would have to get a different kind of job and serve others through volunteer work. So I started looking for really anything I was qualified for that would pay the bills. This job with Youth for Christ came up and I thought not only would it pay the bills, but I really would enjoy it! It's a ton of planning and organizing, which is definitely a talent I am blessed with, and I will know that there is work for the Kingdom being done because of my work with the organization. (Which is all way better than some other jobs I had applied for.)

Some other perks of this job....it is only about 5 miles from where we live (still probably a 15-20 min commute because of all the stop lights) but it's way closer than all the jobs I was looking at in Downtown Denver! Also it is a salary job, starting pay of 29,000/yr (plus benefits and all that) which is right where we needed to be. (And way better than most of the other jobs which were hourly!)

So all this to say, God DOES provide. He had it all planned out all along. Why do we ever worry and doubt?? We got our last paycheck from Zoar, and God put this job in place right when we needed it. I love seeing him work. Although living in a position of faith and utter reliance on God is harder, especially for people who like to be in control, it's so worth it. That might be the first time that I had to be 100% reliant on God's provision in my life. That's kind of sad, for how long I have been a believer. I hope to make it way more common in my life. I would like to become more comfortable with dependence on God and truly be able to trust him. I mean, we're called to live by faith, right? 

Anyways, that's the good news for today! Thank you SO much for all your prayers! Love you!

A Few Updates...Actually Just One...

Today, I (Luke) met with a professor of Denver Seminary to discuss and discern which counseling program--Counseling Licensure or Counseling Ministries--I would enroll in come fall semester.  The professor was very helpful and it was exactly what I needed to hear in order for me to have a clear understanding of which path I should take.  In a nutshell, the licensure program is programmed primarily to equip students for clinical settings and is largely a theoretical learning environment where as the ministries program is a good balance of counseling courses and theology courses and is a much more hands on and practical learning environment.  The ministries degree doesn't exactly limit my post-grad career choices like I thought it would, and it would be much more likely and acceptable for me to integrate and share my faith in my work.  The degree also allows a relational atmosphere which is something I am passionate about in my ministry.  I imagine some of you are reading this and it makes no sense to you.  Give me a call and I can explain it better!  But to sum it all up, Counseling Ministries is the program for me.  We've been praying for clarity about this so this is a huge answer to prayer.  I already know I'm accepted into the program so all that is left for me to do is enroll in my classes and start in the fall.  Thanks for all your prayers!

A month in...

We've been living in CO for a month now! Just thought we'd give you a little update on everything.

First of all, we still love it here. Everything is so beautiful, and it's so incredible seeing the mountains everyday. The weather has been good for the most part, it's snowed a few times. And there were a few days awhile back where the high was 7 degrees and the low was -17. Wow it was cold! They even canceled school because of the cold (which I guess is rare, even when there is tons of snow they don't cancel...). But, things are looking up, this weekend is supposed to get to 60!

We have been attending Trailhead church. We had heard so much about it before and were really excited about the way they "do" church, so we decided to try it out, and we love it! It feels so real and authentic, exactly the way church should be. We meet Sunday evenings at 5 most weekends, but there is about one week a month where instead of church we do a service project as a church. We actually got to do two this month. Yesterday we did some painting at Denver Rescue Mission, and last week we were able to be a part of a banquet that is put on for families with special needs children. There were over a thousand people there. There was tons of donated food from nice restaurants, games and activities for the kids, and lots of give-a-ways and prizes. Luke and I got to help at a table where kids could come build a project out of wood. The kids LOVED it! And we had so much fun working with them all night.

Another highlight was getting CO plates for our cars :) Now we really feel like we belong!

So, those are the exciting things going on. And now about jobs...we spend most of our days job searching...we've both had a few interviews, but nothing has worked out yet. We firmly believe that God will provide and that we just need to trust him, but it is difficult sometimes, especially for a planner like me. So we thank you for all of your prayers and encouragement and just ask that you keep praying! Pray that we don't get discouraged each day we get up to another long day of job search. The longer we go without work, the more we have to trust the Lord, but maybe that's what he wants, for us to be completely reliant on Him.

We love and miss you all!

A New Beginning

We thought a blog would be a good way to keep family and friends updated on our lives, so feel free to read all or nothing...whatever interests you.

A week ago on Tuesday was our big move. It was sub-freezing temperatures and there was snow and some ice on the ground, but we made it. Carrie's Dad was the lucky one who got to drive the moving truck. It maxed out at 68 mph I think, and was very loud and bumpy the whole 10 hours it took them to get here. But we made it and with some help from friends got unloaded within a couple hours.

We had some friends come look at the apartment before we rented it, so we had never seen it before. We were surprised at how nice it is! Luke is mostly excited about the real carpet and hardwood floors. The best part, though, is probably the view. We are on the third floor, and from our balcony, have an incredible view of the mountains! (As you can see in the picture below) We've made a video-tour of our apartment.  Check it out!  (This is take 4 because the I talked too much in the first three and made the video too long to upload.  That's why I really don't talk that much in this video.)

Thanks to Carrie's parents and Heidi who stayed with us for a couple nights, we got all unpacked and organized within a few days. And just so you know, we have a nice sized spare bedroom and would welcome any guests!

Some other things we love about Denver already: the weather (the snow melted quickly and the days have been in the 50's and sunny for the past week), the water (you can drink straight from the tap!), the convenience (our apartment is located in a perfect spot, within walking distance from a lot of things and real close to the freeway), the trails to run/bike on, and the mountains (we are constantly amazed at the beauty of God's creation).

Now that we are settled, we are reminded eveyday of what it means to live by faith. We have been job searching like crazy and have no leads so far. It's so easy to slip into worry and discouragement, but we try to focus on the blessings God has given us already and trust in His provision. Thank you for all of your prayers in this. We can't wait to tell you how God meets our needs.

Our new address: 8125 S Poplar Way Apt 304 Centennial, CO 80112