Summer Project....fresh snow in June!

Fresh Snow!

We started our summer project here in Crested Butte, Colorado last Saturday. The weather was warm and amazing all week and then yesterday it got cold. In the past 48 hours we've had wind, rain and a fresh dusting of snow on the beautiful peaks surrounding us here. Sunshine has broken thru at random times, so we've been able to hang outside still.

We are on the Rocky Mountain Lifelines summer project. Lifelines is the 'outdoor and experiential learning' ministry component of Campus Crusade for Christ. This project focuses on leadership and character development. We will be helping students to experience the Christian life and grow in the context of relationships where we help each other to understand the grace and truth of the Gospel more completely.

This past week all the newbies like ourselves were trained in the programatic ways of lifelines. We learned how to incorporate Biblical truths into educational outdoor experiences. It was sort of a crash course lead by our awesome coaching team.

As part of it all, I got to go on a one night backpacking trip and Stephanie got to do some rafting. One of the best things about this project is serving alongside our friends Adam and Tracy.

Yesterday, the students showed up. We have 16 students on this project.

Man I hate computers! It doesn't matter where we are, it seems like computer/technology problems follow me and harass me like a playground bully. Our internet situation here should be good to go, but for some reason it only works about half the time we need it to -and only on one of our computers! This has made checking our e-mail and updating this blog quite difficult! We'll do our best to keep you updated!

Flurricane?

At the end of last week, the weather said we were gonna get a “flurricane” –some kind of crazy snowy, windy destructo storm! Thankfully it wasn’t too windy, but we did get a ton of snow! I took a yard stick out in my lawn and measured at a few different points and my readings were between 16” and 22”! And we got more snow last night, and it’s snowing right now!

It took Stephanie and me two and a half hours yesterday to shovel the driveway so we could get the minivan out of the garage. Our truck was practically buried in snow, and the kids were using the roof of it as a platform for jumping into the drifts!

We had a skinny little alley way shoveled up near the street. Just enough for the van to eek thru, scraping the wall of snow on both sides. Then this guy with a snow plow came by and asked if we wanted him to knock our pile down on either side of the drive way, so we didn’t have the thread the needle so carefully! He pushed snow in two minutes that would have taken us an hour to shovel by hand! We thanked him, and two thoughts came to my mind: One was “I wonder if that guy is a Christian?” and the other was “Maybe that guy was from Nebraska!” All I know is that he was a real blessing! (in my experience Christians and Nebraskan’s tend to be nice like that.)

Last Friday on campus there was an “epic snowball fight” on the arts quad. There were around 1,000 people there! (and I missed it!) But after our weekly meeting we had a midnight snowball fight with at least 100 people!

I thought I needed to add a picture of our little Ruby Girl, because she hasn't got much face time on this blog yet! She usually hangs out inside during the snow storms.

Battle at Fort Betts!

February is kind of odd here in Ithaca. It's basically warming up, but it's still quite cold. The past couple of days have been absolutely beautiful though! The sun has been shining but there is snow on the ground. It makes for perfect snow bricks, snow balls and snow beatings!

Yesterday we went out and had a bunch of fun in the back yard. The boys were having a blast, Stephanie helped them build a little snow fort, and in the end I got to throw them down the hill! What a great day.

I've recently been learning how to edit videos using imovie. I put this footage together and posted a video to youtube.

check it out.

Snowshoeing

This Saturday the weather was really nice! Today, all the snow has been melted by the frigid rain, but this weekend we got to walk around in it with snowshoes. We got together with some of our friends from church and walked a 3 mile loop just south of town near our friends' house.

Titus actually hung out at the house with Stephanie. But the other guys had a great time, walking, running, and riding thru the snow in the sled I was pulling!

Of course, it wouldn't be a family fun day if someone didn't get injured :) Jack pulled a stick out of the snow and caught Joe in the face with it. He got two little stab wounds, but he's alright.