St. George Vacation 2007 - Day 1

We left Thursday morning, July 26th, at 5 a.m. The ETD was 4:00 a.m. MST, but I awoke at 3:30 a.m. and suddenly realized in a bit of a shock that I had forgotten to put the car top carrier on the van. So as quietly as possible, I was out in the driveway at 3:35 putting the carrier on top. That combined with loading the car put us about an hour late in leaving. But no worries! We had a safe and enjoyable trip the first leg. We arrived in Walsenburg for breakfast about 9:00 a.m. We enjoyed a Carl's, Jr. breakfast (similar to Hardees in the South) and then headed to the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. It's been a long time dream of mine to visit this place in the middle of the San Luis Valley nestled up against the Sangre de Christo Mountains. There are many sights in Colorado that I haven't seen yet even though they're in my home state. It is an incredible attraction, desert sand dunes in the middle of Colorado. Nobody is yet sure as to how exactly they were formed. We headed to the top (a 650 foot elevation gain about 2 miles from the base in deep, soft sand -- very difficult hiking!), with Ivy, Jami and Monk making it with me. Noel and Dennae felt like they should stay down at the half way point in case one of us fell backward and rolled all the way back down in need of help! Yeah right! Anyway, with the wind whipping, sand pelting our legs and lightning flashing all around us, we made it safely up and down. Noel put together a picnic lunch while the kids played in Medano Creek at the base of the dunes. Then on the way out of the park we stopped at Zapata Falls, a bitterly cold snow melt stream with some beautiful waterfalls. Noel and I have always loved waterfalls. We hope to pass that love on to our kids. They made the short hike and enjoyed the freezing wade through the stream up to the falls. Jami and Ivy are rock climbers so they got the closest. Got to do some bird watching on the short hike as well. We ended the first day at a Days Inn in Alamosa; the kids went swimming at a local water park. Taco Bell and Long John Silvers for dinner. What a blessing...kind of...well, not really at all. ;-)

Don't forget to look at the pictures at the bottom of the blog. Hope you are doing well.

For Christ's sake,

MJD,Sr.

Growing Older

This past couple of weeks have been very busy with getting older. Each passing day reminds us that we are getting older and that one day we will each meet the Lord face to face. It started off with our oldest daughter, Dennae, turning 16 years old. We had this pretty neat party planned for the occasion. Dennae invited 2 of her very close friends from church, Ashlee and Riley. I borrowed a Mustang GT convertible from a friend, drove them (along with Noel) down to South Denver for dinner at the Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant (fantastic!), then to the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver for some shopping a a Starbucks (relaxing), then to a movie to watch the new Harry Potter release (not my first choice but it ain't my birthday!). We had a great time celebrating the 16th year of our oldest daughter. Also, Grandpa Fisk, a member of our church, had his hip replaced even though he is 88 years old. I took Monk and Jami along with their cousin Jason to visit him in the hospital one afternoon. He is doing really well even though he is getting older. Also, I had to do the funeral of a father of one of our church family's members who drowned in a fishing accident. That was a difficult ministry but one that provided an opportunity for the gospel to be shared with many, many unsaved people. Again, sudden death reminds us that life on earth does not last forever, and we should be prepared now to meet the Lord. Last, on Friday we went down to Colorado Springs to see our nephew, his wife, and our niece (Paul, Connie and Keirsten) who were attending a conference with their church group. We got to go out to Carino's, a great Italian restaurant (famous for their Italian nachos!). The kids had a great time seeing their cousins, and we did too.

This next week, we head out for a vacation to St. George, Utah. We hope to see the Grand Canyon among many others beautiful sights in that part of the country. I'll update the blog when I get back. Hope you have a great week as well.

Don't forget to look at the pictures at the bottom of the blog.

For Christ's sake,

MJD,Sr.

Family, Fireworks and Fame

This week my sister and her husband, Mark and Jenn Frederick, came for a visit for one and a half weeks. It is great to see them again along with my nephews, Sam and Joe. They brought their friend, Christie(sp?) along to help out with Sam and Joe. We've been getting together for family meals whenever we can, taking turns at Mom and Dad's, Matt and Simone's and ours. It was Jami's week for a Dad-date, and she chose to go out for buffalo wings; I didn't object. That's one of my favorite meals. Of course, this week also included the 4th of July and a great time with the NRBC church family. We had a barbecue at Waneka Lake Park. People went out on the paddle boats, some fished, played catch with the football, etc. It was the coolest day of the week (only in the low 90s) so that was nice, relatively speaking. On Thursday night, Michael had another baseball game. He played catcher and loved it. He had 2 at bats and 2 home runs! He's quite the power hitter. On Saturday the 7th we went to Olivia's birthday party, celebrated according to Korean tradition. That was very fun as well. Last but not least, we enjoyed a visit from Brian and Kayla Dare. Brian just graduated from seminary, and they are thinking about moving this direction and helping with the church plant.

All in all, a good week. Lot's of counseling opportunities, Bible studies with new believers included. Please pray for our church family as well as our own. We have much to learn for Christ's sake.

Hope you had a great week as well. Don't forget to look at the pictures at the bottom of the blog.

MJD,Sr.