July 11, 2006

Before it gets too far away from me, I need to tell you all about our trip to Colorado!!!

It was nice...

But I suppose that doesn't really cover it very well, does it? We had quite a time, so perhaps you could make yourself a cup of tea...I'm enjoying a mug of Irish Breakfast Tea {which I actually bought in Ireland!!! (The tea, not the mug. The mug just happens to be a Coffee cup - Coffee with a capital C, as in Coffee Family Bluegrass Band- just thought you might be interested in that very random bit of information!!!)}...pull up a chair, sit back and enjoy ~

June in Colorado

We left the morning of May 31st just as John was turning 17. The trip was rather uneventful until we were about 15 miles east of the little town of Deer Trail, Colorado. Then we helplessly watched as we were engulfed by a foreboding darkness - much more than just clouds, the whole atmosphere around us was a stormy brew. Thunder crashed and lighting flashed and rain came pouring down. (Now I know that all sounds very dramatic - but it WAS very dramatic!!!!) Then the hail started pounding us. Being from Oklahoma, Tornado Alley that it is, it isn't as if we had never seen hail - and this hail was comparatively small, only about quarter-sized - but the quantity of it!!!! I have seen golf ball sized hail...I have held softball sized hail in my hand, but

I have never before seen a snow plow clearing the highway after a hail storm, nor have I seen it turn the land white as I did that day!!! Scott was praying that our windshield wouldn't break and looking for a place to pull over, but every overpass was already crowded with other cars seeking shelter, so we drove on through.

Suddenly we were on the other side of the tempest. How mighty is our God, who creates and controls what so many refer to as the fury of Mother Nature.

(Okay, okay, but you see what an impression it made...especially on our poor brand new little trailer!!!)

It's always nice to reach our beloved mountains and dear little Georgetown after driving through Kansas and eastern Colorado all day, but it was especially lovely to have Grandma and Grandpa Naylor waiting for us at the other end...with a delicious steak dinner in honor of John's birthday!!!

June 1st and Tera and I were headed for Berthoud so Tera could take a cello lesson from Hannah Alkire (www.acousticeidolon.com) while the rest of the family did fun stuff like rock climb, hike, work on the landscaping and such. The two of us were excited with our plan to meet up with our cousin after the lesson, for we haven't seen him since last year, and then only briefly.

 "Best laid plans..."

During the lesson, Tera mentioned to Hannah that she didn't like the way her A string sounded...and it all went to pieces (literally) from there, ending in us canceling our time with Delaney, borrowing a cello from Hannah just in case, and heading straight for downtown Denver to take Tera's cello (and parts of cello) to a repair shop that Hannah recommended.

I don't really like driving in big cities as a general rule, and maneuvering a 15 passenger extended van up and down and around one way streets in the heart of Denver when I'm not sure where I'm going, all the while dodging drivers doing very stupid things (notice I didn't say stupid drivers...they may not be stupid - just doing careless, reckless, mindless, brainless things right then) can be found on my list of

"Situations That Make Me Very Uncomfortable".

I even prayed that if it were at all possible, the man could fix the cello while we were there so that we wouldn't have to come back in the next day or two to pick it up. What was the likelihood of that, I ask you??? It was 4:30 when we finally arrived, and the shop closed at 5. We were grateful that we even made it while they were still open, and told each other so as we stood waiting for the man to finish with another customer and looking around the old house that holds a violin and cello maker's studio. There were cellos and violas and violins everywhere, and several certificates - some from different countries - awarded to Rock Eggen for outstanding workmanship. Finally our turn, and not only could that talented, efficient, knowledgeable, kind-hearted wonder of a man fix T's cello, but he was planning on staying late, and could have it ready to be picked up by 6 o'clock that night!!! Tell me there are no such thing as miracles, and thank you, Father, for those "little" mercies!!! Tera and I grabbed a bite to eat as we explored the Capital area of Denver (read - we went down and up one way streets until we finally found what we were looking for and then had the nerve-wracking ordeal of finding the cello maker's shop again!), picked up her troublesome instrument and made a bee line for home...all the while thanking the Lord that we didn't have to go back to Denver for a while. Whew!!!!!

Jeremy, Anna and Sarah took a hike up to Silver Dollar Lake, and realized just how much difference a month can make in the seasons up in the mountains, since we usually go to Colorado later in the summer, and there is a lot less snow!

June 3rd and 4th ~ our first scheduled concerts of the trip - both in Idaho Springs to benefit their food bank, Loaves and Fishes. We really enjoy working with these special people, and were so pleased that they set this up for us to do...and we learned that Sally N. makes the best strawberry cupcakes EVER!!! I should clarify that those of us who are eating sugar learned that...the others just learned that she makes the prettiest strawberry cupcakes around!!! Saturday's concert started out with the Good Shepherd Bible Church Children's Choir, and wow, was that a hard act to follow. They were all just so cute, and did an amazing job singing their songs, blessing everyone who had a chance to hear them....and they were just so cute!!!!

Then we were up...a bit nervous, I confess, and started out by breaking a string on the guitar in our very first song. Never has that happened to us before, and even though John was quick to change the string, the silly thing refused to stay tuned for the rest of the concert, and it was tough to get through! You would never guess it by the way I'm rattling on here, but I just couldn't think of things to say to fill in all the awkward tuning breaks. What a way to start off a very packed playing schedule! Yikes!!!

Sunday's concert went better, thank goodness, and we had a nice time visiting with friends and getting treated to Beau Jo's pizza afterward.

Monday...no, don't worry, I won't give all the details of every day we were there, but in the next week we went to Colorado Springs and had an amazingly wonderful time with dear friends down there. (We are trying to come up with a concise name for you all, cause it's just too hard to always say "the Watchlers, the Peterings, the Adsits, Renee and the Millers and everybody", whenever we talk about you, which is often, and "the Colorado Springs Group" doesn't cut it). We had such a nice time going to dinner at the Gilberts in Evergreen, and visiting with the Manleys and Wallaces in Georgetown. Before we knew it, it was Saturday and time for our next performance, a house concert at the Gilbert's. I'll just interject here that we have been so blessed in our opportunities to grow our friendship with this special family. Their sweet spirit and Christ's love that shines through them has been a huge blessing to us, and we thank God for allowing our paths to meet. That Saturday evening at their house was a fabulous time...we met so many nice families, visited with Uncle George and Aunt Julie Robinson and their great friends, had lots of food and played our music in one of the most incredible spots ever. I so wish I had taken a picture of the green valley and horses that made a magnificent forefront to the mountains that majestically rose behind them. The sunset made it particularly beautiful and we were able to take it all in as we played, and our dear audience had their backs' to it while they watched us!!! Poor things!!!

On Sunday, June 11th we celebrated John's graduation from high school by inviting a few of our Colorado friends to Georgetown. Our wonderful friends, Buff and Mary Lou Rutherford, generously offered the use of their pavilion for the evening, so after a few hours of volleyball in the park, we headed over for some great food and music. We were so blessed by everyone who was willing to travel, in some cases for 3-4+ hours, to come and share a day with us. It was amazing....and the talent gathered there was incredible!!!

The Jenks family came all the way from Grand Junction. Their music is such a blessing, and those smiles are sure to warm your heart!!!

We've known and loved the Coffee family for years now, and it was great to see them again. We missed their daughter/sister Grace, who is married now, but really enjoyed meeting Starr's mom, and were glad to hear a couple of songs from Jim, Starr and Mark.

Buff Rutherford recited a couple of cowboy poems that everyone enjoyed....he and his wife are soooooooo special!!! And the Watchler Brothers are not only dear friends of ours (as are their sister and parents!) but extremely talented musicians ....and kinda cute, too, don't you think!!!

The Gilberts also came, even though they didn't have much time to recover from their fantastic party the night before, and did their "Germs" song...have I mentioned cute!!!

Here's a shot of the Naylor boys that I like especially well...

And all because this guy is through with school!!! We really just used that as an excuse to try to see as many of our friends as our short time in Colorado would allow, and didn't have any sort of ceremony planned. But some of us, I won't mention any names, thought that it would be fun to put John on the spot and tease him for a speech. So, during our turn of playing music, I told John that everyone wanted to hear a few words from him!!! Oh, so mean of me!!! (Who, me???) What did John do, but splendidly rise to the occasion and mention how thankful he was to his parents for the sacrifices they had made for him, and for making the choice to homeschool him. He said some other great things, too, and not only completely surprised us, but almost made me cry!!! I am so proud of you, John. I think you are an upstanding, outstanding young man and I love you very much... and no, I don't care if the whole world knows it!!!!

We enjoyed having Matt and Jenny Bonnell stay the night with us and go to Fort Collins the next day for a concert at Mountain View Community Church Monday night. What a beautiful building! Thanks, Jenny for the pictures from that evening. Again, our music was a bit rough, and we broke a personal record by having to start 5 songs over again!!!! (What was up with that?!?!?!?) But the people were so nice and friendly and wonderful, and we were blessed by our time there. Thanks, Dusty and Ashley and Wladimir Navarro and everyone else involved in setting that up. We pray that your concert series is a blessing to all.

After the concert, we went to our friends, the Hartmans, house and had a nice visit with them, before getting back to GT in the wee hours of the mornin'. Good thing the next day was a day "off" and we had nothing planned!!! Wednesday we decided to get some yard work done before heading for Buena Vista, and silly me, I didn't put gloves on to weed in the flower bed. I mostly never do, but I'll think twice about going without up there. Oklahoma may have more than it's share of bugs and snakes and other problems but we DON'T have stinging nettle. And even though I've had run-in's with the ouchy weed before, that horrible plague of a plant was the furthest thing from my mind when I grabbed a mean-looking green with my whole hand and pulled. In less than a second it felt as if my whole hand was on fire, and indistinct welts formed from the tip of my thumb, across my palm and on most my fingers!!! The intense burning only lasted a couple of hours, but the thousand-needles-pricking-your-hand-as-if it-were-asleep feeling lasted the rest of the entire day and on into the evening. I hope it will be a long time before I forget about those nettles again!!!

Do you have a certain place where you can go and feel more comfortable, welcomed, refreshed and just plain glad than any other place? It's a good feeling, and one we feel whenever we are at "Uncle" George and "Aunt" Julie's wonderful home. Can't explain it, but it is there!!! And we are so thankful!!! We had a concert that night at Buena Vista Valley Fellowship and after setting up and then enjoying a spaghetti dinner the church organized, we were so happy to see our dear friends, the Wolkings (www.sonsandbrothersband.com) and the Wells (www.wellsfamilyband.com) come in the church. We did our concert - and do you know, my hand that was swollen enough from the nettles that I had a hard time playing my fiddle when we were setting up, didn't hurt or cause me any trouble the entire time we were playing!!! I do believe in answered prayer!!!!!! - and then, as an especially special treat, the Wolkings and Wells got up and finished off the evening with a song together. It was fabulous!!! Once again, we were blessed beyond measure by the encouraging and kind people there. Thank you all!!!

Early Thursday morning, John saw and was able to get video footage of a mama deer and twins!!!! Then Caleb and Jeremy did some rock climbing.

Anna even tried some climbing...and did pretty well, too!

Well, here's the rest of the story....

No, seriously, after the initial boost, she really did climb!!!

The weather kept us guessing the whole day about whether the concert would be held in the park or moved to a different location. Clouds blew in and out, and the breeze was a bit daunting at times. The decision was finally made and we went to set up in the park. Temperatures cooled and the wind got stronger and we could see that it was snowing up in the mountains not far away. People did start to turn up for the music, and were prepared with sweatshirts and blankets. It was so windy that I couldn't even

play my recorder, for the wind was blowing through different notes than I intended, and my fiddle bow wouldn't stay on the strings. We started out laughing, knowing that we just had to make the best of it, and the blessing behind all of that was that our focus was completely taken off of ourselves and we could relax and just let go. I looked up at the mountains and watched the snow/rain getting closer...I noticed the big strong trees swaying in the gusty winds, and now I have a confession to make...as we stood there playing away, I had a three second temper tantrum all inside of me. The culmination of hail, broken instruments and strings, traffic battles, losing a band member, wind...and stinging nettles all came to mind and I cried out (inside of me, you understand...the audience didn't hear a thing of this)...

"Lord, we are doing this for You. Why are You doing this to us?!?!"

It was over in an instant - suddenly I was filled with complete, unreserved, and undeserved peace...that sort that passes all understanding, and I felt that He showed me that even in the storms and the hurts and the trials and hard times in life, He is there with us, through it all. Just because things don't go the way we think they should, and even if we don't see the rewards that we would like, my God will never leave me or forsake me. He is faithful and good and loving. And often, out of those hard times we will grow closer to Him, learn more about Him, and love Him more. After all, isn't that what life is all about? So I thank Him for the wind and the hail and, yes, even the nettles, for through those trials, I have learned a valuable lesson. I just wish I wasn't so hard-headed!!! And wouldn't you know it, soon after my little outburst was over, the winds died down, it got warmer and life was GOOD!!!

We did our last concert on Saturday in Deer Trail, Colorado and once again enjoyed seeing some familiar faces and making new friends. Those Deer Trail people are pretty special. Pulled an all-nighter coming home, and drove up our own driveway around 6:30 Father's Day morning.

Ahhhhhh, home sweet home. Here's what was left of our veggies in the garden... but the weeds flourished while we were away!!!!

We were only home a couple of days before Sarah and Anna left for a trip to California to visit our dear brother Josh, our wonderful sister-in-law Erin, and the adorable Sophie. They also spent a week in Southern CA with our friends, the Dortignacs, and came home with fun-filled stories of surfing, playing with Sophie, elephant seals, beaches redwoods and roller coasters. I'll close this lengthy up-date with some pictures of their trip and something Sarah wrote about her time in the redwoods.

Until next time, may God hold you in the palm of His hand...

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