Birthday Boy

Yesterday we celebrated Greg's 29th birthday. 29.... can you believe it? One more year and he'll be 30. Wow! Time sure flies.... Anyhow, he had a nice quiet/calm birthday; just how he wanted it. After work, Jen took him downtown to a restaurant called the Metropolitain (yes, that is spelled correctly), and after that, we headed over to Mom and Dad Kelly's house for cake and presents. Mom made Greg's special request - chocolate chip cheesecake. YUM! He got spoiled with lots of presents, and after all the fun, the "kids" played Twister. We could have stayed up all night laughing our heads off and playing that silly game, but we had busy days today and needed to get to bed at a decent hour. This week (and last week) has been SO busy and SO tiring that we're looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and doing nothing all day. ;) (Especially since we'll be up half the night watching the Olympics - we love the Olympics!)

Biking Rampart Range Reservoir

What a great day for a bike ride it was today! The weather was perfect - since we were up in the mountains and biking around a lake in and out of the trees, it was relatively nice and cool. However, we didn't make it all the way around the reservoir. We only made it 9+ miles out of the 15 and we sure worked VERY hard to accomplish those 9+ miles. We were so hot, tired, dirty, sore and worn out by the time we got back to the car that we decided to forego our picnic and head straight to the McDonalds in Woodland Park. We're pretty sure we're gonna sleep like a rock tonight.... and pop the Motrin tomorrow like crazy. ;)

CFA Results

(By Greg)

As some of you know, today was D-Day @ 9:00 AM EST! I attempted to log-in from home, but there was so much traffic that the site would not pull up! After reloading the page about 15 times, I gave up, and came to work! Once I got to work, the link opened with no problem. The results:

PASS

I did not get less than 51% in any category. Also, the overall PASS RATE was 35%!

The next step, Level 2, next June! I now have a good 10+ months to study for the next Level!

If there's one thing I learned in the 4+ long months of studying and the 2 months of waiting for the results, I can do anything if I put my mind/heart/soul in it!

Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!"

The One-Minute Miracle

(By Jen)

(I was reading through my monthly subscription of “O Magazine” when I came across this article. We all, myself included, could learn a little something from this. )

A young Army officer who had a history of anger-related problems was ordered to attend a mindfulness training class to reduce his level of stress. One day, after attending the class for some weeks, he stopped for groceries on his way home. He was in a hurry and a bit irritated, as usual, and the checkout lines were long.

The woman in front of him had only one item but wasn’t in the express line. She was carrying a baby and talking to the cashier. He became more irritated. Then she passed the baby to the cashier, who spent a moment cooing over the child. He could feel his anger rising. But because he’d been practicing mindfulness, he became aware of the heat and tightness in his body. He breathed and relaxed. When he looked up again, he saw the child smiling. As he reached the cashier, he said, “That was a cute little boy.”

“Oh, did you like him? That’s my baby,” she said. “His father was in the military, but he was killed last winter. Now I have to work full-time. My mom tries to bring my boy in once or twice a day so I can see him”

One of the most stunning revelations of modern psychology is how wrong our perception can be. We can be deluded about love, our bodies, our finances, and we can be quick to judge others; we miss their beauty and overlook their suffering. But when you free yourself from delusion, you see with wisdom.

Try this practice: On a day that you’re in a fine mood, set the intention to look for the inner nobility and dignity of three people. Notice how this affects your interaction with them, as well as your own heart. Choose five more days when you’re in a good mood to do this practice with as many people as you can. After that, add more days and include strangers and difficult people, until your heart learns to silently appreciate and bless all whom you meet.

What we’ve been up to the past few weeks

Whew! We get home from vacation and go, go, go! The fun never stops! The past couple of weeks have been quite eventful for us…..

July 4th weekend was SO much fun as we spent it with a few different couples - barbequing, playing games (ladder golf and guitar hero) and watching fireworks put on by the Sky Sox Stadium from the patio. (We were so glad that everyone felt the same way we did about getting out in all the fireworks traffic. No thank you – people are crazy to get out in that!) We also spent some time in our backyard trying to get ready for the next step in landscaping (which still might be awhile). Talk about getting a good suntan though!

Last week Jen started up with clinicals again. She’s having a blast and really loving all the “invasive” work, but she’s also ready to quit working for free and start making the big bucks again! We also had a softball game on Monday night and Greg got to be the coach! We trounced the other team 16 to 1 and after that awesome victory we went out to dinner with friends. Mid-week we had a “Frontliners” meeting at Starbucks, Greg finally got the trim up above our cabinets (and it looks great!), and we did some more yard prep in the backyard. Over the weekend we went to Kids Camp up in Woodland Park to be administrators/counselors. It was a blast as usual. The camp started out on Thursday morning with a trip to Mr. Biggs (which we did go-karts, bumper hockey – which is like one-man bumper cars, battletech – which is a simulator pod with robots that battle, bowling, and etc. Jen even rocked out on Drum Mania and did awesome – she can’t play guitar hero worth a flip yet, but can play the drums like nobody’s business!) and then we met our final destination in Woodland Park. THE BEST part of camp this year was the slip and slide! They added it to the camp activities this year and it was quite a big hit with both the kids AND the counselors…… until Jen sliced her foot open. So that’s three years in a row now that someone has gotten hurt. (2006 Brian almost ripped his thumb off, 2007 Greg cut into his thumb with a knife, and 2008 Jen sliced her foot open on the slip and slide…. man, we play rough!) But anyhow, we all came home exhausted and sunburned but excited for next year’s camp. Last week, Jen also successfully made homemade sourdough bread from scratch. (No bread machine) YUM! Her Gran has made it for her practically every summer that she has gone down (since it’s one of her favorites), and this time, Gran sent her home with some starter and told her how she can make it herself throughout the year! It makes her mouth water just to even think about it! Actually, Greg loves it too…. who wouldn’t? (Jen’s getting more awesome in the kitchen since she has more free time on her hands lately!)

This week we went to our annual church picnic out at Black Forest Regional Park (we had fun getting out and enjoying the nice weather and getting to know new friends better), we had another softball game, Jen had more clinicals and hung out with the Radiologists, we worked some more on the backyard, we did a little bit of interior decorating and spruced up the house a bit, we went out and played tennis and took quite a few walks at night, and today (and tomorrow too) we’ve been preparing for a party at our house tomorrow night. Maybe next week and weekend will be slow for us. We’re plumb tuckered out! We also had a “lion” scare this week. The KOAA news people had put on their website that one of the African Lions had escaped from the Cat Sanctuary out in Calhan, not too many miles from Mom and Dad Kelly by the way. So, they warned people to stay inside and to keep their pets inside (Casey and Kobe were NOT too happy about that…..) and to be on the lookout for the lion’s whereabouts because the animal search and rescue people would come by and shoot it with a tranquilizer gun and take it back home. Anyway, after a long day of fretting and worrying and checking the news for updates, the website stated “never mind, we were given false information.” Apparently the Cat Sanctuary had counted all of their cats 4 times and they were all accounted for, and some people in Calhan had reported their Great Pyrenees dog was missing….. so it was a DOG that was on the loose, not a LION after all. What!!?? Only in Colorado….. LOL.

Next week is the El Paso County Fair! Mom and Jen and Brian have a tradition of picking a day and heading out in the late afternoon and spending a few hours there, but we think this year we’ll make it a big ol’ family event. We’ll see what everyone’s schedule’s are like though. We're also planning to go to a Sky Sox game on Friday, and we also have friends coming in from Albuquerque, so it will be fun to spend some time and hang out with them.

Fun, fun, fun! We don’t want summer to end!

The trim all put up. Looks good, doesn't it?

Jen mastering "drum mania" at Mr. Biggs and Greg contributing to the kids' lesson

Becca, Trisha, and Jen going down the slip and slide.

Woo hoo!! Nice action shot. =)

Brian, Mom Kelly, and Jen - supervising the "Archery" session

Jen and her "little" brother.

Doesn't look like they're supervising the kids, now does it?

Brian and Becca. (Jen's favorite picture)

Greg and Jen - at the park by the lake.

Mom Kelly, Jen, Auntie Cheryl..... taking a break from the kids. Ahhhh......

Thank you!

What a blessing all of you who read this are! The visits to our blog have been sky high since we posted about our accident, and we have received an overwhelming amount of emails, Facebook wall posts and messages, and phone calls to check up on us and to say how we’ve been prayed for and that they are glad that we are OK. Thank you to those who have stayed abreast of our news and prayed us all the way home. Thank you to those who continually pray for us and will continue to pray for us as we work on getting the car fixed and looking back to normal (Until then, if you see us driving around with it ½ done, don’t make fun of us! That thing gets 30+ mpg!). It’s such a blessing to us to know that we have so many friends and family members who care about the little things and all of the BIG things in our lives. Maybe we’re a little biased, but we think we have the best friends and family ever!

Mostly though, thank you to God, who spared our lives and allowed us to be taken care of in a way unimaginable (and to make new friends out of the deal as well!). Thank you for making a horrible situation turn out to not be so bad. Thank you for your constant provision and for always watching over us, even down to the smallest detail. (Luke 12:24b – God takes care of/ worries about the birds, but takes care of/ worries about us MORE because we are much MORE valuable to Him than they are.)

Although we have a lot more debt now than we would like, God is good. Life is good. Money isn’t everything.

(We've posted all the pics of our Arkansas and Branson vacation in our "Flickr" Photo Album. Just click on any of the pictures in the Flickr box, click on “gfulkerson35’s photostream” to the right, click on “album 2,” and then start clicking on the pics for a bigger view!)

Ouch! (Branson)

So the stats say that most car accidents occur within (give or take a few) a mile from the driver’s home. But what about the driver’s hotel room? We would consider that a “home” when you’re away from home…. and guess what? We were about a mile or so from our hotel when we had OUR accident. Yep, an accident while on vacation. Bummer.

It happened on the 28th. We left Arkansas real early in the morning, and headed out to Branson so we’d have pretty much all day there. All the way there it rained. Horrible torrential downpours. We were bummed at the likelihood of having to see Branson from our car since it was raining so bad. But after driving around for awhile, having lunch at Steak n’ Shake (our first time, which was fabulous!) and being soaked to the bone from our run from the car to the restaurant, the weather started shaping up. (It was raining SOOO hard that we literally missed our turn. However, had we turned, we would have missed the Steak n' Shake 100 yards past the turn). So, we went to our hotel, checked in, and set out to see the rest of the sights. That’s when the “fun” began…. We were heading down the green route towards the old historic Branson, when we got to one of the steepest hills we’ve ever seen on a street. The events after this are a little foggy for the both of us, but what we do remember is skidding and sliding (no skid marks though) straight downhill for about 35-40 feet and ramming into the back of the people in front of us. We thought we were dreaming….. 12+ hours from home, strangers to a new city, and a wrecked car. We hit an SUV (tall rear-bumper) and crinkled our hood and busted the radiator. Their rear-bumper cleared our front bumper by about an inch. Had their bumper hit ours, the airbags would have deployed (much more $$). Also, we hit them straight on and the driver-side headlamp was destroyed, but the passenger side was left completely intact and untouched. Well, once we established that everyone was OK, we pulled into a nearby parking lot and started exchanging information (in the meantime, there was an accident just prior to ours and one just after ours on the same hill. Not to mention the 12-15 other cars we noticed slipping and spinning their tires trying to get up the hill while we were standing in the parking lot). This was just about the time that God stepped in and started helping us in a way unimaginable. Our car was obviously not drivable with a busted radiator, so our first line of action was to call a tow truck and find a rental car. We had no way of getting to a rental car place (except walking, of course), so the people we hit (we will call them the “R’s” since he is a Doctor and might not want his personal information spread all over the place) graciously offered us a ride to the rental car place up the road a mile or so. We got to the rental car place 3 hours after they closed, and they weren’t open on Sunday’s. So we went to a nearby gas station and called every other rental car place in Branson and got the same response. The only other option was the car rental places at the airport in Springfield….. 30+ miles away. We had a sick feeling in the pits of our stomachs about how much that taxi would cost, but there was really nothing we could do about that. But once again, the R’s so graciously said that they would take us to the airport to pick up a rental car. WOW! We hit them and they do all they can to help us, what’s up with that? =) Long story short, they took exceptional care of us and made sure that all of our ducks were in a row before they left us alone. They even offered their house (and lake house) for us to stay in so we wouldn’t have to pay more for a hotel since we could already see our vacation was costing more than we anticipated. ;) Again, WOW! We were also instructed to call if we needed any help and to let them know when we made it home safe. (Through the process of getting to know them, we found out they were Christians! We don't know how we would have done it if it wasn't for their help.) Even the owners of the hotel we stayed at were kind enough to drop the rates for us because of this ordeal (they were Christians too!), and the guy at the car repair shop charged us only for 3 hours of labor instead of 4….. blessings are flying all over the place here! We truly were blessed all around in this situation (mostly with not being seriously hurt) and even made some new friends out of the deal! Who would have ever thought……

So for those of you who were left out of the loop, that was how our vacation ended. (We’ve spared you a LOT of the little details) It’s been a really long couple of days (mentally and physically), but we’re home safe now. We’re not sure if Branson Missouri is a place for us. ;)

Front view. Ouch!

Bummer..... The R's car. They were luckier than we were!
Historic Downtown Branson. Fun little place to walk around!
Branson Landing.
Here we are! Branson Landing.
Water and fire show at Branson Landing.
The fountains at Branson Landing.
Going to the famous "Lambert's" for lunch! It was AMAZING!
Greg and his DP..... and his big ol' southern lunch in a frying pan. =)
THE Bass Pro Shop in Springfield. It was awesome!
The Car all "fixed" and ready to come home.
Going home at last. Whew!

P.S. We finally posted pics from Tunica, the Reunion and our other Arkansas adventures. Take a look!!