Amazing Gift!

A couple weeks ago our family received an amazing gift from a friend of ours. It goes without saying, although I will, that we have been blessed in so many ways over the past year since we decided to move. Many of our friends and families have shown us tremendous generosity and kindness in our many facets of change. However, one of the most unique gifts came a few Sundays ago. Rachel Olsen, a photographer friend of ours, gave us the gift of a one hour + photo shoot of our family. The pictures came out so beautifully and we are so appreciative. We could not have imagined what a blessing it would be and now we have keepsakes for a lifetime. We recommend her very highly to anyone who needs pictures done professionaly and at the highest quality. Please check out Rachel's website at www.rachelolsenphotography.com. To see her blog and some of the pictures of us you can go to www.rachelolsenphotography.com/blog. Thanks again Rachel and thanks to all of you who are so actively involved in our journey. We are truly blessed to have you all along.

Being Helpless

Wow! It is hard to believe it is already November. We are continuing to move closer to our goal of moving to Cambodia and excitement hasn't been greater. We just had a church take us on as their missionaries which could really boost our monthly support goal. We also have a meeting with the missions pastor from another church scheduled for next week. God sure is moving. We are at 70% of our monthly support now and are trusting that we can report a large jump in that number once all of the details with these 2 churches are ironed out. Thanks so much for your prayers.

In the midst of all of this, we had an opportunity to experience receiving help when we were helpless even as we prepare to do the same for kids in Cambodia. It happened on our way back from a trip to Minnesota to visit Carolyn's mom. It was a nice and productive trip as we were able to help her out when she had back surgery. On our way home we looked at the weather forecasts and knew we would hit some snow in Eastern Colorado. No big deal, right? That's what I thought until the interstate was closed...about 50 miles from home. What a bummer. With an entire interstate full of travelers converging on a small town, I knew our chance at a hotel room was slim to none. We simultaneously looked for a room and another road out. Neither would yield positive fruit and we were stranded and helpless. We didn't know anyone in that town, the snow was piling up and it was getting colder by the minute. But thanks to the kindness and generosity of strangers we ended up safe and warm. We secured a room in hotel Red Cross. We ended up spending the night on the floor of the local High School Gymnasium with 80 other stranded travelers. We were fed and housed by people we had never met and will probably never see again. It was a humbling experience to be so dependent on strangers but it is also an experience that we will never forget and showed us the other side of being helpless.