Thanksgiving 08- Part Two

We joined the Chamberlin clan at Blue Licks State Park for Thanksgiving dinner-- loved getting to visit with most of the family-- Anne, we missed you!!!

Even though it was a short visit, we so enjoyed time with Phil's parents and found a treasure trove of historical info on the family (all the way back to Ireland!). We also got to visit with Travis, Meagan and Jocelyn Ewton!

Thanksgiving 08- Part One

Had our first Thanksgiving at home with the fam-- Chad & Nicci are visiting from NY and Shaundy & the kids are up from NM... we started with the First Annual Dawson Hubert Gingerbread House Contest, the Honorable Alaina Rose Africano as the judge! The Cottage Cheese Cottage was the winner, although Skyrockets in Flight, Blizzard '08 and Nativity Scene gave it a good shot.

We feasted, played Taboo and Dominoes, watched football-- a great Thanksgiving! Although I think we tired out Mr. Phil...

Two Year Anniversary!

We enjoyed our 2-year anniversary with a trip to Puerto Rico-- need to keep using those flight attendant benefits! I'm still flying part-time as well as working at Mission of Mercy as an admin assistant-- it seems to be a great blend of the 8-5 but with the diversity of travelling-- although when is my day off again?? :)

We also bought a house in July and have enjoyed moving in-- SO good to have it DONE! We are so blessed with a house that has been so well taken care of... as well as being just minutes from both of our jobs!

There was snow on Pikes Peak the other morning for the first time, so I'm very excited about fall... feel like we're getting settled and finding our rhythm a little more... and looking forward to putting down roots a bit! (Never thought I would say that... :)

Blessings!

Things are going great in Colorado! Carey and I are really, really busy right now, but we're enjoying things. Things are blowing up in a way like I never expected. Work has been incredible! Our division's growth has been phenominal and we keep exceeding expectations in a major way. I'm teaching at a ministry for young professionals called The Bridge within New Life. It's a total God thing because I know I don't have the wisdom for it.

On the home front, we're looking for a house while we rent from one of her friends for a few months. We found some awesome deals over the week-end and think we may have found a winner that is only 10 minutes from New Life and Carey's work. It's a process but we can't wait to be in our own place. It's a buyer's market right now.

Carey is still flying part-time for Skywest one or two week-ends a month. She hasn't grounded any planes yet so that's good. She's based out of Denver and is loving the gorgeous commute. She is working for the musician, Terry MacAlmon, as his assistant full-time from Mon-Thurs as well. Carey is loving being home in the evenings.

I thought you might recognize somebody from the video announcements this week. Click on the link:

http://www.newlifechurch.org/announcements.jsp

We love and miss all of you! We are so glad to hear the good reports about Pastor Peter. he is a blessing!

Easter

Easter was great fun with the whole family-- but the kids are the cutest pictures by far! Quinn is wearing his easter basket-- a special cowboy hat basket! Alaina was thrilled with her Webkins poodle and pink bunny.

We all gathered at Mom and Dad's in the afternoon and had a great time with Shaundy & James, Alaina & Quinn, Whitney & Carl, Mormor & Morfar, Linda, Monica and Jaycob Africano (James' mom, sister and nephew). We missed Chad & Nicci, as well as Jay & Bill... but we look forward even moreso to the next visit!!

Casa Bonita

Can you tell that Phil was excited about our surprise date to Casa Bonita? :) Coloradans will know all about 'world famous' Casa Bonita, South Park fans might have heard of it too-- which was why Phil was so excited about it!! We had a great night watching the cliff divers and eating sticky sopapillas-- Phil was 'prettay' impressed... :)

Hellos and Goodbyes...

After an emotional last service at Ohmer Park Church, we are safely in Colorado Springs! It was a busy last few weeks of moving and visiting, but we were so blessed by all of the sentiments, prayers and notes of our wonderful friends in Ohio. Lots of hugs and tears on that last Sunday... but we know that God has already provided in amazing ways for the congregation-- even if we'll miss them!

We had a long drive to Colorado, although it was made MUCH easier by wonderful Papa Daws who flew out to drive back with us! We got into Colorado with much enthusiasm and a beautiful sunset last Friday night... had a great gathering with friends on Sat. night and worshipped our faces off on Sunday morning! :) We both had our first day of work today and are celebrating by kicking back by the fireplace eating our ice cream... ahhhh!

We're Moving!

We are very excited to be moving back to Colorado!! In an incredible God set of circumstances, Phil got a job as the head of a new divisio at New Life Church and I'm going to be working for Terry MacAlmon and a few trips a month as a flight attendant! We're driving out on Feb. 1st and both start our new jobs on Monday, Feb. 4th! Woo hoo!! See you at New Life on Sunday!! :)

To give you a bit of background, God has really been doing a ton of things in both of our hearts... Last year in January, we felt like God was going to do something new, but didn't know what that would look like. In the spring, Phil had an amazing experience that sparked in him a renewed desire and hope for revival in the area. He started a morning church prayer meeting and a weekly prayer walk, as well as challenging the leadership and congregation to take steps of faith and obedience. Although we saw some amazing things happen, by the end of the summer, Phil had realized that the revival was really more for his own heart in many ways! In that renewal time, he really began to feel his time at Ohmer Park was coming to a close and started looking for options...

After applying to several places and getting little to no response, it was very discouraging... after several months of that, he sent an email to a few close friends asking them to really be praying... which started the ball really rolling!

The short story-- Phil looked at the New Life website just to see if there was something available... and there was a 'Bookstore Director' job that really interested him! In several amazing ways, God kept opening doors just one after another and he was hired officially this week to be the Director of Enterprise (although the name may change). Basically, he'll be in charge of the Bookstore and Cafe at New Life, along with a creative team of guys that he really clicked with. He is SOO very excited! Psalm 126 was what he read on the morning of his interview has really become the best description for how we feel! The combination of events that led to Phil's job, my job at Terry's, offers of several housing options and the fact that we could pick up and leave so quickly has been amazing. (We don't have a lease, there are several people who can take our place at the house as well as a couple of good options for new pastors for Ohmer Park.)

Thank you for all of your prayers and emails!! Much love and cannot waitttt to be back in Colorado!

Christmas 2007

Phil and I had a wonderful Christmas at Vermejo Park Ranch outside of Raton, NM! The Huberts and spouses and kids were all there, as well as Aunt Jay, Bill Parker and cousin Christian. Lots of dominos, adult beverages as well as a tour of Ted Turner's house (he owns the 580,000 acre ranch), movies, a hike up to the gazebo and a tour of a small percentage of the ranch. James & Shaundy moved to Vermejo last spring and it is a beautiful place! James was feeding one of the elk out of his hand; we also saw wild turkeys, a herd of elk and a bald eagle! What a wonderful time together! These are just a few of the picts--