The early part of week three, like each of the weeks in Colorado Springs, was devoted largely to sign languge. As I left Colorado Springs on Thursday morning for three days away, Pikes Peak was spectacular. My destination was 2-1/2 hours north to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.
Upon arriving in early afternoon aound 2 pm, I went directly to the National Park. Just beyond the gate were a herd of elk, the first of many, many elk I saw, both in the park and in the town of Estes Park. I drove several mikes to the other side of the park in hopes of getting in a short hike. The weather changed dramatically :-).
I took a short hike of less than a mile one way in my snow shoes to Bear Lake. It was totally overcast with periods of sleet and snow. Did I say snow?
Although it snowed on most of my hike back to the car, it was beautiful. Those snow shoes that Linda bought me for Christmas certainly paid off on this hike.
In the picture below I am standing at the trailhead where I did most of my hiking on Thursday and Friday. All three days I was in the region it was overcast, and in the Park, often snowy. But as they say . . . a bad day in Rocky Mountain National Park beats most days elsewhere.
I got to see a lot of elk from just a few feet away from my car and on my last day in Estes Park, a herd had settled in a field across from my hotel room.
On my final day at the Park, I got there early for some Bible reading. While there I saw this handsome boy. He was one of several wild turkeys I saw in the early morning.
It is hard to imagine being able to do your Bible reading surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. That quiet time has been important. I am averaging reading one of the gospels each week.
I drove 2-1/2 hours Sunday morning to get to the Christian Deaf Church. The men of the church had prepared a Mother's Day brunch for the ladies and did an incredible job with it.
Without rearranging the tables, we went right into the worship services. Here you can see me trying to sign the worship song. You can also see that my sign does not match that of the lady behind me :-). I am still learning and trying to catch up!
You don't need to know sign language, though, to help tear down tables and chairs and to rearrange the room to its normal layout.
Since Sunday was Mother's Day, Linda's sisters, Danette and Donna, and my nephew, Michael, embarked upon a project that has become somewhat traditional in recent years--planting flowers. Usually Linda is here and I am at home to hear about it. This year I got in on the action! And check out that hat my mother-in-law is wearing!!! Pretty stylish!!!
I don't know how we failed to get any good pictures of Linda's sisters who were the supervisors (kinda :-), but here Michael and I are preparing to get our hands dirty mixing the soil for the flowers.
And of course, everyone thought they should get a picture of the stunning flower arrangment I put together. Will wonders never cease!!!!
But much of the day was devoted to more intensive sign language instruction. Although the picture below was taken on Sunday morning after church, it illustrates what a good teacher Tim is. The Deaf Church gave all of the mothers a rose and a small gift. Immediately afterwards, Tim announced that he had just learned a rose with no thorns was a symbol of love, but a rose with thorns symbolized anger. He didn't realize that and all of the ladies got roses with thorns, so he apologized to them :-). I was teasing him about being "angry" with the ladies and he was showing me, both by sign and facial expression, how to show anger :-). There is no question that I am learning a lot.
And there is no question that I miss all of you. Between my phone calls and emails to Linda and the church office, I feel connected to the church and home, but it is not the same as really being with you. Have a very blessed week and I will try to blog again next week.
I got to see a lot of elk from just a few feet away from my car and on my last day in Estes Park, a herd had settled in a field across from my hotel room.
On my final day at the Park, I got there early for some Bible reading. While there I saw this handsome boy. He was one of several wild turkeys I saw in the early morning.
It is hard to imagine being able to do your Bible reading surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. That quiet time has been important. I am averaging reading one of the gospels each week.
I drove 2-1/2 hours Sunday morning to get to the Christian Deaf Church. The men of the church had prepared a Mother's Day brunch for the ladies and did an incredible job with it.
Without rearranging the tables, we went right into the worship services. Here you can see me trying to sign the worship song. You can also see that my sign does not match that of the lady behind me :-). I am still learning and trying to catch up!
You don't need to know sign language, though, to help tear down tables and chairs and to rearrange the room to its normal layout. 
Since Sunday was Mother's Day, Linda's sisters, Danette and Donna, and my nephew, Michael, embarked upon a project that has become somewhat traditional in recent years--planting flowers. Usually Linda is here and I am at home to hear about it. This year I got in on the action! And check out that hat my mother-in-law is wearing!!! Pretty stylish!!!
I don't know how we failed to get any good pictures of Linda's sisters who were the supervisors (kinda :-), but here Michael and I are preparing to get our hands dirty mixing the soil for the flowers.
And of course, everyone thought they should get a picture of the stunning flower arrangment I put together. Will wonders never cease!!!!
But much of the day was devoted to more intensive sign language instruction. Although the picture below was taken on Sunday morning after church, it illustrates what a good teacher Tim is. The Deaf Church gave all of the mothers a rose and a small gift. Immediately afterwards, Tim announced that he had just learned a rose with no thorns was a symbol of love, but a rose with thorns symbolized anger. He didn't realize that and all of the ladies got roses with thorns, so he apologized to them :-). I was teasing him about being "angry" with the ladies and he was showing me, both by sign and facial expression, how to show anger :-). There is no question that I am learning a lot.
And there is no question that I miss all of you. Between my phone calls and emails to Linda and the church office, I feel connected to the church and home, but it is not the same as really being with you. Have a very blessed week and I will try to blog again next week.