Colorado Week Six

Week six in Colorado! Eight weeks seemed like a long time and now it feels like it is slipping away. But not without progress and wonder. I continue to make progress in sign language. I might be out of preschool and in the first grade by now--I don't know :-). But Tim has not only done a massive amount of work with me, he has also arranged for me to meet with a skilled instructor. Bonnie is a dedicated Christian in the Deaf Church is who totally deaf and without any voice. She has taught American Sign Language for years and she met for two hours with me this week to build on my learning experience. It took a lot of concentration, but it was certainly a profitable time.

In week five Danette had proposed that some of us do some early morning devotions at Palmer Park in Colorado Springs where there is an overlook of Pikes Peak. This week Tim suggested we do so. But as you can see, Tim was a little slow getting into the spirit of his own idea, first laying on the bench next to his sister, then huddled under the blanket trying to get warm. But at 5:30 a.m. the sky was clear, the mountain air crisp, and the sun coming up on Pikes Peak beautiful. We had a wonderful time with funny moments, serious moments, and very quiet moments of contemplation and Scripture. It was a powerful way to start the day!

From earlier weeks it became clear that hiking alone isn't wise. This week Linda's sisters again served as my mountain guides for a couple of days away from Colorado Springs. To say that God got my attention is certainly an understatement. We started by hiking a little over 2 miles up and down the trail to Hanging Lake, just outside of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. For nearly the entire, steep hike the trail paralleled an amazing mountain stream that was full of power and fury from the spring snow melt.

I still found time, though, to compete with "The Thinker" at a small shelter up the trail.

The top of the trail was worth the effort of the 1,000 foot elevation gain. The lake is small, but crystal clear and fed by these amazing waterfalls.

If it looks we could get close enough to "reach out and touch" them, we could. I even went down to the edge of the big falls and could have literally taken one more step to get behind them. I figured I was getting wet enough as it was, but I did not want my sign language boot camp director to think I had forgotten him. I wanted Tim to see the sign that said the "shower is on."

The next morning we traveled to Aspen and the Maroon Bells, two fourteen thousand foot peaks. It is one of the most photographed spots in Colorado and you can see why. I quit saying, "awesome," "incredible," "unbelievable," and just went to "oh boy!" The words just didn't seem to match up to what God has created.

My experienced mountain guides didn't even know if we could get to these mountains yet because of the snow, and then they didn't know if we could make the hike inland to "Crater Lake" [not the one in Oregon], but we launched out anyway. It was another incredible snow hike. You can see us pictured on the way to the lake. And when we got there, the camera just couldn't take it all in. But in the quiet of the mountain wilderness, the raw power and majesty of God just surrounds you.

On the way back down the trail, the girls wanted to reinforce the lesson that there are places you don't need a sled. Donna went first, then me. We got it smoothed out for Danette and since she was last, she had the privilege of being caught on camera :).

With Maroon Bells to our back, we made our way back to the trailhead. I was grateful for the savvy of my mountain guides. And with one last pic of the Maroon Bells, I found myself not wanting to leave. It was a beautiful, sunny, warming day and you just felt like you could stay there forever.

From the Maroon Bells we drove on in to Aspen, my first trip to this world famous city. It is a small, quaint town that during winter is one of the ski capitols of the world. Aspen also contains the John Denver memorial preserve. How could I have a "Rocky Mountain High" without also standing next to this huge stone with the words to his famous song. We then walked into town to get some ice cream and enjoy the beauty of spring busting out all over in town.

It was simply an overwhelming couple of days. The creation does in fact declare the glory of the Lord!! But I never forget that as beautiful and commanding as God's creation is, he did not put his own image in the mountains, the raging streams, or the color of spring. He put his own image in human beings. So, in the mountains I see the power of God. But in the face of a deaf Christian, I see the image of God in Christ! That is the most awesome part of all! Until next week, with love and prayers, Gary.

Colorado Week Five

It is hard to believe that I have spent five weeks in Colorado and that in three weeks I will be home for a few days before heading to North Carolina with the entire Carpenter clan. One of the things I prayed before coming to Colorado Springs is that on the four days each week I was there learning sign language, that God might also make me a servant. The family here has been slow to ask for much help because they really respect the purpose of the sabbatical and my time. And they know that Tim has done a great job of keeping me in sign language boot camp :-), the big reason I am in Colorado. But it was good to be able to help with some things in week five, both at Tim and Tami's, and next door at Danette's and Mom Thurston's. Below you see me installing some child restraint latches on the cabinet doors so that Dani's (Dani is my niece) son, Hayden does not get into things that could hurt him.






Next door I was able to help clean our the swamp cooler and replace filters. Because Colorado has such low humidity, they use swamp coolers like we use air-conditioners. Here you see me on the ladder cleaning out the bottom of the swamp cooler.

Tim came over and got in on the action. Here I am handing him one of the panels with a new replacement filter in it.

My nephew Michael got this candid shot of Danette supervising the work :-). We all had a good time on this project and it was nice to help get this needed work done.

Both because of budget issues [like gasoline!] and the need to have a little more dedicated time this week for some of the sabbatical goals, I elected to stay in Colorado Springs. I found a hotel that came in under the budget range near the Garden of the Gods, where I spent my mornings and evenings. The Garden of the Gods has some amazing rock formations and is one more place to get an overwhelming sense of the greatness and majesty of God.

Below you see the famous "kissing camels." Then one of my favorite spots is the drive into the Garden of the Gods. There is one spot where Pikes Peak comes into full view between two of the vast rock formations. I always see the creative and artistic hand of God in a special way there.

I used my time in the Garden of the Gods this week for Bible reading, meditation, and working on my sign language studies. Below you can see me seated at a picnic table, book open, and practicing my signs. What a classroom!

Of course, Sunday mornings with the Deaf Church is one of the important learning times for me, as well as a time to feed by own soul in worship. Because this was Memorial Day weekend, the Deaf Church took time to say the pledge of allegiance to the Christian flag (not pictured), to the Bible (seen on the communion table) and to the American flag.

On Memorial Day four of us participated in the 30th annual Bolder Boulder 10k race (run and/or walk). It is the largest timed event of its kind in the world attracting well over 50,000 participants! It ended up being a great day. We saw my nephew Taylor, who had planned to participate but turned his ankle a couple of days earlier (bummer!). Tim and Tami, and Dani and Hayden drove up to Boulder to watch, and then we met them for lunch in Denver on the way home. Me, my nephew Michael, Donna and Danette participated. It was a very dreary day with dark clouds and intermittent rain, but you couldn't dampen out spirits. In the picture below you can see that Michael wasn't taking any chances with the rain, sporting one of the lovely trash bags Donna brought for us. And you can see it didn't take much for Danette to catch the spirit of the "trash bag look" herself!

The Bolder Boulder is not just a huge event, but it is truly a Memorial Day celebration. Many participants wore pin-on bibs in honor of a deceased loved one who served our country in the military, or as we did, to proudly honor family members who are currently in the service. This picture caught Donna and I wearing our bibs to honor our nephews, Andy Lembke who is a graduate of West Point and who has served several tours in Afganistan and Iraq, and Eric who has also served in the Middle East and will soon complete his service in the Navy.

My walking/jogging buddies were very patient with me because I was nursing a strained left calf muscle that would not allow me to jog at all, and instead of leaving me in the dust, they stayed back with me. But I was able to complete the race without incident. It was awesome. The race finish line is in the stadium where the University of Colorado plays football, and you can see the large crowds even for a dark and sometimes rainy day.

Although it was sprinkling, we stayed for the Memorial Day festivities. There was a military color guard, large stadium screen video honoring all branches of the service with "I Am Proud to Be An American" playing, even with the low cloud cover there was a fly over by the air force, we sang the National Anthem, taps were played and a twenty-one gun salute was given to our fallen heroes.

The congressional medal of honor was awarded to General Patrick Brady who fought in Vietnam. The medal was given for bravery above and beyond the call of duty. His most heroic mission was a day in which he rescued 51 comrades as a chopper pilot, doing so in four different flights, with three badly damaged helicopters while coming under repeated and heavy fire. His speech opened by him saying, "I didn't do America any favors by my service. God did me a great favor by allowing me to be born here." He then went on to challenge us to live out the great virtues of Courage and Sacrifice. It was a moving reminder that we must always trust God's hand of protection in our lives, and that He calls us in Christ to manifest both courage and sacrifice in our duty to the kingdom of God and our Commander in Chief, Jesus Christ!

Until next week, with love and counting the days, Gary.

Colorado Week Four

In this picture I am sending the Lord the message through sign language, "Awesome" or "Wonderful." I will have more to say about this shot, but it is a good summary of week four in Colorado.

One of the highlights and important teaching times for me is the Wednesday night deaf Bible study that Tim leads. I not only learn new signs, but I am learning God's word in the process. That is a powerful one-two punch. As you can see, Tim utilizes the projection system our youth worked for not only on Sundays, but also on Wednesday, using both text and video projection.

It looks like even this critter was lulling over what the lesson was about! Actually, I spent a second and probably final weekend in the town of Estes Park and did some hiking and sight-seeing in Rocky Mountain National Park. This fellow was parked on a commerical lawn in Estes Park when I got there on Thursday.

I did some driving through a part of Rocky Mountain National Park that I did not get to the previous week. This was one of the numerous spectacles on Trail Ridge Road.

Trail Ridge Road is not yet open clear to the top. You can see that the depth of the snow they have to plow out the closer you get to the top is much taller than I am, and in places much deeper than is pictured here. They generally try to have the road opened by Memorial Day weekend.

I did a solo hike on Friday to one of the most photographed spots in the Park, Mills Lake. It was a snowshoe hike, and although there were people on that unmarked snow trail, for most of it I was alone. Pretty spooky!!!! I not only prayed loud enough for the Lord to hear, but for the bears and mountain lions to hear too! The next day Linda's sisters, Danette and Donna, joined me for another, even more spectacular hike.

As we were driving to the National Park, it was pretty hard to miss this big banner. I don't know who won the competition, but I'm glad I wasn't entered! Also on the way to the park we saw some mountain goats, and as we entered the park we noticed a lone coyote.

Here you see Donna (L) and Danette (R) gearing up for our big adventure. And it was! The snow trail we took to the Loch lake does not appear on any of the maps, but upon a Ranger's advice, we followed his directions and followed the footprints of the few who had been on the trail. There were hardly any directional signs so we were really "out there" in the wilderness of the park.

This was one of the few signs we did encounter and you can see that the snow we are hiking on is easily 3-5 foot deep. Hard to believe for May 17!

The last part of this trail on the way to our destination was a very long, very steep climb. The next three pictures give you some sense of perspective. We were climbing at around 10,000 feet on a beautiful, sunny day.

When we got to the Lock lake, it was worth all of the apprehension about the steep climb and worth all of the hard work. The camera simply couldn't capture the magnificence of this lake virtually surrounded by towering peaks. For a person of faith, it is impossible to miss the greatness and grandeur of God!

Of course, what goes up, must come down! There is a small pine tree pictured between the girls' feet that isn't small at all. That's how steep and how far down this portion was. Here you see them trying to figure out what in the world we've gotten ourselves into.

But Momma Thurston didn't raise no dummies (?). Here and on another portion of the trail pictured below they prove that if God has given you a backside, you sometimes don't even need a sled!

But that doesn't mean you can avoid the occasional wipeout!!! And we won't discuss whether or not you think I might have had some wipeout moments myself.

It is clear, though, that the sisters bring their own entertainment!!!

Just when you think that God couldn't top such a phenonemal weekend, he did! When I got back to Colorado Springs on Sunday, Tim baptized a young deaf boy into Christ. The Deaf Church meets in a large room of the much larger Sunnyside Christian Church. For the baptism, the Deaf Church went over to the hearing church's sanctuary for the baptism. In this first picture, Tim is explaining to the hearing church about the teaching the young man has received and what he understands about Jesus.

After taking his confession, Tim then baptized him into Christ.

After the boy was raised from the waters of baptism, Tim shows his enthusiasm by flashing the sign "awesome" or "wonderful." I believe that is something we may need to incorporate into our baptisms at JRCC!

So, without question the Lord deserved a great big "Awesome" from me for an incredible week. Danette grabbed the camera from me when we were at the Lock and said I should sign "Awesome" or "Wonderful." That was the right thing to do, to praise God both for the blessings of his creation, and the coming blessings of watching a young boy become a new creation in Jesus Christ!

As usual, while I am experiencing God's blessings, it is not without missing you. You are all in my heart and in my prayers in a very big way!!