Gathering with Friends in Estes Park

Eleven couples. Two leaders passionate about seeing marriages thrive. One crisp, but sunny, overnight in Estes Park, CO.

Steve and Linda Nuss gathered us together like a rooster and mother hen guarding their chicks last weekend. Some of us were from their current marriage home group (format includes Jimmy and Karen Evans’ DVD, “Building Emotional Intimacy”), which will end in a couple of weeks. (Chet and I participate in that one.) Some of us were from the group they hosted last fall. Others were from GriefShare: Recovering from the Losses in Life that Steve and Linda started  in our church. At one point they oversaw about eight small GriefShare groups within the larger circle. Who knows where the other couples came from???

Between 3 pm and 5 pm Friday afternoon, we gathered on site at the Estes Park YMCA, which has a lot of construction popping up all over the 800-plus acres with new buildings, lodges and cabins mushrooming. We stayed in one of the nicer lodges, Wind River Lodge,  and the atmosphere around the weekend was casual and loose. It included lots of fellowship with family-style dinner together at three tables in the Dining Hall (buffet) Friday night and breakfast on Saturday morning. 

In the dark on Friday night, about eight vehicles caravaned around the property trying to find our fire ring  – backtracking a few times. We finally found the spot and settled on benches and our lawn chairs in front of a roaring fire stoked by three of the guys. Chuck Greenfield plunked beautiful worship songs on his guitar as some cuddled up in blankets. I led the charge on roasting marshmallows for our S’mores. Interestingly, it was the guys who did most of the talking, or led out on songs. I guess the women folk had used up their 50,000 words already with the excitement of meetin’, greetin’ and eatin’!

After breakfast the next morning, we packed up our stuff, checked out and headed for Meeting Room C, around several tables pushed together like a board meeting, where Steve and Linda passed out a handout and Ed Smith delivered a teaching via tape  relevant to developing intimacy in marriage.

The sun beat down on a gorgeous spring day and I did not want to leave Estes Park right away. Chet and I serendipidously met up with some of the gang and met at “Kind” coffee – found the perfect table with a full picture window view of the creek and path out the back. We casually sipped our lattes and smoothies and attempted a few games of Mexican Train Dominoes (though without the Mexican nor the train, because we couldn’t figure that part out).

Our little group (the Greenfields, Ketters, Chet and I) enjoyed a wonderfully relaxing afternoon before heading back down to Denver again.

It was a great way for me to spend my birthday.

Thank you, Steve and Linda, for all your hard work and for organizing an awesome marriage building get-away!!!

Four Lindstroms Perform in Piano Recital

Tante Marla travelled to Dallas,  Texas Dec. 11-14! I stayed with brother Troy and his family (Evelyn, Taylor and Kira) some of the time (see photos later) and with brother Kurt’s family some of the time. Kurt and Cheyenne, if you recall, have nine kids 15 & under.

The four oldest have been taking piano classes with under the strict but superior tutelage of Mrs. Sheets. Luke (15) and Nathan(12) have taken about three semesters; this fall was Annikah(14) and Mark (10)’s first semester. From an unbiased Tante’s perspective, they are doing extremely well! Especially since all four have to work in practice sessions on the same piano  in the living room at home with 5 other siblings crowding around.

 

My dear friend Jan Tennyson, Founder and Director of Dare To Dream Children’s Foundation showed up at the recital, held at the East Field College Performance building.  Jan has encouraged and inspired them – she started playing piano when she was six and shortly after began performing in Carnegie Hall in NYC. The kids were thrilled to have her come!

The Lindstrom cousins and Lindstrom family, along with Jan and I got there early and took up much of the middle section of the Performance Hall! Troy, Evelyn, and Tayor can be seen in the third row on the left side. Papa Kurt, Meliah and 6-year-old brother Jonathan in the front row; proud Mama Cheyenne & Mikaylah, 3-year-old Benjamin, Marla and Jan in the 2nd row.

 

Afterwards, 2-year-old twins Mikaylah and Meliah (who lasted through half of the performance) enjoyed the reception!

Grab a Bike Downtown and Go!

What a gorgeous Colorado fall day today has been! 71 degrees, sunny, fall leaves swirling around. I was dying to get outside! But had a lot of work to do for Good Catch Publishing, so I settled for grabbing my laptop, parking my car far away, and lingering in the sunshine before going into the local coffee shop/bakery to work. I was hoping to get some bike riding in today. Maybe tomorrow! This is the PERFECT TIME of year for riding on the hundreds of miles of Denver area bike paths!

I got this e-mail from TEAM FREEWHEELIN’ today. They are the group that brought a ton of bikes to the Democratic National Convention for those who wanted to “ride green!” If you recall, in between my volunteering with One Church Metro Denver handing out cups of cold water and picking up trash, I rode one of their bikes down the Cherry Creek Bike Path.

“Pedaling” these bikes to us for free  is a SUPER idea! All you need is to leave your drivers’ license number and credit card number for collateral and you can grab a bike and go!

 Here’s what Team Freewheelin’ had to say:

What a wild ride!

The results are in, and we’ve made history! Your support for Freewheelin helped us surpass our goal of 25,000 cycling miles ridden.

During the Democratic national convention, you rode Freewheelin bike 1 time, pedaled 2 miles, burned 62 calories and reduced your carbon footprint by the equivalent of roughly 1 2-mile car rides . Way to go!

We measured our success over the course of eight days in number of rides, miles ridden, calories burned and amount of carbon eliminated from the air. We’re thrilled to report:
            7,523 bike rides
            41,724 miles ridden
            1,293,429 calories burned
            14.6 metric tons of carbon offset
            $151,414 raised at the RNC for hurricane relief based on your miles!

You were instrumental in making Freewheelin a success at the conventions, but that was just the start of the bike-sharing revolution. Let’s continue our ride together. Have something to say about Freewheelin, or suggestions on where we should go next? We want this to be your revolution. Our Freewheelin blog is a forum where you can post suggestions, questions and comments, photos and videos, as well as access the most current news about all things Freewheelin. You might even see yourself in one of the postings!

Thanks for your interest in Freewheelin; we hope you had as much fun as we did!

-Team Freewheelin’

Only one thing: they have their stats wrong about me! I rode at least 10 miles! So I reduced my carbon footprint by MUCH more than a two-mile car ride!

“When Riding Tandem, Somebody Has to be Second!”

This was the topic of our “illustrated message” Sept. 6 at our First Saturdays kick-off –”Medley of Mentoring” — sponsored by Open Book Ministries. We gather in an open forum of dynamic interchange among women once a month in different womens’ homes. This Saturday will be #2. (All women are welcome to come to these meetings in the Denver area).

 

In September, I dressed up in bikers shorts and stood in front of my mountain bike (with a clip art of tandem riders taped to the crossbar.) Here are excerpts of what I said:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let me see a show of hands – how many of you have ridden either a road bike or a mountain bike? Good! How many people does it take to maneuver one of those?

[Audience said, "One!"]

As most of you know, tandem bicycles are specially built for two riders and include two seats, two sets of pedals and two handlebars. The more experienced tandem cyclist or the one with the greatest upper body strength is best suited to ride in the front seat as “captain” of the bicycle. The captain is responsible for controlling the bike’s direction and speed while warning the back seat rider of upcoming obstacles, bumps and gear shifts.

The rear rider or “stoker” is mainly a source of extra cruising power for the bike. Stokers must be very careful to keep their weight centrally balanced while cruising, and lean to one side only on turns.

Learning to ride tandem with another person is different than riding a single person bike by yourself. It takes a little getting used to, a little bit of practice. But you CAN learn, and when you do, tandem riders will tell you what a thrill and rewarding experience it is.

When you decide to take your life’s journey for a season with a human mentor, you want to ride with someone who has tried and tested the road of life, over the potholes, through rough terrain, winding paths and up difficult mountains. But most of all, you want to ride with someone who has been learning to ride tandem with her Captain, our Lord Jesus.

What I share with you about tandem riding will apply not only to riding tandem with a human mentor, but also riding together with Jesus, getting into a rhythm with His plan for your life as you let Him steer you through the challenges and joys of life.

Today I will share with you FIVE RULES for riding a tandem bike. READY TO HOP ABOARD? 

more…

SNEAK PREVIEW – Hoonah, Alaska book soon published!

Well, I got the proof for the cover of Surviving the Storms: Real-life Stories from Hoonah, Alaska this week! It is the third book I’ve project managed, published by Good Catch Publishing , where I serve on staff. (Click on the graphic to read the back cover copy.) It is an edgy dramatic narrative compilation of seven true stories. I do not write the stories – I work with a freelance base of 20 incredible writers from around the country, and with the storytellers and the clients who commission our books. Surviving the Storms should be out by mid-October and available on Amazon for $14.95. (We are always looking for good dramatic narrative writers who like to interview people and write their true stories. For more information, go to the Good Catch Publishing website, bottom righthand corner of Home page.)

Good Catch Publishing has published over 70 books and two were from churches in Wasilla, Alaska, Sarah Palin’s hometown! They are: Though They Walk Through the Valley with a picture of the Mat-Su Valley on the cover (where Wasilla is located), published for Wasilla Assembly of God. And Velocity: Moving at the Speed of Life  was published for The Church on the Rock. Both were published just a few months ago, in Dec 2007, before hardly anyone knew Sarah.  One is the church Sarah supposedly attended for quite a while before she became governor so the people whose stories we tell may have been friends of hers from church!

We are currently working on another Wasilla book which should be published before the end of the year. You should be able to find many of our books on www.Amazon.com and our website.

We Land in Anchorage!

Chet and I braced ourselves for a lot of rushing around to catch our flights in Denver, LA and San Francisco (booked a two-stop trip). But it ended up being a lot of waiting around. Every single United flight was delayed, and we were able to skip the LA leg altogether.

After an almost-five hour flight from San Fran to Anchorage, we arrived at 2:15 am Tuesday, Anchorage time, 13 hours after fast-walking through the terminal to catch our first plane that we discovered was delayed.

Tom Benroth, Chet’s bro, graciously insisted upon picking us up, even at that late hour. The sky was a dull bright color, which he said was “false sunlight”; the sun had set around 11:30 pm and would be coming up again in a couple of hours. Chet and I were beat; I opted not to wait for the sunrise, but fall into bed. Therefore, the photo to the left is actually from this website.

Our adventure has begun!