Safe Landing in Sunny Colorado

Kristy and I landed safely (albeit a bit sleep deprived) in Colorado yesterday. It's good to see the sun again after, 22 days straight of rain in the Pac NW. After some lunch with the in-laws in Denver, we cruised on down to The Springs and walked into a house in desperate need of re-organizing and cleaning. It was good to see my luggage that United lost on our way home from the honeymoon. Fortunately, the only casualty was the wet swim trunks that were stuffed in a plastic shopping bag and still smell moldy after one round through the wash. Still not sure if I'm gonna be keeping those or not. (And yes, the bottle of rum survived.)

On Saturday, the wedding reception went great. Kristy and I shook a lot of hands and smiled for three hours straight. Numerous people from my parents’ church helped with the food and decorations and made the afternoon come off brilliantly. We were even able to get regular updates on the football game from my uncle who was back at the house with a group of other relatives, calling my dad’s cell phone whenever the Seabirds scored. (Gonna be a tough game against the Panthers this Sunday afternoon.)

We drove down to my home church (Grace & Glory) in Vancouver the next morning and took the whole service to introduce Kristy and explain what God has called us to in Ireland. After the service, it was a privilege to be able to sit through a brief annual business meeting and then chat with people over a meal. It was so much fun to see how God has blessed Grace & Glory and caused it to grow.

On Monday, Kristy and I decided to go up and see my younger brother, Jason, in Seattle. He's renting a house on the West side with a gorgeous view of the Seattle skyline across the harbor. At least, on a clear day it's a gorgeous view. When we squinted, we could at least see the silhouettes of skyscrapers through the fog and mist. After some lunch in a cool little seafood restaurant, we went over to downtown and helped Jason pick up a new bed with my dad's truck. Later in the evening, we saw "Munich," which was not what I expected it to be. (I'm still trying to decide if I liked it or not.)

It was a lot of fun to hang out with my little bro and hear about how his job is going. Jason works for a big PR firm and mainly works with Microsoft, his firm's biggest client. He was in Vegas a few weeks back for the 2005 Consumer Electronics Show. His parents and brothers are all praying that he doesn't kill himself working 12 hour days and beating back blood-thirsty media while trying to explain why Microsoft decided to pull their media player support from Mac's OS. (Why do Mac users need Windows Media Player when they've got I-Tunes and the I-Pod anyway??) We also got a little spiritual conversation in, mostly regarding the book he’s reading (Velvet Elvis). Our youngest brother got it for him for Christmas. (Sounds like it was a good choice, Ty!) It’s encouraging to see my little bro (both of them, actually!) wrestling with issues of faith and seeking God in it all. And yes, I’ve forgiven them for the embarrassing toast they gave at my wedding reception.