A day trip to Vail

In January 2002, I moved to Denver, Colorado. I moved out with a church planting team of about 12 people. We had left the Vineyard Church of Columbus to start The Arvada Vineyard in a suburb of Denver. We all moved out there over the course of 6 months. I was the last to arrive. When I got there, most everyone was settled in, had gotten familiar with the area, met new people, found jobs, etc. I hadn't found a job yet, so I had some free time when I first got there. I was itching to go to the mountains. Everyone else had already been at some point in their short time there. As I was mentioning how much I wanted to go, one of the guys on the team said he was going to head up to Vail in a couple of days to go snowboarding, and I was welcome to come along if I wanted. Absolutely!

So the day of, we left bright and early for our 2 hour drive to Vail. I didn't really know this guy very well...we were mostly just acquaintances. But at the same time, I felt like I was with a family member...the Holy Spirit had done something really special with this team to unite us over previous year of planning to go. This was a nice opportunity to get to know someone on the team I hadn't had a chance of spending much time with yet. We had a nice drive up there, and the conversation seemed to easily flow. I don't know how we got on the topic, but I ended up mentioning how what I really feel the Lord has called me to is to be a mom. And that I hope to be a wife and stay-at-home mom someday. This guy said, "Yes, I think that is so important. I would really like my future wife to stay at home with our kids someday." He didn't say it in that weird kind of way as if he was trying to "hint" something at me...like, "oh yeah, that's what I want for my life too! Maybe we should get married!" It was in a very sincere way...that this guy had obviously thought about it before and it was an important value to him. I remember thinking, "Wow! I hope my future husband has that same attitude!"

We got to Vail, and this guy hit the slopes for some snowboarding. I brought a book and was looking forward to hanging out in the village of Vail, getting some coffee, and soaking up the beauty of the place I so clearly knew the Lord called me to. A few hours later, we met back up and went around to all the different little shops. He told me how he liked doing that sort of thing because his mom really liked going into little shops like this. I don't think I've ever met a guy who wanted to check out all the little trinket shops in a tourist town! Anyhow, it was a great first trip to the Rockies for me. I really enjoyed Vail.

Little did I know, I had just spent the day with my future husband. :)

This is Jon and I a couple of months later at Easter. We had become great friends, but weren't dating...yet. :)

(sorry for the terrible photo quality...no digital camera then, and I don't have a scanner now, so it's a picture of a picture.)