I believe every week I will be a day late to the party, but will join in writing a letter to my dear sweet husband each week. I’ve got a story to tell about waiting on the Lord with my husband. I will be jumping in on Marriage letters moving forward! I’d love it if you’d join me, too. Thank you to my friend, Alex at Journey to Beauty who highlighted this wonderful writing meme. And to Amber at The Runamuck for inspiring this very public display of affection. BRAVO!

Dear Scott,

I sometimes wonder how we’ve made it these thirteen-some-odd years. Still, you are steady, constant and unwavering. On the other hand, I am tangent driven, off on a new adventure, jumping on the next wave out of this season of our life and on to the next.

We have watched five babies grow in the last thirteen years, two of them your natural children and three of them mine. We have experienced the loss of the eldest boy, and sent him ahead to heaven. We have somehow found our way not only to survive, but thrive.

The last four months have been a whirlwind of expectancy. In September, the gentle stirrings of change began in my heart compelling me forward to destiny appointments and decisions. Today, I am pregnant again with possibility and overwhelmed by the love of a man who will support and encourage me even when he is so uncertain. Still here we sit moving ever closer to my dream and another season of life where I remain at home to pursue my dreams of inspired communication, art and yes, even a radio show.

At the end of a long day of managing tasks and computing, taking phone calls and praying over the phone with the hurting, aching souls of our church and community I rush out the door of the ministry center and down the street across town to pick up my best friend and my precious love from his job as a Tele-Comm Cable Splicer here on the Tarrant County side of the metroplex.

I think about most of our marriage and how we have made sacrfices – you’ve made sacrifices so that I could be at home with my children, volunteer in ministry at the church and to discover with great confidence my God-given identity and my unique purpose on this earth. All the while you work with your hands in the wind, sunshine and rain with an odd mix of men as varying in age as they are in interest, personality and perspective.

So much of what I do is about people. After all, “At Gateway Church we are all about people.” Sometimes I my job requires wisdom in dealing with a crisis, or just discerning about the issue at hand. Other times I need all the task skill I can muster – which often still comes in a smidge under what is really required.

While I am off negotiating, facilitating and administrating relationships between people and pastors, people and ministry, or people and God you are off wiring them for sound.

Your job is becoming a lost art in the world of wi-fi, cellular services. But, you get up and go to work every single day without fail to wire up the neighborhoods, businesses and communities for a nationally recognized telecommunications company. You often tell me about MDUs, T1 circuits, cut-a-rounds, cut 48s and terminal tails. Honestly, it makes my head spin a bit. I don’t know an MDU from a Terminal Tail - I wonder if I event got the initials right on the MDU.

I cannot begin to fathom how you do that day in and day out. My mind and my heart could not take the mundane routine of wire splicing and troubleshooting communication problems, but you thrive there. You creative problem solve, do your job with excellence and take great pride in your work. And on the really tough days you come in frustrated and vent about Yahoo who didn’t do X so you had to do Y and it should have been Z in the first place. Yep, that is really what happens on a daily basis for you.

You used to call me and tell me things like you’d been in a fender bender or the Union has circulated rumors of a strike. And, I – Mrs. Opinionated & Dramatic – would emote wildly and vomit my feelings all over you. That is until I learned to pray.

We’ve prayed down every threat of a strike, layoff and through a few seasons of “PHASE” as a result of those accidents that you wanted me to reassure you about. Over time, as my faith in God and you grew, I learned how to encourage you, tell you everything – including you and me – would be okay no matter what happened, but truthfully in my heart I was crying out to God. I reminded Him about His promises and plans and how He would not allow His children to be ashamed or go about begging for bread. I would declare and decree until the roof would blow off the house that YOU would not lose your job, go on strike or get cut in a round of lay offs – and SO FAR… So Far, God has agreed.

This morning as I prayed for you just before I dropped you off at work I got a chuckle in my heart as I heard God whisper that you are a COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST. Why do I chuckle? Because the last thing you would like to do is COMMUNICATE. See – it really is Laugh-Out-Loud funny. But you are, you help connect other people together and facilitate their ability to communicate – one to another – every day of your life.

That is a noble, thankless task that people often do not even recognize as valuable. Still, it is not lost on me. As we jump off the diving board of life into the deep end of this ocean we’re swimming in, I pray that I never cease to thank you and praise you for the way you stick so I can fly and soar and be all that God created me to be.

Now that I think about our jobs are not that different – we are both in the business of facilitating relationships it is just the means by which we do it that come out so different.

I love you, Mr. Bentham, even though you still owe me one for telling our cousin I am a “glorified secretary.” Not really, but that did stick in my craw a bit when you said it.

I love you very much,

Michelle

For My Man,

Patience and a quiet spirit have never come easy for me. I’m an instant gratification girl… If I know you’ve bought me a gift, I want it right away. If I know that something good is coming I’d rather leap to the other side enjoying the benefit and success of it. After thirteen years of marital bliss mingled with some not so marital bliss I think you know enough to know I am hopeful, expectant and want it now!

Still, patience is something God has cultivated in my life for several  years. The waiting game has tested and broken me many times but never so sweetly as it has in my relationship with you.

Today, I walked into my office at work and everyone was aflutter waiting for me to arrive. As I rounded the corner to my desk there on the filing cabinet tucked out of sight sat a dozen beautiful pink roses along with a card and my very favorite White Chocolate, White Chocolate Chip Nothing Bundt Cake.

For the last thirteen years, I have prayed, hoped and given up with a broken heart full of unmet expectations that you would bring me flowers and treats on Valentine’s Day. I’ve asked and hinted and finally demanded before… Well yes, throwing a fit as a realized I may never lay hold of the hope of my heart – that you would express value to me by bringing me gifts or notes of love because you know me well and wish to please me.

But then, God began to change my heart. I remember the day well just a few years ago, my birthday had passed again with not even a hint of a gift coming from you. When I asked you about it you said, “I hadn’t really planned on getting you anything.”

Crushed does not even begin to describe my emotions. I don’t know why I expected more, but I did. So, I prayed. “God help me to see the gift you’ve given me in my husband. Help me see the way he chooses to express his love to me and not the expectations I have of what that should look like.”

I’ve received counsel and rebuke about how I am trying to change you, not appreciating you and considerably angry at you over this very issue. None of that came from you but, all of it rings so honestly true.

GUILTY.

I’ve tried my best to groom you into the romantic sap I imagined you would be in my childhood dreams of fairy tales, daring rescues and lavish love. All the while demeaning and devaluing the warrior spirit that God planted deep inside of you even before the foundation of the world.

A few weeks ago I made my heart’s desire known to you and you responded in love, and overwhelming affection in a way that was beyond what I had asked and imagined. I’ve waited more than thirteen years for today. To have the sweetest gifts delivered to my work before anyone arrived and to experience the love of my husband who knows me so well in such a precious way. I love each of the gifts because they show how well you know me. Still, the sweetest part of today – the thing that brought tears to my eyes – the card.

“I wonder if you know

how proud I am

to be your husband.

If you don’t, you need to.

When I stop to think about it,

It is such an incredible gift.

Of all the guys out there,

God chose me for you.

I’ve been given the privilege

Of walking through life

With someone so beautiful –

So smart, classy and supportive –

So amazing in so many ways.

I love you with all my heart,

Sweet Valentine of mine,

And thank God continually

For the blessing you are in my life.

I love you

Scott”

The Scripture on the inside cover of the card reads: “How fair and how pleasant you are O love, with your delights! Song of Solomon 7:6 NKJV”

Indeed – How fair and pleasant you are O love! My love, my mighty man of God. I value who you are and the way you have always stuck by this impatient, fly-by-night, instant gratification girl. I am so blessed and honored as your wife. I am also humbled by your gift of love today. I can truly say that today — It has been worth the wait.

I love you, Scott Bentham, with all my heart.

So grateful to God that He has given me you!

Always,

Michelle

Robert Morris, our beloved Senior Pastor, then took the platform and delivered a powerful message whose title was inspired by a speech by Ronald Reagan in 1984 where he said, “If we ever forget we are One Nation Under God, we will be a nation gone under…”

He gave three points on what will cause a nation to go under.

1. When judges rule. (Ruth1:1) When judges rule or “legislate from the bench” they take on a role that neither our founding fathers nor God intended for them to fulfill. Judges are to decide cases based on the laws and statutes of God and His laws. Which, by the way, the laws and statutes of God agreed with the original document our founding fathers drafted in the Constitutional conventions during the infancy of our nation.

JOIN.ME.ON.A.RABBIT.TRAIL!

Our history has been hi-jacked by New Speakers who know no absolute truth who have redefined, reframed and deceived the generations a small dose of arsenic at a time.

These same people and those who have embrace these distortions as fact propose to deny me my First Amendment rights of the free exercise of religion and free expression of my beliefs. And will no doubt scoff at these words as well. (I am dusting off my soapbox- brace yourselves!)

Back to Pastor’s message:
2. When people rule. (Judges 6:17) When each person is left to follow their own individual convictions and conscience as right. Where no basis or standard for absolute truth exists.

ANOTHER.RABBIT.TRAIL.

There must be a standard, absolutes that draw boundaries between right and wrong. Not that we treat our differences in an uncivil manner, but that we would draw light to the absolute standard of God’s Word through unconditional love and prayer, not by sowing discord or stirring up raucous rhetorical debate, but by establishing ourselves in grace and the love of God and by being His hands and feet while honoring the institutions that He ordained for orderly living.

And the final point:
3. When Believers keep SILENT. We must make our voices heard!

Ps. Robert shared several verses to illustrate this point, but two stood out to me. (1) The story of four lepers who witnessed God’s miraculous deliverance from military oppression, but kept silent… 2 Kings 7:9 records their repentance over the matter, “Then they said to one another, ‘We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent…”

(2) Isaiah 62:6 “I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the LORD do not keep silent,”

OFF.THE.BEATEN.PATH.Again…

We must be heard. Today the evening news revealed that the #2 candidate in the Republican Iowa Caucuses came unexpectedly from Rick Santorum who said that he has gotten through the daily challenges of campaigning for the top GOP spot in the political races of 2012 by the grace of God. He thanked God and honored his wife’s contribution to his success today for the favorable showing in Iowa where he garnered 1/3 of the total votes of those professing to be born-again believers.

He went on to say, “With your help and God’s grace we’ll go on to another fun fight a week from now.”

Which brings me to Ps. Roberts’s final statements, “The point is it’s time for you to get concerned. It’s time for us to get involved. It’s time for us to vote. It’s time for us to speak up. It’s time for us to make our actions heard. It’s time for us to pray so our nation can once agin be One Nation Under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all!”

As the service closed we prayed and asked God what He wanted us to do in response to the message. God highlighted the last passage I shared, Isaiah 62:6 and how it ends with a comma… A pause before the statement continues. Hear this as a call to prayer for this nation.

“I have set watchmen on your walls, O [United States of America]; They shall never hold their peace, day or night. You who make mention of the LORD, do not keep silent, And give Him no rest till He establishes And till He makes [the United States of America] a praise in the earth.”

My question tonight is will you be a watchmen who does not hold your peace day or night, does not keep silent but gives God no rest until He makes this great nation a praise in the earth as it is in heaven? His will be done!

In so doing I have dug into studying works of art and the artists who created them. I have also been allowing God to talk to me through a variety of creative media – movies and the books containing the stories of artists whose works I admire. Among the artists I choose to study one would find the names Rembrandt, Degas, Van Gogh, Renoir, Thomas Kinkaide, Georgia O’Keefe, Picasso, and Toulouse-Lautrec (whom I actually researched and studied in my one year of art at age 14). I also found myself researching the quotes of many more like Claude Monet.

Why all this focus on artists you may ask? Honestly, I do not know for sure except that something in me needs to discover why they painted. With the exception of Modern Artists, many of those considered masters from previous centuries ended up impoverished and saw little success in their work while living. It led me to questions.

What drove them to paint when most of them ended up paupers and penniless?

What were their beliefs about God and life?

And, so I write today after reading the first few chapters of a study on Rembrandt written by Greg Watts. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn born July 15, 1606 and died October 4, 1669. As I’ve perused his paintings and begun reading the history of this seventeenth century Dutch painter I realize a bit of what I know of myself. He painted because in painting life happened for him.

He painted during a time when many artists went to Italy to study the masters like Michelangelo, Raphael and Da Vinci. Rembrandt however, stayed close to his home in the Netherlands and studied under Dutch painters as an apprentice.

Rembrandt’s work may be identified with the Baroque movement which Watts writes was “characterized by movement, strong emotion and dramatic light and colouring.”

In his lifetime the artist created a large body of work centering on his own self portrait. His last portrait of himself painted in 1669:

Mr. Watts comments on this Self Portrait, “….we see a face that has tasted not just triumph, but also disappointment and suffering. Yet we can see in him wisdom and dignity: he has come to terms with who he really is and what the true meaning of life is.”

Wisdom. Dignity. A man who has come to terms with WHO. HE. REALLY. IS. A Man who has come to terms with WHAT. THE. TRUE. MEANING. OF. LIFE. IS.

Here are two of his works that I think reflect such truth:

The first is Belshazzar’s Feast. The classic story of the handwriting appearing on the wall from the book of Daniel which predicted the fall of the Babylonian Empire to the Medo-Persian Empire.

This painting depicts the adulterous woman being brought to Jesus for condemnation. The work reflects such light around the woman, she is not disgraced or nude, but clothed in brilliant white. A picture of redemption.

Watts goes on to say “Rembrandt’s ability to penetrate what it is to be human transcends religious boundaries, and people of all faiths or no faith can be moved by it.”

Greg Watts goes on to note that Rembrandt’s education began at the age of six when he was sent to school for basic education in reading and writing. At nine he was transferred to Latin School but his interest in studies leaned only to drawing and painting. Watts writes, “…that only painting and drawing were able to fully engage his young mind.”

Which brings me to the answer to that question I asked early, why did he paint?

Rembrandt painted because that is who God created him to be. His mind and his heart fully inclined into that which he was passionate about and his paintings reflect not only his identity as an artist, but his identity in Christ as well.

Visual arts by nature are creative expression. If we turn to the Bible to gain understanding about creativity we need look first to the book of Genesis.

Genesis 1:1-3 (NKJV)
¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
² The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
³ Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

God’s Spirit hovered over the face of the waters, as the Us of God created light. If we look on into the New Testament, we find the role of Jesus in creation:

John 1:1-5 (NKJV)
¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
² He was in the beginning with God.
³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
⁵ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

As God the Father orchestrated the plans of creation and the Spirit hovered over the body of the created, through Jesus all things were created. Scripture assures us that NOTHING was created without Him.

Now let me ask you this, how did God create? Go back to the first verse of each passage above. He spoke things into existence and the primary way He has spoken is through Jesus. Interesting right. Hearing the voice of God is really the only prerequisite for creativity. Understanding His creative nature can lead us to open doors we might never consider in our lives.

What is our role in this creative thing that is going on around us?

Genesis 1:27 (NKJV)
²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

We are created in the very image of God, and on earth we reflect His image and glory. If we are in Christ, He is in us and if He is in us then all of the nature of God fully resides in us. God in His very nature is creative. If His nature fully resides in us and we reflect His image on the earth then our identity in Christ, our position in Him, is the only qualifying indicator for creative expression.

Rembrandt realized this in his life’s work and I’m beginning to learn it as I develop the ability to express creatively from my identity in Christ and the things I see and hear as I relate to Him.

God created you to be creative, too. A creativity that expresses His nature and glory on this earth. Technical art skill is valuable and may be developed but without the creative nature of God at work in you art would not be possible.

Many of the “masters” have been known to say that art is a lie that reveals the truth. I choose to believe that art is a light that allows us to express the truth of God within each and every one of us. In you lies a Masterpiece of God’s design. My question for you today is this: How long will you wait to fully express it?

Tony raced for Joe Gibbs Racing up until 2009 when he branched off with the help of Rick Hendrick to co-own his own race team Stewart-Haas Racing. Prior to that time some of the things that made Tony fun to watch happened to be his penchant for speaking his mind and his unwillingness to take any guff off of anyone. He remains the picture of a competitor by nature.

He is known as a bad boy of racing. Even last year he had an altercation at a race track in Australia that landed him in jail. And based on a 2008 Rolling Stone interview and a number of off color remarks on radio snip-its and interviews there is little question that the bad boy image rings as true as his stellar performance in this year’s chase. Though the writer of the article in Rolling Stone suggests that he only depicted one side of Stewart and there is a whole other side that is an honorable gentleman you can’t escape his on camera performance as a bad boy.

In 2004 just before he won his second NASCAR (Sprint) Nextel Cup Series a book about him was written and is available through christianbooks.com. He supports Christian Drivers in the sport like Morgan Shepherd and spent a lot of time with Joe Gibbs racing under the Joe Gibbs Racing Banner. I cannot say that Tony Stewart is a Christian, though his mother reports that she goes to church with her husband each week and prays for her son while he races.

I wrote a post called NASCAR and Perseverance a few months back when Tony won the first race of the Sprint Cup Chase at Chicagoland Speedway. The following week I watched again as Tony won the New Hampshire race as well. I later would share with my life group gals that I felt like God was redeeming time for me this year.

In 2005 Tony won the Nextel (now Sprint) Cup championship just a few short months after my son passed away. I rarely watched a race after August of that year and missed the final moments of Tony’s big win.

Still, I picked up watching my beloved NASCAR the following winter/spring when we attended the Texas race in April and watched Tony finish second only to Kasey Kahne. A great time indeed.

I pray when Tony races. I know that seems weird, but I pray for the drivers and the race crews. I pray for them. I root for the Nationwide drivers who are more prominently known for their faith like Trevor Bayne and Blake Koch. I honor people like Joe Gibbs who so boldly live out their faith and I root for the underdog Morgan Shepherd who has been racing for 40 years and somehow gets his Victory in Jesus team to the tracks for the Nationwide series each week.

It is not lost on me that an invocation in Jesus’ name is offered before each race and most drivers honor that time by bowing their heads and closing their eyes. That chaplains at the track pray with drivers, offer them the opportunity to do Bible study and mentor drivers along the way.

I sometimes think that Tony struggled so hard in those years after 2005 because something he was doing didn’t mesh – there was no favor, just sheer determination.

So, come back with me to this year’s chase. A win at Chicago and New Hampshire boosted him forward and then he won at Martinsville and again at our very own Texas track. My husband literally thought I had lost my mind – he even told the dog I am crazy, though he is the one talking to the dog. I whooped and hollered and jumped and celebrated each win. Now, let me just say that I began to pray at Martinsville, “Lord would You allow Tony Stewart to win this race, and if not Tony then the one who would give You the most glory to win the chase.”

By the last race in at Homestead-Miami the standings had landed in a dead heat. Tony lingered just 3 points behind Carl Edwards. The two started a little back in the pack very close to one another. It would be a race to the finish and in the end a champion would be crowned. But, just a few laps in, Kurt Busch lost his transmission in the #22 car and Tony’s car collected damage from debris that had been deflected into his grill off the track.

After a few lengthy runs down pit road during the caution, Tony’s car restarted in the 38th position. Though the grill of his car had to be replaced that radiator had not sustained any damage – a miracle by the account of Larry McReynolds who is a NASCAR commentator and former crew chief.

He drove back up to 9th before pitting again and then restarted back in the 20s. In the meantime, Carl Edwards ran his #99 Ford up front most all day and received the additional bonus point for leading the most laps by race end. However, Tony continued to push through the obstacles he experienced on the race track

After a number of cautions and passing more than 100 cars to regain positions near the front of the pack on multiple occasions Tony took the lead in the waning laps of the race and beat out a very loose Jimmy Johnson for the race win which led to a tie between he and Carl Edwards for the championship title. The tie breaker would be determined by who had the most wins. With five total wins in the last ten races, Tony easily clenched the title spot over his competitor Carl Edwards who had not won a single race in the entire season.

Still, Carl Edwards walked out to Tony as he drove down the straightaway parallel to pit road and congratulated him. He later told a reporter, “I told my wife I would be the best loser that NASCAR ever had.”

As I watched Tony cross the finish line, I praised God for answering my prayers and letting me enjoy the win of my favorite race car driver’s championship season. And then, something totally unexpected that I have never seen before happened during the post race interview with Tony Stewart.

When asked about his emotions after winning both the race and the chase for the championship, Tony said: “Oh God, thank the Lord for this one. Man I’m telling you it’s been a tough summer and a tough fall for us, and you’ve got to believe in something and the Man upstairs (gestures with a finger to the sky) and He held this rain off long enough, just long enough for us to get this job done so this is for Sprint and for all these fans up here who stuck it out all weekend here…”

His acceptance speech was peppered with gratitude and graciousness toward his co-owners, Darian Grubb (his outgoing crew chief) and especially to Carl Edwards of whom he said, “You are not a loser, you will always be a winner.”

Worth every moment, and a reminder that God answers prayers in the most unexpected way. I’ve never heard Tony Stewart speak of God before in all the years I have observed him in NASCAR, but I heard him that night after I asked God all those weeks to allow the racer to win that would give Him the glory. Tony Stewart won and did. Thank you, Lord for even these little things that remind me of Your love for me.

My mind consumed with pictures, I barely move to anything that does not lead me to easel and brush. I cannot think of anything else. Which brings me to the point of this post.

I. APOLOGIZE.

I started something that I felt would be magnificent, gratifying and wonderfully insightful only to find that God did not order it off my menu. Sadly, I admit I got ahead of Him in a big way. The Names of Jesus may have never been my study even back in 2009 when life jumped the track and took down a path I never planned.

So here I am tonight, apologizing. For twice leading the readers of this blog on and then dropping you flat. For ambitiously jumping into things that are not officially mine to do. And for leaving you hanging all this time without word of why or what may indeed be happening.

I plan to come back to write this weekend – just not tonight. Tonight there are no pictures or Scriptures or anything more than just a simple, black on white apology and a prayer that you will return in the days ahead to discover anew the wonderful things God has me up to in this life. He indeed does a new thing in me… Something so fresh and alive I can hardly stand it.

Bless you all as these Holidays begin. Bless you with truth and love and hope and peace at Christmas and throughout the coming year. And most of all bless you with all you were ever created to be and more. Much favor. Much love. Much of Him who gives us life.

Still, tonight as I began a series of posts on Colossians and began to consider the mysteries of God in Christ I remembered my desire to do a study on the Names of Jesus that life preempted in 2009. I believe God’s revelation of His nature and character await us in this season of study. I will be posting video blogs each week here at my personal blog, and a detailed written post at my Scripture & Prayer blog if you would like to print out and review the notes. Check back here each Monday for a new video blog and link to study notes focusing on one of the names of Jesus referenced in Scripture.

Please feel free to comment and bring your own insights to the table as we trek through the pages of our Bibles and discover Jesus through the names used to identify Him in Scripture. Let the study begin!

First name we will study: Immanuel | October 3

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. ~John 1:14 (NKJV)

Colors jumped to life before my very eyes. My heart found a place to be thrilled and quieted all in the same moment. As the two vehicles in our vacation caravan kept pace, one with another, I allowed my eyes to trace every line and explore every crevice it saw. I pulled out my phone or the camera and snapped away as the Lord whispered sweetly in my ears. “I planned this for you.”

Light beckoned me in Colorado. It danced among the clouds just ahead or above the fray on the interstate before us. When the clouds proved dense, the sun would peek out now and again as if to say, “I’m still here. I’ll be with you all day.”

Rain fell and fear threatened. Skirmishes broke out in the caravan still we all arrived in one piece. The storm in my heart over the treacherous drive all but subsided. I felt quiet, and did not want to talk. Disappointed does not even begin to describe the way I felt. I felt submersed in dark water. This is vacation?

Would the storms remain?

Decidedly no.

As the Sun came up… The Moon went down…

Sunset atop Lionshead at Vail. At a cool, crisp 40 degrees it is one of the most beautiful moments we experienced on our trip.

This little birdie met us on the Spruce Loop trail up the mountain from Beaver Creek Village. It taunted me with a spirited little flounce across the path I ventured down. I followed into a narrow trail and snapped a few photos as he flitted and flew among the branches of the evergreens there. Sweet Tweet!

SO.  GRATEFUL. that I did not see this sign before we walked in the woods. Running into a bear was NOT on my list of things to do in Colorado. I think my favorite one is to talk calmly if the bear sees you so he knows you are not a threat. Stand your ground on the ground… Why? Bears climb trees. Yeah, it is useful information but I am pretty sure all that information would fly out the window if I ever stand toe-to-toe with a bear.

I mentioned the pottery painting tent we discovered the first day… This is the fruit of our labor. I painted a cereal sized bowl for my niece, Eva. We also did two smaller bowls, four dragons and a cute little police car.

Friday morning as we rode the ski lifts up to the Spruce Loop, little chipmunks pranced across the green grass covering the ski slopes below. My heart giggled at the sight of them. I wanted to see one up close and personal. Yes, I did. I prayed, Lord would you let me get a picture of a chipmunk.

We made our way back down the mountain on the chair lift without snapping a photo of a furry friend. But, the bird I met on the path certainly gave me great joy. At least not on Friday…

The next day shaking hands almost did me in when Scott pointed this little guy out to me at an information center in Pike’s National Forest. I shook and had a hard time finding the little guy in the zoomed in digital display of the camera. I thought I needed to hurry, but when he saw me coming toward him with my camera he ran right out on the rock and posed. YES. POSED.

We ventured further up the path and found Sherry and Kevin atop a stone terrace. Sherry was snapping pictures of a small herd of chipmunks who were frolicking all around her in the warm afternoon sun. This is the perfect way to end a vacation – in case you are wondering. I think we met Chip, Dale, Alvin, Simon and Theodore.

The other view from the terrace…

And the rest of the trip on our last day in Colorado… Simply beautiful. We did take two excursions away from the older folk in our caravan. We drove all around Pike’s Peak area for several hours actually and happened into a town with a motorcycle rally in full swing. Thousands of bandana and leather clad Harley riders lined the streets – every street all over the town. The second turn off the beaten path was near Pueblo when we set out to find yarn. We called these two jaunts around the mountains “The Great Pike’s Peak Excursion” we literally drove around in a circle. Then when we got to Pueblo we lit out on “The Great Yarn Excursion.” I didn’t get to ride the cog train or see Pike’s Peak up close and personal, but I saw a pyramid made out of gold dust and old abandoned mines set all through the curving mountainous roads we traveled that last day in the Rocky Mountains.

My sweet Mom and Dad keeping warm at Lionshead.

Sherry and Kevin at Pike’s National Forest.

Uncle Sam and Aunt Laura on the Georgetown Loop railroad heading out of Silver Plume, Colorado on Thursday.

And finally, a few last glimpses of sunset over Vail.

I still want to share the artistry I saw in Beaver Creek Village and will do so soon! Still… Colorado captivated me and I hope the pictures delight you as much as they left me breathless.