Alabama

A few pics from our pre-Thanksgiving visit with Shane's family in Alabama. We had lots of fun playing with his nephew and niece in all of the leaves on the farm!

Cozy

The snow is falling....a great time to cuddle up in a blanket with a good book, light a candle, and enjoy some good quiet time. I absolutely love Anthropologie's Sweater Weather Candle Tins and their yummy scents of winter. And, my favorite read these days is A Praying Life, by Paul E. Miller. This refreshingly honest book is enlivening my dry spirit. Below are just a few statements that Miller makes that I particularly related to...just a taste of what the book has to offer.

"If I get an answer to prayer, sometimes I'll think, It would have happened anyway."

"Come overwhelmed with life. Come with a wandering mind. Come messy."

"If you are going to enter this divine dance we call prayer, you have to surrender your desire to be in control, to figure out how prayer works."

Enjoy this lovely Sunday and be encouraged to pray. The Lord will meet you!! 

We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

Romans 8:26

 

All Is New

We are officially as settled as settled gets for living in an apartment with a month to month lease, one entire bedroom stashed floor to ceiling with boxes, a porch overflowing with bikes and hopes of finding a new place to call home!! I'm not sure how long we will be here, so for now I am trying to live simply. Simply meaning with "less stuff," as well as simply embracing each day and where the Lord has us now. After living on Button Rock for 3 years, by far the longest time I have lived in any one place for quite some time, we are in a new place. In many ways it is a surprisingly refreshing change.  Although only a 10 minutes drive from where we were....all is new. I am soaking up the pastel painted evening skies from my living room window. A short walk away, wrinkled golden leaves frame a new portrait of the rocky range before me. Zipping my fleece tightly around my neck as I prepared to scrape the unwelcome frost from my car window this morning, I wondered in giddy excitement what this next season holds.

Fall Tex-Mex Meal

After our recent visit to the Rocky Mountain Pumpkin Patch I had an acorn squash and local salsa that I wanted to use in a meal. After searching the web I found this great recipe for Acorn Squash Quesadillas on Smitten Kitchen's website. I changed it up a bit and added roasted red peppers along with the poblano peppers. I also served it "fajita" style instead of making quesadillas.

What a great fall recipe and my hubby loved it as well! Anyone else have a favorite fall recipe to share?

Reminiscing

A few shots from our Europe trip last fall....such wonderful memories and great sites!

Fall Snapshots

 A few pictures of fall at our home...visiting the pumpkin patch,

selling our home, moving, and trail running.

Happy Fall Everyone!

Peru - Cusco

This will be our last post before returning home to the states.  Christine and I arrived in Cusco yesterday, after our private taxi/tour through a few of the remaining sites in the Sacred Valley on our way to the big city.  We toured a site of Inka experimental farming as well as a place where salt ponds have been made to allow water to evaporate, leaving the salt behind.  The pictures say it all, and we´ll post soon after returning home. 

We toured around the city yesterday afternoon.  I was definitely surprised by Cusco, as least the area we´re in.  There are some beautiful old buildings and a very vibrant atmosphere.  We took tons of pictures through the city streets, trying to capture the essence of Cusco.  After a quick shower and putting the last of our clean clothes on, we headed to Los Perros Couch & Wine Bar.  It almost seemed as if this place was plucked from New York City or San Francisco and placed in the middle of Peru.  We lounged on sofas, read American magazines (we´re definitely getting into the Peruvian culture!!!), and ate amazing food.  You probably won´t believe me, but I think I had the best burger of my life there.  Other than being huge (we were starving from the day with only a Cliff Bar and some nuts we bought from a street vendor), it was bursting with flavor.  We also had terrific wontons with various dipping sauces and Christine had a vegitarian stir-fry.  We ended the night having fun and interesting conversation with a couple from LA who was on their first day of a year of traveling.  They bought an around the world plan ticket and will be spending their first 3 months in South America.  Of course, it had Christine and I talking about our own lives, as most every conversation here in Peru has. 

We slept in today, this being the only day we haven´t set an alarm....something Christine lobbies occasionally.  We had breakfast at the hostal then headed to visit museums throughout the city.  We had lunch at Jack´s Cafe, with great coffee, coca tea, french toast, and soup.  Now, we´re about the head to yoga.  Yes, can you believe it? My first time taking yoga will be in Peru! After discussing how stiff and tight our bodies feel from not running, biking, or any of the other activities we typically take part in, we ended up behind a yoga instructor at the cafe.  She told us she had a 3 PM class and we were happy to join.

We fly to Lima tomorrow, then home via Miami on Monday, arriving in Denver around 8 PM.  We look forward to catching up with everyone in the coming days.  Until then, take care.