Highlights from Lisa!

Hello from the Rockies!!

It has been many, many miles since we last wrote.... Yesterday marked a month since our last oil change and we already crossed the 3,000 mile mark--just since then!

THE DESERT IS HIGHLY OVERRATED!
We've covered a lot of territory in the last month and a half! We decided we weren't so fond of the desert of Arizona and New Mexico, except for the amazing caves in Carlsbad! We spent a morning in Roswell, New Mexico and that was quite enough. No, we didn't see any aliens this time!

LUBBOCK-(where?!)
Our time in Lubbock, Texas with our friends from Mozambique was absolutely amazing. We saw God moving very powerfully in people there and we were given the opportunity to speak in a church there, which ended up being such fun. We let the Holy Spirit lead and he really spoke through us and touched people there. We enjoyed praying for people afterward for over 2 hours! Such fun!

CAMPING IN DALLAS WITH GREG AND JEAN
The next day we headed to the Dallas area and met up with my (Lisa's) aunt and unlce, who happened to be there camping at the same time we were planning to be there. Cath and I went for an impromptu swim in our clothes in the lake there one evening at sunset--beautiful and refreshing!! Reminded us of our early morning swims together in Mozambique when we were first getting to know each other!

REST AND BLESSING AT THE KYPUROS HOME
We have been amazingly blessed all throughout our trip of finding amazing "strangers" who have opened up their homes and hearts to us. One such family, the Kypuros', are friends of friends from CA. We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them, playing (and coloring!) with their three beautiful girls, and praying with them on several occasions. After our first few days with them, they left town on vacation and let us stay in their home for a few more days while they were gone. A blessing for sure!

A REAL TEXAS RODEO!
After that, we headed to our friend, Andrea's, parents' house--also "strangers" to us. They welcomed us with amazing "Tex Mex" and upon discovering that we had not yet seen a rodeo jumped up from the dinner table, packed us in the car and took us off to see one! I was a bit skeptical at first, but ended up having an absolute blast! I liked the bull riding--and the kiddie version (4-6 year olds) on sheep!

MORE STRANGERS--and FISHING! (see picture below)
Our friend, Denea (from Lubbock), was in Dallas for a family reunion and invited us to join. It was great fun to see her again and to meet yet more wonderful people who welcomed us so warmly. A favorite part of our time there was going on her dad's platoon on a lake at sunset to fish. Once again, I didn't think I would enjoy myself, but ended up not wanting our time to end. We laughed a lot, and I caught....a log, some plants, and the bottom of the lake on numerous occasions.

OOOOOOO-KLAHOMA WHERE THE WIND COMES SWEEPIN' DOWN THE PLAIN....
After a long drive, we made a stop in Oklahoma City, where (once again) we were rained on while camping. Seems to be a theme... Anyway, we thought what better thing to do in Oklahoma than go see the musical "Oklahoma!" on stage. It just happened to be playing that week we were there and we caught opening night. Such fun to be in an audience of real Oklahomans who were so excited about their State.

NEXT STOP--KANSAS CITY AND DAGWOOD'S DINER (see picture below)
Once again, we were taken in by a complete stranger--this time on 2 hours' notice. We stayed 3 nights with a friend of a friend of a friend of a woman we met in Lubbock. We visited the International House of Prayer there and were happy to escape the crazy rain that has been pounding the mid-west. Our favorite part of Kansas City was discovering a dingy little diner on the Kansas side one morning. After a failed attempt to find a restaurant we were familiar with, we finally stopped, incredibly hungry, at Dagwood's Diner. Wowee--AAA needs to get this one in it's tourbook! We ate with the locals and watched as the 60something, overweight woman in the kitchen made our pancakes, licking the batter off of her fingers before carrying on with the next order. Next to her stood two women in the kitchen taking their smoke break... It was absolutely an amazing experience--and the food was so fabulous that we went back the next day for more!

A LOOOOOONG DAY OF DRIVING LEADS TO DENVER, COLORADO (see picture below)
Through Kansas we went in one day. Not too much to see, really. We found a nice place to stay in the mountains of Denver and Cath got to see another baseball game--the Rockies vs the Mets. Good fun as usual. I enjoyed watching the cotton candy man speed down the stairs, the amazing sunset, and the cute baby that was sitting in front of us. Oh, ya, and the baseball was good too. "We" won. =)

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH! (see picture below)
We are currently (that is, for the next hour or so) just outside of Colorado Springs, enjoying some tremendous beauty. We've decided that we officially like Colorado! Yesterday we visited the "Garden of the Gods", which is a park consisting of all sorts of crazy rock formations. The sky was bright blue, the trees super green, the clouds white as could be, and the rocks a beautiful red. We took tons of pictures and enjoyed just sitting and enjoying the scenery. Last night we went to Seven Falls, all lit up with lights. We missed the fireworks, but this was better than fireworks! It was calm and very pretty. We felt like we were in a movie set and that when we left they would shut off the lights and turn off the tap to the water!

NEXT STOP??
We're off in a few minutes and aren't sure where we'll sleep tonight. However, we have been scheming about the next few weeks and have a good idea about our route back to Oregon. This could well be the last chance I have to update until we get back home. We will likely stop at a coffee shop for internet here and there, but I probably won't be able to take the time to write another long update for a while. I hope you all are well!

Lisa and Catherine