Calming, Captivating, Commendable Colorado!!

Part 2 -
After having spent a week and a half in the Midwest, (pictures in the previous post below) we pointed our minivan westward to the beautiful mountains of Colorado!

In the lovely town of Fort Collins, we attended our biannual staff training conference for Campus Crusade for Christ, along with 4,000 of our "best friends!" :) The speakers were so inspiring as we heard reports of all that the Lord is doing all over the world as men and women seek to share the Gospel Message! We were able to meet up with old and new friends, and spend time with so many special people! Sadly, we were slackers and pretty much forgot our camera for the whole conference, so we don't have pictures of any of them but one of our dear friends, Libby Cox.
Yes, true gal friends always do each other's hair! :)

Libby is such a special friend, and we were so excited to be able to spend time almost every day with her! From shopping, to long chats, to taking walks, to picnics, to sitting in meetings together, we loved every minute of it! :)

And Mom (actually all of us!) always looks forward to reconnecting with Libby's mom (and dad!) whose sense of humor brings roars of laughter to us all!!

After the conference ended, we decided to spend a few extra days "tooling" around Colorado and spending time in the gorgeous countryside! We ended up passing through Colorado Springs, Denver, Boulder, and all the little "cutesy" towns in between! :)

One of the days, we decided to take a free 5 minute ski lift ride in Winter Park! Fun, fun, fun!!

Here we are in Boulder, walking through Pearl Street Mall! What a crazy, but fun place!

Our favorite times were when we could hike the mountains and explore in creeks and water falls!

Dad in hiking mode! :)

On our way home after a fantastic time in Colorado, we saw this beautiful rainbow! What a reminder of God's faithfulness to us!

HOME!!!

We are back home!! After almost a month of traveling like gypsies, :) we have returned and have finally gotten a handle on bags and bags (and bags and bags) of "stuff" to unpack, mountains of laundry, hundreds of emails, stacks of dishes, etc! But it was all worth it!! The Lord gave us a terrific time, and so many unexpected blessings during the month! We'd like to share just a few of these with you now!


Our first stop was Illinois to stay with my dad's sister, Diane, and her new husband, Don! (on the very left in the picture above) While there, we got to spend an evening with my dad's other sister, Julie and her husband Randy (in the middle of the picture) and their children Meagan and Nick and Nick's fiance (not pictured). And of course we had to make a stop at Whitey's ice cream with everyone! On the Sunday that we spent in Illinois, we visited one of our sending churches, and saw many of our special ministry partners and friends! Though we don't have pictures of any of them, we were so blessed by our time with each one!!


Next stop was Union Pier Michigan (the very southern tip, and I do believe one of the most beautiful places on earth!!) We rented a little cottage right on the beach and stayed up there as a family for the first few days, then Aunt Diane and Uncle Don came up from Illinois to join us for the rest of the time! It was wonderful to be able to take a little break from our busy schedule and rest by the beach!

Activities included:

Badminton,


Rock hunting,

Walks along the beach,

Frisbee,

Bike riding along the darling little streets of Union Pier,

Reading aloud as a family,

Canoeing,

A campfire and s'mores,

And of course swimming!

There were huge waves on a couple of days!

Here I am trying to tame "Finley"- my out of control blow - up dolphin! Impossible! lol

One morning we took a bike ride to "The Whistle Stop:" a little breakfast place,

And another morning, we had special visitors walk by our site on the beach!! :)

Out to eat as a group after a long day in the sun!

Sweet Mom and Dad!

Beach twins! :)


Stay tuned for part 2 of our summer travels: to the Rocky Mountains and beyond!! :)

The Blessed Tree Swing

-Sunday morning, 9:00 AM. -

"Yahoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!"

I looked out the kitchen window to our backyard. I had my suspicions as to who was making all the commotion, and what I saw confirmed I had guessed correctly. Four little boys all trying to pile at once onto our little green tree swing. Four little boys all yelling at the top of their lungs. Four little boys running around our tiny backyard and tackling each other mercilessly.



"It's the neighborhood posse, come to make their rounds!" Dad announced from the family room, where he was ironing his shirt in preparation for church later that morning . I grinned at him. This "posse" was a regular visitor at our house because of our fun swing, and also because of the "free" water and suckers we are so well known for in these parts. :)

Let me back up a little bit. Four years ago, we had our handyman, Mr. G, put up a cute little green swing that matched our cute little green picket fence from our huge sycamore tree in our backyard. For several years now, our backyard has been a "hotspot" among many neighborhood children because of that swing, and we loved the many open doors this has provided for us to get to know and reach out to these children. Most or all of them come from not - so - good families, and don't have a clue as to what it means to know Christ personally. So we go out to give them "underdoggies" on the swing, and give them water and suckers (and bananas and apples...) and talk to them about Jesus.



So when we were informed just recently that our huge tree was dying, or mostly dead, we were terribly disappointed! If we cut down the tree, then this meant no more swing, and no more swing meant no more children. So we came up with an idea: why not just cut down all but the trunk and the one branch that the swing hung from?

Yes, you may laugh (and all our neighbors did! :)) but the kids keep coming, and there is still enough life in that trunk and one branch to give the kids many more hours of fun! :)

So back to Sunday morning, the noisy boys soon ambled up to our sliding glass door to ask for a drink. They claim we have the best water they've ever tasted!! Then they asked me to come out and give them underdoggies, since I'm bigger than they are and can push them higher. :) So I did, even though I was dressed for church, and right in the middle of lunch preparations to take to our church potluck.

Soon, to my surprise, spiritual conversation came up. Coy...

...9 years old and the most outspoken, told us "Victor doesn't believe in Jesus."


Victor is 10 and twins with James. (I'm sad to say that I don't have pictures of either of them!) They are sweet little guys, and don't actually live in the neighborhood, but come to visit their grandparents every once in a while who live on our street.

So we were off and running, talking about Jesus, and soon Dad joined us to talk some more. At one point, when Dad was talking about heaven and hell, Coy looked up aghast at Dad and questioned, "isn't that a bad word??" lol!! There was some obvious interest from the three of them, and it became very apparent that Victor, in fact, was open to Jesus, but there was one other boy, Gavin - 9 years - that seemed distant. He left for a while, and we thought that he probably wouldn't come back.

While he was gone, the three other boys all expressed that they were ready to ask Jesus into their hearts!! We were so excited, and made sure that they understood the decision that they were making. Just when we were about to pray, Gavin came back, and bowed his head with the rest, repeating the words after Dad to make the Lord their Savior. Praise the Lord!!

Victor looked up after the prayer. "Why is my heart burning??" he asked slyly. Coy joined in: "and why is everything changing colors??" Ha ha, you silly guys! It was so fun to hear all the cute, fun things they had to say.

Gavin, normally the most wild, was surprisingly a bit more sober than all of them. We found out why just a few moments later. His uncle had been murdered just the night before, and his whole family was in shock and grief. So we were able to go over and talk to his parents, who are not Christians at all, and offer our help in any way that we could.

So we completely missed church, but we made church in our backyard instead that morning! God works in wonderful ways, and we praise His Name!

We are not sure if these boys were sincere or not in their decision that morning, but we do know that seeds were planted, and we fully intend to follow them up!

Would you join us in praying for each one of these four boys and their families: Coy, Gavin, James and Victor? Also for Gavin's little sisters Audrye and Jana (pictures below). Thank you!!

End of the year and summer activities!

Hello Friends!

Summer has officially begun for the Bridges family! We have just finished up school, and just this past Saturday, we had our piano recital, which ended our piano activities for the year! So now that the busy month of May has passed, we are ready to have a bit more time on our hands for the summer months. Lord willing, our plans include: SV Getaway trip for Dad, trip to visit Grandpa in Ardmore Oklahoma for the girls, learning to sew and working on our quilt project, family choir camp at our church, ministering to younger children thru different avenues (more on that in the next couple weeks!) hospitality, cello for me (Kate), gardening, mother's helper, a month long trip to Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, and Michigan, and blogging more faithfully! :)

Below are a few pictures from our Spring Awards Piano recital. Playing the piano is one of our favorite things to do, and we are so grateful to the Lord for our wonderful teacher!


A family picture with our teacher, Miss Elizabeth.



Some family and friends: The Roach family and the Hickle family.


Kylie Roach, a dear friend, and Kelsey Hickle, a dear cousin! :)

Later that evening, we went to hear the Dallas Symphony Orchestra with the Roaches, and had a wonderful time!! What an inspiration to hear those talented musicians! It motivated me to hear the AMAZING cellists (as I plug through my little beginners' basics!! :)) We also enjoyed a serious game of volleyball and Frisbee during the intermission! :)

We joined the approximately 500 other people on the lawn with lawn chairs and sheets to watch the performance.

And were surprised and delighted by a spectacular fireworks display during the very last song!



Stay tuned in the next several days for an exciting story of how we have seen God's goodness to soften hearts and bring people to Himself!

Hospitality Update

Well hello friends!

It has been a long time since we've posted, so we thought that we would give a little update on how our hospitality adventures are going! If you will recall, the first post that we have on this blog is about our new year's resolution to make our home a hospitality center!

We have been able to have several more guests in our home recently, and though we haven't been able to get pictures of all of them, here are a few below...

This is Jeremy, our Student Venture staff guy for Frisco! Jeremy is such a sweet guy - really a joy to be around! If you're wondering what in the world he is doing in this picture, let me explain...

My dad, being the fun-loving-kid-at-heart kind of guy that he is, has invented a game with Jeremy when the two of them are together at staff meeting each week. They go in the men's restroom and once they have washed their hands, they wad up their paper towels and play a game of hoops with their paper towels (basketball) and the trashcan (hoop.) You would be amazed at how much they get into it (and how competitive they get!!) Christa and I and even Mom joined in the fun , since we set up the "hoop" outside the bathroom this time:) and I do have to admit, it's pretty fun!! So now you know what really goes on at staff meeting... :)

Did I mention that they get competitive?

After dinner, we played a rousing game of catch phrase - boys versus girls. And who won?? Drum roll please.................
The GIRLS!! This is a picture of "the losers eating their cookies" as my mom put it!! :)





The next visitors were Simi, our wonderful Student Venture intern "big sister," :) Jacquellynne Miller, a prospective staff girl from Arkansas, and Ruth Cotton, a prospective intern from Michigan! We had a wonderful evening with all 3 of them, getting to meet Jacquellynne and Ruth for the first time, and of course getting to know Simi even better! Jacquellynne spent the rest of the week with us as she got to take a closer look at the Student Venture ministry, and we had a wonderful time with her and really hit it off!

Yes, there was time for ministry, but also time for goofing off...we spent a while the last night practicing our juggling skills with Jacquellynne!!


Last but certainly not least, were our friends the Vogrins! We had met them once before, but were thrilled to be able to get to know them better when they were in town this past month! We spent the day with Mrs. Claudia Vogrin and their 18 year old son Paul at our local nature preserves, and had a wonderful time walking the trails, learning how to juggle from Paul (who is an expert, let me tell you!! :)) and playing a game of volleyball and frisbee! Then later that evening, Mr. Vogrin and my dad joined us for dinner and music!!

Just for the record, juggling is WAY harder than it looks!! Paul was so patient, but we never quite caught on before he left! :) We're doing better now! (after much practice!) :)



A time of music...

And singing together!!

We thank the Lord for each one of these friends that we got to spend time with! :)