Postcards from Colorado

Last Saturday we took Jack to Tiny Town up in the foothills of the mountains. It was built in the twenties, but has been renovated several times over the years. They had a gas-powered diesel-electric style mini-train that took us around, much to Jack's delight. He wasn't really into the small houses, but he still talks about the train. He especially liked the "All Aboard!" having never heard that before.



Becky has booked tickets for a two-week holiday for her and Jack in Michigan over Thanksgiving next month. They will stay with Paul and DeeDee Syson and be able to catch up with many of our friends back there. I am going to be staying here in Colorado, but it should give me another opportunity to make headway in my course work. After a tough couple of weeks with illness and many papers due, things are looking up now that I am past the midterm stress.

Today is a glorious Fall day, the leaves are mosaics of yellow, orange, and red. And the crisp breeze gives an edge to the sunshine. Another perfect day in Colorado (we've had quite a bit of rain, so today is more seasonal than the past few weeks). I just went on a bike ride down the High-Line Canal trail through Cherry Creek, one of the posh areas of Denver. This gravel trail winds through about 19 miles of gently undulating path, between mansions and lakes. Since the trail begins just up the road from the campus, it is a wonderful way to get enjoyable exercise. And having Larry Carlton and Lee Ritenour on the Walkman adds to the pleasure. So now I feel goooodddd...

Becky's health has improved dramatically in the last month or so, through changes in medication, diet and also much prayer. She has not had a migraine for over a month now. We are rejoicing!

I am starting to get to know some of the other students in my classes. This is certainly increasing the enjoyment as we debate the subject matter and hang out during class break etc. I now have three Trinity exams and the final Trinity paper to complete and I am finished. My goal is still December 17th as the terminus for study this year. Then there will be no classes during the Winter break (yay!), and only two classes in the Spring (Jan - May). It will be interesting to see what we do with the extra time :)

As a final note, I have added an RSS feed to the news here. You can use the Feed icon above (which points to the feed address - http://feeds.feedburner.com/PostcardsFromColorado - thankyou FeedBurner) to subscribe to our news. Download a program like SauceReader and point it to our feed address to get updates whenever they get posted (as well as subscribe to news from other places like the BBC, New York Times etc)

By the way...is the election over yet? :)

# posted by Paul @ 1:14 PM

One could be forgiven for wondering what we have been up to. We have certainly wondered at times!

Summer flew by and Fall is upon us. The leaves are transforming into orange hues and snow has already fallen in the Rockies. Our campus apartment has developed a cosy and familiar feel during the last ten months. Given that the Seminary will be relocated by this time next year, we have to decide whether we will move on the new campus next summer or find our own place.

Last Saturday was a free day at the Denver Zoo and the weather was glorious, so Becky and I took Jack for the morning. There is only so much walking around (and looking at things from a distance) that a 2 year-old can take, but somewhere between the train ride, Carousel ride, and many assorted wild things, we all had a fun time. And since I turned 35 a couple of weeks ago, there is only so much that middle-aged father can take too.



Becky & I have been doing the Curves eating plan for the last few weeks, which has been an interesting exercise in planning meals and eating protein bars, counting carbs and calories, and having more cottage cheese and plain yoghurt in 21 days than the rest of my life put together. The results certainly bear out the approach in our case, and it is a lot more sensible than the Atkins approach (which I experimented with, as a lark, for a couple of weeks last year in Australia). After only two weeks Atkins had me grouchy, constipated, and sick of bacon and eggs. Such things should not be!

I was not able to finish my Trinity course this summer as I had hoped, but I am only three final exams and a paper away from graduation. Come the end of 2004 I will be done. I transferred into Denver Seminary's MA Philosophy of Religion program at the start of this semester, which certainly feels like a better fit for what we want to do. And I am enjoying the change of perspective and interaction with other students, now that I am finally sitting in class after three years of correspondence. There have been a number of lively debates in my classical philosophy class, at least the ones that I could follow .

I have been reading Augustine's confessions for this class, and have discovered it to be a pleasantly surprising read. Not only as a philosophy, but also a spiritually intellectual challenge. I read this morning on the train to work:

"He who for us is life itself descended here and endured our death and slew it by the abundance of his life" (Book IV xii).

His take on friendship is equally profound, particularly in referring to things that occupied his mind (such as performing mutual acts of kindness, sharing jokes and conversation, disagreeing without animosity) in the company of his friends after the death of someone close to him:

"These and other signs come from the heart of those who love and are loved and are expressed through the mouth, through the tongue, through the eyes, and a thousand gestures of delight, acting as fuel to set our minds on fire and out of many to forge unity.
This is what we love in friends. We love to the point that the human conscience feels guilty if we do not love the person who is loving us, and if that love is not returned - without demanding any physical response other than the marks of affectionate good will." (Book IV viii-ix)

Quotes are from the Oxford edition by Henry Chadwick.

# posted by Paul @ 8:23 AM

Hard to believe that it is May '04 already. Jack will be two years old in 5 weeks, and I have been working at Matrix Bancorp for over a month now. The sun shines here so much - it is such a wonderful change from Michigan. Becky is getting back into running again and enjoying being out and about.

I am making good progress on my Greek and New Testament Survey classes for Trinity, and I will be finished with my Denver Seminary course next week. My first semester is almost over.

The job interview (C# .Net application developer for you techies out there) went very well today. Thanks to all those that have been lifting us up in prayer with my (out of) job situation.

So well in fact that I start work at the end of the month…!

They called me this afternoon and offered me the position (which I gratefully accepted). The company is Matrix Bancorp. This is a *great* job. Interesting work, good pay, very flexible hours, good benefits, nice working environment and nice people. This job should not only allow me to pay for seminary but also complete the courses without killing myself in the process .

# posted by Paul @ 11:19 PM

Since our dental insurance runs out this week (it was through ASTI), last week we decided to get our critical dental issues sorted out. We found a good local dentist and made our appointments. Becky spent 5 hrs(!) on Friday getting 3 crowns and 3 fillings, and I have an 11am appointment today to get the same. I hate to think how many needles it will take to do this; Becky lost count during her visit. Ouch!

The meeting with the ISI representative went well last week; he suggested that I pursue a part-time internship with ISI. I am following this idea up to see what is involved.

I finished my exam for Systematic Theology I and am working on New Testament Theology now. It feels really good finally to be making progress through the Trinity course.

No job offers yet.

It is now two weeks since I lost my job. It took me about half a week to get over the shock (and find out how health insurance works here in the USA)! Then the rest of last week to update my resume, get my act into gear and start applying in earnest for jobs. Not much to report so far. This process takes time and there is not a great deal of demand for part-time project managers :-) I am applying for full-time positions, since that is all I can find. I am also studying for my first Microsoft certification exam (MCSD 70-300), with a view to eventually getting MCSD status (but that may take a while, depending on what else comes up)... We have many people praying for our income situation and I am waiting expectantly to see what God does.

On the home front, we have curtains! A big improvement to the decor. We also got our car registered in Colorado, so we are now officially state residents with cool new number plates.

Today we are going to a lunch-time presentation by ISI - International Students Inc.. They work with international students, esp at Denver University which is only 3km's from here. We have talked about doing something with them for a long time, but were waiting until we got here. It all depends on how things go on the job-front. A full-time position will not allow time for much else other than work, a part-time position may allow room for ministry but only if the hours are ~24/wk. I figure that I need about 30hrs/wk for study.

I am studying for my Systematic Theology II exam this morning since I have scheduled to take it this afternoon. That leaves the exams for New Testament Theology and Greek Grammar I to take before I can finish off the coursework for the last four classes of my MA Theology.

Becky & I went to a local Lebanese restaurant on Friday night for Valentines Day. I can highly recommend the Aladdin Cafe & Grill. Only five minutes drive from our apartment - very yummy food.

Jack loves reading. He really gets into the sounds and pictures! (check-out the curtains!)

# posted by Paul @ 9:30 AM

We took Jack out for a stroll around the campus today. This was after the library had a booksale where I picked up almost 30 good books for under $80 (so my adrenaline was still pumping). Jack loves the snow. He did get a little traumatized when he tried to wipe snow off his face with his snow-covered gloves, and discovered that this only made the situation worse! They have a goldfish pond (spanned by a nice little bridge) in the prayer garden, so he often asks to see the fischees.

I attended the first session of a biblical studies conference held on campus titled, "War, violence, and the Bible" tonight, and will be attending sessions all day tomorrow as well. This is a good opportunity to hear some experts discuss and debate such ideas as military action, Christian involvement and the possibility of a "just-war."

Snow boy. The bridge in the prayer garden is in the second shot.

Our apartment is under the stairwell (the red brick column in the middle of the first photo), on the first floor. The second shot shows the rest of the apartments and the courtyard that they create. The kids love to go sledding on the little hills in the courtyard.

Our apartment!

Jack at play (with mummy).


Just for the record, we are loving the Denver winter. The blue sky and sunshine is so much better than the constant gloom of a Michigan February.