A Long wait paid off

So you may know that I have been waiting for a long time to hear from Y.O Ranch. Finally after a long wait I have received an answer and begin working up there on March First. As a part of that I am in Colorado at Camp Redcloud getting my WFR recert and will be heading back to TX in 5 days. This has a blessing as I love this place and the people up here. I only wish Lauren could be here for this as I know she longs to be back here. Anyway my job at Y.O. is managing their high ropes, climbing wall, and challenge course. Now there will be other things I help out with but that is what I will be in charge of. I look forward to this job and also because of the future that this job is helping with. This gets into Lauren and I, we are doing well and I have had many people asking me from Redcloud. Lauren is keeping busy with her job at Camp Eagle but we still get to see each other on a semi-regular basis. I cannot help but to look forward to the future and the outcome of God's hand at work.

As I sit her typing I still dwell on Redcloud and how much I wish I was able to still live here and make a living out of it. It feels so much like home to me and I love so many of the staff here that I have known for 3 years now. I still see being back in Colorado living in the future and that is one thing I hope for and it is not just wishful thinking but rather I feel that Colorado has not seen the last of me.

P.S. the Mountains here are beautiful!!!!!

what is one thing without the other? If it were not for the things we do not like we would would not have what we do like. We did not know what sin was without the law so we did not therefore know that we were dead and needed life. What is love without grief? both are so real and both immaterial can affect the physical. One causes the other. What is joy without sorrow, or laughter without pain. what is life without death or loneliness without feeling needed by someone. What is frustration without relief? All these are very real and felt by everyone of us. on some occasions we even feel many of these within a single day. Why is it oh God that love affects us so much physically? to feel like there is something within you that you cannot remove. a pain so real that it hurts. And why do we feel that at times? I do not understand your ways but hold on to the truth and trust that you will bring me inexpressible joy. Perhaps you allow us to feel your heart in all of this. to feel what you do when we leave you for things of the earth. Tearing your heart to shreds only for you to continue to love us and feel the same every time we do this to you. Yet a love so incomprehensible receives us the same each time. I know what I deserve but help me to understand this which I do not deserve.

An update on YO

So it has been awhile without an answer for everyone who asks me how the ranch is going. I am not there yet and have not had any news on it until recently. I called Cathy the other day to ask her where things were with me being there and her response was that she is meeting with the owner either Thursday or Friday of this week and will get back to me after their meeting. She also stated that she is leaving the ranch to go work in Alaska. This would happen in April and they are now also looking for a camp director to fill her spot. i am not clear on whether she wanted me to think about that ( truthfully it kind of scares me) but she knows my situation with Lauren and put out some things to think about while living here. I am also needing some certifications for the job including recerting my WFR. I plan on doing that this month up at Redcloud where many of my friends are. I miss that place dearly and cannot wait to get up there once again, even if it is only for a few days.

Lauren and I are doing great but the struggle lies with not being able to see each other regularly. Having Skype dates work but they are not ideal and I think anyone in our situation understands what I am saying. However I do look forward to what God has in store for the two of us and cannot wait for that time to come. Some things that Lauren and I pray about that you can pray with us about as well is first of all our relationship; that it is God honoring and a good model for others to see, also that we have patience with a variety of things. And secondly my job, I still have no income and have been in TX for a month. It is only b/c of Laurens parents that that is possible. They have been gracious and hospitable to me. I wish you all the best!