Curtis and I spent Thanksgiving at my mom’s place, catching up with as many friends as possible which made for a fun but exhausting weekend. Christmas we spent in Yakima with Curtis’ family. It was different not being with my family, but I did meet my mom for breakfast in Cle Elum, so it was great to have a leisurely visit with her on Christmas Eve morning. New Year’s I had a horrible cold which prevented us from meeting up with friends in Bend and put me in a funk. I’m pretty sure I didn’t stay up until midnight, but honestly I don’t even remember!
In January we attended the “Young Life Celebration”, an all-staff conference held every four years in Orlando, FL. It is an amazing five days of incredible speakers (Francis Chan and Tim Keller), worship, fun, testimonies, seminars, inspiration and surprises. The biggest surprise was YL renting out Sea World for us for an entire evening! We got to roam around going on the roller coasters and seeing the shows and finished the evening with a fun concert, entertainment by Jeff Foxworthy, and a fireworks show! Getting food poisoning put a damper on the end of the week, but it was still amazing. I wondered if that was a bit how kids feel when they come to camp here at WFR – just blown away by all the care and attention that goes into every detail from the meals to the program to the rides!
Curtis and I at Universal's "Islands of Adventure" - I went on all the rides thanks to my good friend Dramamine! Since we were already on the east coast, we decided to take a few days to visit our nation’s capitol. So we spent three full days exploring Washington DC with our good friends from the ranch, Mark and Mandy Lofdahl. Mandy and I had been there before, but it was the first time for Mark and Curtis. We visited lots of monuments (MLK, Korean and WWII were new to me), museums, the National Cathedral and Arlington Cemetery. We enjoyed seeing everything, and had a really fun time together.
The four of us in front of the White House 
MLK Memorial with the Washington Monument in the background 
In front of the Capitol Building The off-season is great for the community out here. We have staff worship every other Thursday night, community parties, shared meals, Bible studies, and lots of walks around “the loop”. It has been great to start to get to know folks out here better since summer was crazy and the few spare moments I did have I spent with Curtis. I am in a women’s small group Wednesday mornings with a great group of ladies. We started with the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan, in anticipation of hearing him speak in Florida, and are now reading The Wounded Healer by Henri Nouwen. It is a great time of fellowship and the openness of the ladies out here to share everything in their lives is challenging me to open up more. I love being in a community where everything and everyone points me to Jesus, and more intimacy with Him.
Curtis and I also did a study with five other (married) couples – we watched the video series by Emerson Eggerichs based on his book Love and Respect. It is centered on the verse in Ephesians encouraging husbands to love their wives and wives to respect their husbands, which are the respective deepest needs of women and men. It was a fantastic series and we learned tons about ourselves and each other. It has also given us words to use to express what is happening when we experience conflict, and ways to build each other up so that we experience less conflict to begin with!
Of course winter brings on the ski bug, and I have been eager to check out what Central Oregon has to offer. Curtis and I agreed that if he tried XC skiing with me, I would go downhill skiing with him. So one day we hit Mt. Bachelor for some XC skiing and he picked it up immediately, looking like a pro after just a few strides. Then a few weeks later we went to Hoodoo (the other big ski area in Central Oregon) with friends from the ranch, Lance and Jan Wagner. We overnighted at the home of a wonderful lady named Marianne Walker who opens up her home as a “B&B” to anyone from the ranch who needs a place to stay while in town. Then the next day the four of us went XC skiing and really had a wonderful time of skiing and just being together.
My model boyfriend's 1st time on XC skis I also had an awesome weekend with my mom on the slopes. She flew into Redmond, OR (near Bend) and we stayed two nights at Marianne’s and explored Bend and Sisters. We went snowshoeing, XC skiing and on a sled dog ride! We also shopped, ate at a drive-thru Thai restaurant, went in a “soaking pool” and out to the movies. Great mother-daughter time! I stayed one extra night at Marianne’s so that I could fulfill my end of the bargain and go downhill skiing with Curtis. Actually Curtis’ friend John invited Curtis and I sort of tagged along. The skiing that day was epic. Besides the “roll-back-to-the-80’s” price of $10.50 for a lift ticket, there was six inches of fresh powder and beautiful sunshine.
My mom and I snowshoeing 
Dog sledding with Mt. Bachelor in the background!I feel so blessed as I sit here in my cozy home typing up these wonderful experiences and listening to my cat snore. Thank you Lord.
