Like Emma just said, we got back from CO two days ago. We stayed in a friend’s cabin in the woods, which was surrounded by the spectacular Rocky mountains, ranging from 12 to 14 thousand feet.  We did a lot of fun stuff…we climbed a 12,000′ mountain (although, we drove most of the way…but we climbed the last 600), we fed and petted wild chipmunks (they were used to tourists), we visited a ghost town (from the mid-1800s!), we visited the Focus on the Family headquarters (and Whit’s End), we went to a sweet shop in Boulder ( Anja’s personal favorite) that had basically any kind of candy you can imagine, even those chocolate frogs with collectible wizard cards from Harry Potter, and Jelly Belly’s flavored disgusting things like boogers and pepper (yuck)! My favorite part was (I’m crazy about wolves), this thing where they rescued and tamed wolves and wolf-dogs. I got to go into a cage with these two wolves, Ranger and Willow. Ranger was pretty shy, but Willow was very friendly. She let me rub her belly and she even licked my face (now I can say I’ve been kissed by a wolf, and that doesn’t happen every day).

We DID do a LOT of fun stuff in Colorado, but we also got to see God’s amazing work. How can people look at those mountains and say that there is no God? We had lots of devotions and quiet times while we were in the mountains, and just took the time to relax and talk to God. I found myself thanking him multiple times throughout the week, just for everything. At night when we stood on the deck and saw the stars, we could see all of the constellations, Mars, the Adromada galaxy, and even the Milky way. How often do you get to see that? Or when we were standing on the top of the Collegiate mountains, looking at the clouds below us and listening to the absolute silence. I see pictures like that on postcards and in magazines, but I just kind of take it for granted. I think it’s pretty, but I don’t take the time to think that it’s actually there. And the same God who made those mountains made me.

We had a great time in Colorado, and it looks like we are probably going to move there. But we’ll see. For now, we’re in 106 degree Texas, staying inside until it cools down. And for now, we’re happy. (come on, colorado, come on, colorado, come on, come on!)

I finally got a laptop! I’ve been wanting one for FOREVER!!! YAY!!! HURAY!!! I think I might just hyperventilate… YAY!!! I spelled hyperventilate right the first time… now I really will…. good…night…

Well, sorry about that. That was… well, embarassing. Um… right. This is how I got it:

I’ve been wanting one for a very, very, long time, and then someone posted a message on Swiss saying that they are selling a Dell for $75! I had more than that, because I had been saving for a loong time. So, I bought it. And THEN, Dad’s boss said that he got a lot of free laptops, and if he got one better than that, he’d give it to me! And he did! Now I have a really nice Intel, and we gave the other one to some friends that didn’t have a computer. So, it all turned out GREAT!! And I’ve got a wonderful story idea that I would like to start now. Well, good-bye all ye peeps!

Okay, I’ve got a lot to say… well, here goes!

Usually every year we get a lot of scholarships, narrowing the tuition down to about $500 or $1000. But this year, we applied for the scholarships a day to late, and they said that they had run out of funding. And if we didn’t pay at least some of our tuition before Dec. 3rd, Dad would have to drop his classes and we’d get kicked out of Swiss! A week later… nothing. Another week, and still nothing. Eight days to go…

Finally, Wednesday, Nov. the 25th, a scholarship came in. The same day, another came. Two days later, yet another came in. And they kept coming, and now, Dec. 2nd, we only have $1000 left to pay. Now that we’ve paid most of it, Dad can still take his classes, and I know God will provide the rest.

Also, rent is due today (but we still have to Dec. 5th before we have to pay any late fees), and just today we got a letter under our door saying, ‘We are planning to give you $700.00 – you will receive it Thursday afternoon. With love.’ It was anonymous. So both our tuition and rent have been paid!

And, dad got a new job, he– oh, gotta go to A.W.A.N.A.! I’ll post about that when I get back.

I haven’t written in FOREVER!! I just got on and noticed that my last post was on Independence Day! So sorry, if there are any of you still reading this blog. I will try to post more regularly. Well, first, let me tell you why this post is called  W-O-W. You might think that me posting on this blog after–-what? Four, maybe five months?–-is W-O-W enough, but nope, I’ve got a story that will wow you even more.

On Friday, November the 13th, some of our good friends came to visit from Tyler. Well, that night, the moms were putting the kids to bed when Mom saw something slip under a door. She went to pick it up and found that it was a very thick envelope. So she brought it to Dad who was sitting in his office, talking to me (I wasn’t in trouble or anything… you know me. I never get into trouble ).  Anyway, she brought it to us and I begged to open it. So I did, and inside was $500!! There were twenty-five twenty dollar bills! Oh, and earlier, Dad had earned $150 for taking pictures for some friends. But that’s not it… two days later, on our way to church, our car broke down. We brought it to our dealership, Rusty Wallis Honda. They were very friendly and took, like, 20% off of the original price. And guess what the price was then? $584. So, God gave us the exact amount of money and some extra two days before we needed it!

I just wanted to share that with you, and I promise I will try to post more often. Well, gotta go!

We were heading home a few months ago when the radio turned on saying that a tornado was heading this way. I started praying that the tornado would not come.  A little while later the weather turned back on and said that the tornado had turned around. I thanked God for protecting us.

by Emma