Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving...

a very american holiday that everyone celebrates. I got to experience my first thanksgiving here in America and it was very like a present-less Christmas. Some of you will know the tradition of the Queen's speech on Christmas Day that most people will watch every Christmas Day, well here in the U.S they have something similar only it's a parade that is put on by Macy's. It's televised from New York, they have celebrities and singers and lots of floats plus performances from Broadway musicals and at the end of it all Santa arrives, kickin' off the Christmas season. Then after that there is the National Dog Show. It was fun to watch and know that it's been a tradition for many years now...84 I think. Then after watching that, we got ready and headed over to a family friend's house for thanksgiving dinner, lots of food- which is always nice.

Before thanksgiving though, Vandi (Whitney's mum) and I treated ourselves to a thanksgiving present...2 more dogs! We are now the owners of Bob, an Australian cattle dog and Mia, a big terrier mix. They are outside dogs and will be free to roam around the property. We got them from the local Humane Society and this animal loving family is converting me, I just wanted to adopt them all and bring them home...kittens, dogs, birds, snakes, rabbits--everything! I will try and get a picture of Bob and Mia and post it on here.

Here in america the biggest shopping day of the year is after thanksgiving and is known as Black Friday. It's similar to Boxing Day sales, people lining up from all hours of the day and night to be the first into the store. Most stores here opened at 3am/4am and well I had to work the 5am shift at Macy's and it was madness, there where bodies everywhere and shoes littering every corner of the department. It reminded me of when we'd go to Bomb clearance sales back in Northern Ireland, after some idiots blew up a shop. It was a very long day and very tiring but a good experience none-the-less and I was able to get an electric kettle (rare here) for $21.99 and some Christmas presents too!

That was my first thanksgiving week experience. So now the Fall decorations are being replaced by the Christmas decorations, thanks to my decorating loving wife. I will try and get pictures up of that too...once I get batteries for my camera.

that's the magic of Macy's...

...seriously who comes up with these tag lines?! Well, there is nothing magical about working at Macy's. I spend 8 hours a day on my feet, running back and forth getting 6 different shoes in 3 different sizes for ladies but I am so very thankful that I have a job. It's always busy in the ladies shoe department which makes for great commission and plenty of interaction. Most of the ladies are lovely but of course there will always be a couple that think it is there right to be rude to everybody that they meet--those people are the ones I pray for most often as it's clear they don't understand that fact that there is a Lord that loves them. As a friend of mine said 'Macy's is your mission field' and how true that is when on a daily basis I see people filling their lives with the material things of this world to fill a brokenness in their heart that only the Lord can fill.

The less interesting information about my job is that I work with 5 others, two of which are Christians and the rest are lovely too. I have to wear black dress trousers, a black shirt and the one tie that I own (which is red). Besides that my job is just about serving and trying to find the right shoes and praying that it's in the place it's meant to be in the stockroom!

So I'm experiencing the magic of Macy's but like I say there's not much that's magical about it.

Employed

Macy's employee of the month...well not quite yet but maybe someday.

For those of you who don't know what Macy's is, it's pretty simple, it's a department store.

I got a full-time job working in Ladies Shoes! I'm thankful for a job, but of course it's a lot different than working at Capernwray but none-the-less I am thankful.

The Update

It always takes me a while to get round to updating my blog, I apologize. Recently the internet has been having a few tissues and issues, so trying to blog wasn't high on the list of things to do on the days when the internet decided to work.

Green Card:

About 3 weeks or so ago I got my green card in the mail...finally. The long over drawn process has finally come to an end. I got a lovely letter welcoming me to the United States of America, the one and only time we've got a nice letter from immigration but none-the-less the process is finalized! It looks like a driving license only on the back it has these tiny tiny wee pictures of the Presidents...kind of a waste of ink I say.

Since getting my green card I then had to go and get my Social Security Number, probably the easiest part of this whole process, which means I can work and get my driving permit!

Jobs:

As of writing this blog, I have applied for 25+ jobs. Ranging from Bookstores to an Admin position in a nursing home for Nuns (which I would love!). I have heard back from 2 of those jobs and I'm currently waiting to hear from the rest. I did have an interview at Costco (bulk grocery store kinda deal) and they asked me back for a 2nd interview, both of them went well and I'm just waiting to hear if they'll hire me. I also have an interview Wednesday afternoon at Macy's Department Store, so we'll see how that goes as well. Of course these aren't exactly jobs that I want to spend the rest of my life doing but I am thankful that they are something for the time being.

Church:

One thing that I find myself enjoying here is church. It's called Rocky Mountain Calvary and has about 4,000 people attending weekly, so of course it's a little bigger than what I was used to in the U.K. The teaching is so incredible, very indepth yet easy to understand. The worship isn't that great but that should never be the main reason you attend a church anyway. Since the church is so large Whitney and I decided to join a small group. These groups meet 3times in a month in different people's home. The small group we joined is lead by a lovely couple called Ben and JoAnn. There are about 16 of us in the group and I must say I do enjoy their company. Whitney and I are of course the youngest couple but that doesn't matter to us. We discuss the weekend sermon, pray together and once every couple of months we'll do a community outreach project! It's been good for me especially since I don't know a whole lot of people here. It'll be here at the house in a couple of weeks, so I hope to get a picture of the group. I've also been volunteering at church in the church bookstore. They have plenty of volunteers in the bookstore so I'm thinking about looking into volunteering in another department that needs it more, so we'll see but there is no shortage of ministries to volunteer in!

1st year of marriage done...

but still plenty more to go. Whitney and I celebrated our first (stressful) year of marriage on September 20th. We went out for breakfast at a local 50's style diner and it was lovely. Instead of buying each other gifts, we decided to make a little gift for the other person out of paper since paper is meant to represent the 1st year of marriage (or something like that.) It's been a tough 1st year of marriage because of everything to do with the immigration and moving countries, so we feel like we've done about 5 years of marriage but not the 1st year. We're looking forward to things settling down in our 2nd year!!

I've just finished reading a book on marriage called 'The Mystery of Marriage', which was given to us by our good friend Sue. It's a wonderfully indepth look at the various aspects of marriage from the point of how our relationship with our spouse is essentially a reflection of our relationship with the Lord. Here is just one of the many wonderful words of wisdom from the book:

One very important fact to know in marriage is that there is always a way out. And the way out is not divorce. No, the way out in marriage (no matter how bad things may get) is simply to put everything we have back on the line, our whole hearts and lives, just as we did the moment we took our vows. We must return to an attitude of total abandonment, of throwing all our natural caution and defensiveness to the winds and putting ourselves entirely in the hands of love by an act of the will. Instead of falling into love, we may now have to march into it.

The rest:

Besides all of the above we're just waiting for Fall (Autumn) to happen since it's still really warm out and no snow yet. Life goes on, some days it's easy, other days not so much but regardless I'm learning what it means to be content in all seasons, even when those seasons drive you mad.

Peach Festival

It's exactly what the name suggests. A festival about Peaches. Sounds silly I know but it was really fun! The peach festival is held in a little town called Palisade, which is about 5 hours away from Colorado Springs, nestled in the mountains. To get there you have to drive through all the popular ski resorts including Vail, which is pretty well known I think. Parts of the drive reminded me of the lake district in England and other parts reminded me of the mountain towns of Germany and Austria--if you can imagine those two sceneries together you've got a rather beautiful picture! As for the actual peach festival, it kicked off with a parade through the town-very american. They had the local high school marching band and different people dressed up, they even had their own Peach Princess. After catching the end of the parade we went to the local library which was having a book sale- it was great! The paperback books where 25cents and the hardbacks were 50cents--so cheap! (We all got some books--I think I got about 6) After spending some time in the Library we walked back over to the main festival events area, bought our tickets and headed in to see what peach related thing's they'd have. We sampled peach popcorn, got a free peach, had peach lemonade, peach crepes, peach mustard, peach salsa and there was even peach beer. There were lots of little stands selling local peaches and local peach products, such as peach butter, peach jam, peach ice cream topping etc. etc. everything had something to do with peaches! It wasn't super busy, so it felt nice and relaxed to not have to rush around but just take our time and enjoy the peaches and weather! Now, I was not a peach fan, as in the UK we don't really get the greatest peaches but getting to taste them fresh changed my mind. After spending time at the peach festival, we rode the school bus (yes, yellow american school bus) back over to the town and spent some time walking around and looking in the little shops- such a cute little town with cute little houses. We then headed back to get the car and drive to buy some boxes of peaches. The first place we stopped had some wonderful produce. Peaches, plums, squashs, pears and lots more. We bought our boxes of peaches there and also some pears and plums. Then we took a drive through the orchard country and stopped at another little farm where we bought some squash, tomatoes and a melon. All fresh and all rather inexpensive. It sounds kind of corny...a peach festival...but it really was a lot of fun and was nice to be able to support the local farms and buy fresh, fresh produce!

Pictures and Post

After blogging a few days ago and feeling that it was a rather a poor entry I decided to take some pictures today to try and make up for it. Also I forgot to mention that I experienced my first baseball game. Lauren gets free tickets through her work, so Whitney, Lauren and Lauren's mum went to the game! It was the local team in Colorado Springs 'Sky Sox', it's minor league baseball but it was a lot of fun. There is a great atmosphere and it isn't that boring to watch really plus I got to have funnel cake, which is just fried doughy goodness. The best part of the night though was getting a baseball that was used in the game. They kept throwing them into the crowd and not once did they throw one our way so leave the stadium as I was rather sad (sad as in like when a child doesn't get sweets) but guess what...because the car there was a baseball that had been hit out of the stadium--so I got one after all! I hope you enjoy them.

Once again, too long...

Unfortunately it has been so long since I blogged (May to be exact) that even though I may remember some of the key things that have happened the details of which are now lost. I do hope that I have at least some pictures of the events, if not sorry!

-Mail Order Chicks and Ducks-
It seems like here in the U.S you can get anything in the post, including live animals. Whiney and I decided to get a few chicks and ducks. Mainly for fun but hopefully they'll lay some eggs in the near future too. They arrived at the post office in town and came home in a little box. We got 4 Buff Orphingtons, 4 Americana's, 2 Banty's and 2 Swedish Crested Ducks. Unfortunately one of the ducks had died on route, so I called and asked the company to send another one. They said they would free of charge but they'd have to include some male chicks to keep the duck warm. So the following week Piper and I went to the post office to pick up our new duck. Much to our surprise we ended up with a duck and 12 male chicks!! So our little flock doubled. They're all getting rather big and have moved to their outside coup, they can flap their wings and dig around in the dirt much to their enjoyment. The 12 roosters have now found a new home...thankfully.

-Backpacking Trip-
Last weekend was a family backpacking trip that turned into quite the adventure. There really is too much detail to go into but let's just say it was a challenge for us all and I discovered that I could push myself and accomplish something I never thought I could. One of the biggest obstacles was the altitude. Climbing up the stairs here can leave me out of breath let alone at 12thousand feet. We did it though and came back covered in bug bites, exhausted and sore but alive.

-Library Card-
Not terribly exciting for anyone else but I was excited. I signed up for a Library Card at the local Library and have already enjoyed a bunch of books. A couple of books I recommend (depending on your taste) are 'Jim and Casper go to Church', it's a story about a Pastor that hires and athetist to go to 12 of america's biggest churches and rate them. Very interesting. 'Home' by Julie Andrews, so for most people this might not be of any interest but since I think Julie Andrews should be the next Queen, I very much enjoyed her autobiography. She had a rough upbringing that makes me wonder how she turned out so nice!

-Elyse-
The lovely Elyse Thornburg of Loveland came to have lunch with us. It was great to catch up and hear how she is doing!

For the moment that is all I can think of. In other news though, my brother get's married in a week and well it breaks my heart to not be there but I am incredibly excited for him!!

Gone Fishing...

...well not me personally. Monday night Whitney, Piper and I walked up the Monument Reservoir to meet up with Gregor and Chase who had gone fishing. It is such a pretty part of the area and in such a dry climate it is so nice to see water! There really isn't much else to say apart from that is was really pretty and the walk was beautiful too despite the fact I couldn't breathe for part of the way.

The recent going's on...

Dear friends,
Sorry I haven't posted anything of great significance on here in a wee while but now I actually have some pictures to share with you.
Yesterday we all took a trip up to Estes Park (about 2 and half hours away) to pick up Piper from Ravencrest Bible School (Torchbearers Centre) where she had been a student for the past 9 months. It was really great to be back in the Torchbearers setting and see familiar faces as I have been missing it a lot recently and just to get that tiny taste of Bible School once again. While there I got the chance to spend an hour with Mrs Thomas- one of my favourite Northern Irish ladies. We talked about Capernwray and how we both missed Sue Gilmore! :)
The most shocking/incredible answer to prayer happen when I was there. Back in Spring 2008 when I was still at Capernwray there was a wonderful girl in my family group. Her name is Dianne Fulford and recently I had been thinking of her a lot and wondering how she was doing but I had no contact information for her. Well, as we sat through the Director of Ravencrest give a sermon Whitney leaned over and told me to look in the front row because none other than Dianne Fulford was sitting there! Dianne is Canadian and I could not figure out why on earth she was in Colorado--turns out her brother was student and she had come with her mum to pick him up! What an answer to prayer- the Lord didn't provide me with the contact information but with Dianne herself--how incredible is that!!
The Lord goes way beyond what we expect...
Much Love,
andrew

The Adventures of Tiny Louise

Today I had some fun since I found the battery for my camera. Whitney and I bought her mum this tiny little pig, who I decided needed to go on some adventures through the atlas...the following pictures are the results of Tiny Louise's travels.

The Blackout and The Rainstick

Dear friends,
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to go to church in the dark? Probably not something that's crossed your mind recently or ever. Well this week I got to experience it! We turned up for Wednesday night Bible Study only to be met at the door by a little 5 year old girl telling us that the church was having a blackout in other words no electricity at all. Nonetheless church wasn't cancelled, we went to the sanctuary and were we had worship and a time of prayer. It was really strange sitting in almost complete darkness and to be honest it felt kinda strange but hey, there is first time for everything and that was first church-in-the-dark experience.

Last night (Friday) Whitney and I went over to a friends house for dinner. Her name is Arlene and she was Whitney's roommate during Spring School at Capernwray but unfortunately she left today (Saturday) to move to Georgia to be with her husband (he's in the military). So we went over to say goodbye and hang out with her and Cam and Laura, while we were there Arlene introduced us to the wonderful world of the Rainstick. Now I don't know how many of you know what a rainstick is but the name pretty much sums it up. It's a big stick that has thorns and stones on the inside which when turned sounds like the rain only it kinda messes with your ears- almost like your senses can't quite figure out what's going on...it's kinda trippy! But anyway I was impressed at Arlene's gifting of using this rainstick that I decided it was worth blogging about.

Much Love,
Andrew

School's cancelled...Snow Day

Having been here for less than a month I've had the joyous experience of a blizzard. For those of you from the UK reading this, I mean a real snow storm not that light dusting we get that managed to ground airplanes, stop trains and make people fear for there lives going outside. According to Chase (Whitney's brother) we had what is called 'Maritime' snow. When you step into it, all the way up to your waist, and look down at the impact you've made it's blue inside!
Now unfortunately the household is having camera issues and therefore I had to borrow Chase's to get some picture for you so I wasn't able to get all the photo's I'd like- since we are in fact snowed in...yes we cannot get out of the driveway.
I hope you enjoy these few pictures...
Love to you all.
andrew

much easier...

Dear Friends,
I decided that this is a good time to start blogging again. There has been so much happening recently and it's been difficult to always be in touch with everyone who wants to know what is happening with myself and Whitney. Whitney has a wonderful blog and she encouraged me to start blogging again not only to help me get my thoughts onto page but also take the stress off myself of needing to update so many people.
I'm not saying that I'm the worlds best writer or that this blog will always be regularly updated but I have felt bad that so many people have asked to know how life is with me and I just haven't had the energy to reply to everyone.
The blog is entitled GodFearsandFairytales because that is what I am experiencing at the moment.
So here I am sitting in the kitchen of 17750 Highway 83, Colorado Springs surrounded by 6 dogs, 6 cats (3 indoor, 3 outdoor), 2 rabbits, 2 horses, 2 geese and a turtle and what a change it is. Over the last couple of months I have experienced probably one of the most stressful and straining times in my short 22 years of life. Getting married, moving house, moving country, moving lives is not exactly the easiest thing to do. My problem is that I often expect myself to just get on with it and not take the time to settle in and get used to my surroundings. Life here in America is very different and at the moment I am going through a phase of homelessness not because I do not have a home or a wonderfully loving wife but because neither Northern Ireland nor here feels quite like home. I know this is probably the normal feeling for those who move countries and cultures but there is no manual for how to deal with it and this is where God comes in.
I must admit over the last number of months my anger and frustation at God has built but it has been building in a silent part of my heart that I don't often listen too. It's hard when you feel like everything is against you and that God is silent. I think I am mainly angry at how silent I feel God has been yet I cannot blame Him because in all honesty I probably haven't listened that well when He has spoke. So now that I am here and struggling with the stress and strain of all things new, I find myself so desperately wanting to hear from the Lord yet knowing I need to train my ears and heart to hear His voice once more. The beauty of being here is the blessing of the countryside. Many of you might not know this but I personally hear the Lord best in nature so it's a real treat to go sit on the front porch and listen to the wind and hearing God's voice in it. I know I am a long way off getting back to the place of faith and trust that I know I need to be in to have that peace that passes all understanding but I know, even if I sometimes don't feel it, that God is a loving God who wants nothing more than the best for me. One of the most important things about this life on earth is having those around you who are willing to support and pray for you but I know that my problem, which is a family trait, is finding it hard to ask for that support and prayer. So I am asking those of you who read this to pray for Whitney and I. One of the hardest things throughout these last numbers of months has been the realisation that as children of God when we do something to try and further His kingdom the Devil tries his best to destroy it. Often he picks at my greatest insecurities, blows them up and tells me that they are bigger than God and so often, out of foolishness, I listen. Spiritual warfare is a topic that can be over dwelt on by so many Christians and before we know it we've spent more time thinking about the warfare than thanking that our God has already won and over the last few months I have felt the strongest sense of spiritual attack I have known. At times it has gripped me with fear and paralyzed my thoughts and I forget that we have an army of angels, lead by the Lord surrounding us. Please pray that the spiritual attack surrounding Whitney and I does not overwhelm and distract us from the gift of the Lord's strength. The greatest trick of the Devil is to make us feel like there is no such thing as spiritual warfare and that our God does not care.

Well what do the next few months hold? I have some more paperwork to fill in and yes it does make me mad that after the amount of paperwork I've already done to be here that there is more but none the less it's done and ready to be posted so that in a few months I can hopefully, without too much more stress, be able to work. The system is one that I still do not understand so I can't explain it much further but there is no need for anyone else to worry- just pray.
As for Whitney, well she's looking for jobs and as some of you might know the job market just isn't great but we pray that with the talents and gifts Whitney has that before she knows it something will come along that is just right for her.
For now that is all I have to say and if you are still reading this, thank you.
Much love to my friends around this world...
andrew