Here is the happy clan (Jess, Tim, Mark, Rachel) at Jess's aunt's house in Winter Park. The house was really nice and we were all blessed to stay there for free! I would describe it as knick knack heaven. Every possible form of stuffed moose, moose wall hanging, moose themed thing you can imagine was there. It was also supposed to look like a ski lodge with old ski lift signs and stuff. Kinda cool. Kinda. We were really thankful to have such a great place to stay at while we were up there.
Jess and Tim took us snowshoeing while we were there. It's basically hiking, but with snow. It was great fun but it really highlighted how out of shape I am now. The elevation change from sea level to 12,000 ft really had me sucking wind every 30ft or so. I'm sure I could acclimatize but it was slightly embarassing how exausted I was.
Rest. Very important when hiking.
These tracks are where we tried to slide down the hill on our bellies once we had reached as far as we were going. I think Tim ended up going the furthest. I'm sure he sprayed teflon on his jacket before we left. I mostly dragged myself across the snow.
Then... we went snowboarding in Breckenridge, Colorado. Leigh came up from San Diego on her way to her grandparents in Colorado Springs. We stayed with her uncle Rick who drives snow cats for the Breckenridge Ski Resort. We even got to go up in one of them at night. The ride was amazing! It's a pretty complicated machine. Just the joystick had 36 different functions and there was a whole other panel of switches and gauges. We had a great time snowboarding. Check out Rachel's new helmet and goggles, hot stuff! We were caught in Breckenridge by the Denver blizzard. Our flight was cancelled and we had rescheduled for the next day but that got cancelled as well. The next flight they could offer us was christmas day. No good. We ended up driving with Leigh to Colorado springs to see if we could catch a flight there. We could, for a mere $1500. We ended up renting a car and driving from Denver to Phoenix where Chuck picked us up and drove us the rest of the way. The was long, but oh sooo beautiful!
Rachel and her cousin Melissa in Pinetop, AZ. That's right, it snows in AZ!!!
The next blog down is a continuation of our trip but we had to post the pictures in two goes.
Here's a little more about what is going on with us in the next year. I had my review just before we left and it didn't go well. My boss was happy with my improved management of patients but said that I am just not generating enough patients. He brought me on to grow a practice and I haven't managed to do that. So, he is phasing out my new patients that he gives me from the practice over the next three months in an attempt to try and get me to get my own patient base. Realistically, this is not going to happen. If it does, it will be an intervention of God and I believe that it still could happen but we have to make contingencies. While we were home I had a meeting with Rachel's former chiropractor, Dr Roberts, who is coincidentally looking to take on another doctor this year. It seems that we could work very well together, and so we are pursuing the reality of me working with him. I have decided to write my American board exams in March and May leading to the possibility of us moving back to Arizona.
Please pray for us in this area as we try to honour everyone involved. We want to be used by God where ever we are and we also believe that God wants us to flourish and use the gifts and talents that He has given us. Rachel would be moving again for the sake of my job. Please pray that God would give her meaningful work that she would be excited and passionate about. You all know how organized and amazing she is, it would be a shame to not see her used to her full potential. We would be excited to live near family and within driving distance again of many of our friends. You can come visit us too as soon as we are settled.
Let us know how we can bless you too! As we prepare to potentially leave England (yay!) we will be selling and giving away lots of our stuff that we won't or can't take with us. Let us know if we have something you want. Does anybody need a loft bed?
