Bye Bye Colorado ...

On Wednesday, April 29 I am leaving Colorado. I had dreamed since Jr. High of living here and I was blessed to do it for an entire year. Now God has something else in store for me.

I will be working at Hidden Acres Christian Center in Dayton, IA (semi-near Des Moines) as the Guest Group Retreat Coordinator. Also, I will be given the opportunity to work with horses some (and have one designated as my very own to ride when I wish!) and hopefully start a therapeutic riding program there in the future.

God works in big ways. I found out about HA through my Uncle who was recently elected to their board of directors. He called my parents' house when I was home for Christmas to tell me about it and that he thought I should work there. Honestly he doesn't know me well and our families have spent very little time together, but I think God moved in his heart. I decided to check it out because I was having a real hard time handling the off-season at the ranch and was incredibly lonely as I didn't have people to hang out with in Durango. Also, the reservations for 09 were very low and I was a bit nervous about the security of my job.

On Tuesday, April 14 I was told the ranch wouldn't be opening in 2009 and my position would be terminated at the end of May. The next day I was offered the job in Iowa. Yippee Jesus! I am so very thankful for God's work in my life.

The sad part is that between that Christmas call and now I really have started to feel at home in Durango. I have a few friends and have met some fantabulously wonderfully amazing women at church (you ladies reading this!!!) and am very sad to leave it all. I have loved the River Church since I started going there a year ago but have just recently felt at home and I HATE to leave it, but I trust God will help me find a rockin awesome church in Iowa ... although I just don't think any of them will compare!!!

I'm going to miss the beauty of the mountains, how the sun seems to always be out, the snow, the wildlife, the abundance of activities, and so much else, but I feel incredible peace that there are great things ahead. It will be fantastic to be closer to my family and my soon to be niece or nephew.

I will miss you all so much and will definitely follow your blogs to keep up on happenings in your life! Thank you for touching my life the way you have.

Much love,
Mich

Answered Prayer ... WOW!

My dear friend Mike was diagnosed with colon cancer just a couple weeks ago. Last week he found out it was Stage 4 and had spread. He has tumors on both his liver and pancreas. As we all know, pancreatic cancer is BAAAAAD. Wednesday of this week Mike had a biopsy on the tumor on his pancreas. The purpose of this biopsy was to find out if the tumor was operable. If not, the doctors told him he had zero chance of living more than 3 years. Since I found out about this biopsy a week ago I started to pray that when they went to do the biopsy Wednesday the tumor wouldn't even be there, that God would remove it.

Yesterday I called Mike to see if he had the results yet. He said he had good news. Good news? He hasn't had anything but horrible news lately. Of course he was cruel and kept dragging it out instead of just telling me what the good news was. (Apparently Mike is one of God's tools to teach me patience!) Eventually I got it out of him ... to the doctor's pure shock, the tumor isn't cancerous! It is there, but it is small and there is no cancer present. Not exactly what I prayed for, but extremely good news!!! I believe the hope now is that the tumor can be zapped with radiation.

Mike still has surgeries to undergo, including one that will remove part of his liver. There will be chemo and radiation as well. Please pray for God's miraculous healing touch on his body and encouragement through this battle. He is facing this all alone so please pray for comfort.

Much love,
Michelle

Solo Dance Party

Yesterday I decided to clean the barn because 1- it was dirty (ok it's pretty much always dirty, its a barn!) and 2- it was a wonderfully gorgeous and warm day. Since I knew I would be down there a couple of hours I took my old school boom box so I could listen to a CD. I put in the latest Sugarland CD. The first two songs really get me going so I was dancing and singing having a grand ole time. Not accomplishing anything though. In my dancing I turned around towards the pen with 2 mini horses and 3 goats and they are lined up just staring at me! It's like they were thinking, "Uh oh. This is the lady that feeds us and she has lost her mind! What are we going to do?"

At a Loss for Words

A dear friend found out yesterday that he has colon cancer. He is going back today to see if it has spread. It doesn't look good. On top of that his truck was repossesed yesterday as he has been out of a job since December and unable to make payments. He now has no transportation or anywhere to stay (he basically lived out of the truck) and is stuck in Durango. I am the only friend he has in over a 100 mile radius. Please pray for him and let me know if you have any ideas of where he can turn.