Guy's Ski Trip

Blake had a grand idea while home from Singapore for the guys to go skiing.  He started planting the seed of thought before the family arrived in Texas.  Then there was a little schedule delay in their arrival date and of course once they did arrive in Texas all plans, kinda, went by the way side.  So many people to see, so many places to be and so little time. Guys really plan so differently than women.  They throw the idea out during a regular conversation and most of the time it goes right over our heads because it had nothing to do with the topic of conversation.  Next they are standing in the entrance way and say "What do you think", the other says "sure" and the plans begin.  Flights are book, place to stay is arranged and off  they go.  So simple! 
It's a trip that Hal will forever remember.  It's been many years since he has skied with Blake and Keith and he loved every moment of the trip.  Because it was just the guys....well you can imagine how simple they made the trip.  Wake up early and hit the slopes, ski hard until lunch time.  Have lunch and beers.  Ski a while in the afternoon.  Head home, clean up, have a cocktail, have some dinner and watch all the playoff games.  Life was grand for them!
Mark Car, a good friend of Blake's, Keith, Hal and Blake.  KW was bogged down with work after the holidays and Passion.  Chris was bogged down with the sale of the house and wedding planning and could not go this trip.

It was very cold on Saturday, their first day of skiing Keystone.  They got over 7" of new snow that day.

On Sunday they went to A Basin.  Again it was near 5 degrees and they had a great time.
On Monday they headed to Breckenridge for the best day of skiing.  Since there is little snow this year the resorts are grooming the black runs to be blue.  So you have steep long blue runs and with no crowds you can get a lot of runs in.  They stayed at Elysse's family home, Pine Crest in Evergreen.  This really helped to make the trip more pleasant to just all be together and kick back not to mention having a Tahoe in the garage.  I think that may be our next car as Hal fell in love with it.

This is a picture of Blake jumping.

A picture of Keith jumping.

Where is Hal????

Much more his style these day.  Chilling with a beer in hand.

I know you had the best time ever.  And just think we get to do it again in just a few weeks.

Passion 2012

Hal and I had the joy again this year serving at Passion 2012 under the leadership of KW & Julie along with John and Susan.
Unbelievable, awesome, incredible, joy filled, God lead, Holy Spirit filled, OMGoodness......

We checked in on Sunday and got our t-shirts that we would wear for the next 4 days and our volunteer badges and wrist bands.  The essentials to get you where you need to go and want to be for the next few days. 

Here we are all fresh and filled with excitement.

 We attended our Volunteer meeting Monday morning at 9:00 am and still fresh, rested and filled with excitement.  Notice we are sitting on the floor.  There are no chairs at this event, other than the Dome.  I think we told John and Susan that before they signed up?????

Once again we were Community Leaders with a group of around 500 college age kids.  We had one of the smallest groups and we were very thankful as some groups were 4,500.  By the end of the four days seeing their sweet faces morning and evening you got to know some of them.  Oh how they touched me in so many ways.

This is a glimpse of the first wave of kids coming in to register.  The estimate was 43,000 kids from all over the US and 30 countries.

 Each person attending Passion 2012 was to bring a towel and socks to be given to the local homeless shelters in Atlanta.  This is just one of the piles of towels created.

And socks

Pow wow number 1....

Pow wow number 2....

Dan, Aaron's Host for the week is from Austin.  Hal and I so enjoyed talking with him about Austin and how much we loved living there.  What a nice man!

Coffee in hand, Julie and I are ready to greet our kids.

Aaron Coe, our Community Group leader and Julie.  We were fortunate to have Aaron again.  This was his third year to be wtih Julie and KW.  He and his wife, Carmen and their 3 kids now live in Atlanta.  He relates with the kids so well.  They listen to ever word when he speaks. 

 Our sound technician, Josh also lived in Atlanta.  His little girl Lacy celebrated her 1st birthday while we were there.

We took several photos of the group on Thursday, our last day wtih them.  Aaron suggested a Tebow photo.  All the kids instantly knew what to do.

This year the theme of the four days was Freedom.  Freedom from slavery.  There are 27 million people trapped in slavery.  That being sex slavery, sex trafficking, child labor slavery.  When you made a donation to one of the six projects dedicated to ending slavery in the world you were invited to add your mark on the sculpture that would tell the story of slavery and ultimately, freedom.  The materials used to create the sculpture included used and reclaimed items found on the Department of Labor's list of top goods produced by forced labor and child labor around the world.  The used materials were collected by the Passion team from trash piles and donations.

Shoes, blue jeans, t-shirts, soccer balls, decorations, coffee and wood were some of the materials that made up the Hand sculpture.

The Hand sculpture stands over 100 feet tall and the kids raised over 3.5 million dollars for the the fight against slavery.

 Leading up to the Hand sculpture were 27,000 white flags.  Each flag represents 1,000 people - men, women, girls and boys who are trapped in slavery this very moment.  Wednesday evening everyone, 43,000 kids and 2,000 volunteers walked in silence from our respective areas to the International Park.  Just before midnight we lite our candles and waited for the Hand sculpture to be lite up.  The moment was quite emotional.  After the singing and chanting of Freedom Freedom Freedom we all left quietly.

CNN covered the event....http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2012/01/05/cfp-clancy-do-something-now.cnn

 The girl interviewed is Brooke, a grad student at A & M.

When each of us registered, participant and volunteers, we each received a card that had a word and specific time to pray throughout the 4 days.  Once you prayed you were to peel off the word from the card and stick in on one of the large wooden letters placed throughout the venue.  It was a mystery to learn the final day what the letters spelled and how they would be used.

 Together We Are A Force For Good

This was placed along the walk way to get to the white flags and Hand sculpture.

Another God filled four days that touched my heart and soul.

Christmas 2011 with KW

We all know that KW is a jokestir...These are my favorite pictures....Pierce would stike a pose and KW would have to copy it.

Good job KW and for that you get one big kiss!

Christmas 2011 Special Moments

There were so many very special moments that I didn't take pictures of, however, here are a vew.

Chris with Anna

Aunt JuJu with Anna

Me with Pierce

Dad with Keith & Elysse

Dad with Chris and Melissa

Dad, me and Pierce

Chris and Melissa

Christmas 2011 Day Four

Sunday morning we went to Heights Baptist to worship.  Camille wanted some good ole USA contemporary worship music, well not so much during Christmas.  It's all Christmas carols and they were very nice.

Afterwards we were invited to the Ingle's for Christmas dinner with there family.  This seems to be our "Tradition" when we are in town and we love it.

On Monday when I was cleaning up I found this arrangement.  Pierce was very concerned that our Christmas tree and this little pinecone tree did not have toppers.  He found something that worked for him.

a