No posts for awhile!

We are leaving tomorrow for KC!!!

A Lazy Sunday

ONE MORE WEEK!

We will be in KC in ONE WEEK!!! I can't wait... I have been such a grumpy scrooge lately. David has worked 9 shifts in the past 10 days and I am TIRED TIRED TIRED of being alone at night. :(
I know I should be enjoying the long break from homework and class but I am miserable! It doesn't even feel like the holidays when you're away from family (and your husband!) I am praying the next week goes by FAST...

Grades are in!

Hebrew Bible A-
World Religions A-
Women and Religious Education A

I have to maintain a 3.75 GPA to keep my scholarship. So far so good! :)

The Baker Elves

I received this link from two different people so decided I would do it. It's pretty funny to watch! :)

If you can't click on the link below, copy and paste it in the address bar.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1161622665

A weekend with my sister

My sister flew in for the weekend and, even though her visit was short, we had a great time! I am lucky to have had so many visitors since we moved to Denver, but I am tired of taking people to the airport to say goodbye! :(




Even though we haven't seen eachother in over a year and live four states away, we looked almost identical when I picked her up at the airport!



We ate dinner at Fontana's Sushi Restaurant.



Treated ourselves to pedicures!



She was the one who introduced me to scrapbooking!



Poor David! He's not in any of the pictures because he was our official photographer...

Advent Conspiracy

I found this GREAT website...
www.adventconspiracy.org

It's a movement to "restore the scandal of Christmas by worshipping Jesus through compassion, not consumption."

It has four tenets: worship more, spend less, give more, love all

It's a pretty dangerous website...

Christmas

I put up our Christmas tree this week. We really don't have room for it in our apartment so I didn't put on any of the back branches. Not only is it a fake tree, it is now a "fake" fake tree! David had to work, so I put it up myself. I realized I always make him do the lights because I hate doing the lights. I think it was even harder doing lights on half a tree...




I'd be lying if I said I wasn't lonely. :( David is working 5 night shifts a week and I'm not sleeping. Now that I don't have school to occupy my time, I feel lost! I'm still babysitting, but only 10 hours a week. Hopefully Christmas will come quickly!!!

Thanksgiving

It was very weird not being with our families on Thanksgiving this year! We went to our friends', Amy and Eric, for Thanksgiving dinner. Eric cooked the turkey and stuffing, and I brought mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and green bean casserole. I used Patty's recipe for mashed potatoes but I don't think they were as good as hers!



My mom and David's parents were kind enough to send an "advance" on David's Christmas gift this year. He was able to buy a new snowboard and boots so he is ready for ski season. He was assembling everything this weekend and I thought I'd take a picture since it seemed as close to a "Christmas morning" experience as a 27-year-old can have. Here's my husband with his new toys...


Oh! I almost forgot...I turned in my LAST paper today so I am officially done with my first quarter of seminary! :)

Finals are on TUESDAY! I'm thinking of moving my sleeping bag to the library...

Winter Park

David worked 5 12-hour shifts this week and has to be back tomorrow night, SO today we took advantage of his time off! We drove to Winter Park and ate lunch. It's funny because it only took us a little over an hour to get there, but we've been so busy we haven't made it up to the mountains lately.






No one was there to take our picture, so that's all you get! :)

I got an A!!!

I got 95/100 on my Hebrew Bible midterm!!!

Update

I realized this morning it's been awhile since my last post!

David is in week 2 of night shifts. He seems to be adjusting okay and I am getting used to him being gone at night. I went to visit him at his work and it is obvious people LOVE him there. He has already made QUITE an impression! Being a CNA is NOT a glamorous job but he does it wholeheartedly and without complaint. One night last week he had to help a 400 pound man take a shower, and he recently had a 19-year-old motorcycle victim who had no control over his bodily functions. David tells me he is adequately prepared to change baby diapers when that time comes! I tell him that while I am busy learning about the gospel, he is busy BEING the gospel...

Classes are going okay. I still haven't gotten any feedback from midterms and finals are two weeks from tomorrow. It's hard to believe the quarter is almost over! I met with my advisor last week and decided what I am taking next quarter.

I had a one-credit class this weekend on "Homelessness." I didn't realize before, but Denver is unique in its efforts to eliminate homelessness. The mayor who was elected two years ago made homelessness one of his top two priorities. We learned about his initiative and the role that faith communities are playing. We also went to The Crossing, a transitional housing unit where families can stay while they are saving for more permanent housing. I am hoping to volunteer there soon; right now I am babysitting 15 hours a week to bring in extra income.

My favorite thing about being at Iliff is my Colloquium. Colloquium is a small group of 5 students and we meet once a week for two hours to process everything else that is going on and basically form a small community. Eric (of Eric and Amy!) is in my group and so are Matt and Chris. Last week, we went with Matt and his wife, Lorissa, to hear Chris and his band play at a local restaurant in Denver.




It was fun!

David Crowder Band

Last night we went to see the David Crowder Band at the Fillmore. SO fun! First of all, we love David Crowder and it was fun to hear songs we haven't heard since being at our church in KC. (Oh how we miss Todd and his band...) Second, I think it had been WEEKS since David and I had done something fun together. (Unless him watching me study and me picking him up from work is fun?!) AND, we went with Amy and Eric, so the three of us were talking about how nice it is to be out of our heads for awhile and just do something for our spirits. (Although I do have to admit, the longer I am in seminary, the harder time I have swallowing some of the theology in praise songs...oh well!) It was fun! :)

Moab

This past weekend David went mountain biking in Moab, Utah. He left Thursday night and biked three days...over 70 miles! He and his friends camped at night and had a blast.

While David was gone, I worked on essays at the library. :(
I also experienced my first crazy weekend of Denver weather. Saturday it was 70 degrees and sunny. Sunday morning we had a blizzard! I think we got 3-4 inches of snow here in Denver. By Sunday evening it was sunny again and the snow had nearly melted. People kept telling us that snow was like that in Denver but I didn't believe them until I saw it for myself!

I survived my Hebrew Bible midterm!!! YAY!!!

David's job

David is in week three at Denver Health and is doing a great job! I thought it was only fair that we post a picture of HIM since we posted one of me on MY first day...



David turned in his application to nursing school yesterday. We're not sure yet when he will find out if he was accepted. PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!!! It's out of our hands now...

Prayers

I hate to sound self-absorbed, but I could really use some prayers right now! The past two weeks have been SO hard... I am having so much trouble keeping up on all the reading, trying to understand it all, and trying to strike some sense of balance between school and "regular life." I have wanted to be in graduate school for so long and I love being in seminary, but I feel like at any moment they (the admissions office, my professors, my peers, you name it!) are going to discover I'm a fraud and don't really belong here. I also feel like I spend so much time "in my head" and little time ACTING out my faith and convictions. I miss the daily interaction with my students and the feeling that I am making a difference. Anyway, like I said, I'm not trying to throw myself a pity-party but all prayers would be appreciated! :)

No excuse

For those who haven't heard...

Congress passed the SCHIP (Children's Health Insurance) bill. HOWEVER, it was vetoed by President Bush.

This is not a political issue to me, it is a moral issue. I urge you to go to www.sojo.net and click on the link "Tell President Bush to support SCHIP."

My Sister-Friend

Lauren flew in from Chicago Thursday night and we had a great time catching up this weekend. It is so nice to have a friend who you can just "be" with. We don't have to be doing anything to enjoy each other's company! We did a lot of shopping, eating, and even treated ourselves to pedicures. :) Our big adventure was going to "La Fondue" in downtown Denver on Saturday night...







She slept on the couch while she was here and after she left, Midas and Zoe fought over her pile of blankets...





Unfortunately, she had to fly back home today and I had to catch up on all the reading I didn't do this weekend!

David's Mountain Biking Trip

Today David went mountain biking with his biking friends, Brian and Jeromy. They went to Kenosha Pass and biked 26 miles. He was gone all day! We got snow last night up in the mountains, so it made for some really great pictures. In case you can't tell, David is the one wearing tights! :)

Saturday

Saturday morning we got up early and participated in "Hands for Hope" day in Denver. Hope Communities, Inc. is a non-profit in downtown Denver committed to economic justice efforts. They have remodeled apartments, homes, etc and provide affordable housing options for low-income families. (Check out their website! www.hopecommunities.org) Anyway, we ended up working at the elementary school a few blocks from our house. It was pretty funny to see everyone working there (double locking their car doors) and we were like, "uh, we live down the street." :) We love our neighborhood and it was neat to do "community service" for our neighbors.

Saturday night we met Eric and Amy at Dave and Buster's. David and I thought we'd get our picture taken at the photo booth, but it turned out to be a "Gene Machine." It took our pictures individually and then "mutated" our pictures to show us what our child would look like...



Let's hope the "Gene Machine" is wrong... :) (We had a good laugh)

Here's a picture of Eric and Amy. They are great!

Health Insurance for Children

This week Congress will vote on the reauthorization of the SCHIP bill. (State Child Health Insurance Program) SCHIP provides health insurance for low-income children who don't qualify for federal aid. The bill being proposed will only cover roughly 1/3 of children currently uninsured, but it is a step in the right direction.

I am urging you to go to the Children's Defense website at www.childrensdefense.org. There is a link on the homepage that will allow you to send an email to your congress members. (For us Kansans, Senator Sam Brownback will need the most convincing...) The website makes it easy so that all you have to do is fill out your personal information.

As a former teacher, I know how important health insurance is. I had a student last year named Iveth, and Iveth came to me one morning complaining of a tooth ache. I told her there was nothing I could do and sent her to her seat. After lunch, I saw her crying at her desk and when I asked her what was wrong, she pointed to her tooth. When I had her open her mouth and show me her tooth, I saw that her two back molars were completely rotted out. This is not right... and it's not fair...

Weekend fun

Friday night we hung out with Matt, a fellow Iliff student, and his wife Lorissa. They invited us to a coffee shop near their house that was serving free coffee/drinks and showing a movie in the coffee shop. They are a very sweet couple. We had such a good time! (And didn't spend any money!)

Saturday morning we took the puppies hiking at Elk Meadow. (David goes there a lot to mountain bike.)






We went to church at Park Hill again this morning. Eric and Amy (both Iliff students...Amy is the girl I knew in KC...) met us at church and we went to IHOP afterward.

DESPITE the fact it sounds like we are always doing fun and exciting things, this is how I spend MOST of my time...



While I read and do homework, David entertains himself by working on his bike and playing with his new helmet light...



This is what Zoe does while I study...



And here's Midas...




It's good times at the Baker house! :)

God is unbelievable...

I cannot believe how good God has been to us...
We are so grateful that David is starting his job October 1st. Neither one of us dreamed it would be almost 2 months before he started working. We were counting on my stipend to help us pay our October bills...the Financial Aid office had told me it would take about 7 days from the day I registered, but when I went to the Business Office yesterday the lady told me it wouldn't get cut until September 28th which meant it wouldn't be in my mail box until October 1st. My heart was heavy last night...
And then today I got the mail and there was a check from Wells Fargo Mortgage with a refund check for $909.83. Unbelieveable!!! I cannot believe how "provided" for and blessed we feel. Every time I start to wonder and doubt and lose faith, God miraculously provides.
I don't normally refer to scripture, but I've been doing about 8 bajillion hours of Hebrew Bible and I can't help but think of God's covenant with Abraham. Over and over and over and over God promises to bless Abraham so that he may be a blessing. I pray this is true for David and me. We have been so blessed and I pray that we will be a blessing to others.

David's job

David has accepted a job with Denver Health. (A hospital in Denver known for providing Level 1 and 2 care to the uninsured...) He will be working as a "Health Technician" and will be on the 8th floor, a Med/Surgery floor. Mostly, he will be doing patient care, working alongside the Registered Nurse. The only tricky thing is that it is a night shift position so he will be working 7PM-7AM three nights a week. He has the option of picking up a fourth shift, which would help our budget but... I am a little nervous about what this will do to our schedule (as far as seeing each other!) and I am not crazy about being home alone three nights a week. Please pray for us during this transition! The good news...we will both have GOOD health insurance! :)

My head is spinning!

Even though I had a full day of classes last Thursday, today felt different because we were discussing the reading (which was A LOT) we had been assigned. By the time David picked me up, my head was spinning! My first class is small and mostly discussion, but both of my afternoon classes are lecture classes and there is SO much new information. I'm over over overwhelmed but the amount of information I don't know! I secretly write down words the professor says in class so that I can later look them up... why don't they offer tutors in seminary? :)

Mom :)

My mom flew in for the weekend and it was SO nice to have her here. We picked her up Friday morning and took her to Iliff. She got the FULL tour since Iliff was open! Saturday we drove to Boulder and Estes Park. This morning she went to church with us and then we had lunch downtown. I was sad to see her go...it is hard to be away from people we love! :(