Independence Pass

Dan spent a summer in Aspen when he was eighteen and loved it!
He has always talked about the trip he made as one of his favorite memories.
So when he said he wanted to take us for a day trip, part of me wanted to go, the other part of me didn't want to do a three hour road trip after we had found a small leak in our radiator.
We had patched it the day before and poured in some stuff that was suppose to plug the leak.
I didn't want our first test run to be in the mountains, so Dan humored me and went to the grocery store for a "test run".
I wasn't thinkin' it was close to the same thing but we made turkey, Swiss cheese and pickle sandwiches and off we went.
The kids had a movie on and we found the greatest radio station playing Van Morrison, The Guess Who, U2 and Elton John.
About an hour into the trip I got out my camera to take pictures.
It was dead!
Not kidding!
I was so mad!
I had taken the time to recharge the battery and now for some reason it wasn't working!
Errr!!
Dan made "good picture" jokes the whole way to Aspen!
We finally pulled into Aspen! Oh my gosh! I loved this town!
Note:....no radiator problems!
We finally found a Wolf Camera store and planned to buy a new camera battery, $59.00 - NOT!
The really nice guy behind the counter said, hey, I will just charge it for you, no problem.
We walked around, bought the required number of t-shirts for souvenirs and went back for my battery!
Life was good, again! I promised not to be such an airhead next time and actually test the camera "before" we left the house.
As we walked through the town I found a suit in the Channel store and bet it would cost as much as one years rent in Haiti!
Dan had to test my theory and go in and ask!
A mere $6,000 for the jacket and a cool $1,000 for the skirt!
It was six o'clock and I wanted to get back on the road so I could take all the pictures I missed on the way in.
For me this trip was way up there with the Bad Lands. It may have topped it for me!
For Parker all was good because of the snow ball he tossed in the sun roof at Maddie who as watching a movie.
For Dan it was a great walk down memory lane. It only took twenty-eight years for him to finally show me this place that he loved and now I love it!
Very fun day!

Pike's Peak

Got oxygen?
Need oxygen....maybe!
14,110 feet...we made it to the top of Pike's Peak with no problems.
Once you get past the tree line you can feel the temperature drop and the need for oxygen. Parker couldn't wait to have a snow ball fight! It wasn't what he had in mind when we got to the top. But he still managed a few snowballs. He wanted to buy a ten dollar pair of mittens to make more! Not!
Who knew they made really yummy homemade donuts on the top of Pike's Peak! Six for five dollars! They didn't last out of the parking lot.





With all the road trips we have been making this summer we have learned that Maddie's favorite way to site see is from the back seat of the car with head phones and a movie. However, Parker needs to be in the middle of all the action and on the edge of every cliff we see. I have said, "Parker, move back from the edge", more than once as my stomach made a few flips and my knees got weak as the gravel gave way under his feet!
Parker said this was better than the baseball game because of the snowballs. I even think Pike's Peak is at the top of Maddie's list.
Well, that and Beaches! She loves that movie.

Colorado Rockies Baseball

We headed out to downtown Denver for a baseball game with a very black sky and the radio saying we would be having thunderstorms! Not Good!
It opened up and poured when we got on the shuttle to the stadium! Not Good!
Pretty soon we could see a blue patch in the sky and the rain stopped!

Colorado Rockies -vs- Washington Nationals
Score: 1 - 0

Parker said this was the best thing we have done all summer!

Black Baby Doll

I got a phone call from Alyssa last week, she had found a picture of me that I really needed to see. We are in Colorado right now and she is in Atlanta so she said she would scan it and send it to me. She said you know that doll you always talked about? Did she have a knitted dress on? When the down loaded picture finally opened I was happy to see she was exactly as I remembered her. For some reason I didn't remember my mom having a picture of me with this doll. I loved seeing it now and thinking about how my life has turned out. It seems so long ago yet I remember it so clearly. Some of if is really painful but I believe that the Lord took every detail and has used it for good. Some of the details didn't fit into place for a very long time. I was in my thirties before I remembered the love I had for a certain black baby doll and could see just how important it was.

I grew up with a single mom until I was eight years old.
We lived in the projects near the University of Minnesota where my mom was attempting to go to school. She was dealing with heart breaking things that often left her unable to care for us. During this time we lived on welfare and my brother and I had often been separated from my mom because she couldn't care for us.
I knew it was soon to be Christmas but we had no tree or gifts in our living room. I remember my brother and I sitting in the living room watching television. It was most likely the "Brady Bunch". If my mom would have been in the room it would have been the "Tom Jones" show.
(Her outfit should be a dead give away that she LOVED Tom Jones.)
There was a knock at the front door.
I remember opening the door, it was dark and cold outside with snow blowing like crazy. I could see down to the street as I looked at the man standing in front of me, a flat bed trainer like you use for a hay ride with a group from the Salvation Army was waiting for him at the street.
I don't remember what he said to me and I don't remember if my brother got a present. I am sure he did but as I look at the picture I don't see anything. This is the only present I remember getting that year.
Soon after I remember my Uncle Bill coming with a Christmas tree for us.
I don't know if someone called the Salvation Army and told them about me and my brother, but I do know that I loved that doll.
I remember her dress was hand-made to fit her body perfectly, I loved it.
Looking back, someone took the time to make her a new dress so that I would have a baby doll with a pretty dress, very important when you are seven.
I often say, I feel like it was a seed God planted in my life when I was so young to help prepare me for my life now.

I have told this story many times to my friends, in our news letter and even to the Salvation Army folks who live and work in Haiti about how God can use a simple act of random kindness to prepare us for greater things to come in our lives.
I now live in a nation full of beautiful black babies. Many of them come with their mothers to our program on a daily basis. I think about their lives and how different they can be because of random acts of kindness by others who care for them and may never meet them just like the person who gave the baby doll with the beautiful home-made dress so many years ago.

History from Pike's Peak

Happy 4th of July from Pike's Peak, Colorado. Here is some 4th of July history from Pike's Peak.


"America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. The words are written by Katharine Lee Bates and the music composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward. Bates originally wrote the words as a poem, Pikes Peak, first published in the July 4th edition of the church periodical The Congretionalist in 1895. The poem was titled America for publication. As for the music, Ward had originally written the music Materna, for the old hymn, O Mother Dear, Jerusalem, in 1882. Ward's music combined with the Bates poem, was first published in 1910 and titled America the Beautiful. The song is one of the most beloved and popular of the many American patriotic songs. From time to time it has been proposed as a replacement for The Star-Spangled Banner as the National Anthem.

Conference Week

Wrapping my head around sitting in a conference in the States for a whole week has been hard for me. To be honest I have often found myself making mental notes about different things I have been wondering about like is Etrinne coming to classes, did she find a place to live, is Suzy taking her HIV meds, did Vadette find a place to rent, is Sarah's tooth and blood pressure OK and wanting to check-in with the Deli Mart lady and give her cookies?

I drift back into the conference and take in some of the teaching. It's good and seems to be confirming some things deep with in me that I haven't had time to think about for a long time. I find it odd that the people I enjoyed watching on the first day as everyone found their places just happen to be the people who live and minister in Uganda from here. I think something has switched over in my brain that finds people from different countries so interesting and I am drawn to them. I have learned this calling is part of me and no matter if I am in Haiti, Africa, Guyana or the States it is just the way I think. It is who I am and I am not going to suddenly not have it one day if I am not "doing" something. Sometimes that is a good thing and sometimes it can drive me crazy and to be a bit radical in my thinking. It is hard for me to have a casual conversation about "stuff", cause 90% of the time I am not thinking about "stuff".

Pretty soon I am thinking about the fabric that Marjoire needs for the inside of bags and wondering if she will be able to get bags out to the Moseley's for the website with the new team in from Texas.

I think about the fact that the ministry we are sitting under this week will give you any teaching you want for free if you can't afford it and they didn't charge over 800 people anything to come to the conference. The bottom line is they believe everyone should hear the gospel and the money will come in if they are obedient. It isn't some pie in the sky idea they have the numbers to prove it and every part of their ministry is expanding. I love that they teach grace. Not the kind of grace that keeps people sick and unhealthy because they aren't willing to confront, but the kind of grace that teaches who you are in Christ. Once you know the love of Jesus you will be changed to the core and that even a little bit of the law will kill grace and it is the goodness of God that draws us to him. They teach once you know who you are and who Jesus is you will really never be the same because the greatest gift He gave you is when you got saved. You didn't deserve any "gift" so why would you have to earn relationship with him after you are saved.

Yet the whole idea of a conference is still bugging me. I am thinking that no one comes to Haiti to do a conference and teach this stuff. You never hear about big names coming to Haiti for a week to pour into Haiti and I have to wonder why? If the people of Haiti could think of themselves as "sons" vs "slaves" like Paul talks about in Galatians, Haiti would never be the same. I am still thinking about the words the minister said to Dan on the very first day of the conference.
You live in Haiti? Do you like it?
The last time I sent someone to Haiti, the day they got back they asked me if I hated them?
No, he replied. Why?
Because Haiti is the closest place to hell on earth.
We laughed, but now it wasn't funny.
I was sad for Haiti and the ladies that I love.

I am thinking about how freely we talk about knowing who we are in Christ, knowing that everything we need is already inside of us. I am thinking about really, really knowing that Jesus loves us and when we know this we are forever changed and yet most Haitians won't take communion because they believe they are not good enough or sinful.

I wore my favorite AIDS t-shirt to the conference one day. Maybe I was secretly testing to see if one person, just one, would ask me about HIV. If someone asked me what I was thinking about the conference I am sure I would have broke out in hives trying to think of something to say, but I did want to talk about how wrong it is that women who struggle for find food for the day and a place to lay their head at night, now carry a secret with them on a crowded tap-tap, sitting for what could be the entire day to get a hand full of vitamins and hopefully the HIV meds they need with out another day spent on the tap-tap only for the doctor to not show up.

I reminded myself that just because I live and breath this stuff doesn't mean everyone does and they are really good people who love Jesus. I was happy that this ministry works in so many nations of the world and had a passion for it. I was deeply touched when the minister said he didn't agree with the way missionaries had to got out and raise funds all summer long when they should be resting and spending time with their family. He said, truthfully, most missionaries don't operate in their anointing here in the States when they do fund raising and if most people saw them operate on the foreign field of their calling vs a fund raising setting they would be shocked at how different they are because that is where God has called them. I couldn't control the tears as we sat in the crowd. Most people had no idea what he was talking about but his word touched me very much. He really understood the place we are at.

The last night of the conference was here and I was glad we had come. I needed to be reminded of so many things. I needed to take a deep breath. I needed to give Haiti and all my ladies back to Jesus so He could take care of them, not me. I needed to give these poor people (and myself) a break, they too came to be filled and I had never walked in their shoes. I would agree with myself that I should find balance and give the grace that had been talked about all week for everyone who didn't eat, breath and sleep the injustice for those who live in a third world.

Grace, Grace and more grace!

Needles Hwy and Mt. Rushmore

We don't have a clear winner as to the Lynch Family favorite.
Here are our choices Bad Lands, Needles Hwy or Mt. Rushmore:
Dan - Needles Hwy
Sheila - Bad Lands
Madisen - Mt. Rushmore
Parker - Al of them

Our next adventure will be Colorado Springs and Pike's Peak!