Mid West Tour PERSONAL Update

So this week I climbed a mountain and discovered I am in fact a lioness. I met a Rabbi who is also a cowboy and artist. Attended a Messianic Jewish Erev Shabbat service. Watched God use my little girl Linzee to minister during an XMC service. (Which I'll blog about on another day.) And now I sit in Steamboat, Colorado waiting anxiously for a day off tomorrow to go skiing in the mountains.

It began with "Fitness Hour" for XMC and the Marcell ladies. We decided to go on a hike. And about three hours later we finally got to our destination. I decided to climb up the mountain a little further with the kids verses crawling on the ice as shown below. Sometimes you gotta go a different route so that the little ones with you can keep up. (The picture below is Me, Mason- one of the coolest 4 year olds ever, and Linzee.)

This is a picture of several students crawling in front of us. None of us were prepared for how much ice would cover the paths.

About half way through the hike Linzee and I had a moment---in this moment we knew we were lionesses. We made it through several parts of ice and were taking a rest in the snow. We knew we were beasting this hike. Me- the oldest woman and her- the youngest girl. Could you hear us roaring? 'Cause we in fact ROARED!

This is when we made it to the top of our destination. (She wanted to make a silly face--- we made the same face without knowing it.)

This is the mountain we climbed. Hiking is definitely for me. I love it!

Friday night Autumn, Geneva (an XMC student), and I headed to a Messianic Jewish church with XMC alumni Amanda Dauzat. And it was awesome. Very different, but very familiar. So rich in heritage and culture. The Rabbi was totally different than I expected. His name is Rabbi Burt. Yes, Burt! (Pictured with us below.) Not what I thought a Rabbi's name would be. He was a for real cowboy, and he plays the violin beautifully. My favorite parts of the service included all the interaction with the children. The children danced around the church, helped serve communion, and at the very end of service- the fathers lifted their prayer shawls over their families as the Rabbi pronounced the blessing. The people who did not have parental covering present came and stood under a friend of the families' covering. It was very powerful and inspiring! It looked like little blue and white tent coverings all over that room.

This morning I took Tyler back to the doctor while XMC ministered at Dakota Ridge Church in Littleton, Colorado. He's still sick. We are praying he gets better for tomorrow- he really wants to snowboard. Then we headed to Steamboat, Colorado for a day of fun! And now I will retire for some much needed rest!