Extended Weekend Get-Away
Deanna and I have been married for 15 years as of last week, March 15th. Crazy to think about, huh?! To celebrate, Deanna and I decided to get away for a few days. We’re saving up for a move this summer, so we didn’t want to spend too much, but we wanted to have some fun experiences, too. Here’s what our days away looked like.
Sunday, we started the day with an awesome birthday celebration at Destiny Foursquare. It wasn’t really part of our get-away weekend, but it was a blast, as usual! They combined all Sunday services so it was definitely a PACKED house!
After service, we got on the road quickly to catch one of my favorite bands in concert. Gungor was playing a show at the Gothic Theater in Englewood, CO. We got there just in time to grab some BBQ next door and, thankfully, our friends, Dan, Stuart, and Sara were up front, saving us a place right next to the drummer. The show was simply a-MAZING! One of the most inspiring I’ve ever seen. And it turns out that they recorded the evening for an upcoming DVD project. We were right in front of a crowd mic and the cameramen were, many times, literally standing next to us. Here’s a few clips a friend forwarded to me from the evening (click the gears to watch in HD)…
This clip features the song “Brother Moon”…
On Monday, we slept in a bit and then hit the road for Colorado Springs. We wanted to check out the Garden of the Gods we had always heard so much about. It was beautiful. These pictures and video don’t compare to being there, but it’s the best I can do — sharing our experience with you online…
And here’s a quick video (with a little Gungor music in the background)…
That afternoon we caught a movie at the Chinese AMC theater near our hotel…
And that night we fulfilled a long-time food fantasy of Deanna’s by visiting the Melting Pot restaurant for the first time. It was a two-hour meal, featuring a swiss cheese appetizer with bread, apples and veggies. The main course was steak, chicken, shrimp, duck, sausage and veggies cooked in an herb chicken broth. And we finished with a chocolate fondue with fruits, cheesecake and other yummy dessert bites to dip. It was, in Deanna’s words, “absolutely delicious and really fun.” Great time! We’ll definitely be back in the future…
Tuesday morning, we mixed in just a little bit of work with our pleasure, as we headed up to Camp Wondervu so that Deanna could look over the facilities. She is directing two of the Gateway district summer camps there in June. We came back down the mountain and went to one of my favorite Denver spots, Cinzzetti’s. It’s an enormous Italian food smorgasbord, if you’ve never made it there. We hit the road, stopping at a few outlets along the way, and got back to South Dakota by 9:00 PM that evening. Zion did a Superman jump into my arms from the top of the stairs and our trip was complete.
I am in love with Deanna now more than ever. So thankful that I have my best friend by my side to inspire, give joy, and live life to the full with. I could absolutely not imagine anyone more special than her in my life. Looking forward to the next 15 years only getting better!
White Flag and Never Once
It’s always a good week for me when a new Passion album comes out. I love the Passion worship leaders, Louie Giglio, the events, the outreach, the whole package. I’m all in! There’s a great story behind their newest album, “White Flag” (which released this Tuesday)…
Also, Matt Redman, who is part of the Passion team, leads one of my favorite new worship songs, “Never Once”. Here’s the story behind it and the video of the live recording recorded at a worship leader’s conference…
Outside All Day
The weather since we’ve arrived in South Dakota has been fantastic. I mean, I took a ride on Dad’s Goldwing today in shorts and a hoodie!
Let me explain the whole stroller thing in the video. I feel like I have to, as Zion’s father, come to his defense. Zion has learned, by watching me push him around the neighborhood on many occasions, to really enjoy pushing strollers. He has been pushing the little one’s at Grandma and Grandpa’s around since we’ve got here. He’s just copying what his dad does. Pretty funny to watch!
Also, we got out this fantastic tricycle today. One that has a long bar in the back that allows me to steer and push Zion from the back. He loved it so much that I couldn’t get him to get off it! I literally had to pry his fingers from the handle bars. I think we were out a couple of hours walking around with that thing! We stopped at the park and played around for a bit, too. Had a great day!
