Waking Up Before the Sun 9/27/10

5:45 am. . ."Girls, God created something really beautiful that he wants to show us this morning. Let's wake up." And 3 groggy little girls climbed out of bed, pillow and blankets in tow...









This week we had a beautiful start to a holy Sabbath. . .and then Claire threw up. . .yes, she did :-) and all of a sudden we had to resort to Plan B. (she's fine now, BTW - 24 hour bug)

So. . .we basically just relaxed, which was probably just what we needed.

Claire took a nap and Kevin and I had dates with the other two girls. Olivia and I went for a walk around Purple Park with our iPods. I told her I was going to listen to a message by Charles Stanley and see what God would say to me. She listened to her "God music" and we walked for about 40 minutes, taking time out to run through a few sprinklers along the way. I really should enjoy running through sprinklers more often. It made Olivia and I laugh together so much more than we usually do. Note to self:I need to laugh more! It feels so good.



She said that God told her to keep listening to "God music." I think that's a pretty good thing for a 7 year old to hear, don't you?

After that Kevin and Emma went on a getaway to Borders and the mall. Daddy daughter time is so special. I love it that my girls value time with their dad. I love to see the joy on their faces when they find out they get to be alone with just him.

Other than that, Sabbath was just a day of lying around and resting. It's hard to rest in my house. There is always something that I see to be done. But for this day, it was good.

Pancakes, Eldorado Canyon and Despicable Me for Sabbath 9/20/10

Today was one of those days that my soul craves. . .one of those days when as it happens you are just continually thinking in the back of your mind, "WOW! This is what it's supposed to be like. . .this is what God wanted." Sabbath. . .no doubt God knew what he was up to in making this one a commandment. I so wish more people would take him seriously on it and just give it a try. It's part of what we were made for - enjoying the Father and allowing him to enjoy us.

Today started for me with a cup of coffee, Charles Stanley on the iphone and a drive around Superior before the world awoke. Then God prompted me to do some drive by praying. I'm sure a few people thought I was a stalker as I sat outside the houses of my friends and prayed for their families and for their marriages this morning. But what a privilege it was. And what an even bigger honor it was to then come home to my own quiet family and pray for them, too. Then it was to the basement for an hour of ridiculously intense cardio with http://www.mytrainerbob.com, only to earn each and every one of those calories back about an hour later with the family at The Original Pancake House in Boulder. http://www.originalpancakes.com/index.html YUM!

One of my all time favorite places around us here is Eldorado Springs Canyon. Only about 15 minutes from our house you can feel miles away from the world. We took the girls on a 3+ mile hike that ascended 800 ft. from start to top. It was hard work. But the beauty made it all worth while as we stood on top and looked over the Continental Divide and everything below. Emma, Claire and Olivia are rock star climbers and hikers - true Coloradans.

When we came back down, the girls played in the water for a while and then it was off to the movie. . .






We went to watch Despicable Me and if you have had the chance to see it, you already know that it was surprisingly sweet. It had a great love message and the best part was that the three little girls COMPLETLEY reminded me of Emma, Claire and Olivia. Their personalities were all spot on. Even they agreed. So much fun!

Click Here for a Fun Video of Claire's Pre-movie entertainment for us I love that girls' craziness. I wish I had just an ounce of it. She is her father's daughter!!

The day ended cheering on Jennifer Grey and Derek on Dancing with the Stars and family prayer time on the bed after a very LONG DAY!

How I love my family! Yes, we drive each other crazy - even on Sabbath. Sometimes we bicker and fuss. We get tired and cranky (even me! :-) ). But we keep pursuing this special day together. And it is SO worth it!! The best part is when you ask our girls now, "what is their favorite time as a family?" they will automatically respond "Sabbath!" And I'm pretty sure that's just what God intended.

Summer Sabbath Recap

Summer has been wild and crazy and we're finally getting around to telling you about some of our Sabbath Experiences. Some were full and beautiful, some were short and choppy, some just didn't happen.

What we've learned is this:
* You have to prepare for Sabbath -- If you don't prepare, you'll end up working too hard for it and thus defeating the purpose.
* You have to fight for Sabbath -- The enemy is after you when you're trying to do something good. You got to scratch and claw for it. And when you win...it's totally worth it!

Sabbath has been an amazing journey for us. We're hoping for many, many more amazing days with God and family.

Here's a quick recap of the last few.....Enjoy. Each day we are trying to incorporate intentional God conversations, prayer, scripture, nature and family.

June 25 -- Toy Story 3, Pearl Street, West End Tavern and a walk along Boulder Creek


Early July we were off to Kentucky and Vietnam


July 19 -- Rocky Mountain National Park, Trail Ridge Rd.


August 2 -- 13th Wedding Anniversary Celebration Day

We spent the day watching the Cosby Show, Prince Caspian and The Flintstones as we celebrated love and life and marriage.

August 8 -- Black Sabbath

This was our worst Sabbath ever. We didn't prepare. We didn't pray. We fought a lot. We came home and worked. It was not good at all. We learned a lot, though.

August 16 -- Echo Lake and Mount Evans

88 degrees in Superior, 70 degrees at Echo Lake, 32 degrees and snowing at the top of Mt. Evans




August 25 -- Amy's Cupcake Tour of Denver



Click Here for a video from the day

September 6 -- Labor Day, Rocky Mountain Regional Airport, Pearl Street, Boulder Fire

A fun, relaxing day turned crazy. Breakfast at the airport watching the planes come in, Purple Park walk, saw smoke, ran to see, huge fire in Boulder. Went to Pearl for a closer look. Ended up back at Key to pray.

September 13 -- Rest, Rest, Horses and games

Celebrating Kevin!

There can't be a better daddy of 3 little girls in the entire world. That's what Emma, Claire and Olivia are completely convinced of and I have to say that I agree. Kevin is simply a fantastic Dad. And our family is blessed because of it. He has made our girls confident and loving, strong and secure. He is silly and knows how to make any moment fun. He's firm and knows how to correct and guide without anger. And he loves the Lord and has done so in such a way that continues to impact the hearts and lives of our family every single day. Thank you, Kevin, for living out your faith for us to see and follow. Thank you for your commitment and your relentless passion to make us all better people - including yourself. We love you!


Father's Day dinner at BD's Mongolian Grill

Sabbath in the Mountains (Part 3)

Here are some pictures from our Sabbath summer day in Boulder at NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research). Doesn't that sound like some super brainy fun? Well, to tell you the truth, even though we did take a stroll through the visitor center, we were actually there for the trails that led behind NCAR. They are beautiful!! After a lot of hiking we decided to make one more stop at Boulder Creek to see how high the waters were from the snow melt. I can't stop being amazed at the beauty of where we live! I just LOVE experiencing it with my family.

Sabbath in the Mountains (Part 2)

5am at the gym, believe it or not, it one of my most favorite ways to begin Sabbath. Isn't that the craziest thing you've ever heard? It wakes me up and gets me moving. But best of all, I get to journey home to an early morning view of God's beauty like this. . .




This particular day everyone else in the house woke up a few hours later with one major objective in mind. . .going no where that our feet couldn't take us.

First stop. . .the kitchen table. Everyone got the opportunity to choose one of their favorite verses or stories from the Bible, read it to the family and tell why they liked it. I have to say that my favorite part was just watching each girl flip open their Bibles and search God's Word. That they are familiar with the books and the verses - that they know where to find stories and recall what has touched them in the past is pretty cool to observe. And that they have no fear or hesitation in hanging out with God's Word is beautiful. I pray that never changes.

Next, everyone got on their feet and marched out the front door to explore our neighborhood and town. We told the girls that they had to lead us. So at every intersection they took turns telling us which way they wanted to go.


It worked well for a while. They took us to some beautiful places, but after a while it started to feel like we were going in circles, so mom had to take over. . .



Down the hill we went. . .and despite the newly hatched little blue/green bugs that wanted to jump onto our clothes and bodies and take a ride, successfully freaking our oldest, Emma, out and causing quite the drama, we made it to lunch at Panera. For Emma, enjoying God's creation became a bit difficult, but she was happy to enjoy God's bagel's and smoothie's.

After a long, slow lunch we jumped to our feet again, renewed, and decided to take Coal Creek Trail and see where we might end up. All in all we walked around and enjoyed our town and community about 4 miles on this day. The Colon girls rock when it comes to hiking lately. There are much less tears and complaining (as long as the bugs stay far, far away) and much more joy. We are all really starting to understand the privilege it is to take part in the beauty of God's creation and noticing so much more of the journey.



We came home and crashed. . .the end of another great day!

Sabbath in the Mountains (Part 1)

For the last 3 weeks we have spent our Sabbath days outside exploring nature and all that God has blessed us with that is just beyond our back doorstep. I can't imagine any better way to spend a day connecting with God and family than outside in the Colorado summer. In 3 weeks we have experienced rain, snow, extreme heat, bugs and an all too perfect yesterday in the upper 70's with just a little bit of cloud cover and breeze to keep everyone from pooping out on our hike. I wouldn't trade these days for the world!
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I've only got a few pics from our Sabbath 3 weeks ago in Estes Park. It was cold and gloomy and I suppose I was too focused on staying warm to take pictures.


The elk - every time we are in Estes we go on a hunt for these fellas. This time we found them next to the lake just enjoying the day.


The blowing snow

We found a little corner in the coffee shop located in the old, "haunted" Stanley Hotel and spent some time reading the Bible together. And through it all I have to say that the word for this day was "perseverance." It was a tough one. I was grumpy. The girls were grumpy. We were unprepared for the cold and tired. But we persevered. We were faithful to the command of Sabbath and we did our best.

I am learning so much about what it means to be faithful. . .and what it does not mean. Faithfulness comes with struggles. Faithfulness is rarely something we WANT to do. Faithfulness is full of determination, often tears and frustration. Faithfulness always wants to teach us something. Faithfulness has its own rewards - often not seen in the moment. Faithfulness can make a person mad and ready to give up and go hide under the covers. Faithfulness to God invites Darkness to throw a party in your minivan. :-) BUT in perseverance, faithfulness is worth it and Light wins every time. . .as you'll see in "Part 2."

So, Mr. Sabbath, we will continue to be faithful. . .you prove yourself worth it every time. . .

Sabbath at Garden of the Gods

This week we took off for a day of exploring one of the "hot spots" of Colorado. There are just so many places to see here that I'm not sure we will ever make it to them all. And what I am finding for sure is that the greatest treasures in Colorado are definitely off the beaten path. But Monday, we played tourist and visited the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. It was beautiful, of course, but a little too manufactured and crowded to count as an escape into God's creation for me. Still, it made for some great pictures and some good climbing rocks for the girls.







Monday was a tough day for us all. It felt like each one of us was experiencing something like an internal fight just to continue to step into the day. Mine and Kevin's brains were filled with things that we felt needed to be done and it was kinda hard to turn it off and trust God for our time. The girls were all really fussy. . .not sure why. My continued assumption. . .Satan absolutely hates that we are being faithful in this way. As much as God seeks to show up on these days with our family, so do he. And sometimes that just stinks. Sometimes he wins. Sometimes we get to the end of the day and can't help but think, "what the heck was that? Where was God in all of that chaos?" "That wasn't very relaxing or life giving." And the tendency is to give into the frustration of it all. But the truth of the matter is that God never promised it to be easy to follow him. He never promised a bed of roses for us to run through in slow motion with out hands in the air and a slow and beautiful soundtrack playing in the background. He only promised HIM.

And at the end of the day, we found him. He was faithful just like us (but so much more).

He showed up at the craziest place. . .yes, God goes to the mall, too.

We had to stop on the south side of Denver for dinner as an attempt to miss rush hour traffic, so we chose the mall - or maybe it chose us with that great big red American Girl sign hovering in the distance. We explored American Girl for a few minutes together and then had some good American food of Subway, Taco Bell and Sbarro Pizza. Then we set off for a walk and found ourselves in a little corner that was tucked away just for us.

Even during this time it was hard for grumpy girls to focus. But still, we were able to spend a few minutes sharing what we had each been praying for lately. Kevin talked about the story of the fish and the bread and how Jesus is the "bread." Interesting conversation. Then we shifted to how Jesus just wants us to want him and that's all. Then everything else falls into place. We ended by asking God a simple prayer. . ."God give us You." I don't think the girls necessarily understood. I'm think I'm still in the process of understanding that prayer myself. But I want it. I want to understand it and crave it and experience all that it means - for me and for our family.

Thanks, God, that even though we know you were with us every step of the day showing us your beauty, you chose to really be known in the least likely place.

Have you prayed that simple yet profound prayer lately? Maybe you should try it and see what God gives???
http://kevincolon.blogspot.com/2010/05/courageous-prayers.html

Taking It Slow on Sabbath 4/19.10

At the end of every Sabbath I find myself feeling like it was the best one yet. It's true. Every day just gets better and better as we continue this journey. I can't really say that I understand why that is. I think it's because we are discovering the rhythm of these days more and more. But bottom line has got to be that God is just blessing faithfulness. . .blessing obedience. And it's crazy good.

4 months ago when we started this journey we were just jumping in almost blindly to what this day was going to be about for our family. There was a strong sense that we needed to be obedient to God's Word, but I had a lot of questions as to how it was really going to play out. We have had some really tough days where everyone was in a bad mood and we just had to fight through the hours. But all of a sudden the rhythm is coming. We are expectant as an entire family towards what the day beholds. Value has come to every hour. We are noticing God in so many moments. I think we are all taking longer, deeper breaths and just moving a little more slowly, but with purpose. And God truly seems to be in all the moments. . .because we are allowing him to be there with us and we are delighting in his presence. Super cool and really, really hard to explain in words. . .I guess you'll just have to give it a try. :-)

Today's destination was Chautauqua Park in Boulder. We were all really tired from a long weekend as we moved into the day so we decided to do something really easy. We stopped at the doughnut shop on the way and loaded up on sugar and coffee and chocolate milk. Then we just drove to a park in Boulder, got out of the car and explored. (I hope you enjoy the pictures above.) In the middle of it all we found a little table and after "de-bugging" the area we all read from Psalm 23 and then scattered to find our favorite tree to sit under and talk to God for a while. It was really fun to watch the girls go for it - find their tree and sit quietly talking to God. We played some more after that and then headed home to spend the rest of the day in the sunshine of our back yard. The girls got creative and Kevin and I read and just sat together listening to their laughter.

Another peaceful Sabbath that really did bring rest...

Spring Has Sprung - Sabbath 4/12/10

This was a really great day for our family. There is just something about working hard, getting dirty and finishing a project together. Today was all about enjoying creation and preparing for spring.

We started the day in bed. . .sleeping for a really long time. No one woke up until like 10am, which was pretty amazing. Then Kevin cooked breakfast and we sat down to read the Bible together. We read from John 3 when Jesus was teaching Nicodemus what it meant to be born again and how to live by the Light and not in the darkness. And of course, with 3 little sisters, we had plenty of opportunity to reinforce that lesson as the day went on. It's amazing how much darkness tries to invade when you are trying hard to follow the Light. Sabbath is becoming quite full of teachable moments. But it's good.

Anyway, from the pictures above you will see that we had a great day despite moments of fussiness that inevitably come. Emma, Claire and Olivia were hard workers. They all got to pick their own flowers and vegetables and in the end we were all proud of the results of a day spent together in the backyard as a family.

My Basketball Stars

Another basketball season has come and gone. Claire and Olivia are well on their way to becoming stars. It's the Kentucky genes in them!!!!

The FLAMES with Coach Kevin (I helped, too, but never seem to get in the pictures :-) )



The ATOMIC BULLDOGS

Great season, girls! Watching you improve and work hard with good attitudes is such a blessing.