Hiking Pictures :)

On the way up before we got to sweaty :) 

The beautiful valley we started from

Getting close to tree line :) 

At the top of the ridge, looking out over the rocky mountains (this picture does not do justice to how far we could see) 

Stephen and our friends :) sorry its not a better picture. Jess and Jen on the right and Matt and Brittany on the left (behind Stephen)

Blogging as a Study Break

“And my God will supply all your needs according
to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:19

We moved to Colorado six short weeks ago expecting to study and prepare for a lifestyle and career in healthcare. Logical reasoning would suppose that this would include a functional understanding of scientific information and its medical implications. The reality of our own experience, though, is that in these past few weeks we have learned a far greater amount about the incredible, infinite God we serve than about the limited medical knowledge of men. It proves to be quite an anomaly that we came to learn medicine and are instead learning more and more about our Heavenly Father. Once again, the plans of God are far greater than anything we could have imagined and we are so excited to see God mold and shape us into more precise tools for His Kingdom. God’s sole desire is not necessarily to see us finish school in four years. He desires that we bring Him the maximum honor and glory through each and every step of the way.

Both Hannah and I have been stretched far beyond our comforts but we continually see God meet our needs in both subtle and extravagant ways. He has been so good to provide like-minded fellow students and their spouses as well as opportunity for rich fellowship with believers. We have enjoyed sharing meals with some of these close friends as well as embarking on adventures in the Rocky Mountains nearby. Our most recent excursion culminated at about 13,000 ft. near a peak just outside of Winterpark, CO. Just this morning Hannah and I visited Hillside Community Church and were greeted heartily from more people than we could count. We are excited to go again next week and feel that it could quite possibly become our church home here in CO. The list could go on and on, but needless to say, praise be to God for His abundant provision.

We are slowly adjusting to the new environment here in CO. We can pretty much plan on rain sometime each afternoon which keeps everything green and the weather pleasant. Hannah starts school tomorrow (Monday) and, Lord-willing, work sometime in the next week or so. Hannah continues to be a tremendous blessing and support and I am quickly becoming convinced that she will deserve a degree of her own for her incredible work when all is said and done. School for me continues to move right along and I look forward to wrapping up this block of molecular biology in the next week and move in to the body systems. It is so refreshing to be studying things that trigger my interests.

We are absolutely loving this new season of life in Colorado and falling in love with each other as well as our Savior more and more each day!!!

(More photos to follow shortly)

A Starving Mind

Today i headed over to Rocky Vista (the school Stephen is attending) a little earlier than normal. My mind has been starving for some real mind food so i decided a lecture on "starvation, insulin, feeding, and fasting" would be interesting. Other than not being able to understand the professor who's english was less perfect, I had a wonderful time. I didn't tell Stephen I was coming because i knew that might be a little distracting, so while following along with the lecture I got to sit back and watch Stephen interact with the new people he has been building friendships with. God has been so good to us and blessed us with several other Christian couples for us to get to know and have fun with (both fellow med students and former contacts). This last Saturday night we had 2 couples over to our apartment for a spaghetti dinner and games. Don't get me wrong, its not easy being here away from all our family and friends, but God didn't bring us here and leave us empty handed, he had new friends here waiting for us to meet. We had a wonderful time together and are looking at hiking a "fourteener" this weekend (Colorado language for a mountain over 14,000 feet above sea level).

Other Updates:
- yesterday found a beautiful family tree farms display in my Sunflower Market grocery store right near our home (couldn't' help but take a picture and tell the cashier that the fruit was my uncles)

- Friday is Stephen's 2nd test, any prayer would be appreciated! He has been doing wonderful, and we give God all the glory for that!
- Please pray that my Colorado CNA license would come soon so that I can start working. I am running out of things to do :)
- Thanks to the flexible job God has provided for me, we get to come home for Christmas :) 

Flowers or Whipped Cream?

Friday night is date night. That means computers and embryology books are put away and it's just Stephen and Hannah time. This is highly anticipated time all week.
When Stephen got home on friday night he brought me an awesome surprise! Flowers?! Nope, WHIPPED CREAM! On his way home he stopped at the grocery store to get flowers but walked out with whipped cream, my favorite! I about died from excitement. And then we were off to explore. Colorado has tons of great lakes and parks, the bummer is that a lot of them cost money. But we found our way to a free park that had about 4 lakes connected by a beautiful river! We felt at home sitting and eating dinner by the river while being eaten alive by swarms of mosquitoes. God's creation is beautiful and I am convinced that he spent a lot of time on Colorado.  All in all, we are doing great and our heavenly father is taking great care of the two of us! Love to All

Pictures courtesy of Stephen Zerlang and his newly discovered inner photographer

The Pictures

posting a few pictures of our home.

Also couldn't help but post one of the 1st pie crust i ever made without the help of my mother. My fear of pie crusts has now been conquered!

There is a first for everything!

Well, here we go, starting a blog :)

We are 3 weeks into this great adventure of medical school.  Stephen is memorizing information on the wonderfully created B cell and so, here I am... making us a blog! I thought this would be a great way to share stories with all our loved ones back home!  Unfortunately the writing skill in our marriage all belongs to Stephen, but his time is somewhat limited. So I, being skilled in misspelling words and messing up sentences, am from here on out the writer, editor, and publisher of our blog.

But all hope is not lost.  I am sure on occasion Stephen will sit down and write a note that blows every word I have ever typed out of the water.

As far as the move has gone, all boxes have been unpacked and the only remnants are a few stacks of frames waiting for a nail in the wall.  We are settling in well to our new Colorado home.

That's all I got for now, off to read a little of "The First 90 Days of Marriage" by Eric and Leslie Ludy and then possibly fall asleep to a little C.S. Lewis.

Lots of Love to all!