Well, I’m sitting here at work still (since about 2:00pm this afternoon) and am still installing software on our computers. I think I’m past the half-way point; now, if I can just get our e-mail back up and running, I can postpone other stuff until tomorrow.

So, while I wait for software to load, I thought I’d give you a run-down of Renée’s and my trip to Rhode Island. Be prepared for a novel—but it’s going to come in installments—one for each day that we were gone. So be checkin’ on ‘em!

Wednesday. We awaken early to be greeted by the one-and-only Joash and we get our buns on the run and head to the airport. We get there in time to see everyone checking in via electronic check-in (courtesy of the airlines). Well, Renée nor I had ever used one of these new-fangled gadgets before, so we put on our thinking caps and read through the instructions. It was cake-easy, but we still had to hand our checked bags to a human. So it wasn’t really any faster, but it was fun to use the computer.

On the plane, we sit next to Jim. Jim is a nice guy. He’s nearing his mid-60s and is on his way home to visit his son. Jim is also wanting to get involved in a Bible study of some sort when he gets home, but he doesn’t know where to start. So, Renée and I explained to him about God’s love and how he sent His only Son to die in Jim’s place so that Jim could have eternal life with God. He listened intently and afterwards, we continued to talk about everything from his son’s relationships to the prices of the items in the infamous Skymall magazine.

We finally arrive in Rhode Island, much to our glee, and proceed to wait for 45 minutes to get our luggage. The Providence airport is not known for its efficiency, even though it only has five baggage carousels. Go figure.

But, we’re greeted by Renée’s Aunt Paulette. She is an amazing person! We had so much talking and getting to know one another (since a principal reason for me to come to Rhode Island was to meet Renée’s ginormous family), and we got settled in at her amazing house by the bay. Wow—water! Can you imagine?

We spent the rest of the day at the beach. We got some food, known as “grinders.” These grinders, mind you, are a Rhode Islander’s way of say “submarine sandwich.” But, it was one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. We walked about a mile and a half up and down the beach, and I kept feeling like I was falling over, because of the waves, the tilt of the beach, and the curvature of the beach. But I straightened up finally, played in the water, and was like a kid again.

More tomorrow…

Posted by Mark

Gosh, what a week! This is actually one of the first opportunities I’ve had to get online. Of course, it’s way past due, and I’ll have to update to give the whole story when I get back, but I actually have a few minutes where we’re not running around like wild people to sit and tell you, the world (hehe), what’s up.

Well, the wedding was a great success and Julie and Seth are happily married. We partied until the wee hours of the morning, sweating to the oldies performed by an amazing band and enjoying prime rib, baked scrod and delicious wedding cake.

I’ve been on a huge sail-boat for 70 people, around the beach at Bonnet Shores, to some of the best seafood restaurants on the East Coast (sorry mom—the clam chowder is awesome), almost to Connecticut and back, and visited a lot of Renée’s huge family. I never realized how brown Albuquerque is until I saw how green Rhode Island was.

Alrighty, things are beginning again downstairs. More when I get back—look for new photos (finally) soon!

Posted by Mark

“Wow, 2 hours and 45 minutes! Not bad!” I exclaimed, as we pulled into the Alto Shell gas station, just a few miles from the town of Ruidoso. Renée and I took a quick drive on Sunday to visit her brother Paul and some friends, who were in town for some stone-cold wicked snowboarding and skiing. We met them for lunch at this great little Italian food restaurant, which seriously had some of the best Italian food I’ve ever had. They also showed us their condo, and we saw for the first time two woodpeckers hammering away at the house. Cute lil’ buggers.

We threw rocks at them.

Anyway, some photos from the trip are coming soon. We passed by Bonita Park on the way, which is where CRU of olde had their Fall Getaway. We got together with New Mexico State and the University of Texas (El Paso) and had a grand ol’ time. But now, the gang goes up to Glorieta by themselves. Both are cool; I personally liked the former method, because Bonita Park has cool things to do, like zip lines, lots of cool places to walk around, and smaller cabins.

Saturday Brian came by and we did that thing that all of us must do and cannot avoid: taxes. It looks like we’re getting a refund, which is fun, but there are still a couple of things that I’m not completely sure about. But I’ve still got some time to get it checked out. Score.

Posted by Mark

Upon returning from Arizona, it seems to make better sense to fly to and fro instead of driving in a cramped van (even though it is a Grand Caravan) with: inconsistent temperature controls; a whiney, wimpering, skittish, bad-smelling little puppy dog (whom I love dearly, but Lord have mercy, you need to learn how to sit still, Scruff); seat-belts that over the course of the trip continue to tighten, and tighten, and tighten, and do so without you moving a muscle; a bad van door that Scott, even with all of his super-human strength, cannot close; and of course, the toilet paper that no-one could find.

But, Thanksgiving was enjoyable and it was fun to see the family again. I attempted to rebuke the headache that seemed to plague me all week, but I must not have yelled loud enough. It’s good to be home, though.

Inspired by TJ, I would describe this year’s Thanksgiving as typical. We made lots of food, one person asked the Lord for the blessing of the meal, the “kids” (urgh) were split from the parents, we had silly conversation over the grub, then it was naptime. Was I satisfied? Not especially. I mean, it was a grand ol’ time to catch up with the relatives and visit, but I’m not sure that we did justice to the meaning of Thanksgiving.

Basically, we (including myself) just took it for granted.

I don’t want to live a lifestyle like that. I want to be someone who is consistently living in awe at the goodness of the Lord and how He has so blessed me and mine to live lives like we do. I want to approach Jesus on my knees, just to say thank you, and I want to do that on more than just one day a year. And I want others to pick up the cue and do the same.

I want to continue to eat all that good food, too.

Posted by Mark

I think I’ve been apostrophe happy the last few entries.

Renée and I are getting ready for the Horlbeck family Thanksgiving, which involves a moderately annoying trip to Arizona for four days to do lots of “running around” (i.e., driving) to see all of the family. They can’t really all live in one nice block or anything. Aunt Elaine and Uncle Randy are in Young (from Albuquerque: 6 hours). Cary, Sheryl, and the girls are on the north end of Phoenix (from Young: 3 hours). Grandpa, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Craig, Allyson, and April are in Mesa (from Phoenix: about 1 hour). Aunt Esther, Uncle Craig, Melanie, Karen and Dennis, and hopefully Michael, are in Gilbert (from Mesa: about 30 minutes). But, us Horlbecks stay over near Cary and Sheryl. So, we do a lot of driving and a little bit of visiting.

But, the funnest part so far has been preparing for the trip. I’ve never really done as much preparing as Ren and I have been doing. She made some scrumptious brownies for the trip and we made an Albertson’s run last night for other goodies, like string queso, manzana y “bagels” por sandwiches. (Editor’s note: no commenting on his español, por favor.)

So, we romp-rarring to go. One more [early] day at work and then we hit the road.

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Continuing in the book of John, it really amazes me how the Jews seem to forget that they’re trying to kill Jesus. In Chapter 7, when Jesus begins his discourse, they ask him, “Why do you say we are trying to kill you? [We're not.]“. However, just two chapters back, they know intently that they’re trying to kill him.

Then, after they ask him the preceding question, they seem to remember, “Oh yeah, aren’t you that guy that we’re trying to kill?” Ugh. No wonder Jesus condemned the Pharisees. Not only were they caught up in their own righteous zeal, they were bright, too.

Posted by Mark

“What in the world are you doing?” I hear a little voice say, as I stand hovering over the sharp ledge of a sheer cliff, nearly 20 feet above a murky pool of water. The sky is cloudy, the air brisk but warm, and my stomach is turning inside-out.

“I’m going to jump,” says I.

My legs don’t seem to want to obey my head. I can’t get the muscles to contract in preparation for the forceful push through my feet to propel my body from the rock ledge several feet away to fall to a cold awakening in the water below. But somehow, I manage.

I fall freely. Everything inside of me says, “You are going to die. It’s only a few seconds…” but I know that I will survive. Suddenly, with plenty of warning, my entire body is immersed in a freezing cold liquid, and there is but one thought pulsating through my entire body: get out.

I scramble to the surface from several feet beneath, already shivering, and swim as quickly as possible to the nearest rock, careful to not run into it. I jump out of the water, and I make a stark realization:

“I just jumped off a cliff. Woah. I’m ready to conquer the world.”

It was awesome. And of course, I scaled back up the cliff to do it all again.

Posted by Mark

I know I’m a little late in updating this, pending a difficult situation on the way back from Denver. I’ll try and give all the luxurious details, as time does permits, but if you want more, please ask. I’d love to tell you, because it is an awesome story.

The Time In Denver, Before Meeting Up With Renée

I got up to Denver pretty quickly Friday evening, arriving at the residence of one Tim and Jeni Saltzman at about 9:45pm Friday. Totally zonked from the trip but way excited to see them, we talked for a little while and then decided to crash for the night.

The next day, Tim and I went to go play table tennis and racquetball, but ran out of time to do so, so we went to Bigg’s arcade instead and enjoyed beating each other up at Marvel vs. Capcom, Tank Wars, and Time Crisis II, to name a few. We met up with Jeni for lunch and went to Chipotle for lunch. I sure wish they had them in Albuquerque, because they have some excellent Mexican food and it just seems to be one of those uniting restaurants (whatever that means).

That afternoon Tim, Jeni, and myself all hung out and discussed my plans for the evening: to surprise Renée with some romance (roses included) and reunite with my beloved. We also pulled out ye olde video game system (aka Super Nintendo) and enjoyed the nostalgia of days gone.

Meeting Up With Renée, And The Rest Of Our Time In Denver

That night, I took a shower and got dressed up for the evening and surprised Renée at her hotel, and had chicken cordon blue and a lot of fun dancing the night away. We were both very tired and sweaty by the end of the evening, but we were happy, because we were together again. Finally!

The rest of the weekend was fantastic to play games with Tim and Jeni, enjoy a movie, Chinese food, and the blessings of fellowship from the Lord. It was such a deep blessing to spend time with Tim, my brother and close friend, and his wife, Jeni, who completes him. It’s awesome to see and hear their story of life and marriage (two years and one month so far!), and it excites me to serve Renée with my life when we marry come October.

The Adventure Home

Prologue: on Sunday, Renée, Tim and Jeni, Jason, and myself all went to Fazoli’s for lunch (another restaurant I wish they had in Albuquerque). When we left, all my dashboard lights in the Gov’nah decided to come on. “Strange!” I thought, and pulled out the owner’s manual to find out what gave. “Hmmm, the manual says that it’s probably a dirty connection, and that it’s nothing essential. I can fix it when I get back to Albuquerque.” Right.

Renée and I leave for Colorado Springs on Monday morning, intending to tour Focus on the Family that morning and return to Albuquerque in the early evening. Dashboard lights still on and all, we start the trip home (asking that Tim and Jeni pray for the car). We turn on the air conditioning and lo and behold, we have none—just the vent. Bummer.

About five minutes until Focus on the Family, I realize what the heck is going on: as I see the battery voltage gauge on zero, it comes to me that a belt must have broken—specifically, the one that drives the air conditioning and the alternator, which explains why the battery is almost dead.

Praise the Lord, we pull up to Focus on the Family—right at the top of the entrance ramp—and the car dies. Dead. Resurrection not in sight. I run over to the guard and ask for some help in pushing the car into the parking spot, and seven guys come out to help. FOTF was so nice in helping us get back on the road—they let us use their telephones free, they gave us lunch free, and were the total example of Christ’s love to us.

We called Tim and had to have him tow us to the Independent Volvo mechanic, where we got the belt replaced. We went back to Denver with Tim to stay the night, and returned the next day to pick up the Gov’nah. However, we were informed that the water pump was extremely leaky, and that it should be replaced as soon as possible, but we should be able to get back to Albuquerque—we just had to make sure to watch the coolant levels and add coolant as necessary. Not wanting to lose another day, we pile all our stuff back into the Volvo and head off into the wild blue yonder.

Walsenburg, Colorado

On the road again, there comes a time when every man and every woman feels the urge to dispose of some no-longer-needed material, a.k.a. “drop the boys off at the pool”. Renée and I exit at Walsenburg for a bathroom break at Carl’s, Jr., and for dinner. I check the coolant and realize that, heck, I’m out. But I’m not going to open the tank yet, since the engine is so hot. So, I go in and Ren�e and I have dinner inside. We go back out, and I see a horrible sight—coolant all over the ground. I open the hood and the coolant tank and put in some purified water, only, to my horror, to see it all leak out of the lower radiator hose onto the ground.

Mark and Renée are marooned again.

But praise the Lord—the manager of Carl’s, Jr., takes us all over Walsenburg to find a mechanic, and since no one is open, he gives us the name of some reliable people to talk to in the morning. We end up having to stay at a motel, but we get a discount because the manager brought us.

Early the next morning we get on the phone to call the mechanics. Everyone is full—except one Harp Motor on the far end of town. We talk to Matt at Harp Motor and he tells us to bring it on in and he can take a look at it—just be careful not to get the engine too hot on no coolant. So we get it down there and he starts calling around to see if he can find the parts we need, and finds them in Trinidad. So, he says that he’ll give us a call when they find out exactly what’s wrong and go from there. Renée and I begin the 30-minute walk back to the motel, stopping at Safeway to buy some food for lunch and for dinner.

About noon, we get a call from Matt that we’re going to be okay—it looks like a leaky radiator hose, and unfortunately no one has the lower radiator hose in stock. But, they can cut off the bad part and stretch it to make it work, but we need to get it fixed in Albuquerque. And, it can be done by this afternoon. Even better, Matt says he will come pick us up at our motel so we don’t have to walk all the way back to the mechanic! Hallelujah!

We get back and while we test drive the Gov’nah with Matt, we confirm that he is a Christian, a graphic design artist from Texas like Renée, and moving to Colorado Springs soon. We have a wonderful time talking about how cool God is and just being blessed. We pay for the labor and get back on the road with a blessing, to arrive home shortly before 8:00pm Wednesday night, two days later than originally planned, but certainly much more blessed than we could have thought.

We saw that God broke all of our dependencies on ourselves—or even on each other—and had us trust Him completely for our wellbeing. While it appeared that the situation was bad, it was really God giving other people a way to bless us and to meet our needs, as well as for Renée and I to spend some good quality time together after being apart for five weeks and thus now being able to connect in deep ways. God knows what He’s doing. He’s a great Dad.

Posted by Mark

Indeed, it was an exciting trip. I’ll recap the highlights of the trip for everyone. In fact, check the photo gallery for a more visual experience.

Wednesday, October 10

Besides being my 13 month anniversary with Renée, this day wasn’t what it was cracked up to be. I was under lots of stress trying to get last minute details taken care of, but finally did so and then arrived at the airport around 2pm for a 5pm departure. We got into Dallas just fine. However, we did not leave Dallas just fine. At least, not for about two hours extra. A great cloud of rain dumped its wrath upon the Dallas airport for two hours and averted an 8pm flight to 10:30pm instead, which made my visit with Renée much shorter. Oh, you didn’t know? We had a layover in Houston Wednesday night, and she and her family were so kind to let us stay with them. Around 2am, I finally got to sleep after a good visit with Renée, although I don’t think I was extremely coherent.

Thursday, October 11

Three hours later, I awaken to the sound of a hair-dryer and realize that I missed my turn to take a shower. So, as manipulative as I could be with three hours of sleep, I took advantage of the fact that everyone else had only had three hours of sleep as well and slipped into the shower before Dave could. After a delectable breakfast of half of a doughnut, Renée zoomed us to Terminal D at George W. Bush Intercontinental Airport. We walk up to the Aeromexico ticket counter to be sadly informed that our 8:45am flight has been cancelled. That means I could have spent an extra hour-and-a-half sleeping! So after enjoying a fine dining experience in a revolving restaurant and eating lots of peanuts in the first-class lounge (compliments of Aeromexico), we finally get on a plane to Mexico City at near 2pm.

Arriving in Mexico City, we clear immigration and have four hours to kill. So, we decide to take a tour of the Zocolo (where the governor’s palace resides) and watch them take down the Mexican flag for the day. It was the most gigantic flag I have ever seen—easily 30×50 ft. We took the metro back to the airport, and boarded the airline to Merida, arriving at around midnight. Unfortunately, much to our dismay, we noticed that a Gameboy Advantage and my eyeglasses were missing—that is, stolen.

Friday, October 12

After sleeping in until 8am with awesome air conditioning in our mid-90s, near 100% humidity city, we all met for breakfast and devotions to prepare for a day of ministry—getting to know the campus, the students, and find out as much information as possible about what it is going to take to start a partnership with the Universidad de Yucatan.

After locating the campus, we find out that today the students celebrate Columbus Day, and have the day off. Grrrrr. We did find out, however, that each area of study has its own campus and there is no central campus, as in the States. We ended up visiting the communications campus.

Well, we then went around the town trying to figure out how it was laid out. In our travels, we discovered a Christian book store and met a pastor from the States who had been here for only about six months who had a church in the northern part of the city. We also ran into a student named Mario who proceeded to take us out to lunch and explain the university system to us in more detail. We got some video of him before he had to leave for home, in Yaxopil, about 15 minutes south of Merida.

Saturday, October 13

On our day of rest, we decided to rent a car (with air conditioning) and go to the Mayan ruins of Uxmal. They were simply astounding and prove that God has certainly instilled in His creation amazing creativity! It was neat to be around the ruins and the lizards. The giant, man-eating lizards. They were very cute.

That afternoon, we went to the other side of the state of Yucatan, to the beach at Progreso. While there, we filmed a little more footage for the rest of our friends in New Mexico. We were also asked by several Mexican teenager girls for a picture. After playing in the water for a little while, we dined on seafood (fried fish with the head still attached) and then returned to town of Merida.

We made a quick stop to the local Internet café to let relatives know everything was cool. We also located another hotel that we will definitely stay at in the spring. We’re giving Hotel Trinidad Galleria up, sorry.

Sunday, October 14

Our last day in Merida, we checked out of the hotel and had morning devotions in the town square at a restaurant while watching the festival commence, a.k.a. Sesame Street something or other. For lunch, we met with two CRU staff who work with business professionals in Merida, named Pablo and Chela. We found the best restaurant yet and became acquainted with our partners for next spring and had a delightful time joking around and trying to understand each other.

We hopped on a plane to Mexico City for the night and stayed in Hotel Fleming, the nicest place yet I have stayed in. David, Matt, and I each had our own beds. Ahhh.

Monday, October 15

We had a mid-morning flight back to Houston and had prepared for a long time in customs back in the States with a four-hour layover before departing for Dallas. To our delight, we got through customs in about ten minutes and so I called Renée to come down and visit for about two hours. And what an awesome two hours they were! Man, I really am excited for Renée to come to New Mexico. I’m sick of this long distance thang—I’m ready to see her in person!

After our two hours, we flew back to Albuquerque and got in about 8:30pm or so. Unfortunately, I had a big midterm in organizational behavior the next day, so I had to study.

And study some more. It was gross—but I think I aced the test. Praise the Lord!

Posted by Mark