Forest Fires and Friends

A friend said yesterday, "It feels like every day at the Y is the same as four regular days at home--so much life happens in 24 hours!"  

On one hand, this is true, because of the sheer numbers of conversations and the volume of fresh thoughts experienced when you're living in new surroundings. 

On the other hand, hubby and I both feel like life has shifted down about a dozen notches from the near-frantic pace of this past semester. We have responsibilities, but they don't consume every waking moment. We have meetings, volunteer shifts, meals, and work, but there is room to breathe clean mountain air, room to get decent sleep, and room to sit down with friends and talk. We like it. :)

Dry Conditions = Forest Fire: 
On Friday, we woke to see an energetic plume of smoke rising above the mountains that encircle the YMCA campus. By lunchtime, the plume had become the rolling, billowing cloud that you can see in this picture I took with my phone>>>

News articles say that the fire started from a lightening strike early Saturday morning.

Don't worry about us--the YMCA and Estes Park are in no danger--but this fire is definitely one of the biggest that Colorado has had to deal with in a long time. Prayers are needed! On Saturday, hot, dry conditions and strong winds expanded the fire from 50 to 200 acres within half an hour, and a recent article says that over 37,000 acres have been burned. 

photo credit: denverpost.com

At this point, the fire is 0% contained, and the fire crews are focusing on evacuation and on keeping buildings from catching fire. Please pray for the fire crews, for all the families affected by this fire, and for some long, soaking rains! 

Project Group:

Even though we can see the smoke, the fire is far enough away that it hasn't affected anything at the YMCA or in the LT program. This weekend, for example, some friends from my project group and I went on a mini-hike to a place called Moraine Park. We ate boxed lunches from the dining hall on top of a big boulder and took some goofy pictures:

Y-M-C-A!

We also saw elk on the other side of the river, only 30 feet away from us!  

I really am enjoying getting to know the girls in my project group and life group. They are all so uniquely sweet, each with her own history, quirks, and personality to bring to the mix. I'm praying that God heals some hurts and fears I've accumulated from past friendships through these new ones, and that I can be an encouragement to them too.