A chance to make my sister's day

Anyone remember this?

If you’ve been around here for a while, you might remember that 2012 was the summer that we lived in a cute little cabin with a tree growing up through the middle of its roof. Hubby was one of the staff for Colorado Leadership Training, a program that combines an amazing summer job with mentoring, deep relationships, and opportunities for outreach.

There were some scary wildfires.
We even had some crazy car trouble that made for a memorable first anniversary.
The sunsets were jaw-droppingly gorgeous against the mountains each night.
And we met more amazing people in one summer than I thought possible.

THIS summer, it’s my little sister’s turn!

The day after her highschool graduation this May, Kat headed north for a summer of working full time for the YMCA as a family coordinator. Which basically means she has the coolest job ever: she leads nighttime hikes, plays games with kids, and gives nature tours.

Her limited time off is filled with leadership training, new friends, bouldering, and running trails in the early mornings.

When her pictures pop up on my news feed, I can almost smell the mountains.

Those highschool dreads had become part of her in my mind, so her new close-cropped hair takes me by surprise. But it's adorable. She is a gamine, blue-eyed beauty with a boyish halo of blond.

One thing I remember from our summer at LT is how special real mail became.

Cell phone reception at the 'Y is almost non-existent, and Wi-Fi hotspots are small and crowded. When you miss your family and friends at home, there is nothing quite like finding a fat letter at the tiny post office, your name written in loopy, familiar cursive.

If you know my lil' sis and want to make her day, write her a note! (If you don't know her, consider writing a note to someone else!)

Here is her summer address:

[Staffer's Name] - EPC Staff

PO Box 20700

Estes Park, CO 80511

Flower Hike!

Zelda showing off a stalk of Tall Chiming Bells.

Gravel crunched thoughtfully under our shoes as we followed her khaki vest down the trail. Her practiced eye probed the brush on either side, looking for blooming bits of color to point out. Every few yards, she stopped, gathered us close, and explained the minute differences between the bracklets or petal formation of two close flower cousins.

I felt like I was eight years old again, treasure-hunting for beautiful flowers, rocks, and trees the way we always did in our homeschooling days. I was a very romantic little girl, almost Anne-of-Green-Gables-esque. For me, every tiny petal was something to pull out the magnifying glass and squeal over.


And even though I'm nearly two decades older, I admit unashamedly that I still squeal on the inside. As Zelda called our attention to nearly imperceptible wonders every few yards, I got that old familiar thrill of amazement that things so tiny could be so beautiful. And I couldn't help but worship my incredibly creative God.


I hope you feel some of the same thrill as you enjoy the pictures! :)

Crab Spider. These tiny white guardians wait on the flower until an unsuspecting insect comes along. Then...GULP!

The beautiful leaf of a member of the Geranium family. 

Narrow-leaved Penstemon. These beauties are everywhere!

Prairie Evening Primrose. I found it at around 11:00 in the morning, but only because it was in the shade of a large tree. 

Fremont's Geranium. 

Richardson's Geranium. This one is like the one above, except that, as the story goes, "Richard wouldn't be caught dead wearing pink".

Canadian Thistle. In the top picture, you can see the beautiful fuschia head, which resembels a sea anemone. The next photo shows the back of the flower, which tells you why my hand was not in the picture. :)

I have always loved the striking black and yellow of the Black-eyed Susan. This flower is actually composed of over fifty tiny flowers: black disc flowers on the circular central disc, and yellow ray flowers arranged like individual petals around them. 

I can't remember the name of this lovely five-pointed star, but isn't it beautiful?

This clustered white flower, named Yarrow, has a special secret. If you mash it's leaves to make a paste with some water and put it on a cut, it can stop the bleeding!

Sprawling Daisy. 

Common Evening Primrose. 

And I'm ending it with the sweet-smelling Ponderosa Pine...even though it's not a wildflower. :)  

Balloons over the Rockies

What weighs you down? 

So many things settle with undue weight into the corners of our hearts, puncturing our tank of joy and contentment with devastating precision: 

Worries about our families

Fears of an unknown, uncontrollable future

Hurts from words spoken years ago

Hurts from words that might have healed, but went unspoken

Secret shame

Insecurities that taunt us from the mirror or our GPA

Tight finances

In the desert with a complaining group of nomads, God used symbolism to seal the significance of deep truth in their hearts. Physical rituals like washing, celebrating, and sacrificing made unseen promises tangible, concrete, and less easily forgotten. 

So my life group leader got a great idea. 

We would write out the worries, fears, hurts, shames and insecurities in a letter to Jesus. Then, we would attach them to helium globes and literally release them to Him from a mountain top. 

When we found that our letters were too heavy for our little balloons, we took a marker and improvised. :)

We shared our burdens, gave them to Him as a group. As we let the plastic ribbons slip from our hands, we felt weightless in the freedom of surrender. 

We are spiritual beings, but we are also physical. These two aspects of our nature are so enmeshed that we cannot be wholly well if one is broken. Doctors and psychologists and ministers have long known that cheerful patients heal faster and that depression increases the risk of all kinds of life-threatening diseases. When we physically lift the edges of our mouths there is a corresponding glimmer of joy in our hearts. When we physically place our hands over our breast pockets and sing, we feel a soulful camaraderie with a nation of others doing the same. 

All that to say, I personally need physical reminders of spiritual truths. I need to kneel--it humbles me. I need to sing out--it reminds my heart of the reasons for singing. 

And sometimes I need to literally release my burdens to the Lord in a balloon. 

Wanna be challenged?

I do.

Every Tuesday and Thursday night here in Colorado, I sit for the challenge in Hyde Chapel. Speakers from all over the country have come to teach us about leadership and about Jesus, our ultimate example of how to follow and lead well.

I have been a believer in Jesus for a good chunk of my life, but I have been so humbled to realize how much I still have to learn about following him well. If I say I follow Jesus, I should have the same attitude about life that he had.

In everything.

Every teaching is uploaded to this Colorado LT Tumblr for us to review and share. So I'm sharing! Please check them out and tell me which ones were your favorites.

International Dinner!

One of my favorite parts of working at the YMCA, hands down, is interacting with the large population of international staff. 

Many of them are studying Tourism Science in their home countries, and they come to the USA excited to work at a resort and to practice their English. Despite these similarities, their stories are each so unique. To spend time with any of them is to become a student. 

To help us get to know them better, the LT program organizes an International Dinner each summer. Think of a delicious outdoor pot-luck show-and-tell, and you'll have a pretty accurate picture of what it was like. The international students cook traditional foods from their own countries, and the pride they have in the finished dishes is obvious. 

The sun was barely up on Friday before our cabin's kitchen had been turned into the Brazilian's preparation zone for the night's festivities. (Remember the awesome Brazilian friends we met after that guy's concussion two weeks ago? They have joined us for a lot of activities, and now we're pretty tight!) Chicken was bubbling in herbs on the little gas stove, and Vanessa was mixing a rich concoction of condensed milk and chocolate to make caramel chocolate balls for dessert. 

Brazilian chicken appetizers, breaded and fried

Erika, making Colombian arepas from corn

As evening fell and we arrived at the pavilion, moist, savory air enveloped us and made our mouths water. Delicious vapor was rising from metal pans and from every plate, and excited accents - American, Vietnamese, Ukrainian, Jamaican, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, and Bulgarian - echoed against the concrete floors and ceiling. 

As music played from a corner speaker, good conversations flowed at every table. There were coconut drops and two sorts of chicken from Jamaica, seafood and rice from China, fresh lime cevice from Turkey, and a liquour-drenched coconut cake that disappeared in about two minutes. After eating the same two-week menu at the Spruce cafeteria for the past month and a half, my taste buds were in a heaven of flavor! 

Afterward, an impromptu dance party happened, led by the Jamaicans and my sweet Colombian friend, Erika! (Yes, that's me in the gray shirt.)

Please ask God to make us faithful to these new friendships. We want, above all, for them to experience the love of Jesus and to have a personal friendship with him that will last long after they go home. 

The Structure of Summer: Cabin and work

Life is not where you live. It's also not a string of tasks, one after the other. Instead, life is lived on the inside, within those structures, where personal experiences pile up and intertwine and are sorted into meaningful categories by memory.

Still, my internal life feels a tad sensitive right now, even messy. I had an EBD (emotional break-down) at lunch today, and the categories aren't clear at all. 

So I'm writing now about the external structures of where and what. Maybe later I'll get to the other stuff. 

Our Summer Home:

This is our home for the next month and a half! Isn't it cute? 

The YMCA of the Rockies was established around the turn of the LAST century--more than 100 years ago. Built in 1914, our little duplex is one of the oldest structures still standing. Every year they threaten to tear it down and build something new, but every year it somehow escapes the ax. For the tree growing up through the roof of the water closet, that's a good thing! 

We have one large room with a kitchen,

and two tiny bedrooms. The one where we sleep is just big enough for a double bed and a chest of drawers.

We haven't had an official hike yet, but because our cabin is perched so far above the main YMCA campus, I feel as if we get a mini-hike nearly every day! 

Two Very Different Hats:

As far as work is concerned, I feel as though I have my feet in two separate buckets. 

Photo credit: Google Images

In the first bucket, I don a forest green polo shirt and make my way among wet floors and clanking machinery to clean and sort trays of dirty dishes from the guest dining hall. Since hubby is considered LT staff this summer, we aren't really working for the Y, but they are kind enough to let us volunteer two morning shifts each week in exchange for all the food we can eat. :) A pretty good deal!

In the second bucket, there are no dirty dishes, but the water is murky and confusing. Suddenly, the same tasks I have been doing for our church office the last two and a half years take twice or thrice as much effort. A simple thing like checking the office email may take two hours, simply because the internet connection keeps logging me out. A question to a co-worker that would have been solved in a three-minute conversation down the hall is now a 2 day email exchange. 

Don't get me wrong--I'm thankful to be here, thankful that supervisors allowed me to come with hubby on this summer adventure, and thankful for the income.

But with deadlines looming...
and banks saying they can't give me information to do my job unless my boss is on the phone WITH me...
and the information from the office incomplete and unclear...

A growing sense of failure and frustration is tightening my throat and making me wonder what I'm doing here. Shouldn't effort equal success? But at the moment, it feels like I am dumping effort into a black hole, with no results in sight.

But now I've gone past the external structures to the rawness I promised not to share. Oh well...I guess God knew I needed to share it. Prayers are appreciated. 

Concerning letters

Let me share with you one of my life-long loves: real mail.  

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, archaic and out-dated. Maybe I'm a romantic. Or maybe I'm one of the millions of people who get a secret thrill when we see the plump edge of a letter with our name written by hand on the face of it. It feels just a little bit like a birthday, doesn't it?

Yes. We have the internet. And yes, I'm blogging about letters using a keyboard, not a paper and pen. But if you would like to write to me this summer while I'm in Colorado, I promise that I will love it. And I will write back with an actual, physical letter. (Disclaimer: this promise does not apply if I suddenly receive over 20 letters per day!)

My mailing address until the middle of July is:

Cherise Castille - EPC Staff

PO Box 20700

Estes Park, CO 80511

This is not the same as the package address, so if you'd like to send a package, just ask me for that one. :)

Colorado at last!

I feel like I could be a poster child for Planes, Trains and Automobiles--I've spent so much time in them in the last three weeks! Trains in Milan, planes to and from Europe, and then two days in a car coming here.

But while it was undeniably LONG, it was also beautiful to spend alone time with my man on the road. I wish I could have recorded all of our silliness and laughter for a rainy day! We snacked on beef jerky, listened to C.S. Lewis' final portion of the Narnia series, The Last Battle, and took turns napping.

We also spent several wonderful, encouraging hours with the parents of hubby's good friend, who happen to live at a convenient half-way point. I appreciated their wisdom, their experience, and their sweet hospitality.

Some pics from the drive:

Grain silo in North Texas

The ground began to be less flat

Rush-hour traffic in Denver. We didn't plan that one very well... 

Finally in Estes Park! Just a little higher than the 300 feet elevation we're used to.

Now the place where I sit and type is a world away from Milan, not only in distance but in everything else.

One short week ago we were snapping goodbye photos with our Italian (and Albanian, Romanian, Ukrainian, Russian, and Chinese friends). We were sipping cappuccinos and eating gelato. We were packing hastily and snatching 2 hours of sleep before our flight back to America.

The view from the porch of the Admin Building. Gorgeous!

Now, I'm surrounded by the sounds of Midwestern English. Most members of the male population are sporting beards. The architecture is woodsy and rustic, and out the window I can see the fresh green panorama of the Rocky Mountains spreading up and out to the blue-brown of even higher heights beyond. The breeze is bracing. The sun is warm. I feel my soul expanding in the presence of the beauty all around me, trying to grow large enough to take in the many facets of loveliness.

I have a feeling that my heart will grow in more ways than this before the summer is over. 

Choosing Excitement!

So much is poised to happen in the next 40 days.


1. I will somehow finish my three classes, including a slew of GARGANTUAN research papers.


2. Our student homegroup will wind down for the semester. *tear*


3. I will train someone for the parts of my job that I can't do from Colorado.


4. We will FIND someone to do my job over the summer (probably should have mentioned that one first!)


5. I will fine-tune my resume. (Anyone feel talented in this area? I'm not above asking for help...see, I'm asking now. :) )


6. I will graduate!


7. We will fly to Milan, Italy, to show the love of Jesus to students for two weeks.




Whew! I am choosing to feel excitement instead of feeling overwhelmed. Trusting instead of fearing.
I know that even though I may have moments when I'm dead-tired in the next 40 days, I belong to the One who couldn't be conquered by death.


He restores my heart daily, and I know it's gonna be a great ride!

...Oh, praise the One who

paid my debt

and raised this life up from the grave!...

Summer Plans

I have realized over the past two weeks that I have not been communicating well with my family and close friends about our summer plans.  I would mention something casually, and get this response: "Whaaaaaa? Really?  I had no idea!"

So, congratulations.  You are about to get the Castille low-down.

First, I'm gonna flip my tassel and graduate!  Whoop!  This day has been long in coming, but the end is now in sight. 

The day after graduation, hubby and I will board a plane with our team and fly halfway across the world for a two-week mission trip in Milan, Italy.  We are in the throes of planning now, and many of you will soon receive a letter in the mail with more details.  (Yay for "real" mail! :) )  Alternatively, (or additionally) you can join our Facebook group by clicking this link and requesting an add. https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/316736331710419/ The plan is to post regular trip updates both before and during the trip.  What could be better than up-to-the-minute updates, right?  (FYI, I will basically be posting the same blogs here and there, mainly so that people have options.  However, husband will post some thoughts of his own on the facebook page that will not show up here.)

After Italy, we're not giving ourselves much time to recover from jetlag.  One day after chasing the sun back across the Atlantic, we'll be loading up our little Camry with a summer's worth of stuff and pointing our noses north to Colorado's YMCA of the Rockies! Our church and other GCM churchs are sending students and staff to an amazing leadership training (LT) program that lasts 10 weeks. Students will work a full-time job at a top-rated YMCA family camp and experience a summer of growth with the Lord through mentoring, awesome teachings, and friendships...all while looking at views like this:

  Yeah.  :D

We WILL have internet, although my cell service might be spotty at best. I'm planning to blog frequently enough that you won't have to worry that I got eaten by Smokey the Bear.