It is official. My husband was forced to Denver and we just saw him off. He should be seeing his first glimpse of the Rockies in a few hours. It has been looming over us for a couple of weeks, now. Denver is so very far from Lincoln. Eight hours. And his train does not come this far East, so we are on our own.On our own.
I know scripture says I should not worry.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matthew 6:34
Yet I worry. The fretting over the last two weeks or so has done nothing to change the situation. Strangely enough, the phone call actually gave me a sense of relief. I no longer have to worry. Now, I can begin planning. I suppose the worry was my own way of attempting to keep control, anyway.
I still have plenty I could worry about. How long will this be? He only has the hotel room for 60 days. Will be able to find (and afford) an apartment in Denver? At what point to we decide to sell our house and follow him out there? What if the house does not sell? It sat on the market for six months before, with only two showings. What if it sells, we find a house out there, love it and he gets forced back here?
For the next three years, Lincoln is his home base and he can be recalled anytime.
All that has not quite hit home, yet. Right now, I am thinking about taking over his responsibilities in the home. And getting the car serviced so that we can drive out for our first visit next week.
Our first visit. My children will only get to visit their father and we do not know how long this will last. After all, he could get bumped back before he even gets to Denver. Not knowing makes preparation difficult.
In the meantime, what is there to do in Denver that a homeschooling family just shouldn’t miss?
And now you see why I have a love-hate relationship with the railroad. The downsides are obvious. But it is still the reason I am able to stay home with the children. I have enumerated several blessings, both generic and specific to this situation. I even get twinges of excitement over the opening of possibilities in a direction we have never considered.
But then we are back to not knowing.
Exciting but scary…a lot of life seems to be that way. We’ll trust the Lord together.
Thanks, Laurie. All will be fine, I am sure. But the unknown is always a little disconcerting!
To a certain extent I can relate. My husband doesn’t have to travel, but in order for me to stay home and home school he works many, many hours of overtime.
It does get kinda crazy, doesn’t it? I am looking forward to our visit, once we get the car serviced.
He just called and is 85 miles outside of Denver. He says he is going through foothills, and hopes to see mountains soon.
30 minutes outside of Denver…are those mountains or clouds?
Mountains they were, and he is dutifully impressed with the size of our mountains in comparison to those dinky things they call mountains in Australia.
Made it safe and sound to the hotel.
Fun/educational stuff in Denver: Children’s Museum, Downtown Aquarium, Botanic Gardens, animal dioramas at the Museum of Science and Nature, Denver Zoo. A fun trip outside of Denver is the Georgetown Loop Railroad (but it may be out of service temporarily).
Also, the state capitol building, US Mint, and other historical museums are inexpensive and interesting.
Check out http://www.colorado-for-free.com for more ideas.
It’s so hard being in limbo for such a long time. You & your husband will be in my paryers. Our family will be vacationing in CO in two weeks: Indian Cliff dwellings, Garden of the Gods, Pike’s Peak, and panning for gold in a recreated ghost town — but that’s in Manitou Springs, which is a couple of hours south of Denver.
We have a membership at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and go there often. You can take a tour of the Denver Mint, but the free tour requires advanced registration. My kids also like the Hangout Learning Center in Denver, which is a drop-in center for homeschooling families with a gym, art center, free play area, and various classes.
Thanks, Anonymous. I just heard that the aquarium got in trouble for illegally disposing of salt water. Interesting.
Rebecca, that sounds like a wonderful vacation! I hope your family finds great rest, relaxation and of course education!
Those sound cool, Shauna. That is exactly the kind of thing my children would enjoy.
Dana – i have the solution! You can do what we did and are about to do again – move into a travel trailer! LOL – Yes – we are selling our house of only one year and hitting the road again!
I don’t know if this helps but I have learned to place these worries at Jesus feet as He is sovereign!! ( : Who better to hand over control to right?! ( :
Praying for you friend!
Mandi
Dana, I think Mandi has a very cool suggestion! We did the same thing last year – with 4 children in a 27 ft travel trailer..hmm, think about it!! Of course, you have to sell the house first. Prayers and blessings being sent your way!
Mandi, my husband would love that. He wants an RV or something like it. Somehow, I don’t think that would work well in Denver in winter, however.
Jennifer, were you here while I was on your blog? That would be cool…Where do you park such a thing in Denver? : )
Hi Dana;
1st, the sex ed post made me ill! I can’t believe that is going on… but yet I can in today’s “postmodern” world…
2nd 2 of my favorite ppl (and families) live in Denver. They are both pastors, one I have a blurb about his ministry there on my HeartnSoul blog (Haven Ministry) and has a great Bible study at his home, the other is in limbo as you say, too. Let me know if you would like to get ahold of them.
3rd.. my brother works for BN in Lincoln
small world eh? Maybe your DH knows him. I don’t see an email on your blog, send me a note if you would like to meet him too 
blessings
That is a small world! What do you mean you didn’t see an email? It is in the first sidebar in red. I have it as an image, though, to limit spam. Guess it works for limiting emails I would want, too!
Actually, it is available through my profile page, too, but I’ll email you anyway!
Dana,
I’m a Colorado native (hence the Milehimama name!) temporarily displaced in the south…
The Georgetown loop, as far as I know, is out of service permanently.
The Denver Museum of Nature and Science has great kid’s programs – they used to have special things on Tuesdays too. They have an area where children can dig their own fossils (they are permenently fixed in a bed of sand).
One thing that I did was select one area, easily accessible in the mountains, and visited it several times a year. At least once each season. The children were able to become familiar with the area and note seasonal changes, etc. but it was not constantly underfoot like a backyard – the changes were easy to see when we only saw the place every 6 weeks or so!
Also not to be missed – Echo Lake on Mt. Evans. It has snow year round; good hiking trails, and often animal footprints/evidence.
Send me an email for more info/stuff to do/husband traveling for work sympathy! I’ve spent many weeks and months waiting for him to come home… and visiting him too.
I have been gone a few days Dna so just now responding. Wow! Such decisions and under such uncertain circumstances.
I suppose the only way to look at it would be as an adventure? Mapping opportunities for the kids a definite plus; geography. Denver is a HUGE city–honestly, I hope you can live on the outskirts of it as there are some truly beautiful places there and such wonderful learning opportunities–especially if the outdoors are of any interest to you and then the city of Denver itself so fullof city life and what that offers. Boulder not far off if a crunchy way of life entices you and a beauty that is just stunning; gorgeous university.
No, I have never lived ther but went to look at possibly living there…as did my sister as well. And her husband did live there before they met and married. He is a big outdoors lover.
So I will say that Colorado can offer you a lot to do, various climates depending upon south or north, lots of history, geography, life style choices…and beauty.
As far as the anxiety and uncertainty you feel…I am not much help there…I used to be good at those things and the older I get the worse I deal with them…but I will keep you and your family in my thoughts and prayers:-)
Milehimama, I almost emailed you because I was fairly sure you were from Denver, but everything went too fast! I love that idea about picking a spot in the mountains and returning to it frequently. The one thing I regret about our stay in Texas is that we didn’t go to the beach often enough. When it was close, we took it for granted. Now we miss it. And will do on the emailing! He hasn’t been gone any longer than he normally would be yet, but…I know this is going to stretch out for a couple of weeks before we get out there. I just keep looking at everything I have to do! And there is no way I’m taking our car with its worn brakes out there quite yet. Gotta get that taken care of anyway, but we were hoping to wait until the end of the month.
Shawna, thank you! I’ve driven through Colorado and it is beautiful. My husband is excited about really getting into the mountains. He is more excited now…he is feeling more a sense of opportunity like when we moved to Texas. We’ll see how it all turns out, but I am looking forward to some field trips! So he better be out there long enough for us to get out there at least once!
Oh, and your last statement made me laugh. When I was younger, things like this were all such an adventure. Now, I am thinking more about roots than trotting around the nation and the globe!
Dana,
Railroading can be a tough life until seniority kicks in. My husband grew up in a RR home and they moved all over Minnesota with the BN. He’s still a railroader with the Alaska RR but happily lives in works in one place. (well, mostly…he just caught a flight to Fairbanks for 3 days)
Enjoy your occasional posts on Australia. We’ve been three times for Aboriginal ministry and really love it. Tony Horwitz’s book Blue Latitudes is his retracing of Cook’s voyages and landing places. Very entertaining.
Don’t know much about Denver but I hope and pray your decisions and choices will become clear.
Natives call Boulder “15 square miles surrounded by reality”.
Seriously, they have a LAW against porch lights being too bright (light pollution), a LAW against having upholstered furniture on your porch, and a LAW against killing rodents.
Also, the library is (infamously) famous for allowing an ‘art’ display of male genitalia casts while disallowing the American flag to be displayed.
Plus, that’s the most expensive place beside the ski resort towns to live.
There’s a great living history museum on the plains near Denver – they have Soddies, covered wagons, and much more!
Thanks, lynnak. And yes, it is all about seniority. He’s hoping to have a nice leap soon, when the first wave of the “old guys” retire. They are expecting a massive turn over.
Milehimama, that is funny. I think I heard about that stuff, but didn’t associate it with Boulder.
So, can I just rip the upholstery off an old couch and leave it on my porch?
Only if you label it as a habitat for the rare Arctic termite or some such.
People in CO do have ‘weed gardens’ with purslane, dandelion, etc. and have to label it as a garden because those are “noxious” weeds that the city will give you a ticket for – unless they are purposely cultivated!
Oh my. My whole yard qualifies as a weed garden. Does the same go for grass since it has been introduced?
Maybe we should fine Spain or whoever it was whose poor shipping practices brought us the dandelion in the first place!
Dana…
This is your critical illness. When my kidney’s went on a short vacation, my heart couldn’t handle the extra fluid and my lungs filled up with fluid… I was forced to trust God. Really, what choice did I have? I so much like having control of every situation.
I am sure you are in for a major Spiritual growth. Congratulations! Your heavenly Father is working on you. I wonder what He is preparing you for?
Oh, joy. I am not so spiritually mature as to say, “Yeah! Lessons from God!” I may begrudgingly admit things after the fact, but I am yet to be that joyful in my spirit at the onset. : )
I didn’t realize that Denver was that far from. Here I was thinking it was only 6 hours. Hmmm, I feel a mapquest coming on.
Well, maybe if we drive like you. : )