Happy belated Easter!

Happy late Easter to all! We missed seeing family at Easter this year but felt extremely blessed by our community here at the seminary. We had about 13 people over to our little apartment on Easter and enjoyed good food and fellowship. There were four kids here that were under the age of 4 so they kept things active and provided good entertainment. Thank goodness their mothers brought toys for them, as we are not necessarily a kid friendly apartment at this point. Here are a couple pictures of us with our favorite little neighbor boys that live next door. They have truly become family to us!

Abby and Jonas. Jonas just had his 2nd birthday!

Paul wrestling with Gabe...Gabe requested it!

This is what it looked like here the third weekend in April. We ended up with about 10 inches of precipitation, rain and snow combined. The snow started falling Friday and didn't stop until late Saturday. Abby was barely able to make it home from work Friday and it was the first time in the two years we've lived out here that she said she would have enjoyed having four wheel drive! Paul had to push the Camry into it's parking spot when Abby got home. Guess it was better than getting stuck out on the roads. The good part about this time of year is that the snow doesn't stay long....you'll see what I mean with the pictures below!

Friday, April 17th at 3 PM

Sunday, April 19th at 3 PM

Paul is studying hard as he only has 3 more weeks left of school! Paul's parents are coming out for graduation so we are excited to share in the celebration with them. This is a very bittersweet time for us as we've enjoyed our time out here, especially living on the Seminary campus and getting to know so many wonderful people that have been our family away form home. Still, we are excited to see what God has in store for our future...we're hoping he reveals that soon! As of now, Paul does not have any job leads. We would appreciate your prayers during this time of many unknowns. We'll keep you updated!

Iowa Visit

We were fortunate to make it home to see both sides of our families over Paul's Spring Break. Here are some pictures from enjoying home! We flew into Chicago and Paul's parents picked us up so we spent the first half of our time at their home outside of Maquoketa and then it was on to Clinton to visit Abby's family.

Kris and Dave have two dogs, Doc and Stoney. Here is Abby giving Stoney the attention he was begging for. If you look closely in the left hand corner, you will see a cat's tail. Abby had originally called for the kitty to come so she could pet it but Stoney wheezled in instead!
Paul and Doc playing tug-o-war

A beautiful sunset enjoyed on the Hovey farm. We love being out on their farm enjoying the quietness, beauty and nature all around us!

Switching over to Abby's family. Kris and Dave drove us down to Clinton to spend time with the Glews.

Our niece, Leah, is now 4 months old! We had a great time listening to her coo, watching her smile, and just cuddling her as much as we could. She even decided to roll over for us while we were home...this was only her 2nd time!

Uncle Paul and Leah. Leah liked Uncle Paul's glasses!

Aunt Abby and Leah enjoying some cuddle time and kisses

A GREAT family pic! This is Abby's brother, Nick and his wife, Erica...the wonderful parents behind this beautiful little girl!

Aunt Abby and Uncle Paul getting one last pose with Leah before they had to leave and come back to Colorado.

Happy Spring!

Greetings from Durango, CO where we are spending part of Paul's spring break! (By the way, the date above is wrong...it is really Monday, March 23rd as I write this.) Paul finished his comprehensive exams at the end of February and passed with flying colors. Now he just has to finish off the rest of the semester and he will officially be a Denver Seminary grad! We thought we should take advantage of one of Paul's last breaks as a student before he goes into the working world by getting away for his spring break. Abby even took the whole week off from work!

As some of you may know, almost 3 years ago, we took our honeymoon in Durango. For Abby's Christmas present this year, Paul surprised her with a few nights at the same place where we honeymooned. We have been enjoying our little cottage in the woods and have ventured out to do a little hiking and explore the town of Durango and beauty nearby. We woke up this morning surprised by snow on the ground. It is absolutely beautiful and something we haven't seen much of this winter so we welcomed it! Today we are staying in where it is warm and doing a little reading...I guess for Paul it would be termed "studying". Tuesday we'll head back to Denver and then Wednesday morning head back to the Iowa to enjoy family for a few days.

We brought food to cook a few of our meals in our kitchenette but forgot there was no oven so here we are improvising our meal on the stove!

Animas City Mountain trail near Durango

Outside our cottage on this snowy morning

Our cottage in the woods where we are staying

Here are some highlights to report since our last posting:

*Abby went back to Iowa for a quick visit at the end of February to see family while Paul studied hard to prepare for his comprehensive exams. Abby couldn't believe how fast her niece, Leah was growing and savored every second with her.

Here is one of Grandpa's attempts to make Leah smile! She really likes Grandpa's voice and gave him most of the smiles.

Aunt Abby and Leah

One of our new favorite pics of Leah

*We have enjoyed the mild Colorado winter and have gotten to enjoy many walks/hikes outside. One of our recent favorites was at Deer Creek Canyon, just outside of Denver. We went on a 7 mile hike with friends, Rob and Darla. Rob is another philosophy major that Paul spends quite a bit of his class time with.

*Abby transferred within her company to a facility in Littleton that is MUCH closer to home! She is now working about 5 min. from home, rather than 30. She continues to enjoy working with the elderly in an outpatient setting.

*Paul began teaching a worldview class at our church the beginning of March. His wife is even enrolled in the class and is one of his best students! :) She seems to always have lots of questions trying to digest all of this worldview stuff; it's a good thing she lives with the teacher and can have one on one tutoring sessions if needed.

Hope everyone is enjoying the beginning signs of Spring!

A Taste of Iowa

Abby's dad took Amtrak from Iowa and came to visit this last week. The purpose of the trip was to escape the distractions back home in order to complete some of the demands of his summer coursework. So needless to say, Paul and Dennis spent a lot of time in the library together while Abby was at work. Dennis picked a great week to come, as four of the days he was out here were in the upper 60s! So the study breaks were spent outside on the trails enjoying the rays! We also got in a couple hikes together and were spoiled by a few good meals out! He was a very easy guest to host and fun to have around!

Our wonderful guest for the week!

We took a hike at Deer Creek Canyon, just 20 minutes away and had a great time. Unfortunately it was a bit muddy as you will see below but we didn't let that stop us!


Notice the pants rolled up due to the mud. Nice fashion statement, boys!

This is what we saw the majority of the 3 mile hike!

Abby and her dad enjoying a break with Denver in the background.

Avalanche Game!

For Christmas Abby gave Paul tickets to an Avalanche game at the Pepsi Center downtown Denver. This was the first professional hockey game the Hoveys experienced, having great seats to see plenty of close up views of elbows, shoulders, faces, you name it meet the glass. We were amazed that the fights broke out less than a minute into the game and consequently the players sent directly to what Abby liked to call "time out". Paul enjoyed teaching Abby the meaning of various calls and helping her understand the ins and outs of the game. Although the Avs got creamed 6 to 1 by the Blue Jackets, we still had a great time!

One of the many fights observed

Abby taking it all in! Notice the winter coat still on...it was cold close to the ice!

They had this crazy light show and dramatic music before the game and after every intermission before the Avs would come in.

Leah Nicole Glew

To honor our new little niece and the start of the nieces/possible future nephews on Abby's side of the family, we decided to give Leah Nicole her own blog posting! Leah was born Dec. 1st weighing 7 lbs 3oz and was 20 in. long. She was the main event at the Glew Christmas this year, managing to make it into almost every picture that was taken. We treasured our time holding her as much as possible as we knew next time we would see her she'll have grown quite a bit. Aunt Abby became pretty attached and wished there would have been some way Leah could have come back to Colorado with her and Uncle Paul. Maybe in a few years she'll be ready for a slumber party with her Aunt Abby and Uncle Paul.

Enjoy some pictures of precious little Leah!

Aunt Abby and Leah meet for the first time
I think we have an attached aunt on our hands!

Uncle Paul and Leah

Leah is wishing Aunt Abby and Uncle Paul didn't live so far away.

Family Christmas photo...this year a wonderful addition!

Happy New Year

Okay, so for the two of you who still read our blog... we're back! And our new year's resolution is to update our blog more frequently. Well, we had an eventful fall. Paul got through another semester of seminary... only one to go! We are both excited and anxious to see where God leads us next.

Let us catch you up on a few things that have been happening for us. Abby has been enjoying her job. I don't think she'll ever tire of helping the elderly! We've been enjoying Colorado and missing home. We had several opportunities to enjoy beautiful creation... driving over mountain passes, spending time with friends in the mountians, enjoying the unique colors of gold the aspens bring with fall, and hiking on some of the nearby trails. We've also enjoyed several visitors, and we will welcome more if you want to come. Time is running out!!! :)

We've been keeping active at church. Paul sang and played djembe for the worship team when they held a concert in a local park. He even broke out his acting skills for a skit at church! We've been blessed to be involved in two home groups through church. They are very different from one another, and we learn alot and are blessed by the people in both.

We just got back from an all-too-short visit to Iowa to see family over Christmas. It was great to see everyone, including the three infant nieces on Paul's side of the family, and the newly born niece on Abby's side, who is the first of our nieces and nephews on that side of the family. It was great to spend time relaxing away from the intense schedules we had been "enjoying" before we left. Abby in particular was thoroughly blessed and refreshed by her first extended break from work.

Paul continues to work at Lowe's, and will be spending plently of his winter break studying as he prepares for his comprehensive exams at the end of February, and for a class he is going to be teaching at church in March/April. Happy New Year to all!

Abby's friend from Luther College, Jenny, and her husband, Joe, stayed with us for a night in October and had breakfast with us before they continued to CO Springs to see Jenny's family.

We spent a weekend with close seminary friends up at a condo in Silverthorne for a quick getaway from Denver.

Abby's mom came to visit in October. They had a lot of quality girl time together while Paul was busy studying.

Beautiful fall colors!

At Hudson Gardens located right next to the seminary.

Abby's PT friends, Sara and Tanya came from Iowa for a weekend visit. Paul was amazed that they were able to talk constantly for about 72 hours!

We stayed here for Thanksgiving and were blessed to get together with several friends on campus who were also spending Thanksgiving in Denver.

We made our first turkey together...a success!

Opening presents from Abby's side. Notice the box that says "sort of breakable" for the old dishes thrown in to add weight to the gift. Thanks to Abby's clever mother!

At Paul's family Christmas.

Paul with niece, Brittney, waiting anxiously to open gifts.

Formal Christmas 2008 picture

Paul attempting to read to niece, Cassidy.