Day Trip to Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison

 

Merry Christmas - Boldog Karácsonyt!

We had a great Christmas this year. The Christmas Eve service at White Fields was packed, we ate töltött káposzta forint dinner, which is a Hungarian tradition for Szenteste. Ocean cooked the stuffed cabbage for us, and it turned out great; one of the best we've all had, even compared to in Hungary. The nice thing about Hungarian food is that it is designed to be made from scratch, so you can theoretically make it anywhere.

On Christmas Day my parents came over and we had a big meal, opened presents and played and assembled things together. After they left some friends came over to play a board game to close the night. All around a great Christmas. Hope yours was great too!

 

Thanksgiving Video Update

This is a video we made for our friends and supporters over at Calvary Vista. They showed it as part of their Thanksgiving Eve service.

It was pretty cold outside when we made it - I thought I wouldn't need a jacket. I was shivering!

Calvary Vista supported us while we were in Hungary and they have continued to love us and support us since we've come to Colorado. We are thankful for them!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! What are you thankful for this year? How have you experienced God's grace and provision?

Autumn Hike

Colorado is a beautiful place in every season, but autumn is maybe the most picturesque as aspen leaves change from green to yellow, then orange to red, and while the peaks are getting their first dustings of new snow.

Here in Longmont we are cut off from the nearby mountains because of the floods. We can't get to Lyons, Estes Park or Nederland, all places that were quick trips into the mountains previously. This past Monday we went down to Golden Gate Canyon, the closest access to the mountains to where we live - about a 50 min drive south of us. Here are some pictures:

Grays and Torreys Peaks - both about 14,000 ft.

Longs Peak and Mount Meeker

 

Colorado Floods: How You Can Help

(Mirrored here from the White Fields Community Church blog)
In the last few days we experienced a historic and destructive flood, and so many people have been asking how they can help.
Here are some ways that we as the Body of Christ can shine light in the community:

Pray!

Pray for those affected by the floods, that not only would their needs be met and their hearts comforted, but that as a result of this time of crisis, they would remember how fragile life is and how temporary and fleeting possessions and the things of this world are, that they would turn to the Lord and find hope in the Gospel that goes beyond the circumstances and material things of this life.

Serve!

Jesus said: "Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16). We encourage you to serve people in our community in the name of the Lord. There are many ways to do that, starting with helping those in our congregation whose homes were affected, to helping neighbors or friends who were affected.As a church, we are working closely with Longmont EOC (Emergency Operations Center) and Convoy of Hope Christian disaster relief ministry to help in recovery efforts, which will begin in the next few days and continue probably for the next few months. We will be looking to put together work teams to be able to go in and help with repairs and clean up. If anyone has special skills, please let us know, so we can help you meet those specific needs. For a list of current volunteer opportunities click here.

Give!

We have started a fund, called "Colorado Relief". You can give to that fund online here. In speaking with the EOC, they are going to help direct us to use these funds to help particular families meet important and specific needs. This is a good option if you would like to help people in our community and aren't sure how, as this will go directly to helping flood victims in our area, without any of it going to overhead.As of now, there are no particular material needs that we or the EOC or the Red Cross have, so we encourage you to give to the relief fund and we use those monies for hurting families as they come to our attention through these organizations we are partnering with.

Mount of the Holy Cross

Climbed Mount of the Holy Cross today. 14,005 feet / 4269 meters high.

It was grueling. We saw a ton of people turn back along the way. But it felt so good to reach the summit.

I climbed Longs Peak last year with these same guys, minus one, and I have to say I think this was harder, but yet more fun.

The pictures don't do justice to the majestic beauty of this pearl of God's creation.

 

Camping on the Middle St Vrain River

As part of our marathon of male-bonding, Balázs and I went camping last week Monday-Tuesday.

Balázs would have been perfectly happy going somewhere like a pay campsite, but I wasn't going to let that happen. I asked around and heard that there was good dispersed camping along the Middle St Vrain river, up above Allenspark.

In my reading, I also found out that there is a Middle St Vrain 4x4 road, which is for "high clearance Four-Wheel-Drive vehicles only, which - I figured - is exactly what my Toyota Sequoia is, right? ...Wrong...

So my plan was to drive the Sequoia up the 4x4 road and then camp in the wilderness. When we got to the trailhead on Monday and the beginning of the 4x4 road, we realized that our Sequoia was going to have a hard time. The test pile is at the beginning of the road, which basically is there to say: 'if you can drive over this, then you can handle this road'. We were pretty sure we would hurt the car if we tried to take it over the pile, but the road on the other side looked totally do-able.

While we were considering our options, some guys pulled up in Rubikon Jeeps. One of the guys said he thought we could handle the test pile and the road if he spotted us. He did, and while I was on top of the pile with me truck, he asked me: "You don't mind if your car gets scratched up on the bottom do you?" Um...

So, we got over the pile, but not without bending the stairs on the side of the car a bit. I was able to drive up the road about 300 yards/meters before the engine began to overheat and we got to the next big obstacle. Realizing I had made a bad decision bringing the truck up that road, we decided to park it, leave a note that we were coming back for it the next day, and hike in to hike, carrying our gear.

We had to leave behind a lot of things we had brought for camping since we knew we would be hiking in over a mile, and couldn't afford to make more than one trip. We finally made it in far enough, found a good spot off the trails and near the river, pitched our tent, and went out to fish for food.

The river was running really high, so we were not able to catch anything, so we ended up going hiking - and found an awesome place with a 40-50 foot cliff overlooking a waterfall. It was breathtaking, and we could see the peaks in the Indian Peaks Wildernesness just beyond us.

After going back to camp we spent a lot of time shooting Balázs' air rifle, doing target practice with a tin can, and we ended up going to bed early after eating a meager dinner.

During the middle of the night, I woke up and went outside with a head-lamp on, only to see two shining eyes reflecting rig back at me. I knew we were in bear territory, so I was a bit concerned, but the animal moved away from me slowly and didn't make a sound. I'm still not sure what it was, but I think it may have been a mountain lion, since its eyes faced forward and it was so silent.

In the morning, we packed up, hiked back out to the car and, with Balázs' help, after about 20 min of work, we were able to get the Sequoia over the test pile with minimal impact to the car. It was a huge relief! I had lost sleep the night before, worrying about how we were going to get the Sequoia out of there.

Anyway, it was a good trip. I'd recommend the Middle St Vrain for people who want a hike-in camping experience. Go up to Camp Dick off the Peak to Peak Highway, and keep going until the parking lot, which is the trailhead for Buchanan Pass.

Family Photos

At Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park.

Right before these guys left for Hungary.

 

Tubing the Poudre

I'm in Frankfurt, Germany right now, in transit to Hungary, and so I have the chance to write. Rosemary and the kids went to Hungary 10 days or so before me, so Balázs and I had the house to ourselves for that time. As much as I love my wife and kids, and hated being separated from them, Balázs and I got in some much needed bonding time, and it was good.

At the end of May I tore my rotator cuff in a mountain biking accident. I've been doing physical therapy for it, and making progress, so the first thing that Balázs and I did was go mountain biking. He's not as into it as I am, which wasn't bad in this case, because it helped me keep a slower pace. I've been going up to the north slope of Heil Valley Ranch outside of Lyons, one of the best, well-rounded, enjoyable, yet still challenging trails I've found. The bottom part is a lot of fast single-track, which goes up a small canyon, and as you get higher you come to an old homestead with two abandoned cars, which look to be from the 1940's, and above that is a lot of rock climbing through a forest. I only fell once, and thankfully didn't hurt my shoulder again, but all the bouncing on the way down did make it tired.

The day after that was the Fourth of July, so we called Isaac and asked if he wanted to do something fun. My idea was to climb Mount Toll in the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area, but it seems I was alone in wanting to climb a mountain. Balázs and Isaac wanted something a bit more relaxed, so we went up to Cheyenne, Wyoming to buy fireworks that you can't get in Colorado. One of the hardest things about being in Cheyenne was finding anything downtown that was open! We finally found a coffee shop and got some local advice on where to buy fireworks, so we went. Talk about a true American experience... For about $30 we bought fireworks that were grand enough to put on a better show than most small towns in Colorado.

We headed back to Colorado and started talking about what to do next, when the idea of tubing came up. We knew that people often tube on the St Vrain river in Lyons, so we called around to see if anyone we knew would lend us some tubes. Then, as we drove past Fort Collins we got an idea - why don't we tube the Cache la Poudre river in Fort Collins?! It is after all, Colorado's only designated "wild scenic river". I had been to Fort Collins a number of times before, but only downtown, I had never been up in Poudre canyon...

We drove down College Blvd until we saw some people with tubes, asked them where they bought them - Walgreens on College, so we bought some as well for $12 each. Not bad, except the guy filled them up with so much air that Balázs' tube blew up when we took it outside into the heat!

Here's a tip: don't fill your tube up too full of air!

So, after talking to a few people we heard about a place called Picnic Rock. So we got an idea: since we only had one car, we would park our car, and hitch hike to Picnic Rock, and tube back to our car. We parked our car at Legacy Park, just north of Old Town in downtown FC, walked out to Jax on College, and eventually succeeded in getting someone with a truck to let us sit in the back and give us a ride up into the canyon.

Since none of us had ever been in Poudre Canyon before, we didn't realize how far it was from the city of Fort Collins and where we had parked our car. As we sat in the back of the truck, we noticed that we kept going further and further, and we still weren't there, and we understood that the farther away we go, is how far we have to tube. Turns out Picnic Rock is about 15 miles from where we parked...

How long does it take to tube 15 miles? Well, that depends. Most of the time I would say we were traveling 3-4 miles per hour, but there were many obstacles, namely dams, that slowed us down. About 7 later, we got to the city of Fort Collins. The river was fun and fast until we got through the town of Laporte, but after that it got painfully slow because of all the dams before FC. When the sun went down and the river was so slow, we ended up walking the last mile back to our car.

The rapids in the river were fun, we each flipped over a few times, took hits from branches to the face, Balázs hurt his foot, and in the slow sections, all the pushing for speed did a number on my aching shoulder.

But here are my recommendations for anyone going tubing on the Poudre:

• Don't overfill your tube with air. It doesn't need to be firm to hold you and float. The last thing you want is to have a tube pop on you when that's your only means of transportation. Isaac's tube also burst when we got to the river. If not for the kindness of a fellow tuber, who gave us her tube since she was nearly done for the day, we would have been stranded!
• Park your car in Laporte, at Lions Park. That's a good 4-5 hr float from Picnic Rock, and the water moves pretty fast until then. After Laporte the water slows down a lot and it's no longer fun. From Laporte you can either hitchhike up, or if you have another car you can drop one in Laporte and drive the other one up to Picnic Rock.

It was a trek, but I would totally do it again. However, I think before I do another marathon tubing, I'm going to check out the St Vrain in Lyons. Hopefully they don't have any dams there!

 

Heading Home

Today was my last day in Eger. As excited as I was to be in Eger this past week, I was totally ready to go home this morning. I miss my wife and kids, and I realize that God has bound my heart up with Longmont and the ministry of White Fields, and entrusted the ministry here to others.

I went to Tesco and OBI, I needed to mail a few things and buy a few gifts, but the main goal was to find a way to take Túró Rudi back home to America. I picked up some Kinder Tojás and Kinder Szelet and then went over to OBI to get a hűtő táska.

Afterwards I met Dani in town for a coffee and then went up to say goodbye to Tünde and Julcsi. Jani came up to Budapest with me, along with Ilona and Judit. When we left Eger the weather was cold but fine, and about half way to Budapest it started snowing, and got worse and worse. I think it might be still snowing outside.

Here in Budapest I'm staying with Laci Németh, pastor of Golgota Dél-Pest, and Kyle Eckhart from Golgota Szeged came up to say hi and catch up. Great guys doing great ministries that The Lord is blessing. It was good to hang out and catch up. Laci lives near the airport, so he will drive me in the morning. My plane leaves at 6am, so we will leave early.

It's been a good trip. I'm so glad that I got to come and support Jani and Tünde and the church in Eger. Please continue to pray for the Hernádi family, for the city of Eger and for the work of God in Hungary, especially through the Golgota churches.

 

Snowshoeing in RMNP

The good thing about having things is that it creates an itch to use them.

Last year I got a pair of snowshoes as a gift, and earlier this year we bought a national parks pass that's good for a year. There are few things I like more than the feeling that I've gotten my money's worth out of something, so after a big dump of snow I got up in Rocky Mountain National Park with some friends and snowshoed up to Emerald Lake.

It was about a 3.5 mile hike round trip with an elevation gain of about 1000 ft. The views were stunning - I highly recommend it, but make sure you don't go alone. We found that it was really easy to get lost, because in the snow it can be very hard to find the trail, and very easy to get lost. In fact, while we were up there search and rescue teams were looking for a Texas man who went hiking alone and got lost. Bad idea. Nature can be both beautiful and brutal.

Dream Lake with Hallet Peak on the left

The view of Longs Peak on our way back

 

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Longs Peak from Bear Lake

This past weekend we did a marriage retreat up in Estes Park with Rob and Denise Salvato from Calvary Vista. The retreat was a great time of fellowship and refreshment and investing in our marriages.

After the retreat ended Saturday afternoon, we took Rob and Denise up into Rocky Mountain National Park. We made it up to Bear Lake by sunset. The lake was frozen, so we walked out onto the lake and got this view of the backside of Longs Peak - which also happens to be the same view that is the image on the Colorado's 25-cent coin.

 

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The View

This is the view I have taking Nate to and from school everyday. The first one is of the Indian Peaks, and the second is on Longmont's namesake: Longs Peak. I got to climb Longs Peak (14,259 ft / 4346 m) this past summer and I hope to do it again this year. The view of the Rockies from Longmont is one of the best on the Front Range.

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Recycling and Theology

We live in Boulder county, which means that most people here don't go to church, but everyone recycles!

We love recycling, especially since we watched a documentary about the huge island of trash swirling around in the Pacific, with plastics decomposing and being eaten by fish which then go into our food supply...

Many Christians make the case for not being concerned about stewardship of the planet because if Jesus is coming back soon, and the Earth will be destroyed, then what are we protecting it for?

However, I really like having clean water to drink and clean air to breathe, and not having garbage strewn all over the Rocky Mountains, and I'm happy to do my part. I certainly appreciate the fruits of the conservation movement in Colorado with large parts of God's majestic creation being preserved for people to enjoy, and repopulating wild animal populations. I believe that as we see in the beginning of Genesis, God created the world as a garden for man, for his use and enjoyment, and for his stewardship for as long as it was entrusted to his care.

Here's what Mark Driscoll has to say about recycling - kinda sums it up:

"We believe in recycling. We’re all for it. But you’ll die and go to hell with a green garbage can filled with newspapers if you don’t love Jesus."

 

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Check out White Fields On YouTube

A few weeks ago Balázs started uploading videos of the sermons at White Fields Community Church to YouTube. You can check out White Fields' channel here: http://youtube.com/user/WhiteFieldsChurch

 

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What a Year...

2012 was a big year for the Cady family...

About this time last year we were getting ready to make the big announcement that after 10+ years serving in Hungary, we had been called to serve The Lord somewhere else.

It was in January that we handed over the churches in Eger and Heves, and by March we loaded up everything we owned into a container to be shipped across the sea. By April I was leading White Fields and by May we had bought a house and moved to Longmont.

After a year characterized by transition into this new place of ministry, I'm ready to be settled in and focus on forward progress and Gospel impact here in No. Colorado. We have some ideas...

Please pray for a great harvest of souls here in Longmont and a deep work of God in 2013.

 

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Father's Day Trip to RMNP

This past Sunday was Father's Day - one of the first Father's Days - if not THE first - that I have spent in the US near my dad since I left for Hungary 10 years ago.

We had a great time at church - we had a BBQ and potluck, and the church family spent time together on the lawn in front of our building eating and enjoying fellowship for a long time after church. I love that kind of stuff.

After church I took off with my dad and headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park, which is a relatively short drive from where we live in Longmont. When we were in Utah a few weeks ago we bought a season pass for the national parks and monuments, and being this close to RMNP, I hope to get good use out it.

My dad and I hiked up to Fern Falls, and had a good time together. We both love the Rockies and enjoy being out in God's good creation, which speaks of His glory and majesty and power and beauty.

Here are some pictures:

Moraine Park


Fern Falls


A Columbine - the state flower of Colorado


Hallett Peak (12,713 ft) over Bear Lake (9450 ft)


Bear Lake - the farthest mountain on the left is Mt Meeker, and the one to the right of it is Longs Peak

Moved to Longmont

We have been in Colorado for 2 months now, and on Tuesday we closed on our new house. It's really a crazy feeling for me to own a house. I feel very blessed to be able to buy a house where my wife and kids can feel at home.

We are really enjoying Longmont and the ministry at the church. And it is so nice to actually be living in Longmont now, and not have to drive up and down I-25 every day. If I never see I-25 again it will be too soon...

We are over half-way done moving our stuff in and unpacking, thanks to a lot of help from my parents and some kind people from church. It's beginning to feel like home. The kids were super excited to get all their toys back.

God is good. We feel very blessed.

Made It to Colorado

Balázs and I made it to Colorado. We left California on Wednesday after lunch and drove to Las Vegas, where we stayed with my friends Chris and Jeremy. We went down to the strip to show Balázs around...needless to say, he was amazed. We went on the roller coaster at New York New York twice - it was the first time Balázs had ever been on one, and my first time on a roller coaster in over 10 years! We had a blast.

Thursday morning we left Vegas after breakfast and drove straight through to Denver. Everything was really great - no problems with the car, no tickets, no problems. The Lord was gracious to us!

Rosemary and the kids fly in to Denver in a few hours. Our first few weeks here are going to be busy. We need to find a place to live, schools for the kids, immigration stuff for Balázs. Please pray for us!

Moving Day

Today was moving day!

Early this morning we started the day with packing up some of the kids toys which they didn't want to be put into the container, then I took Nate to óvoda, and by the time I got back home the movers were here.

The truck in front of our house in Eger - ours is the top floor.

Isaac was a big help today. While we ran around and packed he played "dolly house" for hours with Felicia :)

Nate had a great time with the movers. He followed them around talking to them in Hungarian, trying to help them as much as he could. It was cute. He loves tools and big projects.
He is sad about leaving and doesn't like saying farewell, but he is excited about going to Colorado.

We still have a few days left here in Eger, but without any furniture or dishes we are having fun camping out in our empty apartment.