Kelly and Connie’s Place

Kelly and I just spent all of last week (May 12-16) in Albuquerque for our first ever, off-site Church Partner Forum. (We usually hold these forums in Orlando at our Pioneers campus.) The exciting part of this event was that none of the 8 churches who attended had any previous connections with Pioneers! It was a great opportunity to open the door for the possibility of future partnerships.

We took 3 of our team members with us and co-hosted this event with another agency called: You can learn more about this group at www.1615.org . They coach churches on how to design their missions programs to fit the DNA of their church.

One highlight of our trip was seeing New Mexico’s state bird – a real “Roadrunner” scooting across the parking lot at our hotel. Kelly captured a photo of one on his cell phone and maybe he will add his picture to the blog. Here’s a link to Kelly’s photo! This is the same bird that was made popular in Wile E. Coyote’s Warner Bros. cartoons. (Credit for photo above: Photo: and no it did not go beep-beep www.birdwatchersdigest.com/)

Roadrunner Facts: Roadrunner is the state bird of NM. They prefer walking or running, attaining speeds up to 17 mph. hour; and are quick enough to catch and eat rattlesnakes.

Description: The roadrunner has a long, graduated tail carried at an upward angle, long stout legs and a distinctive head crest.

Albuquerque Facts: Dry, dry, dry is my description. Officially, the climate is classified as arid (defined as: a severe lack of available water). That’s an understatement! The city was founded in 1706 and is named after a Spanish village Alburquerque (extra “r”) and a “family name” from Spain and Portugal. Living at sea level in Orlando, this view of the mountains is breathtaking. (See photo above)

The red area on map above shows where Albuquerque is located in NM. Population: 534,089 (2008); Elevation (at airport) is 5,352 feet (1,631 m) above sea level.

(Hot Air Balloon photo © Cindy Petrehn photo)

The Rio Grande (photo left) flows through the city north to south. (3 Albuquerque photos come from “wikipedia.org” ) A Striking Site: On a previous trip we got to see a view like this of the hot air balloons. A popular attraction in early Oct. is the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

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This is a photo from last week of Jr. and his mom, the female American Bald
Eagle, perched on top of a high voltage power pole by our office (the male eagle [not shown] is half again as big as the female). Jr.’s definitely getting big! We’ve been watching Jr. “flap his wings,” preparing for the big moment when he takes flight.

This week, he flew the coup! We haven’t seen him actually flying, but the nest is now mostly empty. I thought all three might have vacated the nest, but yesterday, Jr. was back sitting in the nest. I hope to see him fly and see him when his head feathers become white.

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“…but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isa. 40:31

We are reminded of this verse every morning on our drive into the office because of this wondrous event we have been privileged to watch take place…the birth of a new baby Bald Eagle.

Sitting on the top an electrical power pole along the roadside is a large wooden platform placed there for this very purpose — to provide a nesting place for eagles.

And, a pair of American Bald Eagles has chosen this location next to our office to build their nest and hatch their young. (Photo above: female eagle with her baby eagle next to her, they both have their backs to the camera, unfortunately.)

Each day we watch for them. Sometimes they are in the nest and at other times they are perched on the crossbar majestically overlooking the humans below rushing off to their own destinations. A real treat is to watch them take flight and soar against the blue sky with a wing span that is remarkable. The baby bird hasn’t been out of the nest yet that we can tell, and it is possible that there is more than one.

The male eagle is much larger than the female, and can often be found sitting in a field across the road where the water pools after a rain shower.

God’s Word says in Isa. 40:29 that, “He give strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”

This would be our prayer request for the month of February and March; for God to give us strength and empower us to do the work of His ministry, but then to also have the wisdom to take time to rest in Him and be renewed.

NOTE: Original photos (this is with full telephoto capability of our digital camera, just to show you the distance of the first photos before cropping and editing .

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Some of you may already know that Kelly and I are Trekkies, and all day Sunday was a marathon day of the Star Trek: Enterprise series. (OK, I’m putting in my first retraction: Kelly and & are not “true Trekkies” we are Star Trek fans. I guess there is a big difference so I stand corrected.)

At the same time, we didn’t totally ignore the BIG GAME (Super Bowl) that was going on. We did flip the channel during commercials, but it didn’t look like much was happening.

It just so happens, that we caught the most exciting and important “last 2 minutes” of the Giant’s Upset for the 14-17 win… and it was unbelievable!

Did you know?

• Inner Mongolia Satellite TV broadcasted the Super Bowl game nation wide in China.
• A 30 second Super Bowl commercial spot cost $2.7 million.
• You can watch all the Super Bowl commercials on the web…imagine that, watching commercials on purpose!
• Super Bowl Sunday is the 2^nd largest day of food consumption behind Thanksgiving…
• It is estimated that there were 97 million Sunday viewers of the game, making it the 2^nd most watched televised program ever…
• Only the final showing of Mash in 1983 had a higher viewing of some 106 million

I guess the next big event is, “Super Tuesday”…(No chads in Florida)

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Our new blogsite is officially launched today! Hooray!

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