A matter of "chance"

Yesterday afternoon was crazy! As Desi and I were getting things ready for church, our two girls lost it. For close to 2 hours before it was time to leave, the girls cried and screamed and just acted not like themselves. Desi had to print something from an old laptop and our old printer was out of black ink. The laptop died 5 times in a row (while plugged into the wall)! He had to print something from his current laptop as well and had not loaded the new printer into it yet. Emma did not want momma at all, but wanted to be held by daddy. Desi and I both got so frusterated! I had everything ready to teach the toddlers Sunday school, but wasn't sure I'd make it out the door! Needless to say, God was still in control and we should have had better attitudes! We eventually got both papers printed and made it to church on time.

I was reading Tabletalk, a monthly devotional magazine put out by Ligioner Ministries (R.C.Sproul). It's going through Genesis and the day I was reading (Jan 18) was entitled "The Myth of Chance". The passage was Proverbs 16:33 "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord." Here's a short quote that really helped me: "As today's passage indicates, even a random outcome in the casting of lots to make a decision is determined by the hand of God. Every seemingly "chance" event - a flat tire, running into a long-lost friend, a roll of the dice, the luck of the draw, and others - has a place in God's good plan, even if we are unaware of His ultimate purposes. As you go about your day, remember God is using even "chance" events for your good and His glory."


Last night at church was great. I love teaching the toddlers. It was a joy to read to them, sing with them, do crafts and play games. Lord, help me to remember that You are always in control, no matter the circumstances I find myself in!
~Rose Starr
P.S. Can you relate to this?

Stock Show Rodeo

We live about a mile from where the annual Western Stock Show is held every January. This year was the 100th anniversary-can you believe it?! I have wanted to go to a rodeo for a loooong time and we thought this year was as good as any. The Rodeo was not cheap, but well worth it. We were all amazed! This is a different culture indeed! I think I want to be a cowgirl now!
BIG STEER!

Calf ropeing (is that spelled right?)

This guy cracked a whip, rode all over the arena, chased the buffalo around and got up on his trailer and stood up on his horses' saddle-all with only ONE arm! I'd say his part was worth the price of admission alone!


My favorite part by far, was the bronco and bull riders-that's tough-and crazy! We couldn't get a good pic-it was at the other end of the arena. The mutton-busting was fun too-we saw it last summer at the Colorado State fair as well. Who came up with that idea: Lets put a helmet and knee and elbow pads on our 3-6 year olds, pop 'em on top of a full grown sheep and see how long they can hold on while the sheep runs to it's herd! It's pretty amazing to see these little kids hold on for dear life! Well, I am hooked on rodeos and if you ever have an extra ticket, I'll be glad to take it off your hands! ~Rose

Ancient Paths Church-Starr Family Winter Update

The Starr Family - Winter 2006 Update
-Denver Inner-City Urban Missionaries-
It was probably the same for you-December was quite busy for us. We battled the stomach flu and by God’s grace overcame! We attempted an outreach to hand out sparkling cider, small toy bags and Ancient Paths Church invites to the neighborhood surrounding our new meeting place (Antioch Baptist). We were snowed out and ended up trying again the Fri. before Christmas with a small group and were successful in reaching 40 homes.

Our family was blessed to celebrate Christmas with Rose’s parents and brother. Hope, Owen & Emma just could not contain themselves on Christmas morning. Thank you again for all of your generous gifts and prayers! We have enjoyed record-breaking heat over the past 4 weeks, but know the snow is coming. Rose has had 2 prenatal appointments and all seems to be well. We were not sure about the pregnancy being fully covered, but Praise God-we had to re-apply for Medicaid and were accepted, so all is covered and the hospital is only a few miles away. Rose has her ultrasound Feb.9th and if the baby cooperates, we’ll find out the gender! With how sick she’s been if it’s not a girl, we’ll be really surprised! Hope and Owen still love school at home and Emma is enjoying Bible along with her siblings. Our verse this week is Psalm 145:13 “God keeps all His promises.”

Our first service at Antioch Baptist (Jan.15th) went really well, despite many of us who were home sick. The church building is great and Pastor Lee Hall is so open and welcoming to us. We are free to use their musical equipment and whatever we need. We are able to break up the kids (ages 3mo-6yrs) into three classes, which is wonderful! We have a kitchen to use for potluck dinners as well. We are excited to see what God has in store for Ancient Paths Church. Thank you for your prayers-they are such a vital part of what we are doing!

Love, Desi, Rose, Hope, Owen, Emmaline & Baby Starr
starrjrfamily@yahoo.com

Children's Museum

Last Thursday Hope, Owen, Emma and I decided to have a picnic lunch and go to the Children's Museum. When we got there I saw the burned part of the building and we were greeted right away by an employee who told us there had been a fire the night before. They had a lot of smoke damage and would be closed for a few days but had a tent set up for us to do crafts and play in. The kids enjoyed the balls, playdoh, jumprope, sidewalk chalk, bubbles and painting. We noticed a camera man for a few minutes and then he was gone. Much to our surprise later that day Owen and Hope were on the 6pm and 10pm CBS news! You may be able to still pull up the clips from the web site if you search in the Main Video Clips-http://www.kcncnews4.com/



What a fun day we had after all! -Rose

Pull-up fun!

Who knew potty training could be so fun! Owen is doing pretty well with it...he just learned how to pee standing up which is pretty exciting! We were listening to music the other night and Hope came into the kitchen with a pull-up on her head. (For those of you who don't know-pull-ups are disposible underwear...makes life for me a little easier when Owen has accidents). The kids proceeded to dress up and pose for the camera! We laughed and laughed! I love the free entertainment that comes with living with kiddos!


We didn't get any pics of Emma dressed up, but here's a cute one after bathtime. She is really into sunglasses right now!

-Rose Starr

Hanging out downtown!

We went downtown recently for lunch.
Emma decided she wanted to hang around for awhile!

Broncos fans are alive and well this time of year. As you can see, the whole city is pumped. My dad is a big fan...pretty much all my life and has enjoyed seeing all the games. My parents lived here over 28 years ago. The year they move back we have the best snow in the mountians in 20 years and the Broncos are back in the playoffs! Mom and Dad are loving it!

-Rose Starr -not really a Bronco fan, but don't tell anyone who lives here!

Ancient Paths Church Update

Last night (Jan.8th) we had our last "home" study at the Duell's house. After dinner we ended up going over to Antioch Baptist for a tour of the church that we will be renting Sunday nights. We had a short time of worship, devotion and prayer. Next Sunday marks our first "public" service. We'll have a potluck dinner at 5:30 and service will start promptly at 6:30. Antioch is an all African American church that has prayerfully decided to partner with us in reaching out to the neighborhood. We are blessed to have such a great facility to use. We'll be renting month to month...they know our desire to go back to Sunday mornings. For now this will be a wonderful place and we are excited! Carrie Schnur has taken over directing children's ministry from Rose Starr. We have 9-14 kids on a regular basis and will be breaking them up into 3 different classes. Please pray that we'll get enough volunteers and that our kids will come to know Jesus in a more personal way this year in Sunday school! Pray for all to go smoothly, for God to be glorified and that we'll reach the surrounding area with the love of Jesus!

The kids found the fans in the back of the sanctuary...hopefully that's not a bad sign for the summer!

Bruce Duell shared a short devotion before prayer.

Desi, Dwayne Dokes and Bruce Duell. They will share in the teaching on Sunday nights. We thank God for bringing us all together and look forward to the future with hope and trust in what God will do!

Thanks for taking the time to read and pray for us!
Love, Desi & Rose and the Ancient Paths Church family!

More City Pics...

A view of downtown from City Park...even prettier in the summer!

Hope and Owen love to run over to big groups of geese and make them fly up into the air!

The sunset from our front porch last night...this picture doesn't do it justice.

What a great city we live in...we are blessed! ~Rose

A picnic in the park in January!

With unseasonably warm weather, I begged Desi to go on a picnic with us to City Park yesterday. We packed up our sandwiches and were on our way. It got windy, but the kids didn't care. It was just so nice to sit in the sun and breath fresh air!

Emma loves to swing!

Em's favorite was to climb on and off the rocking toys.

The city squirrles are quite bold...they came close looking for a handout. I thought this was funny~on the left a normal sized one and on the right~a gigantic squirrel!

Owen had fun going down the tube slide!

The park is impressive any time of year...huge trees, two lakes, a public golf course, two playgrounds, a zoo and a museum among other things. We love coming in the summer for the free Jazz concerts.
Notice Hope at the bottom of this photo!

~Rose

BeauJo's FUN!

We decided to celebrate Hope's second sleep over at her grandparents house by going out to pizza without her! Not really, it just worked out that way. BeauJo's is Colorado Mountian style pizza and during the week they have a great buffet~3 types of pizza, garlic bread, salad bar and soup. YUM! We just happened to be there on the balloon lady's night. She worked her way to our table and was so sweet.
She made Owen an alien space ship which he really liked.

Emma got a butterfly, and was in awe of watching Suzanne make creations out of balloons.

We had such a fun night and will be back to see Suzanne the balloon lady for sure!

Owen was so happy with the balloons, that he got up and started singing. At first his song was his own creation, but it soon morphed into "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" He got really loud and there was a table of college kids right by us who took notice. We all clapped when he was done, and he smiled really big and then did a Michael Jackson move that I will not recount in detail. Everyone who saw it just busted up laughing...my tummy hurt! Owen is potty training and aware of his parts, which may account for his actions...he has never seen Michael Jackson! What a fun night!

Golden Tea Time

On Wednesday, January 4th Hope, Grandma Kate and I went to Golden Tea Time for lunch and tea. It's a cute little tea shop in downtown Golden. Hope had a tuna sandwich, I had an egg sandwich and mom had a wonderful salmon cake over rice. The tea was wonderful as well as the desserts. We'll be back for sure!

What a pretty girl!

Hope's favorite decoration was the ballerina in the window.

Hope and Grandma picked out some pretty hats.

Hope drank her tea like a real lady...after we told her slurping wasn't all that lady-like!


Thanks for treating us to a wonderful girls outing Grandma Kate! We love you! Love, Rose and Hope

Uncle Tim's Visit

Our long time friend Tim flew out for a couple of days to ring in the new year with us. We enjoyed a great breakfast New Year's Eve morning.
Emma loves her Uncle Tim!



Thanks for coming to visit us~we miss and love you! Love, Hope, Owen & Emma!

Kylander Fun

One of our favorite things to do is go up to the Kylander's house about once a month to hang out, watch Seinfeld and have dinner. Josh & Lori have 3 kids: Abby is 6, Luke is 4 and Ezra is 2. As you can see, the daddies take to the floor to become human jungle gyms.

The Kylander kiddos got a trampoline this year for Christmas and it's so fun! They are gonna get the netting to keep the kids from falling off, but so far the kids have done really well!

Hope and Abby have been best friends since Hope was born!

Luke and Ezra got Cowboy get-ups for Christmas and Emma was really excited to try Ezra's stuff on. Lori's grandma sewed chaps and vests...too cute!

Emma was in dress-up heaven...she was so upset when we had to take it off to go home! It's time for a trip to Payless to find a pair of boots for her!

Kids have so much fun!

For all the crying and fighting that normally occurs on a daily basis, these kiddos share in a lot of laughter and great play together! They love the new toys, but their favorite play together is make believe...either they pretend they are kittens or puppies, or the latest is dinosaurs!
~Rose