U.R.B.A.N. Ministries - Inner City Denver

Diversity Ski Weekend April 2008

Our second year going to the mountains with kids was a growing one for all of us. We had 20 people in 3 cars and one van head up to Vail Valley on a Friday night. It happened to be a nice warm day that melted the snow and then the temperatures dropped down to the teens which made the roads VERY icy! What would normally take us 2 hours to drive took 7 hours! It was crazy. We hit every road closure and had one car break down on the way there (which we had to buy back from the pound) and another car broke down on the way back. It truly is a great thing that kids are so adaptable. All 15 kids had a great time on the mountain skiing! Sunday we went to Calvary Chapel Vail Valley for church. Pastor Tommy and Pastor Dwayne co-taught the message. Then there was a huge feast afterwards for the church and the kids. Thank you to our leaders that came with us! You were all troopers and stepped up in the chaos of it all.

Diversity Ski Trip Feb. 2008

This year the weather in the mountains has been crazy. Already they have gotten over 20 feet of snow. The day that Dwayne took 10 boys to Beaver Creek to ski was not exception! On a normal day it would have taken about 2 hours to get to the slopes but on this day it took 3 and a half hours! They left here at 6am and did not arrive to the Ski School until 10am. It was a long day but Dwayne had a great time with the boys and they were so blessed to have that experience. They keep asking us when they get to go again. We have had to cancel 2 of the trips because of the weather. We have one more trip planned in April.

Ski Trip IV - The weekend!

   

Our last ski trip was a weekend long, fun filled, action packed trip!  We had 17 people for the weekend in 2 condos provided by Calvary Chapel Vail Valley.  We were blessed to have lots of helping hands join us for the weekend.  I have never cooked so much bacon in my life!!  One morning we cooked over 10lbs of bacon, yummy!  We also had 3 dozen eggs and 3 gallons of Orange Juice.  It was a blessing to have a single mom and her 4 kids join us.  She had never been on a vacation with just her children and no other family with her.  It was so exciting to see all 5 of them on skis.  On Saturday night we had a family style dinner at the McClinton's home. We celebrated 5 birthdays with cake, ice cream and a song.  What a blast it was with all of the kids.  Pastor Tommy joined us and played some games with the kids.  On Sunday morning we went to CCVV for their worship service.  After the service we all devoured a 5 foot long sub sandwich.  There was lots of eating, laughter, sharing of the Lord and His blessings.

Ski Trip III - April 7th

This trip was a blast!  We had a group of 7 and unders.  This time Pastor Dwayne was the one that was worn out!!  We had a few kids that were over 7 that were great.  One of the boys, Tavone, was having problems with his asthma so he was not able to ski.  Greg, Ed and Travis from Calvary Chapel Vail Valley came to hang with the kids.  What started out to be a friendly game of Rock, Paper, Scissors got serious!  The winner for the day, Tavone!  CCVV was a huge blessing for each ski trip.  They had people that helped us get the kids up the mountain and would meet us when the lessons were done to take everyone back down the mountain.  One of the couples at CCVV hosted a pizza party for us after this long day of skiing.  We also had a short devotion after each day of skiing.  It was great to point them back to the creator.

Ski Trip II - March 9th

Another fun trip!  This was a small group of 4 boys!  They had a hard time but never gave up!  One of the boys is very afraid of heights.  During lunch they take the kids to the top of the mountain for lunch in the restaurant (with out skis).  This poor boy was so scared when they got back that it took a lot of prayer to get him back on the slopes.  He did great and the boys were a blessing!

Ski trip - Feb. 10, 2007

   

We were blessed this past ski season to be able to get accepted into a program called the Diversity Ski Program with Vail Resorts.  This was our first of 4 trips that we made.  The program sponsored each child with rentals, lessons, lift tickets and lunch.  We just had to get them there with ski clothes on.  It was such a blessing to see this large group get on their skis and do something that they had never done before.  On the way home they were all so tried!