…well, at least in pictures for now.

It has been a bit of a long day with 4 hour drive, emotional turmoil of choosing one puppy over several others, and hourly trips outside to use the potty ( Penny, not me). So check back after exams are done (Monday night for me) and I am sure I will tell you all about her first day and I am pretty sure I will have some more pictures to show you!!

goodnight. come see us if you are in the area tonight. I am sure we will be outside often tonight trying to get Miss Penny to use the wonderful grass and not the clean carpet.

We are nearly a month away from taking our Vision Trip to Denver with our amazing team! I can hardly believe it! Bryan tweeted yesterday that Denver was about 3 Degrees….I can hardly believe that too! I am hoping it will warm up  a bit by January ; )

We took some team pictures on Sunday that we will be using on our main Denver plant website. I can’t wait to give you the link once it is up and running. Alex has done an amazing job thus far. You guys will be one of the first ones to hear about it once it is official.

As for stuff that is up and running-you can follow us on Twitter! So, now I am on Twitter (look at the sidebar-you can follow me @meganbarley) AND our whole entire team is on Twitter AND now our plant in general is on Twitter. Show us some Twitter love and follow us @Denver2011

We also have a general site now where you can go and sign up for the newsletter by submitting your name and contact information. We would love to keep you informed through that venue. And I can promise we will not fill your inbox with another heavily worded email, these will be worth reading! Go to Denver2011.org to sign up!

For other enticing reasons to check out the blog-I will be posting a Project regarding our Denver Vision Trip that I would love to challenge you with. We also get our puppy on Saturday so you just have to come back to see some pics of her! Aaannnd we just moved to Raleigh and I will hopefully be posting pics of our new place soon! Oh, and I have my last regular Nursing exam tomorrow at 10. Pray that I would use my time wisely to study, ie stop blogging and reading other blogs. Seems that I always get myself updated on blogs and update my own blog when I have a test coming up….

Yeah for new scrubs! I have been shopping at a scrub store in Raleigh but sometimes it can be hit and miss. It seems like a lot of scrub shops will carry the majority of their tops and pants in the color of the hospital closest by (lots of Duke blue or WakeMed red at particular stores near those hospitals). This can be great if you are in the market for things only that color but sometimes a girl needs variety-even with her scrubs! I recently found out about this website, My Nursing Uniforms. The site had a great variety-something that a lot of the stores don’t offer. My favorite brand is Urbane Scrubs and My Nursing Uniforms had all of their Urbane stuff marked down. And yes, clearance and mark downs on anything is always a good thing. So, if you are in the market for new scrubs check out My Nursing Uniforms-I am sure you will be as happy as I was. In case you were wondering, I got the Urbane crossover top. I have lots and lots of Urbane bottoms but I finally broke down and got a top to go with it. I got a blue and gray one and I love it! Oh, and another great thing about Urbane is that they carry solid colors. I am yet to get into patterned tops. I take that back-I have a few floral tops but none that are the extreme prints. Yeah for Urbane!

I am taking an extra course along with my Nursing stuff-it is a PE class. If you seen any twitter updates regarding boot camp or my PE friends-this class is what I am referring to. My PE class will fulfill the very last requirement I need for UNC (along with the nursing courses of course). Anyway, the PE class has been interesting. I have mainly felt motivated to do more throughout the class and have only left sad after one class-this was the class where we calculated our BMIs and other ratios….and well, that was just kind of depressing. Blame it on nursing school, I guess.

We visited the local YMCA during our last class and we were required to take a yoga class. I had only taken a mini one at USC once and was looking forward to learning something new that I have heard several people rave about. The instructor was great and really.really.really.flexible. I mean really flexible. She was like a girl Gumby. She made a comment during her introduction as she was telling us about her former battle with obesity that got me thinking: “Yoga saved my life.”

Of course, as soon as I heard this statement I started thinking about how she must not know Christ and how he truly came to save our lives by dying for us, how he is the only real Savior, how yoga has become like a god to her. Yeah, my mind was rolling. Last night I did speak to her to thank her for the class but I didn’t really have the chance to share the story of Christ with her as our whole class was thanking her and walking out together. To be honest, I will probably not ever do yoga again. I think that it must be great for some people but I guess with my very tight schedule I would rather spend an hour running or something. I do have lots of other interests though that I feel like not aren’t necessarily beneficial for my spiritual health. Our Denver team has been talking a lot about being missionaries within the city and what exactly that looks like. During the class my mind started rolling to how awesome it would be if for some reason I loved yoga too and I went to this lady’s class every Thursday night and after each class I had a nice conversation with her. And eventually we would consider each other friends. And then we might even go grab coffee (well, no coffee for me-i still think it is gross) and just hang out. And of course throughout our friendship I have been sharing the Gospel with her-maybe bits and pieces at a time  and then I finally get a chance to share all of it with her and to share that how I care about her as a friend and because I care about her then I am going to share Jesus with her.

I know, I know-my mind was definitely a rolling during yoga. But I just think it is so neat to see the totally different interests that I have and that all of our team members have. I would imagine that the Lord is going to allow us to get into conversations and form friendships all over that can lead back to Christ.

“Yes, I really love crafts but let me tell you about my real love….”

“That is really interesting that you made that comment about yoga saving your life. Can I tell you about what saved mine?”

No, we are not ready just yet for the addition to our family in the form of a Barley baby; however, we are ready for the addition in the form of a Barley puppy!

We have been doing lots of research lately and have determined to the best of our knowledge that we are ready for a pup! We are going for a Chocolate Labrador Retriever. We have found a great breeder who has been wonderful to work with so far.

Our little pupster is 3 weeks old today! Happy 3 week birthday puppies! She is one of 6 girls in the litter and a sister to 3 males! We get to go pick her up on December 4th and we are so excited! At this point, we can only imagine the difficulty in having a puppy in our lives but we are looking forward to it either way.

This is a picture of our puppy’s mama. I know I am clearly a bit partial here but I think Rollie is just beautiful!!

Here is a shot of Tucker, the young Dad.

The pictures are from the breeder’s website-Bentwood Labradors. He sent me some 2 week old picture and pictures from today but of course, I cannot figure out how to add them here! Just trust me-they are little darlings!!

So, now for the practicality of having a puppy-any tips on training??

I wanted to post this video about the signs of a Stroke. Believe it or not, there were things that I had no idea about before starting nursing school. I know, imagine that. A stroke was one of the many that can go under the listing of “had no idea about”. I feel like a “stroke” is something that we hear about all the time but a lot of people really don’t know what it is or what the signs are or what is really going on in your body during a stroke. Thanks to nursing school I now know what a stroke is and I feel that I would be a very nice nurse if I shared my knowledge with you. Basically a stroke stops the flow of blood to the brain. Blood carries oxygen and our brain cells need all the oxygen they can get! If our brain cells do not get the oxygen they need they will die. Specific body functions done by certain parts of the brain are affected when that part of the brain dies or is hurt by a stroke. There are two types of strokes-Hemorrhagic and Ischemic. There are a lot of risk factors for a stroke-some we can control, some we cannot. People with poor habits are more likely to have a stroke-physical inactivity, being obese, smoking, drinking alcohol in excess or using recreation drugs. So, when someone is having a stroke how do you know it?? Check out this video-

Love that singer’s voice, don’t you? Really, I do. The video is courtesy of Massachusetts Health Promotion Clearinghouse. Is it a stroke? Check the signs FAST-it’s a medical emergency!!

So, now I feel like I owe you guys something non-medical related! Bryan posted an awesome article here at Baptist 21. If you are not compelled to read it, I will tell you that he randomly mentions Vera Bradleys in the post. Bryan and Veras don’t necessarily go together so you should check it out and see why he mentions these lovely Southern staples : )

In other Barley news, we are officially moving to Raleigh in December. Moving Day is December 18!! With Denver coming upon us sooner than we recognize, we want to be as prepared as possible. We love living here in Fertility Farms (aka Flaherty) in seminary housing. We have awesome neighbors and have made some wonderful friends here but the reality is that we are not going to be surrounded by like-minded believers wherever we live in Denver. We feel that moving to a real world community (another apartment complex) will help us to be much more intentional with our neighbors. One way we plan on doing this is by getting a PUPPY!!! Yep, that’s right-our first family addition will be a little puppy baby! (That’s what we are calling the pup now since we don’t know its little name yet!) We are so pumped! I don’t want to spill anymore details but keep checking back because I am sure we will post pics of he or she as soon as he or she is an official Barley!

Happy Day to you! Can you believe it is NOVEMBER??

At the very very end of summer Kristel came over-she dressed us to the nines and took us all over Wake Forest to take pictures. Our adventure was successful and clearly, the pictures turned out great. Because of her amazing photography skills that is-not because of her subjects! This girl knows how to work a camera. I am so thankful for a lover of photography friend in my life. We already have her booked for all of our children’s pictures! And once we get on the ball and set a date, she will be taking the picture that we will use for our Christmas card! I think you can tell my point here-Kristel is an awesome photographer and you should use her. K?

Here let me show you what I mean when I say she is awesome…

She also got some really great pictures of my cutely little brother, Kevin. Kevin wasn’t so crazy about the super cheesy tilt your head this way and tilt it back a little shots that the seniors have to get and so he will be using these as his senior portraits! Here are a few-

All of these pictures are Kristel’s. You can find her information at her blog here. She also has some photos on her Flickr site. I don’t want to speak for her but I am pretty sure you can contact her if you are interested in using her as your photographer. Thanks again for these pictures Kristel! You are awesome!

Today is this wonderful lady’s birthday! I so wish I was in South Carolina to celebrate with her! My Mom has taught me some amazing things about life. Her first priority with me was always mothering me-it was never about being “my best bud”. She always had us in church-even when I did not understand the importance of it. I have learned how to wheel and deal, use coupons, find bargains, and find fun in things like free festivals. My Mom always did out of the ordinary activities with us; she never was one to take us to the newest movie or plop us in front of the TV for hours as children-we did things like going to pick strawberries to make our own jam, free story time at the local library, lots of zoo trips, every free festival in the area, other produce picking days (i have lots of memories of going to farms/orchards-picking strawberries, peaches, apples, potatoes). I think she has a really good balance of being true to her Peruvian heritage while embracing American culture. Our beagle Chico was bilingual because of her. (She is currently working on Brinkley’s bilingual skills!) She also has a really good balance of health and living. She is very dedicated to her workout regimen but she is not afraid to eat a good cheeseburger. She also loves Jesus and has continued to encourage my faith in the Lord. Amazingly enough, she continued to love me even when I went through several years of major attitude and overall “bratiness” (when really it was sin). She has been nothing but supportive when it comes to our plans to move to Denver even though I can only imagine how hard it must be as a parent to be happy for your child moving several time zones away! These are a few of my favorite things about my Mom. Can’t you just see why she is just so lovely? Oh, and she also has a twin so here is a Feliz Cumpleanos to you Tio Jorge!

Over the last year Bryan and I have met a handful of people that are also moving out to Denver. When we would ask them why  Denver most of them would respond with something along the lines of “well, it is just a really cool city and it is so beautiful out there”. We can definitely relate to this statement but there are so many other aspects of Denver that we have fallen in love with. Please do not consider this an exhaustive list of all the cool aspects of Denver but it is a start for us.

The city of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the state of Colorado. Denver ranks as the 24th most populous U.S. city and the Denver-Aurora metro area is ranked as the 21st most populous U.S. metropolitan area. High in those rankings=lots of people. Our church hopes to reach people!!! PEOPLE need Jesus! (thanks Wikipedia for these facts!)

Speaking of people, the NATIONS are in Denver. Just to name a few-presently in Denver there are 116,000 Mexicans. 5,000 Russians. 350 Nicaraguans. 2,000 Peruvians. 10,000 Vietnamese. 1,000 Colombians. 1,400 Ethiopians. 2,800 Japanese. 800 Australians. These facts are from the 2000 census so I am so excited to see the new numbers once the 2010 census is processed (I guess 2010 has to come first, right?). (thanks peoplegroups.info for these facts!)

Culture in the form of sports-every major professional sport is represented in Denver. NFL-Go Denver Broncos! MLB-Go Colorado Rockies! NBA-Go Denver Nuggets! NHL- Go Colorado Avalanche! and did i mention Go Broncos-i am really not into football-especially NFL-but even if you aren’t the Broncos have surely gotten your attention this season: 6-0!  This influx of sports could mean trouble for traffic and wallet reasons but for Great Commission reasons-what a great way for Bryan to hang out with a guy at a baseball game and bring the gospel into their hangout time! And for opportunities for girls-”hey, why don’t we hang out since our husbands are going to be at the game?” We hope to use these secular aspects to form relationships with people with the hopes of bringing the great Gospel in!

Culture through communities-we were told how there are so many different areas of Denver with their own feel-Stapleton, the Highlands, Uptown, LoDo, Capitol Hill, neighborhoods around Wash Park. Denver is also known for its MANY parks-Cheesman, Wash Park, City Park-just to name a few. In the Denvergov.org site, under the “Find a Park in Denver” link I counted over 200 parks! I told you Denver has LOTS of parks!

I wouldn’t say that Denver is incredibly known for its influence on the US as some other major cities are but I would say that Denver is one of the cities leading (and leading well) the green movement! Go Green! I am so thankful that Bryan and I were pretty green before having our eyes set on Denver or we would have a lot to learn (cough cough Andy).

Again, these few paragraphs do not define Denver! If their are any Denver natives or dwellers reading this, I truly realize that I have a lot to learn about Denver and this is nothing but exciting for me! I cannot wait to immerse myself in this city that I have already fallen in love with.

I hope that answers some questions as to “why Denver?”. Maybe not. All of the above are great reasons and as best I know, very true. The real reason that we are going to Denver is for Jesus. God has given us the chance at intimacy with Him again through sending his son, Jesus Christ. We are going to Denver out of hearts that are grateful and humbled by the fact that Jesus would become sin for us so that we may become the righteousness of God. We want others to know this truth and wrap their entire lives around it. It’s all about you Jesus. May it never be about culture, being green, or being active-may it always be about you.

Good, you came back!

In case the association of the Barleys + Denver is totally new to you I will go ahead and brief you-basically Bryan and I have felt called to plant a church in the great Mile High City. We continue to be amazed at the team the Lord is bringing together, the details that continue to be hammered out, and our growth of excitement for being in Denver. We not only plan to plant a church there but we anticipate planting our lives there.

Bryan, Andy and myself flew out to Denver back in January. We had an amazing trip that made us feel as if we were continuing to be pushed in that direction. Surely you read about that trip here. But obviously, our heart for Denver started long before our little 3 day trip.

Ever since coming to seminary, Bryan has tossed out lots (and lots) of ideas of places or things he felt the Lord was calling us to do for the rest of our lives after he graduated from SEBTS. These thoughts and ideas ranged from going to an established church and being hired as an associate pastor, to going overseas to do missions for a few years before coming back to an established church, to doing PhD work overseas, to planting a church overseas or domestically,  to doing PhD work here in the States, to doing PhD work at a university with the hopes of teaching in a university setting permanently, and lots others. I am sure I have missed a passing thought somewhere in there. So, I think you can see that we were really pretty open to doing anything. Amazingly, I was OK through all these ideas although I felt like Bryan had a new idea each week or so. Looking back I now realize that Bryan was so excited about all the options but never felt secure in any of them.

We attended the 20/20 Conference here at SEBTS and had the pleasure of sitting under some many wise leaders of the faith. Mark Driscoll spoke on what the Church should look like in culture. From this we learned that the church should be a CITY WITHIN the CITY. He spoke on how the church does real things (we have jobs, we have spouses, we have friends, we date) but we just do it differently-we center all those things around Jesus. This sermon confirmed a small desire we had in us at the time to plant a church.

We knew we wanted to be in a large city (Driscoll gave some great reasoning for this as well) we just did not know where. The cities also had a great variety to them as well-Boston, Seattle, Baltimore, Philadelphia. After some good ol googling, we felt that Denver continued to be a place of interest to us. We were able to steal a good price on flights and that’s how we ended up there for a few days. God did not exactly write a big “Yes! This is the place!” in the Rocky Mountains or anything like that for us to know for sure but we do feel that God has continued to push us in that direction. There has not been anything that has held us back or any feelings of maybe this isn’t where God wants us to plant our lives.

We now have an amazing team on our side with Denver on each of their hearts-Bryan, myself, Andy Metztger, Alex and Kristel Acevedo, Drew Witt, Jenni and Ayla Hennenman. Bryan and I are just crazy about our team. Most of them blog and you can find their links over on the side.

Thanks for sticking through and reading this. Now I ask one more thing of you. If you are at all interested in joining us on this great adventure through email updates we plan to put out then please comment on this post. We plan on getting a newsletter out in the near future and would love for YOU to be a part of our team through just being aware of what God is doing. We also need and would love your support through prayer. We humbly recognize that prayer is a vital part of moving in the Lord’s favor.

Now I’ve got to leave you with another cliffhanger of WHY DENVER??? I have lots to say regarding just a few of the reasons why. Please come back this weekend and I just may let you in on the secret of why.