An average day in the Sage household

There are a few things you can count on seeing everyday at the Sage household. One of them is Caleb's golf swing. His golf clubs are perhaps his favorite toy in the house, and he puts them to good use daily. He can hit anything from plastic golf balls, blocks, to footballs, and legos. Now when I say he can hit... I mean he can really hit! Watch out if you are in the line of fire! While the pics below do not show his best form, they were the best we have been able to capture on film.

I know, I know, Dunkin Donuts?!? Perhaps not the best food to feed a growing toddler. Every once and awhile William will come home from a night shift with a dozen donuts. Caleb lovingly calls them "Dunkies", and he will not be thwarted in his plan to eat as many as possible.

One of Will's (and Caleb's) favorite activities is to camp out together on the living room floor. It is still too cold here to head outside, so they set up the sleeping bags, and sometimes a tent, and sleep together in front of the fireplace. It is too cute for words!

We had visitors in March! Will's sister and brother-in-law came to visit us for a fun filled week! If you remember, Hank and Erica got married last October in New Orleans. Caleb was the ring bearer at their wedding. This was the first chance we have had to spend some time with them since their marriage. We did just about everything in our small town, and it felt
great to pretend to be a tourist. Here are a LOT of pics from their visit.

Caleb pushing his own stroller at Garden of the Gods

Will pretending he knows what he is doing :)



Hank and Erica posing for the camera at Garden of the Gods.

We took them up the Air Force Academy to see where we spend some time... and because it is quite an impressive sight. Here is a view of the famous Cadet Chapel. It is made to look like Airplane wings.

Hank, Myself, Will, and Caleb at the Academy.

Will took them up the "Incline"... a ridiculous, nearly straight up climb.

The three of them at the top.



We got a tour of the Navigator property from a good friend. The castle was built by the founder of Colorado Springs, for his wife. The ministry acquired the property for an amazing price, and now it is used for conferences.

Along with the castle, came acres and acres of beautiful land, resembling the rock formations at the Garden of the Gods.


Caleb loved having his aunt and uncle here. He wanted to play checkers everyday!

Caleb had a slight accident on the first morning of their visit. I wish I had a video camera at the moment, because it was the oddest thing! Somehow he fall on top of a coffee cup, putting his right eye into the cup. It left him with a black eye, but if you look closely, you can see the outline of the cup all the way around!

In other news, Will has been taking classes like a mad man! After finishing up his associates from the community college of the Air Force, he has begun to work on his Bachelor's degree. He is majoring in Human Resource Management at Colorado Christian University. It is a very unique program, allowing him to work full time and go to class one night a week. His classes are 5 weeks long, and very intense. But, he will be able to finish his degree by August 2010! He claims he is not going to walk at his graduation, but I beg to differ!

Will is also re-enlisting in the Air Force for 6 more years. He is currently at 8 years, so it looks like we are headed for a career in the military! I am excited for the adventures this will entail. I have to admit that I have been getting a bit restless here in Colorado Springs. Not because I don't like it, but because I have not lived in the same place for more than 2 years since I was 15! A career in the Air Force will guarantee us a different landscape every few years. Now if only he never had to deploy...

Well, this has been a long post, but I hope it has been informative :) With summer coming up, we would love more visitors! There is nothing quite like a Colorado summer! I am looking forward to throwing the windows open, and feeling the cool breeze while we sleep. not to mention the daily trips to the playground, the early morning walks, and BBQing with the neighbors.

Opportunity Knocks

As I said in my previous post, Will and I have been looking for new opportunities to share Christ and make disciples. One of these opportunities has been with the Air Force Academy Navigator group. On Mondays we get the chance to spend a few hours with a bunch of cadets who wish to follow hard after Christ. This, of course, it exhilarating for Will, and a wee bit more trying for Teresa (think introvert placed in a room of 70+ people she does not know). Another part of the night includes learning some tools and skills that are helpful in discipling others. So we have made “plans” to share about the spiritual disciplines… verses, illustrations, personal experiences, etc. I have done this before in a general form with YL by planning bible studies with High schoolers. But this has been an even greater experience. Vern has challenged us to look back in our old journals to the times when these basics of Christianity became convictions. Using those experiences and scriptures that are meaningful in our lives makes sharing these fundamentals a highly rewarding experience. It is so great to be reminded just how much the Holy Spirit changes us!

Teresa is also going through a class at church called SHAPE. The basic premise is that God has uniquely created each of us, and in order to understand where and how we fit into the body of believers, we need to understand our unique shape. This includes our
S: Spiritual gifts
H: heart or desires
A: Abilities or accomplishments
P: Personality
E: Experiences
I feel that earlier in life I had a better grasp on what God was calling me to and how I was to function. But as I have entered motherhood, these ideas have become scrambled! There are basic traits that make being a stay-at-home mom a bit easier… like having the spiritual gift of compassion, an ability to organize, and a personality that prefers routine. I have none of these! That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but simply the way I am shaped. So for this period in my life I have to strive a little harder to make motherhood enjoyable. On the flip side, my spiritual gifts are discernment, knowledge, and teaching. The prayer is that we can pinpoint a primary ministry opportunity that fits us like a glove, and a secondary one that we do because we have a servant’s heart. What a great class!! Stepping back and taking a look at God’s creative talents in ourselves is amazing! I highly recommend every believer to take the time to recognize the way our maker has shaped us.

Below are some recent pics from a visit with Madison. We had the chance to go to the Denver Aquarium, but unfortunately we did not bring our camera. We are hoping to get some pics from Tracy to post!

We headed down to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo this past Thursday for some family time. Here are some pics...

They have a great Giraffe exhibit where you can feed the animals. Caleb was a bit scared of the strange black tongues, so he just watched mom do it.

One of our favorites was this "big kitty cat", as Caleb called it. When the tiger saw me standing at the window, he came right down to greet us. Caleb was standing on this ledge, when he put his front paws up. Caleb freaked a little bit, but the view was amazing!

We also had a fun visit with two friendly bears, and some comedic Gorillas.

All these great animals, and still Caleb's favorite activity was the merry-go-round with Dad!

In other news, Caleb used the potty for the first time today! He told me in plenty of time to run to the bathroom. We celebrated with a cookie, and we are going for some ice cream when Dad gets home. Bye Bye Diapers!

Teresa's Two-cents

Okay, I will admit that I have encouraged Will to update our blog, but have stopped short of actually doing it myself. My bad. I love the idea of a blog… getting to share more of what is going on in our lives than Facebook or Myspace allows. So, I too will try my best to keep this updated.

Where to start?!? Will gave you a little update in the previous post about our time in Colorado Springs. To say that we have enjoyed ourselves here is an understatement. I really love this place. I cannot believe the number of old friends we have been able to catch up with because of our location. The Navigators, Young Life, and MCYM all have their head quarters here in town, and the Air Force Academy is in the same sports conference as TCU. While I have only had the chance to see my Horned Frogs in action once (and we lost horribly), I am looking forward to next fall’s football season.

As I was saying before, we really enjoy living here. A few friends from Germany live nearby, allowing us to be encouraged and refreshed by their amazing family. Speaking of encouraged, God has really blessed us in this place. Last weekend we were able to spend time at the Navigator’s Air Force conference. It really made us look at our current activities and evaluate if they were really achieving our hearts’ desire. “What is that?” you ask . Well, we want to be laborers for God’s kingdom. So, in the coming weeks and months we will be asking God for clarity as to where and how we are to serve Him. We covet your prayers in this matter.
Well that is enough for now. Be assured that we will write more soon!
Teresa

A new year, a new beginning

It's been many a day since the Sages have updated this site, but at the urging of Mrs. Sage, Will is getting to work on the site. The short version of the past years: We are now in Colorado Springs, CO. Will works on Peterson AFB. We have been re-connected with many friends from Guam, Germany and Iraq over the last few years (most recently this January). Caleb is now 2 1/2 years old: a running, jumping, hitting, eating, growing ball of energy. We love him. More to come in the next weeks and months, The Sages

April Showers and May Flowers

Things are coming to an end here in Guam for the Sage family. Teresa and Caleb will leave the island in less than 2 weeks for a friend's wedding in Kansas City, then visit family and friends in St. Louis before heading to Georgia. Will still has about a month before departing Guam, but is sure time will fly by with all the golf he'll be playing. Looking forward to seeing friends and family back in KC, STL, and NO!

Caleb is growing and becoming not so easy to pick up any more (the grunts are becoming louder and more frequent) He's soon to be crawling ("Any day now" is what we've been saying for the last 2 weeks) and he grabs anything within reach. Fun little guy

Onward Beach Resort for Will's BDay: Caleb had a good time splashing around in the water and even more fun on the body board. He didn't, however, enjoy the chlorine in his eyes. The strawberry dacquiri (virgin) left a sour taste in his mouth so his tongue pretty much hung out all day long. Teresa enjoyed the many laps around the lazy river, and Will went down waterslides with Marco (since Mama was a little scared) so everyone had a good time

Sure am gonna miss my co-workers. Tom and Frenchie have been good buddies and we've shared a lot of laughs and push-ups together. Gonna miss ole' Bouie, Robertson, Nario and the rest of the gang as well. "The next exercise is....position of exercise.....THOUSAND...."

Caleb has begun to feed himself. A welcome break by
his parents. Although most of the food does not end up in his mouth, it's a starting point.

My co-workers and I spent a day touring the WW2 sites here on Guam and visited some great places with rich history. The PITI gun shown here was used to fire on American troops landing on the beaches. The Japanese forced the Chamorro's into labor by having them haul the iron to build the guns and the stones that form the steps. It's no easy hike as it is, I couldn't imagine hiking with 50+ lbs multiple times

While the beach didn't look as great back then, it's a gorgeous site today. Thousands of American soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen gave their lives for the liberation Guam.

A preview of Will's hobbies to come so for all my friends's around the world (and esp. those in N.O. who haven't visited me yet) come on over, you have a place to stay. Teresa's friends, you're welcome too :) See you all in the states very soon!

March Madness

Well March has been another month of firsts for Caleb. He figured out how to sit up all on his own last week! He also experienced his first real dip in the ocean, and wore his first pair of shoes. We are really enjoying his constant smiles and giggles. People just can't believe how content and happy he his. He has also developed a new smile... we are calling it his snarl. When he gets really excited, he wrinkles up his nose, opens his mouth wide, and squints one eye. It is too funny!

In other news, we have recieved our new assignment to Colorado Springs. We could not be more excited! Besides a cool new base, we also get to spend time with our old friends the Salters. We are looking forward to many deep conversations, shared meals, and lively bible studies with Vern and Janelle. Teresa and Caleb will be flying back to the states in late May to attend a wedding. They will then fly down to georgia to visit Teresa's parents. In Mid-june Will leaves Guam and meets up with T and C. We are planning some quality time in New Orleans, and then we are off to Colorado in July. We can't wait to see all our friends and family again.