Snowboarding 2010

I officially LOVE Keystone resort!

We had a blast on this trip with a few of our close friends including my sis, Leah. It was Luke's first time back on a snowboard since his accident and he surprised everyone - he was great! It was my first time snowboarding! I had a fantastic time and so enjoyed the rush of cutting through the wind with just my feet on a board - but mid-trip I paid the price of my over-ambition and fell backwards (breaking my tailbone). I didn't know for sure that it was broken so tried to just shake it off. I fell a couple more times before I realized I needed to hit the Mtn med clinic.

Anyway - all in all we had a FANTASTIC time! Can't wait to go again next year!

Quick update

Life is good in the Keith household - we serve a mighty God! We are about to take our first trip of the year: Snowboarding 2010

Luke's pelvic injury from the car accident has caused serious balance problems, but he is such a trooper and is determined to get back into the swing of life. Have I mentioned that I admire this man?

Meanwhile, I have recently started a project. Operation: Stop monotonous dinners. I am blogging my way through new recipes to fight my usual urge to do the easy way out (ie Asian food). I want to be savvy in a menagerie of styles and master my kitchen! Yeah, I know..."oh Faith". Thats why I entitled my project blog "Oh Faith, what are you up to now" haha. silly me.

Check it out, I've tried some fun recipes already thefaithkeith.wordpress.com

No Man Can Thwart God's Plan

Luke—

Today is always an annual reminder for me that life is unpredictable and that you truly mean the world to me. You are the joy of my heart and I am so thankful that the Lord spared my heart from the pain of losing you. I count it my greatest blessing and utmost honor to be at your side.

For this reason, I do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.

This is your charge. That you walk worthy of the calling which is set before you.

So proud to be your wife and so grateful for every moment I can learn from you.

Fk

Remembering The Story

Turtle Power continues!

Please check this out and spread the word! This is the real deal when it comes to the Ninja Turtles Live Action vision:

www.turtlesthemovie.com

Ninja Turtles interview is now online!!! Check it out at http://j.mp/2SXL0I

Happy 28th Luke!

For Luke's birthday, I threw him a surprise "Ninja Turtle" themed party. It was complete with a Leonardo custom cake and Turtle cupcakes, Ooze punch, extra large pizzas, and the guests wore black or green. We even had a few come dressed as ninjas! ha!

Too fun!

Luke documented the party and included pictures here: http://www.turtlesthemovie.com/article.php?news_id=12

Meet the Parents

It was more like "Meet the FAMILY" for Luke =). We flew to the Philippines for Luke to meet my family. We were there for 3 weeks and he got a FULL picture of my childhood (sans pumping your own water for showers and tiny meals due to lack of funds). The fam, of course, LOVED him. Being a joker himself, he fit right in with my loud family. My mom has 11 brothers and sisters. All but one of them married and had kids. We're kind of a big family...

He rode a carabao, ate in a nipa hut, rode in a pedi-cab, bought coke in a bottle, ate native foods (every meal), ate exotic fruits right off the tree, saw bugs and plants that you cant see in the states, we stayed at a resort on a secluded island, hopped around the islands, bought ice cream from boys with a cart, walked the market on Market Day, watched a cock fight tournament, visited the outdoor slaughter house, roasted a whole pig over a fire (lechon), chopped a pig to sell the parts, picked a chicken - killed-plucked-and sliced for dinner, swam in a fresh spring, took a boat ride from one island to another, rode bikes around an island, harvested rice, harvested kalamanci, and of course...everywhere we went we were gawked at with wide eyes by everyone because we were WHITE.

Pictures to come! We took over 3500, but we will just post a few of our favs.

It's great to be back in the States where we can SHOWER with hot running water instead of bathing with cold spring water!

Road Trip: Land of the Cardinals

Luke's old workout buddy and fellow Ramstein Airman of Luke and Steve was tying the knot in St. Louis, MO. So the three of us embarked on the road adventure to the Cardinal state. The road there and back was an adventure in itself, but St. Louis held a weekend of good times!

First Anniversary (of many more)

11:57pm Drive to tat shop on Elm
12:15am Brainstorm with artist
01:05am showtime
02:48am leave tat shop with coolest 1st tattoos ever

01:30pm reservations at 560 by Wolfgang Puck
hours of talking about life
04:00pm head home for more relaxation
07:00pm eat some wedding cake

...and that was the best first anniversary we could ever ask for.





















Tattoo Meanings
Lukes: The Filipino sun. symbolic of my culture and my past becoming apart of him.

Faiths: The sampaguita is the Filipino national flower, which Luke selected for the poem to surround. The poem is our love story. Luke was a very resilient pursuer. Regardless of my efforts to get rid of him, he was unfazed and unmoved in his feelings. He continued. And one day it hit me like a ton of bricks--I was madly in love with him.

Dallas Stairclimb

56 flights of stairs for the American Lung Association.

Faith>>Hey Luke, wanna do the stairclimb race up the Renaissance Tower?

Luke>>Sure!!!!

Faith>>*click*Our Team is registered as "Turtle Power"

The stairs we're a daunting, nay... terrifying, thought as we gazed up the at the Renaissance Tower. The lobby was decked out and volunteers were already cheering on racers. They release the racers in 20 second increments. With our timing chips strapped to our shoes we awaited the gun and took off! They had staff cheering us on different floors, so as they heard you approach they started shouting encouragement - it was awesome. The finish line was fantastic. Dallas News took some good shots of our crazy faces, I hope we can snag copies. After we reached the finish line, we were greeted with water, fruit, music, and a t-shirt. What a fun Saturday!!!

Luke placed 10th in the men's 20-29 division and he was competing against some serious climbers and his division was twice the size of the women's division. Most of the men in his division travel all over the US doing these stairclimb races.

Considering we didn't train AT ALL, I am pretty dang proud of our placement! Rockin' Keith's!

Eurotrip: Germany, Belgium, Holland

We visited our good friends Josh and Sara Bell and their spunky kid Charlie in Germany (AF base in Rammstein). We had so much fun hanging out with them! They graciously allowed us to come and go as we pleased and use their home as our base during our whole trip. Here are a FRACTION of the fun pics from the trip!

WE LOVE AUTOBAHN

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today, Luke was passenger in a horrific car accident. The driver lost control of the car and mid-spin, it slammed into a tree, crushing the car into Luke. Natural human instinct caused Luke to attempt to struggle free. Thankfully, the Lord had his watchful eye and sent a man to calm Luke. Had it not been for that man, Luke could have bled to death in his struggle. Luke's condition was so critical, the hospital had to perform multiple operations before the family even arrived. He sustained 3 breaks in his leg, his pelvis was completely severed in 2 pieces, broken jaw (crushed on one side), nerve trauma in the shoulder, broken ribs, broken nose, pelvic nerve trauma, lacerations in his lungs, and some minor internal bleeding. No brain trauma.

With trauma like this, we know his body will physically never be the same. His pelvis could not heal 100% evenly so he has a permanent limp, his jaw was also not able to heal evenly (even though he had his jaw wired shut), he is awaiting teeth implants and is working hard to recover the year the accident set him back.

I know Luke would give anything to reverse the accident, but he has proven a remarkable trust in the Lord and acceptance with full joy. His attitude has truly been one that would glorify the Lord. What an encouragement he is to me. I thank God for the resilience and the strength he has given Luke, so that he can continue to be a light to all those who know him or will ever meet him.

We praise God for sparing Luke for our sake, so that we may be blessed. A miraculous survival, 5 successful surgeries, 2 custom shoes, a few fake teeth (and a partridge in a pear tree) and one year later, we are still shouting for joy at the wonders of our mighty God’s hand. The Lord does not have to prove His might, nor does He need to make himself known, but how wonderful it is when He allows us the opportunity to see Him at work!

Thank you all for your prayers, support, love, cards, food, games and flowers that you provided while Luke was in the hospital. You all were a great encouragement to us and the entire Keith family.

We are rejoicing with our whole hearts.

Loving the life that God has given us,
Luke and Faith Keith

Oh taste and see that the Lord is good:

Valentines: No Boring "Feet" of Love

The whole weekend was a huge surprise to Faith.

Friday night began with dinner at Dallas Fish Market (exquisite food by the 4 star chefs and excellent service)

....followed by a spectacular Valentine's "POPS" show by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at the Myerson. The DSO performed love songs through the decades beginning in the 1920's. World Renown vocalist Daniel Narducci performed several of the songs with the orchestra. It was enchanting.

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SkyDiving!!!

Saturday was the big surprise...over 11,000 feet of fun....

Click here to watch our videos!

Luke's Jump

Faith's Jump

MARGNIFICENT FUN! Greatest thrill ever! The most incredible rush of adrenaline...so far.

[Love] pronunciation: \'ləv\

Yesterday as I was talking with the Lord, I suddenly was overcome with realization and began praising the Lord…my husband loves [action word] me so fiercely and unconditionally that I truly feel so undeserving. He is constantly proving his love in big and small ways. His love takes on different shapes as he learns more about me and how I receive messages of love. As I was thanking the Lord for my husband and confessing my feelings of feeling so unworthy of such a great gift that God gave me, I realized….God is using Luke to give me a glimpse of His OWN love for me. WOW…I was floored….I mean….Luke’s love and actions of love knocks me off my feet, so I can only imagine the wondrous love our Father has for us. Awesome.

Faith

The Progressive Dinner date night

Date night happens every week like clock work, but is by no means monotonous. We try to shake things up here and there to keep it interesting. This one was a fun twist to a typical "Dinner date".

We started out at this [fairly] new restaurant, Bengal Coast. A pan-asian (mostly Indian) cuisine. The food was subtle, yet packed with colorful, exotic flavors. Our chef, Neval, brought out our hot sauce and it was flaming - use with care. The ambiance was a fun compromise of romantic and city life. Yellow and orange lighting created a subtle glow for a romantic dinner, but well lit enough to work as a great meeting place for groups. Indoor palm trees were a perfect touch to the center of the floor. We spent a lot of time here just talking and enjoying the music. The appetizers we ordered were just about wearing off (Luke was getting hungry again) when we finally asked for our check. We left a great tip for the waiter's time - we hoped it would make him feel better for waiting on an alcohol-free and no-entree table.

















Next we traversed across the street to good ol' TxLC (Texas Land and Cattle) for our entrees. Luke ordered the most delicious, melt-in-your mouth smoked sirloin. I ordered a bowl of tortilla soup, but not before our AMAZING waiter brought me 8 oz of the smoked sirloin to "taste test". I am not a steak (or meat) lover, but WOW!!! If only for that sirloin, all my chances of becoming a vegetarian just went out the window....Sorry Mrs. Lisa... We enjoyed more chatting and solving of the world's problems. Ahhh what a beautiful night.





Satisfied, we walked back across the street and around the corner to Paciugo - Italian ice cream!! MMmm delightful! The lady who served our ice cream was Italian, so it made the experience so much more fun. As we enjoyed our itty-bitty cups of ice cream, we started planning our next international trip. I mean, how can you eat Italian ice cream and not get the urge to travel? Well...we already have a trip to Asia in the fall, so Europe maybe?...















For those of you in the Dallas area - you should check out Bengal Coast, even if only for the experience. For those of you who do not like curry or Indian spiced foods (or meat), I think you will still find a few items on the menu to your liking. Before the night began, we both expressed our distaste for Indian food (but we wanted to give it one more shot). This restaurant changed our minds.

Loving the adventure that is life...
The Krazies

Keith Workshop

This year we decided to make our gifts. We started out with grand plans, but as soon as we started the "smallest" project, we realized our scheme was far beyond "over ambition".

Turns out we were only able to make small somethings for everyone.

The Keith Christmas was tonight, so this post only exposes already unwrapped gifts.

For each couple (Mom and Dad, Mel and Bill, Joelle and Jared+baby judah) we made pajama pants. The guys got "hobo" pants, and the girls all received monkey pants. They were a blast. Pajama pants supposedly are extremely easy and low cost. But we managed to make them more expensive than you can buy them AND we spent about 1.2 hours per pant! HA!

The 2nd part of the gift was a menagerie of fine chocolate barks that we made in our home kitchen - what fun! We made dark chocolate almond joy bark, white chocolate peppermint bark, mint chocolate bark and milk chocolate smore's bark. Our whole house smelled of warm chocolates and creamy vanilla from the candle on our bar.

The whole experience was awesome - it was a great way for us to spend a lot of time together and it was amazing working on projects together.

For your viewing pleasure, here are a few pics of the disaster, nay, the fun!

Luke Away = Restless and Rowdy

Faith says...

Here I go again...I must be bored...I got the sudden urge to buy a new kayak, which was quickly overtaken by the desire to go diving paired with the purchase of jet skiis...which was overtaken by my desire to purchase a dirt bike...which was surpassed by my urge to get that mountain bike I've been wanting for a while....Then I remembered my skateboard...and the cello...

Not sure where to start but I'm ready to go mud fight someone, or back pack for the weekend, or SOMETHING! ...maybe my husband needs to hurry up and get back from his business trip!

Shoulder surgery - a success!

"The surgery could not have gone better" were the doc's words to me when Luke was moved to Recovery. They were able to successfully relieve the tension in his rotary cuff and surrounding tissues and re-open the "tunnels" that allow electricty to flow to that area. He experienced a lot of atrophy during the past 9 months while the muscles and tissue were NOT receiving electricity, but Luke is so strong and healthy, we know he will be back to snuff in no time. I continually am in awe and thanksgiving for the Lord's work on Luke's body and his miraculous survival of such a horrific accident.

Thought I'd share this praise with you all! Thanks for your prayers!

Cool x-rays!!!

Preop for Luke

...here are a few fascintating pics to give you an idea of the crazy damage my bones experienced: