Home again, home again, jiggity jig

So did you miss me?? ha, ha :-)
We made it!
3300 mi. on the odometer, not enough sleep, lots of sunny weather, more sight seeing than I believed we could have fit in (thanks to my mother who drove through night on the way home to get as close to home as possible into MT. so we could sight see on Monday), and 500 plus photos to prove it! We got home last night about 10pm for good after returning the rental car and I can't say that I am fully recovered yet! We had a wonderful trip, saw so much I am still trying to process, and had a very blessed time at our church conference/campmeeting in SD.

This is a list of the places we managed to visit for varying amounts of time:
Montana
Butte
An awesome canyon between there and W. Yellowstone
Grizzly Country
Lewis and Clark Caverns
Virgina/Nevada City
Bannak
10,000 Silver $ (famous little gift shop, casino, rest. etc. where the walls are covered in at the moment almost 45,000 mounted silver dollars)
and survived some real montana hail storms!

Wyoming
Yellowstone National Park
Teton National Park

South Dakota
Mt. Rushmore
Crazy Horse
Spearfish Canyon
Lead (historic mining town)
And we took in an awesome lightning storm

Washington
Went over on Hwy. 2 through Leavenworth
Came back by way of the North Cascades Hwy. 20 by Grand Coulee Dam and Winthrop
Also saw Ross and Diablo lakes

We saw so much my poor brain is still on over load but it was wonderful and I have already started a list of things I want to see again or spend longer at next time! Stay at a Dude Ranch in the Tetons or MT is definetly on that list! I had always dreamed of going to MT and it completely lived up to my expectations. Some parts were different but overall I am in love with the state! I could seriously dispense with all the casinos on every corner there though. Sitting at one stop light we counted 5 in one city. They are everywhere. Yellowstone was INCREDIBLE and I want to go back with more time sometime very soon. We had 2 1/2 days and that wasn't nearly long enough.

The amount of wildlife we saw was fantastic: Buffaloe, Moose, Deer, Elk, Antelope, Mtn. Goats, a Wolf, Pelicans, a Osprey nest with almost fledged young, hawks, an eagle, the usual small things like praie dogs, sqirrels, chipmonks, etc., bears at Grizzly Encounter (none in the wild) and I saw a bat flying around in the caves which was very exciting. We didn't see any snakes but you don't hear me complaining!

We didn't really have any car problems or accidents but there was one night when mom woke me up at almost midnight somewhere in the middle of nowhere MT. almost out of gas so I could help pray that we would make it to the next gas station. The light was on and we had no idea where the next station with a credit card pump was. Many prayers and 15mi. down the road we found one and all was well. Other than that one small rock in the winshield was about as close to car excitement as we got.

Our time at campmeeting was very blessed. I found myself in some difficult situations that were a real test of my character and praise the Lord with a lot of prayer this time I think I passed the tests. I have come to see that I have some points of real impatience with myself that really comes down to a lack of trust in God and it manifests inself at certain times in frustration at my inablity to understand things as fast as I would like sometimes. I have caused some problems in the past by ill advised speech and lack of control of my emotions so I know it's a problem but to finally have it pinned down a little more is a great help. Real victories were won and the camp theme/lecture topics were a great blessing. The topic was Principles of Christian Leadership and we learned about twenty some odd principles of Christian Leadership...things that I can apply very practically in everyday life. Maybe sometime I will post more about that. I got to spend a lot of time singing and learning new songs which really tested my sight reading skills! For much of the time when we weren't in meetings or I wasn't singing I was working in the kitchen which I really enjoy. I have spent many years at camp helping with the food so it's something I am comfortable with and it makes the time fly by for sure to say busy. The schedule was pretty packed for that week with meetings starting at 6am and going till 8:30 or 9pm with only a couple of breaks for meals but it was worth it and I also got to see quite a few old friends and aquaintences.

And finally the top 3 stupid questions we heard in Yellowstone:
1. Does Old Faithful erupt during the night?
2. When do the Deer turn into Elk?
3. Do you know that the animals are out?

So much more I could say but I will end this post for now...I will let you know when I get some of the photos up and posted.

On the road again...

Just realized I have less than 11hrs. and counting before mom and I are supposed to be leaving for our two week road trip to South Dakota and I haven't even really thought of packing! That's usually how it goes with me though...I don't got to excited about things till the last min. then I spend a couple of hrs. of intense work of packing and cleaning my room up and then I am off (usually in more ways than one!).

Anyway news to share before I go:
1. I know have an MSN IM account and Emily was the first person to talk to me on IM. (I only mention this because I promised her I would!)
2. Attending the Fair was fun but different this year. I haven't ever met up with a group before so that was a little odd and I appreaciated Johanna who hung out with me while I went hither and yon doing different things than the group. The demo derby was great and the pick-up trucks were definetly the best! I think it had been probably been about 10-12 years since I was on a ride so thank you to everyone that so patiently waited while some of us rode the Ferris Wheel...yes I went all out for thrills!
3. Any of my readers that live around here be looking for an e-mail from Emily about a get together on Labor Day, Sept. 5th. We are trying to plan something, like a hike, but since I will be gone the able party planner, Emmy, has been put in charge! Remind her if she slacks on the job! LOL

Cheers and stay out of trouble all of you till I get back!
Must get packing...

Dancers, Mountains and Finally a Wedding!

I just uploaded three new albums on my webshots site should you choose to view them!
One has shots from the Nooksack Pow-Wow that happened in July. I love to go and watch the dancers and drummers every year. The photos capture the color and variety but they really can't capture the feeling of being there and feeling the drumming.
The 2nd new one just has mountain shots from various hikes and outings I have been on in the last month or so.
And the last one is an album of photos from Tara Lastoka/Don Everett's wedding. Some of you know her from our time together at Premier and also from the Neff Bible study that she attended with me once. It was a nice simple wedding and the only one I have attended this year. Many of my old friends are long married and so this has been the year of the baby for me! I think there have been at least 4-5. I figure in a few years my newer friends will start to get married and it will start all over again but this year there was only one wedding and lots of babies!

Why did she do it?

Please read and answer the following question with your best reasoning. This is a question that is used in real psychological tests. After people answer I will tell what the answers mean.

A woman goes to her mother's funeral and sees the man of her dreams there. She has never seen him before and no one at the funeral knows who he is or why he is there. She doesn't know anything about him or how to contact him but she knows that he is the man of her dreams.
A week later she kills her sister.
Why?

Intere-sting Afternoon

It started out innocent enough...
Nicki and I went down to Lake Whatcom to spend the afternoon playing in the water. We played Frisbee in the water, very fun by the way, swam around, sat in the sun and ate dinner out in the water on a log. Pretty docile few hours. We then spent a few min. climbing around up the rocks at the waterfall, ran into, Elliott there and headed back to the parking lot to meet up with Kristi and her brother. Elliott, as usual, had every waking minute booked so he had to leave but we changed clothes and waited for the others. So far so good.

For a complete description of everyone involved in this ill-fated adventure please see Kristi's blog.

Kristi, Kelsey, Josiah and Ethan showed up and we started off down the trail back to the waterfall area where Nicki, Elliott and I had already been. The trail was up the side of the hill climbing roots, vertical dirt banks clinging onto branches and roots, etc. Once we got to the top of the hill we went off the trail and climbed over the edge onto the rocks at the top of the waterfall. Now you must understand these are not just normal rocks but rather steep rock faces such as this one:


My shoes were pretty good and gripped well so I had no problems but not everyone was so lucky. Several people spent much of their time at this point on their behinds but no pants were ripped so all was well. At this point it became clear that Ethan and I were going to be vital to holding this group together. Ethan was often in front while I brought up the rear offering encouragement and giving needed pushes from behind. Both of us went on reconnaissance missions as well to see what was coming next.

We forged on until we came to a beautiful pool with only two ways of proceeding beyond...up the log or across a slippery rock face.



Kristi led by example and up the log we went. Once we got up the log we did some more climbing around but the options past that for this group were limited so we turned back and were then faced with climbing the log again. I stood in the water at about the half way point of the log, checking regularly for leeches that Kristi had suggested might be present, to help the others down especially as they reached the bottom of the log which was very slippery. I am happy to report that no one fell in though I wondered if we would have a prefect track record as Kristi teatered on the log laughing hysterically after Ethan threw a large rock in the pool in an atempt to get Josiah wet and made her loose her concentration. Between Kelsey and I we able to hold her on the log and get her down without incident. She was preserved for even more dramatic events soon to unfold.

Dusk was starting to fall so we hurried on and it was decided to take a slightly different way out. Since this was Kristi's special place, somewhere she had been on many previous occasions by herself we all trusted her to lead us out quickly and easily. Was this a mistake???? You judge for yourself.

The plan was to scramble across this rock face, and climb back up to the trail at the base of the tree in the top middle of the picture.


Everything was going according to plan. Kristi led the way and had just assended the base of the tree when the calm evening air was shattered with the sounds of hysterical screaming and the sight that met our eyes defies descriptions in words. Kristi was screaching about something in her hair, she was grabbing her head and flinging her hair around wildly. Ethan offered her a comb and I tried to get her to stop and use the comb. She calmed down and we all suggested it might be one of those bitting flies that we had been encountering the entire evening. Just when we thought it was over, she started again. After the second or third time she flung the comb and a hair clip at Ethan, said something about them being after her and took off down the trail. Ethan went next and was fine, then Josiah went as was also fine but when Kelsey went she said something about getting bit and took off too. She was rather anti climactic compared to Kristi I must say. That left Nicki and I. I still wasn't sure what was going on...it was all happening so fast. Nicki got over the tree roots and then cried out when something bit her finger and began to loose her focus. Ethan was in front of her helping her and I came behind trying to get her to refocus and see that she needed to adjust her course a little to get out of the area. At that moment I realized what the problem was!

There was a nest of wild bees and I was actually hanging over it while I tried to helped Nicki. I was so busy swating them away from her that I failed to be fast enough to save myself from recieveing a sting on the ankle. Poor thing, I was swating, shoving her from behind and try and to get her to listen to me and not panic all at the same time while Ethan was trying to help pull her up from the front. We managed to get out in short order and then regrouped farther down the trail. A couple of minutes later Nicki started to cry and grab at her underarm. I flng her shirt up and grabbed one out of there that had flown up her shirt sometime during the mayhem of the previous minutes. In the aftermath we compared our wounds:
Kristi - a sting on her head somewhere and one on her hand.
Kelsey - one on her upper arm.
Crystal - one on my ankle.
Nicki - one on her finger and under her arm.
The boys - Zero! They escaped with nothing...what is up with that??? In this case I will cry unfair discrimination!
The walk back to the car was filled with much laughter and assessment of the recent events. I am afraid that at times we were rather loud and I must work on my voice volume when I find myself in such an uproarious mood but the images of Kristi, the wild woman of the woods, were too vivid and fresh to not cause some reaction!

This was the first time Nicki has ever been out with me on such an adventure with my friends and I must say she made me proud. She was such a trooper and never gave up. She scrambled, climbed and slid along with everyone and in fact enouraged us all along the way to view our challenges as blessings in disguise and to pretend we were like Christian in Pilgrim's Progress, climbing the hill difficulty. She didn't even scream when she had the bee up her shirt...that was impressive. At one point when Kristi complimented her on some advice that she had just shared she told Kristi that it was advice I had given her and I was very wise and full of good advice that Kristi should listen to. That seriously made me laugh.

We put charcoal on our stings when we got home and took some panothenic acid and by Saturday morning Nicki's stings were pretty much all better. I am not sure about Kristi and Kelsey but saddly I was not so lucky. I had some strange reactions, like my sense of smell being effected and my poor foot and ankle. My left foot, that I generally consider kind of cute, as far as feet go, is no longer cute. It instead sort of resembles a large Polish sausage and it is very stiff and sore.

Today my plans include time on the couch watching movies with my foot up and iced!

So do I have regrets??? Am I sorry I went??? My regret is that I didn't catch on to the situation sooner so as to put everyone in reverse and find another way out. I also feel a little bad that we stood there trying to convince Kristi that she was getting bit by flies and laughing at her wild eyed behavior when we should have been a little more preceptive and understanding.
Am I sorry I went? Definetly not. The memories are priceless, the adventure was fun and I hope we can go back again soon with a rope that will allow us to go up the hill even farther, we just won't be taking quite the same route! Who wants to come with us???

God's Timing

I had an incredible experience in God's timing yesterday that I had to share.
Yesterday, after helping a friend/coworker pack and prepare her condo for sale I planned on attending a wedding shower at 5pm. After I finished with my friend I went to the Christian bookstore to purchase a gift for the shower. While there I saw a little woman's book I decided to buy. As I stood there looking at the books I was greatly impressed to buy two of them. I stood there arguing with this impression..."why do I need two? I am trying to save money not spend it on books I don't even have a purpose for." etc. I finally bought two books not knowing why. By this time I was late for the shower and to make matters worse I went to the wrong park so by the time I got to the right park I was 1/2hr. late. I got to the park only to discover that there was no wedding shower. I walked around for about 1/2hr. and finally left about 5:55 thinking, "Humm, I wonder what happened, have I been stood up for a wedding shower?" I went by my friend's old house but there is no one there.
As I was driving around I was listening to a book on tape. The author was challenging woman to to ask the Lord to give them opportunities to minister to others, to never pass up an opportunity no matter how small and to always be ready because you never know when someone might be placed in your path. I was praying and meditating on this and was asking God for insight because I am fearful that I will pass by opportunities and not take the chance to minister because of my own inability to discern God's providence.
Rather than go right home I decided to stop by Starbucks and spend a little time in a new book. I met another friend there and as we sat there chatting one of the employees recognized me though I haven't seen her in many years. I had met her family over 7 yrs. ago but hadn't seen them in at least 3-4yrs and I don't think I would have recognized her. When her shift was over she came back to get my phone number and talk for a few min. As she was talking she began telling me about a personal situation she was going through and the struggle she was facing. As she talked I began praying because I realized that this was a very serious time for her life and that she was really at a crossroads in her walk with God. I sat there praying silently and talking with her and very powerfully it came to me, "This is who you bought the book for, go and get it and give it to her." I was a little scared to be honest and I wondered what she might think since we had just met her again but the direction was very definet, "Give her the book and stop worrying about what she might think." I ran out to my truck and got her the book. She was surprised but didn't refuse it though she did question why I would want her to have it. I told her God wanted her to have it and that I would be praying for her. We parted with a hug and I came home.
When I got home there was a message on our answering machine saying that the wedding shower had been postponed until 6 because of traffic problems. They were all showing up as I was leaving! While I am sure I would have enjoyed the shower I now know why that I wasn't supposed to be there. I hope I will have the chance to meet up with this girl again soon and if any of you are willing to pray of a very wonderful but struggling young woman I would really appreciate it. I am grateful I had the opportunity to meet her again and experience God's incredible timing for myself once again.