Big Horn Crags Back Packing Trip

At the Trail Head

Stories of our adventure to come....

Colorado Trip - August 2nd - 5th

Pictures to come....

Palisades Creek Hike - July 29th

Since I hadn't been hiking all summer and I had a 4 day back packing trip coming up, I decided to take a day hike to Palisades Creek and the lower Palisades Lake. I got a late start and didn't hit the trail until 11:30 am. However, it was a great day for a hike and there were not too many people on the trail. I didn't spend much time looking at scenery as I headed up the mountain because I wanted to make good time. I stopped at the lake, ate a quick snack and headed back down the trail. All in all, I went 9.5 miles in a little over 3 hours...I call it "speed trailing" :)

Blue Angels - July 28

This is Dale's write up about our flight over to Twin Falls for the Blue Angels air show... I will add more later. 

"7-28-12 Jenny Blue Angels

Who will go with me to the airshow at TWF? I planned to go to Hill and that didn’t work, so I don’t want to miss this. Student Jenny jumps at the chance. I get up early, top off the plane, and throw a 2 gallon jug of gas in the back. Off to Blackfoot 0620 and land about 0645. Smoke layer. Jenny is waiting. She hops in and we go. Off before 7 and arrive TWF about 0820. The traffic is light and I am cleared straight in, exiting on 12-30, and parking at the end with local GA pilots. There are fewer planes than I expected and they are all Cessnas. Later there are 2 Pipers and I joking chide the helpers about why they let them into Cessna parking. I dip the tanks to find I am using more fuel than expected. I pour in the 2 gallons and then we wait for tickets to become available. They finally arrive and we look at planes on display until the airshow starts. We walk around looking at planes, getting our exercise and aviation needs fulfilled at the same time, and take advantage of the free water stations. A Chinook chopper looks like it has a hand rail outside? I ask the crew, and it is a radio antenna. Bob Hoff’s planes are there, and I see him at the Reeder office. I buy 3 gallons of fuel from them so I am not nervous on the way home. This is a delicate balance. If I add too much, it will overflow. Not enough and run out. It is embarrassing to buy 3 gallons in front of a well-off pilot like Bob, but more embarrassing to run out of gas. Turns out we didn’t need the 3 gallons, but better safe than sorry or even nervous. Jenny and I tour a KC-135 tanker. It is empty inside; the tank is below deck. I get into the boomer position and talk to the pilot, who lets me sit in his seat and move the manual flight controls.

The air show starts at 11:15. The edges and extras all look alike, but I enjoy Ken Peitsch’s 3 standard routines and Matt Yonkin in his twin Beech. There is steady action with the only break just before the Blue Angels. They put on a great show and then there is a mad dash to depart. The tower is deliberately delaying GA departures. I call ground control anyhow and so I am the first in line to go. I get off just before 5:00 and have Jenny fly GPS straight to Blackfoot, with a slight detour to land at Hazelton because I have never done so before. We have a tailwind and some updrafts and my early start catches up with me so Jenny flies while I take a nap. Landing at Blackfoot is routine and we get fuel from Joel Milloway and wash the bugs off the windshield and wings. I fly home solo to conclude this great adventure"

Spoiled for the Ordinary

I was reading over some of my entries over the years and I found this one that I wrote 4 years ago. Such a good reminder to myself of what really matters:

It is easy to be on an emotional high and graphically describe life when you are in a foreign country for a short period of time. Suddenly life takes on a new fascination, a deeper hue of color is seen from standing at a different angle. Even the dirt and bugs and cold showers come alive with purpose and manifestations of glory. You feel completely awed with the opportunity to experience life. However, once you are home, and the bags are unpacked, and the pictures have been oohhed and ahhed over, and the mundane of the familiar once again glares straight back into your face -the heart tends to make a nosedive unless you have made a proactive decision. I want to live for eternity one day at a time - embracing each moment as a gift from the Lord no matter how mundane and "unspiritual" it may seem. Knowing that if anything matters, everything matters. Living each day before the Lord, to His glory and satisfaction - whether I am holding HIV babies at an orphanage in Africa, or wheeling a patient out to their car, or scrubbing the church toilet for the zillionth time, or even sitting alone on my back porch believing the Lord for the desires He has put in my heart. I want my life to be poured out as worship to Him. I want the eyes to see in faith. I want to live with a fascinated heart, one that embraces life and is spoiled for the ordinary. I recently read a quote that seems to fit here: "When we look with eyes of faith, all the ground we walk on becomes holy ground, all the people and all the common sights and sounds and happenings become miracles." Herbert F. Brokering

Pondering....

"But if the discontent with your present situation is deep, recurrent, and lasting, and if that discontent grows in Bible-saturated soil, God may be calling you to a new work. If, in your discontent, you long to be holy, to walk pleasing to the Lord, and to magnify Christ with your one, brief life, then God may indeed be loosening your roots in order to transplant you to a place and a ministry where the deep spiritual ambitions of your soul can be satisfied. It is true that God can be known and enjoyed in every vocation; but when he deploys you from one place to the next, he offers fresh and deeper drinking at the fountain of his fellowship. God seldom calls us to an easier life, but always calls us to know more of him and drink more deeply of his sustaining grace. "

- John Piper

Pod Picture

My BMC family. So fun to work with :)

A Blurrrr

I’m not sure that this blog will ever be up to date. Sigh. Little blurps here and there just to connect the dots for now.

Made it successfully through the first semester of RN school. Intense. About quit at week 6 but pressed through and my perspectives changed. So much I could have written about but was so mowed over with homework that there were very few moments to blog.

Now I am nearing the last few precious hours of my 4 week break and will hit the books again on Tuesday. One more year and if all goes well I will be able to take the boards in January 2013. Then what? Not entirely sure, but I am excited at the possibilities.

Hopefully my dots will be more closely placed as the year progresses….no guarantees though.