Almost 80 degrees at 7am

The best part about 108 degree days is the beautiful early 80 degree morning sun and sitting outside reading before the wee ones wake up. Such silence...

This morning was some Oswald Chambers from My Utmost For His Highest ~ "And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the ship and to go to the other side..." Mark 6:45

We are apt to imagine that Jesus Christ constrains us, and we obey Him. He will lead us to great success. We must never put our dreams of success as God's purpose for us; His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have an idea that God is leading us to a particular end, a desired goal; He is not. The question of getting to a particular end is a mere incident. What we call the process, God calls the end.

What is my dream of God's purpose? His purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay in the middle of the turmoil calm and unperplexed, that is the end of the purpose of God. God is not working toward a particular finish; His end is the process -- that I see Him walking on the waves, no shore in sight, no success, no goal, just the absolute certainty that it is all right because I see Him walking on the sea. It is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to God.

God's training is for now, not presently. His purpose is for this minute, not for something in the future. We have nothing to do with the afterwards of obedience; we get wrong when we think of the afterward. What men call training and preparation, God calls the end.

God's end is to enable me to see that He can walk on the chaos of my life just now. If we have a further end in view, we do not pay sufficient attention to the immediate present: if we realize that obedience is the end, then each moment as it comes is precious.

It Shore Ain't Easy Being This Sophisticamated

When you have a week of 100+ days, you make do :o)
When the mop bucket got too small, Steve pulled out the wheelbarrow for us to swim in ;-)
When you bust three slip 'n slides - no problem - hook them all together for a super ride of your life ~ We were SAILING down that hill!

BirthDAYs

What a day to celebrate a couple of kids' birthdays!! HOT HOT HOT!! We started the day with Grammy and Grampy's very fun selection and well received gifts, however, I HAD to post the pic of Mai opening the underwear. We specifically went over last night before bed how they were to respond when opening gifts - EVEN underwear ;-)
She obviously took a minute before remembering her instructions but eventually yelled out "I LOVE THEM" or something silly like that. We met up with more family at the park and had to start off the picnic with a Super Lemon stand-off - as you can see, Katie was in massive pain. The kids tried to stay cool in the sprinklers but it was so hot out the candles fell over in the cake as the frosting melted away from them. We finally made it home one kid more than we started with and the three blondies had Daddy set up the new slip 'n slide for some fun before moving indoors to stay cool while playing Guitar Hero. A bunch of rockers on my hand, I tell ya.

Kiara Tackles the Trails #14 Eagle Creek

Kiara and I had plans to start our Adventure to Eagle Creek at 6am yesterday so we could beat the heat of the day, but when the alarm went off at 5am on a Saturday, the old body told me huh uh. So when we woke at 8:30, I figured we had missed our chance, but Steve decided it was too hot to go dirtbiking, so the pup and I managed to get onto the trail by 11:45. With such a late start, we didn't get to go back in as far as I would have liked, but it was still one of the most beautiful trails we've done in this series (despite my very disappointing pictures).

The first pic is Bottom Punchbowl Falls. You can see two uncertain guys at the top of the falls trying to decide whether or not they were going to slide on down the falls. They eventually did, after much hemming and hawing. I will def take my swimsuit next time and do some swimming next time I'm there!!

At the next falls you can see people trying to get down the wall to reach the river. The chick on the upper left in the blue bikini was having such a hard time and I watched forever thinking she was going to slide right down on her belly and have a heck of a mess...BUT...she made it safe and sound...down anyways.

Third pic was Ki wishing she wasn't always hooked to this damn leash.

Fourth pic kind of shows how dangerous this trail can be - it seriously just drops right down to the canyon floor. I purposefully didn't do this run last fall/winter because of all I had read about the narrow trail that drops off into the canyon. With Ki being a VERY pulling sled dog who loves snow, I felt that she might just take me over the edge and to my death in slipperier conditions. I also did this route on my own to decide if I can take the kids here as part of the Waterfall series, but I don't think so. At this age, I could see maybe taking one kid, but not both - I wouldn't feel safe on my own with them in spots. However, I will be taking them to play in the river! Ki had a blast at the end - swimming and swimming and more swimming!!

The Waterfall Chronicles

We are just now finally getting around to our Summer plan of visiting 20 different waterfalls - I can't believe how fast time has flown by since school got out!! We actually hit our first fall when we were in Sunriver. The last picture here (out of chronological order, of course - how silly of me to call this post a "chronicle") is our first fall of the Summer - Benham Falls with Grammy.

We visited our second and third falls today. #2 was Bridal Veil Falls. It's a sweet little hike and we had to really drag it out to make it feel like it was worth the 45 minute drive to get there ;o)
It was beautiful, but just too short of a hike. I like to work for my waterfalls!!
We had lots of extra time on our hands, so after eating a snack at the lookout over the Columbia River, we headed up The Historic Columbia River Hwy until we reached Wahkeena Falls, which I ran with Ki last year, and managed to extend our hiking for the day... until Mai - hot, tired, sweaty, and bloody kneed - caught my eye and I figured we better head home before the perfection of the day was marred by something happening - like someone needing to poop or a fall over a cliff.

We'll visit a couple more next week...
stay tuned...

River Livin'

Had a great long weekend camping! I took the kids down to meet up with my Mom who was camping solo this past week and had told anyone who wanted to come keep her company to show up. She ended up with quite a cast of characters! By the time we arrived late in the week some people had left but several of my favorite aunts and uncles and my grandmother (camping in her own hip little camping van) were still there. My brother and his family showed up and then Dad, too - so it was great seeing every one!

A lot of swimmin'...


A lot of fishin' with Grammy...


A lot of river time on the boat with Grammy...


Just my cutie pie...


More river time...


A 12" Bass (good catch, Jack!)...


Watch out BFF, Natalie, there's a new "Buddy" in town...


Fish for breakfast, Mai?...


Side trip to Loon Lake with cousins...


S'mores...


The Bogeyman showing up after someone crossed the "Bogeyman line" around the fire pit...

Give Me Your Eyes, Lord

Looked down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight
Touched down on the cold black top
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breath in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos
All those people going somewhere,
Why have I never cared?

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken-hearted
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see

Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide what's underneath
There's a man just to her right
Black suit and a bright red tie
Too ashamed to tell his wife
He's out of work
He's buying time
All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared?

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken-hearted
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see

I've Been there a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just moving past me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
Well I want a second glance
So give me a second chance
To see the way you see the people all along

Lessons From a Four Year Old

Joyful delight defined by a 4 y/o:
Finding a stone wall to walk across on your walk with Mama.

Ecstatic delight defined by a 4 y/o:
Finding a second stone wall only minutes after the first.

When was the last time you enjoyed a "stone wall"? They are everywhere you look.

Challenges are what make like interesting...

Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.

Just a whole lotta Summer goin' on

Just a whole lotta Summer goin' on.
The kids at the park on a play date with preschool friends yesterday.... and I love the one of the two BCFs (Best Cousins Forever) - One was pretending to be Miley Cyrus and one was pretending to be Hannah Montana - yep - two girls from the same mold, yet still different :-) Cousin Kayla stayed two nights this week and I've never had so much freedom in my own home before!! Those two were thick as thieves!

The Race Report

You know what they say, A perfect race means a boring race report.
Well, it wasn't perfect in the way I wanted, but pretty darn close. Race day started with my mom waking me up at 4:20 to get my lazy butt out of bed, eating, sunscreening, etc. Got my stuff together and she dropped me off at T2 to meet my team and catch the bus out to the lake. It was 33 degrees out. I was in flip flops and shorts and my toes were little icecubes.

My team of about 20 managed to snag a little mini bus all to ourselves and the 45 minute ride to the lake was a mixture of nerves and hilarity. I mostly rested my head against the cool window as the sun poured through onto my face. I watched Ilana braid Michele's hair as Ilana fought carsickness. I listened to Leslie and Tiffany singing funny songs at the rear of the bus and our theme song for the day was "Let's get it started. HA! Let's get it started in here!" I listened to Sherrie imitate Shannon's laugh. I watched Ali in the seat ahead of me trying to choke down her very thick oatmeal with a very dry mouth. I watched us all comparing our tattoos and things we wrote on our bodies in black marker. We had a bunch of tattoos made up that said "Suck it up Princess" - A quote from little Natasha, our honored teammate who is up in Heaven now. Some of us had written the letters PFM or RFM for Persistent Forward Motion or Relentless Forward Motion - remembering as long as we keep moving, whether it was pushing our bike up the mountain or crawling through the paths, along as we kept it moving forward, we were good.

Got to the lake and made sure all our T1 stuff we dropped off the night before was still there, that our tires were pumped up sufficiently and used the porta potties about 15 times each all the while talking about our pre-race bathroom troubles or successes of the morning ;o)
As we were finishing up a second breakfast and preparing to get in our wetsuits, the loud speaker announced that a bus hadn't arrived due to road construction or a wreck or something and that the race would be delayed as much as 45 min to an hour. GRRRRR.
After a few minutes of grumbling and realizing that it would be THAT much hotter on our run with a late start, we accepted what we could not change and started monkeying around some more.

Finally, we're off!! I had a fantastic swim and was sure that my time would be terrific. After the 2nd buoy, I had a terrific cramp in my right calf - I had been using my legs too much and when I lifted my head to clear some snot out of my throat I slowed down and instantly got the cramp. I almost panicked but then just kicked my leg out a couple times and continued swimming with my right leg hanging limp and continued on and I was good! Got into T2 and saw Diane and Dan and Sherrie and loved the energy. My only glitch was that I couldn't get my helmet snapped. I don't know if it was nerves or my fingers were cold or what, but it took me over a minute to get it hooked on. My swim time was 40:42 (I felt I had gone off course somewhat between the last two buoys and I think I must have. Diane confirmed that she also felt like she was caught in a current there. I don't think lakes have currents, but it definitely felt like I was being pulled off course). I came out of the water 248/477 so right in the middle is fine with me with this group of athletes!!
T1 was 3:09.

The bike ride was terrific as well. No problems. Powered up Mt. Bachelor only to see what looked like my truck right at the end of our middle (biggest climb) hill around mile 37. Sure enough, there are Steve, Mom, and the kids sitting in the back with TNT signs and big smiles and "I love you Mama" shouts, BUT IT WAS A HILL - I could not stop to hug them like I wanted to - I had to keep pushing and I did try to give Steve a high five and almost toppled off my bike!

Then a few minutes later, here they come up behind me with more words of encouragement. TERRIFIC!!!

Now I'm up over the hill and on my way
D
O
W
N
the mountain. Speeding along so fast that what I thought would be comfort after the hill turned out to be so painful trying to keep my bike from getting swept sideways by the wind - my upper body was tense staying down in my drops close to my brakes, but it felt SO GOOD!!!! to be flying along like that. I had passed a guy who was walking his bike up the big hill and at the bottom he finally passed me and said I was BOMBING down the hill and it took him the whole way to catch me. But catch me he did and away he went. I ended up pulling into T2 with a time of 3:45:49 and a placing of 422 out of 472 although at this point in the race I am still in 398th place. Again, with these athletes, I'm loving those numbers. I'm elated and bummed at the same time. The ride was pretty darn good. I took it too easy, though. I was trying to save myself for the hills and I was trying to save myself for the run, but at the end of it all, I see where I should have pushed harder during the first 27 miles - last year I got a cramp during that first stretch that stayed with me through the entire rest of the race and I was scared of that happening again. I should have gone for it - the hill had nothing on me this year! So, we lost 5 people somewhere there, but now I've really dropped in the rankings. I also see where I mentally kind of lost my motivation over the last 20 miles. I knew I was going to come in way ahead of my bike goal of under 4 hours and kind of again "saved myself" for the rest of the race.

T2 was uneventful and took me way too long at 4:45, but I felt good. My legs were good and I was happy as I reached my family at mile 1. I kind of knew at that point that the run would be similar to last year. Although my legs and lungs were good, my back was starting to spasm and I was feeling lightheaded and nauseated, getting goosebumps off and on in what turned out to be somewhere in the upper 80s that day. Sheryl caught me around mile 2 and we decided to run/walk together until we got to her house which was on the route - she called it her T3. She was going to run in and change from bike shorts to running shorts and said she would grab me something to eat. By the time we met up again, I realized my nutrition was off. I felt yucky and the bar she got me was so dry and I couldn't even produce enough saliva to wash it down my throat. Got rid of the bar and tried an apple pie gel. BLECH! I got it down and it didn't come back up, so that was good. It was also the only calories I got into me during those 13.1 miles. I think I managed 1 cup of Heed or whatever the course had at one point but otherwise, I just ate A FREAKING TRUCKLOAD OF ICE!! I'm so thankful for the aid stations at every mile and all the ice they provided us.

So, I finally told Sheryl, listen, this is killing me to run - you have to go on without me - so off she went. I played tag with a nice guy for quite some time. I would run and pass him then he would run and pass me then he would stop at a porta potty and I would pass him again. We had lots of good laughs. Tim caught up with me around mile 5 or 6 and we stayed together for quite some time talking and laughing until some friends of his showed up at mile 10 to bring him across the finish line...running...so I let them leave me as I still couldn't bring myself to run other than a jog here and there. The thing I realized was that if I ran, I felt sick and in pain. Not just a suck it up princess type of thing. If I ran, I was going to be very ill. I also realized that if I walked, I was having a good time - enjoying the beautiful scenery of Sunriver, the river, the horses, the animals, and so rather than worry about anything, I just enjoyed.

And that Persistent Forward Motion got me across the finish line with my kids on either side of me holding my hands and hearing my name called out as a finisher!! and tons of hugs from my teammates and a final time of 7:58:35 which I believe was about an hour faster than last year!!!!

Right after the race I told my mom not to let me do this again next year. She promised.
I bet she'll read this... Mom...It's like having a baby - you immediately forget all the bad and remember the good...I'm just sayin'...

A Short Story

I’ve never felt freedom before, not real freedom. Sometimes, swimming so fast in the lake that I believe I am a fish or slowly breaking a sweat on the hottest beach while the coldest beer rests in my hand or I smell a first spring morning, or better yet, the hottest summer morning, a peace rolls over me. Do you know what I mean? Those smallest bits of time that you feel completely there; in the moment; all of you understands that this particular moment in time is real and perfect and your heart swells…or it doesn’t, maybe it simply feels free from everything else. Gives me a taste of what I know Heaven must be like or life really should be, but then it’s gone. I’m back to me. Average. Bored. Uncomfortable.

Splash, Pedal and Dash

Another Sunriver vacation in the books. Phew! What a busy start - I spent the first two days there going out and back to the lake, picking up race packets, trying to get my transition stuff organized, pasta party and of course, the kids' Splash Pedal and Dash. The kids had a great time. Jack had no problems, but Mai ran into some technical difficulties on the bike. I started them in the same age group so I could keep a better eye on them and see them both cross the finish line, but right at the beginning of the bike at the turn around we saw Jack first - no Mai...then still no Mai. She actually should have been ahead of him as she is quite the speed demon on her bike. I finally see a lady holding her hand and bringing her towards me - teary eyed and bikeless. Oh no. I thought she bit it, but no - her rear wheel wouldn't spin. We got back to the bike and she insisted she MUST FINISH THIS RACE. I told her I would push her the whole way if I had to and with tears welling up in her eyes, she said NO MAMA! I'M DOING THIS ON MY OWN!
OK, then...
So off she went, each pedal a huge feat, until finally whatever the trouble was, broke loose and off she went too fast for me to even catch up with her. That girl just has to have her way :o)
So she finished the race with a huge smile on her face and Jack and she were very proud of their hard work! The next day was my race, which I'll write up tomorrow. After that, it was all a lot of swimming, biking and general laziness :o)

Kiara Tackles the Trails #13 Mt. Tabor

Kiara Tackles a new trail...finally.

Now that my shin splints are gone and the race is history, we're back on the trails. We took it easy today. Mai and I picked up Ki from the kennel this morning. 10 days away from us and she's pi$$ed off good. She kissed everyone hello but me. We decided to take her to a new trail from our Best of Oregon and hike rather than run. We started at the playground so Mai could have a little fun monkeying around. Then we headed out for a nice long walk. We were about 45 minutes in when Mai got a nice blister on the back of her heel and had to remove the offending shoe. She was fine hiking with just one shoe on - what a girl! I did carry her through some rough patches that had some pebbles, but she did really good. Ki didn't pull me once, which is a sign that the kennel kept her busy. It's a great outdoor one - she gets to run free around 10 acres with all the other dogs and swim every day and she's pure beat when she gets back home.

Behind one of the reservoirs, we found a little altar that contained, among other things, a really dirty toothbrush and a bodyless doll head. That was about all the excitement we had on this trail, but it was beautiful and fun to hang with the baby girl. She's such a good friend to me. The dog, however, is apparently still mad at mama.