Pack Trips (written quickly)

One of my favorite activities during the fall months at the ranch are pack trips!  They are not restful in the physical sense… but my heart and soul craves the time away. 
A pack trip usually starts with Kim and I going shopping at Walmart.  J  It is filled with people asking what we are doing, where we are going and why we have 2 shopping carts filled to the brim with food and supplies.  When we share with them that we are going camping about 7 miles into the wilderness they give us looks of bewilderment.  How in the world do you get all this stuff in the wilderness? We are usually asked at least once.  Horses. 

There is no better way to camp in the wilderness except with horses.  They carry just about everything.  So when we share with people our meal menus of fajitas, spaghetti, pizza… they question if we are camping at all. 

But the food isn’t want draws me to the trips.  After a good hike in (since the horses are carrying everything we hike instead of ride) we set up camp and enjoy the first night.  It is the next morning and each morning after that which draws me to pack trips.  Each morning after we make the coffee and set the horses out to graze each of us grabs a mug, a bible and journal and finds a spot in the meadow.  Within 10 minutes we are all stationed around spending time in the word.  With no watch, no way to really know the time (except that the cool morning breeze lets you know it’s not afternoon yet) we sit there for an hour, maybe two or three… no one really knows. 

It is uninterrupted time to spend with the Lord.  Sometimes I sing, other times I just lay there looking up to the sky.  There is always a good amount of time in the Word reading, journaling my thoughts and the scriptures.  To be able to sit out somewhere without music, without noise, without someone interrupting you until you are done.  There is nothing really more to say… you have thought of everything you can think of to be thankful for, prayed for all those you know, read and journal and have been filled up.  These are the times that draw me to the pack trips.

Each day I was more and more aware of how little time I spend in the word and with the Lord.  Each time I was reminded of the sacrifices that Jesus made for our salvation because he loves us.  I was reminded that life is a gift that can be gone in an instant.  I asked the question of what am I doing with that life and had to face the realization that my life is filled with more of the world than of Jesus Christ.  This is something I desire to change!

Trust me, I am not saying that I want to just go and be a hermit somewhere just spending time with Jesus.  I don’t believe that is biblical.  Jesus was in the world, he was around people, he was doing ministry and in the midst of that he was spending time with God alone.  What I think I have come to realize is that 1 – I don’t truly cherish the gift of life.  I don’t thank the Lord each morning for giving me another day to live… and looking for ways to glorify him with that day.  2 – As I stated before, my life is filled more with the world then with Jesus.  I put what I believe are my needs and my wants in front of time with him.  I place the Lord on a schedule rather than just spending time with him.

For example, I was sitting at Starbucks this morning listening to a women’s bible study (eves dropping.  J)  They were talking about doing devotions and spending time in the word.  The leader was talking about how she doesn’t always get to time in the word or if she does is after the laundry and other chores are done, or in the evening when everything is quiet.  I was saddened by the fact that she was sharing with these other ladies that it was okay to skip devotions or to get to them later on.  **Side note, she did encourage them to not make time with the Lord as part of your check list – which I completely agree with** 

Some of you may agree and some may disagree on my emotion towards this.  But in the last few days of spending time in the meadow with the Lord I have realized how much I need him.  How much I need and should make him the highest priority in life.  Even if it means getting up an hour before the house starts to get crazy.  To place him at the end of the day or when I can fit him in doesn’t give God priority.  If I truly think about who he is AND what I am created to do here on earth… it is not the laundry, it is not school or work or even a family.  BUT it is to glorify the Lord, to bring people to salvation… To love the Lord with all my heart, soul and mind.  To love others as myself.  How can I do that, how can I glorify, love Him or others when I don’t even spend time with him or make him the priority of my life.

As the fall begins a new adventure starts

Summer is coming to a close and fall is starting.  My hope was that with the cold weather would come a slowing down of pace.  But I am afraid that is not going to happen. 

What is going to keep me busy?  You might ask.  Well after not attending school since 2006, I have decided to go back. 

As many of you know I LOVE to cook.  Any reason, any excuse to have people over so that I can cook I seem to find.  I love the process of cooking.  But even more then that I love watching people enjoy good food and spend time fellowshiping together.  I know that the Lord has and will continue to use my love for cooking to draw people together.

Sometime this summer an idea came to me.  Why don't I take some cooking classes?  As I looked into it I realized that this is something I could do inbetween work.  So I applied. 

But as I usually do, I had a stress out moment down in California.  I was sitting at my aunts house thinking about how I was going to do this.  Take 2 classes and work full time?!?!?!?!  One of those classes being a 5hr class every Friday.  I decided that I just couldn't do it.

I walked out of my room and was actually heading to leave for home again when my uncle and aunt pulled me aside and shared that they wanted to help me with school.  It was almost as if the Lord was informing me that I am not getting out of this decision that easily.  I smiled, accepted and deep down knew that now I HAD to go... there was NO way out of this one.

So here I am first week of school.  Right now I have 3 classes (2 online ones that I am on the waitlist for.  You have to finish all the first week assignments even as you wait to see if you made the class).  I am sitting at starbucks sipping on an icetea doing homework. 

There is excitement and also some fear in going back to school.  I was never really that good at it.  But this is something that I want to do and I believe the Lord has plans to use this in my life as well.

Soooo...  give me a week or two - but I am sure that I will need some test subjects on new recipies! 

Running Late in California

 
What a day! What a weekend!

A while back Laurie let me know she was flying down to California to spend time with her family. Well, I too am always looking for a reason to head south and spend a little R&R with my family. So I asked if I could fly with her... we booked the tickets and we got here on Friday.

I couldn't have picked a better weekend to go. I don't even think I knew how much I needed a weekend away and with my family.

Each day was different except for 1 thing which I cherish so much. Every morning I would wake up to the smell of a fresh pot of coffee and my Aunt Jody sitting at the table that overlooks the front area of the house. The dining table is in a little sitting nook with four big windows that open up to the front of the house. We always see some sort of animal or bird wandering across the dusty drive. And along with that there is always conversation about the Lord, what he is teaching us, reading in the word and speaking his truth. It is a time that feeds me and is something I miss deeply when I go home. I have grown accustom to our early morning chats while sipping on a cup of coffee, pausing our discussion to look at a hawk teaching her baby how to fly, or a funny little squirrel, a coyote wandering by or maybe someday a bobcat or cougar crossing the way (she has seen many do that here, I am still waiting).
 

This week has been low key and wonderful. I have spent much of it with my sweet grandma, who recently lost her dear husband. I have realized that as she grows older (she is 81 or 82 now) time gets shorter and shorter with her. We spent the second evening together chatting over dinner and wandering through the mall late at night.

Yet today was the entertaining day! :)

I was supposed to go to church with my family this morning but our house (my aunt and cousin - my uncle left early for church) accidentally slept in past our alarms. ALL OF US! Both my Aunt and I woke up in a fog and decided to listen to church online and meet the others for breakfast at the country club. I went back to lay down and my Aunt told me to be ready 10 minutes before 10:00 am. Somehow I heard 10:40 am. Luckily I can get ready REALLY fast!

Breakfast was wonderful and then my cousin and I decided to go to the beach. Off to Venice/Santa Monica beach!


On the way there my cousin, who has lived in LA her whole life, got us lost and it took us about 30+ minutes to get there. We laughed at how many other stories we have in our lives of getting lost and the adventures that have come from it. :)

We rented bikes at a little bike shop in Venice where we had to get them back by 7pm. We took off riding our cruisers’ heading to what we believed was towards Santa Monica.


Also, while riding.  Kelly Jo ended up crashing twice.  Once time some guy wasn't paying attention to where he was going and practically ran into her.  The first time though was all her fault.  She was going between a bush and a fire hydrant. Somehow she ended up brushing the bush, no big deal right... well, it got her just off balance that she ended up crashing.  I was good enough to take a picture, while laughing SO hard!

Somehow the both of us thought that we were heading the right way... about 30 minutes into the ride and half way around the harbor we decided to look at our map. We had headed the opposite way of the beach! Now we had to go all the way back.

 Santa Monica was only supposed to be .07 miles from Venice, where we got the bike. I think that by the time we were done riding we did well over 3 miles! :) Finally we got to the pier. We had a short smoothly break, took a minute out by the beach, looked at the time and realized we have 30 minutes to get back!!!

So for the 2nd time today we raced back to get to the bike shop in time. Luckily we didn't realize how quickly you can get from the two places when you are heading the right direction! :) We got back in plenty of time to give our bikes back.

Whew, an exciting afternoon, now time for some dinner.

We drove over to Santa Monica pier where we parked the car in a lot... as we were driving in the lady made sure we understood that the car garage closed down at 10pm. **hint hint - look at the rest of the day and you will see where this is going** We smiled and said that would be fine... headed in and started walking down the promenade looking for food.


Dinner was wonderful, we enjoyed our time. Talked about what the Lord is teaching us and fellowshipped together. The two groups beside us continue to look over at the two of us and I pray that we were able to encourage their walk or be a witness to them through our talking. Dinner ended and we started to walk away. Lazily I picked up my phone and looked at it. 9:59pm!

Oh no, our car!?!?!?!

And then we starting our run! About a quarter of a mile our car was in the garage that we parked it... the garage where the lady kindly reminded us before we parked that they closed completely at 10pm! We ran until we got there and as we got there the last 2 feet of the garage door was closing.

Both of us sat there laughing nervously. Because although it was funny we weren't sure what we were going to do. I fly out in the morning and we drove my rental car, which I HAVE to return to the airport the other day. We discussed who we knew in the area and what we could do. Then we realized the lady was still down in the garage. So the next few minutes were us flagging her down. Finally we were let in and allowed to get our car to leave.


What an ending to an adventurous day! :)


Let's hope flying home tomorrow doesn't include running late!