Trip #5: Beyond Malibu Kayaking

The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;

for He founded it up on the seas and established it upon the waters.

Psalm 24:1-2

This is the second YL trip of my summer. An 8-day Beyond Malibu sea kayaking trip leaving from Egmont, British Columbia, Canada, and ending at Chatterbox Falls via the Princess Louisa inlet. This trip is totally me through and through. It was a small but great group. The first day we paddled 10 hours in pouring rain; second day, 8 hours with rain about 7 hours of that; third, 4^th and 5^th days, 6 hours in BEAUTIFUL sunshine and the last couple days were about 4-6 hours of paddling in the sunshine. After those first two days of feeling like drenched cats (to the point of rain jackets no longer actually repelling rain), the weather was beautiful and sunshiny and perfect. It was great. The best times were all those hours of paddling and the question game. You can find out sooooo much in 4 hours of the question game….even to the point of “I really didn’t need to know this” because, honestly, after day 4 of the question game, questions get a little random. Ok, a lot random (would you rather jump into a pit of snakes or eat a milkshake of cockroaches, moldy cheese and syrup?).

There were some interesting experiences and sights to be seen. We had a mountain lion walk through our camp one night. Luckily no one was in camp (we were down by the water) except our male guide. He got real big and growled and the mountain lion walked off (yes, walked). Needless to say, no one was alone in camp at all for the rest of the night. On our first day paddling, we saw a bald eagle eating an elk. We nicknamed the whole incident "America eating Canada"....hahaha.

There's more to this trip....but i can't find my notes. When I do, I'll update this.

Trip #4: Wildhorse Canyon

Glad these snow days are allowing me to catch up on this blog. Though I am wondering if I'm getting home for Christmas with EVERY flight out of PDX being cancelled right now. My flight on TUESDAY is cancelled. Seriously? Clara prayed for a white Christmas....thanks Clara! Grr....

So, trip #4. This trip consisted of taking a group of kids down to Young Life's Wildhorse Canyon. I love Wildhorse. Such a great place to get away from life and have fun for a week. This year's group was great! I had an amazing cabin with really good girls, which if you know anything about my camp experiences then you know I don't always have good weeks. But, this one was FABULOUS! I've become good friends with some of the girls and keep in touch with most of those who went--even some of those not in my cabin.

Not much else to say about the week other than share some pictures! So enjoy!!

Trip #3: Washington, DC

Ok, I'm finally getting around to telling about my #3 trip this summer. I went home to Spokane and then my mom and I headed to DC together. She had a conference for work over there and invited me to tag along. Free hotel for a week and chance to hang out with my mom all in a new city I haven't been to before? Hum...Yes!!

Ok, my favorite thing about DC is the Metro. Seriously this is soooo cool. I want one here in Longview, which won't EVER be possible but it would be REALLY awesome. Especially today when snow paralyzes the city. As of right now, I'm stuck on the hill.....cleaning, updating my address (another post...) and avoiding cleaning by playing on the internet! yea!!

My first day was spent at Arlington National Cemetery. The one thought that constantly overwhelmed by mind was, "It's so big. There are so many..." This cemetery is HUGE. There are so many tombstones. It was overwhelming. I walked through extremely humbled and reminded how heartbreakingly true the phrase, "Freedom is not free", is. Each perfectly manufactured stone represented a life willingly given so that we may live in the country we do as we do. We can make choices of what to believe on many levels and have the freedom and the legal rights to do so because of the lives given over and over again.

Their valor is your heritage.

Not for fame or reward
Not for place or for rank
Not lured by ambition
Or goaded by necessity
But in simple
Obedience to duty
As they understood it
These men suffered all
Sacrificed all
Dared all
And died.
Randolph Harrison McKim

I struggled with a migraine the first couple days of the trip and that limited my time at various places. But I still saw plenty more so let me share a few highlights and pictures.

Smithsonian: Huge and massive museums with almost anything and everything you can imagine. My favorite was the American Indian Museum, though the Air & Space Museum was interesting. "It's human nature to stretch, to go, to see, to understand. Exploration is not a choice, really it's an imperative." - Michael Collins (Apollo 11 Astronaut)

Holocaust Museum: For the dead and the living we must bear witness. Elie Wiesel. I didn't even see this entire museum but what I did see was enough. There was a quote that I say that embodies what I took from this time: "Out of our memory...of the Holocaust we must forge an unshakable oath with all civilized people that never again will the world stand silent. Never again will the world...fail to act in time to prevent this terrible crime of genocide... we must harness the outrage of our own memories to stamp out oppression wherever it exists." Jimmy Carter. Add that to this: "Here we will learn that each of us bears responsibility for our actions and for our failure to act." George Bush. We are responsible for what we do. We are responsible for what we don't do when we should do something. We need to remember that.







We went to all the various other memorials (Lincoln, Jefferson, FDR, Vietnam, Korea, Police), even toured the capital building. And here's my one question. Why so big? I know we need to commemorate all these great people. But why are those things built to outlast them and to help us remember so MASSIVE? Just wondering....

Some quotes from the FDR memorial:

FREEDOM OF SPEECH
FREEDOM OF WORSHIP
FREEDOM FROM WANT
FREEDOM FROM FEAR

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.

**Amen and amen. We are so caught up in focusing on what we can't do and what makes us uncomfortable that we are frozen in our tracks. Even the place of indecision (which I know I find myself in sometimes) grabs our feet and our mind and we don't do anything. We just wait for something to happen or change in order to make our decision easier. To make it clear what decision we should make. An interesting human tendency.


Oh and probably one of the coolest museums was the International Spy Museum. It's crazy cool where you can hide various spy tools in normal everyday things.

Newspaper Article

Seems like even the paper wants to get in on this state run! Find the article here: TRCS.

Pretty good article except the whole winning state thing was a joke. I was laughing at the time I said it...the writer failed to mention that part. Oh well.

State Bound, baby, State Bound!!

That's right! The Three Rivers Christian Volleyball team is headed to the 1B state tournament!! Yeah!!

Here's the district playoff rundown (aka: how we made it):
Tuesday night (Nov. 4): at Taholah HS
TRCS def. Taholah: 25-16, 24-26, 20-25, 25-18, 16-14

Saturday night (Nov. 8): at Lake Quinault HS
Lake Quinault def. TRCS: 25-21, 23-25, 11-25, 20-25
TRCS def. Wishkah Valley: 26-24, 25-19, 25-22

Next Up:
WIAA State 1B Volleyball Tournament
Yakima SunDome: Yakima, WA
November 14-15

We play Neah Bay first round. 2pm Friday, November 14. We play at 10:30am on the 15th if we win, 5pm on the 14th if we lose.

Everything else be found here: WIAA

WooHoo!

Trip #2: Spokane

So, trips #2 & #3 are back-to-back. I headed to Spokane for a couple days (trip #2) then to WA DC (trip #3) for a week then back to Spokane for a couple days and then back to Longview. This post will be about both parts of my Spokane trip.

My favorite part about going home is to see family. Plus, it has normal weather. Like sunshine. Often.

Anyway, I have a cute baby nephew, Lucas, who will be 2 in December. He came in the car to surprise me when my mom & dad picked me up. It was a good surprise. He can't quite say my name yet so it's Mimi. The other day I was talking to my brother Tyson, who was babysitting, and he told Lucas Aunt Mimi was on the phone. All I could hear was his excitement grow and "Mimiiiiiii". Super cute. Miss that little guy. But of course I wouldn't be a good auntie without pictures....
The picture above shows us playing with bubbles. Lucas can't say my name but he has the word 'bubbles' down flat. It's one of his favorite things to do. So, we tried to make our own bubble solution which worked ok but not great. However, that doesn't really matter to a 1 1/2 year old. We were doing fine as you can see by the picture and then Lucas got a great idea...I'll show you in pictures.



Yeah. pretty funny. Bubble making was over but he was loving it. Cute kid.

So, I did do something OTHER than play with my cute nephew the whole time I was home--just one other thing. I went to my friend Annie Swanson's wedding. It was on a Sunday afternoon and it was sunny (even though it looked like rain was threatening early in the day). The wedding was held outside and the reception in a place called Mitchum's Barn. I'm really not kidding. It was laid back, simple and beautiful. The Young Life Area Director for the Spokane area did the ceremony. Before the ceremony he had asked both of them the same question: What do you love most about your future spouse? The answers were great and it was really fun to hear them. So, again, congrats Annie & Drew!

Volleyball Update

Quick volleyball update. If you didn't already know, I'm the head varsity coach at Three Rivers Christian School in Kelso. This is the 3rd year for this program and my 2nd year as it's coach. Last year we went 10-12. This year we're 9-1 as of right now (10-1 after tonight...and that's not being cocky--this team just sucks) and 4-0 in league, which means we are officially in districts!!! Yeah!!

2008 District IV Volleyball Tournament:
Nov 4: TRCS @ #4 Seed, Taholah, 7pm
Win that game:
Nov 8: @ Lake Quinault v. Lake Quinault (currently undefeated), 5pm.
Win: Championship and automatic state berth, 8pm.
Lose: @ Lake Quinault, 7pm, winner to state

Trip #1: Salt Lake City, Brad's Wedding

Salt Lake City is a great place. Beautifully surrounded by this huge mountain range. I woke up every morning to sunshine and mountains so close it looked like a 10 minute drive and you were there. It might sound funny but I had some of the greatest quiet times in the shadow of those mountains in a city dominated by the Mormon presence. I spent 4 days with one of my best friends, someone who I see once every 3 years on average (stupid schedules....). I got to help his fiancée and family prepare for his wedding, from making labels to picking up the tuxes with the guys to meeting the extensive family...some of whom are a bit on the crazy side (I have stories and I was only there for 4 days). I got to meet his other best friend, Jason, and another friend, Aaron, who came into town. I got to know his fiancée and talk to her. Crissy is a great girl, a lucky girl. She has a great husband who is one of the best people I know.

I sat in the audience watching this traditional Catholic service. I watched the grandparents participate. I watched the love radiating from them for their grandson. And part of me ached. I don't have that family dynamic. My grandparents, my half sisters, my aunts, uncles, cousins and everyone else related to me have made choices, choices that have estranged them from my immediate family. And I know that my parents have made choices in this, too. I'm not blaming anyone or angry at anyone. Actually, who am I kidding, there are people I blame and I am a bit frustrated. I do have to be honest that watching Brad's wedding with his grandparents made me realize that that part won't be in my future wedding, at least not on my side. I have a couple older cousins and an aunt who are great and wonder how I'm doing but I have to be honest that I envy the people who grew up hanging out with cousins, who play on their high school sports teams with their cousins, who go over to their aunt's house to hang out (completely on their own volition). Nothing I can do, not to say I haven't tried. But there are choices I can't make for other people and there are hurts that real. My family is what it is.

As I said before, I'm not angry or even despairing over what I don't have. I do know that I missed out on some immense wisdom and stories of the past and to opportunity to get to know relatives. However, I'm where I should be with what I should have. I have a God who watches over me and loves me in ways I can't even describe or probably even know about. I trust Him and his choices in my life.

Sorry for the little rant there. The great thing is that this is my blog and I can say what I want and share what I really feel!! hehe. Thanks for reading.

Trip #1...check.
Trips #2-7...coming soon.

Crazy Summer 2008

So, this summer was nothing short of chaos. 6 trips jam-packed into three months. As I get more time, I'll add details and pictures to each trip. For now, here's the list of what's to come:

1) May 28-June 1: Brad's Wedding-Salt Lake City, Utah
2) Mid-June: Spokane to visit the fam, Annie's wedding
3) Mid-June: WA DC with my mom!! Vacation!
4) July 12-18: Young Life's Wildhorse Canyon-Antelope, Oregon
5) July 29-Aug 7: Beyond Malibu Sea Kayaking-Egmont, BC, Canada
6) August 22-30: Mission Trip-Botswana, Africa

Yep. That's it. 4 states (Utah, WA DC, Virginia, Oregon), 2 countries (Canada, Botswana), 2 continents (North America, Africa). I should calculate the mileage.