School, and again I say.....school...

I am currently enrolled in my final academic quarter of study at Central Washington University. That statement isn't entirely true. To be correct I would have to say that it is my next to last academic quarter of study. I still have one quarter of classroom teaching practicum to be completed this spring, and I graduate in June. I can't wait. No more driving the snowy pass, and no more juggling books and schedules of the various classes I'm taking. I will be able to drive a short way, 15 minutes at the most, to the school where I will finally engage in my teaching practicum. What a welcome relief from the daily hour each way that I currently drive to and from school.

Concurrently this quarter I am enrolled in a firefighter "red card/firefighter I "class as part of my responsibilities as a volunteer for the fire department. I have already taken this extensive course at least twice, and maybe as many as three times, I hope that I can challenge the course, or I will be bored out of my mind. Maybe I will just take the opportunity to do classwork from my college classes if I am not able to avoid sitting through the monotonous required lectures for wildland firefighting. Whatever the case I am confident that I will pass all aspects of the course, and hopefully this summer I will enjoy fighting wildfires again.

Snow, Snow Shoeing, and Christmas Tree Hunting!

Last week whilst Seattle was being pounded by fierce winds, Dryden was sustaining an onslaught of snow. The picture above is an image of the aftermath of a blizzard that left behind twelve inches of fluffy white frozen powder. It hasn't snowed like that around here since 1996. I thought the public schools might close their door for a day, but it turns out that this weather was not enough to shut down our community's schools. A few folks lost power, including my parents, and a house did catch fire, but our volunteer fire department was able to squelch the blaze before any serious harm was done, and electricity was restored within twenty-four hours.


This week Lisa and I were finally able to go out and enjoy the new fluffy white stuff by snow shoeing on Blewett Pass with a couple friends from Ellensburg and their dog Riley(not pictured). We had an excellent time, although with the amount of snow on the pass it was difficult to find a turnout that hadn't been rendered unturnoutable by the Department of Transportation's monstrous snow moving equipment. It was a fun and tiring hike, and afterwards we went back to our friends' place to warm up and have some hot cocoa.

Also this past week Lisa and I went Christmas tree hunting. We left a little late in the day, so by the time we made it to our tree hunting destination it was dark out. We couldn't find a tree to our liking at there,and had just about given in to the fact that maybe it was not our day to find a tree, but we climbed back in the truck determined not to go home empty handed. We drove about twenty miles up to Camas Meadows where we trugded through the snow to find a gem. All of the trees were caked heavily with snow, and because it was dark we had a difficult time actually seeing the quality of the trees. We prayed that God would help us find one, and about ten minutes later we finally found what we thought could be the one. I shook it vigorously, receiving most of the frozen precipitation from it's branches on my head and shoulders. With my headlamp coolly illuminating it's now snow-bare branches, I studied the tree. It was perfect, and just the right size, thank God! The evening was cold and dark, and the roads treacherous, but the trip was worth it. I cut the tree down, and it now stands adorned in our living room.

It's that time again...

I am Finally finished with the busiest quarter ever, and some of my grades are even back. They read like so:
A
A
A-
B+
Satisfactory

And there are still three more pending. I hope the pending results are all as equally plausible as these results.

I'm glad I finally have time to post on here. I have also applied for graduation. I see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it is growing brighter with every passing day. Soon enough, I will be done with this program and out in the workforce. I can't wait!

Revival Hymn

This video is long, but if you have the time, I recommend watching it. I even recommend making time to watch it.

Remember Azuza?

This site is a great resource for vintage sermons from the past hundred years, and they are all downloadable free of charge.

A Profound Thought

We teach our children not to be afraid of the dark, but the real tragedy is when men are afraid of the light.
- Criminal Minds, 10-25-2006

Dolemite Jenkins aka Clinton Portis

This is total silliness, good stuff

Click here for video

A weekend in Stehekin

Last weekend I went up to Stehekin with my wife and her folks and sister, and Oksana. It was the first time since Brenda broke her neck that she has been able to go some place like this. We had a great time as we visited the Stehekin Pastry Company and purchased all kinds of edible goodies. We also visited the breathtaking Rainbow Falls, which are probably 400 feet high. We saw bear poop, salmon, a deer, a run over squirrel, and even a bear. The town has a small history and we were able to learn about that too. We were even able to tour the one room school house which is unbeleivable. We stayed in a nice cabin owned by some wonderful people, the Pitts, who we were able to go out to dinner with. We ate dinner at a beautiful ranch in a dining room with a sawdust floor. I wish I would have taken a picture of the ranch as we arrived with the sun setting. The location of that homestead was selected very carefully. We drove up a draw and the sun was going down so we couldn't really see any sunlight, but when we reached the ranch it was like the canyon took a turn and left the property exposed to the most magnificent sunset which stretched across a golden field of dry grass and shone on the edge of a clearing where the lodge with the dining room stood as if emerging from a stand of trees. Like I said, I wish I would have taken a picture, but all I have is my memory and these words. here are some pictures I did take. I almost forgot to mention that Lisa has connections, and captained the ferry that we took home. enjoy.

Last weekend!

Last weekend was a crazy one. I took the car over to Saturn of Bellevue and had a minor issue fixed because it was under warranty there. Traffic was unbeleivable it took me one hour just to drive a 15 mile stretch, it's a good thing I don't do that everyday like some people do. My father in law accompanied me and on the way back we decided that since we had some time we would go for a hike. we hiked to Bridal Veil falls, which is just below Lake Serene, off of Highway two. Here are some pictures(click image to enlarge)





Then we went to a men's retreat where we were able to chill out and have some good fellowship.





I'm glad I was able to hang out with my father in law, it was a good bonding time, and we had a lot of fun. We even skipped rocks on Lake Wenatchee.

Lisa's and my domicile

I finally have pictures to post. We are renting, but this house is a really good deal as we are renting from my dad, and he is being very generous with us. The tenants before us were smokers who did not pay attention to the rental agreement that prohibited smoking inside the house. So Lisa and I repainted the whole interior of the house with help from various amiable individuals whom we dearly appreciate.
The house comes complete with a garage, automatic sprinklers, a fireplace, and a basement, but no linen closets...none. It will be my husbandly duty to rectify this situation as soon as I can....
....There is something about living in an actual house that is freeing, yet binding all at once. When I lived in an apartment I was confined to a small space, but now in a house I have my own yard(to mow), and various little odd jobs to do. It makes me feel so manly to be able to work on and around the house, even if it does belong to my dad.

The front of the house.The yard could use some weeding, but it has plenty of potential.

The livingroom, it is quite large.(and beautiful with my wife standing there)

The kitchen, being used to make a goodbye meal for my brother right before he left for school.

The other half of the living room..

The dining room is quite large, we will figure out what to do with all the space I'm sure.

Back in place, and I'm all up in your face....

A great many things have happened in this last month. Lisa and I have officially moved to Dryden(pictures forthcoming.) We have been hiking, I earned strait A's for the summer, and now we are unpacking after fixing up a house that desperately needed some TLC. Soon we will be unpacked, all moved in, and we hope to have a little shindig to kick things of here at the new place. Please enjoy the pictures, sorry there aren't any of the house yet. but I will hopefully get around to that soon. These are just snipits from the past month or so.


This was the view I woke up to when I recently went up to Colchuck Lake to meet my uncle and cousins. They ditched me so I spent the night by myself. It turned out ok.


This is from that same trip, this little guy would not leave me alone until I took his picture. Looks like he's been eating well.


This is how we moved all of our stuff to Dryden, we only made one trip.


This was a little earlier at Lake Clara, a jaunt that Lisa and I made with my brother


and finally this is beautiful Pete Lake in the morning. Lisa and I roughed it for two nights with a couple of friends here at this hidden paradise (except for the bugs.)

Free at last, Free at last...Part II

It was the coolest thing, the sun was setting, and a man was quietly playing a flute at Lion's Rock. I captured it with my digital camera, which happens to take pretty decent video as well. Have a look and listen. Enjoy!

Free at last, Free at last....

This is Lisa and I's final weekend in our modest apartment here in Ellensburg. Next weekend we will move all of our belongings to my parents basement, because the house we are moving to has not been vacated on time. It should only be a week or so I hope, not because I don't want to live with my parents, but because it would be nice to get settled in to our new place. I am excited for the change.

This weekend Lisa and I stayed in Ellensburg, though we wished we could have been with my family on a camping trip to Lake Osoyoos. We were able to work, make some extra money, and explore the local outdoors. The following are some pictures we took at Lion's Rock, which is a 22 mile drive out of Ellensburg.



This is on the way up, pretty neat huh?



This also is on the way there, only after the previous picture.



This is Mt. Stewart, and the Cascades.



This is Mando, Lisa, and Mt. Stewart



What you can't tell from these pictures is that there were like 300 star gazers camping up there with all their motor homes and star gazing equipment, I could not believe it. We'll have to go back some time when it's less crowded, but the view was still amazing as you can see.

Oh Beautiful, for Spacious Skies...

Today is Independence Day. What does that mean anyway? We all know that it is the day that the 13 colonies declared their independence from King George III of England, but what does that mean to us? If it weren't for those 56 bold signers of the Declaration of Independence, what would life be like today? Our founding father's had a vision for how this day was to be remembered.

In a letter to his wife Abagail
John Adams had this to say about July 4, 1776(he was mistaken by two days):

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

So, at least one of our founding fathers believed that the "Fourth" should be Devoted to solemnly celebrating God for our deliverance from British Rule.

The preamble of the declaration states:
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Even our Declaration of Independence celebrates our Creator as the giver of rights that are unalienable by any man.

Let's honor their memory today and honor God as we celebrate the aniversary of our country's independence from British tyranical rule.

Set Your Stopwatch

Have you ever heard of the five second rule? You know the one that says that if you drop food on the ground, it's ok to eat it if you pick it back up within five seconds. Well here's a little video to illustrate the point.

Oh frabjous day callooh callay!

It just so happens that Lisa and I will be moving to Dryden. July 31 is our last day in this crazy apartment with the elephants running around upstairs, and the "farting" music that haunts us next door. We will be moving into a much bigger domisile in Dryden complete with it's very own yard, front porch and........fireplace, YES!! I am so excited! Can you tell? No more cell phone tower, no more crunched for space, we will live in a bonafide HOUSE!

Lisa got a teaching job in Cashmere, and I will commute to and from school, until I finish my degree, it won't be so bad, other than paying for gas, I'll just have to get a motorcycle or something really economical. Hopefully we'll have a house warming party once we get settled in and have some folks over. Yipee!

Frustrated? Yeah, a little.

Lisa and I live in an apartment complex with about 40 units.

At our apartmets there is a huge dumpster where everyone disposes of their household garbage. About a week ago it was moved from one side of the complex to the other, making it a tad less convenient to throw stuff away. This wasn't too big a deal until we noticed that a structure was being erected where the dumpster used to sit. This piqued our curiousity and upon further investigation we learned that the structure is in fact a cell phone tower.

How is it that a cell phone tower can be erected in a residential neighborhood without the consent of the people living there? Supposedly we were warned and had a chance to voice our concerns, but the landlord made very little effort to make sure his tennants knew. When I investigated the matter a little more I found that at one corner of the complex a poster had been posted, but I don't ever remember seeing it. There was also an article in the local newspaper, maybe just an editorial, whatever the case I never saw that either. This all sounds to me like a backhanded way of meeting certain guidelines and regulations without actually fulfilling them.
I would have appreciated a note on the door of my apartment, or a letter to my mailbox, but clearly my voice was not wanted.

I guess the kicker is that now the cell phone tower is there and we feel pretty much helpless to do anything about it. The landlord benefits from $10,000.00 a month and free cellphones and service for life for him, his family, and employees. While everyone in the vicinity is exposed to harmful electromagnetic radiation, without any of the benefits of free cellphone service, or reduced rent, in fact he raised rent.

Am I frustrated, yeah a little.

A Quote

"In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director." - Alfred Hitchcock

Saints and Soldiers

These days it is so hard to find a movie that actually means something substantial. I found this movie while looking for the original X-Men, which is a very action packed movie, a classic good vs. evil, and while it is entertaining, there isn't much actual substance. There are some movies that hit that spot in our hearts and itellect that move us if only for an instant. So often we become so immersed in ourselves, our needs, and our selfish ambition, that we fail to reach out to others long enough to stop and notice the similarities rather than the differences in our lives.

This film hits that spot.

Saints and Soldiers

Remember When.....

Gas prices sure have increased a lot, this picture was taken at a gas station that closed about a year and a half ago in Wenatchee. How I wish the prices we thought were so high back then were still around today, just imagine....

Dirty Dirty Face

Here is a little blast from the past, maybe soon we will do this again

Home sweet home

There's something special about returning to the place you grew up. I recently went back to my parents' house in Dryden which not so coincidentaly happens to be where I grew up. I took a ride on the four wheeler and admired the spring beauty of the orchard and hills around me.

I love springtime, and I love home.

One of the things about spring in the orchard is that bees are brought in to pollenate the bloom, this only lasts about a week. It just so happens that the weekend I decided to visit coincided with the time that bees are pollenating the orchard. Upon seeing the bees, I instantly remembered my first bee sting and when I remembered the bee sting it triggered other old memories. I guess that's what makes visiting home so special, the memories are always there in my brain, but there is a connection with the environment when I visit a familiar place that draws them out, and takes me back to another time.

Round-about winter

By Pat Higgins and Armando Avila

I like winter.

When it gets cold outside mom makes hot chocolate.

Whenever I drink hot chocolate,

I like to put whipped cream and sprinkles on top.

The sprinkles remind me of the fourth of July.

I like summertime too.

When it gets hot outside mom makes sweet tea.

She always sweetens it with sugar.

Sugar reminds me of snow.

I like winter.

Sunset

In air high above
On wings not quite like a dove
Creation lies below
As time ticks rather slow


I sit in silence
Eyes glazed as if in a trance
Wondering wondering how
And I think about it now


The sun ever lingers
I feel the touch, her fingers
Outside is cold
These memories old

What a strange world we live in.

This caught my eye as I was browsing through the news.

I though it might be interesting to share....




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