Fun In The Sun

Doesn't this spot look so mysterious? It looks like it should come right out of the National Geographic Magazine! So close to the truth, but yet so far....

The boys and I decided we needed to let our hair down. (Funny, as they don't have any hair because I make them shave it off at the beginning of every summer...). Anyway, we decided we needed a swimming/ fishing trip to Yellowstone Park; our most favorite place in the whole world for outdoor fun!!

This pic wasn't really taken in 2004. I never change the stupid date on my camera because I change the batteries so much. This pic was really taken in August of 2011 at the swimming hole on the Firehole River. This is the last "officially sanctioned" place to swim in Yellowstone Park according to "the law." (Whomever that is!) That didn't stop us later from swimming in the Lamar River down in the Lamar Valley...so cold...bbbbbrrrrr! But I digress...

I have found the best fun ever along the way is spending time with my sons out exploring God's Country.  I figured we should take advantage of it as he gave it to us to enjoy.  The Crow Indians have a saying.  "You cannot sell the land on which the people walk..."  I am glad that God made/saved these spots just for me...oh, and my sons....

How Tall Are Angels?

A few years ago I went on a trip to New Jersey for some computer geek training.  It was 30 miles from New York City and when you are that close you just gotta go.  Now, I had been there before, but not since the WTC bombing and while I don't like crowded places or lots of people packed into anything like sardines (I am a computer geek ya know and we ARE anti-social....... remind me to tell you about losing my sanity while touring a submarine.... I can almost laugh about it now....); I thought I could overcome and ignore my anxiety for a whole day just to check NYC out. 

So here we are, my non-Christian liberal back-east friends in the fancy Catholic Church somewhere in New York City and what do we run cross?  Yep! This guy!!  There was another angel across the room just like this and they were guarding some dead guy in a sarcophogus.  I walked up to him and just stood staring in awe.  I only was as tall as his knee.  As I reached out to touch him, chills ran down my spine and I shivered.  I turn around and look across at the other angel on the other side of the room and as I do, I am almost afraid to turn my back on this one.  He looks so serious and life-like....except for the bronze part of course....If I would ever meet this guy along the way, I would for sure be making some tracks outta there.  He was scarey just standing there looking at him.

I finally said, "Guys, lookit this!  You gotta take a picture of me with this angel."  "How do you know its an angel?"  Kim says?  "Duh! Just look at him!" I flippantly answer back.   While my friends stand there and discuss and critique the various aspects of how good looking and muscular he is, I am in awe wondering if this is really what they are like.  Angels I mean.  For the first time, I have a new found respect for them.  I don't look at them like those cute innocent defenseless cherub type things you see portrayed all over today.  The Bible says they are tall, majestic, fearsome creatures.  They do God's bidding and provide mankind protection against all kinds of stuff we really don't want to know about. 

I remember as I stood there looking up at that angel, I have had only one thought about him since....I am sure glad they are on our side......

What Is A Dare Worth?

     So what is a dare really worth?  Well, I guess that would depend on what kind of "dare" it was.  This was a dare that would cost me my life...one way or the other.  I didn't understand the ramifications then, but I am just starting to now.  Do I regret the dare?  No way!  The cost of my life is a small price to pay for what I will gain.

     A decade or so ago, we moved in next to these radical Christians.  They were pretty hard core I thought and took that whole Christian thing pretty seriously!  Yeah, I was a "Christian" because that was the "popular" label to wear, but secretly it was a little lower on my priority list than the "holy-rollers" next door.  "Sue" was a nice lady...my kind of gal.  Not so prissy and primpy, would tell you exactly what she thought, and a little bit tom-boyish and not into anything seriously fem....

     One day she stopped over and invited me to go to "church camp" to work in the kitchen for a whole week!  Now I had been to those when I was little and had no interest in reliving the event.  But she kept bugging me!  Finally I just said no, NO WAY...NOT INTERESTED!!  As I turned to walk back across to my own yard, she whispered to me, "I dare ya..."  I stopped dead in my tracks.  I turned back around.  "What did you say," I said.  She replied matter-of-factly, "You heard me."

     From that day forward the challenge was on.  We went to church camp and worked in the kitchen.  At first I hated it, but soon it turned into a lot of fun.  One hot 104 degree afternoon Sue and I are cooking beans for 500 kids on the stove.  She turns to me and says, "These are a lot of goddam beans!"  "What?" was my reply somewhat flabbergasted.  "You heard me!," she said.  "These are a lot of goddam beans!"  We laughed as we finished cooking those goddam beans and got them out on plates to 500 kids.  From that point on we were great friends.

     Fast forward 5 years, Sue calls me one day on the phone.  "Hey, you wanna go to a bible study?  It's really good and you'll learn lots!"  Blah, blah, blah.  I let her yammer on and told her I was just too busy.  Without even hesitating she said, "I dare ya!"  Now at this point I am recognizing a pattern.  She has done this before....more than once!  How am I going to get outta this one?  There's no way!  I can't pass up a dare like this!  So I say, "I'll try it."

Its now 5 years later and I am still in the same bible study.  Bible Study Fellowship(BSF); and so is Sue!.  She is a teaching leader for BSF and along the way she has taught me so much about what God has in store for me....really for all of us if we would take him seriously and give him some of our time.  I think God brought Sue into my life to save me from myself.  She taught me to take God seriously, but not myself.  To be an example and show them what kind of life Jesus really lived.  He wasn't judgemental or critical or condescending.  He spoke the truth plainly for people to hear; and live the truth plainly for others to see. 

      I used to think all Christians were "fakes."  "Do as I say, not as I do."  But, I watched Sue from the shadows.  She wasn't a fake, and she wasn't perfect....hence the comment about the beans!  But she taught me so much about what it meant to be like Jesus.  For that I will forever be grateful!  So where are you when it comes to God?  It is hard for most of us to know.  It all boils down to one simple question.  So, I DARE YOU.......Ask yourself, where are you gonna spend eternity? 

     

    

Hair

Hair.  Such a minor thing in the big circle of life.  But is it really?  I am not your typical woman, I personally can take it or leave it.  It covers up nicely with a hat most days....I occasionally pay attention to it; like when I get ready for church or sometimes work.  I makes me mad when I am riding my motorcycle and it tangles in my earrings...aarrgh!  Otherwise, shave it off.  It is in the way!!  But everyone notices your hair.  You wash it, wet it, dry it, gel it, mousse it, primp it, color it, curl it and glue it!  Besides your face it’s the first thing people see when they look at you...and if it isn't jjjjuuuuuusssstttt right, it ruins your whole day!

Imagine my surprise when my sons came home with colored gel and wanted to wear it to school!  “Okay, okay, you can wear it to school.” I say.  Hoping that it is a phase that will quickly wear out.  Nope, going on a week now, we’ve had red hair, blue hair and green hair.  It wasn’t just enough to color their hair, lets make it into a mohawk and add some bling to it too!  You know, somehow it just doesn’t seem right when your 7 year old runs up to you in the morning and says, “Mom, how do I look?”  Red hair, mohawk and some silver chain he found that weighs about 2 pounds around his neck.

While working on recovering from the shock of the whole thing;.  I said,  "You look pretty good!  Why do you wanna wear your hair like that?"  "Because it's cool mom!"  OK, cool meant something WAY different when I was little......hmmmmm...

Let Me Go Easy...

I remember this day....my mother was so happy. Us kids were so miserable. We had to wear stupid wedding dress clothes (that my mom had made us by hand), and fix our hair.

My parents got married at Wayfarer's Chapel. An outdoor chapel on the way to Yellowstone Park. It was so beautiful there. The smell of the pines after the summer rain, and the sound of the water traveling round the bend.

I found that dress that she made me the other day. I held it to my face and sat down and cried. I hated that dress....just hated it! Now I wouldn't trade it for anything because she had made it just for me. A small piece of her hard work; something tangible that I could touch that was from her....

I think I will go there this year on our annual trip to Yellowstone Park and show the boys. I still miss her so much.....

Come pleasure me again. I'm so tired of digging in.
I've done my share, I don't need to win, just let me go easy.
For six days my body fights. At this point it don't seem right.
Just to do it out of spite and keep hanging on.

Go on let me go easy.
Won't you let me go easy, you let me go right now.

I see the numbers dwindling, of my enemies and my friends.
And still I know it never ends, so I'm passing you this torch.
Fight the greed and the federals. Fight the need and the toxic spills.
Drink from that wishing well, but may it never quench your thirst.

Let me go easy.
Go on let me go easy. Won't you let me go easy,you let me go right now.
Let me go easy.
Go on let me go easy. Won't you let me go easy,you let me go right now.

So when you get to Ladenville, 'fore the tears the fare thee wells, for a moment stand real still and you'll feel me moving on.
You go ahead with your plans, you won't be seeing me again, but you'll feel me in the hand, the hand that holds the plough.

Let me go easy.
Go on let me go easy. Won't you let me go easy,you let me go right now.
Let me go easy.
Go on let me go easy. Won't you let me go easy,you let me go right now.