Retreat

This weekend was the Women's Ministries retreat at Hidden Acres in central Iowa. I've never been to this campground before and it was well worth the trip. Not only that, but I actually came away with some wonderful insights. Though, I have to say, I didn't get much sleep. One of the best things about these retreats is that we get to hear 'the stories'. I love hearing how God has been at work in everyones lives. I am often so amazed and inspired and humbled by how much He is accomplishing in and through us.

Based on Prov. 10:9: God magnifies HIS name when we are weak. We don't have to be eloquent or strong or handsome. We don't have to be beautiful or brilliant or have all the answers to be blessed of or used by God. He honors our fatih. All he asks is that we trust Him, that we stand before him in integrity and in faith.

To bed early tonight!

Construction projects here

If you're interested in how our summer projects are going here is a brief update! Keep in mind that summer is over in just a couple of weeks. The roof is on, but the ridge roll isn't quite finished on either the house or the garage. That means that the cupolo for the garage is laying in our backyard. The gutters aren't up yet either. But the little garage is moved, the cement is gone and the new garage is all staked out. They will be doing footings here this week. To me, the perimeter of the garage makes it look HUGE! Ron doesn't think that. Our neighbors are going to have a little problem with seeing the alley once that new garage gets put in there! And our problem seems to be, still, too many projects distracting us from getting any one thing done. Pictures later!

Sick Sick

So I think I got this from Ron. But he wasn't really very sick at all. He had only a little runny nose. Me. ARGH! Last night I purely miserable. My eyes hurt. My ears hurt. My cheeks hurt, my head hurt. Not to mention the nose that wouldn't stop running. At one point in the midle of the night I had to get up and go outside because I was so hot. I haven't had a cold.... or is it the flu... like this for a long time. So, do you think this is geting it over with for the rest of the winter? That would be great. I spent the greater part of the day laying on the couch in misery and sleeping. I did see a doctor who gave me some antibiotics and said, "there's a lot of this going around". So much for that. Hopefully this will be over with shortly. I have too much to do to be sick.

Colorado Vacation Pictures for you to Peruse

Vacation Books

Mushing through a day at work. Had to readjust to the schedule. Does anyone feel sorry for me yet? So, now that you have been thoroughly bored by pictures and adventures I wanted to tell

of great books that I read while I was on vacation! Great summer reads. (OK, end of summer)

The first one was Gary Schmidt's lastest book, Trouble. It's a Young Adult book that was one of the best I read for the summer! “If you build your house far enough from Trouble, then Trouble will never find you.” ...This book is the story of a middle school boy and his discovery of grace in the middle of agonizing pain. It's the story of an immigrant family and the son who has to deal with the pain of living in two different cultures-his parents and the American culture he has grown up in. I found this book gripping and very moving. If you get a chance to read it, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Then I read another Bernard Cornwell book. The thing about Cornwell books is that it really doesn't matter what he writes, he is so believable anything from him is fantastic. This historical fiction book is no exception! In this one, Copperhead, was a Civil War story featuring main character, Nate Starbuck. It spared none of the details about the gruesomeness of war, especially war during the 19th century. The efficency of killing during that war was truly horrifying. Funny how much I enjoyed it. It is part of a series so I will look forward to reading the next one. It did lead to a couple of odd and graphic dreams, though. Be careful with it!

Rocky Mountain National Park

Our intentions were good. We were going to watch the sunrise in the park, which meant we were going to leave at 4:00 or so. But our horseback ride the day before killed all of us off. (Ron was walking like he was in pain all day. Lauren was black and blue all over) Anyway, we didn’t arrive until 7:30 and the sun was already well up. But the advantage to being early was that the animals were all still out and doing their thing. My wish list included Elk. Bear. Moose. Mountain Lion (from a distance) Reality: Elk. Moose. Coyote. Birds. Ground squirrels. Oh well, can’t see all that in Iowa. We drove a big loop at the park getting up to 12,100 ft with 38 degrees and 40 mph winds. Winter on top! Once around the corner of some mountain it started to warm up and we left the winds behind. We went to Bear Lake for our ‘Christmas picture’ photo op. We hiked 1.1 miles after that and up about 400 ft. Well, Lynn and I did anyway. But ask me if it was worth the effort?! Was it ever! Dream Lake lived up to its name. Words fail me here, because it was beautiful beyond my words! Good thing I have pictures. That’s what Ron told me too. Picnic, and the tourist thing at Estes Park, Big Thompson Canyon, a roadside stand,…I’m exhausted just remembering it all. Good night from Colorado!

Horse back Riding in Rockies

Ok, so we planned this part of the trip long ago. Like 6 months or more. I had to more or less cajole Ron into doing the horseback ride. He has been less than enthusiastic since the inception. The horses we rode were draft cross horses of some kind. They didn’t look too lively, but that was ok with us. Can I say that “looks are deceiving”? We did a 2 hour ride. ¼ of that would have been enough for Ron and Lauren. Maybe even Lynn. But despite a horrible beetle infestation that is and will kill 80-90% of all the lodgepole pine trees and makes all the mountains look like they’ve been nuked, it was still quite lovely. The aspen trees were in abundance. Still lots of wildflowers blooming. Spruce trees have survived. We saw mule deer. Old homestead. Beaver dams. And our guide was very talkative. About halfway through Lauren’s horse, Bilbo decided he would eat. Since we’d been told that they were NOT ALLOWED TO EAT ON THE TRAIL Lauren pulled him up. He was bucked off for his trouble. Well,for anyone 30 and under that hurts. A lot. For someone over 50 and whose last horse ride was, oh say, 3 years ago, that’s definitely not a good thing. But he got back on and finished the ride. Impressive. Ron couldn’t finish. They had to come and get him and let someone else ride his horse back. I am the only one of the 4 of us that would willingly go again. Even though I couldn’t figure out how to make my legs work when I got off. Heck, I couldn’t even get off without one of the wranglers taking a crowbar and prying my legs up and over the horse’s back. Did I say I loved this ride? I did! And Lauren? He is black and blue from his toes to his thigh and he thinks hedislocated his shoulder. Partner, I think this was his last ride.