Dear Out Doorsy Person!

So, I don't do this blog much any more because It is just so much easier to update on Facebook. I know some of you don't do Facebook. Well, this was just too good not to pass on. As many of you know, we are in Louisville, Kentucky visiting Brian and Chandra for a month. We have our RV and our truck, and our bikes, and our kayaks on top of the truck. Afterall, aren't there a lot of lakes in Kentucky? We leave the kayaks on top of the truck because it is just easier. We have had some harrowing moments, like on the fourth of July when we forgot they were there and we tried to drive in a parking garage with low clearance.
So, today, we are parked at Sojourn Community Church in the parking lot, and of course we have parked our truck with the kayaks on top. After the service, we head out and Denny finds this note on our windshield:

Dear Out Doorsy Person!

I noticed your kayaks and was wondering if I could rent them from or (or borrow) sometime? I wanted to go kayaking within the next couple of weeks........

The person left her name and email.......

Grand Canyon Road Trip

Van Andel Creation Research Center

My sister and her husband came to visit my mother, and for a bit of a vacation. We decided that it might be fun to take a road trip. After spending quality time with my mother, we took off headed for the Grand Canyon. As we considered our travel direction, we decided to go from Highway 17 up through Prescott, Chino Valley, and on to Williams, AZ to spend the night. A short distance out of Chino Valley, we saw a sign which said Creation Research Society. Bruce said, "Well, I would really like to stop there." It was just a couple of houses and a large greenhouse, so we snooped around until we found a door. To our great surprise, we had stumbled upon the research center and bookstore for the Creation Research Society. When we mentioned we were headed to the Grand Canyon, the pleasant man (whose name we didn't even get) directed us to some resources and information about the Grand Canyon. Bruce bought one book, and I picked up a field guide of the Grand Canyon from a creationist perspective. Also, he told us about raft trips which are hosted by Canyon Ministries and are taken for the purpose of promoting a creationist perspective. We were delighted to get these materials and information, and headed on to the Grand Canyon.

Bruce and Jill never had been to the Grand Canyon and we hadn't been there in over 20 years. We enjoyed the spectacular views and the interaction with the National Park Rangers. The IMAX Theater presentation gave us a vicarious experience on the river and trail, which we thoroughly enjoyed. We headed from there to Flagstaff, the Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona. We had a great time, and now Bruce and Jill are on their way back to their home in Missoula, Montana.

Tour of the Tucson Mountains

Eric, Denny and I rode the Tour of the Tucson Mountains, just short of 28 miles. It was a beautiful day to be out. Denny fixed one flat as his duty for being Bike Patrol. Check out Eric's state of the art bike and outfit....

Louisville, Kentucky

Well, half of our grandchildren moved to Louisville, KY. We met Carrie, Dali and Sophia in Houston, and flew together to check out their new life in Louisville. A pleasant surprise was to have Mike and Vickie McAllister come from Columbus, Ohio to hear Brian's first message at Sojourn Community Church April 11. Also, Carrie's good friend Corrie Welch and Josiah joined us for a fun day on Monday. Louisville was beautifully in bloom. We look forward to visiting again in the summer.

J.D. Hartman

I read with interest the Caring Bridge update for J.D. Hartman today. I don't know this family, but somehow I started following their story of a near-drowning of their son, J.D., and the rough road to recovery over a period of more than a year. His father, John, who was writing today talks about how difficult it is to keep praying over and over for something (with conviction):

Praying a prayer for miraculous results over and over is hard to do, I want His answer (the one I want) now, not when He wants to give it and I need to turn the timer off and realize God hears my cries, pleas, demands and with persistence, patience and a heart that is true in my belief- He will answer.... I have often told myself and JD, I will be here and we will get through this thing however long it takes. Talk is cheap, now it is time to execute on that commitment and speak directly to God with a "right heart" everyday for as long as it takes.

Dear Lord, please help me have patience and faith while I wait to hear from You. Help me live in excited anticipation for the day when I will see how You answer my prayers. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Haven't you felt that way?
Why do I keep asking?
Am I being heard?
Does it make any difference?
Am I asking for the wrong thing?

I know that prayer is not all about asking, but I know right now, at this time in my life, I am surrounded by hurting, suffering people. Another one brought to my attention last week: Denise, a young woman with stage 4 melanoma. My kids went to school with her. We know her family. We know her sister died as a young mother of cancer. I add Denise and her family to my list. I'm praying for a miracle of healing for Denise, but also asking God to show HIs presence through all this nightmare of a situation they are going through.

Denny's muffins

Denny always makes these muffins. He eats them every day! I go on a diet, and he loses weight, so they must fill him up. Anyway, he wanted to know the nutritional information, so I entered the recipe on sparkpeople. You can view the recipe here . Someday I may even take a picture of them, or him eating one!

Denny yelled "Stop!" and I did!

We were walking this morning, and I saw a snake right in front of me. I jumped over it and screamed. It was little, dead, and not a rattler. We laughed, and talked about keeping our eyes open! About 30 minutes later, Denny yells, "Stop!" I did. To the right in front of us, a live, big rattler in the road. We watched it for a bit, as it slithered to the side of the road and into a pack rat hole. The pack rat came running out of her back door! We stayed to watch. Sadly, she probably had babies in that hole, and stayed near the entrance, but did not re enter! The snake already looked pretty fat, so we assumed it had already eaten. So, again, we said, "We better keep our eyes open!" In response to this picture and story, I get an email immediately back from Carrie:

"MOM! You have to get out of that God-forsaken hell hole you call home! Move to Texas! :)"

I responded: "You have mosquitos bigger than that in Texas!"