Jack, my new cousin

My new cousin, Jack, came home a week and a half ago. He is from Guatemala. We are thrilled to have him as part of the family!

Capturing the Moment

My youngest sister, Lani, wants to be a photographer. She is a really good. To the left is one of my favorites that she took of my nephew Timothy and his Chi-wa-wa, Max.

Click here to see more of her pictues.

Fears

What are you most afraid of? What keeps you from doing the things you really want to do?

These are questions I've been asking myself.

Answers: I don't have any good ones yet. I have to do some more thinking about them. But ideas like "what if I don't like it?", "what if there is someone better to do this job?", "what happens if I make the wrong decision, and this really wasn't the path I was supposed to take?" and, "what about all the things I enjoy doing now?" are all part of my thought process.

Free Wheelchair Mission

I thought this was pretty cool. What a mechanical engineer can do...

the Free Wheelchair Mission

an article

Boston Cream

Why do I do this to myself. I treat myself to donuts for breakfast once a month. And everytime I order two of the messiest donuts to eat in the car, a Boston cream and a jelly filled power donut.

WILL I EVER LEARN!?!

At least I wasn't wearing a white shirt today.

Horses in India

I actually don't have much info on horses in India. There just isn't much on the internet. But they have 'em there, mostly for work and racing.

This organization may be starting a riding program, and they'll have horses too.

Freedom Firm

maybe more later...

Day Trip to the Beach

Went to the beach for the day with Amy and Eiren, two of my co-workers. It was a long day and it went something like this...

7:00 am - meet in the employee parking deck
11:30 am - on the beach, observe a pirate birthday party
12:00 pm - apply sunscreen
2:00 pm - eat snack, go in water
3:00 pm - lay on stomach to tan back
3:15 pm - jump up suddenly because waves came up high
4:00 pm - apply more sunscreen, watch a mom coaxe tiny son into water
4:15 pm - observe some, uh, interesting tatoos and a shark
5:00 pm - back in the water
6:00 pm - packed up and headed to dinner
6:30 pm - dinner @ The Crab Shack with cats that beg for food
12:30 am - back in the employee deck

It was a lot of driving but also a great time to get away and just talk.

I'm finding that Amy and Eiren like to do out doorsy things! They aren't the type that like to go shopping. This is cool because I like the outdoors and HATE shopping. Anyway we had fun. Most of our conversation was about all the people on the beach. We came up with some pretty good stories about the people on the beach. Oh, and we got to see a shark.

It is funny, many people don't understand why we drive so far (4 hrs one-way) and only stay on there for a day. Do you understand?

Introverted Intuition with Extraverted Thinking

That's my personality type. We took a Myers Briggs personality type indicator test at work this month. We used the results to help us to better understand the people on our team so that we can become a "highly effective team". It was VERY interesting, but I'll leave the conversation about my team for another day. For now I'm going to focus on ME.

Here are some of the things it said about my type that I thought, "Yup, that's me" when I read it.

• clear vision of future possibilities coupled with the drive and organization to implement my ideas
• love complex challenges and like theory and abstract ideas
• value knowledge and expect competence from myself and others
• insightful, a creative synthesizer, conceptual, and a long-range thinker
• tend to be clear and concise, rational, detached, and objectively critical

Others may see me as calm, decisive, and showing an assured face to the world, though I may find it difficult to engage in social conversation. I usually don't directly express my most valued and valuable part: my creative insights. Instead I translate them in to logical decisions, opinions, and plans, which I often express clearly. Because of this, others sometimes experience me as intractable, much to my surprise. I am very willing to change an opinion when new evidence emerges. Others usually see me as private, reserved, hard to know, even aloof, conceptual, original, and independent. (but ask me questions and I'll usually share my thoughts and ideas)

Sound like me? Let me know if you agree or disagree with any of these.

Anyway it is interesting information. Not all of the qualities are necessarily good. I hope to utilize as a tool for understanding how and why I deal with things

If you want more details, here are a few sites that you can read.
http://keirsey.com/personality/ntij.html
http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/mb-types/intj.htm

Difference?

• Is there a difference between a good, compassionate, well-meaning person and a person claiming to be a follower of Christ (a Christian)?
• Is there a difference between the things a good, compassionate, well-meaning person does and the things a Christian does?
• Should there be a difference?

Mystery Dinner

A couple of weeks ago I went to a celebrity murder mystery party with my sister and a friend. It was really fun, to solve the mystery. The event was hosted by a singles group at a local church. I have run into several people who I have known from way back in grade-school. I have gone hiking with the group and participated in a few other activities. We'll see where this goes, but I'm hoping to develop a network of people that live closer to me to fellowship with.

Anyway, I'll leave you with a picture of of us in character as celebrities for the murder mystery. But you've gotta guess who's was who.

A. Betty Grable
B. Eva Gardner
C. Hedy Lamarr

P.S. Jimi Hendrix was the murderer and he used his guitar to kill our host.

a molly

What is “a molly”? Many of you may have already been exposed to “a molly” and therefore, you can skip to the third paragraph.

A molly is not what the Webster’s dictionary describes. It is a noun used to describe the clumsy or klutzy behaviors made by a particular person. The most common usage in a sentence is “you pulled a molly.” Causes for a molly include: the carpet jumping up to grab you, the floor having a bump in it, other people’s legs being in the way, but the most common cause is the uneven air currents that float just above the surface of the ground.

I thought I was over mollies by now. But I’m not. As many of you may remember mollies became a part of my daily life when I was working on the crew at Eagle Lake Camp. My friends can describe the hilarious stories of when, as they would describe it, I “pulled a molly.” (Ok, I can tell a few really funny ones too, like the time I ended up sliding down the crew hill in the mud, face first.) Now I have to go through the same humiliation again. My co-workers have begun laughing at me and saying “op, you pulled a molly.” Why can’t they just say “op, you tripped”?

My brother has more sympathy for me. His condolences are evident by his remarks such as, “Walk much?” or “Have a nice trip?” See those are so much nicer than, “op, you pulled a molly.”
So, to all of you who have laughed, or even chuckled at my condition, now know that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. The crowd now includes my co-workers.

Photos

Okay. Here is a series of photos taken of me at the Turner Studios to be used on our company website. Which one do YOU think I should pick?



Do I look like a boring business professional, or what? (Don't answer that.) I thought they should have let us have cool action shots. Like climbing a rock wall or me of course riding my horse.

Un-signed up

Or rather, I unregistered for classes today. Scary.

Children and Animals

This is a story from a farm near me called Noah's Ark (www.noahs-ark.org).

"It's faith that built Noah's Ark and it's faith that keeps it going. It's not always my faith, though. We were coming in one evening last month and noticed turkey vultures circling over the pasture. Sometimes it's an indication that an animal is down and sometimes they're just soaring on the air waves over the farm. This time it was an animal. A momma sheep had given birth to two babies and it was apparent she was only going to keep one of them. She must have felt something was wrong with the other baby and decided to put all her efforts into the one that was strongest. She hadn't even tried to clean up the weaker one. Not wanting to upset the children should something unfortunate happen, Pop turned the truck around to leave so he could come back by himself to see what could be done. I didn't look like the baby would make it. She could barely stand and the mom kept pushing her away.

One of our childern - a faith-filled three-year-old boy - shouted, "No Pop, stop the truck! We've got to save the baby. We can't leave her. Pop, put the baby in the truck - I'll take care of her. We can't leave her." Still not wanting the children to be upset, Pop tried to tell then he'd come back to take care of the baby after we dropped them off. It sure didn't look like this baby had any chance for survival. But the three-year-old was persistent. "Please, Pop, please put her in the truck." Pop couldn't resist the child's faith in the Noah's Ark family to save the baby lamb. Pop picked up the baby (goo and all) and put her in the back of the truck. The child talked to the baby the rest of the way home, assuring her that she was going to make it.

We got her home, got her some colostrum and milk replacement and proceeded to get her cleaned up. What a job! It took three of us that many hours to get the job done with the little boy and the other children standing by praying for her. She did make it and cleaned up really well - all soft and white and fluffy. The child named thte little white lamb, Mary. I don't have to tell you who's taken over feeding Mary. What a beautiful sight to see - all because of the faith of a little child."

---Jonoah, Mary, and Juneau---

School or Not to School

To school or not to school that is the question. I'm not talking about learning. That's something will never quit doing. What I'm talking about is graduate classes and whether or not I should do a flying change in my life.

Background
The CPA is something that I have thought would be a good thing to have. It would give me access to more types of jobs, some possibly in other countries, and would allow potentially flexible hours for when I have a family. I have talked to many wives/moms who have their CPA's and are glad they do. (seems like a pretty safe path) So, since I didn't have many commitments in the summer of '05 I started the classes I needed to become a CPA. I have taken 3 classes and need 5 more.

The Change
Why I'm thinking about changing directions? Well, I have to ask myself what do I really want to do. When I think about that I often jump right to the things that I am already doing that I love. For example

• teaching horse-back riding lessons to the OM kids
• volunteering for the USPC
• hanging out with my co-workers
• visiting my friends around the country, and
• I can't forget riding my horse.

But I have a long list of things I want to do/think it would awesome to do. Some of those things are

• live in other countries
• have some kind of camp for kids
• hike the Andes Mountains (or any other mountains)
• be an encouraging part of kids lives
• of course I want to be a cool wife and mom, and
• if I could have it all I would love to ride in the Olympics.

Will my CPA help me with these things? Why am I not doing them now, what am I waiting for?

Those are questions I need to answer. I like to be in control. The CPA seems like a path with variables that I can control. (Course God can always throw things my way to remind me I'm not in control.) It is a good path. And it can potentially lead me to opportunities that will allow me to do what I want to do. But maybe I should change directions and begin a new path by visiting some Brazilian friends.

A picture of my horse.

This is a picture of me and my horse Solomon.

Flying Changes

That's the name of my parent's farm. The name came about for many reasons, like my dad, brother, and brother-in-law all fly and flying changes is the skipping movement that horses can do. My sisters and I all ride horses. The association with horses of course appeals to me the most.

In horse terms the flying change is a change from one lead to another without changing gait. In normal person's terms a horse does a flying change when he is cantering or galloping so that he can turn without loosing his balance and without slowing down. Horses can do this naturally but it takes years to teach them to do flying changes while carrying a rider.

I want to be able to do flying changes in life. That is, I want to be able to navigate the path without loosing my balance or slowing down.

My [child], let them not vanish from your sight;

Keep sound wisdom and discretion,

So they will be life to your soul

And adornment to your neck.

Then you will walk in your way securely

And your foot will not stumble.

When you lie down, you will not be afraid;

When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

Do not be afraid of sudden fear

Nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes;

For the LORD will be your confidence

And will keep your foot from being caught.

--Proverbs 3:21-26--