Went camping in Idaho for two weeks it was so wonderful.   Left at 4 in the morning on Friday, the 27th of June.   It was the first time I've been farther north of Chico in California...let me tell you the Mt. Shasta area is beautiful.  We stopped at one rest stop just this side of the Oregon border and you could smell the wonderful fresh pine and cedar.  Blackberry bushes were all along the river tributaries.  Then once we went through Grants Pass and Medford we had to stop again and try to nap (it was about 12:30 in the morning).  We took a four hour nap in the car.  Kenny laid on the ice chest and suitcases in the very back of the van, Kristi had the back seat.  They had the best rest (lots of snoring).  Kris & I each had to sleep in the front seats with the backs lowered.  It wasn't very restful....but it did give us some energy to continue on at 4:30 that morning.  

The Columbia River was alongside of us for most of the way through Oregon and I don't think I"ve ever seen a river so big before.  It's huge and beautiful and surrounded by green everywhere.  I saw a bald eagle in a tree...ducks, and elk.  Washington was nice too, the part we went through first is mostly farms.  My father-in-law lives near the Grand Coolee Dam (I'm not sure I spelled that right).   Dams can be pretty intimidating....we have camped down on the Colorado River near Squaw Lake and it has one that you need to navigate really close to if you are going to refuel at Fisher's landing.  I always shudder (inside, not where Kris or the kids can see) because it feels like you are going to get sucked down through those big chutes and get spit out the other end after being chopped into pieces! I don't know if that chopping part would every really happen...but that's what it feels like!

Anyway, the rivers and dams in Oregon and Washington make me feel like the one at the Colorado river is in the kiddee pool you blow up every year & fill with the hose water.  It's tiny in comparison. The mountains and everything are much much bigger.  It's the Cascade mountains that we  were driving through in Oregon.  and it was the Snake River we passed over to go into Idaho where we camped.  We were on the St. Joe River just west of the Bitterroot Mountains (that are right on the border of Montana and Idaho) .  We were east of Cour DeLaine in the panhandle of Idaho.  Wow it was camping in the rough in the National forrest near Avery Idaho.  We met some really nice people and saw so many things.  Kenny spoted a yearling moose on the way over Moon Pass.  It was exciting.  And we saw lots of deer, elk, and even a bobcat. 

Came back on the 13th of July so late that I missed church that day.  I was doing the driving from north of Wasco, down to San Onofre.  There's a sign going over the grapevine that says Angeles Forrest....boy is that a misnomer.  It's a forrest of chapparell maybe...but that's it...a few scrub brush but no trees.  But I guess it's relative.  I could see calling it a forrest if there were something that looked like a tree...but believe me- from the freeway it just looks bare.  That made me laugh everytime I thought about it for the next few days.  While we were gone I missed practicing my violin, seeing my friends on Sunday, and the discussions we have in Sunday School class (even though I did read Colossians on the vacation)....it's wonderful to be back but I am still marveling at the wonder of God's creation.  I can't express how it has touched my heart.

Here's a picture of a little stream that flowed down the mountainside by where we camped. 

well...i am practicing an hour a night (or more) except I had to skip tonight.  And still I feel like such a beginner, and so out of tune.  Why won't my ring finger bend right when I place it on the string so that it sounds like the note is right on instead of way off key?    Mr. Malgeri, my teacher, would be so proud of me now...because at least, I'm not "wasting the gift" but actually practicing!  I never did an hour at a time when I was taking lessons, unless you count the time at school when I had orchestra class (7th -10th grade).

Anyway, now I"m on a mission to get a real hair bow instead of the cheapo synthetic one I bought when I had my violin restrung.  I think it's better to use it, I never had a synthetic one before and this one seems to slip.  My old bow had been attacked by termites!  Can you imagine?  That's how long it was since I had touched my violin (about 2 or 3 times in the last 35 years!)  I know you're probably laughing, but I'm serious...in fact, the guy at the music store said there was evidence...there were termite skeletons in my violin case when I took it in!  No kidding!  So now, I do check for that...do you think they go in through the hole in my violin case?

& please don't tell me it's my bowing skills that are why the bow slips....and not the fact that it's not a real hair bow.   K?

It was cool to see a recent bit on CBS (I think or ABC?) news - a girl with autism who has never spoken is now communicating via computer.  She's somewhere around 20 years old.  Isn't that fantastic?  When I was in high school I worked one summer as a caregiver at night for a woman with extreme cerebral palsey.  She used a metal bar that was on the toe of her shoe to type out little notes on a manual typewriter.  They didn't even know she could do that until she was somewhere in her 30's.   Her mom was a nurse and worked nights.  They went to our church.  The woman was really sweet and wrote poems. 

This news about the girl with autism has been in my thoughts...do you realize how many people there are out there that we have an opportunity to share the news about Jesus with?  It's really important that we be sure and include anyone, and especially those with challenges we may not (in ourselves)  understand or feel able to communicate with or even know how to relate  with...because that is where God will  show He is totally acting through us...Jesus will really do the supernatural in their lives if we are ready to be vessles for Him and interact, share lives with those who are so challenged.  It's like a whole new mission field that I never even thought of before....and it's really exciting to know that their minds have a capacity...an ability in a way much different from ours to understand and be transformed by the love and grace of our Lord.  And obviously in ways that we may never 'see' but through faith can be assured it will happen if we take action when we know God is directing us to someone, even someone who can't exactly 'talk' like we do.  It's supernatural faith in action through God's grace and Mercy and Spirit---once again...it's GOD!!!! GOD IN ACTION!  GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD!  Woohoo!  I'm looking foward to more people discovering that they can communicate with someone who was totally shut off from us (via computer, or shorthand sign language, or a metal bar and a typewriter...) and hearing testimony of the deep relationship they have with God.  In fact, I'm sure it will put me to shame in comparison....

This also comes at a time when situations at my work are looking pretty dark for a lot of people.  The State's budget crisis is translating into a MAJOR downsizing at my work.  Many people are getting 'notified' today that their position is on a list to be cut.  It's a decision of our Board which ones will actually be taken....and that decision (on a preliminary round of cuts) will be made this weekend.  Lots of sad faces, and disbelief and I'm sure it's only going to get worse in the weeks to come. 

The last thing is that choir has been really such a blessing for me.  And also I appreciate all the talented people that are part of that ministry.  So many people have joined for the Easter special, and it's amazing how many wonderful voices we have in our congregation that hadn't joined before this!  It's going to be such a wonderful time of worship.  Can't wait to hear Man Of Sorrows!  The men are really raising the bar for us!  Go men!  In all of this I've come to realize that while I am a good backup and choir member, I'm not really a soloist.  So many of my songs speak to my heart that I can't help but shout out praise or fight tears in the middle of the songs.