Here goes...

Strange Fire

2010-09-13T14:56:00.000-07:00

In Leviticus 10, "Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command. ² So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD."

I'm sure that Nadab and Abihu had good intentions in offering up their worship to the Lord. I doubt that their intentions where to bring anything but honor to the Lord but in NOT following His prescribed plan for how to worship Him they brought dishonor to Him. God does not like strange fire. He does not like it when we try to worship Him in the way that the pagans worship their Gods. Nadab and Abihu were trying to worship God with the customs of the Pagans. Our God is a holy God. He is set apart from all other gods. Worship toward Him is to be unique from that of worship to ALL other Gods. Even when intentions are good the way can be wrong. We do live under grace but that grace is not a ticket to be willfully disobedient. It is an opportunity to repent and yet again have the opportunity to strive toward righteousness and live the way the God wants us to. Let's be a demonstration of Gods holiness by the way that we live our lives rather than be made an example of but fire.

"This is what the LORD spoke of when he said:

" 'Among those who approach me
I will show myself holy;
in the sight of all the people
I will be honored.' "

Our God is the same yesterday, today and forever!! :-) He is the same amazing gracious and forgiving God that He was 6000 years ago as He is today. We must honor and fear Him. He is God, the one and only God of the universe. He is holy and set apart. As worshipers of Him we too must be holy and set apart.

If you heard your children talking amongst themselves saying, "I know mom just told us not to do this or that or that we should do something in just such a way, but we don't have to obey her because I know that she'll forgive us anyways. Lets do whatever we want." would your heart not be broken to hear your children talk like this. To be willfully, or accidentally disobedient breaks our Fathers heart. As his children He expects us to do things the way that He laid out. He knows that we will make mistakes but we should continually strive for righteousness.

May God show us each day what strange fire we have in our lives so that we may repent and move ever closer to righteousness. Thank you Yeshua, through whom we have that opportunity to start new, clean and fresh when we make mistakes and through whom is our salvation.

Ramona Falls

2010-08-21T23:39:00.000-07:00

Today myself, Laura, and Lindsey went to Ramona Falls. It was a pretty but crowded hike. What-else to say? I am in one of these pictures but I blend in, see if you can find me :-)

In other thoughts... I get to go to Israel in October for 9 days. Woo Hoo!!!

oh yeah, I have a blog

2010-08-18T21:50:00.000-07:00

It dawned on me the other day that I haven't updated my blog in 2010 even one time. I suppose a lot of that has to do with the fact that I post practically everything on Facebook these days and there is very little point in double posting stuff. I'd like to change that. At the moment I'm taking a break from Facebook anyways. I may post pictures from a trip or hike, my thoughts on scripture or life, or a book review. I don't suppose that anyone looks at this anymore since I never post here, but that is ok. A new and updated blog will be coming soon to computer near you :o)

Hamilton Mountain

2009-04-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

Today Lindsey and I went to Hamilton Mountain on the Washington side of the gorge. Many of the spring wild flowers were in full bloom and the views were beautiful. We did the approximately 8 mile loop with 2000 feet of elevation gain. It was great. Sweating up the mountain even made my cold feel better. One of the collages is of the views of Beacon Rock, the gorge and Hamilton Mountain. One of the collages is of some of the flowers and plants that we saw and one of them proves that Lindsey and I were actually there.

challah

2009-04-26T19:48:00.000-07:00

For many weeks now I've been meaning to make my own challah. This week I finally pulled myself together enough to do it (ie: I bought yeast and found a recipe to try). I made honey whole wheat. It was quite yummy.

petroglyphs

2009-04-26T19:42:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago Thursday, myself, Chilton, Laura and Lindsey took a treck to the Dalles to look for some petroglyphs that were rumored to be there. We did find a couple in what I would asume our their original locations (the owl) and then we found a bunch more that had been moved to musiums and parks. We also found a little damaged owl that now lives at the museum in The Dalles. We may have more in their original locations but the area that we hoped to find them in was on private property. Oh well, what a perfectly beautiful day.

Pesach

2009-04-09T23:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Pesach (Passover) which is the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Today, with the help of Laura and Lindsey I hosted a Seder at my house. All total there were 13 of us plus a place for Elijah (darn, he didn't come this year). I have been to several Seders but this was the first year trying to host one (same for Laura and Lindsey). I have to say that it went very well. It helped having a very well written Haggadah (the "program" for the Seder). NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM :o) I blame the high quality of the photo's on how incredibly well my camera functions. Somewhere out there on a couple of other camera's lurk some better pictures.

June Lake

2009-02-19T22:36:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I went snowshoeing at June Lake on Mt. St. Helens with Laura, Lindsey, Chilton and one of Laura's college friends. The weather that morning when we left the house was awful and rainy but when we got up to the trail it was snowing and beautiful. The weather couldn't have been better with snow for the first half of the hike and then clear skies and beautiful views. It was a wonderful day and a beautiful hike that would definitly recomend and hope to do again.

Mirror Lake

2009-01-19T21:06:00.000-08:00

So this weekend L and L and I went to Mirror Lake on Mt. Hood. Our goal was to do Tom, Dick and Harry Mountains but the snow conditions weren't ideal and we started a little late in the day to do it safely. Once again God blessed us with a beautiful sunny day (except this week it was actually warm and NON-windy).

Above are photo's of sledding and climbing fun.

The crowds are kept down at Mirror lake in the winter (despite the fact that it is a designated snow shoeing trail) because you have to park about a mile away from the trail head. Nope, about a mile is not exaggerating.

If you're wondering why L and L are laughing so very hard in one of the above pictures it is because on attempt on of me taking the photo I fell into the tree well behind me. On attempt 2 I braced myself to run and take the next picture and I promptly fell into the tree well off to the side of where the picture is being taken. And there I am in tree well number 2. Oh clumsy me. The picture that was finally successful was taken by Lindsey.

Lindsey found a dollar!! Here she proudly displays it.

White River

2009-01-19T20:56:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago I went up to to White River on Mt. Hood with Laura and Lindsey. It was a beautiful sunny (and also windy) kind of day. We did some hiking and then some sledding.
Here are some pictures from the adventure.

In one picture Laura is holding up a giant hunk of snow that she dug out of the hole that she is standing in. Yep, that's right folks, she's STANDING in that hole. :o) Also demonstrated in this collage is Lindsey showing off her new water bottle that she got at the super REI half off clearance sale.

Winter

2009-01-07T21:25:00.000-08:00

Well Mandy and Nik had little Zeph. He has born on January 2nd and I had the privilage of being there for his birth. Now Aaron is a BIG brother

What a concept, "real winter" here in the great PNW. Thankfully it let up enough to allow me to move on New Years Day. My friend Gwen and I found a really great place about a mile from where I was aleady living. The middle photo is our house in the snow the other night.

Above a photo's of winter at the Laura in Lindsey house. The tp style for was built by their neigbors. The igloo fort was built by Laura, Lindsey and crew. It is the REAL DEAL. When you crall through the door you then stand up and climb up onto a platform above the level of the door. I could almost even stand up in the thing. Some of their company over the holidays actually slept out in it(hey when your house is the size of theirs you need an igloo as a guest room.) The one picture is of Laura and Lindsey peeking up into the igloo from the door.

This is the original dusting of snow, back at the very begining of it all.

camas hike

2008-11-23T14:16:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Lindsey and I went up to Lacamet Lake in Camas. I'm sure that it's spelled differently than that. We left the house around 2 in the afternoon to do what we figure would be a pansy hike. Do to the perceved easyness of the hike we left our water in the car and took nothing of importance with us (except perhaps my cell phone). It turned out that the hike may have been simple, if we had bothered to take a map with us and if we hadn't started so close to dark. Needless to say, we barely made it back to the car before full darkness came on.

Josh turned 7!!!!

2008-11-23T14:10:00.000-08:00

It was Josh's birthday a couple of weeks ago so we all went down to Salem to help him celebrate. He got a new ipod and some other pretty cool toys. His birthday cake was decorated in dinosaurs. Happy 7th Joshua!!!

2008-11-23T14:07:00.000-08:00

As ussual I'm behind on blogging and I still owe the world some mozambique blogs. I will do them eventually with some of the stuff I have logged in my journal.

This is a picture of a hike a did a few weeks ago at Gillette Lake (on the Washington side of the Gorge by the dam). Fall is such a perfect time of year to go hiking. The weather was perfect and the fall color was beautiful.

Congolati

2008-10-08T23:42:00.000-07:00

yesterday I went to an orphanage that is not run by Iris but is supported by Iris. The name of the orphanage is Congolati. The couple who started the center are from Congo (go figure) and have built their center from the ground up with no support from their home front. When the couple left Congo to become missionaries they where originally headed for Madigascar but where unable to get there. They ended up staying in Mozambique. While they were trying to get themselves situated Congo irrupted into war and all communication from Congo to the outside world where cut off. Their center has been built from the ground up and completily by faith. There is still much that needs to be done to make their center all that it needs to be. Many of the buildings have no windows or doors yet. There are 30 boys there, most of them sleep 2 to a bed and many of them sleep on straw mats on the hard floor. It was really amazing to see all that God is doing for them in their ministry. There is also so much that needs to be done and so much opportunity to serve.

Today I am going to spend the day at the baby house and maybe I'll do hospital ministry. Many blessings.

update

2008-10-01T23:56:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you a little bit about the place that I am staying. Arco Iris has a childrens center in Zimpito distric here in Maputo Mozambique. It the largest of many centers through out Mozambique. There are about 400 kids here in total. 35 kids in the baby house (4 and under), about 50 or so girls and the rest are boys. The older kids go to a school that is on the grounds here along with a few hundred other kids from the surrounding community. There is also a Bible school here that raises up and trains pastors that will plant churches in every corner of Mozambique.

The kids here for the most part are just about as happy as you could expect a kid to be. Really there is complete peace and joy amongst the kids unlike you would expect to find in this kind of surrounding. If you walked into a secular center in the state only a fraction of the size of this one you would not find nearly the same environment. The kids here have no regrets about how little they have. The eat the same thing everyday and they do almost the same things everyday, and they are perfectly happy with that. The thing that they desire the most is attention. Everywhere you go the kids run to you and desire to held and hugged.

What have I been up to? So far I have spent quite a bit of time in baby house. Are you suprised? It is a bit of an overwhelming feeling when you first get there. When you walk through the door the kids flock to you like ants to a picnic. Todlers beg to be held and hugged. 35 kids in all and pretty much all of them want your attention and many of them try to get you to check them out for one on one time. Many of the children have AIDS/HIV and many of them have also been abandoned. I checked out a little boy named Francisco the other day. He is almost 2, he has a twin brother and hopefully will be going to live with an uncle in a few months. When I took him out it was his first time to be out for one on one time (the little little kids arent allowed out of the baby house). He clung to me like a monkey and wouldn't let go. It was like he was absorbing every ounce of love. Many of the kids in the baby house came here on the brink of starvation and death. Some of them were expected to die. Many of those kids have been nursed back to health, many of them have even been healed of AIDS.

A lot of my other time has been spent just hanging out with the older kids playing games, them playing with my hair and just having fun.

The other day I got to do street ministry. It was probably most rewarding thing I've ever done. We went to the jail and shared Jesus with the people who had been arrested that day and fed them. After that we went downtown and found the street kids who we fellowshiped with, prayed for and and fed. If only you could see how they lived. It was such a blessing to be Jesus to them.

I should be going to the hospital today to pray for people, later I'll be going to the dump for church and hopefully this weekend I'll be doing an overnight outreach.

If I had more time I'd include many more details and proofread my work but there is a line for the internet (as it is only offered 2x per week). Hopefully I'll update again in a few days, or next week.
Be blessed.

I got here...

2008-09-29T05:27:00.000-07:00

This is the same as the email update if you got that. I don't have very much time so this is the same thing.

Well I've arived!! I got here to the center about 2 hours ago. I didn't know that I would be able to send out an email today but this is internet day, so hear I am!

My flights all went just fine. By the time I got to JoBurg SA I was EXHAUSTED. I was planning on staying at airport but I claimed my lugage and went through customs which ruled out being able to stay the airport. So last night, which was your day, I stayed at this really cute little guest house in JNB which was well worth the shower and real bed to sleep in, not to mention not having to sleep with one eye open so that my stuff wouldn't walk away.

Thankfully when I got here my visa went through without a hitch and despite my change in flight plans there was someone hear to pick me up a the airport. The center here is HUGE and the amount of kids are overwhelming. The amount of people and kids everywhere, not just in center are overwhelming. It took about 5 minutes for the kids to find me, my red hair and my freckles.

There are about 15 other volunteers here in addition to me. There are several people from New Zealand and a team from South Africa. More people are expected to come and go all the time.

So far I haven't really done anything since I haven't even really had the time to get my stuff settled. Well hopefully more updates next week.

Until then,

Amanda

updates and delays...

2008-09-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days have been very trying. My passport hadn't come yet, which meant that I couldn't get on an airplane yet. Fortunatly, long story short, I was able to reschedule my flight, and I was able to do it for a quarter of the price that everyone had been quoting me all day. In fact it had finally come down to the point that they were telling me that there was nothing they, orbitz, could do for me and essentially I was out everything. After many hours of painful waiting on hold and not knowing what was going to happen I got my flight rescheduled to leave on Saturday. My itinerary actually looks almost exactly the same as it originally did, just moved forward a couple of days. Now instead of getting there on friday, I'll be getting there on monday.

The final piece of home front business was taken care of just a little while ago when the mail lady showed up with my passport. Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!!! Now I don't have to trek up to Seattle and get a new emergency replacement.

God is so good. Even through all the stress and disappointment that I felt yesterday I had such peace in the Lord. I could tell that people were petitioning the Lord for me. His presence was definitely about me. I am so grateful that He is in control and that He kept me off of my flights today, whatever the reason. I thank God that He cares enough to be in control in my life, even when or especially when I don't understand.

Please keep praying. I still have to get my visa at the border. Your prayers are more appreciated then you may know.

Be Blessed,

Amanda

getting ready to go...

2008-09-21T22:59:00.000-07:00

So I may not have my visa yet (which I will have to get at the border) or my passport back from the visa people(which darn well better come in the monday, technically todays, mail) and I'm not packed yet, according to my kitty I have everything that I need.

visa update

2008-09-13T10:07:00.001-07:00

It took me three tries to get my visa application forms sent off to the Washington DC Mozambique Embassy first due to my error (of not including my passport) and then to post office errors. I got the final attempt sent off the saturday of Labor Day weekend. I payed big bucks to have it over-nighted each way and then more big bucks for the two business day turn around of the visa. I still have not received my visa in the mail. Yesterday I called to find out what the hold up was. Apparently the lady who does the visa's is experiencing "technical difficulties" and should have it to me sometime next week. My conclusion: paying for expedited anything with this particular agency is a waste of money. Oh well, as long as I have my visa and passport before I have to leave.

On another note: you may be aware that I have been house/dog sitting for the past month. The people that I'm sitting for are at their other house in Bonaire. Apparently hurricane Ike has caused their flight to be canceled which puts me here for a minimum of one extra day, and if their second flight gets cancelled then it could potentially put me here an extra week. It's not particularly a big deal for me just as long as they get back before I have to depart.

flopsy, mopsy and cotton tail

2008-09-11T20:18:00.000-07:00

I know that I already posted pictures of the bunnies but I got a few more that you may want to see. They were so cute while we had them.

Oneonta Canyon

2008-08-17T17:35:00.000-07:00

What to do on a hot day? See if you can beat the crowds to Oneonta Gorge do the hike and then go play in the stream, lake and river. At least that's what I did yesterday and it kept me nice and cool. The upper left picture is the lake, uuper right is Oneonta falls,lower left is Lindsey and Sivana, and lower right is a veiw down the canyon.

Mozambique

2008-08-15T11:10:00.000-07:00

So here it comes, the last few months I have been getting ready to go to Mozambique. I'll give more info later but for now this is the support letter that you may be getting sometime soon. There is a link to the website of the ministry I'm going to be serving with on the right had side of the screen.

Dear friends,

I hope that this letter finds you doing well and that you are experiencing God’s blessing in your life.

I am writing this to share with you about an exciting opportunity that I have to serve the Lord in Maputo, Mozambique. From September 26 through October 17th of this year I will have the opportunity to serve and volunteer with Iris Ministries. I will have the chance to be involved in a variety of ministry opportunities that include loving on and ministering to orphaned children of all ages and evangelizing to the poorest of the poor. Mozambique’s people have been devastated by the AIDS pandemic and by massive flooding over the years. This has left many children orphaned and many more with parents too poor to care for them. I have been blessed with the opportunity to love on and serve these children.

I am very excited about my chance to serve with Iris Ministries but I need your help to do it! First and foremost I need your prayers. Your prayers are what will make the ministry that happens on this trip a complete success. Secondly, I need to raise over $5000 to cover the cost of the trip and to provide a financial gift to the ministry that I am going to serve with. The Lord has already blessed me with some of the required monies through my own income. Please ask God if He wants you to give in support of this mission trip. If you are interested in contributing financially please let me know. Unfortunately I do not have a way to make donations for this trip tax deductible at this time.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this letter. Please know that money is not nearly as important to me as your prayers are. This is not my first mission trip but it is the first trip I have taken by myself and the first trip that I will be doing this kind of ministry. I know that God will not only provide for this trip but He will do amazing things in my life and the lives of the kids while I’m there. It is your prayers, support and encouragement that will strengthen me in this ministry opportunity.

If you would like more information please let me know. You can also go to http://www.irismin.org/ for more information about Iris Ministries. There Is Always Enough by Roland and Heidi Baker is the inspirational story of the founding of the ministry and a read that I highly recommend.

Many Blessings,

Amanda Tripp

summer update

2008-08-15T10:48:00.000-07:00

Since I haven't blogged in a while I'd like to give you a summer update of sorts.

In June I went to the San Juan Islands with my friends Laura and Lindsey. The occassion was Lindsey's birthday and the purpose of the trip was to go kayaking. we were there for three days and saw almost every kind of wild life the island had to offer: eagles, foxes, many kinds of birds,seals, river otters, grey whales and a huge pod of orcha's plus many more. The orcha's we saw from land in the morning before we went kayaking. It took about 45 minutes for them to swim past us. We even got to see a baby and mama. The weather couldn't have been better.

Earlier this summer some bunnies, who live on the farm that my friends live on in Oregon City, got their nest accidentally bulldozed. As a result I ended up taking care of three little bunnies, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton Tail, for a week and my friends, the Hamers, took care of them for several more weeks. In the process one of the bunnies died, Flopsy. The other two did great and we eventually ended up setting them free on the farm.

This last weekend my friends and I had a get-tother/reunion of sorts at the farm in OC. We roasted a goat which I did help butcher but did not help slaughter. We left that task to the boys. BTW: Goat isn't to bad (even if the butchered goat did have her name in common with me).

I'm back

2008-08-09T01:42:00.000-07:00

I realize that I haven't touched this site in a year but now I'm back. I suppose I've got a few things to blog about. I'm getting ready to go to Africa at the end of september and I've had all sorts of fun little adventures that I could tell you about over the last few months. Right now, however, it is almost 2am and I must be off to bed.

Stay tuned.... more is to come.

I've been reunionized

2007-09-29T01:18:00.000-07:00

long time, no blog :( Let me tell you about a BUSY few days. Thursday I flew to St. Louis to look at a children's hospital emergency department. Overall the trip went very well. We stayed in a VERY nice hotel and had lots of fun hanging out. Friday morning we went to visit the children's ED. The staff there where very hospitable and nice, and we learned lots of things about how we will and wont want our new department to look. Friday afternoon we flew home.

the top left picture is what my hotel room looked like, the other three are a little bit of what the emergency department we toured looked like.

I landed in Portland at 8:30pm, went home, changed clothes and them headed off to my 10 year class reunion. I was a little sad that I had to get there so late but in the end I was actually glad I got there late. Two hours was really plenty of time to make lots of awkward conversation with people that I hadn't seen nor heard from in 10 years. I did have a good time catching up with a lot of old friends and reconnecting with people but regrouping with what is essentially your past life is an odd feeling. It's over, I'm glad I went and I guess now I'm old :)

me and a couple of old high school friends. The first pic is "mouse" or Rachel and my self. The second is of Becky, and of course myself. Tons more pictures where taken but I'm counting on people to email a few of them to me.

2007-07-19T12:17:00.000-07:00

Spending a couple of days with the coolest neice and nephew alive can surly put someone into a good mood. Yesterday I went to get Emily and Josh. When we first got here we went to grandma's and grandpa's and hung out for a little bit. After that we made a quick trip to the store for some cereal and goodies and headed to the house where I'm house/dog sitting. Emily was totally cool with the dog's right away but Josh was a little nervous and didn't really want to be anywhere near the dog. This morning Josh declared to me that he wants his own dog.

Can you guess what is missing from this picture?

work out comidy of errors

2007-07-06T11:39:00.001-07:00

Maybe I should begin to document my experiences training for a triathlon. Just yesterday I got the Hal Higdon plan off of the internet. It looks really doable. I'm starting into it a smidge late, but I have been working out, so hopefully I won't kill myself off.

Yesterday was not a particularly successful work out day. I was going to go to the gym and do 25minutes of running on the treadmill and then hop in the pool for a 20 minute swim. I left the house around 7:30pm to go the gym. When I got there I found out that I couldn't swim because someone had a heart attack in the pool earlier that day and they still needed to clean up bodily fluids. (Yeck, had I gon swimming when I originally planned, earlier that day, I likely would have been there for the whole drama) I don't know when they plan to reopen the pool. Hopefully SOON. Fortunatly I was also planning on running so I just figured that I would run longer and call it my work out. This would have been a great plan except I bought new running shoes recently and when I packed my bag I grabbed one new left shoe and one old left shoe.

Plan B was to go to the Dishman pool about a block away and see if I might be able to swim there. This would have been a good plan except the lap swim hours had just ended when I got there and in order to swim I would have had to dodge quite a few roudy little kids.

Today I try try again. And this time I start earlier in the day.

take your own map

2007-05-31T23:35:00.000-07:00

ATC Thursday May 31st
Squeezing in 2 miles not included on trail map loops, loop
Wildwood miles 11.18-12.74
Additional trails: Firelane #1, Firelane #2, Leif Erikson Dr, and Chestnut Trail
Total Miles= 4.22

I was going to do a longer loop today but I thought it only fair not to kill of the dog with two long hot days in a row. Today I parked at the end of the drivable part of Firelane #1. Not very many people seem to know that the spot is there so I was a little nervous about leaving my car abandon in such a desolate looking spot.

The first part of the hike was down Firelane #1, which is also opened to bicycles. This is a road that I would like to ride my bike on sometime. The old growth trees and ferns were very pretty in today's hike. I eventually turned onto Firelane #2 which is also opened for bikes. It was very steep and narrow, not a place I'd be comfortable riding my bike. After a brief jaunt down Leif Erikson I came to the Chestnut trail. The trail is not to hard to find but the overgrowth of brush onto the trail was outrageous. I'd wished that I wore long pants and I prayed that there was no poison oak sticking out onto the trail.

Divina waiting by the front door to go on a hike

Every 1/4 mile along the Wildwood trail is marked by a blue diamond painted on a tree. I'd seen pictures of the actual mile markings before but had never noticed them until today. Apparently if you look up past the blue diamond, there is an actual mile marker on every one of these trees.

Another good reason to bring your own reliable map. Almost every major intersection has one of these maps. They are good reliable maps except that the place where you are at on the map is almost always rubbed away leaving your intersection BLANK.

Divina on the Firelane #2 trail and on the overgrown Chestnut trail.

bugs bugs bugs

2007-05-31T23:08:00.000-07:00

ATC Wednesday May 30th
Wild-Leif Loop
Wildwood miles 7.88-11.18
Additional trails: Wild Cherry Trail, Nature Trail,and Leif Erikson Dr.
Total miles= 8.54

Finally, some progress! I'm not sure that I could have picked a hotter day for it though. I'd planned on starting early, but I virtually never start early, so that didn't happen. I think I got on the trail around 1:30pm and progressed into the hottest part of the day. Due to the heat our normal fast pace was not an option. Divina is a Mexican breed of dog so she's made for the heat, but I didn't want to push it. Needless to say, I only had one water bottle with me anyways.

There was nothing particularly spectacular about today's hike. It was pretty. I was looking forward to seeing Rocking Chair Creek, but I was very disappointed. The creek was really no more than a trickle that was a breeding ground for bugs. I did see a lot of bugs today. I saw creepy crawly bugs on the ground (you know those centipede's that are black with an orange stripe down each side? They were EVERYWHERE) and all sorts of flying ones in the air. At one point I was walking along very nearly got into a head on collision with a butterfly. If I'd seen it before it was litterally in my face I might have taken the time to be more fascinated by it. I also saw a lot of mosquitoes, but I have yet to be bitten by one (Praise the Lord).

some of the flowers on today's hike

A view down Leif Erikson Road

new maps :)

2007-05-31T22:43:00.000-07:00

ATC Tuesday May 29th
Option Loop #2 of the City View hike
Wildwood miles 5.93-7.88
Additional trails: Leif Erikson Road, Wild Cherry Trail and Holeman Ln.
Total miles 2.88

Today I went to REI and got maps. No more wandering around lost, Yay! I didn't get started with our hike today until late in the afternoon. Since I had dance practice today and I got a late start, once again we didn't cover very many miles. It was a pleasant, fast paced hike though. Part of my loop did involve winding through some of the same neighborhood as the other day, but it was OK, because I knew where I was going.

One of two wooden parrots perched in some trees on today's hike

time to invest in maps

2007-05-31T22:09:00.000-07:00

ATC Monday May 28th
Cornell to Holman Lane/Lower Macleay loop
Wildwood miles 4.96-5.93
Additional trails: neighborhood streets and the Lower Macleay Trail
Total mileage= 2.37+ miles (I don't know how far I traveled on the streets)

The last two days it doesn't seem like I'll ever make any progress on the Wildwood trail that's worth talking about. My excuse is work, I can't hike 8 billion miles and then work for 12+ hours. I did make progress though, and that is what counts.

Today's hike started off just fine. I managed to find the Upper Macleay/Cornell entrance to the train with out any problems and set of on the right trail. Up to this point I have been using some pretty detailed maps that I found on the Forest Park web site to plot my routes and it has worked pretty well. The problem with these maps is that it is virtually impossible to tell the difference between park lines and trails. For today's hike I mapped out what looked like a loop of trails but I was wrong. When I got onto Holeman lane I went to find what should have been my next trail intersection to find the end of the trail. After asking a couple of people around the neighborhood how to locate Lower Macleay Park I managed to meander my way through the neighborhood and rejoin the trail. I probably would have done that anyways but I would like to have known about that ahead of time. I guess it's time to invest in some better maps.

Lower Macleay trail has to be one of the prettiest and popular trails in Forest Park. The trail basically follows a pretty descent sized creek (Macleay creek?) for close to a mile. A funny thing happened to me on this trail, I ran into the people and dog that I'm going to be house sitting for this coming weekend. I can't wait, Sadie is an awesome hiking dog (I've taken her backpacking before). I think we'll go for a nice long hike on Friday and Saturday.

The bridge over Lower Macleay Park. I crossed over this and came down as part of my street meandering

The stone house on the Lower Macleay Trail

One who goes down must come back up...

2007-05-31T21:56:00.000-07:00

ATC Sunday May 27
Pittock to Cornell Road
Wildwood miles 3.84-4.96
Additional trails: Upper Maclay
Total mileage for the day= 2.24

Today I had to work and I had dance practice, so a long hike was NOT and option. I knew that today's hike would include a bit of a climb and I wasn't sure how long it would take, so I allowed plenty of time. Somehow I had it in my mind that I would climb there and descend back. I don't even know where that thought came from because you see the Pittock Mansion is on top of a hill, so no matter where you go from there, you'll go down first and then back up. The whole way down I was dreading the accent, but when I actually did it, it was nothing, no big deal at all.

Zoo to Pittock Mansion

2007-05-31T21:30:00.000-07:00

Saturday May 26
The ATC mile 0-3.84
total hiking miles today= 7.68

Today was my first day to come and watch Divina for the week. Pretty much the only way to get her out of her, "I can't believe my owners are gone" funk, is to take her for a nice long walk. Initially when I looked at the mileage for today's hike I just saw the 3 and therefore had it in my mind that I would be doing about 6 miles. No big deal right? Well 7.68 wasn't particularly a big deal either except I had get-to-gether at the zoo to go to that evening, so by days end I probably walked about 12 miles. Another challenge of today's hike was the fact that I forgot my water bottle at the house, which I discovered at about mile 2.5. Fortunately there is a good drinking fountain at the Pittock Mansion. I better not make that mistake again. Most of the trails don't have the luxury of a drinking fountain.

Today, being a wonderfully beautiful day and memorial day weekend, there were a lot of people out on the trail and at the Pittock Mansion. There was at least one wedding that had just ended by the time I go there. When I sat down to take a break I met an older couple from central California that were taking a west coast garden tour of sorts.

Here are some pics from the days hike...

Isn't this tree just screaming to be climbed?

The ATC

2007-05-31T21:10:00.000-07:00

Friday when I got to Divina's house I decided to look online to see if there where any other interesting hikes we could do, other than the 'zoo to rose garden' hike that we have done many many times. I immediately found the Friends of Forest Park web site. In the process of looking for hikes and or maps of various trails I stumbled across the Forest Park all trail challenge (ATC). "Hmm," I think to myself, "that sounds like a fun challenge. I wonder how much of it I could get done while watching Divina this week?" I certainly don't want to do it without a companion of some sort whether it be a 2 or 4 legged breed. And so begins the challenge.

My first goal is to complete the Wildwood trail. In the process of hiking the Wildwood trail I will also knock out several of the side trails and some pretty good chunks of Leif Erickson Road.

Multhomah falls/rose garden

2007-05-31T17:16:00.000-07:00

I do realize that it has been a while since I updated my blog. So long in fact, that you may have been wondering if I'd completely abandoned the whole thing. Well, I'm back. The real reason why I don't blog very often is that I don't always see much of what I do worth blogging about and I'm not about to blog about every time I sneeze or blink.

I would have posted some of this sooner but I've been house sitting this week and I failed to bring along my laptop until now. I do have computer access but I'd feel a little weird uploading my pictures to someone elses computer.

Friday (as in May 25th)

I spent the afternoon with my friend Amanda and her kids. We went up to Multnomah falls and played around for a while. We only hiked as far as just past the bridge. Here are some pics from the beautiful afternoon.

Later in the day we picked up Jason, Amanda's husband, and headed up to the Rose Garden. It was still a bit early for lots of roses but there were still enough for it to be pretty.

"It is You"

2007-04-03T16:10:00.000-07:00

This is a video of a dance from passover. This dance, called "It is You" was done by the Rehoboth dance team.

passover

2007-04-03T02:06:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the dances from Rehoboth passover seder on monday. I have more to come but they take forever and a day to upload. I'm not sure if this will even work. I haven't had much success in the past trying to get video's to actually imbed in this page.

I want one of these...

2007-03-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

I want one of these...
http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=22639

2007-03-16T13:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GBAqLXQnAw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFzqJCF0Sw8
here are a couple links to a group that does similar dances to the River of God dancers. For some reason I couldn't get them to imbed in the page.

almost time for passover

2007-03-16T13:07:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm busy getting ready for Passover, which starts on the 2nd of April. April 2nd is also when the Rehoboth Passover Seder is. This year I'll be doing one dance with the River of God dancers and possible two with the Rehoboth dancers. In addition to dancing I'm helping the kids learn a couple of traditional songs to sing at the Seder.
The following Friday the River of God dancers have an outreach at a passover Seder in Camas. I haven't really been running a whole lot lately, but I've pretty much been making up for it with dancing.

Above are some pictures from a River of God outreach we did in Longview several months ago. That day we danced for their entire service. These pictures are from the second half of the service so we are all very sweaty and gross. Hopefully I'll get some decent video of us dancing soon. I do have a couple of video's I shot on my camera for the purposes of me learning the dances but they definitely do NOT show what our group is capable of.

The little things...

2007-03-16T12:41:00.000-07:00

So lately I've been pretty busy, but nothing that I'd necessarily say was worth blogging. Despite a lack of excitement, I'll blog anyways.

A couple of weeks ago I did house sat for a week. This time for the people with the greenhouse full of orchids and Divina, the Mexican mutt who won the lottery. While I was there I decided to do a whole foods/Daniel fast of sorts. I made a really yummy lentil and onion pilaf with a lemon and tahini sauce. It's a good thing it was good because I pretty much lived off of it for the week.

Above is a picture of Divina, pouting by the front door of her house.

During the time that I was house sitting, I helped the kids at church do a presentation dance to the song "The Trees of the Field" It turned out pretty cute. It was a simple dance and the kids did a good job learning it, even though we only had a few show up during the service I was helping with.

Most recently, last week a friend of mine who just moved back from Florida a few weeks ago had to have her 4month old spend the week in the hospital due to an abscess on his thigh. Due to the fact that she was at my work and she was still awaiting the arrival of her husband, I spent a lot of time with her this week. He, baby Gideon, did really well after his surgery and got to go home a day sooner then expected. Today their whole family should be reunited.

Tilly Jane

2007-02-21T16:35:00.000-08:00

After last months snow shoeing trip, with Lindsey and Laura, we decided that we definitely needed to go on a snowshoeing backpack trip. They invested in a book, did some research and decided on going to an old childhood favorite of mine (I should specify 'summertime favorite'), Tilly Jane. The difference being that instead of driving up there we would hike from the bottom of the road on the ski trail due to the fact that the 8.5 mile road is closed this time of year and if we drove up it wouldn't be a snowshoe trip anyways.

This time I tried my hand at digitally scrap booking a few pictures that highlight our journey through the snow. Theoretically speaking, if you click on each image you should be able to view the slightly larger version of it.
The trip up was long and difficult. I knew before leaving that it wouldn't be easy as I am not in the best shape of my life and I'd be packing 35 or so extra pounds on my back. I was right, it was hard but it was worth it.

We initially were going to build a snow cave but were to tired to deal with such an endeavor when we got there. Apparently when you build a snow cave you have to pile up and pack down the snow, then wait for about two hours before you dig out the cave. Instead of building a snow cave we set out at building walls to protect the tents from the wind with walls of snow. In the process we dug up a picnic table board that worked perfectly as a kitchen counter. The fort took about 2 hours to build and if I may say so myself... it turned out pretty awesome.

We were the only ones snow camping at Tilly Jane. There were about 4 members of a Nordic club staying in the Tilly Jane cabin (they were in awe of our fort workmanship) and 2 or 3 people staying at the public skiers cabin across the stream/gully.

On Saturday morning when we got up the weather was considerably more clear then it had been on our hike up. There were beautiful blue skies and incredibly clear views. After we broke down camp and packed our packs we stashed our packs and headed up hill by the campground to see the mountain. These are some of the views that we encountered.

After our morning jaunt we heaved on our packs and headed back down the mountain. The hike down was beautiful as we had views of Hood (of course), Adams, St. Helen's and Rainier. We were very glad that we left when we did. On the way down we encountered 6 others who were also leaving (some of them must have stayed at Cloud Cap) and 28 others who were coming up the mountain for the weekend, most of whom seemed to be planning to stay in the skiers cabin. They're going to have a crowded night.

Well it was a fun trip. I highly recommend trying it sometime, just dress plenty warm and waterproof. I hope you enjoyed my pics.

Day 'O' Fun

2007-01-26T10:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went snowshoeing at Twin Lakes, by Frog Lake, with Laura and Lindsey. By the end of the day our short little walk turned into a 6.8 mile jaunt. Needles to say I had a lot of fun and was totally exausted by the end of the day. Here are some pics of the occassion. I know, I know, I am a little picture crazy, but I'll have you know that not only did I not take all the pictures but I only took a small fraction compared with Laura. Anyways, enjoy.

Above: Top left, where we went. Top right, Linsey flying free. Bottom left, Laura feeding camp robbers from her head. Bottom right, me!

Above: Top left, Mt. Hood. Top right, Lindsey, Laura and me. Bottom left, Lindsey taking a fast pased scoot down the hill. Bottom right, me taking a fast pased scoot down the mountain.

Above: Top left, Lindsey flying downt the hill. Top right, Laura just after flying down the hill on her snow shovel. Bottom left, Lindsey. Bottom right, me and Lindsey.

Above: Top left, Lindsey and Laura at the lower Twin lake (please note, you can not acutally see the lake for the snow). Top right, I think that Laura is running from ravinous crazy camp robbers. Bottom left, me feeding a camp robber a cashew. Bottom right, Laura feeding a camp robber from her mouth (eww)

Above: Top left, Mt. Hood. Top right, a hungry camp robber hoping that we'll feed him. Bottom left, the three hooligans: Laura, Lindsey and me. Bottom right, Laura flying down the hill on her shovel.

Above: Top left, a PCT sign nailed to a tree. Top right, Laura making herself at home in a hollow tree. Bottom left, Laura doing a funky dance. Bottom right, Laura making the courages maiden voyage down the big hill.

snow in portland?

2007-01-18T00:41:00.000-08:00

Who woulda ever guessed.... it SNOWED in Oregon, in Portland and it STUCK! It shut down the city for a couple of days but it was soo beautiful. I went for a couple of walks in it. Where are your snowball fight/snowman building/sledding friends when you need them?

Happy birthday dear Emily.......

2007-01-14T00:19:00.000-08:00

On Friday I drove to Salem and picked up Emily so that she could spend the weekend with us, for her birthday. She went out to Chinese food with us and I took her shopping on Friday night. She spent all day Saturday with my mom shopping and seeing Charlotte's Web. Saturday night I came back over and we baked cookies and watched Hook. Lots and lots of fun. She's going to be 8!! She's quite photographic, I'm not so sure about myself though...

Everyone should visit the Oregon coast in the winter...

2007-01-13T23:55:00.000-08:00

The friday before last Chilton and I decided to go to the beach. Sometimes the Oregon Coast can just call ones name, even in January. So off we went to Cannon Beach. On the way there we encountered snow in the coastal mountains. It was so beautiful. I didn't really get a good picture because there was no safe place to pull over, that we could also get out of again. Anyways, here are our pics...
above is the ocean from Ecola State Park. It would be more in focus but the camera lense was wet.

To the left are Chilton and Piper playing ball at cannon beach. Piper had never been to the beach that we know of. She particularly liked digging in the sand.

To the right is the river at the rest stop on the way to Cannon Beach. We did pass through more snow that was absolutily beautiful, but this was pretty too.

Above and below are more pics of the river.

We topped the whole day off with a stop at Camp 18. Yummy in the tummy! I love that place.

Its a dogs life

2006-12-30T00:32:00.000-08:00

This Wednesday and Thursday I worked, 2p-2a, my normal shifts, just not on my normal days. We were pretty busy and we had some pretty crazy stuff come in. I can't go into much detail, HIPPA you know, but lets just say that some stories are a little too far fetched to be easily believed.

This morning I got up "early" and took Mandy and Aaron to the airport. I parked so that I could help her carry all of her and Aaron's stuff inside. It was a pretty non-eventful trip except for an extra trip from my car I had to make back inside to pay for parking. When they tell you to take your parking ticket into the airport with you, they mean it.

This weekend I am house/dog sitting for a friend of a coworker. They are pretty interesting people and their dogs are totally sweet, and cute. The house is just blocks from a house that I lived in for several years as a child. The dogs, pictured above are named Shamus and Dermut.

Today I got together with Gwen. I haven't seen or heard from her a couple of months. We had a good time. We went to Burlington Coat Factory where I bought some new fleece sheets. I can't wait to get home and try them. After shopping we went and watched A Night at the Museum. It was a fun and relatively clean movie. Its only real downside was a few references to evolution, but even with that it was funny. After the movie we went back to her house and I helped her set up her new DVD player that she got herself for Christmas.

The Holidays

2006-12-26T19:01:00.000-08:00

Well Chrismas and Hanukkah are officially over. Last wednesday I went to a Hanukkah party at church, thursday I hung out with Chilton, friday I went to Laura and Lindsey's Hanukkah party, saturday I went to my sisters for Christmas, sunday I hung out with mandy all day, and monday I went with Mandy to Niks grandparents for a Christmas day lunch.

Wednesday:

I was housesitting on the west side and needed to come home before I went to church, needless to say that took over an hour. By the time I got to my house I was not in the mood to get back in my car, so I hung around the house for a while and was late to the Hanukkah party at church. The party was fun. Tom was there (if you want to know about him, ask me). I agreed to "go out" to coffee with him, mostly because I didn't want him to think that I was a total snob. BTW, I am officially NOT INTERESTED. I have no pics from wednesdays party because I took them on someone elses camera.

Thursday:

My last day of house sitting with Divina. In the afternoon I went to get a bike that Rachel found on craigs list for Emily. It is a great bike. Since it was my last day with Divina, we went for a walk, then I went back to the house to gather up my belongings and then head home. Traffic stank. I got home, put my stuff away, went to my chiropracters appt and then on the way home Chilton called desperate for a ride to her oral surgery appt. Since traffic isn't too bad that time of day going in the direction of her house I agreed to do it. After the appt I hung out at her house, went to do some Christmas shopping and then came back to hang out at her house and watch a movie. By the time I left it was about 1am, but my plan for not having to fight traffic worked.

This is Piper, Chilton's puppy.

Friday

Pretty much like i said, friday evening I went to Laura and Lindsey's Hanukkah party. They had lots of yummie food and I was there until about 10ish gabbing. I also got to play with their ultra cute but insanely shy bunnies.

Saturday

I was supposed to teach Shabbat school, but I got Shawn to cover for me so that I could go to Salem to spend christmas with my sisters family. Rachel and I both got iPods. Complete supruse to her, but that's the only thing I asked for so I kind of knew it was coming. We had tons of fun.

After I got home on saturday, ended up going out to Chiltons and hanging out with her and her mom while she finished baking Christmas treats for her family

Sunday

I spent the majority of the day over at Mandy's. We baked cookies, watched movies and played with Aaron.

Sunday

I went with Mandy, Nik and Aaron to Nik's grandma's house for christmas dinner. Lots of tasty food and fun. Wanna talk about being adopted into other people's families...