Pressing On

When we were in Hawaii a few months ago we went on this incredible hike. Maybe you've heard of Koko Head Stairs. It's a crater that was once used as a military lookout during World War 2. A railway was created and used to haul cargo and supplies up to the top. Today it is used by many for hiking and has over 1000 stairs. Some are spaced together fairly tight while others are spaced pretty far apart. So it is not your everyday run of the mill stairway. It gets tough and not only is it steep but there is a section that acts as a bridge with a 40 foot drop below. The space between the railroad ties in this section is wide. Meaning it would be real easy to slip through and fall 40 feet down. This was the biggest challenge for me. I don’t think I have a fear of heights until I’m put in one of these situations.  The hiking was going great, I was ahead of my husband and feeling pretty confident until we got to the center of said bridge. I lost my footing momentarily and end...

This morning I watched a truck pull over to the side of the road, an elderly driver got out, walked around to the passengers side while a younger man changed places with him. Interesting. I wondered what made that transition happen? Did the older gentleman decide he shouldn't be driving? Maybe he couldn't see well. Maybe it wasn't his car so he wasn't familiar with how to operate it. Or maybe the younger man was a back seat driver and kept telling the older one how to drive so the older man finally said, “You want to drive? Here you go”. Or maybe it was like the episode in Everyone Loves Raymond where Frank drives so bad they take his keys from him. Maybe the younger one in fear of his life and everyone on the sidewalk just said, “That’s it pull over, I’ll drive!” I will never know. But it caught my attention as well as my curiosity. I continued to wonder if it was a fight. What was the rest of the ride like for those two? Did they argue and bicker about who should...

It has gotten pretty warm here in the last couple of months. The humidity does not help. In fact, it makes it that much more unbearable. That doesn't stop us from our weekend runs though. We have learned to just get out there as early as we can to beat the heat. Annie doesn't realize the impact of the heat until we get home and she tries to cool down. We have a great little park about two miles from the house that has a splash pad. When you step on the center button, several fountains pop up and water splashes around us. When we first took Annie to help her cool down, she wanted none of it. I was shocked, with her being a Labrador; I thought she would love it. So, I gently would nudge her into the water so it would at least hit her side. Then we walk over to the drinking fountain and she is able to drink from the short one, which she does not protest. I usually run it a bit before I drink after her.  The last few times we have gone, she senses when we will get to those...

We had a full weeks vacation to Hawaii last week and I don't even know where to begin to tell you. It seems most of our vacations the past several years have either been moving, visiting family, or moving the kids to and from college. We’ve had some very nice get-aways for a few days but this seven days away was a breath of fresh air.  With all access communication these days it's hard to unplug and relax. I feel like it takes a day or two to really get in the groove of vacation. I was so thankful for this time away with my hubby. He had bought this trip for me for Christmas so I had been anticipating it for six months. We had been to this island before when we were just a young married couple. So it was a blast to go back and see it through more “mature” eyes. We also did more “mature” things this time around. Like go to bed before the sunset our first night. In our defense we had been up since 2:45 am to catch an early flight so by the time  we got settled into our ...

I was over eight months pregnant when we were uprooted from Southern California to Las Vegas Nevada in 1987. I remember thinking the four plus hour drive was so far away from family. I had to find a new doctor, hospital and hopefully friends. Our house wasn't ready so we stayed in a furnished apartment way too close to the Vegas strip. It was temporary so we saw it as an adventure. In fact, we were told that this would just be a stepping stone in  Jim's career and that we wouldn't be there long - "Don't get too comfortable". So, we held off on putting in a pool and any other upgrades to our home. We were there about four years.   It is still one of my favorite stories to share. We were going back to Southern California. The house was on the market, we got a home in Tustin with a lease option to buy. We painted the inside. The truck arrived with all of our stuff. I enrolled the kids in a preschool not too far from where I would be working. Everything was u...

I don't do well in the passenger seat when my husband is driving. Especially when I'm familiar with the route we are taking. I often think I know better than he does on which direction to take, what lane to be in, the short cuts and even which parking spot puts us near the cart corral and store entrance that I prefer.  Last weekend we did our typical run to Target. I cringed the whole way as he pulled through the front of the entire shopping center. Though I said nothing, inside I was dying and thinking, " if you pull around to the back of the parking lot , we will miss all this foot traffic and get to my favorite parking spot faster". You know, because we are in such a hurry. We weren't in a hurry. I don't know why I want to hurry things along. I just think my way is better.  We did our shopping and got back in the car and wouldn't you know it, went out the same way we came. Cringing again! Had we done it my way, we would have made a clean break ...

I heard at church this past weekend that the average person will make over 35,000 decisions in a day! That's a lot of choices with decisions to make in a 24 hour period. The bottom line of the message was to seek God in every decision no matter how great or small. I can't say I always do that. Most of the decisions I make are based on my feelings, mood or past experiences. I seek God in the big decisions but not always in the little ones like "How would you like me to use my time today?"  I was reminded of the verses in Proverbs: “He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.” Proverbs 10:5 NIV And:  “She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.” Proverbs 31:27 NIV  Oh man, when I am bored, lonely or overwhelmed with too much to do I tend to choose to go to the pantry and eat the bread of idleness. And by bread I mean anything close at hand particu...