Horseback Riding

This post was supposed to go out before the wilderness trip but the wi-fi at the ranch was acting funny again so I didn't send it. (I'm currently plugged directly into the router - that works much better.)



This picture was taken when we stopped at a cliff during my horseback ride. A lot of what I see here makes me think of Andrew Peterson's song "Nothing to Say" and, in particular, the chorus. It goes like this - "...and the mountains sing your glory, 'Hallelujah!' The canyons echo, 'Sweet Amazing Grace.' My spirit sails, the mighty gales are bellowing your name and I've got nothing to say. No, I've got nothing to say."

one down, one to go

One more week (and a day) until Pete gets back. It's gone relatively fast, but I'm so ready to have him home. I think he's ready to be home too. His group left today for their wilderness camping experience in Glacier National Park. They'll return to the ranch sometime on Wednesday, so I won't be able to talk to him until then. That's going to be a little difficult for me - wondering if everything is okay and not knowing for sure until Wednesday. A good opportunity to pray and exercise some faith.

We began painting yesterday and the results are looking good so far. Pete and I decided to go with the trim color we have going downstairs (called "Pot of Cream") instead of a bolder color. It will unify things between the colorful rooms downstairs and colorful rooms upstairs. It sounds a little silly, but one of the changes I'm most excited about is new light fixtures and switchplates. I've been trying to choose colors and styles that fit the era of our house (instead of the boring plastic things we had), and I can't wait to see these things on the walls. Plus, it just feels good to do a job right - the previous owner(s) of this house were extremely sloppy painters. I don't expect perfection, but please, take two seconds to remove switchplates - don't paint over them! And tape is your friend so you don't get it all over things you don't want to (like the ceiling). They also got paint on the doorknobs upstairs, most of which I believe are original to the house. Grrr....

My parents have been absolutely wonderful helping out this week, from spreading mulch, watering plants, making a planter for our front patio, hanging new outdoor lights, sweeping the deck and painting. It's been fantastic.

Between painting and a busy week at work this week (I have my first Christmas catalog planning meeting on Thursday), I'm hoping the days fly by until next Monday when Pete comes back home.

Working in Montana

We did a some work yesterday taking down an old fence and then we took the guys in and they all bought a cowboy hat. I looked at some but really, I'm not a cowboy, the cowboy look does not become me and where would I wear it. I kinda wanted to get a souvenir but the cowboy hat wasn't going to work and then I looked at the t-shirts and they were all stupid so I'm not sure that I will come back with much of a souvenir other than my experience and my pictures and really, that will be enough.

We saw a bald eagle and I took a bunch of pictures trying to get a shot of him but he wouldn't let us get close enough and my camera's zoom only goes so far. In the process I took a picture that I really like and you probably won't see the eagle sitting on the fencepost unless I point it out to you but I think the picture is beautiful nonetheless.

From Montana

I have been kept very busy but it has been good. It is just amazing what I have seen and I have been taking a lot of pictures. Here is a view from a cliff looking down at the ranch.



This is me after the quad runner ride. I got quite dirty. It looks like I'm growing a mustache with that dark spot on my lip under my nose but that is really only dirt kicked up by the quad runner in front of me.

As Amy pointed out, the Wedgwood site is a good place to get an update and a few pictures of our trip but I'll keep putting a few of them up here too.

Pete

twice in one week!

Can you stand it? Another post - and not several months after the last one!

This one is quick - just wanted to point everyone to Pete's updates on Wedgwood's website. You can read about their trip and see some pictures.
http://www.wedgwood.org/Events/montana/Montana07.html

He'll hopefully still post here at some point.

I spent part of the evening with my parents, my brother and my nephew. My parents took Gavin to see Thomas the Train Live this afternoon as a birthday present, and then we gathered at their house for dinner. It was fun to spend some time playing with Gavin - he's such fun to be around.

Once I got home, I headed over to a neighborhood ice cream social. Our neighborhood is a good mix of young families and some people that have lived here for years - but more young families than anything else. It's amazing how having kids - or at least expecting one like I am - instantly builds relationships. Plus I received some good pregnancy, labor and delivery advice from a neighbor who has a 6-week-old. I'm hoping to cultivate some relationships with neighbors once the baby is born.

so much going on!

Pete is going to be posting from Montana sometime in the next day or two, so I thought I'd better jump in and get my two cents in. I'm posting from work, so no pictures. I'll work on that this week.

Pete left early Sunday morning for his 15-day Montana adventure. It was hard (I just don't do well with people leaving - never have), but it's fine now. It helps that work is busy and I've got some projects planned for the next two weeks, including some yard work and painting our stairway and upstairs hallway, with lots of help from my parents! I'm really looking forward to the painting project - it's desperately needed and one more thing to check off the home improvement list. That way, Pete can enjoy his time (and I know he will - it sounds like it's going to be amazing) and things can still get done around the house.

Of course, the biggest thing going on is the anticipation of our baby. Things are going well so far and it's so much fun to hear the heartbeat at our appointments. Our ultrasound is now scheduled for July 11 and we hope to discover whether our baby is a boy or a girl on that day. After that, we'll register! :) I think I've been feeling the baby moving - it's a little hard to tell at this point, but I know that will come soon enough. We are so full of joy about this and can't wait to meet this little person.

Okay, it's time to jump into another busy day. Enjoy the posts from Pete!

Catching Up

Okay, we've been bad at this (and we keep saying it) but we know people are looking and so we will try to get better at it.

What has happened since February...

Amy is pregnant and is due about Thanksgiving. Yes, we will find out the baby's gender (and share that information when we know it) but no, we will not tell you what we will name the little one.

I am scheduled to go to Montana for work. The trip will be led by Dave Vermilye and we will have 5 kids along. There is a gentleman on Wedgwood's board that has a ranch and we will head out there and experience that and go on a 3 day wilderness hike near Glacier National Park. I'm excited - it's a great opportunity. Amy is not so excited - she thinks it's a great opportunity too but I will be gone for 15 days and, since we've started dating, the longest we've ever been apart is 4.

We put in a retaining wall next to our driveway (with the help of Kevin and my father-in-law, Keith) because the old railroad tie retaining wall was falling apart and falling over. I will do a quick post shortly with before and after photos.

We put in a new garden behind our house. Actually it is an old garden but it was full of plants that we didn't know, so we tore them all out and planted new ones. We'll post a picture of that as well.

There is probably more but nothing is sticking out to me right now. I plan on posting from the Montana trip, it will be easier than sending emails to everyone and clogging inboxes with pictures that you may or may not want to see.

Pete

quick update

We keep promising to be better about posting, but without much luck so far. We did take pictures in the midst of our big snowstorm a few weeks ago...these are from Sunday the 4th as we attempted to shovel our driveway. Pete did the majority of the heavy lifting. After all of the snow we've been getting, there's been a little more talk of getting a snowblower.

You can't really tell from the picture above, but there's a hole in the bumper of my car...yes, we braved the elements on that Saturday and got rear-ended. It was really no one's fault (and the police wouldn't come to the scene - the accident wasn't serious enough), but it means another trip to the body shop for my poor little car. I'm almost afraid to say it, but it just needs to be hit on the back driver's side and then all four sides will have been crunched in my nearly 5 years of ownership (though all of that damage has occured in the last 18 months - yikes!) I've spent more on insurance deductibles than I have on any other repair for this car. On the bright side, I suppose that's a good thing: it's a good car, just accident-prone.

We'll try to be better about posting!

an interesting day

As I drifted off to sleep last night, I had the thought: I don't want to work tomorrow. And when I woke up this morning, I still wasn't feeling all that motivated.

And then it was a stereotypical Monday - things not going right, issues with one of the projects I'm responsible for, etc. I sat at lunch with my co-workers and said, "I just want this day to start over." Then I could have (hopefully) a better attitude and things would just go my way.

And then, over the PA system, came this announcement: "Please evacuate the building immediately." Okay, great - a drill. They happen from time to time.

Several hours, lots of confusion, many fire trucks and one HAZMAT team later, I got my do-over. We got to go home early!

Not to make light of the situation, which hospitalized at least one person, but it was definitely nice to get away from a not-so-great day. Today's events also illustrated the great need for Zondervan/Family Christian Stores to have an emergency plan in place. There really didn't seem to be one. I'm sure we'll have a new policy explained to us soon. In the meantime, we spent a lot of time standing outside and then sitting in a room in an office complex next door until we got the okay to leave.

Here's the scoop:
http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6108405

We need to do better PR - FCS hardly gets a mention! :)

history

The death of Gerald R. Ford has been big news around here for the last week or so. And it makes sense - Grand Rapids is his hometown. As a history buff (and a GR native), I've found it fascinating to read the stories, talk to people and learn more about this man. Sure, I've been to the museum a few times, but it's taken these events to bring this man and his life into focus.

President Ford's casket arrived at the airport yesterday, and since my office is so close, a small group of us decided to head to 44th and Patterson to watch Air Force One land, and to see the motorcade.

There were a LOT of people there - and a lot of kids, which I loved. I'm so glad they got to experience this piece of history. We saw the plane land and after about half an hour, the motorcade made its way down the drive from the airport. We were standing in the airport entrance along with several hundred other people. The hearse went by fairly quickly, and then the car with Mrs. Ford and many cars following with various dignitaries (the only one I could easily see was Jimmy Carter). It was solemn, reverent and inspiring to see all of these different people - different ages, backgrounds, races - taking part together in a truly historic moment.

Today, Pete and I waited outside our house to see if we could catch a glimpse of the 21 F-15 fighters as they did the flyover of the final service today - and we did! Granted, they were a little ways off but there's no mistaking the noise.

Listening to and watching the services has been moving - I love the symbolism, the pagentry, the history, the gathering of leaders. But beyond that, I'm continually struck by the fact that while he was a world leader, he was also a husband, a dad, a grandpa, and how both inspirational and difficult it has to be for his family to have this be so public.

And that's my little taste of history...