WWⅡ Veterans

Recently, I went to the airport, for a couple hours, with friends & family, (& about 300 other patriotic people), to honor our veterans. These vets fought & died protecting others & our country. Sadly, America is becoming the very thing they were fighting against. We (as a country, nation & people) are  in dire need; we've nearly lost what was once held dear. We have strayed so far from Christianity, & are becoming a sick people, who have been benumbed to the twisted  ways of the world. We need to stand fast, grounded faithfully in our believes, defying the world, as we endeavor to share Life & the Gospel. Our World War Ⅱ survivors are becoming fewer & fewer. My great-grandfather fought in the war; he passed away at the age of 84, when I was 12. On a lighter note; this night was a special occasion. Accompanied by a volunteer or nurse, 81 veterans were flown on an honors flight, paid by the government, to Washington D.C for a four day trip. They got to see the memorials, & receive honor long due. The decorated veterans were all in their 80s or 90s. The looks on all their faces were priceless, as the crowd went wild, & the band started playing. I felt very patriotic & glad that I went to wave my little flag & cheer for these courageous men & women, as they descended on the escalator.   

 84 & in uniform, he walked down, shaking other's hands.

We need to remember these brave people, a hard working generation nearly gone. It takes a lot of courage to grow old. (Or as my late pappaw said; it ain't for sissies.) It takes courage to fight in a war, where decisions you make could be the death of yourself or someone else. They had a rough life, living through a war & the Great Depression. But they had their priorities straight.  At this moment, there are thousands of our soldiers stationed overseas. And there are thousands of veterans, living here in the country. While we need to always remember & honor these amazing people, we also need to remember that they fight for the external. As Christians, we need to fight for the internal, where it truly maters. We are internally waging in a holy war every day. Take heart! The Son of God goes forth to war with us. In Christ & through Christ, we are HIS saints, a glorious band, fighting for everlasting life. Though at times, the odds may seem set against us, we always need to remember that Christ is triumphant & has defeated sin, & has conquered the grave. Christ, who is living & reining, fought, & died, for our salvation! We are alive because of the Lord's mercies & loving grace. We all need to be courageous, fight with our whole hearts, all our being, & do everything to the best of our ability for HIM.                                                                

-GB

Teaching

This past week has simply flown by! (Dontchya love June weather?!) I had the awesome privilege of teaching art (basic drawing) at the Summer Art Academy; an intense week long art camp, for kids ages 8-14. It was such a wonderful experience, to be a part of so many kid's lives, brief though it was, sharing the gift of art with them! All of my students were amazing, & did wonderful jobs. It was fantastic meeting new people, parents & students alike, who had an enthusiasm for art. I had a total of 30 pupils, & taught for 4½ hours each day. I dearly love working with children & teaching; it's as much fun as it is challenging. I got a huge class room all to myself. It was on the 2nd floor of a large & creaky floored, unair-conditioned building on the beautiful campus of grounds :) Here's what I taught— 

• 1st class: Converting basic shapes (e.g. triangle, sphere, rectangle etc.) into fruits; shading with random hatching, curved hatching, crosshatching, dots, scribble & blending. 

• 2nd class: Drawing multiple objects: focusing on centering, composition, distance. Developing a critical eye for position, proportion, shapes, & relation. Using charcoal & pencil. 

• 3rd class: Positive/negative space, blind & semi-blind contour drawing with charcoal & pencil. 

• 4th class: Drawing textures in fabric; wrinkles in paper, folds, rough surfaces, smooth surfaces, reflective surfaces, in metal & glass, with charcoal & pencil.

• 5th class: Drawing symmetrical objects, with a ruler & measuring with a pencil. Review & discussion of previous classes. 

Soli Deo gloria- 

-GB

Hiking in the Mountains

  Line Lake is on top of the Beartooth Rocky Mountain range,
perched on the edge of a big precipice. (elevation 10,000 ft.)

Brightening up the earth's carpet— 
Were small & hardy flowers blooming on the spongy tundra.  

  The air was cool, views were breathtaking.

The guys built a fire. It felt wonderful. All 10 of us ended up
huddling around it. We ate lunch & fellowshipped.

It snowed & rained on us for the entire hike out. Very cold.  

*To compare size, that's a fishing rod & reel.

It was a fun memorable adventure. Even if the weather was crummy for part of the trip, I greatly enjoyed it. It's all about the people you are with anyways. There was still a good bit of snow up there. While hiking, we had to cross over a couple snowmelt creeks & trek across a huge snow-packed bank on the side of a very steep hill. I'm so thankful that the Lord kept us safe while we were out there. On the hike out, a few of us got ahead of the main group. Through the wind & sleet, I saw two grey wolves! One slipped over the hilltop quickly, & the other lingered a moment, watching us. The wolf was really big, & about 200 yards away.  

But unfortunately, my hands were so cold & numb, that I couldn't get to my camera in time. (It was actually quite alarming, by the time we reached the vehicles, I couldn't even open the car door with the key, my hands were so unresponsive. If you ever go out hiking, even in the middle of June, dress for {completely unpredictable} weather!!) We found lots of large wolf paw prints following our trail, in the snow. (That was kinda eerie, thinking the wolves had just been where we were.) *My cousin took the pic above with his phone—

-GB

Kayaking

 The weather was perfect for spending the day out on the water... 
  

……...We (myself, my brother & two cousins) drove about an hour away, to a nice sized lake nestled at the base of snowcapped Rocky Mountains…...                               The views were gorgeous & the sky was bright & cloudless…….                                                    . …….I glided through the water effortlessly in my kayak, without making hardly any sound or breaking the still surface……. . ……...The cold water was crystal clear, I could see the bottom of the lake, 20some feet beneath me; a whole other world of with fish, algae, pretty rocks & sunken logs…... I soaked up the sun's warm rays & enjoyed the calm afternoon…….  . ….It was just perfect…… .                                   . …. Wildlife didn't seem to mind us, birds went about their lives without hardly giving me a glance……. ……Everything was so quite and picturesque…….                       Kayakers can get right up into little coves & inlets, places where the water is only inches deep…... Unless you've kayaked, you do don't know what ya are missing. I took my camera out on the water. (I was really paranoid I'd drop it or something, thankfully I didn't.)        

 We packed lunches & kayaked across the lake. We hiked  to the top of a large rock formation & ate. 

“You are worthy, our Lord & God, to receive glory & honor & power, for you created all things, & by your will they were created & have their being.” Revelation 4:11

-GB

Salt & Light

Whatever we do, it needs to be done with more than just external practice. How do we relate to the world? We need to look at all things with eternity in view. How does the world look at us? Does it see children of God, that standing brightly amongst the rest of the world? We are not of this world, but we are in it. (I am not my own.) I have been adopted, by the grace & mercies of the Lord, into the Kingdom of Christ. The world can't stand what it can't own. We shouldn't derive our views & standards through the eyes of the world. As Christians, we need to know where we stand, & how to 'separate' ourselves from the world. We need to have a deep faith, know how to organize our lives— everything we do is meant to glorify God. 

We shouldn't remove ourselves from the world, 

we should live out our lives & 
take back the world & transform it! 

Like a garden; we root out the weeds, to bring order & beauty. We need to root ourselves in time & space. The same truths tie us to all Christians, who have come & gone before us. We shouldn't want or need the world's approval in our life's journey. We are alive because of Christ. We need to stand strong; established in the Word. We cannot leave anything out, or it becomes watered down & inefficient. There is an overall redemptive plan. We are all His people. When we are truly focussed on Christ, we can better discern the truth. We need to take a deeper look into our own lives. The further down the self-centered road we travel, the more lost & confused we become. We need to look deeply into our hearts; are we accommodating ourselves to the world? Why do we do, what we do? We are called not to hate the world, but to live out our lives unashamed, living dangerously, & boldly proclaiming the Gospel.  

-GB

Trying to catch a glimpse-

Of the strawberry moon. It's 4:00am. Only got 2 hours of sleep. The night is beautiful. The temperature is cool. The dawn is still breaking. The stars twinkle faintly in the pale light amongst dark clouds that lie low on the horizon. There's a full moon. It's large & luminous, setting slowly. There are cool shadows being cast by her radiance in the misty light. The swollen river roars in the distance. All is calm. A company of crickets sing their song in the field. A dog barks. I'm looking out my window, waiting for a lunar eclipse. If I'm fortunate, I'll see the anomaly, take a picture, then return to bed for a couple more hour's of shut eye. 

(edit: Somehow I missed the eclipse & got up for nothing. This pic is from one I saw last year.) 

Whenever I look up at the heavens & see those innumerable twinkling stars, I'm reminded that they are the works of HIS fingers, & not one of them is missing. HE set them all in place & calls them all by name. Through faith in Christ, I'm one of those stars; I am a descendent of Abraham. (Genesis 15:4, Psalm 8, Isaiah 40:26, Galatians 3:7-9) The stars are so amazing, it's hard to fathom how far away they are, the concept of space & how short a time we have here on earth. We need to be wise with the time given to us. 

      Here's s bit from John Piper's Desiring God

In “The Simple Life”, Vernard Eller delights himself in some of the great parables of SØren Kierkegaard. One of his favorites is the parable of the lighted carriage and the starlit night. We could also call it the crisis of Christian Hedonism. It goes like this:

“When the prosperous man on a dark but starlit night drives comfortably in his carriage and has the lanterns lighted, aye, then he is safe, he fears no difficulty, he carries his light with him, and it is not dark close around him. But precisely because he has the lanterns lighted, and has a strong light close to him, precisely for this reason, he cannot see the stars. For his lights obscure the stars, which the poor peasant, driving without lights, can see gloriously in the dark but starry night. So those deceived ones live in the temporal existence: either, occupied with the necessities of life, they are too busy to avail themselves of the view, or in their prosperity and good days they have, as it were, lanterns lighted, and close about them everything is so satisfactory, so pleasant, so comfortable — but the view is lacking, the prospect, the view of the stars.”

Piper summarizes:

Eller comments, “Clearly, ‘the view of the stars’ here intends one’s awareness and enjoyment of God.” The rich and busy who surround themselves with the carriage lights of temporal comfort, or the busy who cover themselves with troublesome care, cut themselves off from what Kierkegaard calls “the absolute joy”: What indescribable joy! — joy over God the Almighty… for this is the absoulute joy, to adore the almighty power with which God the Almightly bears all thy care and sorrow as easily as nothing. 

Wow. Think that over. We shouldn't hide under baskets, we should shine bright as stars in the dark of night. It's very profound. The world is sacramental, as is everything in it. When understood, this results in mediated grace for everyone who is responding to God in true faith. God grants immediate grace in various ways... This immediate grace should be radiant grace, that spreads everywhere, & gets into everything. True faith can find it in anything- keep the wonder, look all around you, what do you see? All too often, we get distracted & shut it out. The grandeur of God can come from anything; shining stars, the shrill chirr of crickets, doing house work, shoveling rock etc. We all need to have radiant grace, that spreads out through everything, affecting everything else, & causing everything else to become a mirror that reflects the glory of God.

-GB

Painting En Plein Air

This has gotta be one of my fav pics - It's of me painting. :) My uncle took it last summer. We had spent the day kayacking on a beautiful alpine lake nestled in and at the foot of the Beartooth Rocky Mountains. En plein air, is a French expression which means "in the open air".

Iris Garden

….Recently, my mom & I took a little trip to an iris garden. It was the neatest place, right on the edge of the city, by the interstate, but tucked away out of sight behind the trees. There was a variety of over 400 different irises. It would've been the perfect place to spend a lazy afternoon outside doing nothing. It was so tranquil & bright. We ordered a few iris bulbs, that we'll receive & plant this fall. It was hard to decide what to get, there were so many— 

I'm standing among the flowers. It smelled SO good. 
There were a ton more flowers, but they didn't make it in the shot. 

Just Do It —

RUN. (Quoting Nike's catchphrase.) Been tryin' to get back into a good running schedule. Injured the knee skiing in January; it's still pretty stiff. I hadn't run in over a month. And I was feeling really out of shape. So I went out jogging tonight. (Did around 3 miles in 22 minutes, I was surprised how fast that was for me!) There was a truly magnificent sunset. The sky was set ablaze! Ever-changing shades of purple, yellow & orange lit the heavens in a radiant, dusty haze. While I was jogging with my ipod, it rained lightly. Got fairly wet, from sweat & rain, but it was totally worth it.

In the east, where dark clouds rose ominously, there was a bright rainbow. I could see the whole entirety of it's colorful arching span. The rain eventually slowed to a light drizzle & then stopped. The arch of color faded. The pavement was still warm & wet under my shoes. The air smelled beautiful. Crisp & clean. The sun slipped beneath the rimrocks, & I ran on….  

-GB

Music - E Minor

A "Ping Pal" showed me this song. Instantly fell for it. It's so beautiful, so sad. So rich.

Busy Bees

What 
wondrous 

miracles 

abound 

in ordinary 

things! 

Go outside, 
& look around—
What do you see? The order & wonder of it all. A universe so great, a world so small! 

Strength

There is a strength,

That comes through prayer,    

A confidence, a power,

A quite, deep unflinching faith 

To meet the trying hour. 

There is a peace 

That comes through prayer, 

A calm serenity

To face whatever life may hold

With grace and dignity.

There is a joy

That comes through prayer,

A gladness of the soul, 

A glorious sense of having been 

Refreshed, renewed, made whole.

                                                            -By Helen Marshall 

Settlers Of Catan

One of the awesomest board games ever made.

Over this past winter & spring, I've played countless hours of Settlers. Friends & family will come gather 'round the kitchen table, I'll make brownies & we'll play into the wee hours of the morn. I've yet to tire of the game. (& probably never will.) No two games are alike, with an ever-changing board setup. It's literally addicting. The games involves chance, skill & strategy. Usually there's lots of lively discussion too. Sheep! Brick! Wood! Rock! Wheat! It's for 3-6 players. 

-GB

Reflections

I took this colorful pic down in Oklahoma last fall….. 

Triathlons, Racing, Gratitude & Ramblings

Soooo, I just competed in my 2nd triathlon! The race was a blast! It was 11.5 miles long. I placed 5th in my age group, boys/girls aged 16-20, with a total time of 00:45:40. Overall I took 99th place, out of 240 soloists. There were a total of about 500 racers, the rest being on a three person team, one person for each leg of the race. It was a skiing, biking, running event. Running was my weak link, as my knee was pretty stiff & sore from an injury I got about two months ago. Skiing was the best, I skied 2.5 miles in about 3 minutes! I love racing, (mainly skiing) the sport & excitement is fun - The starting point for the race was on top of the mountain. I skied 2.5 miles down to the bike transition, from there biked downhill 6 miles. Then I ran 2.5 miles to the finish line!

The day was beautiful, so cold with a fresh blanket of snow sparkling on everything, pristine & bright. 

I also participated in the Grizzly Peak Adventure Race it's very first year. 

It was April 2011.  I did an 11 mile triathlon: 2.5 mile of skiing: time 0:3:37,2.5 miles running: time 0:25:47,6 miles biking: time 0:18:03. Total time: 00.47.21. I took 27th place out of 66 female soloists, & 2nd place in my age group, boys & girls 16-20 years. Running was clearly my weakest place. But, in my defense, I got a reallly bad cramp, & actually walked for about a half a mile. Not fun. There were over 300 racers.

But overall, the race was so exciting, that feeling inspired, I started doing just a little bit of jogging on the side, maybe once every week or two. ;)

On July 4th, I did a two mile run, & took 2nd place with the time of 0:14:? min. for the female age group 15-20.

Now I was jogging, on the weekends whenever I could.

Then in like August 2011. I ran in a little 3K. I took first place, (age group) with an average time of 0:17:49. Overall place of 10th, out of about 70 racers. (Yes, it was a very small event.) I started "training" about a week before hand. Again, not a good idea, but it musta worked, that or all the other racers were reallllly crummy. (hehe!)

October 2011. I ran a 2 mile run, took 3rd place (age group) with a time of  0:14:23.  This was a large event, with over 300 runners, but the data is incomplete. I don't know anything other then that I placed 2nd. 

In November, I was in great running schedule. (I was actually running, not doing the jogging thing most people call running.) I did about 3-2 miles, every-other to every day, with good times: 7 − 6.30 minute miles.

But then I started skiing in December. I got lazy with my running. I became a "weekend warrior".  And in January 2012, I injured my knee in a skiing race. Now I've got to tell you about it — 

It was a smaller event, that lasted for 6 weeks. January- February. Timed slalom racing, with 106 racers total. Overall I placed 30th. But I had a bad crash while practicing, & hyperextended my leg, tore some little muscles holding my knee cap in place, & generally really twisted things up. (But I didn't know that, until about 8 months later, when I went in for Xrays & a MRI.) I just thought I'd pulled some muscles, or something. It hurt sure like the dickens, when it happened, I limped around for a few days & took pain meds. (NOTE: if you ever have a bad ski crash & limp for more then a week, go see the doctor, asap!) But after a week or so, the knee was just really stiff & weak feeling. I honestly didn't think much of it, thinking it would heal in time…

This is me slalom racing! 

Now I've caught you up to date, April 2012 & the triathlon I just competed in, & told you about.  (This post became a lot longer then I originally intended!) If you are a runner or a biker or a skier  - Keep pressing onwards! Don't stop & never, ever give up! NEVER take your good heath for granted! Be thankful - You have so much! Legs that take you places, eyes to see the beautiful world with, energy to burn & time to do it all. Enjoy what you do & find the beauty in God's amazing creation while you are on the roads, trails or slopes!  Stay strong, fit & thankful, while always remembering that Jesus is where your strength comes from!

"The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him." Exodus 15:2 

-GB

Skiing

It's more then just a sport, it's a passion. The views are breathtaking. It's always exciting being nearly 10,000 feet high, racing solo down the mountain, doing moguls, trying jumps, or even, leisurely making trails through the trees. But for me, there's something more about it... It's not just the fun & the challenge, it's simply being outside, admiring God's creation, taking it all in & getting a view on perspective. I enjoy skiing alone, it's nice to have time to think. There's nothing like an icy wind blowing in your face, or the fresh smell of pine in the air… It's exhilarating. 

Winters here are long, the days are short, dark & cold. The Rockies are tall, majestic & snowcapped all year round. Average snowfall is over 250". I ski at a smaller resort, it has 7 lifts to cover 1,600 acres of ski area on the Custer National Forest & there's a vertical drop of 2,400 feet. This past season  (November—April) I skied with my iPod just over twenty times. I participated in a 6 week giant slalom racing team. Out of 106 racers, I placed 30th. On April 14th, I competed in a 11 ½ triathlon. That was a blast, & an excellent way to finish off the season.... I also went skiing with my dear family & friends some too. That was memorable- skiing, laughing, eating hot food & taking pictures together.                                

  In the mornings everything is always so pristine, frosty, & bright. Good times.