Vacation in Oregon

I wanted to give an update of my vacation to Oregon with my college roommate Janene. I hadn't seen Janene in 5 years, so when she suggested getting together and doing something I jumped at the chance.

Wednesday 8-20
My dad's birthday, I flew out of Madison arriving in Missoula, Montana around 2 in the afternoon their time. I thought I missed my plane (see post below). Janene and I jumped in the car and headed to Oregon right away. We spent the next 7 hours driving and talking the whole way. We spent the night in The Dalles about 30 min. from Multnomah Falls, our destination for the next day.

Thurdsay 8-21
We sleep in a little and then head toward the Columbia River Gorge area to see Multnomah Falls. We stop along the way to see Horsetail Falls and then continue to Multnomah. We hiked about a mile to the observation deck at the top of the falls and then continued hiking up the trail aways. There had been some sort of a landslide and the trail was blocked, so we turned around and headed back down to the gift shop area. We also stopped at Wahkeena Falls and hiked another 1/2 mile there up to the bridge and back. We stopped in Portland for about an hour and then traveled to Ft. Stevens near Astoria for the night.



Friday 8-22
This day we headed up the coast to Long Beach, WA for the International Kite Festival. That was really neat to see and the kites were very colorfull. We walked around the downtown area for a while to before heading down the Oregon coast. We stopped in Cannon Beach, which was beautiful. The beach was wide and sandy with large rocks jutting up from the oceam. We also stopped in Tillamook at their famouse cheese factory. I know, I had to travel all the way to Oregon to see a cheese factory. For dinner we ate at the Pelican Pub and Brewery in Pacific City, OR. The restrant is located right on the beach and had a spectacular view of the ocean. I really enjoyed eating there. We stayed the night in South Beach State Park in a Yurt. We could hear the ocean and sea lions most of the night.



















Saturday 8-23
We woke up a little early and headed into Newport for the day. We walked around the Historic Bayarea, watched California Sea Lions, visited a wax museum, Ripley's Believe it or Not, the Undersea Gardens, held live starfish and touched an sea annenomie. All this before lunch. We ate a picnic lunch at Yaquina Head National Park. We climbed to the top of lighthouse, walked along the beach, saw harbor seals, and walked through the visitors center. We then headed to the first lighthouse in Newport, which is suppose to be haunted, but I don't believe it. Dinner was early this day as we ate at Mo's which is famouse for it's clam chowder. If you know me at all, you know that I am not a big fish/sea food eater, but Mo's clam chowder was wonderful. I really liked it. After dinner I went for a dip in the Pacific Ocean. Needless to say it was freezeing and I basically ran in, dunked underwater, and ran back out.




















Sunday 8-24
This was another travel day. It was an 11 hour drive back to Missoula, so we took off early and drove most of the day. We talked, took pictures at a couple rest stops, saw Mt. Hood, and laughed at some funny signs in WA. My favorit was the sign that read "Don't Litter, It Will Hurt You", and "Don't Throw, Men Below". That one was near a bridge that was being worked on.

Monday 8-25
I flew home. I had a great time on my vacation and was glad to see my dear friend after such a long time.

Did I Miss My Plane?

I love to fly. I love just about everything about flying. I like take off, landing, and looking out the window to see the earth far below looking very small. What I don't like is the small seats and trying to catch connecting flights. On my flight out to Montana I flew to Denver and then on to Missoula. The flight to Denver was adventurous. I had the very last seat in the airplane, right next to the bathroom. The whole flight I was getting bumped by people using the bathroom. I couldn't recline my seat at all, forcing my self to sit in the uncomfortable upright position. The plane lands and I look at my ticket for my connecting flight. It leaves at 12. I then look at my watch and see the time in 11:40. Being at the very back of the plane, I was one of the very last people off the plane. If you have ever flown to Denver, you know that the airport is very long and your connecting flight is always at the opposite end of the terminal. I'm walking as fast as I can with out actually running to get to my terminal and on my plane. I make it there at 11:50 and I look around. No one is boarding the plane. I check the board to make sure I'm at the right place and that the flight is on time. Everything looks correct, but no one is boarding. I look around confused for a while and then it dawns on me. I'm in Denver, CO; it's an hour earlier! How blond can I be! I felt so stupid, I had a whole hour to wait until the plane took off. It's times like this that I wonder about my intellect.

Are you part of the remnant?

In our world today, there are many who claim themselves to be Christians, though many are so in name only. I have been reminded of this the past week in the class I am taking at the UW-Whitewater. Some of my classmates claim to be Christians, and yet by the stories they tell of their weekends and summer I have my doubts. They seek the pleasures of this work and not God. They serve themselves and only attend church on holidays and never open the Bible. Then while reading in Romans I stumbled upon one of my favorite verses. Paul wrote in Romans 11:5 "Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace." Paul was referring to the time that Elijah was complaining to God that he was the only prophet and follower of God left. God's rebuttal, there were seven thousand who still believed and had not bowed to Baal. Just as in Paul and Elijah's time, there were those who claim something in name but not in deed or action. Yet, God's remnant remains. He always has those who believe and follow His ways. He is never without those who truly believe. A comforting thought went you are surrounded by those who don't believe at work or school.

Fireflies

Driving home from work tonight the fields were a light with hundreds of fireflies. Childhood memories flooded my mind. Hot, sticky days at grandma and grandpa's house in the summer. Picking berries off the bushes on the way down to the swing-set in the backyard. Cool night chasing fireflies on the golf course across the street. Grandma Pauline would give all the grandchildren clear plastic containers to place our treasures in. Firefly after firefly carefully caught and placed in the containers, we didn't want to crush them, at least not yet. Watching the little bugs flashing on and off in the jar. We would then cruelly pull the flashing butts off the fireflies and use a needle and tread to make glow-in-the dark bracelets and necklaces. Sometimes we would stick the "lights" on our fingernails. I feel sorry for the poor bugs, now.

Depth or Width?

In church, Pastor Dan made reference to Corrie Ten Boom, one of my personal heroes. One of the first things that came to my mind was the fact that she forgave and helped her former prison guards and those who treated her and her family ill. Her depth of faith makes me want to have the same depth. I started to think "If I had half the faith and forgiveness she had. . ." but I stopped. Everyone has people they look up to and want to be like. We all want to emulate someone and there are people out there who feel the same way about me/you. So mathematically speaking, if I only aspire to posses half the character and spiritual deep as someone, what about those who want to be like me? They would only end up with a quarter of that original depth of character and spirituality. And what about those who would look up to them. In the end we lose that depth. Depth of character become shallowness; spiritual maturity becomes hypocrisy and luke-warm faith that doesn't stand against the slightest temptation. Paul said it best when he wrote "follow me as I follow Christ." He says to emulate Christ not him. He knew his own failures and he knew that only by following and being like Christ would there be any depth in their lives and spiritual growth. In a world full of shallow people, we need to strive for depth; not width in our faith.


PS One of the things I like about Corrie Ten Boom was that she too fully acknowledged her weaknesses and even wrote them in her book. She shows that it took many trials and struggles to get to the point of trusting God enough to forgive and heal. Just like Paul showed and wrote about his weaknesses and trials.

I HATE job hunting!!!

Applying for jobs is never an easy task, especially for a teaching position. The endless questions, forms, and applications; they never seem to end. Each school had different questions they want to you answer. Then you have to wait, and many times you hear nothing back from the schools. Not even a thank you but no. I'm beginning to wonder if it will every end. Am I doomed to be a substitute for the rest of my life? Will I ever find favor in a school district and be hired? The schools I've worked in seem to like me a lot, but I can't seem to find a job. Why is that? Everyone says that you are wonderful, you do a good job, but no one want to hire you. I just getting more frustrated at time goes by. I have two years (including this one) to find a job or I lose my license to teach and then I'm stuck being a substitute. I don't mind substituting, but there is not consistency. I don't get to impact the lives of those students. I can't be that constant light for Jesus that is so desperately needed in our schools.

Sitting in a fast food restaurant for dinner I noticed something, single people read when they eat. Staying in Milwaukee for the night for a class the next day, I went out to eat dinner. Sitting at the table alone eating, I pulled out my book to read. Turning the page I looked around the restaurant. In front of me a single guy was reading the paper, behind me an older gentleman was reading a book. Now my question is why? Why do single people eating in a restaurant read? Is it to make it less awkward for them? Possibly to avoid looking around and being noticeably alone? I think it is to avoid or fill the void of conversation that normally is there. Instead of talking to someone else who is obviously not there, we read.