Bring On The Madness:)

     Wow!  I can't believe it's been two weeks since I've posted anything here!!  It's not that I've been so busy I haven't had time to write anything, I've just been too lazy and every time I think about updating my blog I find a reason to put it off:)  Classic me!  The good news is I won't bore you with a long winded recap of all that's happened in the past few weeks, I'll just give you the highlights.

     A couple weeks ago Curt and I flew into Phoenix for the weekend to help finish the new garage at mothers winter oasis.  Dad's done an amazing job of building not only the perfect garage for their needs down there, but a nice little art studio alongside of it.  Mother has already set up her easel and picked up the paint brushes again!  Of course we allowed plenty of time in each day to get in 18 holes of golf.  We played every afternoon that we were there and it felt fantastic to blow the cobwebs off of the ol swing and take in some of the nicest courses in the area!  The weekend went fast though as they always do, and I came home to the chilly spring time temperatures while Curt went on to Vegas where he rejoined Jen and the kids to visit her parents for the rest of the week.  We had a great time but Curt and I agreed that if we repeat this trip next year we should leave our tape measures at home and only bring the golf clubs:)

     Last weekend we laid low and had a couple fun dinner outings with friends and family, always a great way to decompress!  Much needed decompression leading up to this week which sparked the kick off to march madness!!  I'm a sports junkie and I get really excited over quite a few different sporting events each year.  Most of you know I get pretty fanatical over anything related to my beloved Dallas Cowboys, even getting into heated rants over free agency transactions they make this time of year, but don't get me started on that!  I also consider the Masters to be the only recognized four day national holiday of the year, tune in to this page in about three weeks if you care to see just how much Masters week means to me.  From watching baseball all October, to NBA basketball in June, there are plenty of opportunities for me to get excited about sports throughout the year.  Right up there as one of my favorites though is March Madness, the NCAA tournament is one of the greatest sporting events of the year and this year we have been blessed with an instant classic!  It all started yesterday and in the first day we got to see four overtime games, a new record!  As I sit here writing this day two just started and I can't help but wonder if it will live up to day one, I sure hope so!  Even though they cause chaos to many of the brackets I have filled out I just never get tired of watching the upsets!  There just isn't too many things more exciting than a mid major school knocking off one of the top seeds.  

     So as I settle in for another anticipated day of excitement I only hope that you all have found as good of a way to ring in your spring as I have!  All I keep thinking about is if March Madness is this entertaining than what kind of a Masters are we in store for?  I for one can't wait to find out!!

Remember, with all of the great sports action on TV don't forget to get outside and soak up some of that good springtime vitamin D:)

Hidden joys

     One of these days I will learn my lesson.  Even after years and years of my feeble attempts to try and do what I think is the smart move only to have it blow up in my face, I continue to learn life's lessons the hard way!  My last post was a couple weeks ago and if you recall it referred to one of these life's lessons when I chose not to listen to Kelli's logical idea of leaving Seattle early which ended with us stuck on I-90 for 2 1/2 hours.  This week I had a meeting to attend over in Missoula on Tuesday and since Kelli didn't have to work until Wednesday she came with me.  We went over on Sunday and spent a couple days with Dan and Donna in their snow infested part of the country.  The whole area had been hit with a pretty heavy winter storm, leaving I-90 a little hairy at the peak of Lookout pass.  We made it over safely and almost immediately the temps began to melt the snow and the rain began.  This drastic change in the weather caused a few avalanches to slide onto I-90 which closed it down in both directions until the conditions got more safe.

     This was the first time I could ever remember the interstate being closed for an avalanche!  Making matters worse they couldn't tell when they were going to open it back up again because they weren't even sure how they were going to make the conditions safe.  Luckily though they had opened up a detour across the far Northern edge of Idaho so we could still make it home in time for Kelli to work.  It was just going to be about twice as long as the interstate would be.  So even though things looked interesting I still held out hope that the trip home would be pretty smooth.  Once again though my efforts to outsmart things backfired on me!  I decided when we left Missoula that I'd shorten our trip time by taking a cut across to the detour highway instead of taking the interstate all the way to St Regis where it was closed.  Things were going pretty good and then when we got to the intersection between the detour from the interstate and my short cut to the detour, we saw a couple of highway guys working on the detour sign.  I told Kelli I hope their not taking it down because the interstate had opened back up, she said no they couldn't be so we continued on up the detour.  When we got to Sandpoint, ID we stopped for dinner and got a text message from the Dobson's saying they opened up the interstate at 4 pm, had we taken the interstate we would have been there almost exactly at 4 pm!!

     But after many years of life's little lessons like this one we have taught ourselves to find the joys in these moments.  Even though this can be difficult at times, if you look really closely there's joy in every single one of them!  I believe that God puts us into these situations precisely for the reason of reminding us that there truly are some wonderful things in this world if we just pay attention to them.  It's not a good one because it was taken while we were moving but the picture below is proof of the hidden joy in our life's lesson.  We may have had to take a detour that we could have avoided resulting in us getting home, ironically like the last trip, 2 1/2 hours later than expected, but we were rewarded by one of the most beautiful sunsets we have ever seen!  The picture doesn't do it any justice at all as we couldn't stop commenting on how stunning it was!  Finding the hidden joys in situations like these just makes accepting them as part of this wonderful journey called life a little bit easier!

Remember, every detail of our journey is worth remembering, even the ones that are a little hard to handle on the surface!

A lot of fun in a little time!

     This past weekend Kelli and I headed over to the big city of Seattle to visit some friends of ours the Ralstons.  We went over on Saturday morning and they wasted no time at all in showing us a good time!  As soon as we got there we jumped in their car and drove about a half hour north of town to get on the ferry to go have lunch on Woodbey island.  This is one of the many islands in the Puget Sound and such a neat place to visit!  These islands have such a slower pace of life to them it's always a treat to take in.

   

     After we had lunch we walked around in the rain a little bit shopping in some of the quaint little stores downtown then headed back across the water to the mainland.  Our next fun event was an improv comedy competition down in the Pikes Place market!  On the way down to the comedy we had a couple hours to kill so we checked out the Montana bar, which was supposedly owned by a native Montanan and set up like a authentic Big Sky bar but the only thin resembling MT inside the place was a bunch of bumper stickers and road signs.  We were glad we checked it out but none of us authentic Montanans were too impressed!  Next we stopped at an Irish pub in the same neighborhood as the market that was called Kells and had live Irish music playing.  This place was pretty neat and just made me want to go to Ireland and take in more of that fun loving culture!  The improv was everything we expected it to be and then some!  It was a competition between two teams of four and when nothin is scripted it can get pretty funny!  

     The next morning I got up early and went for a run around Green lake which felt like I was in a 5k there were so many other runners out enjoying the rain free morning!  It was awesome though and a great way to start my day!  We then went out for some more sightseeing and they took us to the giant troll under the bridge!  I know this sounds wierd but there's a concrete statue of a troll eating a VW bug underneath an over pass in one of the neighborhoods!  This troll makes an appearance in the move Love Happens with Jennifer Aniston and it's quite the site!  I have no idea why it's there or what it's suppose to signify but that city is full of interesting stuff like that!

     Green Lake just after sunrise

           Giant hungry troll

     That night we stayed in and cooked a Ralston family recipe of baked spaghetti and watched a movie.  The next morning we got ready to head home and Hailey needed to get her computer looked at so we spet a little time at microsofts campus in Redmond.  This was pretty cool as they have an area set up that is kind of like a museum of technology through the years.  While we were there I got a call from Jill giving us a heads up that she'd heard the pass was pretty bad so to be careful on the way home.  Kelli tried gettig me to leave right then but of course I talked her into staying for lunch, which turned out to be a big mistake!  When we finally did get out of town we only made it about 40 miles and we were stuck on the highway as they had shut the pass down due to slippery conditions!  

     We were stuck there for 2 1/2 hours!! So long that the kids in the car next to us decided to get out and do a little sledding!  Eventually though we started working our way over the pass and made it home, 4 hours later than expected!:). Over all it was a great trip, we packed a bunch of fun stuff into a short amount of time!  We always have fun when we visit the Ralstons over there and I'm sure we will go back sooner than later!!

Remember, patience is highly underestimated and greatly appreciated, especially when the highway is shut down:)

Reason #43

     It's been a while since I posted another reason I love Kelli and I can't think of a better time to do it than just after Vallentines day.  So here is reason #43 why I love this girl, she accepts me for me!  I know that may sound pretty simple but far too often I don't pay enough attention to just how much she loves me for who I am now and not who she hopes I will be someday.  I often tell people that I don't look good on paper, which is very true, but Kelli looks past all of my issues from the past and see's me for who I am today.

    So when I expressed a desire to volunteer on these habitat projects for the month of February, instead of complaining that they will take up valuable time on the weekends she accepted my desire and understood why I wanted to do it.  Even yesterday, when she had the day off work on Vallentines day, she didn't complain that I had to work on the Habitat project. Instead she patiently waited for me to get home and we had the entire evening to enjoy each other's company.

     So I encourage each of you to take a minute and think about all that your significant other does for you on a daily basis.  I know it's easy to get caught up in the pace of life and take much of these little things for granted, but we all need to make the time to think about it and then express our appreciation to our loved ones for what they do.  It doesn't matter if it's your spouse, who your dating, best friend, sibling, parents, or anyone else, we all have at least one person in our lives who supports our every move and that person needs to know we appreciate them for their support as much as we need it!

Remember, one day you will look back and realize that the little things in life were actually the big things!

A good days work!

     This past weekend was easily one of the more special weekends in recent memory for me.  I answered the call to volunteer on behalf of our church to a Habitat for Humanity project in Deer Park!  As soon as I saw the announcement in the bulletin I knew I had to help out!  Our church has picked every Friday and Saturday in the month of February to send a group out to the project and this past Saturday was the first one.  There was about 20 of us there ranging in skill level all the way from never picked up a hammer before, to the do it yourself handyman.  On the way up there I didn't know what to expect, other than the obvious which was that it was going to be cold!  The thermometer in my truck on the drive up just solidified that thought.

     Once I got there they held a pre construction meeting where the CEO of Habitat told us a little about the oganization, just one of the many fascinating facts she shared was that the Spokane branch of Habitat is the fourth largest giving branch in the world, having given away over a million dollars a year to other build projects in the world!  We then had a moment of prayer for safety and warmth and we were off.  I volunteered to go outside and help put up soffit and facia which actually turned out to be a really good idea as then sun started warming things up very quickly!  Then I came inside and utilized my learned skills as a plumber to cut in roof vents for exhaust fans and run some duct work.  One of the coolest things was that the families who receive these homes are required to put in 500 hours of time on the projects so all day we got to know them as they were working right along side of us!

     Throughout the day as I worked I couldn't help but notice how joyful everyone seemed.  Even though the daytime high never rose very far above 20 everyone was scurrying around the site with smiles on their face!  As I noticed this I realized I had the same smile on my face, it was just then that I figured out why we were all there, especially me.  I have often told Kelli and others that I thoroughly enjoy working on projects around our house, or at a friends house way more than I ever did while collecting a paycheck for my work.  I think I finally figured out why that is, I am utilizing the skills God has given me to put a smile on someone else's face!  And there's really no better feeling than that!

     So this Friday when the temperatures are supposed to be around the same, and I am having trouble getting up the energy to make the 45 minute drive up to the project, I will remember those smiles on my fellow volunteers faces and the tears of happiness that some of the homeowners shared as they watch their very own home being built with love.  Thoughts like that should easily keep me motivated to keep on driving!

Remember, the greatest joys in life are often the reward for a kind action!

Finally, winter!

     For about the past 3 weeks our area has been under what the weather man is calling an inversion, I call it the wackiest winter weather I've ever seen, and this morning we finally woke up to a change for the good!  SNOW!!  

     I know it doesn't look like a lot, but it's still coming down and at about three inches it's nearly more than we've had any other time this year!  We still have the inversion but for some reason it's easier to cope with if there's fluffy white snow falling out of it!  Now if it will just break the chain we've had so far this winter and not warm up to 40 tomorrow turning all this beautiful snow into messy slush!  So as I joyfully watch the snow to continue to pile up I can't help but sing to myself, "I'm dreaming of a white Super Bowl!"

Remember, when life gets you down focus on transcending the BS to find the positives in every situation!

Part of a bigger plan

     As most of you who follow me on this blog already know I have been sober since my fateful day way back on December 6th 2002.  What you may not know is that I have maintained this sobriety largely on my own resources of my personal support group and not through Alcoholic's Anonymous.  As a matter of fact if you take away the meetings I attended while I was completing my outpatient treatment in Billings, I could probably count the number I've made it to on both hands.  I have always told everyone that my AA meeting is held every morning when I shave and run cross the Frankenstein looking scar on my neck, and when I go duck hunting and my neck gets sore from peering into the cold winter sky.  

     My dad has since become sober himself and he has been successful in his sobriety in a very large part due to his regular attendance of meetings.  He almost has it down to a science, having to travel a fair amount for work he has meetings all over the country that he goes to when he's in the area.  As happy as I am that he is sober, and that the AA system works for him, I still didn't feel like it was necessarily for me.  

     Part of the reason I think I felt this way was AA affiliates themselves with reconnecting ourselves with our maker and like many things they have adapted to modern culture and most of the meetings I have been to have replaced God with "a higher power".  What this meant was some of the meetings I've been to have people who attribute their sobriety not to turning their problems over to God, but to their wife, kids, motorcycle, dog, or any other "higher power".  Now I'm not saying this makes these peoples sobriety any less significant, I believe whatever works for you to stay healthy you should stick with it, but sitting in these meetings was hard for me as I firmly believe that I am living proof that our higher power is none other than God.

     So for the past 11 years I have mostly stayed away from these meetings, only going to an occasional one here and there with dad.  I had a real hard time talking myself into going to one on my own simply because I didn't really feel like I needed them.  Well about three weeks ago I had another series of events happen that once again proved to me that I am on a laid out path in this life and am being watched over by God.

     Kelli and I rented a movie called Thanks For Sharing which is a show about a group of addicts who all struggle with maintaining their sobriety.  This show really opened my eyes to my addiction because one of the characters has been sober for 15 years and a series of events caused him to come dangerously close to drinking.  The very next day at church there was an announcement in the bulletin for women suffering from abuse support groups at the church so I decided to check and see if they held an AA meeting.  They do have one every Thursday night and the best part is they follow AA's 12 steps, as well as the new testament and their entire meeting is centered around Christ!  The whole purpose of the meeting is the same as AA with the added benefit of strengthening your relationship with God!

     So I've went the last two weeks now and my time there has done nothing but prove that God has led me to that meeting for so many reasons!  I shared some stuff each night that guys have said has helped them and they needed to hear, and I've heard some stories that have helped me as well.  I have spent the past 11 years asking God why he chose me to get this second chance and I am starting to think part of the reason is little things like this meeting and using my story and life's experiences to help others find Him!  

Remember, all of us are on a set course in life, we just have to stop trying to find the shortcut and enjoy the ride!