If only we could capture smells

Do you have an all time favorite smell? For me there are many but one that I'm not sure you can top is the way the air smells at Hume Lake. I arrived up here Monday evening, stepped out of the car and the very first thing on my list of things to do is get a great big sniff of this FANTASTIC mountain air. Oh it was amazing. A couple days later I took a walk around the lake. It may have been my longest time on record for completing the almost 3 mile trail. I would walk a while, catch a whiff, stop and draw in a long breath through my nose, take in the sights and then begin my walk again. The whole time I kept thinking how you can capture sounds and images but not smells. People have done their best to recreate smells and have come very close on a lot of fragrances. But they've never come close to the smell of the Hume Lake air. I love it! :)

Hume has been so relaxing. I've slept about 10 hours every night. I've checked some of my administrative to do's off my list and had some refreshing fellowship with some friends. I've also really enjoyed my study of the Word.

As I studied today I was reading about David when he was preparing to fight Goliath. He was suited up with armor and sword. The armor was not a good fit for him and was not able to even walk. So he removed the armor, picked up 5 stones and went out to defeat the giant.

I felt like the Lord revealed to me that we've all been equipped with our "sling shots".... our talents and we need to be using those gifts to do battle. First we need to embrace out gifts and use them how God desires us to use them. I can't fight a sling shot battle with a sword!!!

We need to put our talents to practice to better the world around us! The thing is David didn't wake up that morning with the bright idea that maybe a sling shot was the best weapon to fight Goliath. He knew he could use that tool to fight because he had practiced almost everyday of his life. We need to be exercising our gifts constantly so that when the time comes we can be ready to serve the Lord to the best of our ability.

Well.... that's where my heart and my brain have been today.... :) Here's a pic of the beautiful sunset this evening! I wish you could smell it too!!! :)

Greetings

Greetings from the road! :) Currently I am on an Amtrak train traveling from Los Angeles to Fresno.

These last few weeks have been a bit chaotic. Good but chaotic. :) I have to say on Sunday Nov. 2nd I had a milestone moment. :) After two all nighters in a row, packing, and saying goodbye I took an inner island flight to Oahu (BTW... I took a 6:30am inner island flight and the sunrise was outstanding!!! What a great way to start an adventure!). I sat down at my gate in Honolulu and realized that I couldn't remember a moment in my life where I felt more exhausted.... EVER!!!! (Leeann your card in that moment was PERFECT!!!) All I wanted to do was lay down on the floor of the airport and sleep... who cares.... they can put me on another flight! Thank goodness my wait time was short or I might still be there sleeping! :)

After arriving in LA a friend picked me up and brought me to her house. She was having a party at her house. The tables were decorated with orchids and they were serving Ox Tail soup and a few other Filipino dishes. I had to laugh. It felt like I had never left Maui. :)

Today I woke up and wanted to sleep for another 10 hours but NO CAN! I needed to apply for a Visa to enter Brazil so I was off to the bus station. My friend Edna was so sweet to escort me down to the Brazilian Consulate. We took city buses around LA to get there! :) It was so much fun. Growing up in Eastern Oregon the only city bus I had experienced was on TV. This experience did not disappoint!!! The unusual people and the city zipping by.... oh man I could hang out there all day!

For now I've dropped off my application and passport. The only thing left is to wait. So my current prayer request is that everyone would pray that there are no hang ups with my visa. I am supposed to pick up my passport on Nov. 13th by noon and I need to be at the airport that night around 9pm. There is no room for any craziness! :)

Well I love you all and I'm having lots of fun so far. :) I will do my best to update as often as possible! :)

Aloha!

Last day at work

I finished my last day at work today. I feel happy and sad. Happy that I don't have to harass the tourists to get their picture taken while at dinner. Sad that I'm saying good-bye to friends. The end of one chapter and the beginning of another. Of course it makes me think of that Robert Frost poem.... Okay... here it is. :)

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black,
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back,

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence;
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference.
***
Seems very appropriate today!

Another Quote

Here's two great quotes from the Lord of the Rings....

Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened. Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."

Those seem appropriate for today! :) I'm excited about walking out my door and being swept off somewhere.... AND.... I need to decide what to do with little time that has been give to me in my life! :)

Each day I grow more and more excited about my trip!!! :) Today a friend called and asked if I could teach a basic photography seminar to some missionaries in Colombia!!! I am soooo excited and a little overwhelmed. I need to pray that the Lord will show me what will be the most helpful things to share and that I will be able to present those things in the best possible way! :) I am soooo thrilled at the thought of the Lord using my talents!!!! :) :) :)

Okay folks here is my prayer request for today.... please pray that I will be able to sell my car and for a good price before I leave. :) I've got about 12 days!!! Our God delights in coming through in impossible situations so lets watch Him do what He does best!!!! :)

Okay signing out! :)

Todays Inspiration

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt

Two Weeks

Hey Folks!!!!

TWO WEEKS TILL LIFT OFF!!!!!! Not much more to say for now other than there is so much to do!!! :)

Hasta!!! :)

Headed in the Right Direction

Today a couple hours after I purchased my plane ticket I ate lunch at Panda Express and my fortune in my fortune cookie said, "You are headed in the right direction"

I know that you can't live by trusting your fate to a by chance encounter with a cookie containing your fortune. But that is just down right funny!!!! I love my God's sense of humor!!!