Time with Burke

We have gotten to spend some wonderful time with Burke and Adam and Kirstin lately. Burke spent the night Wednesday night and we had a great time and laughed a lot. He is just so much fun.

He is very verbal and we don't always know what he is talking about but the one name that he always gets right is Papa-and Papa loves it. These times are so precious and bring such joy to our hearts.

Frontier Ranch 1969

The summer of 1969 has been called the summer of love. Forty years ago thousands of people flooded into a music festival now known as Woodstock. But for a 16 year old girl from Texas, August of 1969 was truly a summer of love. While others were celebrating at Woodstock, I was being drawn to Christ at Frontier Ranch.

Young Life started my sophomore year at Rider High School in Wichita Falls, Texas, through the efforts of Bob and Gloria Seabury and others who had a vision for bringing Young Life to our town.

When it came time to sign up for camp that first year, I knew that I wanted to be on that bus. The problem was that my parents could not afford to send me. When I found out that there were 10 scholarships available and that I could go to camp for $50, my parents agreed to let me go. I got the last scholarship left!

I often think about the people who made that trip possible and would love for them to know that because of their generosity a young girl came to Christ, went on work crew the next summer, summer staff the next summer and began as a Young Life leader her freshman year in college and now 40 years later still works in a Young Life club sharing the gospel with high school kids in club, campaigners and cabin time.

As I sit on the deck of the Kachina this August, remembering and reflecting, eternally grateful for their gift, I would love for them to know that my life has never been the same and that thousands of teenagers have heard the good news of God's amazing love because of their gift.
I have truly been blessed by all the lives God has let me be a part of and have had the incredible privilege of getting to be a part of God's work in the lives of high school kids. It has been a great 40 years!

Lake City

Lake San Cristobal

The Whole Gang

What a fisherman!

Ghost Dog

Mark teaches Leslie to fly fish

By the stream

Ooops, Burke fell in!

There are lots of pictures that I wanted to put up because this was such a bittersweet week in Lake City. There was lots of laughter, tears, memories, stories told and retold, good food, fellowship, lots of ice cream and reminders of what lies ahead.

This was the first vacation that we have gotten to be with Aaron, Leslie, Adam, Kirstin and Burke all together in Lake City. Add to that our old and dear friends, Steve and Paula, their daughter, Jenni, son-in-law, Steve and grand kids, Bennett and Ana. We enjoyed having them all together so much and it was so much more special knowing that this will most likely be the last time for all of us to be together.

Mark, of course, can fish under any condition, circumstance or health issue. He has no balance, walks with a cane, can no longer wade in the stream and can not stand very long, but he can out fish everyone every time!! He caught a 19 inch brown trout on the side of the road without a net and managed somehow to get him on land and not lose him in the process. Amazing! I on the other hand couldn't seem to catch anything big enough to keep.

Burke, had an unexpected dip in the stream. He was walking on some rocks in a flat area by the water and lost his balance and fell in - into the mud, water and moss. Not so fun in the very cold water!

Aaron had a rough start to the week - spending several hours in the local medical clinic being treated for pneumonia. He finally got some new medications and was feeling better after a few days time.

I put the picture of the Ghost Dog up there because for the last several years every time I go for a walk up to the cemetery behind Rocky Top Lodge this dog will come out of the woods and walk with me and when we are done she will go back. I have loved her company and everyone always said that she wasn't real because they never saw her. But this year everybody saw her. What a great dog - I have asked over the years all along the road who she belongs to and no one has claimed her! I just think that she has been God's special gift to me and I treasure the walks together.

I walk to the cemetery because I have always loved the quiet beauty of the place. It is a primitive, natural spot up on a hill side under huge trees. This is the place that we have chosen to be buried and so this time we met with the county treasurer one morning to pick out our places. We picked out a beautiful spot under two big trees. Because we have spent so much time in Lake City over the years and have such wonderful memories of our times there with family and friends, it was a natural choice for us. I wrote on Caring Bridge that even though I know that we won't really be there, that we wanted a place to mark that we had lived. I love to read the headstones in the cemetery there and see a small part of the history of this place that we love.

We were talking about how many of us there, Mark had taught to fish. Almost everyone! And now Leslie has had a turn at learning from a great man and fisherman. We don't know if she will continue to fish or not but at least she has had a chance to be a part of a long line of students.

Lake City has been the tradition of our family for over 30 years. We have been there with our parents, aunts and uncles, cousins, siblings, kids, now grand son, and friends. We have made great friends there - the Merediths who owned the Texan Resort where we stayed for many years before they sold it; the Hartmans who own the Soda Fountain where we have eaten way too much ice cream; the Inges who own Rocky Top Lodge where we have stayed for the last five or so years; Dan and Marion who own Dan's Fly Shop where we spend a lot of our money on flies and lots of gadgets for me!; Chris and Ken Carter who raise Cairn Terriers and many others. They have all become very dear to us and we feel like we are home while we are there. I know that many of them are praying for us and we are so grateful.

So, all in all it was a great week - hard but good. I know that it will be a week that we will all look back on with great joy and with memories of God's great goodness, kindness and amazing love.