When You Gotta have a hoagie....

So today I am in Philly. I stopped into a Wawa that Cath and I used to go to every so often. And there is something fond and familiar about hearing "62" shouted out and knowing that means my shorti italian is ready. I said thank you to which I received a, "umhu take care baby." I could have laughed out loud. I have missed being called "baby" by large African American women on regular basis. That just doesn't happen in Montana...ever. It is fun to be in a place that was home for so long. And it is lonely. I am just a visitor. No longer a local, and not a part of life in this place. I pass time doing my home work and making sure my next few meetings are still planning on getting together. It is a different existence.

A little too long...

So it has been a while since we have posted anything up here. A little too long... but there is no time like the present. I am at campus right now. It is 7:30am and I have a Statistics class here is a few minutes. Most of my mornings come early now and I leave the house before Cathy or Mayne is up. I generally come into campus' library and do any printing or checking for new homework assignments and then head to class. I sit in the back. Mostly because I feel like the old guy. I am the only one with a wedding ring on my finger and pictures of my daughter on the outside of my binder. I lead a very different lifestyle than most of the students in my classes. My nightlife interests are playing with Mayne and getting some time with Cath. The rest of my classmates are more concerned with things like which bar should we hit.

A few weeks ago I realized that taking classes provides me with a consistent interaction with people of different values than I have. And this is the first time in my life that this has existed. I had a good amount of interaction with customer during my years in Philly but most of those interactions were limited to a max of one week. I am in a marketing class that has a ton of group work. Yesterday we choose groups and I am in a group with three girls. Our group formed mostly because we all have significant day time commitments. We are going to do a case study and make a marketing strategy for the Wilderness program at YAA. So there will be opportunity to share what my values in life are and why I structure my program the way I do. And I am left to wonder where they are at on their spiritual journey....as we are all on a journey!

Christmas Day!

Christmas day was spent with my family in northern Maine. Dad had to do his yearly Christmas eve service and so he and Seth sent mom, myself and Mayne north early because of forcasted bad weather and they headed up after the service. The 3 hour trip took about 5 hours because of severe icing. It was crazy bad weather but God kept them safe and gave them some sweet conversation at the same time. Seth mentioned that it was one of his favorite time in being back east. Here are a few glimpses of Christmas at our place!

Traditions...

One of our family traditions is a christmas season lobster feed. Seth loves it since lobster is hard to come by in Montana. I seem to be the only one who doesn't join in the lobster tasting (but i always help to pick the bodies). It is a great time. Even the little ones are now getting in on the action. (Then their are the naps that inevitably follow a good meal) Mayne and Papa just making the most of thier time together!

Christmas with Family in Mass

On The East Coast Again..

Here are a few glimpses into our time on the East Coast. We headed back around the 2nd week of December to spend time with family over the holidays and to connect with supporters and friends. The time was filled with many hours of travel and countless conversations of camp and what is going on in our lives (can you tell that it was getting old talking about ourselves)...but it was also filled with fun Christmas memories with family and many sweet interactions with old friends and people who are incredibly supported and invested in the ministry of Yellowstone Alliance Adventures.

Well too much time has gone by since our last post. We have had a busy two months. November we went to Vegas to visit family and to LA to see my brothers. As soon as we got back from that Josh and Lauren came out to MT to help with a remodeling of the Hawthorne kitchen. That project took nine days over the Thanksgiving week and weekends, and was crazy. But it was great to work with Josh again and Lauren was an incredible help to Cathy. A few days after that we left for PA on Dec. 10th. Our first 5 days was in the Philly area meeting with supporters and friends. Every breakfast, lunch, dinner, and evening was with a different individual or family. It was great fun seeing people and exhausting at the same time. We left Philly for Chief Chuck's house and spent the night with him. It is refreshing to be with him and talk shop. Chuck has done so many things in camping it makes it easy for him to understand our lives and offer sound advice. We left Chuck's and went to Chief Ron's house where we had the afternoon with Ron, Ann, and the Hoffmans. From there we headed to Mass. We stayed with my parents for four days. Spent time hanging out with my mom, brother, and sisters. It was fun to be with them. Mitch and I spent a little bit of time getting pretty good at Rockband. I feel like about once a year it is refreshing to mindlessly expend several hours of the day playing video games. So I have had my binge for the next year. From there we went up to mid Maine and had a few days with Cathy's parents. We updated Gerry's church family on what we have been doing for the last year and had a few days of slower paced life with the Dill's. Christmas eve Gerry and I drove north to Cathy's sister's in some of the worst conditions I have ever been on the road in. We did however have one of the best conversations we have ever had. Mostly we talked about communicating the heart of God. It was very encouraging to me. Christmas came and went. Gifts were given and received. And the last two days have been full of my niece and nephews trying to use all of their new toys in one day.

Now I am sitting here writing thinking how crazy it is that the year is almost over. But breakfast is ready and i feel like my insides are starting to eat themselves...so until later.