House Rules

By wisdom a house is built,
and through understanding it is established;
through knowledge its rooms are filled
with rare and beautiful treasures.
Proverbs 24:3-4

As part of the verification process for foster/adoption of CPS kids, we had to devise house rules to post so that when children come into our home, they will know what is expected of them. We decided to shy away from things like "No jumping on the furniture" and "No singing during meals." Instead, we thought we'd focus on what we should do to create the kind of atmosphere we want in our home. I think we can all benefit from knowing and posting house rules. Then our rare and beautiful treasures are peace and harmony. Here are our rules:


Isler House Rules

Use kind and caring words.

Treat others the way you want to be treated.

Be helpful.

Ask permission.

Clean up what you mess up.

How to Improve Handwriting for Reluctant Writers

I have had friends ask about how to handle reluctant writers, not kids who don't have creative writing abilities, but kids who struggle with the fine motor skills and mechanics of handwriting. I have three such children. With all the technology today and computer correspondence, how important is it to actaully learn handwriting? Typing is an essential skill for our children to learn, and I believe that creative writing assignments can be very effectively done on the computer. However, there is still a lot of value in learning handwriting skills. Think of all the things we do that require handwriting, including filling out forms, writing thank you notes, writing out scriptures for memorization, taking sermon notes, keeping a journal, completing college/job applications, etc.

My advice on how to handle reluctant writers comes from my experience with the Charlotte Mason techniques of copywork and dictation. We devote about 5-10 minutes per school day to copywork. I prepare a sheet in advance using http://www.worksheetworks.com/english/writing/handwriting.html. With this tool, I can choose print or cursive, font size, page orientation, and whether the passage will be copied (above, left) or traced (above, center). I find a Bible verse, a quotation, or a passage from a book using online resources, copy and paste it right onto the worksheet, print it and have the girls spend 5 minutes tracing or copying it to the best of their ability. I use a smaller font size for my older girls who have more experience with cursive writing. The goal is perfect execution, although "perfect" takes on different meanings for each child, according to his or her ability. For my son Will with his extreme motor delays (above, right), perfect is tracing each letter without too much scatter. Because this is a timed lesson, the kids know they only have to spend a very few minutes on it, and they are willing to give their best effort. They usually do not finish an entire passage the first or second day, but they pick up where they left off with the next lesson.

At the end of the week, I dictate the passage and the kids write it, to the best of their ability. Again, perfect execution is the goal, not only for handwriting, but also for spelling and punctuation. Before I dictate, we look at the passage and determine which words might be difficult to spell. I have the girls look these over until they have the correct spelling. Then they look over the punctuation. As I dictate, I say a short phrase only once, and I wait for them to finish writing before introducing hte next phrase. By not repeating phrases, I am cultivating the habit of attention. If a word is misspelled, I erase it and have them try again. Dictation takes only 10-15 minutes from start to finish.

So in just 30 minutes per week, you can improve handwriting and familiarize your kids with scriptures and great quotations and passages from literature. The key is to have short lessons and to strive for perfect execution. It's amazing how this short lesson spills over into other writing. Erin, my oldest reluctant writer, tries very hard to write well when she is copying scripture for memorization, especially because the card goes into a box used by the whole family. She takes her time and tries to form the letters perfectly. But again, the chunks are small enough that she is able to devote the attention and effort necessary to have a good product.

The bottom line is that you can have reluctant writers do as much of their writing assignments as possible on the computer but still improve their handwriting skills with a few short lessons during the week.

Dinner Around the World

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

Our latest adventure was the product of creative thinking and hard work. My daughter’s choir, the Children’s Chorus of San Antonio, had a silent auction last February and when I thought about how I could contribute, I decided I didn’t have lots of money or any particularly valuable items to donate, but I do have time and an ability to cook. So on the auction table went a Dinner Around the World for 8 people, including 5 courses with two dishes at each course and each dish from a different country or region of the world, to be prepared and served by the Isler Academy of Home Learning Adventures. The menu was:

Appetizers: Egyptian Melon Bowl Egypt
Garlic Pita Chips with Hummus Greece

Breads: Honey Wheatberry
Italian Herb

Salads: Bastille Salad France
Bean and Egg Salad Caribbean

Soups: Tortellini Soup Italy
Egg Drop Soup China

Main Dishes: Pork Adobo Philippines
Chicken Curry India

Desserts: German Apple Pie Germany
Cinnamon-Coconut-Swirl Ice Cream Africa

I watched as the bids mounted and topped out at $200, the highest bidder being the owner of a long-established music store in town.

After a few months, we finally coordinated our schedules and arranged to serve the dinner on Nov 7 in the home of the winning bidders, Mr. and Mrs. Flores. My girls and I shopped on Friday and began cooking that night. I spent the entire day Saturday preparing the meal, and there were many great learning experiences along the way.

We learned how to make rose water from our own roses, and we combined it with lemon juice, honey, and crushed mint leaves to pour over the fruit in the melon bowls. The added flavor gave the fruit a zing that was pleasing and refreshing, and so different from anything I’d ever had before!

We used food and herbs we had grown for some of the dishes – watermelon for the melon bowls, basil we had harvested earlier and dried for the Italian Herb bread, mint from the neighbor’s potted herb garden, and rose petals from Erin’s rose bush.

Hannah put her creative touch on the melon bowls, zig-zagging the edges of the melons to create a pleasing pattern.

All of us dressed in clothes from India – borrowed from a friend to add authenticity to our Dinner Around the World.

When we arrived at he Flores’ house, we went to work putting final touches on the dishes we’d been preparing all day. Mrs. Flores had a beautifully set table and fresh flowers were everywhere. I put the loaves in the oven to bake, filling the home with the irresistible smell of fresh-baked bread. I also assembled the German apple pie so it would release its enticing aroma as it baked.

When the guests arrived, they were served the melon bowl and pita chips with hummus on the patio. It was the perfect fall evening in San Antonio for enjoying the outdoors. As they chatted, the girls and I arranged the two salads on the salad plates and invited the guests inside for the remainder of the meal. We finished the Tortellini Soup and starting the Egg Drop Soup. Meanwhile, Pork Adobo was simmering in the Crock pot. Once the salads and then the soups were served, I cooked the Chicken Curry and the rice, and we arranged the main entrée plates with rice down the middle, the tangy reddish-brown adobo on one side, and the sweet and spicy creamy-yellow chicken curry on the other side. As the guests enjoyed the main course, we sliced and plated the still-warm pie and scooped up the cinnamon-coconut-swirl ice cream as its companion. Dessert was served with coffee, of course.

Amazingly, the evening went seamlessly from one course to another. The girls were delightful and charming, and the Dinner Around the world was a big hit around the Flores’ table. The Lord gave me the strength and stamina I needed to spend the entire day cooking and serving, and it was a true pleasure to serve alongside my sweet girls.

Take Time

I will praise the Lord.

Lord my God, you are very great.

You are dressed in glory and majesty.

You wrap yourself in light as if it were a robe.

You spread the heavens out like a tent.

Psalm 104:1-2

It is mid-September and after a brutal, drought-stricken summer with strings of days of temperatures over 100 degrees, the weather is cooling off and recent rains have restored color to our lawn and gardens. With pleasant temperatures throughout the day, we have more hours to spend enjoying the outdoors. Let's not forget to take the time to do so. Let's have picnic lunches on the now-green lawn and do read-alouds outside. Let's feel the warm - not hot - sun on our skin and feel the cool breeze whisper of God's love and freshness.

This morning Will woke me up at 6:30, telling me it was morning. I looked out the window with him, and although it was still dark, the sky was no longer night-black but pre-dawn deep blue. The sliver of moon hung just above the trees and a bright, bright star shone higher in the sky. A few minutes later I looked out and saw the golden-pink of the sunrise just starting to take over the horizon, so I called Will back into my room and showed it to him. At first we thought the moon had disappeared but then we saw it higher and fainter in the sky. The same star shone above it, its brightness being dulled by the rising sun.

Still later, around 7:30, Will said, "Mom, come look at this." Rushed though I was, I took the time to go see what he was looking at. He pointed at the stairs With the front door open, the sun was streaming through the storm door and casting its bright glow on the right side of the staircase. The orange-pink on the oak treads was just beautiful.

I thought to myself that if I had not taken time to show nature to Will earlier, he may have rushed past the golden sunshine and missed the fleeting beauty of the play of light on the staircase.

Let's not be too busy to miss these oppotunities. Moments like these, days like these, and years like these will be gone before we know it if we don't take the time to enjoy them.

I will sing to the Lord all my life.

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

May these thoughts of mine please him.

I find my joy in the Lord.

Psalm 104:33-34

I Want to Feel the Rain

Rain, depending on the intensity of it, can either represent God's showers of immediate blessings or the storms of life God sends our way to refine us and bless us in the future in ways we could not have imagined.

On a rainy morning in May of 2003, Chuck and I headed to the hospital to receive God's fourth little blessing into our lives. Never did we imagine the storm that had been brewing undetected for nine months. Our son Will was discovered just after birth to have a myleomeningocele, a hole in his spine, a condition more commonly known as Spina Bifida. With our baby life-flighted to another state for intensive neonatal care, Chuck and I plunged ourselves into this new world of being special needs parents. We learned a whole new language and a whole new way of caring for an infant. We also had a healthy dose of denial; when we took him home from the hospital 2 surgeries and 7 days later, we thought we'd get on with our normal lives.

That was not be.

Less than two weeks later, our baby was life-flighted back to the hospital in Birmingham for failure to thrive. As Chuck was walking to the car after Will was taken the second time, the rain fell lightly and the tears flowed freely. He did not know if Will would live or die. He was reminded of how Jacob spent a night wrestling for his blessing and he realized that Will would always have to wrestle for his blessing.

After the second hospitalization, we settled into a "new normal". No, things would not be the same, and they would not be as we had dreamed and planned, but we would survive. In fact we thrived, we flourished, but it took a tremendous amount of effort. Our new normal included docotr appointments, specialist appointments, therapy appointments, and 7-8 hours of time spent feeding our failure-to-thrive son each day.

Will got older, but his motor skills development was so far delayed. He smiled at 10 weeks. He laughed at 6 months. He crawled at 1 year. He did not talk, he could not stand, much less walk, and he could barely hold himself up. He made progress, but it was slow, slow, slow. He had 7 surgeries by the time he was 3 years old. His list of diagnoses kept growing longer.

At age 6, Will is walking with forearm crutches, talking so much - although he's difficult to understand - and starting to explore a world that has been largely inaccessible to him until now. For the first time ever, Will had grass stains on his socks from playing in the yard at the farm. Although he'd rahter be watching videos, he is beginning to interact with nature and take initiative with exploring. Last Saturday, a rain shower came up while we were at the farm house. Will said, "I want to feel the rain," and then he walked to the edge of the porch, held onto the rough cedar post, and extended his hand as far as he could to feel the rain. Then he moved to the porch steps so he could feel it with his whole body. He remarked with delight at the sensation of the rain coming down.

I took a mental picture of the moment - the outstretched arm, reaching out to embrace something new. I can still hear the sweet, sweet sound of his voice as he said, "I want to feel the rain."

Dear Lord, I want to feel the rain, too. I want not just your showers of blessings, but also the storms of life that shape me and refine and bring me blessings I never could have imagined. Blessings like Will. Give me the courage to stand in the rain and feel Your love pouring down, even through the pain.

Listen, O heavens, and I will speak;

hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
Let my teaching fall like rain

and my words descend like dew,

like showers on new grass,

like abundant rain on tender plants.

Deuteronomy 32:1-2

San Antonio is a dry climate, especially compared to Houston where I grew up. And this summer has been especially dry. Twenty-five of the last 30 days have been without rain, and the remaining five days yielded only 1/4 inch of rain. In that same time frame, we've had 23 days of temperatures above 100 degrees, and the lowest high in the other days was 95 degrees. Stage 2 drought restrictions are in place, meaning our use of water for landscaping and car washing is extremely limited. Even our carefully chosen xeriscape plants (high heat tolerant and drought resistant) are struggling.

Day after day we've been starting out in the upper 70s, hitting the 100s by 2 p.m. or so, and gradually cooling back down. The kids and I have modified our schedules so any gardening or outside work or play is done early in the day, then we sit inside where the air conditioning keeps us comfortable - that is until that inevitable time of day when our aging a/c unit can no longer cool and needs a break. We turn it off and let it rest for a while before turning it back on. This is the rhythm of our summer. We also have been swimming more, although we have to wait until 4 in the afternoon so we don't get overexposed to the sun.

It is so hot that yesterday, one of my daughters burned her bare feet as she walked out to the mailbox. This is a child who rarely wears shoes and who endures the ubiquitous stickers in our yard. But her feet were no match for the hot driveway yesterday. Even though she soaked them in a mop bucket filled with water cooled by an ice block, she still had difficulty walking on them. Another daughter checked our indoor/outdoor thermometer and exclaimed, "It's 108 degrees outside and the sky is cloudy!" (Disclaimer here: The thermometer reads high by 5 or 6 degrees in the afternoon because of its placement under the cabana eaves where heat tends to intensify at that time of day. Anyway, it was certainly hot!)

When I heard "cloudy", I felt an excitement and looked up the weather radar online. My excitement grew to great heights when the radar show rain - significant rain - heading our way! We all literally jumped for joy! It was another hour or two before the rain hit, but when it did, there were thousands of happy NW San Antonians! We got about 2 inches of rain in a couple of hours and people did not seem to mind getting soaking wet. In fact, some people purposefully stood out in the rain so they could feel the refreshing rain pouring down.

As I watched the rain falling from the sky and felt it wash over me, I kept singing the Todd Agnew song - "Hallelujah, Grace like rain falls down on me." For me, living in this dry climate has caused me to think of rain as a true blessing from God. I never cease to be amazed at how God's outpouring of rain so far exceeds man's humble attempts to water the landscape. In just a few minutes, God's rain quenches the thirsty ground far more than a day's worth of man's intricate sprinkler systems.

Just as God's showers refresh the ground, so His outpouring of grace and love refresh the thirsty soul. I think sometimes we are like the people in a parched land, hoping for relief, when we don't realize that God is just waiting to refresh us with His goodness. Will we stand ready, with outstretched arms, ready for His downpour?

I will proclaim the name of the LORD.

Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
He is the Rock, his works are perfect,

and all his ways are just.

A faithful God who does no wrong,

upright and just is he.

Deuteronomy 32:3-4

Promotion Day

Her husband is respected at the city gate,

where he takes his seat among the elders of the land. Proverbs 31:23

Some would say it was 13 years in the making, but I believe it was a lifetime. In 1996, my husband began his Air Force career as a Captain, and after serving as a Major for 6 years, he was promoted on July 31, 2009 to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. There were about 70 people in the standing-room only audience as Chuck was not only congratulated but also honored - honored for his service, and, more importantly, honored for the man he is: loyal, dedicated, hard-working, productive, innovative, and caring. What a privilege it was for me to witness the praise given him and to know that it is because of God's favor bestowed on him that he is viewed so favorably by others.

The kind of character that is my husband does not develop overnight. It is shaped and molded from the time of birth, influenced by parents, peers, siblings, circumstances, teachers, and by the Holy Spirit of God. It is tried and tested, tweaked and transformed, bit by bit until we are called home to glory.

I have had the awesome privilege of watching that character develop for the past 19 years. I have the delight of living with this man who is so highly favored. I know him better than any other living person, and I love him dearly and enjoy him immensely. Is he perfect? No, but he is perfect for me.

One of the great things about Chuck is his humility. On February 16, 1991, he got down on one knee and asked,"Will you marry me and be my wife?" He had no idea how prophetic his words were as I accepted his proposal and began to change my identity from "Miss Independent" to "Mrs. Isler". I have found more joy in giving my self away and serving Chuck and our children than I ever would have found trying to please myself. Serving a humble man is a pleasure and a privilege.

In humility and love, Chuck once again bowed his knee - after being commissioned to a higher rank - so that his children could take part in pinning on his new rank. Rather than having them struggle to get to his level, he humbled himself, going down on one knee so he could get to their level and they could thereby share in his glory. Great men do that. They give up their power and position to come down to the level of those around them. Chuck learned this from the greatest man who ever lived.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Philippians 2:5-8

Eighty is Great

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;

but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Proverbs 31:30

Eight decades ago, a remarkable woman came into this world. Of course she was just a baby then, born of humble beginnings to a sharecropper and his wife in rural Loiusiana just months before the start of the Great Depression. She grew up poor, walking miles to school, helping in the fields. She excelled in school and went on to nursing school, leaving her rural life behind. She not only gained a nursing degree, but she also gained a husband and began her adult life as a working mom to the six children born to her over the next 17 years.

I am incredibly blessed to be one of the children (#5) born to this woman, my mother, Doris Lewis, aka Granny.

My mom has taught me more about serving others and giving sacrificially than any other woman I know. She also has taught me how to work hard, how to create things, like meals and clothing, with my hands, and how to be there when others need help and support. She has taught me to be thrifty and sensible, faithful to God, and loyal to my family - even when they let me down.

Her children arise and call her blessed.

Proverbs 31:28

I am only one of many, many people positively impacted by my mother. At her surprise 80th birthday party, we listed the things we love about her. The list was long and heart-felt, and even the newest members to the family (by marriage) had incredible things to say about her. Nineteen of the 27 people at the gathering would not exist if it weren't for my mother, and my husband insists that although he is not her descendant, he wouldn't exist without her either.

I thank God for a godly mother and the direct impact she has on my life and the indirect impact she has on everyone that her children and grandchildren meet because of her influence on us. The wisdom of her life well-lived inspires me to humble myself before God and be used for His glory, not for mine, to find joy in the simple things, and to be content with what I have.

Many women do noble things,

but you surpass them all.

Proverbs 31:29

Kitchen Repairs

Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones,

ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;

worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

The voice of the LORD is over the waters;

the God of glory thunders, the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.

The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;

the LORD is enthroned as King forever.

The LORD gives strength to his people;

the LORD blesses his people with peace.

Psalm 29:1-3, 10-11

I just love the way God is in control of our circumstances and our lives. We returned from a trip over the July 4th weekend to find that our downstairs was flooded from a leaking water filter at the kitchen sink. We came home on Monday instead of Tuesday because I remembered the girls had orthodontist appointments Tuesday morning. Since we cut our trip short, the waters were confined to the tiled areas and the garage. We used a wet-vac to get the water up. It was about an inch deep in some parts of the kitchen. Even though the water traveled down the hallway and into the library/school room, it was confined to the half of the room where we do not have any books stored. It stopped short of the stairs leading down to the living room where we have a laminate floor, although we later noticed the floor buckling from moisture that traveled down the wall. As Chuck and I were cleaning up the water, we felt so blessed to have come home and found the flood when we did. We were able to stop the leak by simply turning off the cold water valve under the sink until we could get a plumber out to change the fitting.

When the insurance adjuster came, she quickly but thoroughly assessed the damage, wrote an estimate, and got us on our way to getting the cabinets and drywall repaired. The cabinet guy came yesterday and removed the all-wood faces from the cabinets and took measurements so he can build new cabinets to match the uppers. My kitchen is in disarray, as the before and after pictures above show, I have family coming to visit in one week, and my living room floor is scheduled to be removed tomorrow so the slab can dry out, but I know that God is in control; He sits enthroned over the flood, He gives strength to His people, and He blesses us with peace - no matter what the circumstance.

The Tiniest Peach

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Psalm 1:3

When we bought our home in San Antonio 5 years ago, there was a peach tree in the front side yard. It takes effort to care for this tree in our drought-prone climate, as it is not close to the house or to a frequently-used water faucet. In fact, the tree has died, twice. On its third incarnation, our daughter Erin claimed it as her own and began to take personal responsibility for its care. At times, she needed to be reminded to water it, and at times she left the water running as she got distracted with other things. But her individualized care for this fragile tree finally yielded fruit - one, lone, tiny peach (pictured above in Erin's hand). She picked the peach yesterday and proudly brought the fruit of her labor inside, asking who wanted to eat it. I quickly volunteered. I took one small bite and my mouth was FILLED with the sweetest, best-tasting peach I had ever eaten! My reaction was so great that each of the girls wanted to try it, and we took turns sharing the tiniest bites from the tiniest peach. We all agreed that there had never been a finer peach. Its taste stayed with me for a long time.

How like this peach is the fruit of the Holy Spirit! When we regularly water the tree God planted within us, it yields sweet fruit - fruit that others want to taste, fruit that we cannot keep from sharing, fruit that brings lasting results. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control spill out, enriching and enhancing the lives around us. Let's wash our lives with the water of the Word of God today and fill our homes with the sweetness of the fruit of the Holy Spirit!

Today's Adventure: Grocery Shopping

I do most of my grocery shopping at the commissary, taking advantage of one of our many military benefits. It's a 20-minute drive to the store, so I only go every other week or so. In order to maximize my effort, I have created a shopping list that includes the items we purchase, arranged by aisle. I go through the list and check off the items we need. I also have my coupons organized by aisle. Usually I look through the coupons before I go and pull out the ones I am most likely to use that day. When I check an item on the list for which I have a coupon, I place a "C" beside it to remind me that I have a coupon for it.

I also have on the checklist items I typically buy at HEB - tortillas, soy milk, some store brand or generic items that are cheaper there. We pass by HEB on our way home from anywhere, so it makes sense to go there for the items we need in between trips to the commissary.

Some might say Wal-Mart is cheaper than HEB, but I have found that any trip to Wal-Mart encourages buying unnecessary non-grocery items because they are so cheap. Well, those inexpensive, unnecessary items add up to a lot of money needlessly spent.

Others like shopping at wholesale clubs, buying items in bulk. Whereas this might make sense if you have a large family, I believe buying in bulk really just encourages consuming in bulk, whether it's food, paper goods, or whatever. Also, the wholesale clubs sell lots of unnecessary items that people buy up because they are "such good deals".

Smart shoppers only spend money they already have, buy just what's necessary, splurge when they've saved money for it, and use cash so they can feel the impact of their purchases. let's be smart shoppers today!

Adventures in the White Mountains

I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1-2

In June we sought refuge from the Texas heat in the White Mountain Wilderness near Ruidoso, NM. After dropping Will off at camp, we drove most of the night, arriving to the very chilly mountain air and quickly donning our fleece. We slept in our car until 7 a.m. or so and after a great camp breakfast, we drove to the trail head and started our hike. Our girls had never backpacked, so we went at a nice slow pace and Chuck and I carried more of the weight to give them easier loads.

A couple of hours into our hike (mostly uphill), we started to feel raindrops. Before we could get our rain gear secured on our bodies and our packs, it was raining fairly steadily. We continued on the trail, hoping for a break in the rain and looking for a good spot to set up camp. Every spot we saw was both too close to the trail and too close to the water. After another hour or so with no flat ground away from the trail, we settled on a spot too close to the water and too close to the trail, and we pitched our tents. It had stopped raining, thankfully, and the girls were happy playing at the stream. (It's okay to get wet when you decide how wet you want to get, I guess.) Their laughter and joy created a harmony with the babbling stream that made the uphill journey in the rain worthwhile.

We had rice & beans for dinner, and then Chuck and I put all the food in bear bags - bags hung high enough that bears cannot get to them. We weren't so much worried about bears, but we have had other little critters (mice, squirrels) get to our food. We had seen a little mouse at the campsite and just did not want to chance losing any of our eats.

We sat around and told stories until dark and then settled in to sleep. I have a very hard time sleeping well on the ground so I woke up frequently. I saw lots of stars in the narrow slice of sky that could be observed from our spot in the ravine. I was thankful that it did not rain again in the night. I was the first one up in the morning so I decided to walk a bit further down the path to see what the trail would be like. Not thirty feet from our tents I saw a pile of FRESH bear scat. I wasn't sure it was bear scat but I knew it wasn't from an animal in the deer family and it was much too big to have come from a dog-sized animal. As I went along, I noticed rocks the size of melons that had been overturned. This continued for quite a way up the path. Since bears are known to overturn rocks to hunt for bugs and since bears have large scat, I had to conclude that a bear had passed VERY close to our tents while we slept. Nothing was disturbed in the campsite and the food was untouched.

He will not let your foot slip—

he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

Psalm 121:3-4

We had a leisurely breakfast and the girls went back to the stream while our clothes and gear dried out in the sun that had peeked over the mountain ridge. We loaded up our packs and headed back out on the trail. Our goal was to make it to the ridge and join with the Crest Trail, but about half an hour into our hike, we felt raindrops. This time we donned our rain gear before we got too wet, but it was to no avail. The rain was so heavy and steady that we eventually were soaked to the skin. We couldn't even find sufficient shelter under the giant trees. We dropped our packs near a potential campsite and ate lunch in the rain.

We huddled together until the rain let up a bit and then we headed, packless, up the trail to see how far we could get. We passed through an old growth forest and saw more evidence of bear - claw marks on trees. We climbed over, under, and around numerous trees that had fallen across the trail. We pressed on. Chuck knew my heart's desire to get to the top and he was committed to helping me reach my goal. But alas, the trail became too difficult to travel or to find and by 3 pm the rain had started again so we returned to our soggy packs to set up a soggy campsite.

Chuck managed to prepare dinner while Erin held out her rain pancho over the camp stove. Then he persisted until he got a campfire going, using the camp stove to ignite kindling and blowing like crazy until the pile finally caught fire. We warmed ourselves and tried to dry out our clothes, jackets, socks, and boots. We stoked the fire and enjoyed its heat until the sun went down and we turned in. Hannah said she heard a bear in the night. The next morning the sun teased us, but by 9:00 it was raining again. We were so besodden that we decided to hike out a day early.

The hike downhill was much quicker, and we made one last stop at the stream the girls had enjoyed so much. Chuck and I reclined on a giant boulder and listened to the sounds of the stream, the girls, the birds, and then we watched the sunny sky become foreboding. We strapped our packs back on and practically ran the last 10 minutes to the car, arriving just in time to load up our gear and ourselves before the downpour began. This time we had the luxury of watching it from the shelter of our trusty van.

The LORD watches over you—

the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

Psalm 121:5-6

Chuck was still committed to getting me to the top, so he drove us about 20 miles to a spot just 5 geographical miles from where we had been. From the Monjeau Lookout, we could see the mountains shrouded in clouds. The Park Service Ranger told us the rains, which usually come around July 4th, had come early this year. Great for them, but not so great for us. It was 55 degrees and spitting rain when Chuck and I set foot on the Crest Trail, only walking a hundred yards or so, but dreaming of the day we could return and really enjoy these mountains.

We left the rain and elevation behind and drove to Carlsbad. Despite the girls' protests about sleeping in the tents again, we camped at Brantley Lake State Park. Within minutes of setting up the tents, they were dry in Carlsbad's hot desert climate. We draped the rest of the gear over a rock wall and it was soon dry as well. Whereas we had only seen evidence of wildlife in the mountains, here we saw an abundance of actual wildlife - jackrabbits, roadrunners, skunks, lizards, tarantulas, but nothing as big as a bear! We enjoyed a sunset dinner and took a night hike under the expansive sky. The millions of stars felt near enough to touch. We saw shooting stars and satellites moving across the sky. Despite the threat of skunks that had been sniffing around our tent and of creepy crawlies that we'd seen scurrying about, we slept in tents wide open under the stars.

The LORD will keep you from all harm—

he will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore.

Psalm 121:7-8

Blogging - A New Adventure

Every day holds a new adventure if we are willing to find it. Today my new adventure is blogging. After years of being encouraged by my sweetie to blog, I have finally taken the leap into the cyberworld of sharing my thoughts, views, inspirations, joys, and pains in my very own blogspot. My prayer is that you will be encouraged and God will be glorified through this blog.