I'm a pharmacological mess...

Well, where do I start? Somehow on the Mantrip I contacted Giardia. That's this nasty parasite that sometime's known in Mexico as "Montezuma's Revenge" (although I guess in this case, since I got it in the Weminuche Wilderness, it should be called Weminuche's Revenge). Basically it gives you major intestinal distress (trying to keep from being too specific so I don't gross you out). Well, since Elise and I are leaving in less than a week to backpack in the Rockies again, I decided that I should do something about it. So I called my friend, Dr. David Jackson and he got me a prescription of a nice drug called "flagyl" that's supposed to take care of the nasty little creature that's having a party in my intestines. I've talked to a couple of people who have taken flagyl and thay all complained that it made stuff taste like metal - that sounds like fun. Nothing like a mouthful of chicken-a-la-steel. On the other hand, hopefully the flagyl will keep me from any embarrasing backcountry moments. It's weird, I don't really know how I got Giardia. We filtered all of our water. The only thing I can think of is the one time I dunked my head into this nice creek to cool off. Lucky me, I guess I got one of the buggers on my mouth or something...

So, drug number two... Acetazolamide. This is a beautiful little drug that keeps me from experiencing altitude sickness. I don't really get it bad, but I do get the headaches every time I go to the "big mountains" if I don't take it. I take this drug for a couple of days before ascent and for a couple of days at altitude. This one has a strange taste issue as well... it makes all carbonated bevarages taste like alka-seltzer. No cokes while on this stuff.

On top of all of that, I have some strange sinus/allergy/cold thing going on, so I'm mooching off of Elise's Allegra supply. I'm not really sure if I have allergies or not - that all seems a little like voodoo to me. I'm also not sure Allegra or any of it's related allergy medicines even does anything. Sometimes I wonder if I would feel better if I just had a sugar pill.

Anyway, I'm putting my trust in the knowledgable pharmicist at Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market that all of these drugs won't interact and cause me to grow extra fingers and toes or lose my ability to chew or something else weird. I'll let you know if I have hallucinations or anything...

Hallowed Halls

It's a strange sensation, both familiar and foreign at the same time. I'm talking about walking onto my college campus (University of Oklahoma). This past weekend, we traveled to Oklahoma to celebrate Elise's brother's birthday (Nick) and go to an OU football game. Her family has 6 tickets among them, so each year, we pick 2-3 games to attend. This Saturday, OU played Oregon.

Back to the subject of the post... have you ever had that feeling? The feeling that you are somewhere that is extremely familiar - filled with memories, both vague and specific? That's part of what I experience each time that I step onto the campus. The sights, smells and sounds are ripe with memory. I thoroughly enjoyed my college experience and I love going back to campus each fall. (I don't really have the same opinion about high school - don't really have any desire to go back there.)

However, things change. I've changed - I've grown older and hopefully wiser. I now have children, a "career", a community of friends around me (more rich than any friendships I had in college). OU's campus has changed as well. In the past 4-5 years, they have undergone a massive fundraising campaign and building campaign. The esteemed former U.S. Senator, David Boren became president of the University sometime in the mid-90's and has engineered amazing growth at OU. The enrollment has shot up from 22,000 to 30,000. New buildings abound (new journalism building, new business building, stadium renovation and enlargement, new art building, new natural history museum, and even new music buildings). Since 1995, the construction projects on campus total a whopping $727 Million dollars!

When we were in college, we were involved at the Wesley Foundation (a weird name that sounds like a fundraising organization, but is in fact the Methodist College Ministry on campus). On Saturday we parked there and tailgated nearby (Elise's mom is a tailgating fiend - big tent, grill, chairs, etc.). It was a little weird to be in this building where I spent so many hours of my college career, but feel like a visitor. No one there (besides for the director) knows me. That's fine - it's their time now, not mine.

You know how it is, you expect things to be just like you remembered them. Of course, I wouldn't want to go back in time. I love my wife, my kids, my church, my friends. I'm actually excited about the change at OU - it indicates that good things are happening. It is still a little odd to be in a place that is so familiar and so foreign at the same time.

Or as Kip says, "your mom goes to college."

Details

Well, Andrew and I went to see Napoleon Dynamite again tonight after Community Group. I had heard that it was the last night for it to play, so we went to see it (it actually is playing for one more week).

I love movies like ND because you always see little funny details the second, third and fourth times around. Like tonight, I noticed a funny little detail in the bike jump scene. After Pedro's jump, the camera zooms in on Napoleon's face and he has this big long spiderweb hanging off of his hair. Lucky...

I'll definitely be purchasing the DVD when it comes out. I made the comment to Andrew that Jared Hess (director) may be the next Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums). Only time will tell. I read that he is working on his next film.

Maitlyn's Prayer

Maitlyn has just begun to pray on her own and in her own words. Here's a sample from the other night:
God, thank you for Elspeth, that she's such a beautiful girl.
God, thank you for Mommy, that she's such a beautiful girl.
God, thank you for Daddy, that he's such a handsome boy.
Thanks for my family. I love them very much.

Sweet, huh?

Ahhhh, sabbath. . .

God convicted me about something this summer.--I have dishonored Him by not keeping the Sabbath. Over the years, I have used my Christian freedom as an excuse to do many things on the Sabbath--to catch up on a little work (I do work for a church, so that's okay isn't it?), to catch up on laundry, to go grocery shopping, to clean my home, etc. By doing this, and by feeling that I needed just one more day to get all the to-do's in, I forgot that God wants me to stop and rest. By resting, I humbly recognize that I cannot do it all, that ultimately, my to-do's and the great to-do's of the universe are in His hands, not mine. By resting, I enjoy God's gracious goodness to me--check out Psalm 127--God grants sleep to those He loves. By resting, I acknowledge my dependence on Him. By resting, I remove at least a few of the daily distractions and focus on enjoying and worshiping Him in a special way on the Sabbath.

What does my Sabbath look like? It's a work in progress (or should I say, a rest in progress). I am working toward finishing everything that's necessary within my 6 days so that I don't have to shop or clean or do any major, usual chores on Sunday. I also try to avoid errands. I am working toward this. . .I'm not there yet. For instance, my menu planning this week wasn't so great, so I did have to run to the store for a couple items for dinner. Currently, I do cook on Sundays, just like normal, and I clean up the meal messes.

Of course, Sabbath is not primarily about what I don't do. My ultimate goal is to make Sunday a time of rest and celebration for me and the girls. Sunday should be the most anticipated day of the week. Right now, I use it to spend extended time in Bible-reading, prayer and journaling (while the kids are resting after lunch). I am currently brainstorming creative ideas for the girls to make Sunday fun and worshipful. Right now, we really talk up going to church and we stop by Sonic on the way for a special treat. Every good gift is from God, even Sonic Diet Cokes. Sunday is a day for me to slow down and wait on the Lord.

I am eagerly anticipating what God will do with our Sabbaths.

I caught you a delicious bass...

Napoleon Dynamite. Just go see it already.

Speaking of bass and waterways... Our church, The Grove had its first ever lake baptism at Lake Wedington this morning. It was a great time of fellowship and celebration. The best part is hearing all of the life change stories - each person shared their testimony before they were baptized. I also really like the idea of baptisms in a lake as opposed to a baptismal in a church, because it seems so much like what the early church did. We first hung out, ate Krispy Kreme

This is one of those events that makes it really feel like we are a church. The body together celebrating what God has done in our midst. Very cool.
donuts and OJ. Then at around 10:00, we gathered everyone up, the baptizees shared their testimonies and were baptized. Then everyone just hung out, played in the water, tossed frisbees and footballs and ate picnic lunches.

Feet

Brett and I can finally look forward to our fall backpacking trip to the beautful Rockies! We'll be seeing the Aspens in full gold and snuggling up in our sleeping bags on my first ever backcountry camping experience and multi-day hike. The reason this can happen (among others, of course) is that I got a go-ahead from the foot specialist today.

I have been slightly concerned about this strange bump on my right foot. It gives me a little bit of pain, nothing to complain about, but I was worried that I'd get out on the trail and aggravate it (whatever it was) and have a miserable time on our trip. I had 3 X rays taken (can't wait to see the bill on that), and the doctor said I had a break sometime a while back. (I have no recollection of any past injury. . .) There's still a little piece of bone kind of floating around in there, thus the bump. When I walk on uneven surfaces, as in hiking, the tendon in the area pulls the bone piece in a funny way and I get tendonitis. So. . .that's the scoop. But, the doc said I'm good to go.--Just make sure I have room for my foot to swell in my boot and take some aleve with me.

Starting to feel like autumn

It's a strange phenomenon. The high yesterday was 79 degrees, but for some reason it suddenly felt like autumn. I'm not really sure why. I mean, we spent a total of 5 weeks in Colorado this summer and our daytime highs were regularly around 79 and our lows were often in the 40's. But it never felt like autumn when we were there. Someone said they thought it was because we had low humidity yesterday. But, of course, our time in Colorado was marked by low humidity. Is it because the sun is in a different place in the sky? Is it because the trees smell a certain way this time of year? Is it all completely in my head?

I'd love to hear your opinion... if you even have one.

Not a bad finish

So Bowling Green was better than expected. In fact, they had the #3 offense in the NCAA last year and went 11-3. OU looked pretty good as well. Maybe not quite as impressive as I'd like (I prefer when we win 77-0), but a 40-24 win is still nice. The player that impressed me the most: Freshman running back Adrian Peterson (#28). He was the #1 HS player in the nation last year and looks to be a force to be reckoned with for several years. With the growth of Kejuan Jones as a RB and the addition of Peterson (and D.J. Wolfe, the #4 HS player in the nation last year), our offense is more balanced than ever.

I'll keep you posted each week as the rollercoaster ride that is college football continues.

A slow start

24-10 at the half. A bit of a slow start...

Boomer Sooner

Well, it's here. The beginning of College Football! I know, USC (posers) and Virginia Tech played the first "official" game last week, but this weekend is the first weekend when everyone is in action. As I type this, OU is getting ready to take the field to whip up on Bowling Green. Since OU is so highly ranked, their games are usually televised regardless of the opponent - today's game is on ABC. Everyone is saying that our team this year is probably even better than last year since we only lost a couple of starters. Hopefully we won't fall apart in the last 2 games of the season. I don't think I have the emotional capacity to survive another year like that. Boomer Sooner.

Diet Coke

I promise that not all of my posts will be about Elspeth's vocabulary, but I just want to share with the Blog world that my 17-month old daughter says, "Diet Coke", not that I allow her to drink any of it, mind you. . .Brett wonders if this means that I drink too much of the stuff. Hmmm. . .do you think?

Some Mantrip Pictures As Promised

Ready to hit the trail

Clouds over Goose Lake

Continental Divide Trail Sign

View on the Continental Divide Trail

Book Review--L'Abri by Edith Schaeffer

Just finished reading L'Abri, the incredible true story of a Christian fellowship that emerged in Switzerland in the 1950's. The purpose of L'Abri was/is "to show forth by demonstration, in our life and work, the existence of God." Francis Schaeffer and his family opened their lives and home to hundreds of people, over a period of many years, for discussion about absolute truth. People from all over the world, from every walk of life and every religious and non-relgious background came to their small chalet in a village in Switzerland. Many left believing in Jesus Christ and the truth of God's Word. As a ministry, L'Abri resolved never to plea for money (i.e. raise support). They made their needs known to God alone, and he provided. Also, they consistently prayed that God would bring the people of His choice to them. This book is a fascinating account of God's work in even the tiniest details to bring glory to Himself all over the world.