Feel the Burn

I do! Yesterday Joy and I decided to get out and enjoy the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest, so I found a good hike for us to go on. It took quite a while to even find the place, but we finally did, ate a little lunch and were on our way. Somehow I missed the whole fact that even though the hike is really short (only 2.5 miles to the top), the trail gained 2,000 feet in that distance. The last half mile was flat, meaning that the trail gained 1,000 feet every mile! It was like the never ending stair master! Nevertheless, I made the trek to the top in about 45 minutes, although I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest! The views of Mt. St. Helens were exceptional though.

I thought the way down would be an easy hike, but oh no, the trail was so steep we had to go slower than we did on the way up. My legs were literally shaking by the time we got back to the car. I guess it was a good workout though! We had fun; it was nice to get out of the house and smell the pine!

Most of the rest of the weekend was spent (at least for me) working on our cars. They both needed oil changes and they both have "check engine" lights on (well they did). I decided to focus my attention on the Honda, the one we drive the most. It seems that the EGR system was all clogged up. So I spent a couple hours unclogging it, and everything seems to work fine now. No more light.

We also are excited to share that we got another supporting church, thanks in large part to Joy's sister--she went to the church and made a presentation on our behalf! With their support, we are now over 18%. We have a big open house tomorrow where we'll be giving our presentation probably more than once, because we were expecting around 30 people, but it's going to be more like 100! We're in for another busy week of meetings, presentations, phone calls, and letters! We remain encouraged and can see God's hand guiding our efforts daily. Our next newsletter is almost ready for release, just a few more days until it's hot off the press and into your hands!

Have a great week!