Big Trip Leg 2 - Creston, CA to Eugene, OR

Family pic with Grandpa and Grandma Mollett.

Boys with Uncle Ray, Aunt Connie, Jeremy and Heather.

We met Aunt Patty for lunch and some relaxing in the sun. Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco.

"Look Mom, Look Dad!...Alcatraz!"

This tree was over 300 years old when Jesus was born. And we drove thru it! Why?, well it was a 70's and 80's fad but the hole is still there, so why not!

Avenue of the Giants, Redwood National Park

Action Shot - Countless Rocks, a lighthouse, a few gallons of water, that's just a lot of fun Calif North coast near the Oregon border.

This is southern Oregon. Where is my kayak?

We spent the night with Uncle Ron and Aunt Marg in Eugene, OR. They have a very cool back yard.

Arts and crafts time with Uncle Ron and Aunt Marg.

Big Trip Leg 1

From May 29th to June 16th this summer, my family took a mega trip out west. We planned to visit all of Jamie and my seven living Grandparents and several National parks. It was a good trip. I will post a photo chronicle of the trip in three installments. This is the first.This is how we roll! Taking a break at a city park in Colby, KS. Notice the Big Wheel strapped on the back, very cool.

We spent the night with friends, Kris and Lori Bockting in Parker, CO.

Taking an evening hike near where we camped in Sylvan Lake State Park, Colorado

Isaac and I took a nice hike in Arches National Park, Utah. We stayed at a nice campground in Moab, UT near the entrance of the park.

The wildlife museum in our hotel, Majestic View Lodge. Springdale, UT.

I have a feeling I will return here someday soon for a backpack; taking in the beauty at Zion National Park

We enjoyed a wholesome dinner and fun at this restaurant in rural California. An added bonus was that a train flew by every several minutes.

Big 12

The conference expansion talk of college sports has really become a bur in my saddle; and my beloved Mizzou seems to be front and center in the wanna-be-drama. We are like one of the five virgins who ran out of oil, luckily we have been thrown a life line and will still survive in a slimmed down Big 12 conference. As my post from last fall put it, the leadership at Mizzou and the governor of Missouri had no business talking (or failing to squall the talk) about Mizzou switching to the Big 10. Writing this down just feels good, it's like therapy, so I am going to keep going. Thanks to our leadership, we are the married woman who went to the bar with the mini skirt on and the cleavage showing. But the gentleman at the bar left and went home to our family and married one of our sisters while we were away. And now all we have to show for it is clothes that smell like cigarettes and an ATM card that was maxed out from buying shots all night long (our buyout money goes to the already fat wallet South).

As Joe Walljasper from the Columbia Daily Tribune puts it "Clearly, this is confusing..........In six months, the idea of Missouri leaving the Big 12 for the Big Ten went from possibility to probability to certainty to oops. "..................."That won’t help Missouri’s new image, perhaps best summed up by cantankerous Oklahoma State sugar daddy T. Boone Pickens: 'I want them to shut up about trying to figure out someplace to go.'"

Thank you Mr. Pickens, I hope our leadership is listening.
Of course, the past is the past and things have a way of being forgotten. Now the Big 12 will be down to 11 and 10 in the next few years. The basketball Big 12 is actually now stronger. All teams will play on each other's home court and have we arguably lost the two worst teams. There is no denying that Big 12 football without Nebraska is at a loss a little, but the championship game is gone which most are in favor of.
There are two things that I think Mizzou is capable of and should do in the final year all members of the Big 12 are present: Win the conference football and basketball championship. What you say?? Not possible? Well, basketball is probably more likely, perhaps even probable odds-wise, but how about the football team come out and beat expectations. We arguably have the best QB in the league coming back. Maybe we can run it a little in the first half so we can open up the lanes a little. We'll see. M--I--Z

My family is on day 15 of a 19 day trip. Some have said we are awesome, some have said we are crazy to take such a long trip. However full your cup runneth though, there is no denying that day 15 has been a good one. The picture above shows the Grand Tetons at sunset. This is where we are, this is where we rest. The black lava rock formations still with pristine white snow in June, and beautiful green valleys below; God spared no expense when He created the Tetons.

On the general itinerary I had camping as the plan for tonight, but a 50% chance of thunderstorms pushed us to decide to "hotel it." The boys had three hours today playing with the four young kids of one Jamie's friends from Med school this afternoon. Their family lives in Idaho Falls, ID and we also went out and visited their ranch today. And now we are at the Teton Springs Lodge and Spa in Victor, ID. It was a gem of a find and a small upgrade at check-in has us in a full condo. Not bad, not bad.

Book Review - Reimagining Church Part 1

Reimagining Church is written by Frank Viola, a prominent voice in the house church movement and author of several other books including bestselling "Pagan Christianity" which he coauthored with George Barna. I was given this book by my Grandfather about a year ago. It is one I have read over a period of time as it has taken a while to fully digest and I finally read the last chapter just recently. Some areas of this book left me thinking that Viola is right on. And in other areas his bias against the traditional church is so dogmatic that it turns my stomach a little.

The purpose of this book is real, and I mean that. There are an estimated one million people leaving the traditional church every year in the United States. You could say the church has lost some of it's mojo. Not to blame the church for all this, we just have life too easy and the church, like many other things, is viewed as a "product" in a consumer mentality culture.
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The main thrust of the book asks this question: Is the New Testament concept of the church of Jesus Christ a spiritual organism or an institutional organization? The answer that most of us would come up with is that the church is an organism, the very bride of Christ. But the argument in this book outlines how the institutional church falls short of this goal. Not that the church is not God's people, but the way of doing church is a system, not incredibly different than what you would find in a corporation. On pages 274-275, Viola outlines the differences in paradigm from being involved in an institutional church and being involved with a home church. I think this breakdown is one of the strengths of the book:

The Institutional Paradigm //The Organic Paradigm

• -is sustained by a clergy system //-knows nothing of a clergy system
• -limits many functions to the ordained //-makes all members functioning priests
• -renders the bulk of congregants passive in the pews //-allows and encourages all Christians to engage in whatever ministry God has called them to.
• -associates church with a building, a denomination..// -affirms they (the people) are the church
• -spends most of its resources on building //-spends most of its resources on the "poor among you"

expenditures and staff salaries

• -operates on the basis that the pastor/priest is the //-operates on the basis that Christ is the functional head

functional head through the Holy Spirit

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I think probably the greatest strengths mentioned above are the empowerment of believers and the freeability of resources that the organic church offers. The biggest problem that I see with Mr. Viola's vision is the possibility of major doctrinal error (heresy) that can accompany such churches. We all possess a fallen nature and the possibility of problems increase when little to no oversight exists. Some people have strong personalities and can take that personality and "lord" it over others. Others, may like to mix a strong drink of left or right politics into their understanding of the Bible. Another problem is the rampant Biblical illiteracy that is plaguing Christians. Of course, maybe we are Biblically illiterate because we rely on the pastor to understand the Bible for us. In that case, which came first? The chicken or the egg?

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Overall this book is a good read. I imagine that every believer would glean some good insight from reading it. More to come soon............................

Dan & Dad Trip 2010 - Day 1 Columbia to Bluffton 68 miles plus detour

From May 4-6th in the year of our Lord 2010, Daniel Hans and I biked the Katy Trail from Columbia to St. Charles, MO. It was a great adventure. The following three posts (with photos) chronicle our trip.

Pic 1 - Heading out! MLK spur trailhead, Stadium Blvd in Columbia, MO. Little did we know that there was construction on a bridge on the trail three miles down and we would have to huff back and take a detour south on Forum Blvd to Nifong and all the way out to Scott Blvd. Add on a few miles to our already long day!

Peddling in the footsteps of some great men.

Biking past the City of Jefferson and the capital of the great state of Missouri.

This is Standing Rock. On the side of the rock there are markers from the water level of the floods of 1903, 1944 and 1993.

We made it to our B&B. Day one was our longest day and I was glad to have it over. Staying at the house hotel (as Dan calls it) were three ladies from Wisconsin biking part of the trail together. We had a wonderful time around the dinner table. I guess you could call this place a Dinner, Bed and Breakfast. Our host Doug had BBQ chicken, corn on the cob and salad waiting for us when we arrived.

Dad & Dan Trip 2010 - Day 2 Bluffton to Defiance 52 miles

One of the many old railroad bridges along the Katy Trail.

My sweet little boy.

What's this? A red caboose that is being renovated into a custard shop! Snacks by the tracks, you gotta love it.

The village of Marthasville was one of the unexpected highlights of the trip. It had a beautiful city park with playground that we relaxed at for almost two hours. And they had a convenience store!! Don't read this Jamie (Momma), but we purchased soda, Zingers and Cheetos and hung out in the shade.

B&B in Defiance, MO. Day 2 was a great day, 52 miles was about the right amount pulling a loaded chariot, and afforded us extra time for breaks. Defiance was a beautiful little town.