Strange Days

The past couple of days have been strange. I believe strange is an appropriate word for our experience, though it's likely there is another that fits better. The word connotes not only an occasion that is out of the ordinary, but one that it is not entirely negative or positive.
Tuesday was our scheduled day off so Rebecca and I headed out early that morning for Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake is a remarkable phenomenon. I honestly cannot decide if it is more beautiful than it is interesting. It is the deepest lake in North America at 1,943 feet. However, by no means does it even compare with the deepest lake in the world which is in Siberia and reaches depths of more than 5,700 feet. Still, Crater Lake is not one I'd like to be dropped into with cement blocks on my hands and feet. Well, maybe I would because it is so beautiful.
The depth of the lake and the whitish-grey silt at the bottom sustain a remarkably captivating blue color in the water. The silt at the bottom reflects just blues and some greens through the lake.
Crater Lake apparently used to be an enormous volcano that imploded upon itself then filled with water over a period of about 8,000 years. So it is essentially a huge, deep, blue lake that sits in a giant bowl of mountain with sheer cliffs on almost all sides. Magnificent.
That day was a good day. Strange, however, because Crater Lake is such a surreal place. The next day, yesterday, was strange in a very different way.
Wednesday was Charlie and Sherrie's day off. They had plans to head into town and take care of some business, leaving Rebecca and me to watch over the wolves. But Sherrie had a heart attack that morning.
I came down in the morning to their house to see what Charlie had on the agenda for me to do that day. What I saw was not the typical Hell's Angel we were used to. Sherrie was seated in her chair while Charlie kind of paced back and forth not quite knowing what to do with himself. Sherrie has been a nurse for many years and was taking her blood pressure with some machine. Clearly distressed and having gone numb in her left arm, she asked her husband to call for an ambulance. Charlie was shaking so badly he couldn't even dial, so I took care of it.
When the ambulance came Rebecca directed them up the mountain to the house. The paramedics were there with us waiting outside for quite some time. They rolled Sherrie out on a gurney and we over heard them call in a helicopter to medi-vac her to a hospital about 50 miles away.
Eventually, a dazed and tired-seeming Charlie stumbled down the front steps. He looked us in the eye, gently smiled, and asked how our trip to Crater Lake was. Rebecca and I both were, and still are, in awe of what a kind man he is.
They were gone all day while Rebecca and I fed the wolves and prayed for Sherrie and Charlie. They came home about 7:30 that night, having been kicked out of the hospital by a doctor who didn't believe they had health insurance. This experience alone may have been enough to make them vote for Obama.
Now to say the past couple of days have been negative is not quite it. I can't honestly say they were positive either. They were strange. Strange, but good. Good, because they were given by a good God glorifying himself because there is nothing greater to glorify.
Sherrie is in stable condition and is going in for tests and possible cardiac surgery over the next couple of days. Please pray for her and Charlie to be open to hearing the Gospel. Pray for us to believe and profess the Gospel to ears and hearts open to receive it.

Howling at the Moon

We made it. Well, at least to the first stop in the Pacific Northwest. We are living and working for two weeks in Williams, Oregon, just across the state's southern border and planted just off the Rogue River.

Rebecca and I have already been here five days and are enjoying ourselves, though the work is demanding. We are working at Howling Acres Wolf Sanctuary (HAWS), which is basically a retirement home for injured or abused wolves and wolf-dogs. It is a non-profit run by the older couple (Charlie and Sherri) who live on the premises, as well as volunteers from the area.

This place really is interesting. Neither of us have ever experienced anything like it. There are about 20 wolves and hybrids in fenced-in pens where the animals are grouped into ones, twos, threes, and fours. I have no idea why some are grouped and others aren't.

I've really been impressed--no--amazed at how quickly we were thrown into positions of responsibility here. Rebecca has already given at least seven tours of the place. She gave her first on our initial day of work. She hadn't even been given a tour yet! Now that I think about it, neither of us have yet to be given the official tour. Charlie and I have been doing a good deal of repair work around here. I've been fixing everything from fence posts to electric fences to the park's benches.

Rebecca and I each went into pens with the wolves today for our first times. Rebecca, without the slightest fear, went into Feather's pen by herself to clean out the tub the wolf uses to bathe and drink out of. Rebecca made it seem as though she had been doing it for years. I, however, was terrified to go into the pen and even to guard the gate. So, basically, I stood by the gate tazer in hand and legs trembling everytime one of the wolves trotted past while Charlie patrolled the perimeter of the pen hardly noticing there were wild animals anywhere in sight. Hopefully by the time we are done here I will be able to touch one of the wolves without wetting my pants just a little. For now, I'll just paint benches.

I can't say enough about Charlie and Sherri. They are both terribly interesting, immensely kind, and embarrassingly generous. They have been running this place for 17 years. Sherri is the brains of the operation and Charlie is the workhorse. HAWS is taking its toll on them though, and they are looking to sell. Charlie has had countless strokes, two in the past year, and Sherri suffered a heart attack just two months ago. When I asked about Charlie's strokes, Sherri told me about a bad one he had when they lived on the reservation ... oh yeah, Sherri is full blood Indian and they lived on an Indian Reservation for a few years! At hospitals on the reservation you are given your choice of traditional western medicine or traditional Indian medicine. Charlie chose the Medicine Man to help him overcome the full paralysis of his left side that resulted from the stroke. For two weeks he was not allowed any communication with Sherri nor her with him. After those two weeks, when Sherri showed up to take him home, he RAN to the car jumping with gladness. To this day Charlie will not tell her what went on during those two weeks. They have three grown children and I think five grandchildren. They also have cared for 23 foster children during their time here with the wolves. One more note about Charlie. After fighting in Nam for seven years, (yes, seven, he was there before it broke out, and was one of the last to leave) he joined the notorious Hell's Angels biker's club. In a very short time he became president of the club and later started another chapter up here in the Northwest. If you need me to clarify, yes, Rebecca and I are working for a president of Hell's Angels. I'm not sure we will put that on our resumes, but we might.

We are excited to be here waking to the howl of wolves 20 yards away, and happy to be taking this time in our lives to enjoy the freedom to pick up and go somewhere and pick up wolf poo. Thank you for your love and encouragement.

Ooowww Wooooo (Me Howling Goodnight)

Oregon on My Mind

Rebecca had been to Las Vegas before, she worked a few shows at the MGM Grand years earlier, so she showed me the ropes. We bet/wasted about $4 betting in the casinos. I set us up at what I thought was to be the Four Seasons Hotel on the strip. However, what I had actually set us up with was a kind of crappy room at the 4 Queens. NOT THE SAME THING. We made the best of it, and believe we will never have a need to go to Vegas again.

Again we hit to the road; this time directly toward Los Angeles.

We arrived in L.A. about 9:30 on Saturday night on the 16th. We picked up Rebecca's best friend and maid of honor at our wedding, Joanna from LAX. Joanna is a remarkable young woman. She is a flaming conservative, believer, who is single. Dudes, look out for this one. Call Rebecca for any inquiries.

Joanna and her roommate Tiffany put us up for three nights in LA. During our time there we did pretty much everything you are supposed to do in LA. We saw a famous person up close - Phillis from 'The Office' sat four rows behind us at Bel Air Presbyterian, we drove through Beverly Hills, saw the "Hollywood" sign, and got a sneak peak (thanks to Joanna who is deep in "the industry") at a soon to be released film. On a side note, everyone who can handle it needs to watch "The Stoning of Soraya M." if at all possible. Beautifully troubling and due for release in October.

Since our time in LA, we have traveled North through California. This state is covered with much more farmland than I had ever anticipated. California, in general, is one of those places I have never had any urge to visit. I think most of my refrain from this land was due to a fear of earthquakes. Now, however, I have accepted that my death will come upon me entirely out of my control. So I will gladly drive the Pacific Fault Line with no fear but that my and Rebecca's tombstones will not bear mention of our exciting demise having fallen into the depths of the earth.

Speaking of amazing ways to perish. We went to the Sequoia National Park earlier today (Wednesday the 20th). Could there possibly be a more amazing way of meeting your demise than being hammering into the earth by one of the largest living things on the planet? Apparently sequoias can grow to become not just the largest plants on earth, but the most voluminous beings alive. We strolled through "The Land of Giants" discussing and pointing out which of the enormous trees we would prefer to fall upon us, should that be the way we go. General Sherman (the largest living thing on earth) was impressive to say the least, but the park cannot be experienced without walking through it in the early morning.

Tonight (Wednesday the 20th), we are spending our final night on a mattress for a long time. Rebecca and I are about 200 miles from the California/Oregon border, and plan to arrive at our final destination tomorrow morning about noon. So you know, our first organic farm is not truly an organic farm. It's a sanctuary. A wolf sanctuary, to be exact.

We will be staying and working at Howling Wolf Acres Sanctuary outside of Williams, Oregon. Yeah. We will be taking care of live wolves for a few weeks. Believe it. I fully intend to become the pack leader within 24 hours using techniques I have picked up from Cesar Milan the Dog Whisperer. More than this we do not yet know. So we will enter into the unknown tomorrow morning. Not that much unlike the rest of you. So we sleep, we get up, we go, and we trust that we succeed or fail all by the grace of God.

Oregon, here we come!

Razing Arizona

The purpose of this blog is not to reveal the deep inner thoughts Rebecca and I consider as we move along through this beautiful land and encounter its intriguing people. Rather, we are going to try to keep it a bit on the surface as a mere means of keeping those of you interested in what we are doing (because we are pretty surface people whose head's hurt when things get deep). So, please, do not worry that this will be the typical emo, pour-your-heart-out-in-skinny-jeans blog.

Ok. That was the disclaimer, now on to business.

Being on the road we had few real opportunities to use the internet, so I could not update what has been going happening. Thus there is about 1,000 miles to cover.

Arriving in Arizona we were stunned. Following the relative boredom of Texas and New Mexico, Arizona was a geologically beautiful change. The moment you cross the border into Arizona you are welcomed by immense red walls of rock on both sides of the highway. Upon entering this amazing state we realized just how much there is to discover here. We will definitely be coming back. However, while we were passing through we stopped in at the Painted Desert National Park where we were amazed by the petrified 'forests' and blue mesas.

We stayed the night in Sunset Crater State Park. It was one of the best, if not the best park in which either of us has ever camped . The surroundings are exemplified in one of the photos Rebecca has named "Glory" (the photo site will be set up soon).

Our next stop was the Grand Canyon. We were astounded by how many people were there. The views from the South Rim truly were grandiose. Though we tried, we were not able to descend into the canyon. Turning to the depths of the canyon, we shouted, "WE WILL RETURN." Actually, we didn't, but in our hearts we did.

That was Arizona.

We're really doing it, guys. We're really doing it.

From the Oregon Trail: (Written on the 14th?)

Plateaus are magnificent. As we drove along beside miles and miles of sculpted ridges I wondered how these geologic structures could be possible. Earthquake? Enormous ancient rivers? Hopi Indians who hired Mexicans for their cheap labor?

We are on our third day of travel with 8 states already under our belts. We stopped last night in Oklahoma City and were really quite impressed with the place. The hotel we stayed at was afforded to us by my benevolent mother and was really quiet nice. Importantly, it provided free wireless internet which we took advantage of this morning until nearly noon. Before heading out of town we drove around a bit and spent some time at the memorial of the Oklahoma City Bombing. It was very beautiful and moving.

To jump back to the previous day; we drove. We stayed the night with Tim Dixon in Oxford, Mississippi. Tim showed us around the town since Rebecca had not been there before. I must say, Tim is a good host and will show you a good time if you are stopping in North Mississippi. A note on Oxford: the 2008 Presidential debate is being held there. The significance of this city as the location of the debate is important because of the deep seeded racism and segregation that is still prevalent there. So why Oxford? Lots of old money. There are more than a half dozen billionaires residing within the city limits of Oxford (says our host). You would never know it except for the near absence of black people. Good luck to the debaters especially the black ones.

I have never that I can remember experienced openness around me like out here driving in the Southwest. The walls of red striped rock rise up on both sides of us. Formations seem miles away yet creep up strikingly close. I can imagine looking up to the ledge of any one of these plateaus and seeing a small band of indian warriors surveying the land before them praying stoney faced for a successful hunt.
Tonight we will end our day's trek in Albuquerque, and begin again in the morning heading for none other than the Grand Canyon itself.

Up and Running

It has taken way too long to get this blog even set up. Do to the delay, there is a good deal of filling in to be done to bring you up to speed with what has been going on. So we will quickly work from the beginning to the present.

Rebecca and I quit our jobs in Athens, Georgia in July in order to take a few months to work on organic farms in the Pacific Northwest through a network called WWOOF (an acronym for either Willing Workers On Organic Farms or World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). These farms can range in activities from producing wine, to sheering sheep, to self-sustained hippie communes, to a typical farm with plants and animals. Though there is rarely any monetary pay for the work of "WWOOFers", hosts provide most meals and shelter. Shelter is most of the time a tent, restored trailer or barn, tree house, teepee, or an extra room in the house.

During our time WWOOFing around, we intend to gain experience through meeting and interacting with people of different cultures. We also hope to learn skills and knowledge that apply to the type of work we may be doing, and to grow as a Gospel-centered couple encountering truths of the Word of God continually revealed in our marriage, exemplified through interactions with men and women across the nation, and magnificently discovered in the wonder and varied beauty of creation.

Certainly, there are many people who may believe what Rebecca and I are doing is foolish, ridiculous, and a waste of time and money. They may be right. However, we are encouraged by our families and friends who have pressed us to believe we would be foolish and wasting time and money if we did not take this time to go, grow, and explore.

So far we are excited and having an incredible if not surreal time. It is strange to be in a place you would have never imagined actually encountering first hand. Pray for our safety as we travel. Thanks for caring.