Too many things to be thankful for during Thanksgiving!

Since it is the day before Thanksgiving, I thought it would be a wonderful time to write about all the things I am thankful for. This year has been wonderful with, not only the news of my sister Jenn's soon-to-be bundle of joy, but also the news that Lindsay and I are having one of our own. Judging by my friend's and extended family's standards, we are a little behind so if you will, please excuse my naive excitement. The overwhelming emotions that have come from this experience have led me to feel humbly thankful for the chance to be a parent. Having the chance to go through this experience with my sister is icing on the cake, so-to-speak. As for the details of this adventure, I am most thankful for Lindsay's health. Her lack of negative side-effects through the first trimester is a blessing for BOTH of us! I have always known that I have a great family, but my appreciation for them has grown through this process. I want each and every one of them to know how deeply I care and how thankful I am to have such wonderful parents/step-parents, sisters/step-sisters, step-brothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins. I am also deeply thankful to have such great and caring in-laws. It truly is a blessing when marrying someone results in an extention of the wonderful family that you already have.

I really could go on for a long time about the things that I am thankful for in my life. My wife and I truly are blessed with wonderful friends and family that have made our lives amazing. However, this year I have been a part of a world that we pray for every Thanksgiving. In the school that I work for, many of the kids experienced a real Thanksgiving meal for the first time on Monday. One of my fellow teachers, Mrs. Davis, cooked a traditional meal for the entire school and we all took time to write about what we were thankful for. As the kids in my room wrote, I couldn't help but weigh the blessings that I have had in my life, with theirs. Some of the kids have normal families and they just made a mistake, but others aren't so lucky. Several come from drug and alcohol addicted families, others are bouced around to foster families, and some spend their Thanksgiving in group homes. Knowing this about these kids has made me appreciate the life that I have been given even more.

So to all of my family, friends, teachers, coaches, ministers, doctors, and anyone I am leaving out, thank you greatly for making my life wonderful. I care deeply for you all, and wish you the happiest of Thanksgivings!

Historical Election!

I am going to call this week, "the week that I felt proud of America." I am not a very vocal political advocate, but I am sure most people that know me, understood who I supported in this year's election. Now, I do not want to get caught up in the controversies that have come up this year, but I feel that I need to get a few things off of my chest. I have read and heard for many years of "historical elections" or "turning points in American politics," but I have never been directly involved in one until this year. I understand now how it feels to part of a generation that fought for change in our country. This week, we as a nation witnessed hundreds of years of oppression triumphed-over by the American majority vote to elect a black man into the Presidential office. Whether or not we all agree about President elect Barack Obama's policies, I hope we can agree that this was a huge step for America. I, like most southern democrats, have had to subdue my celebration of this momentus occation. However, I hope we all can be proud of our nation for finally taking the step to show that we truly are a nation of equality. Beyond the policies and politics, that is ultimately what makes us such a great nation. That is why this week, I am going to refer to it as, "the week that I felt proud of America."

New Addition Update!

The first photo - 9 weeks

Okay, I know that most of you have already heard, one way or another, that Lindsay (wife not sister) is pregnant! She is ten weeks at this point and feeling relatively well. Of course, she is a little tired but she has turned into Superwoman; work, 12 hrs. of school, and she even manages to deal with me on top of all that! We are extremely excited and a little anxious for that 13th week. However, with the help of a great doctor and two sonograms that said everything was going along normally, we can't help but feel good about the outcome. Also, for anyone who doesn't know, my sister is about three months ahead of us but pregnant as well. Needless to say, it is going to be a fun Christmas in a couple of years! It is funny how things work out sometimes. I was only a year away from my two closest cousins (twins) and now mine and my sister's children are going to be within a year of each other! Pretty fun stuff!

This is the main reason that I have not posted in while. I couldn't figure out how to write anything without spilling the beans before we had the word out! Things have been pretty busy for us lately, obviously but we have been able to enjoy ourselves a little. A couple of weeks ago, I took off to have a weekend with my buddies down in Georgia. We went to a Widespread Panic show, which is entertaining in itself. Saturday was one of those days that guys need every now and again; I woke up before dawn, drove to the Ocoee and got to paddle for about two hours, then drove to Atlanta to meet up with good friends for a good time! It was a great weekend, thanks to Brian and Brooke for the bed and to Brandon, Crescent, and Ashley for the company! Hopefully we can do it again after Lindsay is over her "condition" and we can all join in. We are hoping things calm down a little in school to allow us the chance to enjoy this wonderful Fall weather and get one last camp in before it gets too cold!

Well, besides that, Lindsay and I are just trying to stay focused on being healthy and enjoy this new experience. I hope that all is well out there with everyone else and don't forget to vote! I have children to watch out for now!

School is in session!

Just like the title says, school has definitely started for us. Papers, tests, research projects, etc are what have taken over. Classes are good though, I am really enjoying my class on Latin America. It makes me want to visit even more than before, it truly is a diverse area of our world. My other classes are okay, nothing really special, pretty much the same as what I have been taking; history, politics, socialogy. Lindsay is doing good, although she has the hardest English Comp. 2 instructor I have ever heard of. Despite all of his effort, she has stayed in control of the class and is doing well. So, I guess you can see that between school, work, and maintaining a home, we are just cruising through the weeks. They seem to go by so fast when you stay busy! This is the main reason that I have not posted in a while. And since I really haven't done anything exciting in a couple of weeks, I have decided to post some pictures from times when I was. This is what helps me get through times like these; going back to the "good ole days" of playing and having fun ALL of the time. So, enjoy and if any of these are incriminating, I hereby exonerate myself from any wrong doings.

There is nothing like a mountain morning!

"Introducing, MIGHTY MOUSE!"

Sometimes we all have to travel back to being a kid!

I had to put one in of the old truck!

We found out what happens when it is ALL inclusive!

Sunsets weren't too bad.

The wonderful little town of Higuea, Republic Dominicana

"The Market" in Higuea

A nice night out in Punta Cana

Lindsay, taking on a sandwich the size of her head!

Lunch on the deck, anyone?

The Captain and his 1st mate!


Do you think they like each other?

Ready for a night on the town!

Look out New Orleans!

Sometimes, it takes a while for brother-in-laws to come around.

Old fashion fun!

So I know that I am a week late (thanks Brian for pointing this out) on posting about a few things. For those in-the-know, disregard the next few lines. This last weekend I found out that I am going to be an uncle to a new baby boy. My sister Jenn and her husband Ramon found out that they were having a baby boy! I was very excited, that means in five or six years I will have a new paddling partner! (Just kidding Jenn, more like 6 or 7, ha ha) Lindsay and I are very excited about the news, although, not that he will be any less excited, I think my dad is ready for a little girl grand baby. Another fun thing that happened was an out-of-the-blue trip to the Nantahala with my mom, David, Andy, Leigh, Ben, Anna, and Lindsey(my other sister). We had a blast on Labor day weekend, three days of fun and relaxation. The weather was perfect, the river was running, and firewood was plentiful. We managed to get Andy and Leigh in a Funyak (inflatable kayak) to run the river on Saturday. They did great, as you will see in the pictures. Secretly, I was wanting them to flip at the falls to see the "oh my god this water is so cold" face. I have been on that river for several years but the look that people get when they fall in, never gets old! Anyway, the trip was great and I remarked to Leigh and Andy that it is really special that we have a family that can get together and truly enjoy each others company. That is something that my family has on both my mom's side and my dad's side. As children from divorced parents, I think we hit the jackpot with our new combined families. Well instead of rambling on, I will post the slide show.

By the way, everything else is fine, its just not half as interesting as the fun stuff. My work is going well, Lindsay's work is too and we are swamped with school work, house work, etc. If anything changes you guys will be the first to know.

Ahh, the simple joys of a tent. Anna and Ben making sure that the tent

matches their rooms back home!

Anna, the soon to be outdoors woman of the year!

Grandpa and grand-daughter relaxing comfortably in their element.

I bet you didn't realize that our camp came with its own chef, did you?

Anna Banana in the middle of a Lindsey/Lindsay sandwich!

Lindsay and I starting out a great run on a beautiful day.

(Bottom of Patton's Run)

The happy couple

The beauty of this place still takes my breath away.

Riva and Boone doing what they do best.

Boone still makes sure that Riva knows he still has it in him!

A little nervous, but still a happy couple. I waited to mention that the boat

they were in was called a "divorce boat" by raft guides.

Perfectly executed run of the Falls, great job Leigh and Andy!

In the middle of the Falls, I think Lindsey enjoyed the trip a little bit.

There are few things in life that take you back to being a kid again, this is one of them. Judging by the look on Lindsey's face, I would say she just revisited 8 years old.

And Finally...Mesa Verde National Park!

I first have to tell you about the trip from the Grand Canyon to Mesa Verde. We traveled through the Navajo Nation and on the outskirts of Monument Valley. I did not take any pictures of Navajo Nation for one main reason; total astonishment. Even the mission trip that I went on, to a South Dakota Indian reservation did not prepare me for the total desolation of the Navajo Nation. There was nothing; sand, heat, and wind with small shacks for homes and land that seemed to be good for nothing besides a place where cars go to die. It is one thing to see poverty stricken areas, but to see poverty in a place that lacks natural resources like water and agriculture is very disheartening. It was hard to take in and not feel pity for the Navajos who live there.

Anyway, here is Mesa Verde, the place that these wonderful people's ancestors once called home. It was a very spiritual place that was a pleasure to observe. Learning about the ancestral Puebloans who lived in these cliffs and survived for hundreds of years was amazing. Below is a slideshow of all the "cliff houses" that the visitors got to see and a little more.

This was the 1st of the cliff dwellings that we saw, Balcony House as it was called.

In most of the dwellings, rooms were anywhere from 6-8 ft. square and about 6 ft. high. It is believed that each family would share a room, meaning 3-5 people would share the space. Talk about tight living quarters. In the above picture you can see two sticks shooting out of a hole in the ground, this was a recreated ceiling to a Kiva.

The Kiva, a sacred room for the Ancient Puebloans. This cicular room would have had a roof of timber and thatch with a hole in the center for an entrance. You can see the round fire pit in the floor with a deflector in front of it. This really blew me away; they figured out how to bring air into the room, deflect it so it would carry the smoke around and out of the hole in the roof. This was designed so nobody would die from smoke inhilation, genius! I also found the small hole behind the fire pit interesting. It stood for the entrance of man from the first demension inside the earth, into the second demension, living man on earth. These Kiva's were used for spiritual rooms and were designated to each individual family.

These are stones that they carved and set into the rock in order to grind their maize. These can still be used today, just like the Kiva by the ancestors of the Puebloans.

The group. Front row (L to R) Mr. Clark Cropper, Mr. Keith Bell, Elaine, Travis; second row (L to R) me, Alicia R., Amber, Kevin, Jeff, Kosmo, Alicia A., Tanya; in back (L to R) Matt, Lindsay, and Mark.

Cliff Palace. The largest of the found cliff dwellings. The archeologists say there are over one hundred rooms and just under thirty Kivas in this one dwelling. By the time the Puebloans started this palace, they had mastered their building technique; mixing their own mortor, weaving rope and thatch for roofs and floors, and their fine masonry skills show in this building.

Travis and Alicia listen intently to our guide's speech about the once great nation of the Ancient Puebloans. Some researchers believe that the Palace was the spiritual center for different families who dwelled throughout the cliffs of Mesa Verde. It contained an unusual amount of Kiva's for one dwelling.

As we walked out of the Palace, we had nice, easy steps and ladders to climb, instead of actually climbing the cliff face like the inhabitants would have done.

This is Cliff Palace, looking back towards the beginning of the tour. One of our group made the statement, "if they could build places like this that have stood here for 8 centuries, why do our houses start falling apart after 5 years?" Good question, I thought.

The day we visited Cliff Palace was the day it was predicted to snow/rain all night with a low around 30 degrees. There was a split between the people who wanted to stay one more night and the people who wanted to leave and get a hotel room. I remained indifferent. We ended up staying through the storm and we all woke to about three inches of snow blanketing our camp. I enjoyed the banter that followed; "I told you so!" said the ones who wanted to leave. It was that day that I started to get a sore throat, I knew I was getting sick but I was happy it was the last couple of days on the trip. The travel home was long and not all that fun (riding in a stinky van with eight other people is not the best place to get sick). Now that I have been back for awhile I look back at it and remember how fun everyday was on the trip. All three places were special to me and I will return to see more of them one day. Until then, I have these (and others) pictures and my memories of a great trip.

Camping Trip...

I know that I promised to tell about Mesa Verde National Park but, Lindsay and I had an amazing weekend. We had planned this trip to the Nantahala a few weeks ago to meet up with friends and enjoy paddling. This would be Lindsay's first trip on the Nantahala in her new canoe and my first trip down the Cheoah since test running it five years ago. Lindsay styled the Nantahala as usual. We put on at Patton's run and took out at Surfer's rapid summing up 3/4's of the river. She was thrilled to find out that she had little trouble with the river and I was thrilled to have my wife as a new paddling partner! That night we met up with Brandon and a few of his friends for a good night around a camp fire sharing river stories. The next morning it was time to hit the Cheoah. After meeting up with my friend Trent and breaking camp, we headed to the river. I grew anxious as we got closer to the river and started remembering the last trip I had on the Cheoah. Although we ended up waiting for awhile to start, the river definitely was worth the wait. It was a busy day with over 400 paddlers out and it made for a festive feel to the day. The sun was shinning and the water was warm and the rapids were incredible. The river just kept delivering, continuous class II-IV rapids with an amazing 1 1/2 mile class IV rapid to end things off. I wanted to get out and do it again but unfortunately, reality was calling. As we drove out of North Carolina, Lindsay and I both talked about the day that we could return to this wonderful place. Everytime we go back, it gets harder to leave. The thing we keep telling ourselves is that we only have a couple more years to sacrifice. I know that once we obtian the goals we have set, our return will be that much sweeter. It's just sometimes hard to be patient!

Oh, and I promise to write about Mesa Verde soon!

Although this is not me, this is the line that I took through Bear Creek Rapid. The line was not all that tough, just exciting!

This is another line that you can take. Just thought this was a better picture of the rapid. The reason I have pictures of other people is that my camera would not work that day. I don't know what is happening to it but next time I will have shots from my own trip!