Take Your Parent to Work Day

Have you taken a look at your kids lately? If you're like me - they are over 21, so "kids" is not exactly an appropriate label. progeny? offspring? descendants? Too cold. My two sons will always be my kids and I feel the same about their wives.

When kids are little, they tend to be clones of us ... thinking, feeling, knowing, believing only what we teach or show them. And this is the part I love ... as they become adults, I get to see the individuality in their talents, intellegence and beliefs. I got a chance to be reminded of that again this weekend at the LeadNow/Fusion conference in Dallas.

Our older son, Brian - the director of the RightNow Campaign - hosts these conferences to focus on issues to help 20/30-somethings to fuse faith and life together. Julie, his wife, is behind the scenes with hospitality. Scott, our younger son (Director of Operations at Bluefish TV), directs the event and his wife, Holley, is the stage manager. I won't go on about the event itself - click on that Leadnow/Fusion link above and see what all goes on - it's packed. I'm just going to speak as a mom.

I got to experience what we all should realize when our children become adults. They have thoughts, faith, talent, intelligence that exceed us. They are individuals beyond us and I celebrate that.

Going "to work" with my kids this weekend, I got to see Brian, speaking to thousands about his faith in God and his passion for the world and thriving on the relationships with the young people there. I got to see Julie's sweet nature - making sure all the speakers were taken care of and where they needed to be and working closely with Brian. I got to see Scott, multi-tasking by directing a live event, keeping all the media in order. And I got to see Holley - great at organizing - managing the speakers; everyone coming and going onstage and working with Scott, many times not even needing to be connected by headset, but working that well together. (This was a large team including Marc/Robin, Justin/Sharee, Lonnie, Felicity, and many other volunteers, staff and speakers, and I'm as proud of them as a mom could be.)

I am thankful that whatever torch Marty and I passed along, our kids took that and blew it out of the water (mixed metaphor - sorry). They have made their own lives with their wives and isn't that what we did? The decisions they make are not ours (hallelujah! when did we become perfect?) - some make us scratch our heads - and others make us smile with wonder. But it is the free will that God allowed us.

So, even if you have not had the privilege of going to work with your "kid," may you really take a look at them and appreciate all that is in them that is beyond you. Thank you, God.

Cry Me a River

Fishing below the dam on the Taylor River in Colorado - gold medal trout fishing - can be tough. The brown and rainbow trout are big and smart. Yes, I have to admit, I've actually had a little frustrated cry as I was sitting on the banks trying to untangle my 6x line for the umpteenth time; outsmarted by lunkers that jumped all around me. (I secretly think that river has made some men cry!)

But fishing with Marty is all pleasure. He shows me the best spots and offers helpful tips. He is the best guide!

We've fished this stretch in the winter; climbing over ice banks to get to the water and in the middle of summer. This fall day was pretty cold and damp but, as you can see, all smiles!

Long Way 'Round

Crested Butte, Colorado is not always easy to get to; but it is always worth the effort. We were supposed to have an early morning flight to Crested Butte for a week of relaxation (with Jeff & Terri)
combined with chores to get the house ready for missionaries for the winter. But typical to the (un-named) airline, at least once a year we have a flight get canceled and the excuse "Oh, sorry - we'll get you there in a day or two." That's not going to cut it when you're half way there. And so we start listing nearest airports and try to get in and rent a car and drive. Montrose? Vail? Aspen? This year, the closest we could get was Aspen. We've been to Aspen many times so we decided to make a day of it and have lunch and enjoy the drive into Crested Butte. As it turns out, it was a good detour this year.

After lunch at a favorite spot, we noticed a lot of activity in the Plaza. A mother bear decided that the crab apple trees were the best place for food this fall and she brought her two cubs along to teach them the best place for easy food.

We made it to Crested Butte about 6 hours later than we hoped, but we're here! And that means time with "the boys." Toby & Beau - our horses.

To make up for the lost time in August, we got in a great, long ride with friends today. We explored our own "backyard," the high meadows of Red Mountain with Steven, Lee, Laura, Dannic and Wookie the dog.

The weather was perfect and we enjoyed a picnic and then meandered our way back home.


Ahh, I feel relaxed.

North to Alaska

Before I get to Alaska, allow me to digress by talking about my first date with Marty when we were in high school. Well, not the first "official" date, but the first time we met. You see, I had spotted Marty coming into a party with his best friend, Dave. Dave was Laurie's boyfriend who was my best friend. I asked Laurie to introduce me because I thought he was cute. (he still is!)

So one night, Dave brought Marty over and we all drove around talking. Marty mentioned that he dreamed of making a trip to Alaska one day. (Our first real date was a Billy Graham Crusade ... another story. Laurie and Dave broke up, married other people and we are all grandparents.)

Here it is, after 34 years of marriage; traveling to over 40 countries and Marty and I have never been to Alaska. That is why I had a slight hesitation when the opportunity came up to go to Juneau, Alaska for a video project with author, Margaret Feinberg. How could I go to Alaska without Marty, when it has been his dream? Pretty easily with Marty's encouragement ... and it was a work trip. But even with the attraction of travel, hiking around glaciers, kayaking, helicopter ride, landing on a glacier, wilderness, creative collaboration, hangin' out with Margaret, Leif and the crew - the biggest appeal was doing this with Brian. One of my favorite memories of the trip ... Brian and I cooking dinner for everyone.



We kayaked across the lake to Mendenhall Glacier, hiked up the side of the glacier for a fantastic location to shoot the introduction to Margaret's book, The Organic God.

What a great way to explore and show the content of The Organic God than to show it with the beauty of Alaska - where Margaret wrote the book.

We're standing on about 800-1000 feet of ice on Herbert Glacier.


Long days, but lots of fun just doing life together.


For the whole slide show, just click on the picture below to use controls and see the captions. (Double click on the slide show to see the pictures individually.)


I'm ready to return ... with Marty, of course.