The Mac's back & we've restored the system & most of the software ... now I get to work on restoring files. Especially Quicken (everything from this year ) I will back up.... I will back up... I will back up!

I'll be back to my normal web activities next week, I hope!

Last weekend, Hubby, Son#2 & Son#3, along with other youth group highschoolers & parents, rafted the Royal Gorge. It is one of the most challenging white water rafting trips in the country, & the water was raging. Hubby took my camera, with its wonderful waterproofing glove, & took lots of pictures. He didn't get the roughest water- ya gotta keep your hand on the oars in the rapids, but he was a little braver than I was when it came to taking pictures.



Hubby & the guys at lunch



Everyone survived the trip, even though one young lady (a tiny slip of a girl) went through five rapids without benefit of a boat. Praise God, she came out with only a couple of bruises, they got her back into he raft & she finished the trip. Everyone else had a blast, & were all ready to do it again.

I spent a good portion of the week helping Hubby prepare for today's venture, running all over town to replace certain supplies that he needed. One of the things that attracted me to him (first as a friend, then as a, well, more than friend) was his unique vocation at the time. He has not pursued this vocation for several years, but occasionally uses it for special occasions. Today was one of those days. He was asked to present the devotion for the Father/Son lunch at church today.



When Hubby & I met, he was a professional clown & mime. The devotion he gave today involved removing his make-up to make the point that we need to let others see us as God sees us, & not wear the masks we tend to wear, & to allow God to change us, as well.

We usually spend Father's Day with my parents. They spent the week out of town, so I talked my mom out of it this year. My sis can't be there tomorrow, & Dad just spent a week helping build a church in South Dakota. He doesn't care if special days are marked at all, so we will be having dinner with them next Sunday afternoon. He will get the blessing of a nice, quiet, relaxing day tomorrow. The blessing for us will be being able to spend the day doing what Hubby wants to do. After church, we will go out to eat at a new BBQ place he's been wanting to try, then a movie. We haven't seen "Horton Hears A Who" yet, Hubby really wants to see it & it is at the cheapo theater right now. We might go into the mountains & have a snowball fight, just for kicks, too. There's still plenty of snow to be found, & not too far up. We don't have a Sunday evening service on Father's Day, or Mother's Day, so families have plenty of time to be together.

I've got a week of relative quiet, beginning Monday, then a week of more Summer Busyness as I help my guys get camping gear & food together for the church mens' retreat, which will overlap three days of festivities for my 30th high school reunion.

Wouldn't ya know, Browns Canyon, which our youth pastor told us was a walk in the park, very easy, v-e-r-y boring rafting trip, was running, in places, 12 feet higher than normal, & nearly 1000 cubic feet per second faster! Our youth pastor guided rafts on the Arkansas River for several years, so he knows this stretch of water. He said it was the wildest he'd ever seen it!

On the biggest rapid of the first leg of the trip, my camera, with me attached to it, ended up in the water. We high-sided on a rock, & the water pulled me out & under. The life vest did it's job & got my head out of the water, & I had a grip on the line on the side of the raft, but then the life vest failed me. They were supposed to use it to pull me out of the water, but because the vest apparently didn't fit right, they nearly pulled it off over my head! That was such a scary feeling. The vest was in front of my face, I had let go of the line so they could pull me in, & I was scared to death that the vest was going to come off. After what seemed like forever, but was probably five minutes or less, I was back in the raft, gasping for breath. However, after a couple of minutes of catching my breath, I was back in position, handling my oar, instead of cowering on the bottom. Ever since I was 10, & I was thrown (as a non-swimmer) into the deep end of the pool, I've been scared to the point of phobia, of drowning.

By the grace of God, I survived & finished the trip, although it took all of the courage I could muster to get back in that raft after we stopped for lunch, & the adrenaline rush ended, especially since they told us that there were ten class IV rapids on the last leg. They did pull us off of the river early, because the water was running too fast through the last, biggest rapid. PRAISE GOD!

Son#4 & TheGirl enjoyed themselves, although TheGirl was in my raft & had to watch & even try to help with, the ordeal I was going through. She got sick at lunch, & was moved to the trip leader's boat, & just sat in the back, but she had fun.

The photo at the top is the "wildest" water I was able to shoot, because when the water got worse, we were all very busy!

TheGirl hiding under her hat



Son#4 manning the oars after being moved to my raft after lunch.



EDIT: I found out this evening that at the time the high side of the raft was popping me up, & the water was pulling me out, that TheGirl's side of the raft was under water. When the raft righted itself & she could see, I was gone! I can't imagine doing that to my little girl. I'm proud of her, though. She kept her head together & did what the guide told her to do.