Peteifer & Pablo

Read Luke 22:42,44

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,” -John 3:14 NIV

I had never really understood the tradition of giving up something for Lent. In one sense it sounded like fasting, and another sense sounded like a New Year’s resolution. Those seem like good things to do, but why for Lent?

One thing I do understand is how I dread going to the dentist for a filling. Honestly, it is a minor amount of pain and discomfort. It looks incredibly petty compared to the discomfort of the cross and the pain of bearing all of humanity’s sin. In the days and weeks leading up to the first Good Friday, Jesus felt apprehension and dread about what was to come. We see this in His prayer recorded in Luke 22:42. Jesus asks, if possible, that he wouldn’t have to go through the crucifixion he was about to experience. Yet, in the same sentence, Jesus surrenders His will over to His Father. He knew it would hurt, and He was willing to go through with it for my sake, for your sake.

I can use my apprehension to better understand what Christ did for me. And I can use self-denial or fasting as a daily reminder of Christ’s sacrifice. A sacrifice made in order to complete His greatest work on this earth, a work that saves us from the pain of eternal separation from God.

A side benefit of prayer requests:

Instead of the typical conversation of “How are you?” and getting a canned answer. We can ask “How is [insert prior prayer request topic here]?” and get a real response that is more than surface deep.

Each year Peter and I take a trip over Labor Day weekend to celebrate our anniversary.  This year frequent flier miles landed us in San Antonio, TX for the weekend.  The two things we were told by several people to make sure we did while in San Antonio was walk the River Walk and eat at Boudro’s making sure to order the guacamole made table side.

River Walk - check.

Guacamole at Boudro's - check.

What else did we get into? Well, we found the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch African Safari – Texas Style. AWESOME. A 4 mile drive through 400 acres of Texas hill country to see some of the over 500 animals. Some close, some not so close and some a little too close. Check it out:

Too bad I can't remember many of the animal names.

I like the stripes on these guys.

Long horns are HUGE!

Definitely well fed animals.

Did I say well fed yet?

The ostrich is up to no good.

He made his way down the line of cars sticking his head in each one causing squeals and laughter.

So many differnt horn styles.

Twisted horns.

How many people can say they shared the road with such a beast?

This occurred just after the educational cd we were listening to said the zebras should be avoided because of the danger. Instead, Peter gave him a little pet!

Baby zebra, oh so cute.

This park has a different kind of traffic jam.

Sicilian donkey. See the cross on his back? Yeah, I touched one.

I think it is an emu and I think he is crazy. You can see it in his eyes.

We ended our safari at the petting zoo hoping to get rid of extra food and all the goat wanted was the bag!

If you ever find yourself in San Antonio, TX, we recommend you check out the River Walk, guacamole at Boudro’s and the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. Oh and don’t bother with the extra bag of food…you don’t need it.

This summer we signed Pablo up for a 6-week agility class. I thought it would be a fun thing for all of us to do while Pablo got some exercise and socializing in the process.  It was indeed fun! We learned a ton and saw improvement each week with the dogs and owners in the class. Since this was a beginner agility class, the dogs learned to navigate the easier apparatus. And the last class, we held a mock agility competition. Here are a few of the highlights:

Mini agility course set up for the class.

Get ready, set, go!

Jump through the tire. Go Cruise!

More jumping!

Next, jump over the bar. Go Kipper! Even short legs can do this.

And then wait on the table for 5 whole seconds!

No time to scratch, you have another bar to jump.

The treat comes at the end. Nice try though.

Into the tunnel.

Out of the tunnel.

Into the shoot.

Out of the shoot.

Finish strong!

And the winner is...Pablo, with the fastest agility course time. Yeah!

Maybe next summer we will try the intermediate level!

I thought it would be fun to go backpacking for a weekend.  I’ve always wanted to check out the Land Between the Lakes (LBL), so I started planning a trip over the long Fourth of July weekend to backpack at LBL. The plan was to hike in, camp, hike, camp, hike out.

We stuck to the plan and all things considered walked away with a few good memories.  Saw tiny frogs, had a nice camp site, and toured the bison reserve.

One of a bazillion tiny frogs we encountered.

Campsite on the edge of a freshly cut field. Pablo liked the spot.

Baby bison on the reserve.

Pablo was definitely curious about the creatures.

But we had our share of difficulties. The insane amount of spider webs strung across the hiking path was fixed easy enough with a waving stick held by the leader.  Our spur of the moment decision, early our first full hiking day, to add a loop to our planned hike made the end of the day really tiring but made us more determined. The strong thunderstorm late in the evening the second night, that lasted most of the night, didn’t dampen our spirits much.  But the mosquitoes, ticks and chiggers tried us mightily and nearly broke us.

My fearless, spider-web catcher husband and his trusty, side-kick, tick-collector dog.

We stopped about a mile into our hike the first night and discovered ticks on our socks and legs.  This led to a tick check each and every water break.  Poor Pablo had to of been tired of us poking and pulling at him.  He was attracting TONS of ticks. The mosquitoes were just a general annoyance.  But the chiggers were sly, we didn’t realize their presence until the second night camping.  They might be little but they cause a BIG itch.

So Peteifer and Pablo decommend the LBL in July for backpacking.  Stick with the water adventures friends, your skin will thank you.