Listening and Pondering

I'm sitting here tonight finally taking a breathe. I'm listening to some mp3s that my father-in-law gave me to listen to of a group called Il Divo and a song (among many good ones) "I Believe In You" with Celine Dion. Wow! It's hard not to sing along. ;) Be glad you don't have to hear me bringing down their fabulous voices.

It seems like there is always a thousand things to do and another thousand things that need doing. The last couple weeks have been as busy as any I can remember. My daughter's high school graduation was obviously a huge contributor to that as well as having lots of relatives.
Last Saturday I finally made a day to go trout fishing with my dad. What a wonderful day he and I had. My mom had been urging me to go out with him since April.

Work has been somewhat topsy-turvy the past two months. As I've written before I've been moved to a new project, along with about six or seven others that were part of my previous project along with three guys from another project. We've been learning how to work together as well as learning the new application we're working on. It is exciting and exhausting and has been a bit tumultuous trying to get us all on the same page. It has been a good thing, but change can be uncomfortable.

I've shared a time or two in the past that I've been mountain biking. I've embarked on this endeavor to get in better physical shape, but as my wife points out, I don't tend to do much part way. When I get into something, I get into it all the way. When I started I never thought about attempting to race, but I like to challenge myself and so I think the next challenge is to attempt a real mountain bike race on a real mountain. I'm thinking of entering one on next Saturday in the beginner division for the "getting closer to getting older guys" aka men's beginner for ages 40-44. It's a good way to get some experience and attempt to determine if I'm interested in doing more races. I'm realistic about it. I don't necessarily expect to win, but I want to go out and give it the best I've got and see how it goes.

My youngest daughter has been working at a bicycle shop since spring break. She is actually becoming interested in biking. I wasn't sure that would ever happen, but the ice has started to melt. She demo'd a mountain bike from the shop this afternoon and went for a short ride with her mother and me. She was a little shaky, but not too bad given the relatively few times she has ever ridden a bicycle past learning to ride when she was five or six. I'm hoping she will get into it somewhat seriously like her papa has because it would be good for her in many ways. We'll see where it goes. She has a fiery passion and a low key competitive spirit so it could be interesting. She got a little bit of a rough introduction to it today when she got a little cocky and had a close and unpleasant encounter with the gravel. She is mostly okay, but came away with a few scrapes and bruises.

And saving the best for last...

My wonderful wife and I will celebrate our 22nd anniversary on the 22 of this month. That is pretty amazing and I am very grateful to be with this awesome lady for all these years. There is no one on earth I would have rather shared the last 22 years with. She is beautiful inside and out and is absolutely my best friend. !!!What a blessing!!! We've had our tough times but our God is good and He is faithful and has brought us through them all. I'm looking forward to the next 22 and then the next 22 after that, God willing. And after all these years, we're reminded daily about how much we still have to learn about how much it takes to be good for each other. Thankfully we have a heavenly Father that does not get weary in sending His Holy Spirit to continue teaching us.