Friday, October 19, 2007

Vacation at Home

Well I have been on vacation all week long. We thought about going
on some big trip, even heading out to New York City. As Cristi and I
talked about it we decided to not go any where. We decided to
vacation at home. It has been a great week! some relaxing on
Monday, cleaning the house on Tuesday, going out of town on
Wednesday, cleaning the basement on thursday and just being with the
family on friday. now this might not seems as exciting as NYC, but
it was so relaxing. Also I had some great time with my wife and
boys. I think these kind of vacations will happen more often in the
future. i will be back at it all this Sunday but have realized, i
need to build in more time with my family than I have. Anyway,
vacation has been simple and good.

God bless you
Nathan

Friday, October 5, 2007

Bear Tracks...not the ice cream kind.

It's October.  A beautiful time a year.  Every Fall my parents rent a cabin on a lake up north and our whole family gets together to relax and connect with each other.  This year was great.  My son Isaac caught the most fish, my brother-in-law, Mike, finally caught the giant musky he has been after for 3 years, and we all were able to chill for 4 days.  
One the second day of our time up there I went for a walk in the woods.  There are some ATV trails all over through the amazing colored woods.   I was enjoying some great music on my iPod and really being so thankful for the day.  I had walked a mile or so from the cabin and started looking at the ground in front of me.  I was enjoying all the different animal tracks,  deer, squirrel, raccoon.  
Then I saw a track that made me think, "Huh, that's different."  
It was really fresh and quite clear, after seeing a few more of them I realized, "Those are bear tracks."  
Now up here we don't have grizzly bears, just black bears, but come on man, I mean a bear is a bear! So I started away very quickly, as i took off my iPod, expecting to hear growling all around me.  As I walked I surveyed the different trees around.  
"I'm sure I could climb that pine tree really quick."  I thought.  Then I remembered, bears can climb trees!  My pace quickened a little more.  I finally got off the trails back on to the main road.  I felt like a criminal, always looking behind me, to the sides.  I made it back to the cabin with out becoming bear food.  The rest of weekend was really nice, but there was always this looming thought of what could have happened.  
If I had never seen that bear print, I would have gone on in ignorant bliss.  God just kind of showed me how much he protects us in everything we do.  He is sure good!