Ben & Beth

I rode the Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred Saturday, and i finished the ride under my own power, not in an ambulance or in a truck. That was my goal…just to finish. Inside i wish i had done it a lot faster. It took me 9 hours, which is really slow (for some context Luke and Geoff did it in 5). 100 was more miles then i was ready for, but im glad i did it…finishing felt really good!

There were 12000 participants (thus, lots of shaved legs and tight pants…), its crazy seeing that many people lined up on the street getting ready to ride. The race is started by a cannon and an air force fly over (after that the start is a bit anticlimactic…it takes 30 minutes to get everybody started, so you kind of end up waiting around for a while).

The ride was good. miles 0-60 were great, 60-100 not so much…i spent a lot of time at the rest stations where lots of nice people gave you cold water and food…kind of made it hard to want to get back on the bike!

K, here are some pictures:

Its really hard to capture so many people on the start line…just imagine a small town (like Siloam Springs) packed into 12 city blocks with bikes.

me…

Cass…

Brandi…

Pyro Pete (and Beth!)…

Luke and Geoff going through the cut off.

when you spend 9 hours on the course they start taking the course apart before you get back…

And i was very thankful for friends who stayed around to cheer me in.

well. that’s it…100 miles 2 flat tires, lots of water and bananas, cliff bars, oranges and a really gross cliff shot later i finished. At lest i have lots of room to get faster…

I have talked about Cass before….he is a good friend who has a lot of musical talent. He recorded some songs, is planning to start playing some shows, and is working on 2 new projects. I built a facebook page for him. If you want to here about upcoming shows and albums joining the page is a good way to do that. You can find it here.

we leave for texas in the morning for the 100 miler…the weather is supposed to be good, so it should be fun. ill let you know how it goes.

“I just poured orange juice in the jelly.”

Sure enough, folks….that’s what Ben just said as he was making lunch in our kitchen.  Apparently he had the jar of jelly out b/c he was making a sandwich & somehow he thought he was supposed to pour his orange juice in the jelly, instead of in a cup.

I’m still laughing about it.  Just thought I’d share.  Let’s just not talk about the envelope of taco seasoning that I started to put in the fridge last night…..

So I had a birthday yesterday….I love birthdays. I think it’s so fun that everyone gets this one day of the year just for them. There are lots of great people we know who have August birthdays, but I once worked in a place where at least 4 of us had the same birthday (if not more than 4). It’s fun finding someone who shares your birthday! (and to have found so many in one office building was pretty amazing to me!)

It was a good day…cooler temps, sunshine, a pizza party in the office (where I was the honored recipient of a Miss Colcord Pageant 1997 2^nd Runner-Up trophy…wrapped in a Victoria’s Secret bag…delivered by a 4 year old), a mini-scavenger hunt that lead me to a few significant places for Ben & I around camp & into Siloam (dinner @ Sonic-which I had been craving), to Ben’s parents’ house (with yummy chocolate pudding brownie dessert) & the opening of a very special gift….an ipod!

I have been wanting an ipod for years now….and I guess Ben finally decided that I had been good enough to warrant this large of a gift. I’m pretty excited about it…. And the best part? Engraved on the back it says: “This is Beth’s…For lots of hard work”

He’s so great!

And today…I think I have what I’m calling a ‘birthday hangover’…. and I’m wearing pigtails…because I’m still in a little denial over being 2 years away from 30.

Gary Larson is a funny guy, he writes cool comics, his birthday is today. And he should be really glad that he shares a birthday with Beth!

I like dogs ok, they are fun to play with, they can catch things, they are loyal…all those cool dog things. But when i am on my bike and they chase me they seriously scare me…irrationally so. i think it is left over fear from being chased down on my bike by a pack of little dogs and getting bit when i was little. On my ride tonight i got chased by dogs three times…ahh…adrenalin.

Summer Camp is over, the 5oth is over, Beth is done with school (and her birthday is coming up). So, things are kind of quite around here.

The 50th celebration went really well. We had around 1000 people on the grounds. One of the big parts i had in the day was putting together a display about the history of NLR. I had great help from Tom, Leah, Ashleigh, Scott, Cass, and Beth (and Bethany and Liz and my parents). It was a fun project…and i am very grateful for all the help! Here are some pictures:

Now its on to the rest of the year…some bigger projects (like redesigning the New Life News and newliferanch.com), some time off for vacation (back to CO), finishing the unfinished workbench i started building and never finished (its not done…). A video project for a friend here at the ranch, i might start taking pictures again (or i might not….), lots of reading i hope, and a couple century rides (if i survive the first one). And, i got my Chacos back today, they were being repaired…

Yesterday i road 75 miles on my road bike…kind of crazy..it was the longest i had ever ridden by almost double. It was a lot of fun, in a lot of ways my body was not ready for that much distance, so it was hard, but it was fun. In a few weeks some of us from camp are going down to Texas for Hotter’n Hell. I’m hoping to ride 100 miles (which i am really not ready for)…we’ll see how it goes.

My friend, Holley just started a blog. She’s a greeting card writer, among many other roles she takes on in her life, and I think you’ll be blessed just by stopping by her site. The Lord has truly given her a gift for writing.

One of her recent posts is about Beautiful Anomalies. Reading it got me to thinking about the anomalies in my life. Here are just a few that I’d like to start seeing as beautiful. (This will make more sense if you read her post about it here.)

1) I need time to myself every now & then to recharge
2) I usually choose Dr. Pepper as my drink of choice at most any restaurant, unless I’m eating pizza, or at Quizno’s-then it’s Mt. Dew
3) It bothers me if the car is parked crooked in the driveway.
4) I LOVE live music & can appreciate it, even if it’s not perfect, or even really that great. I think that someone who has the guts to get up and share their stuff with strangers deserves appreciation.

What are some of your anomalies?

I keep being about to start a post about the end of Summer Camp, the 50th, what we are up to now…the usual stuff. But not today. This morning we went to the memorial service of Ruth Heck. I did not really know Ruth, but she has had a huge impact on my life, and, perhaps, on yours. Ruth Heck was married to Willard Heck. Willard and Ruth, along with the Hulls started New Life Ranch in 1958, she was a servant, prayer warrior and encourager for this ministry, as well at Tulsa Bible Church which they also helped start. If, when i die, people look back on my life and say i had 1/10000 the impact of Ruth i would have done well, and i will be surprised. It was encouraging this morning to to hear (and to have seen) that there are people who are fully committed to glorifying God by serving others, even in the final hours and minutes of their earthly life.

Ruth died in the morning on August 2nd (thats right…the day we celebrated 50 years of NLR…50 years of the ministry she helped create). I think that there is no greater tribute to her then to have 1000 people at NLR the day she died celebrating the legacy and future of what she started.