Contemplation

I Found These very Beautiful Poems.
Love Jason

Sacrifice
I want to write about sacrifice.
About the Death willingly received for Love.
About the one hung on the tree.
Long ago, in a time before ourswhen the dream fragmented and the worlds of the people and spirit careened out of balance the people knew something precious had to be offered to restore the dance.
So one who was gifted a leader one filled with beauty would offer to hang and die on the summertree.
It had to be done willingly an act of love remaining conscious as the sun and the moon made their journeys three times.
Bearing the aloneness and the pain of limbs stretched out of their socketsof muscles tornof hunger and thirstnever surrendering to the beckoning darkness.
And sometimes,but not often,The Lord of the Forestor the Red Goddess of the Moon would spare the one on the tree.
But it was not expected.
This is the time of my summertree.
I am hung.I choose this willingly for love of my own soul for love of life.
But ...it is hard.
My heart feels stretchedbetween settling for and hoping for.
I cannot end the tension by choosingthe ruthless cutting away,the fast clean death of the sword.
Nor can I sink languidly beneath the waters like Ophelia. I am still awake and the pain scars through me.
I breathe and wait.
I will not pray for release only for courage and compassion

Oriah Mountain Dreamer © 1995

The Invitation

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.

I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream ofmeeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are.

I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream,for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon.

I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fearof further pain!

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, withoutmoving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy,mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill youto the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful,to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true.I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself;

if you canbear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day, and

if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on

the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with meand not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly likethe company you keep in the empty moments.

by Oriah Mountain Dreamercopyright © 1999 by Oriah Mountain Dreamerhttp://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com/person.html

Busy as usual

Okay, so it has been a little longer than I wanted it too be between posts. What can I say? Lots going on.Still on track for moving out March 30th. Jason a few different potential jobs in the works. Mom and Craig were just here.We had a great time. It was just over too quickly.Took the girls to OMSI. Meghan loved running around all over the place. Sydney seemed to like it. But was still a bit too young for it also. Both the girls are doing well. I hope to get some more pictures on here at some point in time soon.

That is all I feel like writing tonight. Just felt like posting something.

Bye bye baby stuff

On weds we gave away a bunch of baby stuff to some friends. It's kinda a blessing really. Not only will these things help them out.But it helped us out as well.No more high chair, crib, clothes the girls aren't wearing, some toys, some books, or 2 infant car seats. It felt really good. More stuff still to go. Just not baby stuff.

9 Year Old Girl Takes Record Book Brown Bear

I just wanted to share this article. I just think it is amazing. She is a testament of the that if you put your mind to it you can do anything. Anyways She is a distant relative. She is a Rivers. I would expect nothing less. She is also an example of what is ahead for us. The work has just begun.

Love
Jason


9 Year Old Girl Takes Record Book Brown Bear
Gary Gustafson, Bear Hunting Magazine
01/14/2007

Fern Spaulding-Rivers With Her Trophy
An urban legend about a young lady and a world-record brown bear has been circulating on the internet. Here is one version:

"This 9 year old girl from the Yukon killed the new world record brown bear on the Alaskan Peninsula in October, 2006. Skull size 33 1/16", 11' 9" nose-to-tail. Estimated weight of 1,800 Lbs. No, this bear had not killed anyone. It was the girls first-ever bear hunt!"

No, she was not from the Yukon and no, it was not a world record, but the true story is just as fascinating:

From "Biggest Bears Of 2006" in the March/April 2007 issue of Bear Hunting Magazine, due on newsstands late February 2007:

If the "biggest bear" is determined as a ratio of the size of the bear to the size of the hunter, Fern Spaulding-Rivers is probably setting records that will never be broken. The 10 year-old from Talkeetna, Alaska has already harvested great trophies of most of Alaska's major game species, and she is a handloading fanatic as well. Fern's larger caliber rifles have a muzzle brake and a recoil pad and she also wears a custom-made padded shooting vest from McCoy Shooting Armor to help her withstand big bore recoil. Fern was carrying her Remington 700 Stainless chambered in .375 H&H while brown bear hunting on the Alaskan Peninsula with her father and mother on May 10th, 2006 (when she was 9 years old). As the day progressed she and her father saw 11 bears. At one point, they were charged by a pack of wolves, and they had to dispatch some with the nearest at only 8 paces! Later, they spotted a big bruin in a gully at 32 yards. With all the excitement of the day beginning to show, Fern asked Larry to hold her legs steady while she shot because her knees were shaking. Fern rolled the bear with her first shot, but the bruin regained it's footing and tore off across the tundra. Shooting again from a prone position, Fern dropped the behemoth for good with a second 270 grain Barnes Triple-shock at 112 yards. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service measured the bear's hide at 11'4" from nose to tail. The skull has been officially scored at 29 1/16" Boone and Crockett. What does Fern think of bear hunting? "Do you know how big an 11' bear looks at 30 yds? It's kinda scary! They are about the size of a Volkswagen bus and when they swing their head to look your way they remind you of a T-Rex in Jurassic Park!" Her trophy brown bear now puts her in an elite class. Fern is a tremendous example to young hunters everywhere, and she is a great hunter regardless of her age.

Oh, The Crazyness

So I am going to try and update our blog on a much more regular basis. Hopefully once or twice a week.We will see how it goes. Things seem to be in a bit of an upheaval around here. So much to get ready in so little time.We will be getting rid of a lot of things. Since we will only be able to take up there what we can fit in our SUV and a 6 x 12 trailer from Uhaul.I think that is one of the toughest things for me.But the most important things in life aren't material at all. That's what I keep telling myself anyway. ;-)

We are moving out of Vancouver on March 30th.We plan on spending that evening and the next day in Monroe. Then heading out early in the morning on April 1st. We fiqure it will take 4 to 5 days to get there.Who knows what weather we could run into and the Uhaul can only do about 45 mph.It will be quite the adventure.