fare thee well

I think updates are important for oneself evaluation.

Between munching a german breze, croissant and gulping yet again chocolate milk, i'm stuck considering the last weeks and their results in my life and future.

Although my mind is filled with storms of snow and wind... it is also filled with sunshine and short sights of blue skies in the (hopefully near) future...

Fall time has already subtly arrived...
The air is fresh with scents of foliage...
The wind carries a crisp chill...
Pumpkins are sold on the streetside...
And i am happy.

I am sad, frustrated, excited, pissed, at ease, at peace, hurt and yet happy.

Fare thee well...

good medicine

has it really been two years since i last posted anything?

i don't expect anyone to answer that....

but it really has been some time now and has started making me wonder....
why?

maybe i have lacked the time and topic?
i haven't... well, maybe some time... and maybe the only topics i have had are ones i don't desire posting online...

maybe i haven't wanted to?
which is kinda true... because of the topic thing above... or i just imagined that not sharing any news would keep conflict down... ...maybe the major news reporters should try that! seems to work ;)

maybe it's because expressing inner feelings takes many forms and is done through various ways?
this includes... and has always included for me... spending time outside in nature. also spending time alone. or spending time outside in nature alone. damn i'm good...hehehe.

though all of them are probably true... otherwise i wouldn't have thought of them.... ....i tried making some shit up but couldn't. shows my originality right now... or lack there of.... yeah, like i said, though they all have truth in them, i tend more towards the last one.

life changes.

with that... the way we do things... not only the things we do.

i have noticed over the last years the way i live life has changed.

some ways better (i hope)

and some ways maybe not...

but what's important in all of it is to stay true.

bullshit, laugh, cry, yell, laugh some more (try this a lot... seems like good medicine) and learn to say sorry and thank you.

details are saved for private.
though born american, i have learned that not everyone wants to know. and those golden few who do may wish they haven't after or maybe you'll wish that they don't know.

good.

so as i sit here having drunk all my chocolate milk... i hope the way you are living life has changed too.
through good...
through bad...
through the unknown...

it would be a shame if we all expected everything to always stay the same.

we hugged and said goodbye

I think i love the sight of a good beard with a cap on top....
I have neatly neglected the my facial extravanganza and topped it off with a matty friseur hidden under a patagonia patched trucker sun block.
Sipping my burning hot coffee, still smelling like campfire smoke.... Eating mini-donuts and doritos for breakfast, the night sleep being longer than expected..... I'm with sam.

The trip to him was hard... Leaving my heavy eyelids frequently half closed causing me to slap my face. Several lil naps on the side helped none... Just gave me less time to drive.

I've daydeamed of vedauwoo for the last 2 years since the first time i stuck my hands and feet deep into the dreamy, threatening and all-demanding cracks of it's hard, sharp granite.
Now, after only five hours from the hills, lots of fog and even more oreo cookies, i was with ryan.

We were at the rapell hiding our faces from the wet and cold wind hammering us. Then it thundered....
I've read plenty of stories of climbers being caught in thunder storms in wyoming and how they either escaped or got zapped tryng to... I started thinking about our fate....

Laramie was filled with students... The parking places with their empty vehicles. We kept turning.. Left, then right.... Another left followed by another.... Finally at the end of a long wet parking lot... We got out of our cars.

I left laramie five hours after arriving in vedauwoo. The conversations too good to record here...
I realized i had 12 hours before the rental was due in boise.... I had 10 hours to drive... And less than 2 to sleep. I drove outta town.

Stupid eyelids.... I thought.... Why are they sooo stupid and heavy??? My eyes kept closing automatically. I still had 4 hours of driving.
What am i going to do, i asked myself while giving myself a good hard slap in the face.
Stupid eyelids, i said out loud and turned up the music....

We took the steaks from the fire and grabbed some mashed potatoes. This is amazing we both agreed. It was a spontaneous decision to camp, but obviously the right one. Our beards shown in the firelight. The stars above like a heavy blanket.... Covering us, reminding us of a simple beautiful life.

We rapelled 3 times and got back to our packs. The wind still going strong above us but relenting further below. We spread our stuff out and opened the pumpkin ale. Walking to the cliffs end, i ask if we shouldn't pack our stuff in case it rains again... Then answered myself saying that it won't.

Packing all our wet gear away, pants wet, jackets dripping, the bill of my cap darker because of the water, we make our way through the labrynth of the vaedauwoo approach.

Driving into boise, i realized i need gas. Filling up, getting directions to the airport, returning the rental... The sun comes up. I slept 50 mins. The coffee making my stomache hurt, i pack all my stuff together, sam is here.

We exchange hugs, say our goodbyes and speak the last sentences of encouragment before we leave.
I realize i'll see them again... Maybe sooner than thought. Maybe not.

My flight is just before boarding.....

Home sweet pine

Here i am... Forcing myself to do something i love... To share my life in words.

1 week spokane...
1 week rapid....
14 hours between them...
2 glorious days in the hills.

A friend said something about the hills here being healing.
The trees, and the winds whisping through thier tops.
The granite making it's marks in the landscape.
The memories, fast changing weather and unrelenting smells of the many fragrances the ground has to offer.

I've missed it here.

Straight up... (Wanna be gangster slang for "really, i have")

And now i must say goodbye but for how long?

Tomorrow at 8: rental car
9: make sure my starbucks cup is filled by my favourite starbucks in the world.
Just after 9: drive 5 hours to vedauwoo and meet with beam for offwidths, unknown adventures and good talks.
Sometime later than 5 hours from 9 adding the time of climbing and etc....: another 9 hour drive through the night to boise to see my best buddy sam (and hopefully finds chaco sandals)
Sunday: drive with samson back to spokane
Monday: fly back to munich with hopfully a better plan or as least ideas of how to continue with life there in a creative, wise and loving manner.
Tuesday-wednesday: samson!

Will these all go as i wrote them above.... Better not! Haha!
Except the coffee and samson... Haha

I think what i'm getting at is this....
That conversation in custer with wilhelm ended on this note: make it happen.

Make it happen. Whatever it is, big, small.... Make it happen. Take the steps... Swallow the pride.... Do the work... Etc.... Make it happen... Because what the world needs is us to be alive before we can live out who we are.

Much love!
Stateside

Speechless in a non-stop talking society

Hi there! How are you today?
....good. Thanks.
Just looking at mugs then?!
...no. I was gonna get a coffee.
Oh ok!! Then just let me know if i can do something for you!
....ok.

Super friendly?
Over friendly?
Wonderfully friendly??

All 3....

It is great being greated as if you are special.

It beats the coldness of the german café...

But neither is my cup of coffee.


Culture shocks seems to always get the best of the first few days stateside.
My hope and wish is to be here where i'm at when i'm here.... To see that i am me and not influenced by those around me but be strong and loving and honest enough to impact my surrounds and their inhabiters positively.

Where home is for me should be defined by neither boundries nor language nor cultural barriers... But where my heart is.

Much love

throw a stone and keep going...

it was one of those days that was needed.

the rain came... the sun hid. kathy and samson when to a café.

and i stayed home.

7 am is sleeping in now. well... i don't get up earlier, but for sure not any later. so after they left, i layed back down on my mattress listening to the techno from vienna and turned the fan on.

the techno made me want to get up so i turned it off....

i think it is just as hard getting up the second time. the first time you raise with a hope of laying back down... but the second time is a hopeless rise. any tiredness you still have can only be brushed off with fresh air or drowned in coffee. but since i only drink fancy coffee and not to get my drowsyness drunk, i got on my shorts and shirt, tied my shoes and stretched.... i was off.

i started jogging.... well... because i think i need to. i suppose a part of that is to be healthy physically but maybe even more is to gather or loose my thoughts.
i wish i could type all those thoughts, i'd have blogs galore... or maybe it's better they will never be written or spoken.

i ran further than normal today. when i started jogging (it was my second time starting. the first time i started i went to far and didn't want to anymore) i was keen on keeping it short but good.
well, i didn't start yesterday but now about a month or more ago. and trying to go everyday, i could run further. it was no matter of my legs or condition... but rather a way to decypher my many thoughts.

what now....?

where is all this going? i thought to myself.

obviously, i need to think things through.

i can't just make any rash decisions...

as i kept running by thoughts passed me and eventually made laps around me.

after a while (which was probably only 15 minutes) a couple of crows starting trying to attack me. they made swoops and shot down their wet dropping trying to paste my hair...
i only threw one stone but missed. eventually they turned around and flew back to their telephone pole.

i hate crows, i said out loud.

i turned again and noticed the path was more packed than last time which left my shoes muddy.

i was over half way but still had not yet even began to touch the surface of those sea deep thoughts and have been eating my mind the last couple of days.

i think i must have stopped trying to think so deeply because all i can remember now is coming home sweating more than normal, stretched and got in the shower.

the techno came back on. but then stopped shortly later.... stupid wifi.

where to go... what to do...

the questions never got any less the entire time writing and researching.

and even now, only two emails were sent. one came back with the answer, sorry, you are too late. try again next year.

but then again... maybe this is it.

yeah, maybe all that looking and trying to find has been clouding my mind to the obvious.

nonsense. nothing comes that easy.
besides, what now? how would one even go about pursuing it?

but i suppose... asking around wouldn't hurt, right?

hmm... who knows? maybe them crows was just a parable of how life can bring you down roads with swooping, pooping flying black devils.

maybe you just need to through a stone and keep going...

Mayflowers bring septemberflights

Here i am...
Where i've been? I suppose right here... Well, trying to be.

Between learning to be a father, husband, good coworker and aspiring climber i have lost lots of contact with the stateside friends and family.
It is hard living here and there at the same time.
It really takes committment and balance. It requires loads of time. Loads of words.
And yes, it s worth it. But at the same time, with sleep being little and adventures being many, of course it is easy to be just here and not have that joint relationship with those who have helped shape my life....
But here i am.

Right here.

And maybe you can help me get there too.

There are things that need to be done and people to be seen stateside. And as of now it s looking that in fall of this year i'll have the chance to be there and get those things done, see those people.
The sad news, it'll be me and not we.
The main reason, yeah, funds.

I was/am already blessed to borrow a large chunk from dear ones that i can eventually purchase my seat in the big flying metal bird with engines, but am not yet full in funds. Hey, but what the hay....
God's never let me down and as the song from 'old medicine crow show' goes, well you want it, God's got it... He's got eeeeeeverything you need...

Be it your desire to help fund the flight there in sept, let me know. Be it your will to speak some goodness over this idea or demand that we drink a water, coffee or chill together and talk about life's many past adventures and ones to come, then please leave the carrier pigeon out of it and write me an email or sms or text.

I'm sorry i can't post any pictures this time of samson smiling in the sunny mornings, or doing one of the other many amazing stunts that he's already learned...

And i'm sorry that i can't bring kathy or samson with this time since part of the reason for coming is to get his citizenship straightened out...

But i do look forward to everyone that i may get to see and spend time with.

Questions, comments or help, write me!

Love you all!!

Men wear flannel

Hmmm, i think this is where so e clever remark comes as to why i am writing now and not last week.... Or last month ;)

But i think my head is somewhat tired due to a series of new lifestyles.

I think often about home. About pine trees.. How they smell. About how its -20 there and not even freezing here and how somehow i am not satisfied with that. About skating again. About walking downtown there and seeing people i know or grew up with. I think about the hills and conquering them. About all the tourists who come through the hills every year. I think about my dearest ones who are closer than family. About the adventures, laughs and dinners together.

I have been very blessed in my life. Have had a good number of changes and have always know that through it all, there's a bigger picture at large.

I suppose the title "men wear flannel" was mainly a thought regarding a photos kathy took of me and samson where i fit him into his very first flannel shirt... And then enlargenend to the memories of good times with sam and us hiking in our manly flannels.... And countless other thoughts where these holzfäller uniforms showed that our beards are legit and endeavours many.

But i must say that i think God may just use that to confirm my heart and start something new.
I'm talking about men meeting together and being manly in a spiritual way....

Interested? Just ask me...

Kathy has been meeting more with the other moms and there children creating somewhat of a childrens' church...

Samson is amazing. For proof, either visit us, skype with us or look at the photo(s) below.

I wish you all His many blessings and pray for His will in your lives.


much love and thanks for the prayers and thoughts,

boyce

s.a.b.

i rolled over to my night stand thinking... no way that it is already time to get up. the alarm on my broken watch went off for the fourth time and i still had just as little amount of motivation for getting as the hour before when i reset the alarm that i could go to work an hour later. 

at the time i had no idea what all would happen that day. my thoughts were... get myself out of bed. make a delicious starbucks coffee leaving enough for kathy when she got up. then i would eventually brush my teeth after a couple bowls of cereal leaving me just enough time to hop on the bike riding the 4 km to the train station catching my train in the nick of time and again relaxing on the ride to kempten.

after my alarm went off, i knew that kathy was awake due to her moving around and her soft voice telling me that she has slight labor pains.

i looked at her thinking.... ok, just normal pains. the appointment is still a good 2 and a half weeks away. no sweat.... she decided to bath to see if the pains stopped, me catching a quick photo of her before she hopped in. after that didn't do anything and we counted a steady 3 minutes between pains, we grabbed some things and drove to the hospital thinking and expecting them to send us home and me headed a little late to work. 

instead, within 2 hours of our visit, at 12:16pm Samson Anton Boyce came into the world.

much love!

only once have i loved and missed someone so much and yet have only just met them.

Bigger, newer and better smelling

Listening to yet again 'the album leaf' as i bike through a very german village we now call our home... It occurs to me where i am....
But why are we where we are?

Is it just me who continuously gets caught up in his own affairs and frequently must be reminded that he is part of something larger.....?

We moved last weekend to kathys home village. It s a blessing to be out of the old small and somewhat earthly smelling apartment where we were to the newer, larger and better smelling one where we have a bedroom we can move around in, a wc thats in the apartment and a garden where our child can run around and let his imagination and dreams be lived out in fullest form...

But why are we where we are?

Around the middle of october last year, we were approached from different people to consider raising or help to raise the church in kathys home village. With kathy hearing the words of this assignment just minutes before the first person approached her, we took allowed the thoughts to tickle our imagination of what God might be doing.
After somewhat of a long search and wait, we found and now occupy the apartment described above (the bigger, newer and better smelling one). Now, as we start a life that never ended here, we wonder what is to happen here....
We have already experienced opposition throughout the last few months or better said since we started this new path. But as He is faithful, we been shown again and again that something is trying to lead us away from where we are now.

Please keep us in prayer:
That we will hear His voice in chaos.
That we use His strength to overcome evil.
That we stay close together on the battlefield.
That we follow His call on our lives, even here and in "everyday life".

Thank you all for the prayers, encouragement and friendships!!! We don't won't to do this without you!

Much love, israel, kathy and the lil one yet to come (around mid july to cure the curiosity of most)

6 countries to get home

We packed everything together before we went out into the rain. The tent was soaked, and after taking the sleeping bags and mats to the car, we rolled the wet tent together as best and loose as we could.
The trip was over..... and it was only the second day being there.....  
I can't say it was a joyful day of driving back home, buuuuuuuut it was great to see how happy kathy was to see that i was already home. We couldn't stop smiling :)
as for my climbing mate.... i hope we make up soon.
Now my tent is drying in the sun.... Still wet....
Dissappointed at the series of events but at the same time learning hard facts about life and myself, it is good to be home and writing this blog after such a long time of no updated.
I really should be ashamed for taking so long to write again....but with the action lately, there's no wonder that i have had neither time nor a want to take the remaining energy to write.....and our baby isn't even born yet :)

We are moving back to benningen, kathys home town. Both of us are excited for our new home and another new season. There are the obvious difficulties and forsure unseen ones to come... But with His grace we are going to look for the joy in the process.
Kathy is almost done working. One more month. Then somewhere in july, we'll witness the joy of a lifetime :)

Well, surprisingly i am already out of things to say, or at least forgot everything else....

How are you?!

May God, the same God who brings rain and sunshine, the same God who creates life and yet can take it away, may this God cover you with His joy, love and protection wherever you are and whatever you are doing!

Much love,
israel

Not from barbara...

I read from a good author something about memories.

Not like the song from streisand... This is where kathy starts singing the song from cats...

No, more like the things we so often forget but are actually worth remembering.
The things that have made us who we are.. Of course we see the results either way, but they are usually due to a person, a laugh or lots of tears....

The author wrote about a friend who carries a notebook around with him and anytime he remembers something, he writes it down. :)

What if we remembered everything?

I've wondered, what if i remembered my entire childhood? Would i be different? Would those i grew up with be different?

I've considered and even started writing memories down in hope of remembering more... but stopped after the first entry. True be, if i wrote everything i remembered as it submerges to the front... There'd be a lot of work..... and i think a large number of them would bring more than just smiles and giggles.

What if it is a huge way to healing?

What if we should do this?

The pen companies would see an increase im sales... for anyone into stocks, here's an investment!

Maybe we'd all be wholer people. Good at forgiving and remembering all the grace we were shown...




Hmmmm




Much love

New roles

Its always been too long since i wrote last time... Sometimes truer, and sometimes less.

Though there is only a couple of to write as much as i can, i am pleased to write at all.

The best news is that we are now parents!!!! Though the little one is still chillen in the womb, we are already learning to take on our new and exciting rolls as parents. May God help us!

Now i must go back to work but will spill more on the digital sheet again soon.

Much love!

snow storms, cp and burning wishes

it is so neat to read blogs from others that it inspires me to write as well.
i have thought that my/our lives have been rather eventlos in the last weeks or months but realize that that is not true in the slightest! so no more putting off writing but instead sending this invitation to a new season of prayer, work and excitment.

Me:

i have now been at exxpozed for a month and a half already. the unemployment days ended finally at the end of september and life started moving rapidly since then. exxpozed is a mountain sport store a half hour south of memmingen where we live. i get to take the train everyday and spend loads of time just thinking, praying and reading. i am almost done reading a german book i started a couple years ago. haha.

at the end of october was my birthday and thus my birthday trek!!! we were 9 people on the first day, 6 camped the first night then we were 2 for the second day and night til sunday when we went back to civilisation. the entire action was a blessing in disguise. a couple weeks before it, God spoke to my heart that we are to pray for Allgäu (the region of southern germany where we live.) So the second day, the two of us (a new friend and i) climbed up two different glorious peaks and praise God up there as well as prayed for Allgäu. it was amazing. the day started out rainy as the others hiked back down and we dressed up for the occassion and started off! by the time we were on the first peak the sun was smiling down on us and upon reaching the second one we were basking in His glorious sun rays.

sunday morning around 2 a.m. it rained and didn't let up. it stopped again as we got up around 7 and started again as we finished breakfast around 8. then the rain turned to ice and the ice turned to snow and the wind got stronger and stronger.

we were in a snow storm.

as we considered our options and packed our bags we filmed our adventure and eventually took down our inner tent before exposing ourselves to the extremities and hiked back down. praise God for getting us down but more so for the amazing time it was up there!

in the last couple weeks i have been teaching more english conversation. that has been a blessing as i have been able to build relationships and help others learn my mother language. fun stuff!

other than that, i have been working a lot and the season has been changing into the cold and wet one we have all been silently waiting for (and maybe regretting too.)

kathy:

about the same time that God told me about the prayer trekking (better said, reminded), Kathy was told about investing in the sister church located in her home village. it was so strong on her heart and after the church service, a man came to her and asked if she would be interest in coming to a service there.

this church was, as she was a child, full of life and cram packed with people celebrating a living God. now, there is a total of around 8 older people who attend it.

since that sunday, this wish to build the church up again has been burning on her heart and we invited you all to pray with us as to how it is to come about.

other than that, please keep her health in prayer too. she is doing well, but health problems keep creeping up and we believe it is more spiritual than just physical.


thank you for taking part in this life with us and are excited to see what is yet to come.
stand strong with faith and love and keep us posted on your life adventures as well!

much love,
israel and kathy

waves waves waves

at the moment only a few pictures or songs can explain what i am wanting to write.

last week i lived a dream. dream number 12.1 to be exact.

gimpel.

the new picture above is one from midway up the giant bulge of rock.
below are some more of the time spent with chris there.

there is something significant about such things. living something that you have hoped for. like a mile stone. or gaining a mountain of experience.

i am curious and thrilled to hopefully someday learn how this part of my heart will please Him by blessing and helping and loving.


last monday i also started a trial week at a mountain goods store down in kempten. i can't say whether it will be my job just yet but can share with you that it has already been a blessing in the first week.
the job starts at 10a.m. so i take the train at 9:00 from here. i have a 25-30 min. ride before my 20 min walk from the station to the store. i walk by a couple different schools and a mosk before reaching the actual inner city where i walk an avenue of trees. just the time alone to get to and from comes to about 2 hours.... 2 wonderful thought filled enjoyable hours to sit, think, pray, read, walk and reflect.
like i said, i don't know if i will actually be working there. i think i'll be finding that out this next week. but the last week with it was a blessing and i thank God for it.

it has been a dream to do more with mountain stuff... i.e. climbing them, hike them, celebrate God on them with others who love Him and have experienced His love. and most of all, leave that area with either a blessing or the beginning of a victory in another realm.
but of course, where one area of life starts to grow and joy is due, another area struggles and experiences attacks.
so please keep us in your prayers. for health. love. unity and wisdom. that we can go these life tours together. and that we can go them with others along our sides, following those before us and bringing up those yet to come.

much love,
israel

dance mountains, dance!

the bitter buffalo heart

its crazy how little things can bring back huge memories of once-upon-a-times.

stepping on my skateboard and rolling around after not doing so for the last 5 years felt as if i never really stepped off.

or hearing a song takes me back in front of the old norwest bank on mt view when i was trying to roll away from my second hand rail. damion filming with his ginormous antique vhs video camera. the sun shining in the late morning.

it blows me away everything that i have already lived at 26.

i think it would be disrespectful and truly sad not to just take some time and remember. remember the lessons learned. the times laughing. the stairs i used to kickflip down. the music that brought a rhythem to our day. im thinking at least 10 years ago.
the people we knew then. the people we didn't know yet. not a clue that our decisions then would bring us here now.

thinking on then...

thinking on now...


makes me appreciate my beard a bit more.

brings a smile to my face.

i didn't read much then. only attended school when i absolutely had to. first started liking subarus. didn't think so much on mountains. didn't like snow so much. and i could only speak english... and a slang of it it was.

now i don't swear as much. don't skate and much either. try to take more care of my body. and my pants. spend evening more at home then out ravaging the streets with tricks. the music i listen to is also a bit different.

im still really active. like sweets. still listen to loads of music. can still land just as much if not more on my skateboard as then. still love being outside. like shoes. like unique or colored shoes.

i hope you don't forget your past. even if just to learn from it. our Father was still our Father back then. i know that i see Him much different now. its true that things have changed a lot. like getting on the plane in new york and getting out in dehli. that different. but just like then, we are still who we are. and still becoming who were meant to.

we are now here. we are now living where we are. not there, or somewhere else. and i encourage you, as i encourage myself, to be here now. but don't forget where you've been and where you are going.

and don't forget we are here for something much bigger than ourselves.

much love,
israel

more pictures than words.

we stood there both rather in wonder...
what did she just say?
no itinerary???
how can i have no itinerary???

on that thursday as we were to fly out, my brother stood with maleaha behind us. Kathy hung to my arm both shocked and upset. and i just stood there thinking... what now?

through a vigerous (mainly mentally exhausting due to all the waiting and holding) i finally am able to tell the ticket agent that there should be a flight for me now. after affirmation, she prints the tickets and hand me them quickly saying gate 1 and wishing us well.

but as i stood there, kathy still hanging on to me, me still on hold, and the ticket agent still saying there is no itinerary in the computer... i'm strangely calm telling kathy that God will come through with this.

He did.

and i have never been more thankful to be on an airplane or hurrying through an airport with kathy. :)

we landed later in london and since we booked separately i was to fly to munich 8 hours after her. all the flights were already full so i took a train into london and she flew on to meet up with family and head home. i tried sleeping in a park and wandered around for some hours being completely tired but knowing how blessed i am. i got back to the airport, on my flight and landed in munich just before midnight. i was able to spend the night at an acquaintances house before hopping on a train to memmingen just before noon. there i sat across from an indian living in london and we chatted about travel, looked at pictures of turkey and i helped him find his bus to the airport in memmingen before walking home.

since then we've spend this last week getting back into normal habits. my hardest is sleeping. jet lag has never been so cruel. but it has been a blessing being back home here.

our last weeks in rapid city were filled with schwäbisch speaking new friends, golf ball size hail, helping at a large christian concert in the park, lots of bike riding, meeting up with old friends and time spend with family!
renting a car we drove down to where my dad lives for half a day to visit him and others. for our anniversary we drove around the hills where we spent our time just after the wedding 2 years ago. a half a week later we got to work in a saloon for a day out in the middle of no where.

we have been and are now really seeking God on what the next thing is with us. with ywam hurlach only 40 mins away from us we will be visiting the base after making contact with those we know there. work will hopefully be starting for me soon and as we wait for that i pray that the time spent will be glorifying and well spent.

you can pray with us about the future and that we come into the positions that God has for us with missions work. we're excited and yet somewhat clueless of how it's to begin. so, may His will be done!!!

and now... pictures!

towards the beginning of the journey. my way towards the black hills after visiting my father and others in nebraska.

maleaha as we rode to pierre for independence day together. we are buddies now!

the cabin where we spent our honeymoon two years ago. gold mining country.

the jolly llamas. art alley.

the wonderus black hills up close. route: blood sausage.

bro and maleaha

scenes of london from a walk in the park.

london to munich

partially redneck way of having fun.

yes!

boyce boyce.

this is what science will do to you.

this is what little nieces will do to you.

falling rock

matt (bro) crux 1

crack fun 101

followed

crux 2

our last day climbing. as i got to the top of the route i decided it'd be best to take the gear with just in case it rains (the clouds looking threatening). immediately after tying back in, the hail and rain began. quickly soaked and slightly stressed retrieving the gear coming down, we celebrated early and scrambled some off width cracks until we had to leave.

the last scramble back down to civilization.

the landscape/playing ground

keeping the spirits high and still soaked.

much love, israel