While my days have been very non-eventful, the last few evenings have been pretty full. I've been struggling some with my depression and concern over a few issues that are weighing heavily on my heart, but the last few evenings have been fun and a real blessing from the Lord, reviving my spirit and preparing me for another week.

It started on Thursday. My nephew, W, was up for homecoming king at his smallish high school. S and I went to enjoy the parade, pep rally, and coronation.
The marching band. Rather relaxed uniforms.

My nephew and his girlfriend, both on the homecoming court.


Part of the football team. One of the things that made the parade so much fun was the throwing of candy. In my hometown, throwing was "outlawed" some time ago and you have to just toss it or take it to them. Not so at this old-fashioned parade. Candy was raining down upon young and old alike. Lots of "incoming" keeping us on our toes and filled with laughter.


Moving inside, the kids did the chicken dance and the cha cha slide until all the parties were assembled inside.
This was one of the "relays" that the cheerleaders organized. My nephew is to the back of the photo in the red shirt. There were three team members and you basically did the wheelbarrow crawl, only your feet where on the person behind you. A good time was had by all and the seniors won, of course.
My nephew and his buddies performed a rousing lip-sync of "YMCA". My nephew is the cowboy. The did a great job and had a ton of fun.



Look at 'em go!
King and queen ceremony. Unfortunately, they didn't win, but I think W was a bit relieved.

The boys after the evening ended. This was just loads of fun!!

On Friday, J and I went to the sophomore football game to watch one of my best friend's son play. He plays center. Since I rarely miss an opportunity to go to a football game when it presents itself, I really enjoyed the evening. The weather was perfect, a bit breezy with just a nip in the air. I love fall!! Since I have a late meeting in town tomorrow night, I get to go to the JV game earlier in the evening.

While I was at the game on Friday, my mom called to see if I wanted to go to the last race of the year at the Iowa Speedway. They needed to get their front steps done and so they were willing to give up their seats and let myself and S go. I jumped at the opportunity. Football and racing in the same weekend, one of the closest things to heaven on this earth for me.

We got there early enough to watch some of the inspections. Mom and R have fan walk passes along with their season tickets, so we were able to go down to the infield anytime we wanted. Love that!!


A look down the garage area.
Coming around for qualifying laps.Strange little Volkswagon Jetta road race. Very little noise. Just weird.

Finally, the real cars were on the track. Love the noise, love the smell.

This fellow hit the wall, not too hard, he walked to the ambulance and was fine.
We decided to go down for the last final few laps. I love being in the infield. I started going to sprint car races in the 3rd grade. My step-dad took me and mom once and then my best friend and her dad started taking me every weekend. I fell in love with racing. By the time I was 14, I was in the pits during the races as much as I was in the stands. I actually had a friend who raced and I would help out by putting "tear-aways" on his helmet. They are like disposable face shields. Due to the dirt, you have to have something that you can just rip away and have a clean shield. Over the years, I've come to enjoy many different kinds of racing, but nothing gets me going like being near the action. I love the sounds and the smells.


This poor fellows night did not end the way he wanted it to.

Restart of the race.
The winner. We had a great time.

We've been home for a few days now. Vacation was wonderful, but to short. The weather was perfect, the mountain air was fresh and crisp, the views were phenomenal.

One day was spent at the Tetons and surrounding area. We went into Idaho. You could see for miles and miles. The kids slept through most of it.We came through Yellowstone and saw several elk.

The next day was devoted to traveling around Dubois, Wy. We went up to Union Pass and saw this ominous sign. We actually barely missed seeing a grizzly in the Tetons, but some guys car alarm went off and the bear left. Bummer!!

At the top of Union Pass, we found the Lake of the Woods. It was gorgeous, but the road there was a bit rough.

We found some awesome petroglyphs. They are kept pretty quiet since they are on private property, but they are cool.We went north of town into the badlands and climbed another mountain. We found some free-range cows, one of which was a rambunctous steer.



The next morning we began our three day trek home by going back up to Union Pass in order to connect up with another back-country road to take us to Pinedale, WY. We had a few false starts, but who was complaining with this kind of scenery.

This road proved to be a dead-end when we couldn't get the Explorer between the trees.

Finally, we found the right road and were on our way. It took us 3 1/2 hours to get about 60 miles and despite the bumping and banging, it was an extraordinary trip through the mountains.
Psalm 90:2 (NIV)
² Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

We leave on vacation today. We need it. My heart is aching right now and I'm trying so hard to just trust God and not butt my nose in where it's not needed or wanted right now. It's been a rather traumatic weekend. I'm ready to stare at a mountain. Wyoming, here we come!

Thankfully, my uncle will be staying here and keeping Liberty company. That's the hardest part of going on vacation, I hate leaving Lib behind. My uncle, however, adores her, so they should have a good week.

God is good all the time, all the time, God is good!!