News

Having had, for the past several months, the sincere intention of providing a detailed account of my life and activities, I became daunted by the scope of the project and wrote nothing. Being laid on the shelf for so long, what news I had either spoiled or was forgotten. Here's all that's left:

• Birthday in October--can't remember whether anything special happened.
• Visited Paul McNiel and his family in Bath, NC several times. Everything about these trips has been a blessing--the fall colors, long motorcycle rides in the cold, conversation, food, "tall boys", dawn-to-dusk hard work (cutting and hauling trees, rebuilding carburetors, etc.), and adventure (bull riding and getting stuck while 4-wheeling in a Toyota).
• Bull riding deserves it's own entry--I didn't cover the full 8 seconds, but man, what a rush! I even had one fall down with me still on it. Oh, and yeah, I look awsome in cowboy duds.
• Spent nearly a month in 29 Palms, California. Good training. Saw some pretty cool stuff, did some pretty cool stuff, and sat around A LOT. Sitting around in the desert was good for me--boredom normally gets me into trouble, but there, it drove me to spend some time praying and meditating on the Bible. I also had quite a few conversations with other Marines about God and salvation, but I'm not sure I did a good enough job to call it witnessing.
• Didn't get back in time for Thanksgiving, but I did share the holiday spirit with the McNiels on a boat in the Outer Banks, catching Blues and feeding pelicans. Worked on two outboard motors, bought a hitch and towed the boat with my own truck *sigh* life is good.

More later? Maybe. Got to run