San Juan River Trip

The San Juan is one of the most scenic and peaceful rivers that I have been on. The section from Bluff Utah to Clay Hill Crossing is 83 miles and meanders through the Goosenecks. It is popular for both its historic past as well as the geology. It requires a permit meaning that every year as a private boater you have to apply for date to "put in" or launch. This limits the number of people on the river and protects the wildlife and beauty. It is a lottery and so they select several groups to put in each day. We have not been selected but have managed to get someone else"s cancellation every year but 2007.
I think that I mentioned this before but we went on this trip on our honeymoon in 2004. we were so blessed with tranquility, beauty and the magnificence of God's creation that we try and go on our anniversary every year.
Next time I'll spend some more time showing pictures and describing a typical river day.
Blessings
Katrina

The Gourd has arrived!!!

I was outdoors working on organizing the ice chest for our river trip when the UPS man honked and pulled into our driveway. I just knew that it had to be your package Plantlady. I ran up to his van and received the package and ran into the kitchen to open it. Yes, I was not disappointed. It is so beautiful. I love it! I am not sure where I will find its final spot to hang. Thank you so very much.
An air of suspense still surrounds the delivery Plantlady. Even your return address is Plantlady Ponderings. an air of mystery just as your mysterious bird in the birdbath you too remain illusive.
Thank you and I will enjoy the beauty of your creation with fond memories.
Katrina in colorado

Trust: What I learned from my dog

1. Trusting others is not natural.
2. The illusion of having control and trusting myself seems more comfortable, especially when an experience is new and frightening.
3. I must repeat an experience and then repeat it many more times before I begin to surrender my will and trust another.
4. The more experience I have in placing my trust in others the easier it is to trust them.

While hiking down a narrow slot canyon appropriately named Crack Canyon with our little dog last week, we encountered several steep descents. These descents were impossible for our four footed little girl to negotiate on her own. They required that we lift her up and out over 12 foot drops. Sometimes this worked better head down first and other times tail end first.
On the first attempt she barked frantically, fought us, backed away, ran away and had to be drug to the descent. As we lifted her, her paws beat a rhythm in the air and every toe nail was splayed at an attempt to grab any surface and not let go. This added much hardship upon us as we often were the surface grabbed on to.
We talked to her with a soothing voice, calmly trying to lower her from one of us to the other, between the rocks and to the ground. She was too frantic to be soothed. After a while we successfully achieved lowering her to the ground.

This process had to be repeated several times.

We looked at her and thought:
“If she could only trust us and not fight us by trying to do it her way it would be so much easier on her”.
“Doesn’t she know that we love her and would not let anything bad happen to her?”
“Can’t she see that we are trying our best to make it easier for her and to protect her from potential harm?”

HMMMM! It made us stop and think.

Our heavenly Father wants the best for us. He knows what harm we can place upon ourselves by making the wrong decisions when we can’t see or understand all the angles of a situation.
And He knows how much harder we make it on ourselves as we fight and struggle to do what we think would be better, easier or quicker. If only we would trust Him more.

It was interesting to observe that the more we repeated this process, the more she began to relax and to trust us.
HMMM!

The more I place my trust in Him when it is scary and doesn’t feel comfortable, the easier it will be to trust Him in more difficult circumstances.

Thank you lord Jesus.