Down and Derby WFR 2011

"Jacques" (from Lady and the Tramp)

"Uncle Judd's Bus" (From tailgating with the Huffmans in NC)


"Lightning The Queen" (From having movie paraphernalia but never actually having seen the movie... thus a mispronunciation that's too cute to correct :)



And the 1st place winner in the kids division is...

Me!!!

The Maiden Voyage!!

A great Canyon video, too:
http://youtu.be/uGH5q_QLwbY

a great creekside video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwkuj8OCNr0&feature=player_embedded

The Sawaya's Pics

I had to add this one for B... If you're out there Kyle... it made his day :)

Well- I think we are very near the end... only a few smolders here and there that I know of... BLM is still patrolling. The backburn went well... the view from our house is quite changed... I remember after the last fire (2 years ago)- driving around thinking how dead everything looked (one might think that anyway on an average day in the desert, but this was a different kind of desolation...black and charred.) I felt like a part of the landscape was forever scarred. However it wasn't until you guys were here, Huffmans(that next spring), that I remember driving to the fire tower feeling like something was strangely different... like I'd never been there before (though I had quite a bit). Then it hit me... the green flowing grass everywhere... beautiful!!! And even Judd- you spotted your favorite flowers... quite rare for this place. (rare in a good way also that a tough soccer/4 wheeler guy would have a favorite flower :) But as we walked to the sports center yesterday- seeing the acres and acres of black right up to the very edge of main camp- I felt saddened again but remembered that life comes from death. Because of the clearing of the old... in the spring there will be abundant new life. See an analogy coming? :).... the old is gone, the new has come... If anyone is in Christ.. he is a new creation. He went from death to life so we could as well. We can't clean up our act (our hillsides) to make em fresh and new for Him...we can't earn our way to Him... We just need to come to Him and believe He's done it for us. And He'll show us Spring! He'll give us life! Thanks so much for praying with us during the last week. If He's not done with this place yet then surely He'll keep using it for His glory. If you will, would you mind continuing to pray with us for this place... mainly the middle and highschoolers who'll get to hear about this new life. That they'll hear the message here... a seed might be planted.... their YL leaders back home would help water the seed... they'd start to see how all the underbrush is keeping them from life in Christ... and they'd take Him up on His gift to clear it away for them on the Cross and take Him up on the gift of new life, forever, with their Maker!
But as for me... I think I'm getting a little burnt out on all these fire blog posts (hehe). So I'll give you a few more things to check out if you want and I'll probably soon go back to the grandparent pleaser posts for you Mimi! ( baby's first steps instead of baby's first wildfire!)


and a neighbor's video of the back burn:http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=2330977483979&set=vb.1536004776&type=1&theater

I think my camera's still out in the stroller... I'll add one more pic of the black hills a little later... love you all!! All things worked together for good!


Sara Brown found this map of our part of the Hancock Fire. The tiny green arrow sandwiched between the two fire fronts is us.

cute kids/ raging fire:

This is actually a good thing... they started a backburn (burned from the road up to meet the fire so they could control it... fire can't burn what's already burned). For those of you who've been here... most of these pictures are taken from "the intersection"... just down from our house. Believe it or not this means we are about at the end! Tomorrow I'll hopefully post pics of the charred hillside which by spring will be beautifully green! Thank you all for praying, keep at it if you will... and remind me to tell you about B's firestorm incident from last night.






This one's in our yard. Looks crazy but we are safe.. thank you all so much for calling to check in and praying!

This is the part the kids love:


This is what we don't love(though it makes a cool pic)... but it doesn't look like this anymore, we had light rain earlier- I still see a few flames but it doesn't look as bad. We'll see what happens... I'll post again if B comes back anytime soon.

photos by Kyle Kuiper ( he's amazing... there's sure to be more of these to come... and he's out there fighting the fire too!)

@ the Dairy Barn

So... South Bottom's burned (shack saved though) and fire's reached the Dairy Barn area... B came home for a little while and actually even took a dip in the pool (that's a fireman's bath for you). BLM is here now with several crews on ground and in air. B was called back during his "bath" to back burn around the old cafeteria (Rajneesh) to try to save that building and keep the fire from heading on up the road. Road is closed from the Mark II condos on out, but here are some pics of the dairy barn area Tandy Martin took. Afternoon is when it seems to be at it's worst... night is when it looks the scariest... mornings seem calmer... then it starts all over again in the heat of the afternoon. Let's hope the cycle is interrupted soon by rain. From what I understand there's still no panic. The guys are smiling... sweating but smiling. They're tough! We could all use a little fresh air and rest... but thankfully God's in control!

B got home late and went out early again... We woke up the kids late last night so he could share some quick stories with them and hug them. Please pray with us today. It might rain... but they're calling for more lightning too! It's called a "red flag warning" on the weather reports. You can see in the video how it's cresting the hill... and that means it's headed for main camp. It's hard to describe how widespread it is... like fingers reaching over the hill for miles. B still seems so cool and even headed about it. He said there's really no reason to worry. Those guys just keep going... their efforts, their strength from the Lord, and of course His promises give us no reason to worry. The guys out there trust and persevere so we can too! Oh- and we had helicopters from the BLM here dumping buckets from the river.... their efforts are divided among multiple fires in the area though... but I think they were very helpful. On a high note- B and Henry Inglesby did save a building by the river, not to mention Ozzie the Osprey's habitat. On a gross note... he found a half eaten by a cougar deer on fire. He'll have lots of stories to tell when this is over!
This was taken by Sara B in our yard last night:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2325791554334

here we go again...

Kyle Kuiper's pic from last night...

Sara Brown's pic from our yard...

It started last night @ dinner during a lightning storm... several fires throughout the property... Brandon left to help... Lu spotted fire on the hill across the street while playing outside (wierd night)... B came back @ 12 thinking it was under control... left again @2 am to put out a new fire near Creekside... came back @4:30 am, slept till 6.... went back out to fight em till 11 am... slept some more then was going to head into work thinking the danger was gone.... ended up being called back out... fire nearing A-frames behind the ropes course (behind staff village... aka our house)... he's been gone since but just dropped by a few minutes ago (10:00 pm) to get mexican chicken salad... and back out to keep at it till who knows when. He said he has more perspective this go round.. even though it came, and may still be eerily close, he feels the buildings are not in danger with the attention we would be able to give them... nevertheless they are working very hard. Fire isn't a friend out here for sure. I'll keep you updated but it's not looking like there will be a need to evacuate as of now.It still all feels a little scary. Please pray with us! Pray for all those guys energy and stength, wisdom and protection. Thanks!

this is just after Lu spotted it on the hill... before Sara or Kyle's pic (a little hard to see, but there's a cute boy in this one :)

favorites... does this add up to 100? :)

Brave Aunt Barbie!