When we were kids, my dad worked late and my mom would make dinner for us early (I assume because we were like my kids are now and STARVING by 5) but she'd then wait to eat her dinner with my dad when he came home.  So while we were eating, she would read us short stories, novels, or daily devotionals for kids.  It was during these times that my mom introduced us kids to The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis.

The most vivid images I had during those stories were when she read The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the story of Eustace, him being turned into a dragon and then the process of him shedding his dragon scales.  Of all the stories in all the Chronicles, that story has stuck with me the most over the years.

This image popped back into my head recently as I have been thinking about where I am at right now in a specific area.  I feel like Eustace and "I" have just begun to peel off the layers myself but it isn't working, so I'm about to lie down...

"'So I started scratching myself and my scales began coming off all over the place.  And then I scratched a little deeper and, instead of just scales coming off here and there, my whole skin started peeling off beautifully, like it does after an illness, or as if I was a banana.  In a minute or two I just steeped out of it. I could see it lying there beside me, looking rather nasty.  It was a most lovely feeling.  So I started to go down into the well for my bathe.

'But just as I was going to put my feet into the water I looked down and saw that they were all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly just as they had been before.  Oh, that's all right, said I, it only means I had another smaller suit on underneath the first one, and I'll have to get out of it too.  So I scratched and tore again and this under skin peeled off beautifully and out I stepped and left it lying beside the other one and went down to the well for my bathe.

'Well, exactly the same things happened again.  And I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off? For I was longing to bathe my leg. So I scratched away for the third time and got off a third skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it.  But as soon as I looked at myself in the water I knew it had been no good.

'Then the lion said - but I don't know if it spoke - 'You will have to let me undress you.' I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now.  So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it.

'The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart.  And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt.  The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off.  You know - if you've ever picked the scab of a sore place.  It hurts like billy - oh but it is such fun to see it coming away.'

'I know exactly what you mean,' said Edmund.

'Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off - just as I thought I'd done it myself the other three times, only they hadn't hurt - and there it was lying on the grass; only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been.  And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been.  Then he caught hold of me - I didn't like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I'd no skin on - and threw me into the water.  It smarted like anything but only for a moment, After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that the pain had gone from my arm.  And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again. You'd think me simply phony if I told you how I felt about my own arms.  I know they've no muscle and are pretty mouldy compared with Caspian's, but I was so glad to see them.'"

pg. 108-110, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C.S. Lewis, Harper Collins Publishers 1952

If only two things are certain in life, death and taxes, then I think I need to apply my same rules of order to taxes as I did flying/death.  Only taxes can send me into as big a tizzy that is comparable to flying/death.

WELCOME TO CHURCH ON APRIL 15TH!

It will start simply once again - God is good and He works all things for good, even if Josh and I have the unthinkable happen.  God would still work it for best.  And while I would be crushed to have something bad happen, I am trusting that God will work even that painful idea for good.  God works all things for good for those who love God and are called according to His good purpose. Romans 8:28

Then I'll jump to prayer for our two preparers - their skill and wisdom, their honesty and integrity, too.  I will pray for alertness, decision making, whatever I can think of for them (they are a he and a she).  Our preparers will be totally covered in prayer.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests to God. Phil 4:6

I will meditate on our own destiny if the unthinkable happened, did we do everything right?  And no joke, I will go through it all, at least back the 7 or so years one says is typical - yes, we did it right.  But, but... in would come the thoughts as I would look back over the years, the distant past as well as the nearest.  I am certain we have made the honest and right choices... Thankfully, God knows I can't be perfect since the laws are always changing, that is why I need helpers.  Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:25*

Then I would pray some more and thank God for the safety thus far, and His goodness over our whole lives.  More prayer for Josh and the kids, for family and friends, and then back to our preparers again as we are now nearing April 15th.  Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.  1 Thes 5:16-18

With a very thankful heart, I am hopeful to survive.  And there will be much rejoicing. Yeah.

Granted, each year is a risk.  There are always freak filings, unplanned disasters and random happening every day and each year requires a certain amount of faith to look forward to the next.  While yes, taxes do still cause my heart to beat faster, it also strengthens my faith and trust in God.  It is amazing that my faith in One that I cannot see strengthens me for the things I can see on paper.  And my faith in One that I know strengthens me for the things that are sometimes dreaded worse than death.

Drat!  Once again, I forgot about the singing and communion!

*Yeah, I totally took that out of context.

When I was in college, we flew once a year, and even after the plane incident on our way to New Orleans, we still flew, across states and across oceans for fun and for school.

Somewhere after being married and after having kids, something happened - maybe it was having kids, maybe it was 9/11, maybe it was simply anxiety, maybe it was the fear of physical pain, whatever it was - I do NOT like flying anymore.  When Josh and I went to New York a year ago, I had the hardest time flying.  I was anxious the entire time, my heart was racing, I was a mess, I was in tears... it. was. ridiculous.

However, I was excited for our trip alone to San Francisco two weekends ago as a test flight for me. 

See, we are planning on taking our whole family overseas this summer - in a plane.  I don't want to be all freaked out on the plane because: 1. If I freak out, the kids'll freak out and 2. If I freak out, Josh will freak out. 3. The kids just may be freaking out, in which case I definitely can't freak out.  My test flights (the 4 take offs and landing to and from San Francisco) were, as Josh coined, like having my own personal church services in the sky.

Mind you, this was all in my thoughts but still they each started out simply and the same - God is good and He works all things for good, even if Josh and I died on the plane.  God would still work it for best for our kids.  He knows what they need, even without us, they would be fully protected and loved by God himself.  He would meet their needs through just the right people, He would have a plan for them.  And while I would be crushed to have our kids grow up without us, I was trusting that God would work even that painful idea for good.  God works all things for good for those who love God and are called according to His good purpose. Romans 8:28

Then I jumped to prayer for the pilots - taking off and landing the most, though definitely did it throughout the flight, too.  I prayed for his alertness, his skill, his decision making, his timing with other planes, whatever I could think of (yes, they were all he's).  Each pilot and his co-pilot were totally covered in prayer.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests to God. Phil 4:6

I would then meditate on my own destiny if I died today, did I know for certain?  And no joke, I went through it all.  Is there a God, yes.  Is the Bible true, yes.  If the Bible is true then, yes I am a sinner separated from God. If I am separated from God then somehow I need to be restored to God.  Was Jesus God's Son, yes.  Was Jesus the perfect sacrifice for my sins, yes.  Jesus died and was buried but on the third day, He rose!  If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead - you will be saved. Romans 10:8-10

But, but... in would come the doubts as I would look back over my life, the distant past as well as the nearest and know that I failed so much and so often along the way.  Even now I don't always make the right choices, I keep screwing up, I'm not always the best example for Christ and I'm not always the best at being in a relationship with Christ... But, but... God knows I can't be perfect, no one can, that is why I need Jesus.  There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  Romans 3:23-24  The wages of sin is death BUT the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.  Romans 6:23

Then I would pray some more and thank God for the safe flight thus far, and His goodness over our whole lives.  More prayer for Josh and the kids, for family and friends, and then back to the pilots again as we were now nearing another landing.  Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.  1 Thes 5:16-18

With a very thankful heart, we landed safely everytime.  And there was much rejoicing. Yeah.

Granted, each day is a risk.  There are always freak accidents, natural disasters and pain happening every day and each day requires a certain amount of faith to look forward to the next.  While yes, flying does still cause my heart to beat faster, it also strengthens my faith and trust in God.  It is amazing that my faith in One that I cannot see strengthens me for the things I can see.  And my faith in One that I know strengthens me for the things that are unknown.

However next time, as Josh says, I need to not forget about the singing and communion.

One of the amazing jewels in the San Francisco / Bay Area is the Muir Woods National Monument located incredibly close to the city, just across the Golden Gate Bridge, and only a (beautiful) 15-30 min drive north.  Hosting an "old-growth coastal redwood forest," I had read with Muir Woods it is best to go in the off-season & go after it had been raining; we nailed it on both accounts!

Trying to photograph the brilliance of the colors on the trees was impossible (though one with more skill than I could do it) and would prove the theme for the remainder of our time in Muir Woods - there are some things a basic camera with basic skills cannot do justice.  We simply could not capture on film how amazing and dense and imposing and colorful the Muir Woods are. You have to see it for yourself.

The redwoods were everywhere and they were amazing.  They grow in what are called "family circles," a series of 4, 5, 8, etc, trees all in a circle, and all towering high in the sky.  While these redwoods are not as wide as the giant sequoias found in Yellowstone, fitting cars through, they are an impressive 6-8 (maybe 10) feet in diameter.  Averaging 500 to 800 years old (the current oldest is 1200 yrs old), towering 200+ feet (the current tallest is 258'), some having half of their base missing due to wildfires - they are a sight to behold.

Thanks to a website, Trails, and talking with the ranger we found a good and short 4 mile hike that would allow us to see the ocean, too.  However, what both the ranger and Trails failed to mention was that the hike would be straight UP for the first 2.5/3 miles, like walking up 3 miles worth of stairs with 6 to 12 inch rises (I know that is cake for some, but with my foot, it was a workout!)! However, to make up for it, the entire journey up was in a beautifully dense, towering forest.

The other side of the mountain was a clearing, with rolling hills and pines, on down to the coast and then the ocean... breathtaking.  The entire hike, the surroundings, the company, were refreshing to our bodies and souls.

Now originally when we were dreaming of where to go to celebrate our anniversary, we were planning on a hiking vacation to Costa Rica, Utah, or New Mexico/Arizona, somewhere warm.  (Part of our rationale was my entire spring and summer from last year was not "normal.")  However, due to this-that-and-the-other, we changed our plans to go on a whim wherever the cheapest plane fare would take us and San Francisco won.  Before leaving I didn't know how the San Francisco area would meet our hiking/nature expectations, but the Muir Woods (and the whole bay / coast area) made an amazing impression on me, it truly went above and beyond my expectations.

What famous icon do you think of when you think San Francisco?  Cable Cars!  The only moving National Treasure!

Even though our hotel was right on the cable car line, we decided to walk the however many blocks to the start of the cable car system.  A cable car 1-way ride was $5 or a $13 1-day MUNI pass allowed unlimited rides on the cable cars, the street cars and the underground subway.  Since we had planned to use public transport the entire day, it was the 1-day pass for us and it was an amazing bang for our buck! 

We didn't know what to expect when we started at the beginning of the cable car line, but what we found was this:

This was our first glimpse at the cable cars up close; they are an amazing work of art and require a lot of skill to drive.  The drivers of a cable car are called a gripman.  (Due to the intense upper body strength needed to run the cable cars. And I should note, there has only been 1 female gripman in their history.)  The gripmen work incredibly hard to get the cars up and down the many, many hills, using a series of levers and brakes to make the car run smoothly.  There is a constantly moving cable running underground and the gripmen are using the levers and brakes and hanging on tight.  Each one of the gripmen we had was a character, too.  They had their own quirks of shouting or whistling or hooting along the route.  You could really tell they all took pride in their work, loved their job itself and their enjoyed working with their coworkers.

I was near the front when we began our first journey and, due to the temporary downpour, the roof leaked on my leg every time we went up a hill, which was A LOT (and I never realized that it's not just that one place is hilly in the city, but THE WHOLE city is hilly, all over and every which way, up and down, up and down!).  I did NOT care; I was having an amazing time!  This was by far the best way for anyone (tourist or native) to view the city of San Francisco!

We planned on jumping off at the end of the line at the bay but a couple blocks before the end our gripman shouted, "Lombard!" and we quickly jumped off and took a detour walking down famous Lombard Street. 

(Here you can enjoy our detour, too!)

(At Lombard we met a nice Scottish couple traveling on a cruise ship for 4 weeks en route to Australia.  :)!  Later that night we did end up driving down Lombard, you have no choice but to drive wicked slow.)

Even with the short detour, thanks the cable cars we were right down at the bay and got to see the water, Golden Gate and Alcatraz.  When the sun started shining and things started picking up at the piers we were easily able to find a cable car and jump back on to make our way back to downtown.  Once again, the cable cars were the perfect way to travel and see so many San Francisco sights!

It was during this time, going down a hill and around a corner, that our cable car got stuck.  The gripman may have ridden the brakes too much and it did not have enough momentum to round the corner.  The gripman got off the car and said to the men, "Gotta get off and push."  To which someone must have replied, "Really?"  To which our gripman replied, "You think I'm playin'? Put your ass into it!"  Josh did just that.

Throughout the rest of that day thanks to our day pass, we hopped on and off the cable car, jumped on and off street cars and had grand adventures on the underground.  We got to see a lot of the city from downtown to the piers to Chinatown to Castro to Haight-Ashbury to downtown and back and forth and back and forth.  Since San Francisco is also known for its atrocious parking issues, traveling the city via municipal transit is the only way to go!