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Agents of Grace

9/30/2018

Photo: https://gracewinecompany.com/graces-story/

By the grace of God it all works out….and sometimes we can be His agents in bringing His grace so that it all works out.    We have that chance now.

Let me tell you a story….

The story involves two marvelous men: Bill the man who owns the trailer that was rolled and ruined on our Oregon Coast field trip and Dan, the man who was driving when the trailer was rolled and ruined on our Oregon Coast field trip.   Both men were doing me a tremendous and much appreciated favor and both men are taking a financial hit as a direct result of their benevolence.

In the planning stages of the trip it became obvious that none of the parents planning on attending had a trailer we could use to haul the kids’ equipment to the Pacific coast.   Not having budgeted for a trailer rental, I turned to Bill, personal friend and long-time Ogden Preparatory Academy supporter. Bill, who did NOT have a child attending the trip, graciously agreed to let us borrow his trailer.

Dan graciously volunteered to pull the trailer.   And he graciously agreed to leave a day early so the trailer, loaded with all the camping gear, would be at the campground when we arrived the next day.   And he graciously agreed to take not only his son but also three other junior high boys on the journey with him. They would leave Ogden Sunday, camp in the Boise area Sunday night, and proceed to Newport on Monday. His sacrifice--leaving a day early, pulling a trailer that could not go faster than 65 mph, taking four boys by himself for an extra night--was truly phenomenal.

And then the unimagined happened….. Soon after leaving my house hitched to the loaded trailer and as soon as he hit 60 mph on the freeway, Dan’s truck and the trailer rolled.   Miraculously no one was hurt. He had not yet picked up the boys so it was only Dan in the vehicle and he walked away unharmed. The rolling incident did not involve any other vehicles and the rolled truck and trailer came to rest at the side of the freeway.

No one was hurt physically.   However both men took a financial hit.   Dan’s truck had only liability insurance and is a total loss.   Bill’s trailer was not insured. It also is a total loss.

Who is to blame?   The beauty of the situation is that no one is blaming.   Both men could have dumped this problem in my lap. Lesser men would have turned on me and demanded that I make it right. Bill and Dan are greater men. Instead of turning on me, they turned to each other and worked it out.

Their agreed upon bottom line was that the incident should NOT jeopardize future trips.    “We are both in agreement that the most important thing is to protect this trip for future kids,” Bill wrote. They also agreed that Dan would be financially responsible for the trailer. I am off the financial hook. Dan is not.

I am not taking a financial hit at all. (Thank you Dan and Bill!) Bill is taking a hit as he lost a big trailer and is accepting a replacement trailer that is not as big.   Dan is taking a hit as he lost his truck AND is paying $7,500-8,000 to buy a replacement trailer. OUCH!!!

It makes me absolutely sick to my stomach that these two men are suffering financially simply because they are good--gracious and generous-- men. Sure, mistakes were made but they were honest mistakes, mistakes that you or I could (and probably would) have made in a similar situation They are taking a financial hit and their only “crime” was stepping up to help me out.

This is where we can enter the story.

Grace.

“A prominent Old Testament word describing God's grace is chesed. This word speaks of deliverance from enemies, affliction, or adversity.” https://www.allaboutgod.com/definition-of-gods-grace-faq.htm

I firmly believe that God uses us to help others. He can use us to help Him deliver others from affliction or adversity.   We can help Him “make it all work out”.

Please join me in making this “trailer thing” all work out.   Go to https://secureinstantpayments.com/sip/cart/event.php?EID=3380 and make a donation to help pay for the trailer.   Select the “Miscellaneous” column and a box will appear that asks for a description. Type TRAILER into that box. Or you can send a check to Ogden Preparatory Academy, ATTN: Trailer, 1435 Lincoln Ave, Ogden UT 84404.

Thank you.

By the grace of God (and His agents) it will all work out.

Photo: https://emailmeditations.wordpress.com/2017/10/17/1650-a-lesson-in-grace/

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Oregon Coast Field Trip, Part Two

9/23/2018

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Last week I promised to publish the ending of our Oregon coast field trip adventures.   Promise fulfilled below.

We were up at 6:00 and moving out of camp by 7:00 each morning.   Early mornings are my forte for several reasons. My dairy-farmer father raised an “early to rise” gal (me) and old habits die hard.   (My early-to-rise habit probably won’t die until I do….). And the lowest tides were in the early morning hours; we had to get to the beach to see the good stuff.   Finally, teens who are awakened early tend to settle down earlier…. (See how I am?!!!!) As is tradition, I sang the camp awake every morning with horribly off-key renditions of obnoxious morning songs that the kids love to hate.   “In the leafy treetops the birds sing ‘Good morning’....”

We did have good mornings.    We visited tide pools at Marine Gardens, walking on the floor of Devil’s Punchbowl, strode along Ona Beach, and scrambled on the cobbles at Yaquina Head.   We were expecting to tide pool at Ona Beach. The tide pools were elusive but the beach’s beauty was not….sea birds circling, surf pounding, sand permeating, sun shining (occasionally….very, very occasionally)...... Good times! We noticed a group of gulls congregating at a specific spot on the surf line. Investigation revealed thousands of squid egg sacs and hundreds of crabs, all washed up along a 15 meter stretch of beach. Why then and why there we will never know. But it was a fascinating find for us and a feeding frenzy for the birds.

Hands-on beach experience morphed into hands-on classroom experiences at the Mark Hatfield Marine Science Center on two of our days.    Students designed and conducted an experiment with live crabs, dissected squid, built remotely operated vehicles that retrieved forks from the bottom of a pool, and dredged for, collected, and then microscoped (...Is that a verb?) plankton from the estuary.

My personal favorite was the shrimp slurping class.   (FYI: Slurping shrimp is nothing like sucking smoothies.)   Students (and Karen and I) used specially outfitted, wide PVC pipes to bring mud cores to the surface of the estuary mudflats.    Hidden in the cores were shrimp, ranging in size from 2 cm to 12. Everyone engaged; it was kindergarten excitement manifest in teenage bodies.   Gary was at my side every 2-3 minutes showing me his latest catch. Many (MANY) others called me to over to see their squirming trophies. The captured shrimp were housed in a bucket, hauled to a lab, measured, and examined for parasites. Our stats contributed to a database being compiled by a researcher from Oregon State University (OSU).

We spent an afternoon in Cape Perpetua State Park where we went on a not-long-enough-for-some (Dan hiked the trail twice) and a way-too-long for others 6.8 mile hike. The path led through old growth forest, beside a fern-lined stream, and, eventually, paralleled the Pacific coast. It was intensely green and beautiful.

One cannot visit the central Oregon coast and fail to visit Mo’s Original Clam Chowder House .    We did not fail; we did visit Mo’s. Our reservations for 70 people almost filled their guest places and their fabulous food did fill our gastric places.    YUMMY!

I had never been to Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area State--you have to pay to get in--but I will certainly return often.   It was by far the best tide pool spot we visited. We saw sea urchins, nudibranchs, sponges, seals and even a whale, in addition to the sea stars, sea anemones, crabs, mussels, barnacles, and snails we usually see.   The whale entered the tiny bay area where it displayed tail and top fins. The seals “sunned” on the rocks (though there was no sun in sight…) and the nudibranch stuck out like an almost-fluorescent, bright yellow banana peel sitting on the tidepool floor next to dark gray rocks and dark blue mussels.

I inserted a visit to Oregon State University’s Corvallis campus into our trip itinerary.   Because it was a completely new addition to the trip I was a little nervous.. No need for worry.   The OSU people were spot-on and so were our students. We toured campus, participated in a inquiry-based classification lab and a hands-on wind turbine construction lab, and ate in the campus cafeteria.   Oh the cafeteria…..so many choices!!

While waiting for rides (I had to do some creative car shuffling to avoid paying parking fees) we sat in the football stadium parking lot and enjoyed an impromptu, unofficial concert. The OSU marching band drum line was finishing up a week of band camp and we were there for their final run-through. Amazing!!

I also added a Friday night potluck to the agenda. I figured it would either be totally disastrous or completely fabulous. Fortuitously it took a turn for the fantastic and the first-ever became the first annual; I will do it every trip from now on.

All week the kids cook for themselves which means we never mingle as a group at meal times.   My pot luck instructions were to bring whatever food that was left in their food boxes that they were willing share.   My hope was that it would bring together. They followed my instructions and fulfilled my hopes. Some people, like Eric Wilkinson, went all out.   He cooked fresh tuna, blackened style, that disappeared almost in an instant. Also contributed were Tillamook cheese curds and fresh cantaloupe. Most of the kids contributed junk.   All of us nibbled or gobbled and enjoyed.

We ended the day and the week and the camp with our traditional awards presentation.   Every person in camp received an award. Awards are based on incidents occurring during the week and range from the traditional such as “Ms. Congeniality” and “Ray of Sunshine” to the very unique, things like “Talyn of the Tides” and “King Dredger”.   It is a time of celebration as everyone--parents, students, teachers--is recognized and loudly cheered.

This year’s celebration was especially special (...should I use those two words together?...) because the parents presented me with a beautiful, classy, and very unexpected gift.   “Thanks to Mrs. Hislop for all she does to make this happen,” Heidi Owens said as she handed me a navy blue, Hatfield Marine Science Center jacket, the kind I would admire in the gift shop but never purchase for myself.   Cool. And WOW!!

On the final day, I sang at 4:00 a.m.and we were on the way to Ogden before 5:30 ….tents down, sleeping bags stuffed, camp cleaned, trailer loaded.    Again, everyone was so good. Cute Edith really stood out. She quickly broke her own camp and then helped others do the same. Load after load after load she carried to the trailer, each time after the first delivering someone else’s stuff.

The drive home was long.    Just like on the way there, I drove the entire time.   If anyone wrecked Bishop’s trailer, I wanted it to be me.   Fortunately, no one wrecked it. And, I must say, trailer brakes are my new favorite thing.    I love trailer brakes.

The beauty of trips such as our Oregon coast adventure is not the itinerary. Nor is it the tidepools, lighthouses, or old growth forests. The true beauty of trips such as these is the people.   And we had some truly beautiful (albeit a little stinky and slightly messy at times) people. [Hang on….the next two paragraphs are shout-outs.   I feel compelled to express appreciation. It may be boring reading for you but it is extremely important to me.]

Oh how I love Karen Eilander! (OPA’s new 9th grade science teacher)   She truly loves learning (....talk about kindergarten excitement!!), she truly loves students, and she loves me. (Nice!) I also love, love Talyn (OPA’s 7th science teacher). She is also such a genuinely good person, values based and oh-so fun!!!   And wise beyond her years. Rebecca was a priceless addition, both for her organization and her observational skills. It was to get to know Beckie, to see Garey in full “mother hen” mode, and to have Amie fly in to support us.

People thank me for putting on the trip.   Honestly, it could not be done without the parents. They too are fabulous people; Brent so fun and so helpful, Mike so courteous, Heidi washed ALL the dishes for the potluck, Heather so upbeat, Danielle always stepping in to help, Eric so good with the kids--played football, took them to the beach, Dan so gracious, wise, and engaged in every activity, Ana also completely engaged and fun, Katie so excited to spot the whale, Stacey became a seafood convert, Lora won the dance-off in the parking lot, Annette so gracious and Saren so grateful…...and the list could go on.   What a huge blessing to be able to associate with these people.

Of course it is the kids who truly make the trips.   Here are a few trip highlights:

About the third day, my hair was sticking straight up. So was David’s. I said to him “Look! Our hair is just the same.” He looked at me and said “My hair looks that bad?”
The outhouse in our camp was horribly stinky. Ana and Talyn discovered that sticking veggie straws up their noses eliminated the stench.
Abe bought gifts for everyone in his family, even the dog (who got a hoodie!).
One could see the tiny squid larvae squiggling inside the egg sacs we found on the beach. Edith tried to rescue them all.
Gabe, who told me he was hesitant to come on the trip because he is challenged by separation anxiety, thrived. He was at the center of a card game every night.
One girl recorded my early morning sing/screeching and uses it as her phone ringtone.
Lisa and Danielle, two Latinas are pretty and look shallow are anything but. They designed the windmill that generated the most power.
Eva had never hiked more than a mile in her life. Wednesday she had walked 14 miles.
Jeff’s mom called him. “Where are you,” she asked. “Oregon,” he replied. Duh!
Andy told me “I wrecked my shoulders hiking,” He wasn’t even carrying a pack!
Mary said, “Dad is cooking something complicated. Can I help you?” Perfect timing. I had her stir three cakes…...200 strokes per cake.
Addison spent $28 on a mug for her dad that said something like “I would laugh at your jokes if they were funny,,,” I wanted to get one for Lance but the joke wasn’t worth $28 to me.
Mango chili salt water taffy is FABULOUS.
Several people (Karen Eilander included) licked banana slugs to experience the tongue numbing sensation. One lick did not numb Steve’s tongue so he licked it again and again and again. It looked like he was making out with the invertebrate.
Francis added $17 to the $9 meal ticket I gave him at the OSU cafeteria. “People say my stomach is a black hole,” he told me.
Fred bought socks at every gift shop we passed.
Abigail wrote me a sweet note in the which she thanked me for being such a good example in having an “opening and closing” prayer at each end of the trip.
On the post trip survey, when asked what they would remember about the trip in 5 years Kyle wrote: “I was a LUCKY kid.”

It was a fabulous week.    Honestly, about mid-week, I thought it might be my last big trip.   I am tired. Tired. And a little empty. Drained. I was not sure I had the umph to pull off another trip.    But my umph was restored. The students and parents are so good, so appreciative. It really is an honor to work with such incredible, gracious, giving, genuinely amazing people.

After the trip a friend asked “How do you control 50 kids for that long?”   My response was instant and accurate. “I don’t,” I said. “They control themselves.” And they do. They are high quality young people, trustworthy and capable of great things.   I guess another big trip is probably in my future.

So, I lied.   At the beginning of this post I promised to publish the ending of our Oregon coast adventures.   It appears there will not be an ending….. At least not soon.

These crabs have probably seen more people than my students have seen crabs.

Double take

Come to Papa!

Veggie straws eliminate potty odor

In the mouth of Devil's Punchbowl

Remotely operated vehicle (ROV)

Squid dissection

ROV performance test

Catching crabs

Ruptured ink sac...

Oregon Coast Field Trip 2018, Heceta Head State Park

Slug licking

The Stone House, Cape Perpetua State Park, built by the CCC.

Cape Perpetua State Park

Making out with an invertebrate

Old growth forest

Male and female crabs....Can you tell the difference?

Shrimp slurping in the estuary

Trophy mud shrimp

Dredging for plankton

Looking for plankton

Measuring mud shrimp

Casting the dredge net

Better to sleep on the couch than in the car...

If there were an ending, it would be a happy one!

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Oregon Coast Field Trip Part One

9/17/2018

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“I flipped the truck and the trailer right after pulling onto the freeway.   I am okay but the truck and trailer are both a total loss."

Oh my lands. OH MY LANDS!!!

Because vehicles pulling trailers travel much slower over long distances than vehicles not pulling trailers, the cars going to Oregon reach the campsite hours ahead of the gear. Hoping to avoid having to set up tents in the dark, this year we decided to send the trailer ahead. Sunday afternoon the dad who volunteered to pull the trailer hooked it up and pulled it from the spot in front of my house where it had been parked.

Five minutes later I received his call.

Blessedly there were no children in the car. Blessedly there were no other vehicle involved in the accident. Blessedly the trailer came to rest at the side of the freeway. Blessedly, blessedly, blessedly the dad was not hurt.

Assured that he was okay, I sprung into action.   I texted my bishop (whose family owns a trailer repair and rental business) and asked for estimates on how much it would cost to rent a trailer, hooked my truck up to our horse trailer, and went to the tow yard where we transferred the gear from the tossed trailer to the horse trailer.

On the way back to my house, I spoke with Bishop. He have me an offer I could not refuse and saved me from pulling an old, heavy, somewhat rickety trailer that did not have trailer brakes and did have a non-functioning left turn signal to Oregon.

We drove my truck to Bishop’s shop where he made it trailer worthy.   He changed a couple fuses, switched out a hitch, topped off tires and rewired a connector. After teaching me how to use trailer brakes, we hooked up the trailer up and drove off. I am not sure who was more nervous, me or Bishop---probably Bishop….

Lance, Miles and I transferred gear from one trailer to another again and, finally, about 11:00 p.m. I got to bed.

The next morning I got up at 3:15 a.m., was out the door by 3:35 a.m.,and to the school by 3:55 a.m, Everyone was in cars, locked and loaded, and on the road by 4:25 a.m. Twelve cars, 49 kids, 21 adults, and a trailer.

Our adventures continued.   I pulled onto I-15 and headed south. I was almost to the Roy exit before I realized that I should be heading north.

About Boise I got a call from one of my drivers.   “I need to go back home,” she said. Her cat died Sunday night, she’d only had 2 hours of sleep, and her elementary-aged daughter was sobbing for her mom and her (now) dead cat.   Oh dear.

A relief driver in her car, a nap in my car (her), a conversation with her son (who was on our trip), and several prayers (me) later she decided to continue with us.   Phew!

My truck is a heavy drinker under normal circumstances.   Put a large trailer and lots of gear into the equation and his drinking problem becomes acute.   Gas disappeared into my truck like lemonade vanishes around hay haulers in July. We stopped for fuel every few hours.

On I-84, going through the Columbia River Gorge, I noticed that we had not stopped for fuel enough. The Gorge is an awful place to run out of gas. There are few places where running out of gas is good but the Gorge is truly awful. The freeway is narrow--really really narrow--and the shoulder is anorexic. Vehicles whip by at freeway speeds (imagine!!) and on/off ramps are 30-40 miles apart.   Bad news.

With the gas gauge needle below the E line that was below the red zone on the gas gauge, Google told us the nearest gas station was 16 miles away.   No way could I go 16 miles. And I didn’t. We ran out of gas about ¾ miles from the off ramp. Fortunately it was downhill. We coasted off the freeway, down the ramp, and came to rest about 150 meters from the gas station.    Another blessing.

We made it through Portland without incident. Blessed again.

About 9:00 p.m. we pulled into camp, pitched out tents (in the dark), and went to bed.

It was not the most auspicious way to begin a trip... How would it end?

I know the ending. You don't.

Next week I will post the rest of the stories.

After running out of gas, we came to rest under the freeway, 150 meters from the gas station.

We had to put coins in three parking meters in Hood River.

Parked with the big boys in Idaho.

We made it!

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By the Grace of God

9/2/2018

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“By the grace of God somehow it all works out,” I told the room packed full of parents and students interested in attending this year’s Oregon Coast field trip.

And, by the grace of God, somehow it does.    The field trip really is a logistical miracle.   With just three weeks between the start of school and the start of the trip we somehow manage to recruit students, inform parents, facilitate a service project, instigate a fundraiser, jump through a multitude of administrative hoops (including but not limited to five different documents filled out for each student, a background check, driver’s record and two online courses completed for each adult volunteer, and pages of plans and permissions submitted by me), and, most amazing of all, convince 12-15 parents to leave their jobs for a week to drive their own cars to transport other people’s teens (and their own) to, from, and around Oregon.    And, by the grace of God, it all works out.

God’s grace is not limited to Oregon Coast field trips.   He helps with many things...like our freezer.

We bought our freezer used when we moved into our home over 22 years ago. . Monday it gave up. Tuesday I talked to God about it. Wednesday it worked again.   Last week the dishwasher quit; it made noises as if pretending to work but the dishes simply were not getting clean.   Tuesday I asked for help for it too. Wednesday’s wash cleaned the dishes.

God’s grace is manifest through people as well.   My sweet friend bought boxes of blueberries for me and boxes of cereal for my son. And she did not stop there; she insisted on filling the cart with things that can be stored in our resurrected freezer. Our IT guy, a man who is not overly demonstrative, left a Thank You note in my school box. Holy cow! I pest him so often with inane issues (I am a technology dinosaur…) that I figured he barely tolerated me. To find out that he appreciates me was revelatory (and awesome!). My bishop, whose plate overflows with people who have problems much greater than mine, sent a compassionate note to my email inbox. As I read his words, I felt his love….and His love.   The feeling of love, from my bishop and from my Savior, was almost overpowering.

There are some significant stressors in our lives right now.   Lance’s search for employment is ongoing. Shadows of sorrow chased my child south. Homework haunts. Social anxieties can be crippling. I ache with the burdens carried by those I love.

There are also significant blessings.   Thank God (literally) we followed the counsel of His prophet and are debt free. There is lots of food in our freezer, and on our shelves and there are bushels and bushels of peaches on our trees. (Guess what I am doing tomorrow….) All of my children love me, my husband adores me, and I am at peace.

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)

There is peace in Christ.

By the grace of God, everything will work out.

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Agents of Grace

Oregon Coast Field Trip, Part Two

Oregon Coast Field Trip Part One

By the Grace of God

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