Taking the best mom on the planet to lunch today.
Happy birthday …. you are my hero!
Really great to live close enough to my parents to be able to do stuff like this.
Category Archives: family
ORIGINS 4
A picture is worth a 1000 words or more.
Last week I was given a small box of my grate grandfathers sermon notes.
From what I can tell Alex Smith preached these sermons in the 1950’s.
I am really looking forward to reading each message as a part of my morning devotions this month.
Kind of cool …. my great grandfather and I get to spend the mornings together having coffee and discussing the gold nuggets he found.
This photo is of Alex smith in front of his church in Rifle Colorado. Man I would love to be able go back in time and be in some of those services. Can you imagine attempting to hold services every night but Saturday in today’s culture? (I can hear the crickits already).
Even if I cannot hear the living voice of Alex Smith ringing out from the pulpits that he spoke from, I am at least able to read his sermons and other writings to enjoy the fruits of his wonderful ministry 60 years later.
“He speaks even though he is dead.” Hebrews 11:4 (nirv)
Thank God for paper and the typewriter.
ORIGINS pt. 3
I love this picture of my brother Gary and I that was taken probably around 1965ish.
My first bike is a schwinn banana bike …..what a classic !
I’m not sure what Gary was driving at the time but I am sure of this, His little legs were always moving as fast as he could move them to always try to keep up with his big brother.
We built a race track and we would have bike races in the woods behind our house in the hot summer sun in Iowa.
It wasn’t about winning….it was about trying to win.
Thinking about those days reminds me of a story I heard a couple of years ago from National Geographic.
It has to do with not just racing, but finishing the race.
One of the most grueling of all bicycle races is the Tour De France. A contestant in that event, Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle, describes it in a National Geographic article titled, “An Annual Madness.” The race covers about 2000 miles, including some of France’s most difficult, mountainous terrain. Eating and drinking is done on the run. And there are extremes of heat and cold. To train for the event, Lassalle rides his bicycle 22,000 miles a year. What kind of prize makes people endure so much hardship and pain! $10,000? $100,000? No. It’s just a special winner’s jersey. What then motivates the contestants? Lassalle sums it up: “Why, to sweep through the Arc de Triomphe on the last day. To be able to say you finished the Tour de France.”
Now some 40 years later, Gary and I are still racing at break neck speeds everyday we wake up to accomplish the things God has purposed us to accomplish with our lives on this earth.
I dedicate this blog to the BIGGEST LITTLE BROTHER on the planet. He is a true inspiration. He is someone I learn to love and appreciate more as time passes. He is a true competitor with life and to runs the race set before him with great desire, determination and dignity.
He has been like that since the beginning of our back woods bike races back in Iowa.
LABOR DAY
Started the day by reading and prayer, washing three cars and cleaning out the garage.
Man things can really pile up when you can’t get to them and have the ability to put stuff away.
Over the past 9 weeks I have also really missed talking the retrievers for a walk on one of their favorite trails.
Whenever I say, “are you ready to go to the railroad?” they go crazy.
Well today Brenda, Caleb and I walked Coty and Bella ONE MILE through the Prescott National Forest.
I emphasize the ONE MILE part because that is a big deal to me right now because it means I am really feeling strength returning to the ankle. Really great to be able to walk with no cast , no crutches and no cane.
This is one of the “RAILS TO TRAILS” portions that is close to our home.
When we came back home it was time to fire up the grill and finish off the last of the salmon I brought home from Alaska …..guess its time to get back up there and catch some more dinner.
Also, it is always great to have our son Caleb home for the weekends.
He left about 30 minutes ago to go back up to flagstaff.
Labor Day was no labor at all….It was perfect!
COOL PARENTS!
Brenda and I got spend the day with the most awesome parents on the planet today.
Awesome as parents yes…..but also just great people that you would automatically like if you met them for the first time!
Jo and Paul Lummer living it up in Scottsdale Az.
Here are just a few photos of one of the neatest places to live in the USA.
This is one of my favorite pictures of the day. Dad’s mountain bike that he has riddin so much that the tires are worn all the way through to the treads.
(we have got to do something about that)
BODY AND SOUL
Great to watch the sun rise this morning with Brenda before the day starts up.
My prayer for my family today comes out of John chapter 3.
I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit.
– 3 John 2 (nlt)
A picture is worth a thousand words
“A picture is worth a thousand words” is a proverb that refers to the idea that complex stories can be described with just a single still image, or that an image may be more influential than a substantial amount of text. It also aptly characterizes the goals of visualization where large amounts of data must be absorbed quickly.
Or as the Russians put it, “A picture shows me at a glance what it takes dozens of pages of a book to expound.”
So here are 5000 words worth of pictures.
My brother Gary and I at the DB
Caleb, Brian (Gary’s son in law) Gary and I
DB MENU cover
Brains dad’s Harley is really nice.
The picture says it all.
THE DINNER BELL IS RINGING
As a child growing up in Iowa, I was in the woods as much as possible.
Every moment possible was filled with exploring, camping, looking for arrow heads, sponge mushrooms or anything else “the woods” allowed us to do or become.
There was one thing that my brother Gary and I could usually count on every evening after playing as hard as we could. We always knew that just before dark we would hear dad’s famous whistle.
Yep, dad had the loudest whistle of anyone in the Quad Cities….. Even to this day I have not heard anyone whistle louder than dad.
When he would whistle, we would not hesitate or argue…..it was dinner time and we headed home for another of mom’s awesome meals around the table.
Well this weekend Gary and I won’t be playing in the woods, and dad’s whistle although loud, cannot be heard from Scottsdale.
We will be headed for another table called the Dinner Bell.
Really looking forward to one of the best little local creekside eateries in Prescott with Gary, Caleb and whoever else is fortunate enough to go with us.
The Dinner Bell has a split personality. Up front there’s a classic old diner that’s been in business since 1939, while in back there’s a colorful modern space with walls that roll up. The creekside setting a block off Whiskey Row makes this a great little hideaway for a casual meal and some “third place time”.
I think I’ll have the fette greek omlete…yes, yes I will.
I hear the DINNER BELL RINGING.
THE FAMILY TREE IS GROWING
Last night I was reminded again that my daughter’s wedding date of October 25th, is just around the corner.
What reminded me was the Adam (her fiancée) came over to the house to help move some of Natascha’s furniture into the house they will be moving into this October.
I know the saying goes something like this….”you are not losing a daughter, you are gaining a son in law.”
Brenda and I are blessed to have such a great young man added to our family.
Adam serves as one of the pastor’s here at the church and is doing a great job.
I am really looking forward to watching the new couple bringing a brand new branch to the family.
Natascha is a great inspiration and one tough girl when it comes to biking and hiking.
Tash and dad on our Havasupai hike here in Arizona.
Tash did awesome on the Whiskey Off Road Mountain bike endurance race here in Prescott.
δίπλωµα greek word for diploma, meaning “folded paper”
This weekend our son Caleb recieved his diploma in the mail from Full Sail University.
Really proud of him for all of his accomplishments throughout the years!
I remember things like making our father son tree house in Missouri, building a toy box out of scrap wood in Cincinnati, building a trailer with his grandfather in Iowa, and the hundreds of outdoor explorations we have done together….and then watching him pack up all his belogings and moving to Orlando to follow his dream.
Here are a couple of pictures Caleb reluctantly allowed me to take yesterday of the very exspensive piece of “folded paper” before he left for Flagstaff.
He now works with Deckers Outdoor Corporation in Flagstaff Az. http://www.deckers.com/index.aspx in their web design department.
GREAT JOB BIG GUY! 
Just a side note:
Full Sail University is Named “School/College of the Year”
WINTER PARK, FL, July 24, 2008 – Today, in an awards ceremony in Aventura, FL, Full Sail University (www.fullsail.edu) was named “School/College of the Year” by the Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools & Colleges (FAPSC).
stevelummer.com 