Lil' buckaroos at the Buckaroo Rodeo

Up close and personal for the Molalla Buckaroo Rodeo

This is a catch-up post, from July:

The fam was all set to head out for this year's Portland Waterfront Blues Festival on July 4th. Lena loved dancing with Daddy at the Blues Fest last year. Before we get to the 2014 stuff below, here are some 2013 flashback photos from around the Portland waterfront:

Backstage with Luther Dickinson, after the North Mississippi Allstars played

(Bonus: A photo bomb by Fake David Crosby!)

Walking/crawling around the docks in between sets

Dinner at Thirst waterfront cafe before John Hiatt's closing set

This year, as we geared up again for the 2014 Waterfront Blues Fest, Kathy and I realized that neither Lena nor baby Levi had been to a rodeo before. Our friends ride in various events, and we've been to more summer rodeos than we can keep track of.

The Blues Fest was put on hold for the first time in years. Lena and Levi made their July 4th debut at the Molalla Buckaroo Rodeo instead.


In the words of another, more famous Garth...

It's bulls and blood,

the dust and the mud,

And they call this thang a rodeo

(Wah waooooh!)

Even rodeo clowns text on the job?

Believe it or not, Lena's footlong+ corn dog was the smallest on the menu.

Lena's first ever carnival ride, at the rodeo with Daddy

"You must be this tall..."  Lena is finally tall enough!

Vive video:  Whee!

Fourth of July barbeque after the rodeo

For once, we didn't go to Fort Vancouver or downtown to catch any fireworks that evening. Kathy and the kids walked over for Dave and Kristy's neighborhood firework display, and I ducked into the garage to ready my gear bag for the morning.

At 2:30 a.m., my alarm would sound for the next day's adventure. We had a volcano to climb.

Coming up on Garth's Blog...

Climbing Mount St. Helens!

Break Every Chain

Garth's Blog is on a one-month hiatus from Dec 15- Jan 15.  The holidays have been busy, and our baby boy is due on January 10!  To kill time until then, the short New Years update below is followed by a personal "share" from my other blog.

I'll update my Twitter occasionally, and we'll return with new blog content in mid-January. Check back on January 15 as we resume with all new family updates and recent overseas adventures!

New Year's Eve at McMenamins Cornelius Pass Roadhouse/ Imbrie Hall:
Lena stopped smiling just long enough for a quick photo.

Happy New Year!  Our family had fun celebrating New Year's Eve last night. And this year, we actually got home in time to witness our neighborhood loudly deteriorate into a war zone around 11:30 p.m.  It's hard to imagine any of those firecrackers/mortars/rockets/shotgun blasts(?) being legal within Beaverton city limits.


Our block hadn't heard such deafening blasts since all four news networks were falsely tipped off about explosions from within our neighborhood Intel campus. As terrifying as that sounds, the "explosions" heard from neighbors blocks away were actually the results of a fire at a garbage truck yard next door.

The link to the story of me ending up in front of all those TV news cameras is here: Garth's Blog: Having a Blast at Home.

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Today's entry below is a "share" from one of my other blogs. It may look familiar to readers who saw my original post yesterday morning. If this seems more personal and spiritual than a typical "Garth's Blog" post, that's because this wasn't originally intended for a mainstream audience.

But don't worry, new "Garth's Blog" content is coming soon! I'm still gathering photos for upcoming posts about Christmas, surfing, student ministry, pumpkin patches, hiking, and some late 2013 overseas trips.

In the meantime, feel free to check out my Twitter feed or just follow me. My latest Tweets are also embedded on the upper right corner of this blog page.



Here's yesterday's post, "Break Every Chain," from my other blog:

There is power in the name of Jesus
There is power in the name of Jesus
To break every chain, break every chain, break every chain.

Those words from a Jesus Culture "Awakening" event were the soundtrack to my final early morning commute of 2013. Normally, the entire freeway portion of my drive time would be dedicated to prayer. But not today. Not after last night. Sheer exhaustion caused my prayers to stick in my throat... unable to escape my heart. Rather than giving up on morning devotions altogether, I allowed someone else's words to be my prayer instead.

There is power in the name of Jesus
To break every chain.

Leading up to today's uncharacteristically passive time of prayer, this happened:

Our formidably lunged, two year old Lena loudly decided on Saturday night that only having 1 1/2 hours of sleep would be more than enough for me. Sleep quantity didn't increase much these past few nights, either. I've been getting up multiple times to quiet Lena down, attempting to spare the Mommy-to-be the hassle of putting her back to sleep. Her crying persisted into the night, until a couple hours before my alarm rang.

There is power in the name of Jesus
To break every chain.

I've often prayed such a prayer in more obvious contexts: as an impassioned plea for healing and wholeness... for freedom from the bondage of sin... for the lifting of a heavy heart... for mending of strained relationships... for finding the grace to forgive friends who take advantage of me... for finding the humility to ask for my own forgiveness.

But today, such a prayer was a simple reaching out for strength, for the divine power to make it through the day. Extreme sleep deprivation stifled my attempt to pray even that, much like sleepless nights can physically throttle my various hikes and trail runs. Yet, like the disciples who got busted for nodding off in the Garden of Gethsemane, I'm yearning for a chance to redeem myself after a lackluster effort in my own garden of prayer.

Taking care of my family, I know in my heart, is more important than taking care of my ZZZs. But in my utter exhaustion, the satisfaction of honoring those priorities doesn't make days like this any easier.

2013 has been a joyous, high energy year that is ending on a brief down note. My own strength has decided to take the week off. It's time for me to draw on God's strength.

There is power in the name of Jesus.

E.P.I.C. Class of 2012/ Mexico mission update

From August 1 (New photos and video added August 14!):

First of all, a late congratulation to our Class of 2013 graduates: Allen Buckles and Will Irwin!!  Our church family got a kick out of watching the slideshow prepared in your honor last month.   The video is embedded below:

Crank up the volume, go full-screen, and hit the “play” button above for a fast-paced slideshow of our favorite ministry moments featuring graduates Allen Buckles and Will Irwin!

In other big ministry news, we leave for our Mexico mission trip tomorrow!  We’re heading for Vicente Guerrero to build a house with Welcome Home Outreach Ministries.  Check out our previous E.P.I.C. Student Ministry Update for more details!

Fundraising at the Washington County Fair:

The Mexico mission leadership team and students Patricia and Katie sold soft drinks at the fair to raise money for next year’s trip.  We had about 50 volunteers from AChoG and the preschool working last weekend!

Our two Mexico groups meet at last:

We mixed it up at Godfather’s Pizza with our to-be Mexico mission partners from Tigard Church of God.  We leave together for Vicente Guerrero, Mexico tomorrow!

And here are a few bonus pics from the last few months:

Volunteers Wendy and Sharon organized a couple of after-school dinner outreach events.

A few of us anxiously awaited for neighborhood students to arrive!

Our missionaries from Micronesia, Gary and Gwen Bistritan, stopped by Aloha Church of God to share about the school they founded on the island of Yap.

Too bad I didn’t think about visiting Gary and Gwen (or Ed and Jan Cogar!) when I got stuck in Guam earlier this year.  Yes, my Osaka/Micronesia travelogue will continue here on Garth’s Blog soon!

And finally... An explosive ending to our county fair fundraiser:

I tweeted this pic of fireworks booming in my rear-view mirror as we waited in line to exit the fairgrounds, with the Jeep's soft top down.

Coming on next month's E.P.I.C. Student Ministry Update…

Our mission trip to Vicente Guerrero, Mexico!

...And coming up on Garth’s Blog…

Birthday Skydiving!