Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Engineering your world!

I am finally doing what I came to do, that is engineering!

The past two weeks have felt like an actual internship. I am actually working on a project down in Costa Rica, its a ministry camp. So my project leader hands me a stack of 11x17 Autocad drawings with red marks all over them and tells me to fix the drawings. So I've been staring at a computer, editing computer drawings of a camp somewhere down in Latin America. Its been a good learning experience because my skills at Autocad are somewhat lacking.

But today, my project leader said Costa Rica was finished enough and I could start working on my own project, China! Just a recap, in July I was in China for about 2 weeks working on the second phase of a greenhouse project. I was part of the structural team and now back in the states, I'm making all the changes to the drawings for the different truss members and back wall design. I'm helping my project leader organize files and write the project report. Truly an intern! Its a lot easier to work on my own project because I have a better perspective on the whole thing and I enjoy it.

The other interns and I have also been taking advantage of our last few weeks in beautiful Colorado. Last Friday, some of the staff members took us rock climbing in the Garden of the Gods (we go frequently), but this time I got to do some lead climbing!
On a rock face, many times there are pins every six to ten feet embedded in the rock. The first person must climb to each pin hooking in their rope as they go, meaning between pins you are only 'tied' to the lowest pin. That person then connects the rope to the top so the rest of the people can climb, that's called top rope.

The next morning, one of my roommates, Hannah, my mentor from work, Laura, and I hiked up the back of Pikes Peak, the most famous fourteener (14,000 ft) in Colorado. Its about a six mile hike up and took us a little less than five hours. At the top we were expecting a grand view of Colorado Springs, but nope, the top was covered in a cloud resulting in twenty foot visibility. It was actually pretty cool, like out of Princess Bride or something.

I love Colorado! (Yes mother, I am coming home. I promise) But I'll be back.....

So we just have a week left and then back home for one more year of school. We are all packing our days with outdoor adventures and just hanging out with one another. I'll miss the family I've made here and we all continue to miss Phill. But no more with closing comments, I still have a week! Rock climbing! Hiking! Frisbee Golf! Oh, yeah and work!

Love you all!

Lianne

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Inspired...

This email was sent two weeks ago.
~~~~~
Have you ever been so inspired that no form of communication could or should capture that moment?Have you ever been so full of hope that it eludes all reality?Or so much pain that it just dang hurts?

Sometimes, no all the time, it amazes me how much we cannot see reality, the way life really is, the way that God created it. I was up camping in Wyoming last week in the Grand Teton Mts. Never have I felt like seeing the world so clearly, The mountains are spectacular, the sky so blue and the water so clear. Yet in this life, we can only see a fuzzy picture diluted by our ideas and opinions. Imagine reality, a picture clearer than the mountain air...real God stuff. Why, our minds would explode with clarity! That's what I long for, because I'm tired of blurry vision from emotional tears. And yet thats what makes us, as God's creation so beautiful. He takes our blurry mess and gives us Grace to correct our vision and give us clarity, to see it His way. For how else do we find rest on deaths bed? How else do the living find peace to live on and forward? How else do we live for abandonment for the Love of Christ, that logically makes now sense at all?For who knows the thoughts of God? "'For my thoughts are not you thoughts, neither are you ways my ways', declares the Lord" ~Isaiah 55:8But with Grace we can grasp a tiny corner of His plan and take part in that wonderful life dance. "He who forms the mountains, creates, the wind, and reveals his thoughts to man, he who turns dawn into darkness, and treads the high places of the earth - the Lord God Almighty is His name" ~ Amos 4:13

And slowly does He reveal them....

The memorial service for my grandfather was held on July 8, 2007 at our church. At 4 o'clock the last of the seats were being taken, at 4:05 twenty people still stood in the foyer. Sisters of blood and brothers and sisters in Christ, children, grandchildren and those his smile had adopted along the way, nieces, nephews, mentors, and those who had been mentored, friends, accquantances, strangers to him personally but knew one of us and his impact on us. And as a dear friend of ours read from Philippians, the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, came into the little sanctuary and it became a place of reflection and celebration. Our former and current pastor spoke, both reflecting on the mentoring received from my grandfather and how he lived ready. Ready to give, serve, and love. Hymns were sung and his life story read. I read a poem and my uncle spoke and it was over. And I understood the meaning of closure...now only the long hard haul to change and accept the change. But boy, did we have a party. The reception was held directly afterwards with fasba, a Canadian light meal of cold meats, buns, desserts, coffee and don't forget the sugar cubes. The mood was warm, inviting and talkative. A great time for a great man.

Thank you all so much for your support and love.

I love you gramps and can't wait to see you.