The Everlasting Blog Journal, part deux

November is upon us. Already this month I have had the pleasure of getting back outdoors to resume some hiking with my buddies Jim and Tim. During the summer, we had made a “Hemi-Pemi” or a traverse of ½ of the Pemigewasset Wilderness Ridge including Mt. Flume, Liberty, Lincoln, Lafayette, and Garfield. During this trip, our endurance was tested as we encountered many trials. I was reminded of the verses in James 1, and the trials of the character “Christian” in John Bunyan’s A Pilgrim’s Progress. Jim suffered some impressive muscle cramps and I ended up with a torn right quadracep muscle. Following a brief recovery, we made a 2nd trip to Mount Tom Field and Willey. I seemed destined to injure myself this summer as I broke my ankle halfway through the hike. By God’s grace, I finished the journey and the next 2 mountains between my fracture and the parked car.
Now healed and looking forward, we have resolved to larger aspirations in the coming year. Jim, Tim, and myself have set our sight on the slopes of Mount Rainier in Washington State. Our training is started and Lord willing will see us to the top of the mountain.
The rest of November was spent in travels to Florida and a fantastic family reunion at Dad’s house complete with babies, grandparents, dogs, shopping excursions, and a shotgun roundup. See the pics!! Thanks Dad for bringing everyone together and to Chris for all of the organization. Great Times!

The Everlasting Blog Journal

Well, October has come and gone. It was an incredible month full of so many blessings. At the beginning of the month, my mother and sister (Tina and Lauren) came for a visit and were later joined by my father, stepmother (Stephen and Chris) in addition to my in-laws( Bob and Deb) and a host of other friends and family for a fantastic celebration of my 30th birthday which my wife had put together at our house. Micah( my daughter) and Chloe( my weimaraner puppy) were also there to celebrate! From Venezuela came the arrival of my extended Crespo family along with Keith, Adriana and baby, Vivi. We had a great time cooking out on the grill and enjoying the warm fireplace on our newly built deck. (see the pics!!)
It was quite a surprise to have my father show up at the last minute and the joy it brought me on that special day is a feeling that I will not soon forget. Having everyone together was a real treat and I was blessed my many thoughtful gifts.

Later in the month, Heather and I spent a significant amount of time studying for our re-certification boards to remain licensed and certified Physician Assistants. This included some long nights of studies and brought back many familiar memories of our time in graduate school together. I am happy to say that we both passed and won’t have to endure this process for another 6.5 years. We were challenged with a pipe rupture on the day of my boards which made for an interesting turn of events with the involvement of the police and fire departments. After so much excitement, our house is dry once again and our long standing basement cracks were also fixed. God was incredibly merciful to us during this trial as the specifics and resolution of this situation could have been more burdensome. His grace is amazing.
October finished with a medical conference in Boston and the winterizing of our house for the upcoming snow season. We actually had a fairly impressive showing of the white stuff before Halloween. Although the days are getting shorter, colder, and darker, I am hoping that it will be an exciting winter.

In the pics: I have 2 collages which show many aspects of October. In the first collage is the visit from my mother and sister before the birthday. We had a wonderful time hiking in the woods with Chloe, the dog as well as taking Micah for raspberry picking. She ate nearly as many as she put in the basket. It was so much fun to watch her experience this New England activity.
Just after the birthday, my father-in-law treated me to my first boston red sox game, what a treat. It helped that the game was a shut out!!