Tangboy's Blog

Hello All!
Just thought I would drop a note to let everyone know what’s happening in our lives lately. I was really stressed out a couple weeks ago because we had made the decision for me to take a semester off and work, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I accepted a clinical instructor position at LMU for 8 weeks starting the 19th of this month. I will have 8 students in their first year of nursing school and I’m actually looking forward to the challenge as well as the extra income. I’m still working at St. Mary’s Hospital and Fort Loudon Medical Center as well. When I do get to see Geoff, I cherish every moment.

I’m also excited about changing universities to finish my family nurse practitioner degree. I’ve enrolled at ETSU and am starting back full-time in the Spring. The awesome thing about obtaining the degree through this university is it’s all ONLINE!! Of course the clinicals will be in a hospital or clinic, but everything else is online! I’ve heard amazing things about ETSU and not so great things/experiences at UTK…it wasn’t a hard decision to switch at all.

Geoff and I are truly blessed each and everyday. We both enjoy our jobs and love being a part of God’s Plan. We went mountain biking with some friends last weekend and got our butts kicked! It was 2 miles straight up a mountain. Rob was like a machine with Geoff right next to him, while Tammie and I were lagging pretty far behind. I think Tammie took more breaks with me so I wouldn’t feel so bad. I went to check my pulse and it was beating so fast I couldn’t even feel it!!! I said, “Tammie, my heart has just given up…I can’t feel it!” She laughed and said, “Come on, we’re almost there.” We finally reached the 2 mile point and decided to come down the mountain before sundown. I thought it would be fun going really fast down this mountain side and boy I was wrong. I hit almost every rock on the way down and thought my handle bars were going to fly right off. That whole experience was painful! It sure did feel good to get out and exercise though. Geoff and I are going to give the trail another try tomorrow and also find a good fishing spot near the river. We love spending time outdoors.

I don’t know if everyone knows this or not, but I have recently taken up fishing. I have my own tackle box!! I’m sure you’ve all seen the pictures. It’s fun. We have a few weekends reserved for camping with friends already…I love fall weather. The crisp, cool air in the morning is so delightful, especially when you’re camping. The camp fire smell with the beautiful fall colors is comforting. We’re going to get Geoff a new mountain bike soon and hopefully take off to Tsali, NC pretty soon. It has over 40 miles of biking trails, we can’t wait to go!

Well, I believe I’ve talked enough. Just wanted to say hi to everyone and to publicly thank everyone for the prayers of healing for Geoff. God is so good to heal my companion and friend. I thank God everyday for him, he is a gift from above. We’re like two peas in a pod.

We love you all!
Amy White

Ok I am sitting in my classes typing time just enjoying the sense of nothing to teach because they are using Mavis Beacon. Life is good right now, school is great, Amy is wonderful as always, new car is driving most excellent!

BMW is a wonderful car, no major complications. Only things I have done so far is get a K & N air filter to work on some air flow, cleaned out the inner air filter (air filter that cleans the air before it comes into the cabin), and wash it like 50 times since I’ve owned it.

Amy is taking a semester off to try and get through a couple of suprise bills. We made the decision because of a bill from my PET scan back in July and a future bill from the PET Scan in January. Amy has also taken on some more opportunities at work. She recently applied for a position as a new nurse trainer. I am not totally sure what is required but I know she is nervous and anxious about being able to impart some newbie knowledge for newbs! She is a wonderful wife and I count myself blessed everyday to have someone to share my days with.

Dakota and Cheyenne are continuing to bring pleasure to our lives. They are wonderful “children” and we are glad to have loving creatures to take care of and the such.

Family in VA is great. Tom is constantly working on projects people are creating for him and is really enjoying Pathfinders and the Wednesday night Prayer meetings. Matthew is back at SAU with Beth-Anne and, so far, is enjoying school. Mom and Dad are swamped with work but find time to relax a bit on the newly created back porch.

I am really enjoying the things that are happening at school. This year so far, we have taken the 7-10 graders to SAU to the ropes course for some team building exercises. Created 4 geocaches (www.geocaching.com for more info) to keep track of as well as 5 travel bugs for several different groups in the school to track around the world. We had a school wide team building day led out by the 9th and 10th grade class. They really enjoyed themselves and came up with some ideas for the next time they are faced with the challenge of facilitating about 15 K-8th graders. So far it is a great year even though I am having to crack down on the discipline. I do not want to have a slack group based on my lack of discipline. The kids are great and I want to have fun this year but I must earn their respect through discipline and love.

Anyway I will try to keep things updated a little more often but life has been rather busy. I dropped many of my time consuming video games and picked up a few of the more easily to stop games like Ulitma Online and the Half Life multiplayer games! Anyway TTFN!

Monday I got in contact with doctor because last Wednesday I had a most lovely PET scan. This type of a test requires an IV, some dye to be injected into my system, then the chance for the dye to attach to the sugars in your blood stream which requires an hour to sit in a cold room and sleep. After the hour is up, they toss you onto a small platform of a board and roll ya into a tube to do some xrays.

Well yes, back to Monday, I called the doc, couldn’t get a hold of the doctor of course because doctors are busy so I had to leave a message. Then they make ya wait like… oh… all day and then call you back. Got the call back from a nurse saying something that scan looked good, doc liked the results, there were several nodes that were not active. I will get more results next Tuesday when I go and see the doctor in person.

Other then that, life is good, really liking my new BMW. It is fast, tight, sleek, very fun. I really enjoy driving it and it likes being drove. Anyway I gotta jet to the store to get some food so you all have lots of fun!
-geoff

This past weekend was a wonderful weekend if I do say so myself.

The weekend started with Amy and I arriving home about the same time Friday afternoon. We lounged around, had a good meal together and just enjoyed each others company while we rested up.

Saturday Amy got up a decent time but stayed quiet to let me get some more rest (bless her… she knows I need that extra bit of sleep). When I awoke I found her in the kitchen quickly tossing food in a cooler. She announced that we would go canoeing, fishing and picnicing after church. Wow, great idea I thought to myself. So we quickly doned out church clothes, tossed the gear in the car and gently slide the canoe on Amys car. We zipped into church, heard a great sermon on something (couldn’t really tell ya… was busy drawing pictures of fishing chasing lures) and then speed off to a lake down the road. We stopped at a nice little park, changed our clothes, tossed the boat in the water and headed off on an adventure. For the first bit I paddled and Amy made lunch. I would paddle one handed while I ate a yummy hotdog sandwhich looking for good fishing spots. Amy saw a nice sized bass jump near the boat so she yelled for the pole and cast before the fish even hit the water. No sooner had the lure slipped into the depths then Amy had something on. So in her excitement she yelled and screamed while she reeled in that nice sized bass. You can see pics of her fish under the fishing album. After switching the pole back and forth I hooked a nice sized whooper which you can see after her pics in the same fishing album. The rest of the day was relaxing and we enjoye being outside. That evening we went and rented some movies and we spied a nice looking car on the side of the road.

Sunday, time to check out that nice car on the side of the road. The night before we swung in to see this beautiful BMW. It was a 2001 BMW 330i including M3 rims, Premium interior, sports packiage, sunroof, leather, cd player, power everything, inline 6 cylinder and all the bells and whistles in between. Amy called and got me a test drive that afternoon. We spent Sunday morning watching some movies, sleeping in, playing with the dogs and of course taking that Beamer for a spin. We liked the price, the car and everything else so we tossed a deposit on it so that we could do the proper loan paper work the next day. That evening found me driving back to Chattanooga for some more school.

Monday found me nervously sitting in class watching my watch. I had told the professor that I needed to slip away ASAP after class to go do paper work in Knoxville, a two hour drive away. So he let the class out about 45 minutes early and i slipped up to start loan work. I had also called the insurance company and had them put my new car on insurance. I met the couple at the bank, got a savings account (had to to get the loan) and was approved for the loan. While paper work was being processed I had to run to my bank and get a cashiers check for the downpayment, then drive back to the other bank to get the loan. By the time I got back the lady had paid the couple who we were buying the car from their money and they paid off the remaining money on their loan for the car. It was a rough time running here and there but I managed with several phone calls to various intellectual individuals who had done this before.

Monday evening found me zipping back to SAU in style of ma new BMW! Check out pics under the new Car album.

Hope everyone else is doing well, I need to get in bed and read!

later!

Long week for me and the second week of my Masters classes. For the Leadership and Adventure Based Counseling class we had an interesting field trip consisting of hiking, camping, swimming, rafting, yaking, camping, hiking, climbing, rappelling, eating, caving, sleeping, caving and cleaning.

Monday we met at the Outdoor Ed building and split up the group gear (consisting of meals, some tents, cook wear and a few other misc items) We tossed those into our packs containig stuff that we needed personally. I grabbed as much heavey food as I could since I had plenty of room in my back and I also wanted a bit more of a hiking challenge. We started hiking up the Hiawasee River past the power house and then forded the river. We set up a rope to help guide people and gear across and made camp on a nice little beach near some waterfalls etc. The overall hike was about 2 miles and the camping spot was very nice with some sandy beaches and beautiful pools to swim in.

Problem was I got tossed down a waterfall when I wasn’t paying attention and got stuck sitting on a boulder and getting wedged under a tree trunk the size of telephone pole across my lap. The water level was about armpit high but the water coming over the fall was of a high volume and was powerful. Our teacher is not only a teacher but also a rescuer on the Chattanoogas Cliff and Cave rescue team. I had another student call for him and he came over to see my problem and I told him how I was stuck and what I thought I needed to get out. After securing a line around a tree to a group of pullers he tossed down the other end which i looped around under my armpits and they would pull a little while I struggled to get my legs out, then they would pull some more until I finally was able to stand up at the side of the little waterfall. During the whole thing I was calm and tried to wave and make funny faces at the people taking my pictures so that no one would start to freak out. If it had been someone else they might have been too short or weak to be able to stay above the water line and it could have been a lot worse. Special thanks to Mike and the crew who got my butt out of that sticky situation.

After having some dinner and a good worship/debrief time I turned in and tried to get as much rest as I could but as some of you campers know, sleeping alongside a noisey river on a rocks is kind of rough.

Tuesday morning came way to early and breakfast was a yummy meal of oatmeal such. We played around a little in the water and packed up our supplies. We had a lot of extra food left over so I grabbed the 30 pound bag of food and tossed it in my pack for a little extra challenge on the hike out. We followed the old railroad out to the power house, tossed our gear in the vans, had some Trail Lunch then hit the water on rafts.

There were four rafts with 5 people in 3 rafts and 4 people in 1 raft. Mike made the people who hadn’t been on the river our river guides to add a special twist on our adventure. We had 4 miles to go to the take out point to switch to funyaks and it was a struggle sometimes trying to get through different shoals and drop offs when the water wasn’t quite high enough to not scrape. My group did an amazing job of manuvering the river and we didn’t get stuck as many times as we could have. At one point we tied the rafts up to a shelf, and for those who wanted to, jumped into a neat flume of water. If you jumped in the right spot it would shoot you underwater down river for 10-15 yards, then you would pop up and swim toward the eddy.

It took about 3 hours to cover the 4 miles and at the takeout point we paired up and launched some funyaks. Now funyaks aren’t that fun, they are two person, non-taking, inflatable kayaks. It takes forever to get them going straight down the river but we covered the last 4 miles in just over an hour. We stopped at GeeCreek Camp and set up our tents, I made the fire (with Mikes help), had some worship, debriefed and then I sat around the fire reading while sipping hot Gatorade.

Wednesday morning started WAY TOO early for me. Since I was part of the leadership team that day, I had to help get the fire going so that we could get a stack of pancakes ready for those who were getting up. Pancakes over a fire is not the most fun thing to do on a campout. You have to regulate the heat and constantly keep an eye on NOT burning the cakes. Things went well with some added veggie meat and warm Gatorade.

I’ll finish more in a little bit…

TO BE CONTINUED…

Today was yet another fun filled day for me. It was a day that started out well partially because I woke up earlier, got to go for a 1.5 mile run, had a nice shower, breakfast and then devotions.
For class I found myself, yet again, over at the new Outdoor Education Building. We started things off by going out into our two groups and continued to work together on some challenges that were presented by our fearless master who I will call Master M. Master M is a great guy who has done some fantastic things in his life and is a wonderful leader because he knows when to ask the right questions, when to let us get frustrated over a problem and when to step in and guide us in the direction he thinks we as a group need to go.
We did several elements that I really enjoyed. One was a problem where we had to get a certain number of people to run through a jump rope that was being rotated by Master M and an assistant. The tricky part was when the 10 people in our group had to run through in various numbers or increasing amounts of people. For example… our group would have to run through in groups of 4. No problem you think, just run 4 people through, 4 more and then the final 2. BUT there had to be 4 people in the group that runs through, that means that 2 of the people from the first group must go back and run through with the final 2 thus making another full group of 4. The hardest part was the final challenge in which we had to run an increasing amount of people, up to 9, through the rotating jump rope with only 4 deadbeats (a rotation in which no one runs through) total. So 1 person would run through, then 2, then 3 etc. The problem arises when you need a group of 5 but everyone has run through already. That means that some of the original people who ran in groups 1, 2, and two from group 3 must come back and run through. Then you need a group of 6 to run through. That means you need that extra person from group 3, all the people from group 4 and then 1 person from the group of 5. As you can tell by the reading it was a very complex activity at the end. What I learned after completing it up to a total number of 8 people running through at the end was that we could do things that seem complicated. The guys in the group wanted to just run through and figure it out as we go along. Whereas the ladies usually wanted to work this through without trying yet. To get organized and plan was the key. In the end it helped to be set up in the beginning.
Another activity was where you had to get all 9 people, 3 of which are blind and mute as well as 4 of which are mute, across to a smaller plate form and finally over to yet another plate form. The spaces between the 3 “islands” were 8 feet and 1 inch. The board that we were given to cross the expanse was only 8 feet long. Thus we had to figure out how to get people to jump across etc to the middle island and then everyone over to the final island. In this exercise it was difficult because, I could not speak and I have done this element about 100 times (okay so I am exaggerating just a little) and really wanted to be able to talk to tell people what to do. We dropped the bridge plank several times, people fell off the islands or we just kept letting the end of the bridge fall in the “lava”. In the end I found out that I have a tendency to take charge instead of letting some people experiment or take charge themselves. I have challenged myself to take a more passive stance in future challenges so that others can try at being the leader and working out their own issues.
Overall today was a huge success in the fact that the group as a whole realized some areas we are strong in and other areas that we need to work on a bit. We shall see what tomorrow has to offer in further education into my craziness!

Today was an exciting day, not because of the fact that I didn’t get much sleep or that I was away from my wife for the first time in awhile but because I was once again working on my Masters.

Seeing some familiar faces from my past SAU experiences and also from last summers Master works gave me a sense of belonging and familiarity. Seeing the new people sparked some interest because having a large base of people you don’t know is a good thing because that causes even more connections, memories and friendships to be made.

Some of the people from last summer are here and some are not. Those who are not here are gone because they graduated, other things in life have come up or medical reasons have kept them from returning. There is one person that comes to mind when talking about those who cannot or are not here yet. He is a strong and influential person. His passion for teaching and his strive to know more about outdoor education is an inspiration. Because of the severity of his cancer he has not been able to teach or attend the classes thus far and that is sad. Hearing that one of his wishes before he dies is to finish his Outdoor Education Masters is amazing and has made me give some serious thought as to why I am here.

At first I got pretty upset realizing all there is to do before these classes are over this summer. There are a lot of assignments to be written, projects to be presented and yet more portfolio information to be filed. But when it all comes down to it, that stuff is a pathetic excuse to take my focus off of why I am here, and that is to learn more ways to show students more way to realize Gods love for us through nature.

I am anxious about this summer, not just for the faces and people I am meeting or for the fun that will be made but for the inspiration and knowledge I will receive upon experiencing unknown things in my life in a safe and educational environment. Going through my cancer has shown me that life can be filled with a lot of little meaningless -things or that it can be filled with awesome, amazing and time-well-spent activities that hopefully make others lives more rich. God can do amazing things anywhere but I know that He smiles a little bigger when it comes to Outdoor Education.

ARGGGGGG MATEYS!!! Tis I, the infamous Pirate Captain White Chunks (another nickname I care not to explain so don’t ask).

Tis time for another update speaked in PIRATESE ARRRRGGGG!!!

I am recoverin as greatly as one can after being laid out to fry under that intense sun of the great seas. She glared down on my belly so much that I have red welts as if I were flogged just on me belly! Tis causes me belly to rumble still and for me to feel ARRRRRRGGGGGGGG like I have been maning the deck for a fort night with not but a drop of water to parch me thirst! (in orther words diahrea is still here as well as the tiredness… but its getting better)

The swashbukler Dan that I had yee sending up da prayers fer is feeling mighty fine on this here boat. The scans came back negative for da cancer thing and so he shall not have to walk the plank for that one! Dan is a good swabby cept if he really wanted to he could cause a mutiny on this here ship of mine because he has a good 15 cannon balls on me (about 100 lbs) and can bench press 2 kegs full of the adventist beer (root beer).

ARGGGGG I went a sailing on a trip up to me Mas and Pappies last weekend. Tis a long sail against the wind but I made it just after da glaring sun had sunk into the seas. Had some clerifying to do with the preacher so Is went to de great discussions and da Preachin time (SAbbath School and Church) and had a mighty blessing about me mum (sermon about mothers day). ARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGG WALK THEE PLANK YA SWABBIES We dinned very fancy like on some vittles det me Ma cooked up and shared with the Pastor and youngins and some of my deck hands (friends).

After shaking off some of the after effects of the vittles I called upon an old man on the sea (Jason my fly fishing buddy) and headed to try our luck on an inlet to see what the tide would wash in. Sadly there were no wee little or big sharks to play with, so we had to settle on them thar basses and such. Little things we couldn’t even have used to bait our hooks ARGGGGGGGG.

Headed to me cabin mates place to blaze some new water toward a secret cave we would stash some loot and weather out some storms. Twas a nice little cave and me and me mateys had some good drinks (water) and some good eats (camp food is not identifyable) ARRRRRRGGGGGGGGG Twas a hard night on some rough planks for some but I found me bunk a nice place to set me boots upon.

The great Sun Day I found myself munchin on some vittles that had been greatly bathered in some sauce and tossed over an open fire to celebrate me mums day (BBQ for mothers day) and then got wisked away with the tide and offshore breeze. Me anchor did not hold true and I found meself cruising back toward me own harbor. Twas a good leave of the lootin and plunderin I typically find meself enjoying. So til next time… Captain White Chunk OUT ARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Hey peoples!
It’s Amy! Just thought I would let everyone know what I’ve been up to here in Arizona! My mom and step-dad are here on a travel nursing assignment in Flagstaff, AZ. The altitude here is 7,000 which makes it a lot cooler than Pheonix. Temps here range from 40-80, while Pheonix is reaching highs of 100 recently.

Some of the awesome places we’ve been are Sedona (which is this cute little town about an hour south of Flagstaff with shopping and sight seeing), Jerome (which is on a mountain peak with pottery makers and blown glass professionals), and Pheonix (which is rocky, hot, and has cacti everywhere). One factoid on the cactus is if it has at least one arm, it is at least 65 years old. It’s a crime to cut one down. You can dig up the roots and replant it elsewhere, but to kill it is forbidden!

We also went to see the meteor crater located 40 miles east of Flagstaff. Apparently 50,000 years ago a meteorite crashed into the earth. The crater was 4,150 feet in diameter, 550 feet deep and 2.4 miles in circumference. The nickel-iron meterorite was traveling 11 miles per second when it crashed into the earth. We were able to see the crater site which was unbelievably HUGE. The museum actually had a fragment of the meteorite that was found over 2 miles from the impact site weighing in at approx 1,000 pounds. Anyways! That was your lesson learned for the day.

Yesterday John (step-dad) and I went to Slide Rock which is about 30 minutes from Flagstaff. My mom was unable to go due to work. Slide rock is a natural rock formation that when combined with water becomes a water slide! The water comes from snow runoff from the highest mountain peaks which reach altitudes of 12,000+. I slowly made my way into the frigid water, my body became numb after awhile. The water temp was approx 55 degrees. I made it down the water slide and it truly was a lot of fun. I even went down a second time! Yes, this was all caught on video so it’s very embarassing. I told John that if I went that he had to go. So, he didn’t take the torturous route of easing in the water like I did, he just jumped right in and went down the slide. He said he enjoyed it and wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t made him. We had fun.

Well, headed to bed. It’s almost 1am and I have the Grand Canyon to see tomorrow! I have had a blast here with my family in Arizona, but look forward to going home where my husband is. Home is where he is and I’m homesick without him. Geoff, I’ll see you in less than 48 hours. I miss you!

Amy White

Well I talked to my boy Rockshox last night on the phone and he said that I needed another update… so here ya go Rockshox!

Last Wednesday was my final Radiation Treatment. The doctor says that things have gone well and that I handled the radiation well. A lot of the techs and other patients were amazed when I would answer some of the questions that “Yes… I am still working full time” and would tell them my plans for that afternoon or up coming weekend “Yeah, I need to run home and mow my 1 acre lawn before it rains” or “I’m heading to Biltmore with my wife to run around the tours and gardens” I guess you aren’t supposed to be able to do anything when you recieve radiation.

This weekend I am headed to my folks place up in VA, it’ll be nice to see them especially for Moms day and all. I will also be camping with the Shack Dogz, brother and a couple other people who probably will tag along. It’ll be a great chance to catch up on so many things that have happened in the last couple months.

Went to DollyWood yesterday. Since I was unable to make it on the 8th grade class trip due to Rad. I took the 5th and 6th grade as well as my 7th grade class to DollyWood for something special for them in the last weeks of school. The 5th and 6th grade teacher went on the cruise with his wife (the 9th and 10th grade teacher) so I was in charge of his class on this little expedition. I spent most of the first 3-4 hours we were there talking with a father whos daughter is in my 7th grade class. He was having to leave early to go in for a CT scan for a lump that is on his neck and is causing him some discomfort.

He is an amazingly strong spiritual man and is taking a very similar stand as I did before I found out what things were. He knows that life happens, that hes in the care of the ultimate Physican and that he wants what God wills. He has expressed that to his wife and two kids and is ready to face the challenges that are very possible with something like this. So please, as you have lifted me up in prayer… lift Dan up in your prayers today and tomorrow and the next if possible. I know there is A LOT of power in prayer and that there are a lot of people out there. I will try and keep things posted here as often as possible.

Also Mr. Bill, my good long time friend of the family needs your prayers as well. Last time I talked to him things weren’t looking so hot, hes struggling with a lot of issues right now and really just needs the peace and comfort only the Lord can give. He wants people to know his situation so that he can try to minister to people about his struggle with cancer as I have. The Lord works in odd ways, sometimes not the most fun, but he wants the opportunity to share about his friend Jesus. Continue to pray for him as well.

I need to run to staff worship here at school, so have a wonderful Friday everyone and a wonderful Sabbath that starts tonight, man I love the Sabbath… God knew what we needed eh!?