Is It Summer Yet?!

Well since moving back to the 208 the weather has been very unappealing to me. This is mostly because there has not been a day that has reached a temperature of over 85 degrees F. All I want to know is, where is the heat that I so long for? 90 degrees and higher, is that to much to ask for?! Hopefully after todays excellent sunshine with a high of about 75 the weather will only improve and the heat will set in.

This last week I did however decide to inaugurate summer despite the lame temperatures with my first raft trip down the North Fork of the Payette River, the area known as the Cabarton run. There is nothing like rafting on a river full of snow melt water that cause you to shudder at the thought of being soaked head to toe. My goal this summer is to raft once a week or every other week until I go on my main rafting trips that consist of two one week long trips as a guide to the lower Salmon River for the youth at my church. Inside my rafting goal for this summer is also to raft new stretches of rivers for the first time and truly experience all that Idaho has to offer white water enthusiasts, in finding and experiencing the perfect rapid, if there is such a thing out there. I am planning to document my trips using my Gopro outdoor waterproof camera so that at the end of the summer you can watch video of what I experienced and what the river looked like from my perspective and also the perspective of my friends that I raft with. Keep your eyes tuned for more stories and pictures this summer!

until next time...

Back In B-Town...

Where to start, where to start?... hmmmm.... Well I suppose there is a beginning, but I have no clue where it begins for this story. Needless to say, I have moved back to Boise, or B-Town as I like to call it. I have just recently turned 26 and time is not slowing down for me these days. There were a lot of reasons that brought me back here to the 208, living in the particular area of Washington that I was residing was dreadful for me and bringing me down and out of who I am at the core. I was missing out on being a part of my nieces lives and watching them sprout up off of the ground like weeds and also seeing my family and friends that I had left behind. There were also some personal family issues that needed my attention.

When I had originally moved to Washington it was because I thought that my life in B-Town was sub-par and I wanted a change of scenery in my life. I will be the first to admit that i moved without really considering what moving would entail for me, I was naive and did not really pray about if God was really wanting me to move away. In retrospect I clearly see that he allowed for me to move, and has brought me back to what I can truly call home. I have realized that the place where you live may initially seem very unappealing and dreadful, however until you move to a place that is far worse you cannot fully appreciate where you have spent most of your life at.

My goal is to go back to school sometime soon and continue to study history and pursue art to keep my creative side alive and challenge myself in learning new mediums and techniques. God willing, I will also end up doing his will in my life and be able to bring him glory so that he may say well done my good and faithful servant.

time for a poem...

When I see your smile, it merely leaves me speechless,

Your beauty gives me butterflies.

I hope to see my future someday,

When I look into your eyes.

But for now I will keep things hidden,

I shall admire your beauty and take it to heart.

Listening, learning in the silence,

So that knowing you would make me smart.

Someday I will have the courage,

The courage to express my feelings for you.

Hoping,

Hoping that you will have those feelings too.

... In closing, it is good to be back in B-town, and I hope to see you around. Until next time.

Boise and a Baby!

I have finished my term at the ever so exhausting Amazon.com call center and have come to Boise to vacate away from the ever so dreadful tri-cities of Washington. It is so good to see friends and family after being gone for the holidays. Joel, my brother, was able to take leave from his duties in Iraq to come home to Boise for a very big event in his life as well. Please help me to welcome into the family Sierra Grace Biggs, 7lbs 14oz, born on January 28th, 2010! She is one healthy, happy, beautiful baby and I am one proud uncle to say the least. Emma, who is going to be two at the end of February is now a very excited big sister who is growing so fast I am amazed.

Some how two weeks went by very, very fast and has not provided me enough time to see all my friends who reside there. I was able to see some of them though and the tie spent with them is cherished and memorable. I had planned on training MMA extensively while there, however since spending time with family was my main reason for the visit I did not train more than a day or two of my visit. I was able to get a tattoo while in boise to begin finishing my sleeve on my right arm, so I am grateful for that and hoping to have everything finished by the end of spring! Seeing as how all of my tattoo's are biblical, I got some angels fighting demons to represent spiritual warfare on my forearm. The image is from a famous drawing by Albrecht Durer. you may be asking me or yourself who this man is, and my answer for you is Google it! Here is an image of what i got tattooed on my arm...

As I find myself back in Washington I am constantly questioning what I am doing here and why cant I seem to feel God's presence in my life here either. For several months my spiritual life has been very bleak and dark. Who am I and what is my purpose? I am in need of a desperate change and it shall come soon I believe. Until next time, hopefully with news of my future existence and inhabitance, Blessings...

Welcoming in the New Year...

Wow, it has been five months since my last post and sadly not much has happened in my life since my last post. Hopefully this year will bring me some adventures, stories, and most of all happiness. So far all i have got was sick, since i woke up Saturday morning i have been struck with strep throat somehow. Since my last post, I have found a job working for the inglorious Amazon.com as a customer service representative... however, this position is only seasonal work and my job may be coming to a close sometime soon. For those of you who are familiar with the reading device known as a Kindle, that is my specialty. I help troubleshoot problems that the 70-90 year old people who buy these have. More often than not, many of the people buy the device with no knowledge of technology or what WIFI means, and worse than that, they don't even take the time to read the owners manual that is provided on the Kindle! While I await my seasonal position to end I am now looking for more permanent employment here in Washington.

I have had a few different looks since moving here to the Tri-Cities, Washington, here are a few pics:

I grew a mustache for halloween...

I went for a visit to Boise to see Emma and Shelly in November... Joel is over in the middle east pushing papers at a desk for the government. Miss my brother quite a bit...

I have been representing with some red and brown hair and the mohawk with a rat tail at the bottom with the holiday beard completing the look...

I have been keeping busy outside of work by going to the gym almost every day to workout on the weights or to train MMA with some of the locals, though they do not compare to Combat Fitness instructors in Boise. Every now and then I will venture over to Richland to go to the skatepark and skate shop to chat with folks and enjoy myself. Back in October I took a trip up north to Spokane to go see a concert, which was great, until the next day when i had lost my voice from yelling and singing at the concert. totally worth it if you ask me! Just as before, i still watch the fights, (UFC) thankfully i met a guy named Russell who has a sweet place right by me and also has a 55 inch flat screen to host the fights. Hopefully I will be able to make a trip to Boise in the end of January/ early February. fingers crossed on coming... cause life here in Washington is not all it was hoped to be, especially in the realm of finding a church to go to that I can truly learn from and look forward to going to. Please pray that God would find I place that is able to meet my needs, that I would look to Him to meet my needs.

Hopefully this year I will get a post in on the blog every month instead of taking a five month hiatus... big thanks to all my readers... Happy New Year!

livin' down by the river...

Back in July I had the privilege to go white water rafting in Riggins, ID with a youth camp as a guide. For a solid week I took high school students from various churches down the river for many of them, their first time. I spent my mornings and evenings after being on the river, overlooking the river bank and gazing upon God's marvelous, though fallen countryside. Full of wildlife and the sweet sounds of calm, it was truly a blessing to me. Though the kids were more exhausting than the rafting we did, many of them had a good time and had their share of water. There is nothing like going through a rapid with waves the size of a large truck that you are about to crash through without even getting hurt. It sure beats being hit by a car while riding your bike at six in the morning! My favorite thing however is flipping the raft, intentionally in the rapid or not. Having been rafting for the last ten years of my life, I have body floated or swam in/through more rapids than i can count. There is an awesome website that you can see some amazing pictures of me in the water at http://klobetanz.smugmug.com/Rafts-2010/Private-boaters-July-rafting/july22/13139502_QfXve#954212829_RcRuz . At some point I will be posting a video, or a link to watch a video of me rafting as well. here are some pics of where i was staying, enjoy!

Morning view from my tent!

through painful loss, Love abides for thee...

I am speechless. I have heard of tragedy before, but the news I have just received has taken me to a place I never wanted to go to for a very long time. How could this have happened, and to him of all people? I am shutting down, becoming numb to everything in my current environment. I wish not to feel anything; pain, joy, sorrow, hope, love, I just want to be numb. This is not the case however, all I fell is pain and sorrow, regret and dismay, wondering about the what ifs of what could have been done different. I am sick to my stomach and no matter what, this knot that is turning round and round inside of me only grows. I am in mourning and wish not to be. I was in this place a year ago now and was ready to be finished myself, and I even tried to accomplish this so, only to fail. So here I sit, writing what someone may have been writing about me not long ago, in pain, sorrow, and mourning over what I almost accomplished.

I have lost a dear friend to suicide. A friend who I looked up to and admired as a man, friend, and brother in Christ Jesus. Having spent a good amount of time with him, I have no opportunity to tell him just how much his faith and words of encouragement have always been to me. He shone the light of Christ like no other man I have ever known. He exemplified an unconditional love for people that was unlike any other I have ever known, whether he knew you or had just met you five minutes ago. He has left behind a wife and two daughters in a tragic state of pain, full of questions, and deeper sorrow than I will ever know. Is telling them I am sorry for their loss really going to help them to cope in this horrible event that will affect them for the rest of their lives? What am I to tell them, That things will get better over time, that they will move past this some day? Sadly, the worst part is that he never reached out to anyone for help or to talk to about his struggles, pain, and sadness. He simply built it up inside of himself until finally he could bare it no longer and felt he was left with only one way out, death. I will be there for my friends who are now without a husband and father, there to listen, pray, and love them whilst they are in this great suffering and more than likely will be doing for a very long time.

I have been listening to someone challenge me in figuring out what my story is and who is writing it. Is it me, or someone else, who knows me better than myself, Christ? Am I humbly submitting to his will for my life so that he may write a story of my life that only he could write? Embarrassing enough, I am not. I am selfish and want to have control of everything in my life. What is the result of my decision to live for myself instead of for Christ? That I am missing out on the man that God wants me to be and the story he wants to write of my life and the glory that he deserves to receive for the many miracles he has performed and wants to still in my life. A break down is coming that I must work through and surrender to Christ so that I may carry on the work that God has called all of us to do, something that my late friend was very good at because he had amazing zeal and passion for sharing God’s abundant love and grace with each person he encountered. This I know will be no easy task to accomplish but I will strive to do my best and not give up. I do not want this tragedy to be over-looked, but remembered as something to fuel my passion for Christ’s love and forgiveness. Do not quit fighting for your loved one’s and make sure to reaffirm them of their value and meaning in your life and the lives of so many others. Our secrets are our worst enemy and unless you bring them to light and expose them they will continue to have power and control over you, bringing you down and as you have read, to a feeling of only having one way out. Help is out there, your story matters to so many that it is best told by you, not for you after you have gone to rest, never to speak to or leave such a direct impact in people’s lives.

Who will carry on your legacy? Who can do what you did for Christ the way that you were able to do? You are irreplaceable and so in your memory we will continue the love and service you showed to all people you encountered. On this somber Monday morning, we have gathered to celebrate your life and our memories of you that are dear to us. As we weep that you are no longer with us, we also are filled with joy that you are finally with your true and perfect father. I myself envy your place of everlasting eternal residence, as many of us wish to be before the throne worshiping our loving father of light.

I will miss you more than you know, as will so many others who have and do and always will love you. My memorable time spent with you shall be cherished for the rest of my life, only leaving me wishing that we had more of them. I will not mourn forever for I know that I will see you again someday in heaven. When that day comes I shall rejoice not only in seeing you but more so in worshiping our creator side by side, seeing your shining smile on your face. Nevertheless, for now I cannot help but to weep over what has happened. Your story was not yet finished being written by God and he had so much more for you to do, bringing him glory in a way that only you could. You decided to finish writing your story though and with a tragic ending no less. You fell into a dark place, shutting everyone out and trying to escape from it at the same time. We however will continue to write your story in our own lives because of the love you have shown us. My words I write in memory of you will not do justice in truly defining and explaining who you were and the impact you made on my life. However, this is a form of my release of the pain and sorrow I am experiencing right now. You are heavy on my heart my friend and will be for a long time. Please know that you are already missed, and always will be until that day comes when all of us who knew and loved you meet up in heaven for eternal celebration of the King.

This is not good-bye to you my friend, but until we meet again, and though it will not be here on earth it will happen elsewhere. We love you and we miss you, and wish you had let us help you before it was to late to do so. Your pain and suffering is over, but ours has just increased upon having lost your amazing God given friendship. Grace and peace be with you, you are loved more than you know. His name was, is, and always will be, Kelly Tescher.

dorothy ain't got... but that wicked witch is something else.

Emma's first ride on a carosel! man she was sure excited, in case you can't tell from her facial expression, she was showing her excitement on the inside. oh who am I kidding, she's only one year old, she had no idea what was going on...



this is Dorothy at her finest... ummm maybe not her finest, but she sure was looking cute that day.

welcome to Oz... with a slap in the face and a kick in the pants!
My nightmare while traveling to kansas for the fourth of July has reaffirmed my total dislike of united airlines, the Denver airport, and traveling outside of the west coast region. A last minute change of my departure gate in Denver caused me to miss my flight to Kansas and seventy-five dollars later I arrived an hour and a half behind schedule and mad as hell. The only nice day during my stay in Topeka was on Saturday and the rest were filled with heavy rain storms and a lack of activities to participate in due to the down pour. There were plenty of good times had with my family members though, which made my trip to Kansas for my aunts sixtieth birthday and mini family reunion worth this trouble and annoyance I have had to endure. I did get to watch the Lesnar/ Carwin fight and end up disappointed with the outcome, however it was fun to have some brewskies with my cousin Brandon, his girlfriend, and my brother Joel at Buffalo Wild Wings. I also got to do some wake boarding, tubing, etcetera on the lake which only happened cause we went out in the rain and my departure day of tuesday was clear, beautiful skies in the morning for an early session on some glassy water.



As my cousin and her husband took me back to the airport we stopped by Cabela's headquarters and saw some amazing bucks on display in their trophy room. upon arriving at the Kansas City airport, I was informed that there was major weather storms going on in Denver and that many of the passengers connecting flights would be missed and rescheduled for the next day. For some reason I had a feeling this would happen to end my trip from hell with complete suffering, frustration, and a total pain in my ass. My flight didn't end up leaving until two hours later and I finally landed in Denver at eleven in the evening, over an hour later than my departure flight left for Boise with out me. I was then stuck in the DIA all night with no dinner to eat cause everything closed down before I could get a bite to eat. what do you do when you're stuck in an airport that feels more like a ghost town? since I was unable to sleep and starving like a homeless man, I did the only thing that made illogical sense, I wandered from one end of the airport to the other like a zombie for six hours to pass time. my flight out would not be leaving until after two in the afternoon so I had time to kill. I tried to occupy my time with shows off of Hulu, but DIA's wifi was horrible and kept shutting down. needless to say, DIA is the worst airport I have ever been in and I hope I never have to fly through there again as long as I live.



finally I arrive back in Boise at four in the afternoon and I am in need of some good deep sleep... which i managed to get a nap in while on a picnic with Beth... who picked me up and brought me food since i had barely even got to eat breakfast. What better way to thank someone than to fall asleep in the park during a picnic with them, right?... man that's classic. Sorry Beth! I was able to get some sleep that night but it was not the same as being in my own bed, even though i slept until after twelve in the afternoon. I ended up spending the rest of the rest of the week in Boise and finally got home to Washington on Friday night about a half an hour after midnight, and finally started to catch up on sleep by sleeping until about two thirty in the afternoon on Saturday. Well enough about me, tell me about you... until next time, word of advice, DON"T EVER FLY THROUGH DIA! Oh yeah, write that down... Now!