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Saturday, December 31, 2011

What do Spartans do on their day off?

How about 100 burpees for starters!

By: Bloodhounded, Following Team Limitless Through The Quest 2012
Last October 1st, 2011 I wrote, "ARE YOU SPARTAN TOUGH" introducing Brian Tumelty and his team of Spartan Racers who took the challenge that the Spartan Sprint Race in Palmerton, PA had to offer. Since that time Brian and I have kept in touch. I've made the commitment to follow these Spartans through the 2012 race season. Partly because this sport intrigues me, these guys motivate me and because our readers are so diverse with everyone having some sort of fitness goal, we can all relate. I have learned a lot about Spartan commitment, social community and the unbelievable support that they share with each other to get into shape and stay in top physical condition. A lifestyle of training, not just training for a race. This is no joke guys, these Spartan guys and gals mean business. Ever try to do a burpee? Sounds funny right? Do 40 and let me know what you think then. Brian recently challenged the Spartan community on his Facebook page to do 100 brupees in
THE 100 BURPEE CHALLENGE

Day 1 =1 brupee
Day 2 = 2 burpees
Day 100 = 100 burpees (you get the picture)

Then you could post a picture or video of you doing them in unique places. Fun, right?
Here is Brian doing some "Ghetto Burpees"

And how about Kim's "Farm Burpees"

You would think no one accepted the challenge or maybe just a few wild ones, right?
WRONG! At the time of this writing, 1053 Spartans in training and fitness enthusiasts have accepted the burpee challenge! That's just CRAZY!

Since the interview with Brian, the group of 9 have formed TEAM LIMITLESS that now has over 30 members and 30 of them are registered for the upcoming race 2012 so you know they are not fooling around. The team is made up of athletes determined to go all the way! One particular member that I would like to highlight in this post is Kirk Waidell. Brian describes him as the man who started it all for him.

Kirk recently created and facilitated the Spartan Boot Camp Workout and several of the members came to the battlefield to get crushed by Kirks' idea of building a workout that will condition you for the punishments of the race itself. It blends cardio with bursts of strength and endurance building torture, similar to what the race will ask of your body.

Kirk Waidell, "Experiments In Limitless Living" is the name of his blog which is so inspirational to the fitness community. Brian provided me with a bio from Kirk and with great respect, I post it here.

I bring you Kirk in his own words:

I firmly believe there are many moments in life where you realize your direction must change. A few years ago I was a bloated, depressed junk food eating couch potato. My appearance was disgusting. Driving down the road one day chomping on doughnuts, I caught a glimpse of my pudgy cheeks and mouth covered in sugary goodness. It made me sick to see myself like that, covered in crumbs, my stomach oozing over my seat belt. A change had to happen. Thus my journey into the world of fitness began.

After trying and failing at some different gym programs and a horrible experience with a personal trainer, I whipped myself into shape with the P90X program. In 90 days I dropped 60lbs. I was hooked. I went on to complete the program several more times. I so enjoyed keeping myself fit, and helping others achieve great results, I decided to go to school and completed the AFPA program to become a Certified Personal Trainer.

Fate has smiled upon me; I was quickly able to start part time as a group fitness instructor at Amerikick Karate in Lansdale, PA. I took on the Boot Camp class and quickly had to learn the art of workout design. Thankfully, my class was forgiving, encouraging and had a great attitude as I perfected my craft on them.

Even working as a trainer, I’m only human, and begin to slack in my workouts. I’ll admit, sustaining motivation isn’t easy. Another blessing that has helped me become a better trainer was the discovery of the Spartan Races. I ran a several mud runs previously, but none appealed to me on the level Spartan does. Not only does Spartan boast a huge community of people helping people, but its a great tool in keeping yourself motivated for working out. The following is a Blog post from my website, www.kirkwaidell.com highlighting the importance of what I call “fitness on purpose”

Fitness on purpose, sounds pretty simple right? Have a reason or purpose for your fitness program. Working out to drop weight or get in shape really doesn't motivate me to spend an hour a day doing burpees, push-ups and pull ups or worse yet running on a tread mill. Once you have a goal of weight loss what do you do next?

In my opinion, weight loss isn’t specific enough of a goal. I became involved in the adventure mud runs, specifically Spartan Race, to push myself and challenge my body. When you are training to participate in an event, or for a specified physical challenge, the way you want to train your body changes. When training for a summer of mud runs I will condition my body differently than if I am in the winter, and training strictly for strength. So what’s my point? See yourself as an athlete, do something with your fitness, have a purpose for training other than “to get in shape”. To me that’s not specific enough. Commit to a Spartan Race or something else that will challenge you to pursue fitness on purpose.

My passion, my desire is too see other people reach their fitness potential. Seeing someone accomplish a work out, week in and week out, increasing strength, endurance, shedding pounds, that is so thrilling. My goal is to help everyone that walks into my gym reach their full potential, to encourage them to go beyond limits and create a stunning body.

Creating the Spartan workout was an awesome experience, and I was thrilled to do it. Team Limitless has an awesome group of people and several of them came out Saturday Dec 3, to put themselves to the test. In my opinion, optimum training for Spartan is intense endurance followed by a burst of strength. This simulates the actual need as a Spartan runner. Running a distance to an obstacle that needs a burst of strength, immediately followed by intense endurance. This is the philosophy for training that I follow, and have found it to be adequate for my participation level. (I’m not in it for time, however I find myself to be in great condition). Obviously if you are participating for time, you can increase your training and I would absolutely add long distance running.

The beauty of fitness is that it’s a discipline that spills over into all aspects of life. Organization, time management, goal setting just to name a few. I love what adopting a healthier lifestyle has done for me, and it makes my job of helping others reach their potential so rewarding.

Stay tuned and see how the team makes out with their goals. We'll be check in on these Spartans from time to time and featuring some members of Team Limitless as the race year progresses. My hope is that they will motivate you as they have me to meet your own fitness goals whatever they may be in 2012.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Friday, December 30, 2011

2011- My Geocaching Year in Pictures

Lackawanna Anthracite History 101, 3/17

NY-NJ-PA Boundary Monument, Tri-State Cache, 4/27

Powerline trail at the barrens, Up Down & All Around (sticks and stones), 5/6

Bloodhounded & Dodger, A Walk Into Darkness, 8/14

Abstract artwork, The Art of the Cache, 8/30

Susquehanna River flooding, Remembering Agnes: The Min Matheson Cache, 9/8

Stumbling across a bear in the woods, A Bear Cache, 10/4

Didn't find the cache, but found a piece of paradise, Deerfield at the Beach #1, 10/24

An FTF, Morgan's Happy Hunting Cache, 12/1

A beautiful fall morning, Silver Bullet, 12/8

I hope everyone has a safe and prosperous New Year! Cache on, my friends!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Geocaching Yanksgiving: Unusual Suspects

The events of this post happened between 12:00AM and 11:59PM on November 27, 2011.

By: Dave - Only Googlebot Reads This Blog

This is the last day on our family American Thanksgiving (aka Yanksgiving) weekend road trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, exploring Eastern North Carolina in the process. Today we drove from Greensboro NC to Charlotte NC. Each day has had its own flavour as we explore different regions of Eastern North Carolina. Today can best be summarized by the term "bizarre".

Many of the caches I found today ended up being unusual or odd in some way or another. What makes this more striking is that when I planned out these caches I picked them for their proximity to our route, and page location on the Delorme atlas (our trip is also doubling as a mission to gather pages for the North Carolina Delorme Challenge). Often this leads to a series of LPC and guard rail caches, with the occasional
ammo can tossed in, but today was different.

We found 13 caches today on 5 Delorme pages. Of those 7 were things I have not seen before. Without giving away too much details, I'll list some of these unusual caches:

* We saw an amazing display of wind powered art by a nationally renowned artist Vollis Simpson.

* A cache that was a gallon milk jug full of cement, with just enough space at the top for a log sheet.

* A metal pot hanging from a tree. The hanging part isn't unusual, but the pot was. I have never seen that type of container anywhere, let alone in a state of arboreal suspense.

* A cache hidden as a power meter. It was right out in the open. It was magnetically attached to a utility box. Amazing camo job.

* A home owner had constructed a real train crossing as a gate for his driveway.

* The most unusual is a cache that was buried by ants. The container was a film canister that was stuck in the ground at the base of a sign post. Over time a colony of ants moved in, and as they pushed sand from their tunnels, their ant hill buried the cache. This one took a long time to find :)

And thus ends our caching adventure. This has been a productive trip. We found 59 geocaches, and claimed all the Delorme pages on the eastern side of North Carolina. We saw parts of the state that we now call home that we have never seen before. We also saw Zeke take some steps towards becoming an adventurer in his own right.

Thus this adventure ends. So now I will sign off this series, and await the start of the next adventure. I suspect I won't be waiting that long.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Why Not Wednesday - Geocache America with Geo_Trucker - Wade, NC

Geo_trucker - Wade, NC

I am in North Carolina, delivering a few miles down the highway. I should really pay better attention to my appointment date and times though, as I thought I was delivering today at 12:30pm. In reality I don't deliver until tomorrow at 12:30 so I went to the local truck stop and parked it, went onto www.geocaching.com and set out on my geotrucking adventure!

Like A Fish Out Of Water
While I was walking to my first geocache, GC2QGRV, I found this little stream just off the road side with some beaver dams. I heard some creatures moving around in the woods but could not really see past the brush.

There's something down there...

I moved on to the geocache and moved into the woods. While searching, my back to the road, I heard something walking around and so I turned around to see...

travel_lizzy & Dante

travel_lizzy! And her geodog Dante. She said that she passed me on her way to another geocache and saw me look down at my GPS (And I thought I was being sneaky about it). She caught up to me and together we found the nifty little micro. After signing the log book, we decided to team up and find some more geocaches around the area. Next on the list was GC2M8PM "Are You Stumped?", and we found that with ease... well travel_lizzy found that with ease. As a matter of fact....I think I only found one of the geocaches we set out to find together...Well I helped!

Quiet Neighbors
After "Are You Stumped?" we moved onto GC2N3ZY, also known as "Quite Neighbors". This has become one of my new favorites. The area was sooooo cool and yes, we did find "The Outcasts". Apart from the main graveyard, which is several hunderad yards from the road by its self, set off into the woods were some more gravestones. The oldest one I found was from 1889. Dante the geodog helped us out with this one...well he more just ran around everywhere but he helped; just ask him... He'll tell ya!

Cool Spot! This old grave yard is set several hundred yards off the road, behind a farmer's field

Set back in the woods we found even older graves, away from the main yard.

Quiet Neighbors was followed by two quick park and grabs, GC11D0E "Eastover Central" and GC393C4 "Tools for Tots". Tools for Tots was probably one of the most painful geocaches I ever found! There were thorns everywhere.

Airborne TB Hotel

The last one on the list for the day was GCP1MV, "Airborne TB Hotel". It was here I dropped off the travel bug I picked up at a TB Hotel back in New York. This one wasn't hard to find at all, and it was the only one I actually got to yell out "Found it!" on.

It wasn't hidden very well...that's why I found it! ;-)

All in all it was a great day! I sure ran like the wind all day yesterday to get to my appointment on time, little did I know I was going to be 25 hours early. But it would appear that it happened for a reason...today was my most productive geocaching day ever. Thanks again to travel_lizzy and Dante for a great day in North Carolina!

Tomorrow I am off to Illinois...what adventures await me there I wonder? I'll ponder it over a couple of waffles at the Waffel House across the street...mmm....waffles.......

Stay safe out there!

P.S. I am no longer WMDan on www.geocaching.com. I am now geo_trucker.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

X6945

X6945

DctrSpott

Becoming a mad scientist is hard work... so, naturally, I steal away whenever I get the chance. The threat of an impending snowstorm, the end of coursework and teaching for the year, and a special visitor from Pennsylvania provided ample opportunity for a much needed trek. So, the pair of us, and Boltzmann, headed south to Colorado.

A local cacher turned me on to the area over the summer, when she double dog dared me to grab a back-country cache, and ran into some nasty cacti along the way. Given my love of multi cache challenges, first introduced to me by none other than the clever Bloodhounded, I returned to the area, tempted by part one of a nine part challenge cache. The challenge investigates Greyrock Mountain, a massive and very distinct chunk of rock. The ominously named X6945 offers amazing views of the local scenery, including the northeast profile of Greyrock. So, with the sun shining brightly and the temperature perfect, we set off on an epic adventure.

The trek started off on a weird note, as we spotted a helicopter skirting extremely close to the ground and mountains. We speculated on what it might be doing, and the possibility of stumbling on a lost hiker, and having an encounter with an escaped convict. The possibility that we could become lost hikers did not even cross our mind, though I admitted my first instinct of "take cover" at the sound of helicopters. That kind of screams, "escaped convict", don't you think?

This means you, cachers.

Following the trail soon led to trouble. A gate and sign I had come across during the summer had been very recently replaced and relocked. To turn around would add several miles and steep terrain to our hike. Besides, this is national forest land. It's not like it's home to some secret government experiments, closely guarded by a daily helicopter patrol... This sign is probably just old, from before the government bought up the land to make a national forest. So, in my (disturbingly) usual, "The rules don't apply to me" fashion, I may have made the judgment call to move forward, but to do so quickly. I wasn't too keen on that helicopter coming back.

The rest of the hike to X6945 was less eventful. We ran into some local wildlife, and pushed forward as the snow became deeper. Trekking across hilltops gave better vantage points to plan an approach, and less snow, but at the cost of dealing with constant terrain changes. The choice paid off, sort of: when the ridge ended, we had a perfect vantage point of the approach we needed to reach X6945. Including the steep climb down we'd need to take in order to reach the climb up. Oh well, at least we were still on a trail.

Clambering uphill proved a challenge, but the view from the top was well worth it. Greyrock indeed was ominous peering at us from a distance, but we also had a spectacular view of the nearby Poudre river valley. Socks were changed, caches and peak registers were signed, and I briefly entertained taking a Spottish shortcut, bypassing the "private property", and taking a shorter route through the more mountainous terrain. Remembering how shortcuts always end up working out for CacheCrazy scouting parties, I quickly opted to retrace our steps for the return route. Setting my GPS to record the route, I learned our one-way trek distance was a whopping

10.77 kilometers, a 21.54 km, or about 13 mile round trip! This half-marathon hike makes a personal best for me, but is doubly an accomplishment for my Pennsylvanian visitor, hiking at a mile high altitude change.

So, if you're in the rockies, be sure to check out this area. Cacher or not, beautiful views any time of year make this a must see.

Monday, December 26, 2011

FTF Geocacher Magazine

By: Kim @ Snugharborbay

FTF Geocacher Magazine is a really good magazine dedicated to the hobby of Geocaching. A lot of the content is written by different geocachers from across the country. It features stories about FTF's (First to Finds), interesting geocaches, individual geocacher milestones, GPS information and highlights about events like Geowoodstock and Flash Mobs. It's crammed full of information on how to geocache in general, travel bugs, geo-coins and typical swag. Plus, there are dozens of beautiful photos of cachers and geocaches in every issue. The magazine is very nicely done, with superb photo defination and thick, glossy pages. You can feel the excellent quality of the magazine when you hold it in your hands.

FTF Magazine is published bi-monthly. I just wish it was a monthly magazine because it's always interesting to read. Editor/Owner is Keith Petrus and he's currently working with I Tunes in an effort to get all the issues published as an I Pad App, which is a big plus for I Pad users. So far the current 2011 issues are available. I'm thinking of switching over to that option myself. I understand that plans are also in the works for Android Tablet Distribution as well.

My favorite activity once I receive the magazine is to pour over all the highlighted geocaches and find ones from around the country that I'd like to do. They get added to one of my ever-present bookmark lists.

Every issue has a "Where's Sparticus" contest. Find Sparticus hidden someplace in the magazine, e-mail the page number to the magazine website and your name is entered into a drawing for one of their cool Sparticus pathtags. Fun huh?

This last month I was featured in the magazine. Keith was looking for stories from geocachers about what they would do to get a cache. I submitted this little post.....

I'm afraid it's an unflattering rear view shot of me and for that I apologize. LOL! But the cache was SO worth it to get!

Here Mary and I are calculating how far in we've got to go...

Once inside, you have to locate a specific rock and take a photo of yourself holding it as proof that you grabbed the cache. Not easy to do while laying on your stomach in a hole that's only about 2.5 feet wide, while propping up a flashlight, holding a rock in one hand, and balancing your camera in the other so you can take a picture of yourself. Then you have to also sign the log book and slowly back your way out again.

Mary and I both claimed a smiley on this one!

Most geocachers enjoy the magazine. Keith encourages everyone to write stories, send in photos or their milestones for publication. Let me tell you, it's quite a thrill to open the magazine and see one of your pictures or stories in the current issue!

If you're interested in FTF Geocacher Magazine you can order it through their website.

They also have a FB page. Check it out. If you're a geocacher, it's a must read!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

I Believe In Santa Claus!

Call me childish but, I believe in Santa Claus! That's right, you heard me, I believe in Santa!

Not a Santa in the physical sense but more in a magical way. A mysterious way that has no explanation. Kind of like my beliefs in Jesus and God. I've never laid my hands on them, or have seen them with my own eyes but, I just know they're there.
I just know it!

Christmas magic has many forms and has reviled itself to people all over the world in many different ways. Some in receiving the gift of their health, while others found the unexplained unravel right before their eyes. A paranormal phenomena or Christmas magic? You don't believe me? Well, don't take my word for it, just listen to these people just like you and me tell their stories.
*The authors choose to remain anonymous to protect the innocent

THE CHRISTMAS VISIT

"It was around Christmas time, maybe 1995 or '96, at my aunt's house on a reservation in North Dakota," says V. Page. "Some of my family was in the living room watching television, the kids were playing in the rooms or sleeping, and my uncle, aunt and I were sitting at the table putting a puzzle together. My cousin who worked at a casino would come home around midnight or 1 a.m. This night, as she pulled up and was walking toward the house, she looked in the window and saw me sitting at the table, my uncle sitting across from me - and someone standing to the left of me and someone standing in the corner. She continued to walk in the house, thinking nothing of it.

"When she got in she said her hellos, put her stuff away and came and joined us at the table. As we were sitting there talking, she looked at me and asked who was standing next to me a few minutes ago and who was in the corner. I told her no one, but she insisted there was someone standing next me. 'It looked like your mom, and she was playing with your hair,' she told me. She said this person was running her hand on my hair, like a mother does to a child.

"It kinda freaked me out, being I was probably only 12 or 13 at the time. She swears that someone was standing over me, rubbing my head and watching me put the puzzle together with my aunt and uncle, and that there was another person standing behind this person. All of my family was accounted for. We got around to thinking it was probably her mom she saw. She passed away on her birthday a week before Christmas back in 1992. However, we didn't figured out who the person standing in the corner could have been. Now, around Christmas time, something strange always happens, and we just think it's her visiting us."

TOY PHONE CALL

"In 1960, I was five years old," Sandy says. "I lived in the beautiful Berkshire Hills in Massachusetts. Our telephone was hung fairly high on the wall - too high for me to reach without help. It was late in the morning on Christmas day. My dad and my brother had gone out to shovel snow, my mother was in the shower and I was playing with my new Chatty Cathy doll.

"I wanted to call my grandmother to tell her about all my wonderful Christmas presents, but I knew that I would have to wait for my mother to get out of the shower because I could not reach the telephone. I was becoming increasingly impatient. I decided to pretend to call my grandmother on the toy telephone that I had gotten for Christmas. Back then, where I lived, there were no dial phones; all calls were operator assisted, and when I picked up the receiver on my toy telephone, I distinctly heard an operator say, 'What number please?'

"I was shocked, but I told her my grandmother's number, which I still remember to this day. I heard the phone begin to ring, and soon my grandmother, with her heavy Italian accent, was saying hello. I immediately began telling her all about my Chatty Cathy doll, but she wanted to know where my mother was. I explained that my mother was in the shower, and my dad and brother were outside. She knew that I could not use the telephone by myself, and asked me how I climbed up to use the phone high up on the wall. I explained that I had called her on my toy telephone. She laughed heartily before telling me to have my mother call when she got out of the shower.

"When my mother got out of the shower, I tried to tell her that I had really talked to Grandma on my toy phone, and that she wanted my mother to call her. My mother laughed like my grandmother did, but since I kept insisting that she call Grandma, she finally did. When she discovered that I really had talked to my grandmother, I got in big trouble. My mother insisted that I had somehow dangerously climbed the wall to use the phone. I insisted that I had called Grandma on my toy phone, and I got in bigger trouble for lying.

"I spent the rest of Christmas morning in my room, supposedly thinking about my dangerous antics, and lying to my grandmother and mother. I was frustrated about that, but I couldn't help but smile over the fact that I had somehow called my grandmother on my toy telephone that Christmas morning. It had to be magic."

MEDITATION VISITATION

"This incident happened on New Years Day, 2008 in Vancouver, B.C, Canada," says Angela. "My grandmother passed away suddenly from natural causes on Christmas Eve, which shocked and crushed us. My family is Buddhist, so for the past few days, we've visited a temple and meditated in her honour. My mom purchased this small, radio-like box that repeatedly plays a meditation, and she has left that on in my grandmother's room throughout the day for the last little bit.

"Monday, December 31, was the one week anniversary of my grandmother's death, and according to Chinese traditions, the deceased return home to visit their loved ones. As usual, my parents had the box playing throughout the day and turned it off before they went to bed. Here's where it gets weird.

"The next morning, on New Years Day, my mom woke up around 9 a.m. to use the bathroom, and she distinctly heard a soft song of meditation, just like the one heard from the box. She asked my dad if he had left it on the night before, and he said no. Thinking she had imagined it, she went back to sleep.

"Around 10 a.m., my dad woke up and heard the same soft sounds of meditation. He started wondering if he had indeed forgotten to turn off the box and went into my grandmother's room to check, only to find it off! How can you explain both of my parents hearing the meditation? We've eliminated the possibilities of it coming from our neighbour's house or TV. My boyfriend believes that it was my grandmother's way of letting us know that she is still around and that she is alright. It is a little spooky, but I find comfort in my grandmother letting us know she's around through meditation."

MIRACLE ON THE ROOF

"This experience took place on Christmas Eve, 1976, in Gresham, Oregon," says Jason Q. "Although this story may seem 'beyond belief', I assure you, it is very true. It is proof (to me, anyway) that miracles do still occur. When I was five years old, I witnessed what I believe to be a miracle one Christmas Eve. My dad had just taken a job in Grants Pass, Oregon, which left my mom and me alone for the first time on Christmas. It was difficult not having my dad there that Christmas, as we had always been together for the previous Christmases.

"I was sleeping in my mom's room that Christmas Eve when we heard something out on the roof. Of course, being a young boy at that time, I thought it was Santa, but my mom thought it may be a burglar. She told me to stay in bed as she got up and cautiously went to the window. I was both excited and a little afraid, since she was so afraid. Although I thought it could be Santa, I also knew that it may be an intruder. My mom just stood there and stared, not saying anything. I asked her what was out there, and she just stared out the window. As she came back to the bed with a mesmerized look on her face, I jumped out of bed and ran to the window. What I saw was Santa, his sleigh and reindeer flying off our roof into the sky - just like you'd see on a Christmas card.

"My mom and I didn't talk about that night or what either of us saw. I thought it was normal, and she thought she was 'losing it'. She called her dad that night and told him what we had seen, and he told her that my dad leaving must have caused her to be hitting the bottle. He really thought she was losing it. He was really concerned for her sanity.

"Years later, when I was in high school, we had to tell a Christmas story in our German class. I told the one that I just shared with you. My friends laughed at me, not believing my story. I never heard the end of it after I told them I was serious. They really didn't know what to think of me after that.

"It gets even stranger. When I was leaving the classroom that day, a kid (who I didn't know) came up to me and said, 'You know, that was a great Christmas story. If one trulybelieves, he may at one time in his life experience what you experienced.' That kid then left, and I never saw him again. Who was he? An angel? A messenger? I don't know. Anyway, when I got home that day, I had to ask my mom what she had seen that Christmas Eve. Again, we had never talked about it, so I didn't really know what she saw that night. I knew what I saw, but I didn't know what she saw. All I could remember was how quiet she was that night, and how mesmerized she was. I wanted to know what she saw, to in fact see if I had imagined everything, as so many young kids do.

"My mom went on to tell me that it was a very difficult Christmas not having my dad around, but a miraculous one with what had occurred. When I asked my mom what she had seen that evening, she just kind of looked down almost in embarrassment. She then looked at me and said, 'I hope you don't think I'm nuts, but I saw Santa's sleigh and reindeer leaving our roof, taking off up into the sky. The snow-covered roof had animal prints and disturbed snow, where the sleigh had been sitting.' She smiled, and asked what I saw that evening, with tears in her eyes. I told her that I saw the sleigh and reindeer up in the sky. The timing of what we saw fits perfectly. I got up from the bed just as she was leaving the window. She saw the sleigh and reindeer taking off up into the sky, just before I saw what I saw. I even heard bells in the sky that night, and my mom told me that she did as well. We heard and saw the exact same thing, which was truly a Christmas miracle that year, when we really needed one!

"So, was it really Santa that night that my mom and I saw? Or was it a miracle that God had sent us, for us to see, especially due to how difficult that Christmas was?"

I believe it was both - a miracle and Santa. I truly believe that the God who created the universe and its billions of planets has absolutely no limitations, and therefore would have no problem giving to us that miracle that evening. He also hears our prayers. Like that kid in my German class told me, 'If you believe, you may experience this very miracle.' Or you may experience a miracle that is very personal to only you, which only God and you know. Keep on believing! Miracles do happen if one believes in them.

Makes you think doesn't it? Christmas magic can find it's way into even the coldest heart. It has turned Grinch's into carolers and the greedy to the giving. Why, just Dawn and I being able to pull this Christmas off is kind of amazing! I look around me and see all of the "gifts" that I have been given in the world and I'll tell you, at 51 years to the day, I believe in Santa Claus!

Remember my little rhyme, "If you don't believe, you won't receive"

Receive the Christmas magic in your heart and have a wonderful Christmas! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.