It's finally time for an update

Well, Cassie and I have moved to Missouri. It's official and real. As real as the sweat on my forehead on a 85 degree day with 85% humidity. However, it hasn't been a very difficult transition.

We packed the Uhaul and my truck all on Saturday the 3rd of August. We mostly had boxes, which made the packing easier. We had the help of my brother, his girlfriend, my dad, mom, Emilee and Xander from the youth group. Those hands meant that we were fully packed in 90 minutes from picking up the box truck from the Uhaul supplier!

After a quick lunch, we were on the road to Phoenix to stuff a few extra items into the back of the truck from Cassie's parent's house and to have a small get together to say good bye with our Valley friends. 

Just leaving Amarillo.

We were on the road at 6:30am on Sunday, ready for a long haul of a day. After hours on the road, a couple cups of coffee and a number of pee breaks, we made it to Amarillo, TX. It was already 9pm when we rolled into town because of crossing two time zones throughout the day. Luckily, there were no issues and despite the long day, we made it safe.

Amarillo Sunrise.

Monday was just as easy. We had the goal of making it to Cassie's grandparents house in Havana, AR that night. We hit some construction in Oklahoma City but, again, no delays and just a long day of driving. It was this day that it hit me that we were moving into unknown territory. After living in the Ponderosa Pine forests my whole life, Oklahoma was an alien world. This move became real.

Somewheresville, OK

We saw Cassie's grandpa and grandma, and her aunt and uncle in Arkansas and spent a quick night there. Her grandma drove us up the highest mountain in Arkansas, Magazine Mountain, which is right outside their front door. I have the intention of going back and riding my bike up that road someday. 

After another $100 fill of the uhaul gas tank, we were off for our final push into Columbia. The only hiccup we had the whole trip was this day when we hit a road closure and had to take a 20 minute detour. It was painful because of how close we were and how done we both felt driving all that way. We rolled into town, took a quick wrong turn, got corrected and were at our new home by 2:30pm Tuesday afternoon. We made it!

We decided to just get everything unloaded into the garage and we will then begin the process of sorting through things over the next couple of days. 

That's just the space emptied from our 7 bikes.

Slowly our house began to take shape. We were missing a lot of furniture pieces, but our kitchen, bedroom and office eventually became functional. We now have a couch that we found on Craigslist, Cassie has a desk that we found the same way and our bank accounts are a little lighter because of the whole moving process.

Cassie has started her classes and meetings with her department this week. She is generally gone most of the day during the week. I am spending my time searching and applying for jobs, going on bike rides to get a feel for the area better and keeping the chores at the house taken care of. 

We both went on a group ride on Tuesday night and met a number of other, really fast, cyclists. We are joining a fun volleyball league with a number of people from her department at school this fall. We have visited and decided on a wedding venue for ourselves for next Summer (stay tuned for an official announcement). 

Our new home.

Overall, we are loving Columbia and all that it has offered so far. The weather, until this week, has been amazing. The bugs haven't been nearly as bad as I was expecting and we have found a church that we are going to continue to explore and get to know.

We thank you for all the prayers and support that everyone has shown us in this transitional time of our lives and we want to offer up our guest room as a thank you to anyone wanting to come visit.

A Spectacular Wedding

I wanted to share a link to my (other) blog on my photography website. I shot a wonderful wedding this weekend down in Tucson and wanted to share it around. 

If you happen to be in the market for a photographer for any reason and you happen to be living in the Missouri area, please give me a call. All my contact info is on my website. 

I hope you enjoy!

Colin and Allison's Wedding 

Memorial

If you haven't heard about the 19 brave souls who perished at the Yarnell Hill fire last week, you must be under a rock and please take this post as your information. 

If you read yesterday's post, you would know that I was in San Antonio the whole of last week at the LCMS National Youth Gathering volunteering to make the week amazing for the 25,000+ kids who attended. 

I was sitting in a private worship service for all the Gathering workers on June 30th, when Cassie texted me about 19 firefighters who had died. My stomach immediately dropped. I quickly received a call from my mom making sure that I wasn't worried about my family. 

These deaths hit close to home for a few reasons. The first being my father and brother both fight wildland fires during the summer months. My dad has been doing just about every job imaginable from digging line, to leading inmate crews, to being a crew boss for the military and now serving on a Type 1 Incident Management Team, who gets the call to manage the largest and most serious fires that start. He has nearly 30 years of experience with fire and just about anyone who is anyone in the Southwest fire community knows his name. 

My brother has found his calling as a part of an engine crew off of the Kaibab National Forest in Arizona. He is in his fifth season and makes me jealous just about every year he goes out and sends me pictures of being on the fire line. 

They both make me proud to have the last name Boness because I know the sacrifice that goes into 16 hour shifts of hard labor day in and day out to protect lives, structures and resources. They would never say it and I probably wouldn't either if I was in their position, but they truly are unspoken heroes to numerous communities who rely on their expertise to save property from overwhelming forest fires.

The second reason the deaths hit me so hard is because this happened in Arizona, to Arizona Hotshots. It is the most deaths on a fire line in Arizona history, the most firefighters to die on any wildfire in the US since 1933 and the most firefighters to die in America since 9/11. To say this event wasn't significant is to grossly underestimate the sacrifice. 

I feel close to this community despite never setting foot on a fire line because my family, my flesh and blood has spent years of dedication to this industry and I know countless firefighters by name. 

The Granite Mountain hotshots are based in Prescott, Arizona. Only and hour and a half's drive from my hometown. I have been through Yarnell, where the fire occurred, numerous times and feel close to the communities that were affected. All of Arizona does. 

We mourn for the families and lift up those lost. The memorial service for those Hotshots is today and God knows that I will be praying for comfort and knowledge to prevent more deaths in the future.

If you have time, please find the live broadcast online and show your support for those lost. The memorial begins at 11am Arizona time.

My dad and I last fall when he let me out on to the line at a prescribed fire in Flagstaff, AZ.

The Reality of it All

The reality is, I am moving from Flagstaff. After 24 years in Arizona, 20 of them in Flagstaff, I am moving. Does it scare me? You betcha!

Everyday is a day to reflect on my life and savor everything I have enjoyed about growing up in this wonderful place. The people I have met, the sunrises and sets that I have witnessed, the mountains I have climbed, the deserts, forests, canyons, monsoons and on and on. There is so much about this state that I have never done or seen or experienced and it's a tough proposition to know that you will be moving away from it.

However, it is also a time to be optimistic about the future and the love affair I might have for a new state. I am already excited about all the cycling races and sports communities. A potential job that is right up my alley. Experiencing things that I don't even know exist yet. It's all exciting!

The most exciting part is being confident in the person I am moving with. Starting a life together and taking a step toward family that I have always dreamed about.

I can see positive in any place. And that's what I have to keep focused on. I will certainly miss Arizona, my home. But, I can always come back and enjoy it even more.

For now, enjoy some photos that I have taken over the years of this wonderful state. And as always, more photos can be seen at my website.

The Sunset glows red on the San Francisco Peaks. Bismarck Lake.

The Windmill Winery at night. Florence, AZ

Bismarck Lake sunset.

Forest Service Cabin. Kendrick Peak.

Grand Falls.

Superstition Mountain Wilderness.

Fiery Sunset after the snow.

A Growing Community

"¹ Praise the Lord.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever.

² Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the Lord
    or fully declare his praise?
³ Blessed are those who act justly,
    who always do what is right."

-Psalm 106: 1-3 

 I have been given a great opportunity lately and through the whole process, the glory of God and his work in people is very evident.

I am going to share the story of meeting Dennis Gable for the first time and I hope he doesn't mind me saying all of this. 

As many of you know, I am a photographer. I am kind of in a transition period of not necessarily wanting to promote myself too much before moving but wanting to continue to do some jobs and drum up work. One of my pushes to drum up work was getting a hold of this brand new growing community called Get Local AZ. The foundation of this community is to support local business, but you'll see the vision of the founder is quite a bit more spiritual. 

I contacted them through their website about a month or so ago about becoming a provider for the community. That would entail buying into the group, receiving some "discount cards" and reselling those to clients as a way to both promote my business and give my customers a discount on their services with me as well as every other business in the community.  The problem lies in the fact that I would be the only provider in Northern Arizona. Trying to sell a card for $20 that gives you discounts to businesses that you aren't located by is like trying to sell a tornado shelter to someone in California. 

However, Dennis, who is a co-founder, mentioned that they will be looking for an intern to help grow this community in the north land. Well, I am perfect for this. I know business owners, I am a Flagstaff local, I have connections. Plus, if i promote and grow the community in Flagstaff, that will help me sell my cards more quickly. I'm in.

Dennis and I conversed a bit over email the next couple weeks and then he said that they would be traveling up to Flagstaff and would like to meet. Perfect. 

I already knew that Dennis was connected to YoungLife and I knew that some of my friends had heard of him and were actually led by him when they were in high school. I knew that he was a Christ follower and that made this meeting much more than just a business lunch. 

Dennis and his partner at Get Local AZ, Danny are both incredible guys. They have a passion for this because it's about more than just supporting the local business community. They want to see this community become an evangelistic tool for Arizona. Just as in Jesus' time, people had to rely on other believers for food, shelter, necessities that they couldn't get from those persecuting them. The vision behind this Get Local AZ community is to become the support network for people needing services. It is the modern version of the historical foundation. I think that is pretty cool. And something that I would support even if I didn't have a business interest in it.

If you live in Arizona and would like to get more information about Get Local AZ, purchase a discount card, or become a provider, write me a comment on here and I will be sure to connect you to the right people!