As always life keeps moving forward. The last six weeks have been a rush of events starting with our summer training camp at Mt. Hood. This is my fourth year going to Hood with the Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club (AVSC) Adaptive program and things have changed so much since then. I remember having such a tough time my first year and thinking there was no way I would get accepted on the development program. Of all the people there I felt like I was the worst. As time has proven, I am doing well on the development team and working my way to the top monoskier in the world. Also, the amount of snow, or lack of, was shocking this year with far less snow than I have ever seen on Mt. Hood. The week I spent training didn't go without its setbacks. On the second day of slalom training, the last day we were there, during the first run of the day I was warming up with some dynamic turn shape drills when my ski binding released and I was seperated from my ski. The early morning run was an ice groomer at about a 35 degree pitch. I couldn't self arrest or stop myself from sliding all the way down the glacier, across a cat track, and off a 15 foot cliff. I landed on my back, narrowly missing a tool shed and a snowboard box feature. Proof that God is looking out for me, I skied away with a fat lip, bloody nose and a possibly broken rib (I never got it checked out).
Before I move on any farther, I want to give a big thank you to ProWest fabrication for building me a new upper frame on my monoski. It worked amazing and felt very solid on the turns. These guys helped design, fabricate, and weld my monoski into a totally new and custom race machine. Thank you for all the donated time, hard work, and material. If you ever need help fabricating something out of metal, ProWest is the place to go!
A couple weeks later, I had the great pleasure of working with elementary kids in East Valley, Yakima during a summer basketball camp. This camp was ran by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and sponsored by Sam's church, New Hope Community Church of the Nazarene. During the two, two day camps, I had opportunities to minister to the children and give my testimony. Over 30 kid committed their lives to christ during these camps. We also had a great time shooting hoops and learning awesome basketball skills.
Basketball camp ended on Thursday then Sunday the 19th Sam and I made our move to San Diego. We moved into a great little cottage at Freedom Station which is funded by Warrior Foundation. They have been so great in our transition and the place we moved into came fully furnished; bed, couch, tv, dishes, even food in the fridge. Now most of our stuff that goes in the house is shoved into a 10 X 20ft storage unit. Soon we will move again, but this time we will be living in the condo we bought three years ago. It will be nice to finally live in a house we own.