Author: Sam

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Faith Musings of Sam

Enjoying the Moment of Rachel’s Baptism

photoEvery once in a while, some life event sneaks up on me and suddenly brings me to terms with my age. In September, my oldest daughter Rachel turned 8. I was suddenly reminded that yes, I was old enough and had been married long enough to have an 8 year old child.

Turning 8 is a special milestone in a Mormon’s life, as at the age of 8 you become eligible to be baptized.

Why 8? We believe that young children are unable to commit sin until they have matured enough to be personally responsible for the exercise of their agency. Being baptized is their choice, based on what we’ve taught them  and what they’ve learned from Christ’s life. Is 8 old enough to FULLY understand their choice? Perhaps not. Looking back to my own Baptism (also at 8) I’m satisfied that I knew enough to make the choice. I have certainly grown in my understanding of the Gospel of Christ since then, but I believe that 8 was old enough to make the decision to follow Christ.

In preparation for Rachel’s Baptism, she and I read The Book of Mormon cover to cover. Her reading ability was good enough to navigate scriptural text, and increased dramatically over the months we read together. We started a good 8 months before her birthday, but didn’t really get serious about it till just a few months before our goal. For the 2 months at the end, we were reading 6 pages each evening together. We made it with a few days to spare.

I read The Book of Mormon before I turned 8, and I was happy to share a similar experience with my own daughter. Though her understanding of the scriptures is basic, my own experience hints that the practice of scripture study will benefit from starting at such an early age.

They day of her Baptism was very special for me. Despite a little hectic here-and-there to get ready, it was a very peaceful day. In the LDS faith, every adult male is able to hold the Priesthood and participate in ordinances. Because of that, I was able to be the one to baptize Rachel. As I stepped into the water with Rachel, I was struck by the significance of the moment, and I wondered if I was going to be able to speak clearly enough to perform the ordinance.

I paused for a moment, found my voice, and performed the ordinance. I  gave my big (little!) Rachel a hug, and we climbed out of the water to get changed.

It was a great day, and I’m grateful for family that traveled so far to be with us. I’m grateful for our friends in Virginia that shared the experience with us. I’m grateful for the Gospel of Christ, eternal families, and the blessings of the Priesthood.

And most particularly, I’m grateful for My Rachel.

Categories
Airstream Accessories

Gear – Coiled Trailer Breakaway Cable

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Any trailer of significant size has brakes on the trailer tires. Nearly all of these trailers will also have a breakaway cable. This useful cable attaches separately from the hitch and chains, and will activate the trailer brakes if the cable is pulled. Many cables are straight wire, and have the tendency to drag on the ground. This is bad.

After arriving at my destination to find a frayed cable, I knew there had to be something better. Many methods of securing a brake cable would interfere with the operation of the cable, preventing it from doing it’s job. After looking around, I found the Fastway Breakaway Cable. This thing is coiled (keeping it off the ground) and it’s red, which helps me remember to check it when hooking up. The coil is just enough to hold it off the ground, but is not nearly enough force to pull the emergency brake, so there is no worry about the cable causing the pin to pull out while driving causing a trailer brake lockup on accident.

Note: The pin on this particular cable fit my emergency brake, but it might not fit yours. Pull out your current pin and compare to make sure you get a compatible cable. Also consider getting the 6 foot cable if needed for your setup. Look around, and buy the one that will work correctly.

Coiled Breakaway Cable for Trailer

Coiled Breakaway cable for trailer 2

 

 

Categories
Airstream Accessories

Noncomittal Airstream modifications with Command Hooks

On our very first trip in the Airstream, we realized that we needed some hooks. Hooks for towels, keys, sunglasses, and clothes. As you can imagine, I wasn’t excited to drill holes all over the walls and furniture trying to decide where the hooks would work best. Spackle doesn’t look great on aluminum.

Enter 3M Command Hooks. I’ve been using these for years, but I’ve been cheap, and usually bought the plastic variety. 3M makes a line of metal command hooks, which are both stronger and better looking than their plastic cousins. The use the same awesome pull-to-release adhesive strip as the rest of the Command Strip line, but look and work great with the decor in our new silver home. The Metal 3M Command Hooks come in three sizes, and we have used both the Small and the Medium hooks.

When you decide you made a mistake with hook placement, you can remove the hook and use a replacement strip to remount the hook. Most hooks even come with two strips, so save the spare. Replacement strips are also available, and you can buy adhesive strips that work better in moisture heavy environments such as the shower, bathroom, or the east coast.

As you can see, we use quite a lot of them.

Using Command Hooks in an AirstreamUsing Command Hooks in an Airstream (2)

Categories
Outdoor Gear

Walkie Talkies – Adventure Magic for Kids

Nearly every outdoor outing can be made more fun with the addition of some walkie-talkies. We have had a few for years, and just recently added a few more to spread among our growing number of interested children.

We wanted to get new radios that worked well with our previous ones, so we made sure to get ones that are FRS compatible. Mostly based on price, we bought a few Motorola MH230R radios. After using them on most of our recent adventures, we love these new radios. In fact, we’ll be ordering a few more shortly.

Most of the Motorola FRS radios come with a rechargeable battery, and you can either use the rechargeable battery pack, or standard batteries. These new radios we bought use three AAA batteries in place of the battery pack. When you have the battery back in place, you can even charge these radios with a standard mini USB cable. FRS radios allow you to select one of several channels, and also one of a number of ‘security codes’ which help filter out any other users of the same frequencies.

Our kids love playing with the radios, and we get the added bonus of being able to talk to the kids while they are exploring and running ahead on our hikes. Might I pass along a few things I’ve learned about kids and radios:

1. Teach them to hold the radio away from their mouth when they talk. We frequently remind them “don’t eat the radio!”
2. Teach them to hold down the button while they talk. Then release it, and give others a chance to respond.
3. Teach them to keep the radio on, until the adventure is over. A radio that is off

Give a few radios a try, and you may find they add more to an adventure then you expected!

 

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Most Popular Posts Musings of Sam

Only Ten Years

Milestones in life have a way of causing reflection, and today is worthy of a look back. 10 years ago today, Jess and I were married in the Mount Timpanogos Temple in Utah. We have some funny dating stories, but I want to start my story there.

After just 4 months of marriage, we packed our stuff into storage and headed to Invercargill, New Zealand as part of a study abroad program. Our first Christmas was so tight that our gift to each other were simple: Jess gave me a paperback Louis L’amour book, and I gave her a love journal.

After we returned four months later, I jumped back into school. We both finished our undergraduate degrees, had our first daughter, and I began my masters program. By the time I graduated, we had added a son to our family, upgraded to a minivan, and bought a house.

I was self employed, doing long-term contract programming, all the way through school. Working for a startup for a few years was a great learning experience, and then I jumped back into being self employed. The flexibility of my work allowed some adventures in the summer of 2012. That experience led me to where I’m currently sitting: in a house in Northern Virginia, enjoying a long-term house swap.

As I consider our journey together, I cannot help but recognize our growth. Through it all, we’ve grown in patience, confidence, faith, and desire for family strength and adventure.

The success in our marriage isn’t due to lack of difficulty and conflict, but our commitment to work through our challenges together. While I have no idea what challenges and opportunities the next 10 years will bring, I’m sure that our success will depend on the same things as the last 10 years: our ability to love, communicate, work, sweat, cry, hope, and pray together. If the next 10 years are anything like the last 10 years together, it’s going to be quite the ride.

The traditional gift for a 10th Wedding Anniversary is something made of Tin or Aluminum, materials chosen to represent durability and flexibility.

That’s pretty funny to us, because we are currently looking for an Airstream trailer to support the next adventure for our family.