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Comets, Shooting Stars, and the Adventures of a Magical Summer Night

Comets, Shooting Stars, and the Adventures of a Magical Summer Night

When Comet NEOWISE comes to town, you should take time to check it out right?!?  Missed it? No sweat, it will be visible again from Earth around the year 8,786 🤯 

This is probably the closest photo taken from near where we viewed it (less than 30 miles) over the Fern Ridge Reservoir in Oregon
Sometimes, we just need to slow down and take time to look for the shooting stars.  I of course and speaking that to myself, but can you relate?

A Night Out

Sometimes we all need to slow down, take a night out (those don't need to be contradictory concepts, you don't just have to stay at home to relax and recharge). The world is stressful and life can so easily be filled with so much busyness. So when I had an unexpected weekend home (aka away from the big city lights of San Antonio, Texas, back in Corvallis, Oregon), I knew that my husband and I needed to get outside and go star and comet gazing!

We are fortunate to live on the south end of our city with quick access to ‘get out of town’ and be in the rural Oregon countryside. In fact, it’s our preferred route to travel, to the airport, to see family, and for anything else that takes us southbound.  We headed out to the public road that leads into the local wildlife refuge and found a place to park safely alongside the road.  We encountered a few other astrology fans out this way, so we knew we were in the right place.

My husband dug out his binoculars while I got my Nikon camera onto the tripod. We looked to the big dipper and knew the comet passing would be to the bottom left of it, to the west in the sky.  I thought I saw its faint light and blurred tail with my bare eyes, but grabbed the binoculars to be sure.  There it was, 
Comet NEOWISE!  Wow, what a cool site to take in.  

Did you get to see it live where you are?  Tell me about it in the comments below.

The same site that the above image was courtesy of also has Comet NEOWISE and an aurora of Northern Lights from a shot in Canada.  They also have a short video seeing it from the International Space Station (ISS).  A cool side connection... did you know that Young Living Essential Oils sent seeds and essential oils into space in the last year for research on the ISS? #SayWhat?! How rad!

Seeing the Comet and the Northern Lights together in Canada would have been my 2020 astrological dream come true to catch those together.  I am still so incredibly blessed having been able to dance with the lights this year, check out that blog here about my adventure to chase the Northern Lights!


Flashlights, Camera, Action!

Okay, now to try and get it on my camera.  It was so incredibly faint (sorry, it was a wonderful binocular comet, not a 'great comet' as astrologers call them) and the moon rising was so bright, but we had to try! We played around with settings and exposures, timers, and zoom, but we didn’t succeed.  Even as the moon fell behind the coastal mountain range in front of us to bring us more darkness, we still couldn’t pick it up.

It was such a beautiful evening.  A slight chill in the late-night air. The light breeze blowing across the freshly cut hay fields and past us into the wetlands. The night sky dazzled with stars and satellites, planes that flashed as they passed.  We saw a number of shooting stars. Some just a glimpse of their glimmer, others, a falling descent of light that gave us enough time to remember to make a wish.

What are you wishing for these days?

We were sure we had the comet in the frame, we checked and adjusted, rechecked, and tried again.  You will have to keep scrolling to see the magic that we captured!

Coming Home

Once we decided we had seen all we could see, we packed it up, wished our viewing friends the best, and headed back towards home. I remarked what a perfect night it was and my husband said, ‘Then why don’t I open the moonroof so that you can keep stargazing all the way home?’  Brilliant.

I said the only thing we need now is a favorite country song and there was only one on my mind. "Back Where I Come From" by Kenny Chesney, specifically this version recorded live in Tennessee:


Reconnecting to Myself

This was my reconnection to myself.  The place I had come from in the country.  We currently live a short distance from where I grew up and this dusty road could have been behind our property it was so much the same as my hometown.  The place where I would camp out on trampolines in sleeping bags to watch the stars like this.  The place where they can bury me ‘when it’s said and done.’

As we listened on repeat, my head reclined on the chair and holding my husband's hand as we drove home, tears streamed down my face in gratitude for how fantastic this life is. Those same tears return now as I recount the experience.

I choose to participate in this adventurous life.  To live my greatest life possible.  It promises to be exciting!

Our world isn’t perfect. Our lives right now may feel out of control and under such a challenge. Now maybe more than ever, I encourage each of us to return to the simplicity of things that we love.  Perhaps we will find what we have been missing there.  Family. God’s splendor in his creation as He shows it off before us.  The memories and good times, now, and those that we will look back on in our next time of trials.


My Adventure Life

This is my adventure life.

This is what it means to me to live my life to the fullest. Right here, right now, however I am able.  While every Saturday night might not have back road excursions, I want to stay in this place of intention. The place of no regrets. The place where I am living my life of purpose, on mission, and with my Heavenly Father.

In my faith, I find myself able to live fully and love completely (though I often fall short of the action, it is possible for me to focus on). Because I am forgiven through the perfect sacrifice in Jesus Christ.  Because my debts are paid and forgiven.  I have nothing to prove, no guilt to define me, only my calling as His daughter.  He designed each of us for this time, in this place, with our individualized calling to serve.  We don’t need a lifelong journey to know our purpose for this life, we were born with it, we just need to remember.

So let’s go out, let’s live our lives fully. Let’s strive every day to love God, others, and the world.  And let’s never stop living His great adventure!



The Big Reveal...

Okay, now for the big reveal of Comet NEOWISE as captured on Saturday, July 25th, 2020...

As with prior blogs and my spectacular woodpecker photography, you can tell why I brand my photos since they are likely my path to retirement and royalties worldwide :)

 














If the stars are made to worship, so will I.  "Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars." Psalm 148:3

Did you enjoy this info?   You'll LOVE our Adventures at Tamolitch Falls and Blue Pool on the McKenzie River Trail!  Check it out right HERE.

This is another post in a series about Adventure for #RealLife.  Sign-up to receive each of those delivered conveniently to your inbox! 

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Information courtesy of Echo Schneider


Meet Echo Schneider, Chief Adventure Officer

 
Overworked, burned out, and with waning loyalty to an industry that had lost its way and was no longer true to itself.  Of course, career burnout was at an all-time high in my sector and amongst the worst in any field.  It wasn’t all even just about work, though my perfectionism often got the best of me there more than other parts of my life.  I look back and see that I was overwhelmed and questioning so many areas of my life.  Was I doing the right things? From diet to products I bought, from how I was involved in the community to time I was spending with family, and from how I was walking out my faith and showing up in a meaningful way to my world. In this craziness is where I found myself.
 
Healthcare (watch my fingers make air quotes as I say that word and use the term loosely at best) in the US had long been bought and paid for and was no longer masking their symptom management and disease maintenance focus.  It had lost its focus on health; they could give you a pill or cut you open.  But to nurture your health and foster your body’s God-given ability to heal itself, they no longer knew how to do that.  Or worse, no longer desired to be in the business of prevention and healing.
 
As so many professional people were doing in the modern economy, we, as healthcare professionals, we’re doing more with less.  Mandatory overtime, poor ergonomics, and complete lack of an environment to practice self-care were the norm.  And to make it worse?  Because of our specific industry, we added in a loss of our medical freedoms just to stay and do our jobs.  The days of job security were long gone, and I watched in fear as friends and colleagues in sectors across the board were being laid off just to help top leaders move the stock up for shareholders.  How terrifying that this could be the reward for lifelong dedication and hard work!
 
At home, it didn't feel much better.  I fought to find a non-existent work-life balance and to be present while feeling exhausted (have you ever come home from work to fall asleep on the couch and finally be awoken when your Mom calls? Tell me this isn’t just me!).  I was disappointed in myself seeing my self-care fall away, time with friends and family slipping by, and I wasn’t spending the time I wanted serving with my church family or in my community.  
 
Add to that the confusion and frustration of what should have been simple daily choices.  What foods should I be eating? Is this trendy thing something I should try?  Wait, is the product good or bad, I paid more for it, but I feel like I saw an article on them that there was a recall or they were green-washing.  So frustrating and such a time-suck trying to keep up and have the health and abundance our family deserved!  I felt like at every turn that I was running to keep up and felt like I ultimately just found more of the same lies in the name of profits, and more ways my health was ultimately paying the price, yet again.
 
How could anyone thrive in this culture when even those who were well educated and seeking out something better faced with such daunting challenges?  I know, first-world problems, but I longed to create something more, a legacy for myself and others.  To break generational chains and I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it stuck in this rat-race.
 
Set the stage for that something.  I have, for so much of my life, been interested in learning, growing, and being a student of personal development.  From an investment with top leadership development companies through their programs for years to Law of Attraction to Conscious Language and so many others, I was finding the mentorship and teaching I needed to make the changes I so desperately desired.  
 
There wasn’t an overnight shift or an immediate awareness to change, but I began to find my path slowly and as a result, was investing myself in new ways.  I was raised by a wise and visionary Mother who had shown me what it was to be an entrepreneur.  I always admired that title and was drawn to it in many ways.  As I dabbled in businesses from my youth through college and beyond, I was picking up pieces of freedom and a stage where I could work for myself to create something new.  
 
As the years went on, I kept pushing myself in that path.  I was helping others, and I was welcoming a team of like-minded friends and family to come with me.  This was possible; we were doing it!  It wasn’t easy, we were doing a side-hustle while still being full-time professionals and wives and Mothers, but we were doing it none the less.

I'm so excited to have found a platform to speak truth. To show up for others in "true health" in ways that I didn’t know could exist when I started down this path.  But I know now that we don't have to settle any longer.  Any of us, friends!  It's time to live the great adventure that you were made for.
 
Now it’s time to move beyond business beyond vocation.  Now we are building a blessing.  That has so many meanings, one being the definition of “a herd of unicorns,” in case you didn’t know.  I was given the title of ‘unicorn’ from a dear friend when she came to know me and saw what I was capable of achieving.  And now it’s my turn to see that light in you.  Join me, and together, we can create a community and movement with a vision to change it all.
 
I don't care what your background is.  What education you received growing up in business, finances, or medicine.  Those things don't matter.  We are walking a new path to freedom in all areas of our lives.
 
I'm writing a new future and destiny for myself and my family, and I won't journey alone.  A mentor taught me to carry the confidence that God has called me to rise, but I will not rise alone.
 
I'm reaching out my hand to you (don't worry, I recently used a plant-based hand sanitizer) so that you are not alone; we will do this together!  
 
You are so worthy.  
 
Your family and your dreams are worth it.  
 
Together we can do this, but you must take the first step. ðŸ‘Š

I can't wait to connect with you via text, email, or on social media!

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