Living Proof Live!

Kelly attended an amazing conference at church this weekend. It was called 'Living Proof Live' with Beth Moore. I didn't really know anything about Beth Moore prior to this weekend. I knew she did Bible Studies, but I hadn't taken any of her studies or heard her speak before. I was BLOWN AWAY!! It was truly a life changing conference for me. She lit a fire under me to encourage me to dig in the Bible and really learn what the Lord has for my life. I am not getting any younger! The days and years are flying by and if I don't seek Him out TODAY, then I am going to miss out on the huge blessings that God has in store for me. Here is a video of the some pictures of the conference. AWESOME!!


Living Proof Live Louisville KY Simulcast from Rich Kalonick on Vimeo.

100 Caches in 1 Day!

Kelly had a women's convention at church and our good friend Bonnie in Indianapolis was out of town visiting family. That left Jason and Robert to their own devices. They hatched a plan to see if they could find 100 caches in one day. After quite a bit of preparation and planning, they headed on their way to the southern part of Indianapolis at 6:00AM. By 9:15PM, they had achieved their goal! At right, is the "100" victory photo taken immediately after the 100th find.

Cachin' in Nashville

Jason has been trying to complete a very difficult geocaching challenge for the last 5 months or so. There have only been 2 Louisville-area cachers who have completed it and he is determined to be #3. To get the final requirements, he needed to go to Nashville.

On the way down, he stopped in Park City, KY to visit "Bell's Tavern" which is a very large structure burned shortly before the Civil War. The place is immense and quite impressive.

The first series of caches could only be accessed from the Columbia River. The first one was an old Victorian-era water tower which had a cache at the top.

The second cache was the original entrance to Andrew Jackson's first house in Nashville. It's a river-accessible tunnel that is about 200 feet long and "L's" to the right after 150 feet. The tunnel empties out into a sinkhole-type area with a stairway that led to the original house. The cache was under one of the stairs. Needless to say, the area was quite creepy but the site was pretty awesome also.

The next day was spent boating and hiking up and down the Stone's River which was followed by a visit to the Stone's River Civil War battlefield. All-in-all, it was a fairly exhausting trip, but quite successful and a lot of fun!

Creation Musuem

Yesterday we went to the Creation Museum in Northern Kentucky. We were trying to beat the heat and we really had a great time. They have a planetarium there, several movie theaters (one that rains!), amazing exhibits, beautiful gardens and a petting zoo. They really spared no expense and it is first class. It was kind of a shock to the system to be in a museum that actually presents what I believe. Instead of having to overlook mention of evolution and the world being billions of years old - we could just enjoy hearing about the wonder of God's creation! I would highly recommend it! Here is a link to their site: http://www.creationmuseum.org/

Canoe Trip

We planned a big Geocaching Canoe trip for the holiday weekend. There was a cache on an island that Jason needed to get and we love to canoe - so it seemed like a great plan! The only problem was - the cache was 2 miles upstream from the put in point. So, our grand plan was for Ken and Jason to head UPSTREAM and me and Chase to go downstream - they would get the cache and then catch up with us. Well, in all the excitement, I only got these 2 pictures. They couldn't find the cache and Chase and I really impressed them by rowing the entire 7 miles by ourselves! They never caught us. Chase says he is ready for White Water rafting now!

July 4th Cookout

We celebrated Independance Day with a cookout at my mom's followed by a fireworks display at Ken and Steph's house. I don't have pics of the fireworks (mucho grande, anyone?) but I do have pics of the daytime activities:

Livin' Large in Mexico

On 30 June through 2 July, Jason was again sent to Mexico to work with some suppliers. This time it was Monterrey which is about 3 hours SW of Brownsville, TX. Monterrey is known for several things such as being the site of a significant battle of the Mexican War. It's also known for "cabrito" which is "baby goat" and considered a specialty in the city. Of course, Jason couldn't pass up on this dish, so here he is with a coworker in front of the "King of Cabrito" restaurant.

Love is in the air

To celebrate our 7th anniversary we decided to cross an item off of Kelly's life list and go for a Hot Air Balloon ride!! It wasn't the rush of sky diving, but it was beautiful in it's own right. It is so quiet up there. It wasn't cold at all because 'we ARE the wind'. It was a peaceful ride, watching the sun go down and other balloons floating off in the distance. What a lovely way to celebrate - we highly recommend it!!

Here are the rest of the pictures.......

Happy 7th Anniversary!!!

Today, Kelly and I celebrate 7 years of marriage. Some days I really can't believe that she's tolerated me for so long - ha! She is absolutely the sweetest, most genuine person I've ever known and I am so fortunate to spend the rest of my life with her. Everyday I grow in my love for her which amazes me - how can my love grow when it's already beyond rational comprehension? Yesterday's sermon at church centered around the permanency of marriage and the fact that God invented marriage. It was altogether fitting considering the timing. I truly look forward to what God has in store for us in the next 7 years!

1000th Geocache Find!

On 6 May, Jason was joined by BuffaloBob65 (another cacher) in pursuit of our 1000th cache find. For milestone caches like this, folks typically choose one that is difficult, scenic, etc. Jason chose to go to a beautiful waterfall about a mile's hike along Floyd's Fork near Mt Washington. The hike in was fairly level but there were several watercrossings, a lot of mud, vegetation over four feet high, etc. It was all worthwhile, though, as the waterfall was really nice. It was nearly dusk when he reached the site and accomplished the mission. Then there was the hike back to the truck....

Joe Robert likes his sweet potatoes!

Our friends from Indy came to visit this weekend. We enjoyed playing with Joe Robert. Listen for a little surprise ending!

Geocaching in Toronto

More Big News!!

Kelly's brother Charlie got engaged!!! Charlie is now happily engaged to Brandi Flynn. We are so excited to have her join our family. They are looking forward to a Summer 2009 wedding.

The Karlens' Big News!

We prayed for many months for God's direction in what He would desire for us to do in regards to expanding our family. As time went by, God answered our prayers in a very direct way - time and again showing us that we should adopt a child (or children) from the Ukraine. Through church we were introduced to the Hopeful Hearts Foundation which works with orphanages in Simferopol, Ukraine. Their website contains a wealth of information about their work there, conditions, etc.


We have been processing the mountains of paperwork since December and are quickly coming to the conclusion of our first step. Once all of the INS paperwork and Agency paperwork is completed, we will have our home study. We are hoping that everything will go smoothly and that we will finish the adoption process by yearend.

We ask our friends and family to pray for the following:

1) That our child(ren) are well-cared-for between now and when he/she officially becomes a Karlen
2) That we are given wisdom as we proceed down this (sometimes scary) path
3) That we will rely on God to choose the child(ren) meant for us
4) That the caregivers working in the orphanages are blessed
5) That the natural parents of the child(ren) are given peace
6) That God continues to bless us (He has been SO good to us!) and provide the financial means to pay for the adoption

Thanks to everyone for their support as we enter this exciting stage of our lives.

Strong winds are a-blowin'

While we were visiting the Parkers in Indianapolis, we received a call from one of our neighbors. She informed us that the large tree in front of the parlor window had blown down today. This is what we came home to.... Fortunately there were no injuries or any serious damage.

Update on Joan Ryan

Here is the current status on my mom:

She had open heart surgery to repair her heart valve on 1/22 up at the Cleveland Clinic. She finally got out of the hospital and returned home on Wednesday, 2/7. She has a long recovery ahead of her, but we so thankful that the surgery went so well and she is home!

Thanks to you all for your continued concern and prayers. God is so good!

Our 500th Geocache!

Most geocachers take on a memorable and/or challenging cache for their "find" milestones. As we approached our 500th find, we scoured the web for good candidates for this event. We chose to go after "Captain McHarry's Vault" in southern Indiana as it is recognized as the most difficult in the Louisville area. It sits atop a very high hill and there are no "good" ways to get to the top. Ground level elevation at the base of the hill is 462' while the top is 814'. This elevation change occurs in just under 1100'.

Legend has it that in the mid 1800s, Captain McHarry had himself interred standing up and looking out of the porthole in this vault overlooking the Ohio River so he could curse the other riverboat captains with whom he did not get along. Click here for more info.

Unfortunately, time and vandals have not been kind to the vault. The door's supporting stone on the right hand side (facing the vault) is missing and root growth between the stone blocks is slowly forcing the structure entrance to shift and become unstable. Fortunately the good captain's body was moved to Cave Hill Cemetery long ago to be with his wife. You can see his present resting place by peeking through the door of the Irvin Mausoleum at: N 38°14.630 W 085°43.164. In the winter the vault can be viewed from the Kentucky side of the river by standing on the Riverview Park levee in southern Louisville.

First Geocache of 2008!!

Happy New Year!!

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Day at the Ryan house. It's the most wonderful time of the year! We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a joyous 2008!!
**If the slide show stops running - click the PLAY > button twice to start it up!**

Karlen Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve day at Ken and Stephanie's home. Chase must have been good this year, because he really racked up the goodies. On the other hand, Kelly got a big lump of coal in her stocking this year. We covered both the Naughty and the Nice lists!
**If the slide show stops running - click the PLAY > button twice to start it up!**

Euchre Christmas

Kelly's Euchre club celebrated Christmas on 12/14 - what a bunch of cards!

Birthday boys

We celebrated Charlie and Jason's birthdays with Joan and Ted this weekend. Charlie will be 37 on 12/12 and Jason will be 38 on 12/16. 40 is getting pretty close! Click here to view the rest of the pictures.

Ford President's Award

On 5 December, Jason represented the Louisville Assembly Plant at the annual Ford Motor Company President's Award Celebration in Dearborn, MI. The Ford Explorer won the awards for most improved warranty repairs and most improved warranty costs among all Ford/Lincoln/Mercury vehicles. The Explorer, Mountaineer, and Sport Trac were also recognized as Consumer Reports "Recommended Buys". As a lot of folks already know, Jason is the Electrical Leader for the Explorer, Mountaineer, and Sport Trac; his team's efforts have resulted in a 40+% improvement in quality in the last year. In June, his team was recognized by Joe Hinrichs (VP of North American manufacturing) as the top-performer among the 168 quality improvement teams in the company.

The Ford nameplate has made nice progress in quality - moving from 10th in 2006 to tied with Toyota for 2nd in 2007. The keynote speaker at the celebration was noted automotive journalist John McElroy. He made it clear that the difficulty Ford faced was changing customers' perspectives regarding Ford's quality; we must do a better job getting the word out. This is especially true on the east and west coasts where only 14% of buyers even consider domestic manufacturers when deciding which automobile to buy. The "quality gap" between domestic and Asian manufacturers is a myth that must be dispelled.

It's been a very difficult year with the layoffs, buyouts, line speed reduction, etc. It is nice to receive recognition after so much hard work and effort.

Ford Christmas party

This past weekend we attended the Ford Louisville Assembly Plant Christmas party. It was a really nice evening. They held it at the Polo Fields clubhouse. They had a good dinner, a fun photographer and the plant manager gave a speech reflecting on the accomplishments of the year. We are so thankful that the plant will be getting another product and will remain open! It was a great party!