September 30

Happy Wednesday everybody!
I got a few texts from Mat today and an email. Basically he is three days ahead of schedule and leaving Island Peak. He will probably have to chill out in Lukla for some R and R because his plane doesn't leave until Oct.4 to get back to Kathmandu. He will be talking to Naba as soon as he arrives in Lukla to see if he can get away earlier. Thats Mat though no patience and he is all about getting things done faster than normal. He appears to be doing just fine and I know he misses all of you blog supporters. If I hear more I will pass it along. Have a great day and be well.

Love,Sherrie

September 26

Good Morning!

Just received a short 15 second phone call from Mathew. He reached Everest base camp and is heading for Island Peak in a few days. He sounded really good. So that is the latest and I will write again as I get new information. Have a great weekend and thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.

Love,
Sherrie

September 23

Hi everyone,
I did not hear from Mat yesterday, but I did receive a short email today. Basically it said that he did ot have any communication service in Tengoboche. He traveled 5 hours straight up today to Pheriche. The weather is not cooperating. He has met some great people and may not get to write again for a few days.
Well that is all I have to report on Mat's status for now. Have a good evening everyone and good night.

Love, Sherrie

September 21

Hey everyone and thank you for being patient with me as blogging is really Mats specialty. I received an email from Mat today and for those of you who did not get it here is what it entailed: Everything is well, Mat is currently in a village called Namche Bazar and it is at 10,885 feet. He will spend a total of 44 hours there to get used to the altitude. He struggled a bit yesterday because the trail consisted of huge stones. He went down several hundred feet from Benkar, then on to Namche. He brags that he was 5 hours faster than the Korean group. His guides name is Prem and he is soft spoken and very nice and all of 42 inches tall. The Sherpa is Diel who is quiet and 20 years old. Mat had a huge blister on his foot so he will climb to Pherich tomorrow which is probably our right now. He met a couple from Sweden yesterday who were on their way back from Island Peak and said they could not summit due to a huge crevass that opened up on the head wall. Mat's tour manager in Kathmandu, Naba, said he will contact the Nepal Moutaineering Association and have them build a ladder over the crevasse so we shall see. He is still 10 days out from that. He has seen Everest the last two days, the weather is clear in the mornings and clouds roll in during the afternoon. Mat sebds his love,

Sherrie

September 20

Good evening to all who follow Mat's blog. I received a text from Mat this morning at 1:18. It said that he arrived in Namche Bazar and saw Everest. He will be in the village for another day. I also received another text just a few minutes ago that said he will be resting today under Prem's advice due to a blister on his right foot. Mat sends his love.

Sherrie

September 18th

Hi everyone, I talked to Mat tonight! He is homesick already, but otherwise doing well. He called me just as he was getting on a Plane to Lukla. He will be climbing soon. It will be difficult for him to communicate for the next few weeks. I will update the blog as new information comes in. Mat sends his love.

Sherrie

September 17th

Mat finally arrived in Kathmandu and went sightseeing. He said things are good and it was like stepping back in time 50 years. His hotel is very western and the nicest in Kathmandu. He had dinner with Naba at the Napail Cushion restaurant. Took a nap and plans to do more sightseeing. I will write when I receive more information.

Love, Sherrie

September 15 cont.

Hey everyone! Its Sherrie and I am going to do my best to keep everyone up to date on Mats progress as I receive the information. Mat arrived in NYC around 10am our time and did a little sight seeing, Statue of Liberty etc...He got back to the airport around 5pm and boarded his plane for Delhi around 7pm and headed out. That is when it all became real for me and I'm a little teary but it is such an incredible opportunity and he will only be gone for 23 days so we will make the best of it. Its gonna definitely be an adventure here at home as well because for the first time I am in charge of bill paying (they are sure to get paid on time now) just kidding, but anyway he left me a list and I'm sure its not as tedious as he makes it out to be. Mat sends his love and have a great night.

Sherrie

Monday, September 15th, 2009

Good Morning!

Well.... After 6 months of planning, fund raising, and training, it is finally here. It is 4:22am and my brother is on his way to pick me up for the airport. I will have most of the day in NYC today, before my flight to Delhi. I am excited and scared at the same time..... I already miss all of you, and have not even left yet. I bought Sherrie a card yesterday, and it says "I wish you were going with me to explore all of the wonders..." I wish you all were going with me, but I will do my very best to document every step of the way. I am taking two cameras, 144 gig's of media storage and a journal to write in. Yesterday was an awesome day. Sherrie and I ran errands all day, then went to lunch, rented a couple of movies, and just hung out. I ran by the gym and said bye to Mike, Ben, Trav, Adam, and some of the young guy's. When I got home Mom came by and gave me some very special things. She gave me one of my Memaw's nd Pepa's handkerchiefs. She also wrote me a letter, that brought me to tears. Anyway..... (Big Baby!) Miriam and Tommy came by to get some of the leftover veggies from the party, then it was time to put everything in the backpack, and go to bed. I slept with one eye open..... Worried about oversleeping. Well, it's time to go. I will update the blog when I can, but Sherrie is going to write something everyday!

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Mat

Saturday & Sunday, September 13th & 14th, 2009

Namaste,

Saturday was a whirl wind.... As I mentioned in an earlier blog, we had a ton of errands that had to be run Saturday morning. We got them all run, then I ran to Wal-Mart with Miriam to get the veggies for the party. I came home and watched a little bit of football. At 6:00 OU came on and the weather was horrible, so we got the pay-per-view. Ben and Kinzy Crocker, came by, and Miriam and Tommy came over. I grilled some brats, and hot dogs. OU killed Idaho State 64 - 0. After everyone left we cleaned up a bit, and then off to bed.

Sunday was equally busy... We got up at 5:30 to take Jordan to work, then home to get ready for church. Service was great. We came home and fixed some lunch. Then had to load up and head to the Edmond Fine Arts Institute. We got there and started setting up. Miriam's mom did a fruit tray, and Applebee's brought chips and salsa, and brownies. We made giant lemonade pitchers, and giant fruit trays. We also had an awesome raffle. My friend Stacy Owens spent all day Saturday picking up donated items, and we sold raffle tickets for $5.00. We sold 108 tickets. Anyway came home after the party and kinda vegged out. We watched some football, and had some visitors. Sherrie and the kids gave me an awesome new dog tag... It is black (Like my heart) and has the Chinese symbol for "Live your dreams" on the back it says "Love Sherrie, Jordan, and Trey" 09/15/2009. Miriam gave me a St. Christopher pendant from James Avery, and Mike and Marilyn Isbell gave me a St. Christopher necklace. In addition to that I am wearing a 805 Fight Club dog tag, and my dad's dog tags from the Air Force. I kinda look like Mr.T right now. Each and every piece means something very special to me. My friend Chad Lovett brought me a couple of gifts from some Native American Medicine Men. He also gave me specific directions and what to use them for. I also got a card and donation from my friends Mark and Mickey. I am truly blessed to have so many great friends. I am going to spend the next few hours with Sherrie... I will write tonight about everything we have done today!

Love you all!

Mat

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Namaste,

Friday started a little crazy! I took the kid's to school, and then headed to Norman to finish some business with one of my clinic's. Then of course traffic on Broadway extension was bad. I swung by Silverhorn to pick up a certificate for four rounds of golf and cart, for our raffle on Sunday. Then I had to hit Starbucks on the way to work. Work was busy. There was plenty to get done, being as it was my last day of work for about a month! After work I came home and got Sherrie, she took me to Red Lobster for dinner. I has a small piece of Salmon. It was good, but I could not eat very much. We stopped by the ghetto Wal-Mart, and they had the water bottle that I was looking for. Then Sherrie and I went to the Edmond Santa Fe, Edmond Memorial game. We stayed into the fourth quarter. My personnel opinion is Santa Fe's coaching staff needs a kick in the pants. We came home and I took a shower, then crashed. I slept until 8:00 this morning. We are heading over to the Farmers Market this morning. Then we are suppose to pick up a gift certificate at Jon Ric, Pick up my pictures at Framing Gallery, and meet up with Miriam this afternoon. Time to get started.

Love you all!

Mat

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

Namaste,


Thursday was very busy! Took the kids to school, then Starbucks for that cup of bold! Got to work, and got busy. Thursdays are the busiest day of week. We have to make sure we have everything we need for the weekend. I also had a few projects that I needed to see completed before I leave town for a month! Anyway.... I worked until almost six, then home, i did some research on PLB's, personal locating devices. I think it may be too big of a chance they are not going to work in the Solo-Kumbu, soooo, I guess I won't try it. It would cost $257.00 to buy a SPOT and with no guarantee????? I watched the first NFL football game of the year. Turned out to be a great game, even overtime. I woke up at 3:30 this morning.... Just could not sleep! Time to get ready for work!


Love you all!

Mat

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

Namaste,

Wednesday, was a good day. Took the kid's to school then hit Starbucks for my cup of bold. Headed to work, we had plenty to do today. We had Pharmacy and Therapeutics, and a conference call this afternoon. My friend Miriam came to see me today. She wanted to let me know where we were with the send off party. Anyway.... After work I headed to the gym and ran for 20 minutes, rode the bike for 20 minutes, cleaned the mats, and the did some boxing with a couple of younglings... One of them is a young lady with a mean hook.... I will have a few sore ribs tomorrow. Time for bed....

Love you all!

Mat

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

Namaste,

Tuesday was good. There was a lot of catch up from the three day weekend. I have been doing a bunch of clean up work.... Like organizing bills, and just buttoning up little things. Anyway, after work I headed over to the gym, and mopped the mats, then went upstairs and ran, rode the bike, and then rolled with Tyler, Brad, and a couple of new guy's. I came home showered and worked on some new pictures. I was pretty darn tired so I crashed out early. Time to get ready for work. Love you all!

Mat

Monday, September 7th, 2009

Trey and I headed to Starbucks at 8:00 this morning. I had a Venti bold, and Trey had a Hot chocolate and Apple fritter. We headed down to the zoo, and got there 15 minutes before the zoo opened. It was really nice out this morning.We headed over to where the big dogs are, then around the Giraffe's, Oklahoma country, Great Ape's, Big Cat's, over to the pachyderms, aviary, then we stopped for a pik-nik. Trey made us some sangwhiches this morning, and I threw some granola, and trail mix in the bag. After lunch we headed to the butterfly garden, and up by the sea lions.... It was almost 1:00 and the zoo was soooo packed, it was time to go. Trey told me his day was about a 9.7 so I took him to Pink Swirl for so yogurt, and that put us over the top. We came home and I downloaded our pictures. We watched Transformers, and at 5:15 I headed to the gym. We had a board of directors meeting at 6:00 and then an awesome workout. I came home at 8:00 and Sherrie had made some Chicken. I am going to workout tomorrow night, Wednesday night, then that will prolly be it other than some running Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings. I have a few bumps and bruises that I need to heal up. I have had a bad pain in my left foot for a couple of weeks. It may be my new shoe's. I am going to wear them to work tomorrow and see if they just need a little more breaking in. I wore them to the zoo today. I may just have them too tight. Anyway.... Heading to bed!

Good night! Love you all!

Mat

Saturday & Sunday, September 5th & 6th, 2009

Namaste,

Good Morning! It is Monday, but I'm not going to work!!!! It's Labor Day! Why do we not work on Labor Day? Seems counter intuitive? Anyway... Saturday, was a great day... I went to the Farmers Market and picked up a few things, some beans, squash, and some whole grain pizza crust. Went to the gym and cleaned the mats, then Tyler showed up, and we decided to do the class together. Turn out was weak but we all got great workouts. After class I came home and we had some shopping to do. We made it home and spent the rest of the afternoon watching football. We had a couple of friends come over for the OU disaster. We made sangwhiches, and I re-packed my equipment bag, and inventoried it. Sunday morning I worked in the parking lot at church, stayed for a great service, and then home. Sherrie mowed our lawn, then we headed to Ricardo's.... He and Jenni get back from Spain today... So I wanted their lawn to be in shape when the get home. One less thing for them to worry about. I brought Sherrie home, and went to do my mom's lawn. I cruised through it. Once I got it in shape this summer, it is pretty easy to maintain. When I got home Trey and I ran to Wal-Mart, so I could pick up a few things. I needed a new notebook, and three hole punch. I came home and started organizing my clothes bag. We had family dinner together, then to the book store. I wanted to pick up a couple of books for my trip, but could not find anything that peaked my interest. We relaxed the rest of the night. Trey and I are going to the zoo this morning. I want to spend some time with him today. Jordan has to work or I would make her go too.

Love you all!

Mat

Friday, September 4th, 2009

Namaste,

Friday! Yea..... Got up at five and put on my running gear. Took off at a pretty good pace. It was not too chilly, so I kept my pace for about thirty minutes. I ran 5k, and felt pretty good. My recovery time is great. I was not even winded, and my legs felt great. I took the kids to school, and stopped at Starbucks.... It was yummy! After work came home and got Sherrie. We stopped at Louie's and shared a pizza, then went to the Santa Fe game. It was ED-LAM and Santa Fe was playing Edmond North. Well..... Santa Fe is always good, and North always is not! Santa Fe, played like crap. Were coached like Crap, and executed like crap. We left after the third quarter and North was winning 14 - 0. I guess Santa Fe got some things rolling and scored a couple of touchdowns but, lost 14 - 13. Came home and crashed out. Alarm clock went off at 5:00 this morning. I don't know why???? I took Jordan to work at 6:00 and came home and started dusting! I am going to get dressed and head to the farmers market then to the gym. I am teaching some ladies this morning. Tyler is having a jui-jit-su class, I want to get a little piece of that too!

Love you all!

Mat

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

Namaste,

Good evening! Thursdays are pretty busy.... Especially with a three day weekend coming up. I have to make sure we have everything ordered because, we won't get an order before Tuesday. After work I went by the gym, and mopped the mats, picked up trash, and met my buddy Justin Booher. Justin owns Vital Signs, and he made a vinyl decal for our front door at the gym. He stopped by the gym and put it on for us. From there I went over to Mike Champlin's house to watch the South Carolina Vs. NC State. It was a horribly played game, but Mike's dad brought Billy Simms Bar-B-Que. Mike Sr. is one of the most intriguing individuals I have ever been around. He is also one of the most intelligent people I have ever met. We talked mostly about football, religion, life, love, and more football. It was a really great night. I have my running gear laid out and plan on running four miles in the morning! I hope it's not as chilly as it was this morning. I have all of my long sleeve shirts packed!

Love you all!

Mat

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Namaste,

Wednesday was good.... It was just Jodi and I, so there was plenty to do. We have monthly audits due, so I worked on them for most of the afternoon. After work I headed down to the Chase Building.... I did the 70 flights in fourteen minutes flat. That was one minute and twelve seconds faster than my last time. It was good.... My legs are not sore this morning which is a good sign for me. I headed to the gym, where several guys were already there in the cage. I jumped in and we did two minutes rounds, just take downs. I felt pretty good bout my rolls. I went hard, and felt great. We had several new students in class, so the flow of class was off. I rolled with Wes Tull a couple of times. He is strong as an ox, and very wiry! Came home and had some pasta filled with fat free ricotta cheese. Yummy! Time for work!

Love you all!

Mat

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Namaste,

Good Morning.... Tuesday was a good day. Work was fine, not to busy. I ran to Summit Co. at lunch to give the guy's there an invitation to the send off. The have some soap, body wash, and hand cleaner that comes in little dissolvable sheets like Listerine breath strips. I got one of each. They have 50 "Leaves" each. I went back to work and added a couple of links to my website. I added the newspaper story, and the Great State Report, it makes it easier for people to find them. Anyway... After work I headed straight to the gym, where I cleaned the floors, then my friend Stacy Phillips came and we did a cardio circuit, then we did combos, and started working kicks. At 6:30 I left and came home... Sherrie had grilled some Turkey Burgers, and after a little clean up, I finished some Senior Pictures, and copied a DVD for a lady at work who made a very generous donation to "The Quest" yesterday. Time to get ready for work!

Love you all!

Mat

Monday, August 31st, 2009

Namaste,

Good morning! My phone and email continue to blow up, which is what the whole Quest is about. I spent 2 and a half hours before work, answering emails. Hit Starbucks for a cup of coffee, then to work. Work was not bad.... After work I headed straight to the gym. It was a mess. Mike and Travis finished the boxing ring and had cement dust everywhere. Tyler and I cleaned the mats, and I went upstairs to the weight room. I ran for 20 minutes, rode the bike for 15 minutes, and lifted for 30 minutes. When people started to show I went downstairs, and helped with class. I took all of the women and kids, and we worked 3 punch combo's, 8 count combo's, clinches, and knee's. It was a pretty good workout. I came straight home showered and headed to bed. I did watch a little bit of the Vikings preseason game. My number one draft pick Adrian Peterson took the first snap from scrimmage and went seventy five yards for the touchdown. Very Nice!

Love you all!

Mat