As one of the most trusted mortgage providers in the nation, at Guaranteed Rate, Lee Hardin, VP of mortgage lending, understands that choosing a mortgage is the biggest financial decision of your life and is committed to making the process as seamless, friendly and financially valuable to you as possible. Lee has been in the mortgage industry since 2000. He relocated to Sandpoint from Chicago in 2007 and worked for a local bank handling mortgages. "After making my place in th

Most travelers to Africa return with amazing stories of grand vistas, vast wilderness, and teeming wildlife. Volunteers who visit southwest Kenya with Partnering for Progress (P4P), a Spokane, Washington based non-profit, see spectacular sights on a six-hour ride through Kenya’s Great Rift Valley to the rural villages of Kopanga/Giribe. The valley is bordered by massive escarpments, contains a chain of volcanos and is traveled by red-cloaked Maasai tribesman. Many volunteers

I love the seasons in North Idaho, each for a different reason and all because they contrast one another so well. Winter has its challenges and thrills, fall its colors, spring its rushing water and summer — it is a season unrivaled — like a book of poetry I’m happy to read time and again. Summer is the kind of poetry you feel, the kind that whispers something so only the deepest parts of you hear. It alters your disposition toward life in a way you struggle to articulate, le

J.K. Rowling, author of the “Harry Potter” book series, acknowledges that her success with the books has put her in an “incredibly privileged position,” allowing her to “use my power for good not evil.” ​ Rowling started writing “Harry Potter” six months before her mother, Anne Rowling, passed away from multiple sclerosis (MS). One of her greatest regrets was that she didn’t share her writing with her mother; keeping her work secret “is one of my greatest sadnesses.” Her mot

Prayer. We hear stories of how it can transform and impact lives. It is powerful. In today’s world where violence seems to be a daily occurrence, there are people who are using the power of prayer to support those who put their lives on the line each day to protect us – our law enforcement officers. ​ Adopt-A-Cop is an organization whose goal is to provide support to law enforcement officers through prayer and notes of encouragement. Families and individuals pray for a specif

On the morning of my first day at work I couldn’t feel my hands. It was not because of nerves or excitement, but the frigid air that hovered around zero degrees Fahrenheit. Darlene Arviso, an elderly Navajo woman, chuckled from the driver’s seat as she saw me rubbing my hands next to her. “The desert isn’t just hot. It’s tough year ‘round,” she said. We were driving through Northern New Mexico, just outside of a town called Thoreau on the Navajo Reservation. White snow sat on