Farm Auction Pictures

Mark and I standing in the lift of a tractor

The Grandparents :)

They even served food...luckily they had hot chocolate...it was freezing outside!

There were about 5 trailers that looked like this.

Schmerse Farm Auction

Friday and Saturday were spent in blustery Janesville, Wisconsin on the Schmerse Farm. Mark’s grandparents have lived on this farm for 51 years: raised their family and made their living there. Basically, everything that’s defined them for the last 50 years has been there, at that farm. But now, at 85 and 81 respectively, Grandpa and Grandma Schmerse felt it was time to transition. They are both in great health, but haven’t farmed for years, and the stress of keeping up all that land and a big farm house was getting to be too much.

This farm has held it’s many memories for the Schmerse family, few of which I’ve gotten to experience, which makes me a little sad. There were countless Fourth of July Celebrations, Thanksgiving feasts, and childhood memories that will remain in peoples’ hearts; they will even still be celebrated with the same people, yet it will all be just a little different. I was fortunate enough to have the chance to be a part of a Schmerse Family Thanksgiving on the Farm, and look forward to helping build the new traditions that rooted in the traditions of Mark’s childhood.

Grandma and Grandpa’s big moving day was last Wednesday. They had spent the weeks prior sorting through 50 years worth of stuff to decide what would go with them to their new little apartment in town. The rest of the week was spent getting ready for the big farm auction where the rest of the stuff they had there would be sold to the highest bidder. We awoke Saturday morning at 6:30am to begin the tedious process of hauling stuff outside box-by-box. The auction lasted from 10am-2:30pm; four and a half hours of stuff sold – old tools, old toys, books, kitchen gadgets, and even an old car door - often whole boxes would go for just one dollar! I guess one mans trash really is another man’s treasure.

It was a little sad, but overall, a really cool experience if you can handle the man talking a mile a minute for hours on end, “onedollaronedollargimmetwodollartwodollar...come on…I would if I were you!” On Monday, they close on the property, and the farm is officially sold. It was a great time to connect with family, and to support Grandma and Grandpa in a time that was a little overwhelming for them. AND, if you’ve never been to a [farm] auction before, I suggest you try it. It’s a cultural experience [and a social event], even if you don’t buy anything - and one, I suspect, that will die out in the years to come as rural farming continues becoming less a way of life and more of a hobby.

I'll have to add pictures later, since blogger isn't cooperating.

What Make Young Adult Ministry Hard?

YA’s are transitional: Everyone is in a constant state of flux. Even if they aren’t thinking of moving anytime soon, there’s no way of knowing what’s just around the corner. Many are just waiting for the right opportunity before they uproot and move to California, or Vermont, or Des Moines. You can spend tons of time and energy investing in individuals that you think will one day be leaders, and then they’re gone. Now, that doesn’t mean your investment wasn’t worth your efforts, but it is a bit disheartening to pour into people who you hope will pour back into your local Body, only to have them leave.

YA’s are non-committal: We refuse to make commitments. We don’t RSVP, and we don’t want to say anything “for sure,” because, what if we change our mind? We have no qualms about saying we’ll go to something, and then 30 minutes beforehand, opting out for something else [or vice versa].

There are so many different stages of life: and this is the big one. In the age range of 18-35, we have recently graduated high-schoolers, college students, married college students, recently married couples, married couples with one, two, three kids, professionals, and singles. How do you focus a ministry on an 18 year old who has just graduated from high school and a 35 year old couple with two kids and who hasn’t felt like a “young adult” for a few years now?

Everyone wants something different: Some people are looking for a place to make friends. Others just want a place to worship or study the Bible. Some want to find a mate. Some want couples’ events. Others want singles events. And no one seems to want to do anything with the “other” group. This is unfortunate, in my opinion, because everyone has something they can learn from the “other” group. Single people can learn from talking with/observing married/engaged couples, couples without kids can learn from those who have small children. Those with small children can learn from those with older children. This is a huge benefit of a multi-generational church…or a young adult ministry that encompasses ages 18-35 :).

Should YA’s be “set apart” or become assimilated into the larger Body as full-fledged adults? This is a question that Mark and I have been asking since before we got here. Do young adults need their own “youth group” type meeting every week, or is it their time to become the vital part of the larger Body that they truly are? One then has to consider the fact that hoards of young adults leave the church after graduating from high school [and thus, the youth group], because, until this point, they’ve always had an affinity, age-related group to belong to and now they feel lost. The main thing most young adult want [we’ve found], is connection. So what does it look like to provide those points of connection, while still encouraging them to dive into the larger life of the church? Another question: if this is not the natural transition age, when is it? When do young adults become just adults?

Being younger than most of the people you are ministering to: This has been especially true for Mark and I. We walked into a church where near 4,000 people call Heritage their church home; there are quite possibly 400-450 in the young adult range [and growing], and within the last month or so, both Mark and I turned 24. Most of the people are older than us, and there there's a good chance they wonder what two newly married individuals with no kids and minimal life experience can teach them. Luckily for us, most people have been gracious and nice, but we do get a lot of "you look like kids!" jokes that you have to know ring true to some extent in peoples' minds. Time and experience [and the trust that is built through the combination of those] is what will make the difference for most people, although to some, we will always just be young.


I’ve observed that young adult ministries work really well when:

It’s a college ministry.
The main worship service isn’t very good.
The main worship service is more traditional.


Any other thoughts?

One Year Anniversary

Mt. Hood

Mt. Adams

On May 27th Mark and I will celebrate our one year anniversary. In many ways it seem crazy to me that we will have been married for a whole year, yet it has also begun to feel like we’ve always been married. It seems so unbelievable to me that one year ago today I was still living in Marion, Indiana with Amber [soon-to-be-Abel] Howard, working in the Spiritual Formation Department and preparing for my wedding.

So in light of this joyous event, Mark and I are planning to do what most couples do to celebrate their anniversaries…climb mountains :). It only seems fitting since we got engaged on top of Colorado’s 14,060 ft. Mt. Bierstadt. Mark had some frequent flyer miles from his around-the-world trek, so we were able to get some free tickets to Portland. We will spend a week out there with the intention of climbing both Mount Hood and Mount Adams, as well as seeing Portland and whatever else comes our way while we’re there.

Climbing Hood and Adams will be super fun, but ups the ante bit for us, bringing in the elements of some glacier travel on Hood. Mt Hood is one of the most climbed mountains in the northwest, topping out at 11,237 ft. The South Face [also known as the South Spur] is the easiest and most climbed route, with only one glacial crevasse near the top, known as the bergschrund. Luckily, with some careful maneuvering, the bergschrund can be traversed around and the climb can continue with relative caution and ease. We want to be careful, though, to not take this trek too lightly. Often this mountain isn’t given the respect it deserves, and when people aren’t prepared or are careless, accidents can occur [don’t be too alarmed…hundreds of people climb this mountain every year, while the accidents that occur are minimal in comparison].

Mount Adams, on the other hand, is a glacier-free snow/ice climb [aka “walk-up”], with a summit sitting at 12,276 ft. The trek has been said to be relatively easy, being only 5.7 miles long, but climbs 6,676 ft. in the process. In the end, because the South Spur is crevasse free, the most popular descents are either snowboarding/skiing [at an intermediate level] or glissading. The South Spur glissade has become famous on Mt. Adams, and by July, four or more glissade chutes have been formed which function much like a slide at a water park or a bobsled run [provided you still use an ice axe to control your speed]. We’ll have to see which descent we choose to take once we’re there. I know Mark would be stoked to snowboard down, as would I, depending on how difficult the route looked; although, I do have to say, there is something attractive about the idea of sliding 2,000 ft. safely down a mountain on your butt!

So now the question becomes...any advice for us as we prepare?

Locked IN

the door...semi broken.
Jamie trying to jimmy our way out with a credit card.
we were ready to try anything.
on the phone with the locksmith.
our doorknob when all was said and done.
FREEDOM!!!

THE STORY:

Last night Mark and I invited our friends Jamie and Cassy over for dinner and a relaxed night of hanging out. It ended up being a really fun time and connection – we ate together, watched a Warren Miller movie, talked a little rock climbing and snowboarding…we covered it all. Somewhere in the midst of our movie watching, I noticed that our door wasn’t closed, so I went over to close it, and as I did so, it stuck a little. At the time it didn’t mean much to me…I just turned the handle, gave it a little shove, and went back and finished watching the movie. At about 11:30pm, Jamie and Cassy got up to leave, and as Jamie turned the knob to the door….nothing happened. The door stayed just as closed as it had been when no one was touching it. The handle was twisting fine, but nothing was happening on the inside and it was then that we realized that, yes, it was completely broken. We had managed to lock ourselves INSIDE our apartment. Most people, at this point, would simply open a window and climb out; however, our apartment is a downtown apartment: on the second floor with nothing but concrete below our windows and nothing to soften our landing if we jumped. There is a tree about 6 feet from our window, but the odds of missing it and breaking a leg…or your face…were too great, so we sat. Our minds wandered back to our recent conversations on rock climbing, and it was then that we began wishing that we had a harness and some rope to repel out the window.

I need to point out here, that simply taking the door off it’s hinges wasn’t an option. We live in an apartment that was renovated and is owned by the Dinner Theater Playhouse next door, and so everything that was done to our apartment was done commercially. Our door is made of steel and probably wouldn’t have come off unless we a] had the right tools, or b] demolished it. We tried several things such as pounding on the door in hopes that our neighbors would hear and come see what all the ruckus was about. I laid on the floor and called out the crack by the floor “Maaaatt?” “Jooooooooooe?” [our neighbors who live across the hall], but again with no reply. At one point, Matt did run up the stairs, and in response to our pounding on the door, came over, tried the knob from the outside, only to dash our hopes of freedom when it didn’t work. He didn’t stick around long, and after a hard kick on the door, ran off again with a quick, “sorry!”; and we were left to fend for ourselves.

We called our landlord, who ended up driving half an hour from his home [at midnight nonetheless], where he spent 20 minutes calling so called 24-hour Locksmiths [which we found out, really aren’t 24 hours locksmiths], and as we came close to giving up and pulling out the futon for our guests, he called back with a locksmith on the line. She managed to talk Mark and Jamie through the process of taking apart the commercial doorknob, and after 5 minutes of unscrewing, we were free! At 1:40am, our captives were liberated, and our crazy night came to a close.

I guess I always thought that if I ever locked myself anywhere, it would be OUT of my apartment. It just goes to show that anything truly is possible!

Flash Flood

I've never experienced a flash flood before, but we hot hit last night with thunderstorm after thunderstorm, and all over the Quad Cities, streets were under water, cars were floating down the street [we didn't see this, just heard of it on the news], and houses were getting wet...on the inside. It was nuts!

This is normally an intersection.

The news said we got more than 3.5 inches in less than half an hour!

This was taken from our doorway to the street.

Yup...those cars are parked on the curb.

Circa21, the dinner theater was having a show during this...the big question: how do we get all these people in really nice clothes and high heels out to their cars without making them wade through shin-deep water?

And then, just as quickly as it came, it had drained, and people were able to get in their cars and drive home. At least in Rock Island. I think our neighbors across the Mississippi in downtown Davenport weren't so lucky so quickly.

Genocide

A few weeks ago I finished reading Love Thy Neighbor, by Peter Maass, a journalist for the Washington Post who covered the war in Bosnia in the early 90’s. It is a compelling interweaving of experience, his own thoughts/opinions, interviews with Bosnians, Serbs, and Croats alike, and thoughts on the nature of the soul of humanity. It is a book on love, hate, good, evil, genocide, and life. It will leave you thinking about your values and priorities as a Westerner, and our role in the international community.

That same night we watched Hotel Rwanda – a movie about the civil war in Rwanda in the mid-90’s between the two people groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi. It is the story of Paul Rusesabagina, the Hutu manager of an upscale hotel that uses his position to save over 1200 Tutsi refugees [including his wife and family]. It is a story of a tragically broken country that strongly mirrors the one Peter Maass covered in Bosnia only a couple years earlier.

I was struck at the similarity between these two stories – two stories that took place in two very different cultures on different continents, only a few years apart. Yet, it wasn’t as if this was something new. People have been doing this for thousands of years, and I have to ask why. Maybe it’s hard for me to comprehend because I live in affluent America – a white, middle class girl brought up with no oppression and no fear of danger as I walked down the street. But just because I haven’t experienced it, doesn’t make it right and me wrong.

As the credits rolled on the TV screen, I found myself deeply broken and unsure what to feel. Should I feel anger at the people who were committed to cleansing a people group from the country they called home? Should I feel sadness for the depth of evil that can hold a soul captive, and drive him to commit acts that he believes are for good? It brought up questions on our role, as a powerful, Western country, in the international community: when do we step in? When should we sit back, take the criticism and let a country fight its own battles? Does being a member of the UN require us to step in?

With the risk of getting political, what do you think?

The Fondue Experience

Last weekend, Mark and I were recruited as one of four couples to share at our church's Marriage Enrichment night. We got to share on adjustments in marriage, which was right up our alley, and Mark's parents were one of the couples to attend. The night went really well and was a lot of fun! They even had this fun, prom-like background for us to take pictures by!

These next few pictures are a little dark, but it was dark in the restaurant, and a flash would have been a little distracting to our fellow diners. For my 24th bday, Mark took me out to dinner at Crave, a bar, grille, and fondue room in Davenport. It was so awesome! It was a 3-course meal, but was really more of an experience than anything else. They even had tables with heated centers so our fondue would stay warm through the whole, tasty meal. Luckily for us, my bday was on a monday, and our fondue experience was half-price :)

The fondue pot and my plate.

Jess "fonduing"

A week or two ago, I was sitting in the living room working on my computer and Mark was doing something in another room, when I heard a little tinkering sound coming from the kitchen. Confused, knowing that Mark wasn't in the kitchen, I leaned forward on the couch to peak in, and to my surprise, there was a mouse on the stove, eating my freshly baked chocolate chip cookies! If you look really closely, you can see his little nose peaking out from the stove.

This is the trap we used to catch him :). We used PB and chocolate, after discovering that our mice [the two of them] were chocoholics. They didn't respond to the PB alone, but after finding a piece of chocolate had been eaten out of my purse, we put a piece of chocolate on the traps and got em within a few hours!

This is Brooke, a girl I mentor, and her boyfriend, Patrick. We took them out to dinner and they ordered the largest calzone I've ever seen.

Mark watching the olympics. Yep...that's a 4" TV he's watching. It didn't last too long. We eventually went and bought a 20" for the very purpose of watching the Olympics. There's a good chance it will go back when they're over. Yay for 60 day return policies.

This is what I did to Mark's parents' new stove on Friday. Little did I know she stored a plastic dish wash bin in her stove. I didn't even think to look inside before pre-heating - my parents never stored anything in their stove [marriage lesson!]. So, needless to say, Mark and I spent our Friday afternoon cleaning plastic out of the stove, and it is looking good as new. The house smelled a little peculiar for a bit, but luckily they are gracious people and there was no long-term damage.

Grizzley Man

Mark and I watched this intriguing documentary on Timothy Treadwell, a troubled actor who took up life in Alaska with the Grizzley's for 13 summers. I was going to write a post, but Christin Taylor beat me to it, and said it so well, I'll let you read her thoughts instead. They mirror my own, and she is a fantastic writer!

The Road Less Traveled

Robert Frost Version

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference


Gizoogle.com Version

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
and sorry i could not travel both
and be one travella, long i stood
and looked dizzle one as far as i could
to where it biznent in tha undergrowth;

then took tha brotha as just as fair,
and hav'n perhaps tha betta claim,
coz it was grassy n wanted wear;
though as fo` tizzle tha pass'n there
had worn them really `bout tha same,

and B-to-tha-izzoth that morn'n equally lay
in leaves no S-T-to-tha-izzep had trodden black.
oh, i kizzy tha first fo` anotha day!
yet know'n how way leads on ta wizzle
i doubted if i should ever come back.

i shall be tell'n this witta S-to-tha-izzigh
somewhere ages n ages hence thats off tha hook yo:
two roads diverged in a wood, n i--
i took tha one less traveled by,
and tizzy has made all tha difference.

DISCLAIMER: This sighte can be really funny, but at times could be offensive in the way they word their "textilizers." Just wanted to throw that out there.

AshtrayMouth.com

This might be worth a couple minutes of your time. Just choose a dollhead and click on "TV Spots." It's kind of gross, but it gets their point across. It definitely won't make you want to pick up smoking.

Excerpts from The Source

The Source is a book I began reading over a year ago, and is one that I continue to read in seasons. It's an incredible book - historical fiction written by James Michener - on the history of the Hebrew people - "the birth and full flowering of Judiasm" - beginning in 9831 BC and culminating in 1964 [around the time when the book was written]. "Here is the entire history of the Jews: the first religions, the transition to monotheism, the life of the early Hebrews and how they were persecuted, the impact of Christianity, the Crusades, and the Spanish Inquisition, all the way to the founding of present-day Israel and the Middle East Conflict." I have found this book to be wonderfully insighful and deeply impacting on my understanding of the Christian faith. Here are a few excerpts that have made me think lately. I'd love to hear your thoughts as well. They are from a converstation taking place between a Jew and a Christian in "present day" [1964].

"If I had to characterize Judaism in simple terms for someone who new nothing about it, what words would I use? And almost without his willing it to be so, the symbolism of the olive tree returned and he replied: ancient, gnarled, unresilient, a powerful religion which takes man back to his fundamental nature and experience...in two thousand six hundred years Judaism has only been able to accept two changes, the Talmud and the Kabbala, whereas Christianity, with materful resiliency, had spun off a dozen staggering modifications whenever the spirit of the times demanded...There lay the difference between the two religions; there lay the explaination of why Christianity had conquered the world while Judaism remained the intransigent, primordial religion of the few."

"You say that you were lucky that in the critical years between 100 and 800 CE Christianity went forward, and we were unlucky that during the same years Judaism went backward...the real question is, 'foward to what, backward to what?'...Judaism went back to the basic religious precepts by which men can live together in a society, whereas Christianity rushed forward to a magnificent personal religion which never in ten thousand years will teach men how to live together. You Christians will have beauty, passionate intercourse with God, magnificent buildings, frenzied worship and exaltation of the spirit. But you will never have that close organization of society, family life and the little community tha is possible under Judaism."

"'Judaism can be understood, it seems to me, only if it is seen as a fundamental philisophy directed to the greatest of all problems: how can men live together in an organized society?'
'I would have thought,' [the Christian] suggested, 'that the real religious problem is always, 'How can a man know God?'
'There's the fundamental difference between us,' [the Jewish man] said. 'There's the difference between the Old Testament and the New. The Christian discovers the spirit of God, and the reality is so blinding that you go right out, build a cathedral and kill a million people. The Jew avoids this intimacy and lives year after year in his ghetto, in a grubby little synagogue, working out the principles whereby men can live together.'"

This conversation is a flash into the future, during a chapter that follows the one on the Spanish Inquisition, where Jews are forced into ghettos and told that if they aren't willing to become Christians, they will be persecuted [to give you some understanding of that last comment].

But I'm interested in your thoughts on these excerpts simply because they were very intriguing to me. Ready...go.

For those who might be interested...

For those who might be interested, I have written a couple articles for a local women's magazine. If you are interested in reading either one, click here and here. I promise that if you are a male, it won't be "too girly."

It has come to my attention that pictures of Keith and Eve's wedding are in demand, but alas, I can't produce. The few that I took are horrible. I usually take a lot of pictures at weddings, but I just didn't this time. Sorry!

What I can produce is a great pic of Mark and I with his brother Paul and his new wife [as of November]. We stopped by there last weekend on our way back from the wedding. Even though you can't tell, we are seated on the floor on pillows in a nice Mongolian place...practically in the dark.

Colorado

I got to spend an afternoon with Emily Stokes, who drove three hours one way into the mountains just to hang out for about the same. It was so great - One of the highlights of my whole trip!

Mark and I just off a chair lift at Copper Mountain in Colorado's snow-capped mountains. Apparently it is the best snow Colorado's had in 20 years, so if you want some good ride-time, I'd head out there asap!

Our group got hooked up with a house to rent for the week...it was awesome!

Here's the living room portion.

Here's the kitchen.

We took the Schmerse's mini-van...it wouldn't be a road trip unless you had a mini-van :).

Here's the whole crew that went out. Notice the boy in the center with the arm sling. Jamie decided to attempt a front flip and ended up with a broken collar bone. :) Actually he just hit a jump wrong, but from what I hear, it looked like he attemped the front flip! It was an AMAZING trip--we had so much fun and miss the slopes already!

I finished reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck on the trip. I started reading, knowing nothing about the story line [only hearing from numerous sources that it was a great book], and it has moved into the realm of my favorite books ever. There is so much complexity and depth to the characters stories and the interweaving of their lives. In his summary of the book, Steibeck references these themes: "the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence." He calls it "a modern retelling of the book of Genesis." I was constantly aware of the decisions and motives of the characters involved, and it's so insightful to see the actions and reactions as the story unfolds.

Not only does it have depth that will make you think for hours, but it is a great literary read as well. He's a phenominal writer, and will have you sucked into the story within the first few chapters.

I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a great book to dive into!

Holiday Fun

Brooke, Jess, Richie, PK, and Mark

We had the chance to hang with some very unexpected visitors these past few days. Not only did these three show up, but so did Josh and Robin Fowler. It was two days of refreshing, great times with great people. It was probably one of the greatest Christmas presents we could've even asked for!

Our Random Week

This is what we saw as we were driving home one day. There was a whole gaggle of geese wandering around the busy downtown Moline intersections. Eventually a guy got out of his car and started chasing them around, trying to get them off the road. Cars were honking [as if that was going to help], and it was mad chaos for about 10 minutes.

I found this book on the shelf at a Coffee Hound. It seems like a bit of a twist on the Dale Carnegie favorite, but maybe there was something he missed in his original writing? :)

Kate Chinlund and I learning to snowboard. I think I look like a big red marshmellow, but it does make for good padding if I fall :).

Mark and I on the slopes...he's a stud when he snowboards...he even landed a huge jump! So much fun! Can't wait for Colorado!!

A Life Metaphor :: Backpacking

Have you ever stood on the crest of a mountain range, overlooking a labyrinth of valleys and peaks twelve thousand feet below you? They stretch on for miles—as far as you can see, and you feel like there is no other place on earth that could reveal the majesty and grandeur of God more clearly. Has it ever crossed your mind to quit your job, buy a whole bunch of high-calorie foods, and walk twelve to fourteen hours per day for four months straight, all the while, knowing that everything you need to survive is in a pack on your back—and knowing deep in your soul that this is somehow deeply connected to life in it’s rawest form?

Every year about three hundred men and women gather at the US—Mexico border to begin their four month trek north through California, Oregon, and Washington on the Pacific Crest Trail. Many have quit their jobs to tackle the trail. Others are in transition. Some are teachers. Many have done it before; two thirds will never see the Canadian border. Their goal? Canada. Their motivation? The journey.

Hiking is something that grabbed my heart during college. I have always loved the outdoors, but I distinctly remember sitting on a boulder at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, overlooking the Colorado River, and thinking, “I have to do this for the rest of my life!” It was that first backpacking experience in the Grand Canyon that really began to open my eyes to the parallels the trail holds for life.

The Journey: Hiking is all about the journey. The destination is a goal, but the joy comes in incredible views and being immersed in nature. If you can’t enjoy the journey, there are high odds you’ll never finish.

“Highs and Lows”: All cheesy puns aside, the trail offers extremes. There will be times that you’ll find yourself on incredible mountain passes with awe-inspiring views. These are the moments that you wish time would stop and nothing would change. You’re happy, full of joy, and everything seems right; there are other times you’ll walk downhill for hours into a valley or canyon, surrounded by trees, your feet are wet from crossing a creek, temperatures are dropping, and the mosquitoes are so intense that you’ll walk an extra hour to reach an elevation where they don’t exist, even though your feet are screaming for rest. You’ll love it and you’ll hate it at the same time. Which brings me to…

Hard Work: Hiking is a lot of work. It’s not easy to walk for 12-14 hours a day. You’re tired. Sometimes you’re crabby. There are times you’d give anything to not have to walk anymore. But you take the next step because if you don’t, you’re not hiking anymore—you’re just standing around. Hiking can often be glorified in pictures and stories, but when it comes down to it, it really is hard work. It takes determination and a willingness to push beyond our tired bodies and bad attitudes to find joy in sore muscles and aching feet.

Fulfilling: However, despite the hard work, it really is fulfilling. There will be challenges. There will be times you’ll want to quit. But at the end of the day, as you crawl into your sleeping bag, it will fill you with the sense of satisfaction of another day behind you and a new one just around the corner. You’ll have experienced things that will forever be burned into your memory, and you realize that every step is far worth it.

It can become mundane: For weeks before a trip, I’m excited. The anticipation is building, and I can’t wait to be on the trail. Even if it’s just a couple days. The first few days are always incredible. However, even the things that I’ve looked forward to the most—the views, the sunshine, the constant beauty—can become mundane. There comes a point,that if I’m not careful, I’ll begin to take them for granted.

Joy in the small things: Flowers. Plants. Vibrant colors. Distinct scents. Bees buzzing. Silence. Creeks rushing. Fruit snacks. Dry socks. Trees. Warm clothes. Trail markers. Fallen logs at stream crossings. Rest. Conversation. Cheetos. You get the idea.

Simplicity: Life most often isn’t simple, but it should be. Every time I backpack, I am reminded of my most basic needs: food, clothing, shelter, companionship. I get home and look around my home and think, “Do I really need all this stuff? What’s the point?” It helps me distinguish between my needs and wants, and I usually end up giving away a bunch of stuff I don’t need.

Dynamic: As in life, the scenery is constantly changing. I remember hiking the Grand Canyon and being constantly intrigued by my surroundings. One minute I’d be walking on a red-dirt trail, surrounded by lush greenery and meadow-like grass, and we’d round a bend only to step onto grey slabs of stone with a shear drop-off to my left and a wall of stone to my right. You never knew what would surprise you next.

What about you? What’s your metaphor for life? A journey? A story waiting to be read? What inspires you to continue “taking the next step” down the trail?

I'm a Snowboarder!

This is a picture of me yesterday as I learned how to snowboard! I'm a fast learner huh? :)

No really...this is probably more accurate :). But I really had a lot of fun...I mastered the "Rookies Ridge" hill and it only took me 6 hours! [the guys at the chairlift at the bottom began looking at me funny b/c I would come through every few minutes]. It was so much fun...I might be converted from skis, but I'll give myself a couple more days of riding before I make that decision for good :). Mark was a great teacher, and he was even nice enough to spend most of his day with me on the rookie hill so I wasn't by myself! Once my tired, sore body stops feeling like I lifted weights for 6 hours I think I'll give it another go!