WEDNESDAY, SEPT 16

WEDNESDAY, SEPT 16:

      What a beautiful Rocky Mountain early fall morning. Just cool enough to wear a light jacket. Bright and crisp all around. Oh, how we hate to leave this . . . “this” meaning everything we've experienced durng the past 14 weeks - gorgeous scenery, nearly perfect weather, a new adventure awaiting each day. Even the not-so-fun episodes were adventures in furthering our trust in God's all-knowing Provision, care, and protection for us. We will need to keep all of this in mind and heart and spirit as we head into new “adventures” now, of a completely different kind : organizing next steps for Jason, managing his short-term care, long-term recovery, finances, etc.

We need to remember not only all of the times when we saw the Lord pave the way before us, preparing paths which we had no idea that we'd be walking down (that's one of the reasons I keep this journal, as a tangible reminder of those times), but also the sheer beauty and wonder of our trip. When things become difficult and challenging, or even tedious, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to bring to the forefront of our memories the marvelous and majestic things we were witness to, not only in these past 14 weeks, but in our other trips as well. We need to ask His Spirit to refresh our hearts' memory of moments and hours of indescribable beauty and overwhelming peace. One of the great gifts given to us on this trip was the gift of being able to be in the moment. Even though there was often a background hum of the cares we knew were back home, and occasionally that subtle hum would swell into a crescendo, nearly all the time we were able to truly keep it in the background and truly relish what we were seeing or doing or sharing right then. Or if there were immediate issues to be addresssed at home, we tackled the issues at hand and then were able to not dwell on all of the attendant “what if's”. As I said, that was a true gift to us . . . one that we hope to take home with us . No matter the burdens of a particular day, if there's time in it to enjoy a fresh morning walk with neighbors or a couple of hours on a sunny fall afternoon on the deck with a book, or a leisurely lunch with a good friend(s), or having fun looking for earth worms with Landon, we trust that God's grace will enable us to be fully there enjoying and appreciating and being grateful for that moment, just as He did these past 3 ½ months.        

      On to the more mundane: I treated myself to a loooong shower in their luxurious, roomy showers. Then we availed ourselves of their all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast for a total of less than $10 total for both of us. As I mentioned, once you make it up here, this is a wonderful campground. The next time we're in Colorado (which we hope isn't too far down the road – yesterday's mountains awoke a yearning for more!), this would make a delightful stop for several days to just chill and enjoy the 9,000 feet mountain air.

      Too soon, we were out of the mountains and in the plains of eastern Colorado and Kansas. Made it to Russell KS tonite – about 400 miles. Very hot and uncomfortable – mid 90's and NOT A DRY HEAT any more!

      Very anxious to get home now – tomorrow late afternoon/early evening we anticipate.

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