1,000 words

They say that a picture can tell a thousand words, and although I think the pictures from our trip up the mountain are great, there is still so much that I want to say about it (I know it is hard to imagine that I have anything to say but...)

We truly had the most wonderful weekend together. Not only was the mountain climb great but our time spent the other days we were away, were amazing as well.
Just so relaxing and no agenda. I think we actually had thoughts and were able to say them completely without one interuption! It was nice.

So the day we arrived in Leadville it was very dreary and rainy. The forecast did not look good either so I kept praying and had asked some friends to pray too that the weather would not prohibit us from our sdventure.
On Sunday morning we woke up to a new cover of snow on the mountain and although it made for a beautiful scene it was a bit discouraging. We were going to head out anyway and see what the day held as far as weather.
The first bit of the trail was very dreary and rainy, just a drizzle that felt a bit miserable but thankfully not freezing. My sweet husband bought me a new jacket that worked wonderfully for this type of weather.
My mood seemed to match this weather a bit, I tried so hard to just enjoy the hike but it was a bit of a downer.
Soon however the sun came out and things seemed to look up. However, just as we reached tree line a huge wind came up and before long we were hiking in sleet that hurt our face when it hit us. I was again feeling discouraged and right about that time Nate told me to look to my right. There, as close as any I have seen, was a full rainbow. It was amazing! And to top it off, one end landed right in an aspen grove that was bright yellow...the pot of gold! It was kind of like a little gift from the Lord promising to help me through the day.
Not long after the sun came out, and besides wind, that was the worst of the weather we faced. In the end it was a beautiful Colorado fall day!! Thank you Jesus!

The rest of the day was challenging physically but also really emotionally challenging. When people would pass us either on their way up or down, I would feel myself get down and wonder if I would really be able to do it. The other hard part was that we weren't able to see the summit most of the hike. So it was like we were just moving towards the top of the mountain but it never came. That was really a lot harder than I thought. Finally when we did see the summit, I just broke out into a run. I was SO excited to see it!! I didn't even feel that tired at that point, just so thrilled that I was going to make it. And, when we did actually summit, I can hardly describe how elated I was! It was just awesome.
We were the last people to summit but as we started back down we both thought, "this is awesome, we have the entire mountain to ourselves!" It was really neat.

This has been a journey for me, more than I realized. It became a journey of believing in who God has made me to be and enjoying that person, not the ideal person I want to be. There is no way I will ever run up a mountain and be the first one to the top. But with LOTS of love and encouragement from Jesus, Nate, and all the other wonderful people I have in my life, I am pretty sure I can do anything that I set my mind to.
"So," Nate asks as we are heading down the mountain, "Think we will do another one?"
Hmm, once my feet stop hurting and my calves stop aching every time I walk up the stairs, perhaps I will think about it!

(Don't miss the slide show of pictures in the post below!) (Wendy, I picked this music with you in mind!!)

We did it!!!!

Wouldn't it be funny if...

I could sit in my trash can.

I could be the leader of town and lead everybody to church all by myself.

I went to bed with ice and it stuck to me all over.

I could walk all the way to church.

We could have a frog in our bottom (after mentioning that she had a frog in her throat)

We could write on a pen.

We could have a campfire in our tent in our house.

A chipmunk was swimming on an icy lake.

And so goes Elizabeth's attempt at jokes and humor these days! She keeps us smiling!

Hmm...

Mommy "Sarah what are you eating?"
Sarah "cheese"
Mommy "Where did you find that cheese?"
Sarah "nose"

Hmm...

Cold Camping

No, I guess cold is not the word I should use to describe the night we spent in the mountains this weekend...it was FREEZING!! When we woke up, Nate checked the temp in the ole' van, it was 29 degrees. Neither Nate or I slept well, thankfully the girls actually did - Sarah snuggled in with me in my bag and Elizabeth with a hat and tons of blankets between Nate and I stayed warm and cozy. One of the other reasons that we did not sleep much was because the elk were bugling from about 12:30am to 3:30 am. It was an amazing thing actually. If you have never heard an elk bugle, you must at some point. They are such large animals yet fairly graceful, in the fall the bull elk bugle to get the attention of the females and challenge the other males. It is an amazing sound - high pitched trumpet sort of sounds. Anyway, I have heard them many times before, but never this close. They were literally in our campsite it seemed. We could hear them walking through the woods and I am almost certain we heard some hitting their racks. Thunder was scared to death and yelped his prepubescent yelp that really should be a large bark for the size dog that he is! All of it sent chills up my spine, but it was a really neat experience.

The camping trip was really a great one despite the cold. Spending time together was just priceless. Seeing our girls love the things that we do thrills us so much.

Now, I know I usually have amazingly wonderful pictures of adventures like this but alas, not this time...Our camera was murdered by our three year old this week. Dear little thing wanted me to take a picture of Sarah being cute and I suggested that she take it. With great delight she did and 50 pictures later (I got distracted) she brought me a broken camera. I don't think I will ever know quite how it happened and I blame myself for letting her use it all by herself and not paying attention to the photo shoot she was having. Oh well, it is just a thing and it can be replaced (thankfully for free with our Sony points!!)

So, here's to a picture less blog for once!!

By the way, Elizabeth's summary of the noise she heard in the night when asked if she heard anything was, (eyes all alight) "Yes, I heard something like elephants and the big bad wolf!!"

Homebound

Well, today is the open house/orientation for preschool where Elizabeth would see her room and meet her teacher and Thursday is the first day of school, but we will miss them both...
Last week Sarah came down with hand-foot-and mouth disease (yes it sounds awful but it is just a virus with sores on the hands, feet, and mouth) and on Saturday Elizabeth got it. It is very contagious for the first week. We are so bummed, probably me more than Elizabeth because she doesn't realize what we were going to do today. I was just so looking forward to getting into a routine! Oh well, we can make it another week!
Elizabeth was pretty miserable all weekend, not eating or drinking hardly anything because the sores in her mouth hurt too much. This morning she finally tried to drink some milk and is now on cup number 4 of milk and bowl number 3 of cereal. Thank you Jesus for giving me patience with her!