Walking Up The Mountain

This past weekend was just the escape that I needed (yes, I'm using the word "escape" literally... things are pretty tense and weird here so any time away from Brenton is a mini-vacation). I got to share Saturday evening with one of my favorite families here and spent most of the time playing with the little girls and the baby: just being with our families is a good escape from the craziness that is our job.

Sunday started out with not one but TWO turtle saves. And Mary did them in her church dress! 

After going to church in Pineville, where we heard a pretty intense sermon, we left for our weekend backpacking trip in Northern West Virginia. For our VIPP program we got stamps at Blackwater Falls and Canaan Valley State Parks and drove to Dolly Sods Wilderness Area. We hiked the relatively easy three miles to our campsite (a spot called "Un-named Vista") and was immediately confronted with some intense God time. I find it really hard not to see God when I look at mountains, particularly ones that are so awesome and, just, there in front of us. We set up camp, watched an amazing sunset, cooked some soup, went to bed, dreamed about attacks by bears and the guys from Duck Dynasty, woke up, and enjoyed some tea in front of this:

Incredible, right? We felt pretty blessed by the view, the privacy, and the chance to be out in God's amazing creation on our day off. Sitting there on the ledge the song "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever" popped into my head and I couldn't stop singing it.

Over the mountains and the sea,

Your river runs with love for me,

and I will open up my heart

and let the healer set me free.

I'm happy to be in the truth

so I will daily lift my hands

and I will always sing of 

when your love came down.

It was an interesting God moment that I've never really experienced before--having a song get stuck in my head that had some pretty meaningful words about my faith. Daily lift my hands? Yeah, still gotta work on that one, even though I am getting better at praying! But I have been experiencing how having an open heart can set you free. 

After packing up and hiking back to the car, we drove to Spruce Knob, the point of highest elevation in the state at 4863 ft. It was also a great view, but there was something really special about our backpacking site that was only accessible by hiking that made Spruce Knob feel a little less important.

This short trip got me really excited for next June when my dad and I will be spending some time backpacking in Rocky Mountain National Park. The girls and I are planning to do more trips with longer hikes and more weight in our packs so I'm hoping that I'll feel even more prepared for the big adventure with my dad. 

Speaking of that really great guy who raised me: he's got this cool attitude toward life where he's just positive all the time (aka "The Life Skill of Positivity"). I hope he isn't mad that I'm sharing his secret, but he likes to use "life carrots" (trips, vacations, really anything you're looking forward to) to get through some of the more stressful times. I told my staff about this as we're struggling with some of that stress and tension now and we've been adding carrots to our schedule like crazy. 

Example:

Carrot #1: tomorrow morning is French Toast Casserole for breakfast

Also, FYI Michigan folks, carrot #3 is my return to the mitten state in just 3 days! I'm expecting to make trips to the beach, the zoo, Bell's, and my backyard with my puppy, so let me know if you're trying to be a part of that.