Monday, October 25, 2010

Find Your Everest




  Life. I'm feeling more and more as if it is just rushing by me. Like I am not making the most of every possible moment. Daniel, Ava, and I went out to breakfast this morning at a tiny little diner in town. One of the reasons we love going there is because of the vibe it has. The walls are covered with pictures and surf boards, little nick-nack things and crazy paint. On the wall next to the table we sat at today was a series of 5 or 6 pictures of this young boy. They were pictures of him climbing mountains. Not just little ones either. Like, Kilimanjaro... Seriously. One of the pictures was twice the size as the rest and looked like it was a magazine cover. When we read the headline Daniel and I were astonished. It was the young boy standing at the top of Mt Everest. Wow. His name is Jordan Romero and He climbed Everest at 13. He is the youngest person to ever climb that mountain. On the picture he wrote a little note to the owner of the diner and at the bottom wrote "Find your Everest".
  Daniel and I started talking about what that meant to us. "Find your Everest". Had we climbed our own Everest? Eventually the topic phased out and we left the diner, but the thought of Jordan's words rang loudly in my mind. I have been searching for something lately. I am not sure what it is or how it is going to come to fruition, but I feel like it is my Everest. It is almost within reach. I am excited to discover the things that God has in store for me and the Mountains He is having me climb right now to get ready for Everest.
   What is your Everest? Have you reached the peak?





**** Photo Courtesy of Facebook.com

Friday, October 15, 2010

Reap What I sew

  "I reap what I sew, I reap what I sew." That's what I heard Daniel saying to himself as we watched Ava push every button on the DVD player for the second time. We were watching A Bug's Life and Ava pushed buttons making the movie go away, as Daniel was sitting back down after fixing the movie she pushed the buttons again. I asked him why he said "I reap what I sew" over and over to himself. He looked at me and said, "It's because I used to be the same way, so I can't really get mad at her for wanting to push those buttons. I was the kid who always touched everything." I laughed a little. It was such a sweet moment for me realizing Daniel's heart to not get upset with her over a silly little thing.
  The thing I realized as soon as Daniel said his explanation to me, was how I instantly thought of the incredible things he sews into Ava all the time. He is kind and loving, always willing to explore with her, patient, and God fearing. Those are the things I see in Ava already. It's crazy that when we see our kid testing us we instantly think it's because of us or something we did. But when our child is incredible, we never think it's because of what we have taught them.
   I guess the real question now is what am I sewing into Ava's life? I think I need to put more focus on intentionally showing her the things that are important to us as a family. Figuring out our core values and making sure we sew them into Ava's spirit everyday.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Climbing up my Curly Slide

   I have been trying to take Ava to the park every day lately. She is such a great kid, I feel like she deserves it. Plus, not having a back yard makes it hard to play outside so by going to the park she can run like a maniac. She loves the slide. It is her absolute favorite thing in the world. She climbs up the stairs all by herself, and then goes down the slide. It's only the little slide, maybe 4 feet long. More recently she has discovered the big curly slide. She can't get up there by herself, and we need two people for that one. Mommy at the top sending her down and Daddy at the bottom to catch her. Since she doesn't get to go down that slide on a regular basis she climbs up on the bottom of it and sits there. Almost as if she is pretending she just came down it.
  A few days ago she saw another girl climbing up the curly slide from the bottom. This blew Ava's little mind. I was watching her as she was watching the little girl. It was like she was studying her every move so that she could replicate them. As soon as the other little girl left Ava ran for the curly slide and started climbing. She would slide back down on her belly after only making it 4 inches up the slide. But she just kept trying. The whole rest of the time we were there was spent trying to get up that darn slide. She was determined. Every time since she tries to climb that slide. She never gets upset that she can't, she just keeps trying.
  It got me thinking about myself. There are things I want to do and if I can't do it the first time I give up. I don't have the perseverance that my 16 month old daughter has, and I need it. After reading my bible today I saw a verse that spoke to my heart. " Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness." James 3:18. I really felt like I need to make that my personal Mission Statement. So I am going to take a tip from my tiny beard. If I don't succeed right away, I will continue to climb. Push through with perseverance and not be discouraged.
  What's the thing you want but you are discouraged by? I pray that you find the perseverance you need to continue trying.
Thanks for checking out my blog. The writings found on these pages are just sincere thoughts, questions, and feelings I have about life, God, and banana slugs.