The 23rd of never.

Hi, friends. Sick of pics? Well, you're NOT GETTING ANY! Just kidding. No, I'm not - I'm experiencing technical difficulties, and refuse to power through them tonight. I'm beat. It was a great day...

We tried a hike we've never done in our 10+ years of Vail...up a trail called Whitney Lake something-or-other. (Weird, I've never actually seen that phrase written down.) It's a bit past Minturn, and pretty nice. It took a lot out of us, though, since we three (Mom, Dad and I) haven't exactly been training for this stuff. Anyway, it was a good first trek out for us - we managed to stay hydrated and stuff, which is no small feat in our experience. Our family has a knack for overestimating what we are physically capable of. Anyway, there we were, hiking our little hearts out, climbing and resting, climbing and resting. It felt so good. I love the journey of it all. I like it even better when we reach our destination - so fulfilling. Today it was only as far as Whitney Creek, a bit over halfway if you're measuring all the way to the actual lake. I would have loved to have seen it - and probably will go back sometime - but for today, we were happy to dunk our feet in the excruciatingly cold water and then hike down. I read Numbers and Don Miller by the pool, journaled a bit, swam, had dinner, talked serious with my parents, and now I'm here. It was a full day. Perfect.

So here's what else - I was way ahead of my parents for most of the hike, because my standard anywhere pace is like four clicks above theirs, especially when it comes to a mountain. This created little pockets of time for me on the hike...I was able to find a good rock to stop at, unclip my mountainsmith (that baby rocks), and stare out over it all. (No, you can't see the pics.) I took out a pen and wrote some stuff down, at one point - just some things God was reminding me of. It was good. Later, I transferred that info to my journal, and sort of started to unpack it. Like I said, I love a journey, and a destination. God started speaking to me that morning on the hike (which turned out to take about 4 hours by the end of it) and continued to flesh it out throughout the day. Healthy, I think. Communication.

Stuff I'm praying about that he's talking me through? Finances. Time management/priorities. Ministry focus/vision. And yes, boys. We made some progress with the first area today, so perhaps he's got an agenda for the others in the course of the next few days. I just love that he wants to make use of this time too - that he totally IS waiting for me to come to him and receive on this trip. I told you so. Expectation ----> Joy. My God is so good.