still taking it all in...part 1

"Then King David went in, sat in the LORD's presence, and said, 'Who am I, Lord GOD , and what is my house that You have brought me this far? What You have done so far was a little thing to You, Lord GOD, for You have also spoken about Your servant's house in the distant future. And this is a revelation for mankind, Lord GOD. What more can David say to You? You know Your servant, Lord GOD. Because of Your word and according to Your will, You have revealed all these great things to Your servant.'"  2 Samuel 7:18-21

The past couple of days since arriving home from a two week roadtrip have been very relaxing for the body, but very active for my mind.  Recalling everyone visited, things accomplished, God's fingerprint over every moment...it still brings me to tears.  Each hour I am back home, I think of something else that happened and thank my Heavenly Father again and again and again for His goodness of allowing me the experiences of the past two weeks. 
Two weeks ago, my two boys and I packed up Cadi (that's what we call our Acadia) and headed North.  First stop (of three) was Indiana to visit with my family.  I have been living in GA almost 10 years, now, but when I go home to IN almost everything remains the same.  It's comforting, yet mind boggling because things change so rapidly in the metro Atlanta area.  The first few days are always adjustment ones for me...different perspectives, different speed.  I feel out of my element even though I'm in the element in which I was born and raised.  That's hard for me.  I don't like being out of the loop and I always am.  Nobody's fault...it's just the way it is. 

Spent about 3 days in IN with family just enjoying being together.  My niece has just gotten a new puppy, Cookie.  A cute little thing, even my boys and I can love it.  Tim's still not sure about it since it is a dog and all, but he's trying really hard to like her. 
Let me just say no place has a more beautiful warm weather than in the Midwest.  Not one.  You breathe fresh air, visualize a sky such a color of blue Crayola is envious of it, and, at night, catch a glimpse of so many stars at one time you get dizzy standing there with your head up trying to take them all in.  In college, on a clear night, we'd go outside and do what I think was called a "star spin".  In an open space of grass, look up and stare at a bright star and start spinning as fast as you can.  If done correctly you can still see your star as the others appear to spin around it...lots of laughter, dizziness, and falls occur in the following moments.  Great times!
Friday morning Cadi headed further North...this time stopping in Evert, MI to see my best friend from college.  Halfway on this journey just happened to be Ft. Wayne, IN, where I've spent some great years of my life at college and living there afterward.  Growing up I always knew I'd live there one day...when that dream came true, I knew anything was possible from there on out. 
I met Deb in the fall of 1992...she was an incoming Freshman from MI and I was a transfer student coming in as a Junior from southern IN.  All but a handfull of my friends from college were Freshmen because I got to know them first through all of the orientation classes and required Bible courses I had to catch up on my first year.  As time goes on, the age difference disappears, and you're just friends.  Friendship knows no age.  I like that.
Anyway, Deb almost every nice weekend would be headed "Up North" as she always referred to going to MI.  Especially during the summer months when we worked together on the housekeeping crew, she was for ever going "Up North" to her family's cottage.  Sometimes, taking people with her to enjoy a weekend of skiing and tubing and her Aunt Martha's cooking!  She and her dad taught several of our friends to ski on those weekends.  It took me over a year to make it on one of those trips "Up North"...and I always skirted the issue of skiing...on purpose.  I did not like even the thought of trying.  Later on in life, I had the excuse of being with child for a couple of years and having little ones running around on shore...then she was with child and I wasn't going to try to ski without her help, so...

Well, this year was the year!  I put it off on Saturday having enjoyed tubing and seeing my son Alex learn the basics of skiing...but come Sunday, with a little pressure on me now that Alex had learned and from Deb's dad that there wasn't any better time to learn...I found myself with skis on my feet and a rope in my hands being pulled through the water by a boat.
I drank alot of lake water that day.
But, I tried...and on my second time out that Sunday, I was skiing for a second.  It wasn't pretty.  It was far from graceful.  Sometimes it was down right hilarious. 
But I tried. 
I'll always be grateful for Deb's and her dad's patience.  I wonder if it would have been better to learn to ski from someone other than Deb...we were pretty distracted at times with all the laughter at my face plants in the water.  But, then again, I wouldn't have had it any other way.  That's one definitely for the memory books!