The Edge [of all] Journeys

THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN POSTED A WEEK AND A HALF AGO… from my phone… which conspired against me and left it as a draft….grrr….. but anyway. Here it was (Oct 24th):

Sitting in a double-booked seat that just got sorted out on a plane getting ready to depart Chicago for Vegas and finally get to Denver this afternoon after a 24 hour travel marathon that included a 5 hour bus ride to Winnipeg yesterday and almost 4 hours of sleep last “night”. Nothing like commuting 🙂

I wish I could use the time to write the many posts I have composed in my mind over the last few months, but that would involve << just had to put my phone away for take-off >> a tricky bit of memory.

In a much more orderly and chronological fashion those posts would have talked about leaking hot water heaters that could not even be fixed by re-welding seams and hence weeks of self-inflicted cold showers (what fun are other options?); fall overtaking several projects (like building) that never materialized for lack of time and resources; bountiful harvests from Renee’s gardens;  starting up guy nights with a couple awesome buddies for Scripture studies and hang out time; busy busy work work and more work; crazy spontaneous floods of communication on many unexpected fronts; Sky turning into an insatiable walker and climber shortly after; Kids Club; a healthy dose of summer mini adventures; and of course most recently the culmination of the Fall Feasts of YHWH.

We had the blessed privilege of meeting and spending Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) for 8-9 days with around 100 believers from all over Manitoba. Awesome fellowship, worship, studies, meals, and adventures together like zip lines, playing on the ropes course, hikes to suspension bridges and abandoned homesteads, etc.

And with that concluded last friday we headed back the 7 hour trek to Winnipegosis, had one last family Sabbath together, and dropped me off in Dauphin yesterday to begin my Clvr week in Denver while Renee holds down the fort in the North and stays available for Kids Club.

Well, as far as posts go this is leaving my journaling itch quite unscratched. But it will have to do for now as i’m burning through phone battery here.x2

…nevermind… going to have to risk the battery as this adventure unfolds… flash forward a few hours and I have to pee something fierce and we’re in a holding pattern circling Vegas because we didn’t quite beat the President landing and now we’re on standby in the sky with the fasten seatbelts sign illuminated. Not making this up. It figures that Obama would be here at the same random time as me… for more reasons than you (or I) know.

What else will happen today? When will I finally get to upload this? Pretty turbulent… some people are getting motion sick…

ok finally final descent… will upload from Vegas. And then on to Denver at last.

But super quickly – have to say: I love you and miss you my incredible wife Renee and our wonderful children Bennah, Reayah, Zach, Jaiden, Joy, and Sky!!!

I started writing this about a month ago. It takes me a while to finish anything lately. I have many projects waiting to be completed and goals to accomplish. One of the biggest goals I had this spring, was to have a garden. We planted 3 gardens this year. Or, I should say, we are sharing 3 gaardens. My grandparents just recently moved into an assisted living complex so I was offered the use of their garden. I planted some things for myself, but I started it mostly for my aunt and her family who live in Churchill, Manitoba but spend the summer in Winnipegosis. They have since mostly taken over the job of weeding and watering. They leave end of August and while they can enjoy some things while they’re here, I really hope they have at least some squash to take back with them. Another of my aunts, a veteran gardener is graciously sharing her enormous and delicious garden with us. We are also sharing Leon & Jen’s wonderful garden as well. The kids have worked very hard this year planting and now weeding. It has been rewarding for me to share in their excitement at seeing the corn growing almost as tall as them already, the little carrot tops finally poking up through the soil and being able to nibble the lettuce and beet leaves while they work. This year we planted herbs, carrots, lettuce, spinach, kale, beets, tomatoes, potatoes, a few varieties of squash, cucumbers, beans, peas and onions. Between the three gardens, we are hoping for an abundance of food to store, share and save for seeds. We spent a couple of weeks in Winnipeg, at the end of June, visiting with my family. We wanted to stay longer, but I wanted to get back to the gardens. Two weeks is a long time for weeds to grow! I ended up having to replant the lettuce, spinach and carrots in my aunt’s garden, but everything else survived.

We’ve had many adventures already in the three months we’ve been here. Since we arrived in April, we’ve experienced a blizzard, cool spring weather, thunderstorms, flooding, ticks, mosquitos, and now the heat of the summer. The hot temperatures have killed off most of the mosquitos (yay!) and persuaded the kids to cool off in the pool pretty much every day. The evenings are almost always cool and pleasant.

Last month we had friends come and visit and just enjoy the day, fellowshipping  together. The women went on a quad ride led by Jen, the veteran quad-er. Knowing all the paths and deep water holes to take us through, she led us in and around their property and across the highway along the river. I wasn’t sure how I was going to like it, but ending up really enjoying it, even though I did run right into a barbed wire fence. The shiny new quad got a scratch and I was a little embarrassed but got over it. It’s such a different way to enjoy the wide open country, and darned if I’m not turning into a bit of a red-neck!

We love our family and friends that are here have really started to enjoy the “Village on the Lake”, even though the lake has almost taken over the poor village this spring. Bible camp was cancelled this year on account of flooding, which was a big disappointment for the kids but with the almost limitless possibilities for them here already, they got over it. We (or mostly they) swim in the pool, go for walks in the pasture, explore the junkyard, build forts, go for quad rides, jump on the trampoline, drive to town for treats and visit family and friends.

We are still doing school nearly every day but only one subject a day, math or writing, just to keep their mind from turning to mush over the summer. We have taken the summer off in the past only to discover that they have forgotten almost everything they have learned in the previous year and I’ve had to teach them some things over again, or it takes them way too long to adjust to school schedule again. If we continue through the summer, it’s not so difficult to start again in the fall.

Well, I have now finally, after 3 months, accomplished another goal tonight: finishing a blog! My next goal will be to not wait so long before I write the next one.

Well, in the 3 weeks that have elapsed since my back became a confounding component of every day life, adventure has still managed to hunt me down from time to time. I’ve usually paid for it the next day, but am still figuring out how quickly (or not) I can force a return to normality. Daily lower back yoga stretches (thanks again brother D for the recommendations) and natural bromelain / turmeric capsules have been helping quite a bit. Never fast enough, but definitely progress.

I can summarize the last few weeks by the events that my back has not appreciated.

Leon and I thought we’d head out for a leisurely evening of knocking down trees along what will become our driveway. As many a good tractor adventure has wound up, we broke through a soft patch and got quite stuck. The mud pit got the better of our heroic attempts for an hour or so to rescue the thing. So, we were doomed to head back the next rainy evening to pull it out with an even bigger tractor.

This worked out to be a blessing because the only way to get the big tractor out was directly through the woods along the path where the bigger trees were. With the soft ground it pushed them right down no problem and the driveway was officially carved.

Once the weather cleared up and everything started drying out rapidly from the warm, sunny weather I made several trips back there to start limbing and chopping up all the trees. We’ll have to get an estimate on what it will take to build up the driveway and dig the substantial drainage ditches that will have to go in. But here’s a few shots of the lot and the path we carved, and the beginning of the clearing effort:

Overall view facing east. The gap in the trees will be the driveway.

The highlighted greenish patch is the building site and the gap again is the future drive.

The chopping and clearing project.

And on top of all that I have edited and uploaded Episode 11 of Journeys and created dated posts for every previous episode, AND updated The Movie page to list them all out for quick reference.

Well, I’ve managed to do something to my back. I probably would never even mention it either except perhaps that it’s part of the story. An interesting part for sure, because it’s amazing how quickly everything we take for granted can come into stark relief against something that challenges it all. So, the normal and routine have become epic and painfully slow. Walking, sitting, lying down, standing up… bending over, wait no that’s actually impossible right now along with other things that I could do a few days ago. I can’t even do a single sit-up for crying outloud and I tried to run a little tonight, but that was totally not happening.

So far it hasn’t stopped me from tending to most of the normal chores, but they take way longer and I can’t help but wonder if I’m only aggravating the condition with my stubbornness. I guess a chiropractor is getting added to my itinerary for the week. Too bad my buddy Will isn’t around. Arg.

You know, the really annoying thing too is that it wasn’t some heroic injury saving a baby from a burning building or anything either. I’ve had a weak spot in my lower back for a few years after wiping out while performing a ridiculous stunt for my kids that involved a hill full of snow and a body board in Pennsylvania. And it flares up from time to time, but never incapacitating like this. I guess all the winter fun – like shoveling a 300 foot path for my family in a foot depth of snow (before we had the 4×4 shovel out 😉 ) and digging out snow forts with the kids really did a number on it. One of those things that doesn’t bite until the next day, but wow it bit hard. I guess I wasn’t practicing proper form. Arg.

Well, I’m sure there is a purpose and perhaps my Creator is just trying to get my attention about something. Well, I’m close to all ears, and trying to get there, and wondering what implications this is going to stir up that haven’t occurred to me yet. I really don’t have the time or energy for this, but I guess I have no choice but to slow down and recover. After all I have a house to build.

Finally finished another episode of Journeys…. yay – I’m almost only a year behind now. Arg.

Here’s a much abbreviated a snapshot of my adventurous past week from which I am thoroughly enjoying the reprieve of Sabbath.

We got back to the homestead-waiting-to-happen from an excellent time in Winnipeg on tues and in addition to all the fun stuff I’m working on for Clvr the following productivity ensued (in somewhat no particular order):

• emptied our black tank into the new 25 gal holding / tote tank on wheels we picked up in Winnipeg and drug that out into the pasture to dump into the sewage pit I dug with Bennah the week before. “And you shall have a place outside the camp, where you shall go out, and you shall have a sharp implement among your equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your excrement.” (Deu 23:13-14)
• covered the poop pit with a hood from an old red chevy truck so that animals in the pasture don’t fall in and break a leg or something. “And when a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls in it, the owner of the pit is to repay, he is to give silver to their owner, and the dead beast is his.” (Exo 21:34-35)
• took my two sons of thunder for a couple mile hike around the property (yes that’s the poop pit bottom left):

• started researching immigration / residency more thoroughly
• walked out and flagged what will become our roughly 1/4 mile driveway so that we can hire a loader to come out and knock the right trees down to make a path and build it up.
• several rides on the quad (ATV)
• Reayah made friends with the horse by devising a bribe that involved an apple
• i used a roll of white duct tape patching up our awning from driving through hail and wind damage
• filled up our 40 gal water tank again since the weekend was going to bring freezing temps and pointless hook up to the hose when that happens. temps were supposed to hover around 30 F / -2 C which would have been fine but it got much colder and the pipe from tank to pump froze anyway. thankful for a warm house to come hang out in with our cousins.
• lost power last night… and somehow “get propane” never made it from my mental list to my written list and we ran out a couple hours before the power died. fabulous. no heat and just in time for a freak blizzard and 20 F / -7 C. what an amateur move… just so happy to be here and distracted by everything going on that I didn’t really take much thought to the fact that it’s already almost 3 weeks since we filled one of the tanks. SO. gave myself a bit of an unintentional adventure in the middle of the blizzard night to hunt down other tanks on the property. even the tanks from our cousins’ camper were pretty much empty but their grill had a full, albeit smaller tank that should get us through tonight at least to where we can maybe make it into town tomorrow if the highway opens up (yep, currently closed).

• ok time to take the kids out into the blizzard for 5 minutes to get their crazies out and sap their energy for the rest of the evening where burgers and The Prince of Egypt are on the agenda.

Parked

“my favorite vegetable is pizza!”

(age 6)

I wish I could convey the immense import behind the (humanly) unplanned, colossal culmination of crossing the border back into Canada on April 11th upon completing our family mission to visit all 4 corners of the United States exactly 2 years to the day after we originally departed Virginia on April 11th 2009.

Wow.

YHWH our Father in the heavens has without fail secured our path on every mile of this amazing Journey. For the last several weeks – despite continual rains on the west coast and some more dicey weather in parts – we have had sunny weather every single departure day. We’ve hit some weather on the road, but always way milder than forecasted. And the Provisions along the way have been even more specific and personal than just the weather on every given day.

Today we drove northward up through beautiful BC. Jasper tomorrow perhaps. Eastward to Manitoba. A new season begins, and with it many uncertainties and questions that we know will find doors opening in their time.

Wow.

2 years. I am feeling inordinately sentimental at the moment. Or maybe it’s just too warm here in the 24-hr Denny’s with wifi that I walked to from the Wal-Mart next door here in Quesnel (“Que-nel” for all you tourists) BC.

Joy was a baby when we left. This is the only life she knows and has no context for what life in a “house” is like. Now she thinks she’s 4. And it’s hard to prove she’s not. Jaiden barely had a vocabulary, but his laugh is the same. Zach still jumps off of everything despite our futile efforts to extend the life of our trailer interior, but he has started school and grown up in so many other ways during this time. Reayah and Bennah have blossomed in numerous areas. They’ve mastered bike-riding, scrambled up scree cliffs, built forts throughout the continent… I better not start lest I spend the rest of the night listing.  It’s hard to imagine them 2 years ago.

I almost can’t remember what normal used to be. This is normal now, and it will keep changing, just the way I like it. I feel like we are discovering a life story that was written for us from the beginning of time. Rather than muting our free-will it intensifies it. All of our decisions – especially the second-guessed or uncertain or even less than ideal ones – are met with plot twists that keep the story interesting. It is a wonderful epic treasure hunt where the hidden prizes and rewards are things that haven’t even occurred to our searching imaginations: new relationships, breathtaking geographies, self-discovery, family bonding to a degree that’s hard even for us to realize and appreciate consciously much less express to others, memories whose imagery fades but which pull our spiritual roots deeper and deeper, anticipation, letting go, learning… to keep moving.

Life is moving. Whether across the continent physically or in your own personal development, perspective, and spiritual universe. Growth. Why do we crave new things? How can we be quenched?

Life is a quest for the elusive infinite.

Journey is a verb too after all.

I should have known we were in for an awesome and eventful trip when it took us 2 hours to dig and push and back our truck and trailer out of the mud hole that had formed over the several rainy days that led up to our departure. We were finally able to back out through a meticulous method that involved rotating 4 large scrap pieces of plywood, mulch, and 4 lo.

We had an amazing few weeks parked at friends southeast of Fresno, CA. Thanks again for everything! It was an incredible blessing to get to know you and participate in the fellowship there. We so enjoyed the area and the kids were right at home with enough country to receive their energy.

There was a beautiful break in the weather on the day we had decided to leave. It was warm and sunny despite days of rain before and days of rain forecasted for after. Even so it was 6pm by the time we finally pulled away, and it looked like we’d be driving for days in the rain. It was mostly cloudy for the next few days, and we did drive through some rain, but for the most part everywhere we went it had either  stopped raining or waited to start until we were settled for the night. Roads were clear and traffic was mild.

This was a really busy business week with lots of work and phone conferences and such, but it worked out perfectly every time. One morning we found a mall for Renee and the kids to stay occupied while I hopped on the internet at Starbucks in Barnes & Noble to do my calls and emails. Another morning there happened to be a Starbucks across the street from the Wal-Mart we parked at for the night, which let me get on some other scheduled calls. The children were amazing through it all. In fact, I think this was by far the best 4-day stretch of travelling where all of us stayed more or less in the Shalom Zone. Maybe it helped that all the kids were at various stages of being sick which blunted their normal energy levels.

We had been praying that the rig would make it without too much trouble through the mountains of northern California on I-5. We didn’t know how bad the climbs would be, but have had issues with the turbo in the past so it was an unknown. Everything mechanical functioned beautifully.

I had checked roads and chain restrictions a couple days before and everything looked clear, but the night before we got there a major storm blew in just north of Redding and dropped a bunch of snow and triggered not only a chain requirement but check point as well. And there was another storm system blowing in that night that was going to drop more ice and snow in the mountains we had to cross. We had a narrow window.

But we didn’t have chains. Seeing the signs we stopped in Redding and started looking. I had called around a few weeks earlier looking for some before because we might have needed them to go see the sequoias (we didn’t) but no one had our size. So, it was a small miracle when we found a Wal-Mart near by in Redding that had some even though they had been selling them all day. Thus acquired, we went along our merry way only to run into a 6-mile long line waiting to go through the check-point.

There was a sign that said cars left lane trucks and trailers right lane. So, we sweated it out a bit with the commercial trucks while other cars flew past us on the left. After an hour went by and we had only covered 2 miles it was closing in on 5pm and we had several hours of crossing mountains and it was going to get dark and dangerous. I decided that trucks and trailers meant commercial vehicles and broke out of the mold onto the left lane. We cruised on past the 3-4 mile long, unbroken line of semis with their cargo, and got to the check-point where everything was down to 1 lane anyway. It was really an inefficient and poorly and handled operation.

With that we were on our way and into some interesting driving. We hit some rain, but the roads were ok. We got over the worst of the I-5 CA mountains and tucked in for the night at about 3000 ft. I pulled almost an all-nighter working, and when I went to bed at 5am it had started snowing massive beautiful flakes in torrents. Interesting.

We got going about noon, and it was still snowing even though it had warmed up to the high 30s. Roads were slushy. We knew this was a big travel day. We had over 300 miles to go including the steepest and highest parts of I-5 and most of Oregon to drive across. It was a pretty intense day but YHWH protected us as we cautiously tackled the mountains through southern OR at times in heavy snow (though the roads were staying fairly clear). When we crossed the highest point along I-5 which runs the whole length of the west coast from Seattle to San Diego we were elated. Downhill was tougher in a lot ways, so I kept it slow.

We even found a Chipotle – a family favorite that we miss in areas which don’t have them – as we got close to Portland. We pulled into our reserved site about 9pm… tired, but extremely thankful. We’re having a lo-key weekend, catching up on rest and, now that Sabbath has ended, a bit of chores and work. We’re looking forward to spending some time with family in Portland and are glad we could be here to attend my Granny’s memorial service on Friday as we head further north shortly after that.

Having written all this it feels like I’ve just captured the emotionless details of our travels somewhat like an historian might have written about the ancient Greeks. But I wish I could convey to you the sublime experience of living through so many little miracles every day – all the things we need along the road whether we’ve planned for them or not – Father YHWH provides in perfect timing. It was painfully hard to get moving again after being at our friends for 6 weeks, and while I’m thankful to be parked again for a short bit, nothing compares to the wilderness of the journey.