DNow 2012 ~ Zipline!

If there are times in your life that you want to go back and watch over and over…. this would be one of them.

I have been to New Life Ranch around ten times now, and I was always terrified of the zipline.  I wasn’t necessarily scared of the zipping… I was afraid of the climbing.  I didn’t think I was strong enough… I was too fat… I wanted to let everyone else go… and the excuses continued.

BUT this year, I decided I was going to try no matter what.  I also had my great friend, Hollie, there with me.  We were determined to do it together. Maybe we wouldn’t make it up the whole way… Maybe we would pass out or pee our pants… Maybe we would die… but by-golly we were going to try.

Paige, Hollie, and I after the great zip.

Just like a lot of other things in my life, I don’t think I would have made it without her.  We laughed our way to the top… slowly but surely.  I wasn’t gonna back out because she was doing it, and she wasn’t gonna back out because I was doing it.

Eventually we made it (applause) and even jumped off the 60’ high platform to zip our way into the history books.  Okay, maybe not the history books, but definitely our “I can’t believe I did that,” autobiographies.  It was a great feeling…. conquering a fear… surprising yourself… seeing that you are stronger than you thought you were.

That is us up there.

And then zipping.  Me, Nate, Hollie, and Paige.

 

We are talking with the youth about the “storms of their lives,” and I can’t help but see a great lesson in my zipline experience.  I was terrified of climbing up the pole.  I let fear keep me from a feeling of accomplishment, freedom, and self-worth.  I never thought that the day would come, where I could actually climb the thing.  But, when you resolve to make the best of a situation, stay positive, and put it all in God’s hands, eventually things will work out.

  Sometimes it is scary.  Sometimes it is shaky.  Sometimes you have to laugh at your fears.  No matter how you make it through… You make it through.  And lately, I have been so blessed to see that God doesn’t expect you to go through those storms alone.  He puts people in your life to get you through… To help encourage and push you… To pray for you… To just be a listening ear…To love you through the storms.

”Hope in the LORD! Be strong! Let your heart take courage! Hope in the LORD!”

Psalm 27:14

All you who wait for the LORD, be strong and let your heart take courage.”

Psalm 31:24

Cast your cares on the LORD, and he will sustain you;
   he will never let the righteous fall.

Psalm 55:22

If you are in the middle of a storm, can see a storm coming, or just getting over one… know that God is in control.  Know that someday it will end.  Know that God will put great friends in your life to help get you through.

Valentine’s Day 2012

I love love!  It is truly the best thing on this earth.  I am constantly blown away by the great love Nate and I share.  We are blessed to love so deeply and I wouldn’t want to do life with anyone else.  We are together basically all day every day working together and I love that too!

With each passing year Nate and I can look back on big things that happened in our life, and see God’s providence.  He used to say that there isn’t just one person in the world that any one person can be happily married to, but now he agrees that God had us planned for each other from the beginning.  So sweet and so true.  We have been married for 6 1/2 years now, after dating for 5 1/2 years, and we have made it through things most couples will never have to go through.  And, we can make it through because of each other.

Nate was especially stressed this Valentine’s Day 2012 with the sell of our house in Rogers, so I decided to surprise him with a little scavenger hunt.

It was funny to watch him go to every room in our house… I may have made it a little long. ha

In the end this is what he found…

New Kurig Coffee Machine. Yay!  Every time he would see one in a store, he would stop and stare at it for like 20 min. so I knew he really wanted it.

It was worth every penny to see him smile like that :)

  We finished the day with some good ol heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy’s.  It was delish.

Sushi…is Good-si! Who knew?

Mark another one off the list!  I ate sushi!  I was pretty nervous about the whole thing but we went with an expert, my good friend Cassie, and she ordered some stuff I liked.  I have never liked fish, and I am a freak about food textures so I was afraid after taking the first bite… I would spew raw sea creatures all over the place.  But, it was actually really good!  I was so delightfully surprised and felt very cultured and grown up. ha

  My first bite. Ever.

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Our spread.

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It was Kaylie’s first time to try sushi too.

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And, Nate’s fist time also.  He probably liked it the best out of us three newbies.  He ate like 20 pieces or something. And he wants to find a place here to eat some more!

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I have learned lately that it is really liberating and fun to do things that I never thought I would do.  Making this “27 Things before 27” has been pretty great for me.  Once I make a list, I have to mark everything off.  I have found through this experiment (already), that I am becoming a tad spontaneous.  Nate will enjoy this new side of me…. and so will I!

I can’t wait to try something else new, and mark things off my list!