Savor. 651-700

651. Nickel Creek's "Doubting Thomas" & remembering all the stories & youth connected to it

652. Finding a 7-11 in Kanab, UT - which means a yummy Slushie.

653. Buying way too many bags of Trolli egg gummies.

654. Realizing that our hotel in Kanab is right next to the Escalante Staircase Visitor Center

655. Driving down a road just far enough to see if we could catch the sunset

656. Seeing at least 20 deer cross the road and chase their friends

657. Belgium waffles at hotel breakfasts.

658. Walking next door to the visitor center to register for the Wave

659. The fact that they only let 20 people hike the wave every day - to keep that land protected

660. Being the number four in the lottery for The Wave

661. Speaking German with a French/German couple

662. Not winning a permit for the Wave on Saturday

663. Driving three hours north east to the Hole in the Rock dirt road. 

664. Only getting to mile 16 out of the 26 miles on the dirt road.

665. Exploring the 25 mile Wash.

666. Stepping into mud or quicksand and being able to laugh about it and get my boots out

667. Climbing a cottonwood tree

668. Getting off the Hole in the Rock road before it rained on us. Didnt' want to get stuck in the mud.

669. The beautiful scenery that changes before your eyes

670. A second morning eating Belgium waffles - I really like them! So yummy!

671. Watching a couple from Japan celebrate because they got a permit for the Wave 

672. Driving over to Arizona for the day.

673. Finding a Sonic & drinking a Route 44 Cherry Limeaid

674. Sitting at the edge of Horseshoe Bend, AZ

675. New adventures

676. Experiencing Red Mountain Resort with Michelle

677. Yummy and healthy food

678. Access to a variety of hot tea all day long

679. Early morning hikes in the Red Rocks

680.  Trying new workouts back to back

681. Riding bikes to have coffee in a neighboring village

682. Laughing. A lot.

683. Trying to open wine without a wine opener

684. Sabbath by lying in a hammock for the afternoon

685. Walking the labyrinth by myself surrounded by red mountains

686. Meeting Deedre and Kim on one of the morning hikes

687. Running into Abby while getting my haircut with Merrill! I love small reunions!

688. Experiencing The Summit Youth Ministry conference for the second time.

689. Catching up,with Anne at dinner in Atlanta

690. Lunch with my YMCP guys

691. Meeting & listening to the guy behind the Kid President share how God is using them

692. Listening to speakers and feeling so thankful that I do what do & how we do it

693. Sonny's barbecue

694. A slice of pizza from the best pizza place ever in Atlanta

695. Love when friends come into town

696. Wine tasting with Candis at Arrington Vineyards

697. Talking about guys with Candis and her friends

698. Yard Sales. Don't like them but thankful for the people who give and the people who buy so my youth can raise money

699. Laughter with my youth after an entire today together at the yard sale

700. Face timing with my dad and Grace

"Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving." - W.T. Purkiser

Savor. 601-650

601. Running my last 8 mile taper run through Black Mountain.

602. Naps on the deck at the Knob.

603. Second chances

604. Hard questions

605. The warmth of arms wrapped around me.

606. Friends who teach with me.

607. The same two friends who meet me at Los Compadres for chips and drinks.

608. Sharing in life stories.

609. Julia, mom and Grace picked me up from the airport the weekend of the Akron Marathon!

610. Grace's smile.

611. Raising over my goal for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in honor of my sis.

612. All of the messages that we received in support of the marathon and my sister.

613. The grace that my parents offer so that I can struggle less.

614. Rolling a ball with Grace.

615. Excitement of walking through the Akron Marathon Expo with Julia and dad.

616. Getting to know Julia's community better.

617. Digging through old pictures to find some of dad for his surprise retirement party.

618. Hugging dad and Paul before the marathon.

619. The feeling of freedom & strength while running down the hill before I got on the towpath around mile 12 during the marathon.

620. Knowing I would finish the marathon.

621. Passing Brandon the last two miles and giving him my arm band.

622. How I always sob as I cross the finish line.

623. Running up heartbreak hill. Or walking it. I hate that thing but I get to the top!

624. Finishing strong - and thankful that I got my nutrition & water intake right this year!

625. Dinner with one of my girls, Jamie at Los Compadres. Love getting to know her better!

626. Catching up with my amazing, strong warrior of a friend - Mary Ann.

627. House sitting at the Kuna's for over a week. Such a great place to be still. 

628. My cell phone does not work at the Kuna's.

629. The Brantley's opening up their home for our Fall Break movie night!

630. Getting to know youth families even better.

631. Going to Wilderness Trail for a Fall Hike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

632. Sharing a ministry that I love so much with my new church family.

633. Being invited to the oldest UMW Circle at Lebanon FUMC to share my story.

634. Vacation in Utah! 

635. The wisp of cloud resting on the tallest mountain.

636. Rising up and away from beauty

637. Having a friend who can get away for a week 

638. Michelle being willing to be flexible for three days to see if we could get a permit to hike the Wave.

639. Feeling so small and insignificant next to mountains

640. Crumbling the edge of sandstone with my boots

641. Yellow trees that pop up unexpectedly

642. Driving a long road that has a new view around each corner

643. Chopsticks trying to grab the last of a shared Pho

644. Remembering how yummy Del Taco guacamole salad was

645. Stopping the car for fire roasted pizza on the side of the road. Even though we already ate lunch. 

644. Giggling as we walked back to the pizza with frozen yogurt in our hands

645. Melty mozzarella on a margarita pizza

646. Finally getting my Zion National Park stamp - it was closed last time

647. Finding my stamp that Mary Ann signed for me - verifying that I had been in Oct 2010. 

648. Sharing that moment with her over text

649. The cameras in cell phones now

650. Listening to songs that I hadn't heard in awhile

"I'm so glad that I live in a world where there are Octobers." - L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

Mom & Dad's the night before the Akron Marathon. September 2013

And then there were three...

Saturday, October 10th

After another amazing breakfast from Ulla and crew at the Leatherwood Lodge, we are off. There is an overlook called Mt. Coot-tha. You can drive up to the top and can see almost the entire city of Brisbane.

I don't know if I mentioned this before but the weather has been really nice since we left Sydney - cool but sunny. So the view from the overlook is pretty cool. I love seeing the mountains and ocean in the distance.

Now we are on our way to the airprt to pick up one of Candis' friends from high school. He is stationed in Guam and he asked if he could join us on our drive down to Sydney.

AJ is with us. We decided to stop through a community on top of Mt. Tamborine. The women we met in Port Macquarie last week recommended it to us. We did a short hike down to a waterfall in a rainforest.

Yep. It's so flipping INCREDIBLE!

Then a stop in at a combination brewery & cheese factory and our journey continues south. We have heard of unique town called Nimbin that we want to stop in. It is a place where hippies & artists collect. So we are going to spend the night in Byron Bay and drive
through Nimbin tomorrow.

Ha. So trying to find a place to stay here in Byron Bay on a Saturday night was almost impossible. We stopped at about 10 hostel/hotels and they all had no vacancy. But we eventually found a cabin with 2 rooms for a decent price. Whew.

We drove up to the lighthouse after dinner and as soon as we got out of our car to look at the water below, we were greeted by really loud music and 2 couples who were hanging out up there. Tanker, dude who's name I keep forgetting, & two Amandas.

As soon as they heard our accent...they began to ask us questions and tell us stories about living in Queensland vs. New South Wales. I haven't laughed so hard in a long, long time. They were very entertaining and so friendly. We all enjoyed meeting them. And they
recommended the town of Nimbin as a must see. So tomorrow it is.

Night. Blessings.

Signs? We don't need no stinkin signs.

Thursday, October 8th

Awake at 3:26 a.m. We are going to hike up the famous Mt. Warning - our goal is to be at the top for the sunrise. We decided to stay in a basic cabin on the Mt. Warning National Park so we could get to the base of the hiking trail quickly. (no tent camping allowed on the mtn).

This is the 1st time Candis has ever hiked anything like this..so I was pretty. Excited to be out here with her. The elevation of the mtn is about 3793 feet. It's a 4 & 1/2 hour round trip hike - the climb is about 3 miles to the peak which includes a rock climb/scramble up
the last 500 yards- which is actually the remaining core & basalt plug for the one of the oldest extinct volcanos in the world. The aboriginal people call this mountain "Wollumbin" which means "fighting chief of the mountain". Many people come here to climb this mtn for spiritual reasons...which I would say is true for me as well.

I have to be honest- I left my headlamp in Sydney so we were attempting to hike/climb this mountain with a very simple hand held flashlight that Candis brought. Not the best move I have made. But we climbed - we could hear birds scrambling away from us as we slowly & steadily climbed up the mountain. We kept laughing and listening and cautiously taking each step. We started the hike at 4:00 am surrounded by rain forest. By 5:30 we were able to see the horizon begin to change colors before the sign. Then it was time to climb rocks. We left my hiking poles by the side so we could get them on the way down. There is a chain installed to help you pull yourself up the rocks...which was helpful some of the time. This was the first time that morning that I needed to stop & rest on the way up - it's a hard vertical climb. I waited for Candis & then we made it to the top. We put on another layer of clothes and then took in the breathtaking views of the other mountains & valleys & the Pacific Ocean. I have never hiked a mountain where I could see an ocean from the summit. I love, love it! Because of the location of this mtn by the ocean...the summit gets to see the sunrise first in Australia. And it is an amazing sunrise.

We were joined by a couple about 15 minutes later and you could tell they were disappointed that we were there before them. Hehe.

Then we began our slow hike down- which included me sliding down the rock scramble on my rear end. It was pretty fun except my hands were so cold, it hurt to use them. (they warmed up pretty quickly)

What an incredible adventure -

The rest of the day we travelled, explored the very touristy Gold Coast(lots and lots and lots of highrises-a lot like Destin but much larger).

We have decided that Aussies don't like to use excess signage- because we can not go anywhere without turning around once. They NEVER use North, South, East or West.... Ever. Which means we have to guess.

But we are near Brisbane in a beautiful location that overlooks the mountains and we are resting.