Kate, Wes and the Four C's

Day 40.

6 week mark since the beginning of the Adventure.

Kate Jordan, one of Bryn's best friends and a girl we choose to call one of our own, got married today to Wes Jacobsen. It was beautiful and I am so glad we were able to be there to witness that once in a lifetime moment with them and their family and friends.

We had a very low key day again today as Kirk was still so sore from Thursday's exertion. He knew he would need his energy to be able to be at Kate and Wes's wedding.



Shortly after the ceremony started I looked over at Kirk and asked him if he was okay. He showed me his shirt sleeve that was starting to soak through with sweat, at his wrists! Wearing his turtle shell is like walking around in a mini sauna. By the time we got home and he removed his shell, his shirt was soaked. I think he would tell you it was totally worth it.

The ceremony was officiated by Rod Oldroyd and he drew everyone's attention to four words that they would hear in the actual marriage ceremony; Choose, Companion, Cleave and Cherish. They were choosing each other as their Companion and they should Cleave to each other and Cherish each other. Beautiful words that should be remembered every day.

I snapped a few pictures of the wedding and wanted to share them with you.





























We were also blessed by Danielle, Whitney and Kate Carly and their "Girl's Day" cinnamon rolls and sugar cookies. I think Danielle is trying to fatten us up! We're okay with that....this was her best batch yet;)





Hope you all had a wonderful Saturday too!
















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Are You Prepared?

35 days since the beginning of our Adventure. Each day, each hour, each minute, is one more gift we have been given. Some of those gifts are wrapped up beautifully with nice big bows. Some have been disguised as difficulties and pain. Nevertheless, they are all gifts.

After our fun-filled, fast-paced day yesterday we were both physically and mentally exhausted today. So glad it was Sunday, a much slower-paced day.





Jim and Danielle stopped by yesterday after running the Hobble Creek Half Marathon. I love this picture of them, full of energy, vitality, happiness. The perfect description of them. Kirk asked Jim what it was like to run the half marathon and his response was powerful, "It's like everything in life. If you are prepared, it's great. If not, it sucks." Jim and Danielle have been preparing for this run for several months and it seems to have paid off.

This is the second time in as many days that being prepared has been discussed. I had a late lunch with Cheryl on Friday and we talked about her efforts of updating her Emergency 72 hour kit. She is doing everything she can to be prepared in the event of an emergency. That's Cheryl on the left, me on the right. We have had many discussions about being prepared over the last almost 20 years of friendship.



Kirk and I have always been into "preparedness" whether it is food storage, camping equipment, road trips. It is one of those things that I could talk about, think about and plan out for hours. Typing this post has made me dissect my passion of being prepared. Bottom line....it is a control issue. I am starting to feel like this is Control Freaks Anonymous....and, in case you were wondering...I am the president.

One thing we were never prepared for is our Adventure. We were not prepared for the outpouring of love, support, prayers and service of our family, friends and neighbors. We could have never imagined being prepared for the mental and physical toll this could take on each of us. How do you prepare for these things?

We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and in a book of scripture known as The Doctrine and Covenants is a verse that says, "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." (D&C 38:30). I have hung on to this verse as a guiding light in my life. When something worried me, I would figure out what I needed to do to be prepared and do it. This works for many of life's trials and experiences. Just like Jim said, "If you are prepared, it's great. If not, it sucks."

We may not have prepared specifically for the Adventure but we see that the steps we have made, for what we thought were other reasons, have blessed us. We have been blessed by the preparations and actions of so many others that, when added to our efforts, the picture becomes much clearer, much more doable, much more beautiful.

As we thank our Father in Heaven each day in the last 35 for the blessings we have been given, we always start by thanking Him for our Adventure. We have learned so much about ourselves, each other, our family, friends and neighbors that we would not have had the opportunity to learn in any other way.

We have learned that we did something right in our parenting efforts by seeing the way our kids have supported us through their service and love. That alone makes the Adventure worth it! Who would have thought that teaching your kids to serve others would have been part of the preparation for an Adventure such as ours?

We have learned that we still have a lot to learn and a lot to prepare for. I guess if you are not preparing for something, you might not actually be living. And, everything you do is a preparation for something in your life. Be prepared and it will be great!!!

Love you all!



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Gifts

Kirk said that last night was the best night he has had since our Adventure began 34 days ago. He only woke up a couple of times, one time was my fault, he had heard the bathroom door close and said, "Hey, what are you doing?" I went into his room and we had a nice little visit. It is interesting how deep our conversations can get in such a short time. This was something we needed, to become even closer, and it is a gift we have been given with our Adventure.


One of our blog friends recommended some movies for our family to watch together, one of them was called The Ultimate Gift. Dad had brought up a bag of what he called "babysitting tools" (movies) to occupy his time with Kirk. One of the movies happened to be The Ultimate Gift and Kirk and I watched it together one quiet evening. We both loved it....the message of the movie is one that we could all learn from, the true gifts in life that we often take for granted.

Being inspired by the movie, we would like to share some of the gifts we have received from our Adventure with you. They are in no particular order, each bearing the same value in our eyes.

We believe that having each other is a gift. Being married to a Police Officer that is an adrenaline junkie, motorcycle riding, gun shooting, fast paced guy can naturally make a spouse, like me, keep a nightmarish ending in the back of her mind. Kirk used to tell me, "If I die in a motorcycle crash, know that I went smiling." While this is a very serious statement for Kirk, it's not really a lot to hang on to for me, especially with the all too recent Adventure still fresh on my mind.

Our Family and Friends have been an immeasurable gift. The love, support, service and prayers on our behalf is more than we could have ever asked for or imagined. Asking for help is one of the most difficult things in life, but being served in such a loving way has humbled us. We more fully understand Charity as the pure love of Jesus Christ because of what we have experienced through the Adventure.

Kirk has been in a hospital bed in the spare bedroom for the last three weeks. As visitors have come and gone, all passing by the foot of his bed, many have given his feet a little squeeze as they leave the room. Being able to feel someone squeeze his feet has been such a gift for Kirk. I am not sure how he would have felt about that prior to the Adventure but, he counts it as a gift now.

Being able to share our feelings, experiences and thoughts through the blog has been a gift. It is therapeutic and even calming for me. It is like writing in a journal, documenting events that dominate our life...change our life....and hoping that writing it down will help us remember how it felt in the moment. That is definitely part of learning...remembering.

Remote controls are a gift. In the first week home our cousin/brother, Jim Carly, came over and installed a remote control on the ceiling fan for Kirk. He uses this remote more than the TV remote, needing to change the temperature many times each day or even turn the light on and off. We wouldn't have even thought of needing this before our journey began.

Living in a time where modern medicine is so advanced is a gift. Kirk and I have talked a few times about what would happen to a person who lived a hundred years ago and broke his back. Imagine a farmer, whose whole existence is spent in the field to support his wife and family. He breaks his back and as family members try to get him back to the house he becomes paralyzed, unable to move at all. He is in excruciating pain without any type of medication or therapy that will relieve his distress. How blessed are we to have skilled, knowledgable doctors, surgeons and medical staff that can determine what is wrong and make every effort to correct the problem as well as keep the patient in as little pain as possible through medication. What a gift we have be given.

These are just a few of our gifts. We hope that it inspires you to think about your life, examine the very minuet details of your abilities, resources and your loved ones. Have you overlooked the importance of the little things, and even the big things? What are we doing with our gifts? Don't wait for your own Adventure before you realize how blessed you are.

That too, is a gift.



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Moments

Life is so amazing when you stand back, take a breath and focus on the precise moment you are in. How many times today have you focused on any one moment? Have there been moments today that should have been savored but in the bustle of life they passed by with hardly a thought? Let me share a couple of ours.......


Day 20. Date night. We decided to stay in tonight:) Glad we did or we would have missed some great company.

The first picture is of one of the many girls we claim as our own, Dani Brady, and her boys Jack and Nick. Dani has been in our life for about 15 years and has been one of our Dani's best friends. The dogs were so glad to have them here and the boys were totally mesmerized by Kirk and his "crash video".


This last picture is an older one of Jim and Danielle Carly and their adorable kids (L-R) Eli, Kate, Porter and Whitney. Jim is actually our cousin but we refer to him as a brother and the kids call them Aunt and Uncle when introducing them to anyone. Kirk and I look up to them (even though they are slightly younger, okay...and maybe shorter....) in so many ways and feel so blessed to have them in our lives.
Jim and Danielle came over tonight and Jim installed a remote control on the fan in the bedroom for Kirk. Something so simple for Jim but that will make such a difference for Kirk on a daily basis.
I hope you don't get tired of me telling you how utterly amazing our daughters are. I don't know that a day has passed in the last 20 that they have not been right here, wherever here is at the time, to support and care for Kirk and me. Dani and Bryn are the two best things that have ever happened to us.
We have blessings like this every day. Again, a small amount of time out of their lives makes such a difference in ours. I brought Chinese food home for our date night. Here's a picture of my fortune:



May you be just as blessed:)