I again had the delight of skiing and snowmobiling in the forests of the U.P. this past weekend.
It amazes me each time I spend time in the woods and what a full sense of peace and gratitude it makes me feel. I am always in awe of God's natural world.It showcases the beauty and simplicity in the order of all things in nature and helps me reflect on the many blessings in my life.
I find especially when i am doing the "silent sports" of hiking or cross country skiing when there is quiet all around me, that i find it so very easy to reflect on the many blessings I have. All of a sudden when away from the city lights, noise and busyiness i find my problems are few and blessings many. It is so very easy to break into a spontaneous silent prayer of gratitude for the joy of this expereince and the time to refocus on what is important in my life. The city life makes us focus on the artificial and less important and makes our problems ,even if few or based on concern for other people's problems seem large and overwhelming. We lose our perspective on living. I am not saying we should not live in the city but sometimes we need to get out of the pace and scope of our city routine to keep a better perspective and focus in life.
Thank you Lord for the blessing of spending time with you in the woods and pushing the world away if only for a few brief hours of peace and gratitude.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
FUN FUN FAMILY FUN!!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh the 2009 winter holidays are here and we got to spend seven glorious days after Christmas with our girls and my son- in-law in the beautiful feathery Upper Michigan snow!! Liz and Andy flew in from Portland via Minneapolis after a visit with her in laws and Katie flew in from Colorado via Chicago. After a seven hour drive with Katie along, we got to Munising. We had about one and a half feet of snow and it snowed every day we were there!! Andy and Liz were supposed to arrive the next evening but their flight was delayed until the next morning ( but since they got a free hotel voucher they didn't seem to mind, in fact they arrived nice and well rested). After we picked them up in Marquette, we poked around a bit in the area. First breakfast at Big Boys in Marquette, then a fun trip to the Salvation Army store for a bit of shopping for inexpensive treasures, a hike around the Junkyard Art Park half way to Munising(an amazing array of about 30 huge, creative, colorful metal sculptures of animals,vehicles, and even political statements), a stop at the Huron Bakery ( for sour dough bread , donuts and scones) and then home to Munising( all within 40 miles).
Over the course of the the next six days we had so much family fun!!
We played in the snow with snowmobiling, sledding, snowshoeing, cross country skiing and even an outside evening campfire after sledding in the backyard complete with fireworks ala Dave! We cooked in, grilling and baking, and ate out a bit too. Liz made her favorite curry vegetarian rice dish one evening, pumpkin pancakes one morning and brownie mix for dessert another evening. Dave made his "egg suprize" version of scrambled eggs and did the grilling for suppers. I had made some regular and vegetarian chili and a batch of pecan christmas cookies which we gobbled up after outside play one dayand whenever. I cooked some shrimp with pasta for liz, my vegetarian,one evening when others were eating steak on the grill.We had a lunch stop while snowmobiling at a fun family restaurant/bar complete with full sized stuffed black bears and deer. Although it took an hour to get our food at this reataurant that was filled with snowmobilers on New Years day, we enjoyed playing cards in our booth while waiting.
We also celebrated New Year's Eve with h'orduerves at the local native owned casino in the town of Christmas about 15 min away. We had fun playing poker on machines for about an hour. Andy was the big winner $21 in 15 min. and I loved watching him play one quarter at a time using only his winnings. Dave gave us each $20 to try our luck.We ended that night with watching the new Star Trek video we rented in town and watching the traditional NYC ball drop on tv with Dick Clark at midnight to usher in 2010. During the week we also played games at the house - "Scene it Seinfeld"/ DVD, UNO , speed Scrabble, and a Great Lakes Lighthouse jigsaw puzzle . We relaxed and slept in a bit and watched lots of movies and fun tv shows with a nice fire going in the wood stove and lots of Christmas lights for atmosphere.( Liz and Andy opt to have no tv in Portland so it is a fun treat for them.) Katie gave me and Liz haircuts and an eyebrow trim- thanks to having a professional hairstylist in the family! The whole week was such a nice and needed rest after the rush of the holidays. Oh and tons of family photos took place, minute to minute, with four cameras clicking away- hurray for photo memories created!!
Everyone is on their way home now....but we can't be sad, as even though we feel the intense closeness regained with this family time and hate to give it up, it just makes the distance between us fill with the closeness we feel as a family.
Thank you Michigan for giving us this beautiful,peaceful winter place to spend this fun filled family time. And thank you Jesus for the safe travels of precious family members. These are the memories we will share for years to come!!
Over the course of the the next six days we had so much family fun!!
We played in the snow with snowmobiling, sledding, snowshoeing, cross country skiing and even an outside evening campfire after sledding in the backyard complete with fireworks ala Dave! We cooked in, grilling and baking, and ate out a bit too. Liz made her favorite curry vegetarian rice dish one evening, pumpkin pancakes one morning and brownie mix for dessert another evening. Dave made his "egg suprize" version of scrambled eggs and did the grilling for suppers. I had made some regular and vegetarian chili and a batch of pecan christmas cookies which we gobbled up after outside play one dayand whenever. I cooked some shrimp with pasta for liz, my vegetarian,one evening when others were eating steak on the grill.We had a lunch stop while snowmobiling at a fun family restaurant/bar complete with full sized stuffed black bears and deer. Although it took an hour to get our food at this reataurant that was filled with snowmobilers on New Years day, we enjoyed playing cards in our booth while waiting.
We also celebrated New Year's Eve with h'orduerves at the local native owned casino in the town of Christmas about 15 min away. We had fun playing poker on machines for about an hour. Andy was the big winner $21 in 15 min. and I loved watching him play one quarter at a time using only his winnings. Dave gave us each $20 to try our luck.We ended that night with watching the new Star Trek video we rented in town and watching the traditional NYC ball drop on tv with Dick Clark at midnight to usher in 2010. During the week we also played games at the house - "Scene it Seinfeld"/ DVD, UNO , speed Scrabble, and a Great Lakes Lighthouse jigsaw puzzle . We relaxed and slept in a bit and watched lots of movies and fun tv shows with a nice fire going in the wood stove and lots of Christmas lights for atmosphere.( Liz and Andy opt to have no tv in Portland so it is a fun treat for them.) Katie gave me and Liz haircuts and an eyebrow trim- thanks to having a professional hairstylist in the family! The whole week was such a nice and needed rest after the rush of the holidays. Oh and tons of family photos took place, minute to minute, with four cameras clicking away- hurray for photo memories created!!
Everyone is on their way home now....but we can't be sad, as even though we feel the intense closeness regained with this family time and hate to give it up, it just makes the distance between us fill with the closeness we feel as a family.
Thank you Michigan for giving us this beautiful,peaceful winter place to spend this fun filled family time. And thank you Jesus for the safe travels of precious family members. These are the memories we will share for years to come!!
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