
This is how it began, kind of. See, this was Tuesday morning. We were supposed to leave on vacation Monday morning. Thankfully the airline notified me that the first leg of our flight was late and that we would miss our connection from Denver to Indianapolis. Three hours later, after much debate (believe me, it was debated), the boys and I decided to sleep in our beds rather than under a Denver International row of seats overnight. So we began our summer vacation a day late.
Now it appears that Christian has a mild form of chicken pox, though the pediatrician couldn't confirm it. If it is, Everen's been exposed to it, and each of them will have a rough few weeks ahead. But that didn't stop us from having some fun today.

Our mission was to find a frog and a salamander. All I can say is that we would never make it as secret agents. Instead of frogs or salamanders, Christian found excessive amounts of mud with his shoes, and we all discovered that mosquitoes
love rivers as much as we suspected frogs do. I'm ashamed to admit that it is mosquitoes, not the loss of Jeseca or any other tragedy in my life, that has made me wonder if God really knows what he's doing. Horrible creatures, really.
But then we stumbled upon an old railroad track that crosses through town, and the little boy in me thought it would be fun for all of us to march up track to see what we find. It was awesome.

Old (but still used, evidently) tracks, rusty rail spikes and broken ties...it was like I was an 8-year-old kid again. Part of the fun was wondering if a train was going to come up behind us and force us off the tracks. And for exactly one mile, I challenged myself to walk solely on one side of the track, one foot in front of the other. I actually prayed I wouldn't fall toward the end, and I'm happy to say (and who really cares but me anyway?) that I made it. Yup, I'm definitely an 8-year-old kid.
It made for a great time in place of frogs and mosquitoes. But I have to admit that there was something missing today. I know what it is and it scares me...
So I continue marching down the track of life to discover God's eventual purpose for me. And just as I did today, I do all I can to lead the boys along their own.
It's all for him. I'm just trying to keep from falling off. JG