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Mountains are Rocky

Ok, so I know the last blog was about making it to the mountain top, and yes, the metaphors that go along with that and our life are poignant, but it dawned on me, that mountains still have rocky terrain. You’ve got the view and perspective of where you’ve been when you get to the top, but it’s not smooth walking.

That is life in general. It’s always an ebb and flow. There’s always an up and a down. Always emotional swings. Small humans have a wide range of emotional pendulum swings.

I mean look at these two photos.

This one says: “Holy COW! We’re on a gondola, in between mountain ranges! We’re at the top of mountain!”

And this one says, “I’m freaking tired of walking and I want to cry.”

You know, the conversations we had with Reagan on the mountain top were along the lines of you need to stop complaining.

Thank Heaven that God’s not like that with us. When we say: “But WHY do I have to go through this? This is hard. I don’t want to keep going. I quit.” God just sits there with us. He gently guides us through.

I lack gentleness in general. I’m all, “Get moving and stop it. We’re here to have FUN!” And Reagan tries her hardest to say CHEEEEEEEEEESE in all our photos with her entire body, or refuses to look at the camera all together.

Many of us are striving for “mountain top living” however our thoughts on what that looks like I believe are skewed. You’re not free from the struggles of every day life when you’re on the mountain top. Your location doesn’t alleviate you from having to do hard things. Everyday life still happens, the view is just different.

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Across the World

Four years ago, if you told me that we’d travel to another country WITH Reagan, I’d say you’re crazy.

But here we are, on top of mountains, doing things we never even dreamed our family could partake in.

This trip is exceedingly, abundantly more, than we could have ever imagined. Guys, there’s snow, in JULY!

We’re in Whistler, Canada. We went through customs with Reagan. We flew almost 8 hours and drove 2 1/2 hours to get here. We took two gondola rides, on cables, above mountain tops to get here.

I’d like to point out, it’s not just any gondola ride. It’s the Peak to Peak. It’s the longest gondola ride, almost 2 miles, and the highest lift of it’s kind, with an elevation of 1,427 feet. It’s some sort of record. Which is ironic because I feel like we’ve broken a life record just to make it here.

As I looked across the horizon and over so many gorgeous mountain tops, I couldn’t help but think about how far away we are from what we’re used to, and how scary that can be if you’re a parent to a medically complex child.

I am SO proud of us.

Am I nervous? Yes!! I keep wondering how we’re going to help Reagan meet her food goal by winging it, especially on top of a mountain. Evidently Canada doesn’t want to forget their vegetarian friends because lo and behold, there was a veggie burger just waiting for us after our first gondola ride, in all of it’s quinoa glory. I was shocked.

Can I tell you an honest truth? If you’re in a tough spot in your life right now, I know and I understand, that you don’t think a mountain range is in your future. The climb might be arduous. No, it will be arduous, it’s a mountain top we’re talking about! But you can make it there, God will help you. And boy, when you do…it will it be exceedingly, abundantly more than you could have imagined.

We literally made it to the very top of a mountain with our daughter today. I’m amazed.